"Alright Ronnie, your ride is ready to go. Got the brakes and rotors replaced, and we replaced the two back tires, they were pretty worn down."
"What do I owe ya, Dominic?" Dom, the owner of DT Automotive Repairs, watched as the older man fumbled through a few bills, none of it enough to pay for the repairs.
"Nonsense, Ronnie. This one's on me."
"Thanks a lot, Dom. I'm sorry, mijo. Money's been super tight since I lost my job, and with the house being foreclosed on and everything, you have no idea how much this helps. The damn clunker is the only thing I own."
"How long you been coming here, Ronnie? Ten, twenty years?"
The man laughed, "I've had some terrible car luck during my lifetime, but yeah. Watched you and that beautiful sister of yours grow up right in this very building."
"And as long as I'm here, your repairs are on me. My father always said to take care of the people who are loyal."
"You turned out to be a remarkable young man, Dominic," he said, giving Dom a gentle slap on the cheek. "Wish Tony was here to see it."
Dom smiled proudly and handed over his keys. He watched the Oldsmobile back out of the garage, sounding much better than it did an hour earlier.
"We're never gonna make any money if you keep giving away repairs for free," Mia, Dominic's younger sister, said as he came into the office.
"Sometimes, you gotta throw a man a bone, Mia."
"That's the third bone you've thrown today," she reminded. "I admire what you're doing, and Dad would love it, but he would also smack you upside the head. We need money, Dominic."
"I know, sister. And we'll get it. Don't you have to get back to the cafe?"
"It's not like people are lining up around the corner for our crappy food," the teenager sighed and stood from the table. "I'll be back in a bit."
Dominic sighed and flopped down in the desk chair. He had no idea how hard it would be running his father's garage with just the help of his longtime friends and baby sister, and hardly no money. They were barely scraping by, and he was feeling desperate. He swallowed the panic he felt, and stood for the door. He needed to keep himself together. He was their leader, the one who took on the role of caretaker for them, and that included pretending like things were okay when they clearly were not.
"Jesus, Dominic, how long we gotta do this today? It's a hundred degrees in here," Vince complained, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Until we make enough money to pay the mortgage this month, Vincent," Dom replied from his position under a car. He rolled out to see most of his team lounging around, the scorching Los Angeles heat getting the best of them. "We can't get paid if we don't get these cars out, guys."
"We can't get paid because you won't take payment," Leon said with a chuckle, "Can't we close up early and go to the beach or something?" Leon pleaded.
"As long as you don't mind being unemployed, sure," he replied. "You all were born and raised in this heat, quit acting like babies."
"Dominic, they're right," Letty, Dominic's girlfriend and gifted mechanic, spoke. "Let's at least take a break."
Dom sighed, looking into the eyes of the love of his life. She was always the voice that he listened to most, taking any and all advice she threw his way.
"Fine," he sighed, "Fifteen minutes, and that's it."
The men scattered like mice to seek cool air, while Letty pulled her man to the sofa in the back, mounting his lap.
"You seem stressed, Papa."
"Mia and I got into it last night over the bills again. We gotta do something soon or we're gonna lose this place."
"Have you thought about Vince's idea? The trucks?"
"I'm trying to think of all the semi-legal ways we can bring in money without having to resort to grand theft," he replied. "Not like I have a wide range of skills, besides the fact that no one wants to hire a felon."
Letty cupped his cheek, "Stop it. We keep racing for now. Keep running the cafe. If things get really tough, we'll do what we have to do."
Dom nodded and buried his head between her breast, his tongue nipping at the sweat dripping between them. She pushed him away with a giggle, "I meant to tell you; I got a weird call last night."
"Yeah, from who?"
"My cousin Juan Carlos. You remember Juice, right? He stayed with Mom and I for a while after they moved down from New York."
"Scrawny kid from Queens? Yeah, I remember little JC. What'd he want?"
"Said he needed a favor, but he couldn't talk about it over the phone. I guess he's gonna stop by the garage sometime."
"How you feeling about that?" Dom asked. "I mean, you've heard what he's been up to, right? When Hector's over visiting family in Oakland, he sees Juice rolling with those bikers."
"I know," Letty said. She heard her mom talking to her aunt over the phone about Juan Carlos falling off the deep in and landing into a biker gang. "But he's familia. He's always had my back, so I at least wanna hear him out."
Dom was skeptical, and it wasn't without warrant. Everyone around town knew who the Sons of Anarchy were. The club's homebase was in Charming, a small Mayberry-like city, but their wreckage spilled far across California. Rarely did they roll through L.A, but they were spotted a few weeks back at a race.
"Please?"
He could never say no to her, so he agreed. Besides, whatever he needed couldn't be worse than Vince's plan to hijack trucks filled with electronics.
A roar of engines came from the distance.
"Dom..." Jesse's voice came from the office. "We got company."
Letty and Dom made their way out front, stopping at the sight of a tow truck and three Harley's parked in their garage, and Vince standing guard with the shotgun.
"I didn't expect him to show up today," Letty said. "Shit."
The men climbed off the bikes and approached, including Letty's cousin, Juice. Two other men hopped down from the tow truck.
"Well, is this how you welcome all your customers?" A long-haired blonde asked.
"Only the criminals," Vince replied.
"Did you get my call?" Juice said to Letty.
"V, cool it," Letty said, approaching the group with Dom on her tail. "Yeah I got it. What's up?"
"Can we talk somewhere?"
"Here is just fine," Dom said.
"This ain't exactly a convo for the public," said another biker, one with gnarly scars across his face.
Dom sighed and nodded them back to the office. Vince, Leon, and Jesse held their positions while Letty allowed a few of the bikers into the room.
Not one for being able to read a room, Jesse walked over to Juice's bike, "You remember me? We had a few classes together back in the day. Jesse?"
Juice smiled, "Of course. You built that cool robot for science class. I remember all of you. Can't believe you're still hanging out."
"Those your rides outside?" Another guy asked, "The blue one, and cute yellow one?"
Leon lunged but Vince held him back.
"Tig, chill please," Juice begged. "They're cool."
Back in the office, the bikers had Dom and Letty's attention, "I'm Jackson Teller, that's Opie, and Chibs."
"Shouldn't Juice be in here?" Dom questioned.
"Juice doesn't have clearance for this," replied Opie.
"Okay, spill," Letty said, lingering close to Dom as a precaution.
"We need help making a delivery to Nevada. We'd make it ourselves but we got too much heat on us. Juice said you need might be able to help us. We'd make it worth your trouble," Jackson explained.
"How much trouble we talking? A few years, or life?" Letty spoke.
The bikers looked at each other in silence.
"Look, I dunno what Juice told you, but we ain't that type of crew. We run clean. We fix cars with a little racing on the side. That's it," said Dominic.
"And the two years in Lompoc State Corrections for aggravated assault?" Chibs revealed the homework they did, "What part of clean is that?"
Jax gave his friend a look that told him to zip it, "What he means is, we come to you because we need someone from the underground. People who aren't afraid of getting their hands dirty."
"What're we moving?" All shocked eyes went to Letty, including Dom's.
"That's kinda classified," said Jax.
Dom snorted, "Then this conversation is over. See your way out."
"Listen, the less you know, the better," said Opie. "All we can tell you is we have to make this drop for an ally of the club. They can't do it so we offered, before we realized we had a tail. We're coming to you because the Prospect said you could be trusted."
"We don't want your trouble, either."
"How much?" Letty asked. "For the drop - how much?"
"Letty-" Dom tried but she stopped him.
"Just wait, D. Trust me," she turned back to their guests, "How much?"
"What kinda money you talking?" Jax asked.
"Enough that will make my family say yes to whatever twisted shit you're asking us to do. How much?"
"Twenty grand."
Dom was suddenly all ears. Twenty-thousand dollars was a lot more money than his family had right now.
"Twenty-five," Letty bargained.
"No way. We'll find someone else," Chibs said, turning to leave the office.
"Fine. Good luck," Dom replied, waving them out the door.
Jax sighed and grabbed Chibs' arm, stopping him from leaving.
"Twenty-five. Is that all?" asked Jax.
"No," she replied, "Can you find another tow-truck like that? Preferably not stolen," she smirked.
"We may be able to swing that," Jax grinned again. He found Letty sexy and he liked her take-charge attitude. "How can we trust you not to blow this whole thing up? Rat afterwards?"
"Because we know what happens to narcs. We live in LA. We're not dumb, and we're not suicidal," Dom spoke, stepping between Letty and Jax. He didn't like the way the blonde was eyeing his woman.
"We're putting our asses out there for Juice, so if this falls apart, well..."
"Then he doesn't make the cut," Dom finished. "We get it; we mess it up, he dies. We talk, we die. We know how gangsters work."
"So we got a deal?" asked Opie.
"Let us talk to our crew, get 'em on board. When is this going down?"
"Three days from today."
Dom held his hand out to Jax, "We'll talk soon, then."
The few exchanged handshakes before promising to be in touch. They made their way back into the main room, and Letty called Juice over to speak privately.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she whispered harshly, smacking her cousin upside the head. "Have you lost your mind?"
"I'm sorry, Letty," he said. "You guys were the only ones I knew we could trust with this job."
"That cannot be true," she said, infuriated.
"It is. Look, I know you don't approve of the club. Just like I know Mama doesn't approve, but I don't care. These guys have taken better care of me than she ever had, and you know that. All the drugs and abusive boyfriends, I had to get away from that. I'm better now, and I'm working really hard at something here, cousin. Something that I love."
Letty could see the plea in his eyes. She felt for him. He grew up tormented by kids in New York, and moving to Los Angeles during his early teenage years didn't make things easier for him. His mother, usually high on heroin, often left him alone during binges, or in the care of unruly boyfriends. He was a weird kid who wasn't into sports or arts, but knew his way around a computer. Letty often tried to get him into cars like the rest of their crew, but he was drawn more to two wheels then four. No matter what, she tried to keep him away from the very dangerous life he ran away towards. That didn't mean she loved him any less.
"Are you taking care of yourself?" She asked, placing a sympathetic hand on his cheek. It was the most affection she had shown to any man that wasn't her boyfriend, but she could tell he needed it.
"Yes," he gave her a genuine smile. "Jax's mom has been letting me crash at her place until my apartment is ready. Just tryin' to make the final cut, and this will help."
"Is it drugs?" She asked him.
"No," he replied quickly. "We don't run drugs. No one will get hurt, it's a friendly delivery."
"Letty!" Dom hollered over to her, "We good?
She gave her cousin one final look, "Yeah, we're good."
"We'll have Juice drop off the tow truck tomorrow, we'll go over the details then," Jax said, reaching his hand out to Dominic. Weary as he was, Dom shook his hand firmly.
As the bikers were mounting their rides, Dominic's sister Mia entered the garage. She locked eyes with the handsome blonde near the front of the pack.
"How ya doin' darlin'?" Jax greeted, giving her a wink before firing up his bike.
Mia blushed and waved, hurrying over to her brother's side as they watched the bikers back out.
"Who was that?" she asked, staring after the pretty boy.
"No one you'll ever know," Dom said firmly. "Go to the office, lemme talk to the guys."
"What the hell was that shit about, Dom?" Vince barked as soon as Mia shut the door to the office.
"Calm down, V. I don't want Mia to know about anything we do," Dom said as he leaned back on a nearby car.
"No, Dom, I'm not gonna calm down."
"Vince, shut up!" Dom yelled so loud that it bounced off the walls and echoed throughout the building. "Everybody just shut up for a minute."
Jesse - who always seemed to think Dom's yelling never included him - held his hand up, "Juice is a Son? How the hell did that happen?"
"His mom's a junkie and his dad is a ghost," Letty said, "Kid never stood a chance."
"So, what is this, Dom?" Leon asked.
"The Sons want us to do a delivery for them, to Nevada."
"Jesus Christ," Vince exclaimed, "And you were giving me shit for wanting to jack trucks? You want to work with gangsters? Killer white-trash bikers?"
"Chill out, V," Letty begged, putting a hand on his shoulder. "They're offering big money for a one-time deal."
"One-time? Don't be stupid, Letty," Vince snarled.
"And you're being a bratty dickhead," she bit back.
"How much, Dom?" Leon asked, curiously.
"Twenty-five G's and a new truck for the shop," Dom smiled over at his woman.
"What? We needed a new truck," she shrugged with a smirk.
"You do realize my guy is offering us a lot more for those trucks? Like, a chance to stack over a million from this?"
"This is for Juice. He's family, guys," Letty begged. "Besides, we'll use it as a test run. If we pull this off successfully, we can use that money for equipment we'll need for the trucks, if we decide to do 'em."
"And maybe they can owe us one," Leon said, reluctantly. "For our future criminal endeavors."
"We do need a new tow," added Jesse.
"You guys aren't seriously considering this, are you?" Vince asked incredulously. "Dom?"
"We could use that money now, V. Your job isn't for a few weeks. This is a good quick payday. I don't see any reason not to if the team's on board."
"V, think about it," Jesse went to him, "We just got those Honda's in. Fix 'em up and test 'em out on this run. Take the money and put it toward whatever upgrades we'll need. Maybe even have a little left over to tweak the Maxima."
Never one to disappoint the enthusiastic Jesse, Vince gave a curt nod.
"OK, but when this is all over, I don't want any of you giving me shit about these trucks. We're doing them. Understood?"
"Oh shut up, pumpkin," Leon laughed, tossing an old shop rag at his head. "We'll give the trucks a shot. Quit whining."