"What time did you tell them?" Clay asked Jax.
"I told Juice three PM. Not sure how long we have before those Feds catch up with us, though."
At that moment, three cars came roaring up the dirt road. Dom's Mazda, Jesse's Jetta, and Vince's Maxima stopped in front of the bikes, and five people stepped out.
"Glad to see you showed up," Jax smirked as he approached, "Sans shotgun."
"Don't be fooled - I still got the shotgun," Vince replied.
"Let's just get to business, shall we?" Clay said, closing the distance. He held his hand out to Dominic, "Clay Morrow, club President."
"Dominic Toretto, club President," Dom replied with a smile. "So, how does this work?"
"We'll meet out here tomorrow night, let's say 9:00pm. Load up our products and deliver to a group of men who'll be waiting. My men will ride along to make sure things go smoothly, of course."
"And what - after this is done, you just let us walk away?" Dom spoke. He wasn't afraid of these men, but he wasn't naive, either.
"You saying we shouldn't?" Clay asked sardonically.
"I'm saying I know anyone who knows club business that ain't apart of the club is a loose-end. A liability," Dom replied. "I know what happens to loose-ends. How do I know we make it out of this alive?"
"How do we know we can trust you?" asked Jax.
"Hey, you came to us for help, not the other way around," said Dom.
After a moment of silence, Jesse blurted out, "In a few weeks you'll probably hear about a few hijacked trucks - that'll be us."
All eyes went to him, and Leon smacked him upside the head.
"Come on, Jess!"
"Hit him again, and you die right now," Tig said, hand readily on his pistol.
"Tiggy," Clay said, calling off his man. "So, you guys ain't as squeaky clean as your records show."
"Doing what we gotta do to survive," said Letty. "Now that we know each other's deepest, darkest secrets," she glared at Jesse, "Can you assure us we don't get bullets to the head when this is all over?"
"We're giving you our word, which believe it or not, means something," Clay said. "This goes off without a hitch, everyone stays alive. We voted as a crew - that can't be ignored."
"Juice isn't full patch yet, but he's still family. We know he cares about you lot," the Scottie said. "As long as you can perform the way he says, we're all good."
The racers all shared grins.
"Now to be honest, a few of us have some reservations about using outside help for club business. Especially people we don't know," said Clay.
"What ... you want a presentation or something?" Dom asked with intrigue.
"Show us what those cute little cars are made of," Tig added.
"Line up your tricycle," Vince said with a smirk.
The bikers looked between each other before Tig stepped forward, "You're on. If I win, do I get a piece of the beanpie?" he said, eyeing Letty's short-cut jeans.
Dom's smile was gone as he glared at the biker, "What did you say?"
"Tig, shut up and get on your bike," Clay ordered. "Sorry, he doesn't have much home training."
"He says something like that again, I break that bike over his skull," Dominic bellowed.
"Guessing she's your Old Lady?" Jax said with a grin.
"Word of advice, kid - keep your woman out of the shit you do. Lot of bad things can happen to that... pretty face," Clay advised with a smile that made Letty's skin crawl.
"His lady is standing right here, and she would drop anyone of you faster than he will," Letty sniped back at the vulgar bikers. "A little respect goes a long way."
She didn't fear them anymore than the idiotic racers down at the warehouse. Only difference is they had even less respect for society.
"Agreed," Jax said, "If we're gonna do this, it needs to be trust on both sides."
"Your guy versus my guy. End of the road and back, loser sits out the job."
Clay gave an intriguing nod, "Let's see what I'm paying twenty-five grand for."
Vince slid in his Maxima and lined up next to Tig's Dyna. Both the bike and the import roared and kicked up smoke into the air. Jackson stood between the vehicles and pulled the black bandana from his pocket. He held it in the air for the countdown before dropping it to the pavement, sending both rides zooming down the road. The bikers cheered obnoxiously for their friend, all the while Team Toretto confidently watched on in silence. The race was close for a moment, with Tig giving it his all on his Harley, but when it was time to make the turnaround, it wasn't easy to slow down on two-wheels. V, on the other hand, snatched the E-brake and drifted around the Harley, giving his opponent the middle finger salute as he blew past him. By the time Tig got his barrings and hurried down the road, it was too late.
"Shiiet," Chibs muttered.
Tig parked his bike and hopped down, stalking toward Vince with a grin, "Come here, you little shit-"
"Tig, enough!" Clay yelled, once again calling him off. "Go back to the clubhouse before I let the little one kick your ass."
Dom and his team grinned on in amusement as the frustrated biker boarded his ride and peeled off, returning the offensive hand gesture to Vince in the process.
"Well, that was impressive," Jax said with a smirk. He looked at Chibs and held his hand out. The Scott reached onto his bike and gave the younger man a thick envelope.
He then handed it to Dom.
"Ten-thousand. You get the rest when the job is done."
He held his hand out, and Dom took it, shaking it firmly. The others followed suit, showing an attempt at respect between the two groups.
"Hey before you go, you mind if I get a closer look?" Jesse said to Clay, pointing at his Harley.
"Jesse-" Leon tried.
"Of course, kid," Clay smiled, standing away from the bike so the seventeen-year-old could crouch next to it. "You into bikes?"
"Not really, but my dad was before he went to prison. He loved Dynas."
"Jesse," Dom gave him an incredulous look, "Enough oversharing for today. Let's roll. We gotta get to work."
"Shit! Mr. Williams' transmission!" Jesse said as if a lightbulb had gone off in his head. He bolted over to the Jetta and hopped in before anyone else could react.
Jax and Clay exchanged looks.
"He's a peculiar one," Jackson said.
"You don't know the half," Dom responded. "Two days?"
"Two days. I'll have Juice give you a call," Clay replied. "And remember, Dominic... no talking about this to anyone - before or after the job."
"You just make sure you keep your word and we'll keep ours. Where I'm from, we don't narc, but we don't take any shit, either. Patch or not."
All of the men nodded and watched them burn out of the field.
"Well..." Clay said while reaching for his helmet. "That was interesting."
"To say the least," replied Jax, buckling on his own helmet. "We really gonna make Tig sit out on the job? We could use the extra eyes."
"Might be a good idea. He can stay and keep our Fed friends company. Besides, I don't want him getting into it with any of them, especially Vince. Don't wanna have to clean up any dead bodies right now." The president mounted his bike, but paused with a chuckle, "Could you imagine your mom riding with a kutte? Or sitting at the table?"
"I wouldn't underestimate Letty. She has a longer wrap sheet than all of them, the majority of her arrests for fighting - mostly men."
"Yeah, then there's Toretto's lovely assault on the racecar driver that killed his dad," Chibs said. "Two loose cannons."
"Like we got any room to talk," Clay said, "I like 'em."
"You would like them," Jax smiled, firing up his bike. "They'll be you and my mom in ten years."
"Woo! That was some great fucking driving, V!" Leon congratulated once they were back in their own territory - DT's.
"I agree, good work," Dom said.
"I was just glad to shut that punk up," Vince said, a small smile curling at his lips.
"Alright, take Jesse and Leon and do a rundown on everything we need for the Hondas. Make a list, I'll get it out to Harry."
The rowdy boys made their way out back to start working, leaving Dom and Letty alone in the room. He looked down at her, and could feel the worry pulsing from her energy.
"You alright?" he asked, closing his hand around hers.
"Yeah," she nodded, "Just wondering what the hell we're doing."
"Hey," he turned to pull her close to him, "You were all about this yesterday. No backing down now."
"I know, I know. It's just ... this is a huge risk we're taking. Not just working with the Sons of Anarchy, but driving what's most likely drugs or guns across state lines. What if we-"
"Don't," he cut her off. "Don't say that. We agreed to this because we're confident in our driving. We won't get caught. We just gotta make sure we keep on our toes around them, and keep our guys from doing anything reckless. We'll be fine."
She nodded and looked up at him with a sultry smile, "You know... I wouldn't mind seeing you on one of those Harley's."
Dom gave a cheeky grin, "Yeah? I was thinking the same thing."
As his hands made their way to her ass, a car pulled into the driveway.
"Ew, knock it off," Mia said as she strutted in with her school bags. "Where have you guys been? I stopped by here a little bit ago, the place was closed up."
"We had to make a parts run," he lied. "Here. Need you to count this, then put it away in the safe."
Mia took the envelope, frowning curiously while peeking inside. Her jaw slacked at the sight of cash stuffed inside.
"Where did you get this?" she asked.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is we can pay our bills, and there's more coming."
"And I'm supposed to just pretend like there isn't thousands of dollars in my hand? Are you guys selling drugs?!"
"Jesus, Mi, no. We aren't."
"Wait..." Mia said, "Is this why those bikers were here yesterday? Have you made some type of deal with them? Dominic Anthony Toretto, are you insane?!"
"Mia, relax," Letty said, "Chill out, girl. You know I wouldn't let your brother get into anything we couldn't handle. I'll be watching his back every step of the way. So will the boys."
"I'm more concerned with getting into business with dangerous bikers. It's bad enough that every cop in the city knows our names and cars. Now you want 'associates of SOA' to be tagged along with it?"
"It's just one job, Mi. We're just trying to help Juan Carlos," Dom explained.
Mia's face softened a bit, "JC? You found Juice?"
"He's a Son... well, almost," Letty said, "He's okay. He seems good."
Mia nodded. She had a soft spot for Juice, the same soft spot she had for Jesse. Kids who were dealt a shitty hand in life with very little in terms of guidance and support. She knew Juice pined after her years ago, and as cute as he was, she knew he was too shy to ask her out. They remained good friends until his sudden disappearance two years ago.
Mia sighed, "I guess this could help with the mortgage. And we could use some upgrades around the house."
"Then get to it," Dom smiled. "Whatever you think we need, make a list."
Mia nodded and made her way toward the office, "Don't think I'm okay with any of this, because I'm not."
"Love you, sis," he grinned, receiving an eye-roll in response. He turned back to Letty, his hands traveling back to her ass, "Now, where were we?"
"And get a room, you two! Nobody wants to see you groping each other."