Chapter Fifty** “You gonna stick by me?” “Maybe…” ** Hey Letty,” I said, sliding into her car. “Hey…what’re you doing over here?” she asked, sounding a little surprised. “Just wanted to see you before everything gets crazy,” I said, reaching over to tug on her ponytail a little. “Hey now,” Letty said as she turned to face me. “Don’t start…not till I‘m done with this. I can’t concentrate on driving if I’m lusting after you.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her. “Now you know how it feels…” “Hey, have you seen Jamie around?” she asked, changing the subject. “Yeah, I saw her over with Mia a few minutes ago I think. Why?” “Just…making sure she’s okay, you know?” Letty said slowly. “I think she’s nervous about being here…she’s never really done anything like this before. It’s weird - I feel like I’m responsible for her or something.” “Yeah, responsible for her corruption…” I laughed. “I know what you mean, though. Don’t worry ‘bout it, we’re all watching out for her. Especially Vince.” “Has he said anything to you about her?” “Nah…not really,” I answered, trying to force myself not to reach over and rub my hand down the length of her thigh, trying to hide my fascination with the skin left exposed by the laces that ran all the way down her leg. “But he’s definitely interested…I saw him watching her when you all were at the garage.” Hector walked up right then, giving me a strange look like he was wondering what I was doing with Letty. “Hey girl, you ready to do this?” he asked, leaning through the car window. “You know it,” Letty answered, smirking. “Good luck,” I said before I turned and got out of the car. “Yeah, like I need luck…” she laughed as she drove up to the start. “So…you two got a little something going on again?” Hector asked slowly as we walked behind Letty’s car. “Nah…” I said, leaving it at that. “Who’s racin’ tonight?” Hector looked like he didn’t really believe me, but he wasn’t gonna push it. “It’s Letty, Memo, Matt, and Edwin.” “Damn,” I laughed, “Edwin’s racing? You’d think he’d of learned by now that he might as well just hand over the cash and not bother even getting in his car…” “Yeah, I kept telling Memo that racing Letty was a waste of time, but he wouldn’t listen to me,” Hector said, shaking his head. “Well, he’ll find out soon enough…” “Yeah, just hope he doesn’t come bitching to me after he loses all his money to her. I don’t feel like listening to his bullshit tonight.” Just then we walked past my car and I saw Jamie standing there all by herself. “Hey, wait up a second,” I told Hector, and went over to her. “Hey Dom,” she said, stepping away from my car, like she was scared I‘d get mad at her for leaning on it or something. “Hey,” I nodded at her. “Where’s everybody?” “Uhm… Mia went to talk to some girls she knows… Then Amber said she was going to go find…Leon? And I haven’t seen Vince since we got here.” “Well, the race is gonna start soon, and you won’t see a thing from back here,” I said as I started to walk back towards Hector. “Come with me.” “Hey,” Hector nodded to Jamie when we got back up to him. “I gotta go up and get things started,” he went on, turning to me. “I’ll see ya later?” “Yep, I’ll be around,” I answered. “Why do guys do that?” Jamie asked as Hector walked off. “Do what?” I asked, turning to look at her. “That…head nod thing,” she explained, trying to demonstrate but failing miserably. She just ended up looking like she was choking on something. “I mean…can’t you just say hi?” “Hi?” I echoed, laughing. “Well…maybe not hi…” she said, ducking her head a little. “But something.” “I don’t know why guys do that…” I answered. “You should ask Mia, though. I’m sure Cosmo has a theory.” "So…how come you’re not racing or whatever tonight?” she asked. “I don’t race against Letty,” I laughed. “Why not?” “Well…first of all, it doesn’t really make sense to race against someone who’s on your team. Don’t make too much money that way. And second, me and Leon already pay Letty enough for working at the garage. I don’t need to be just giving her any more money.” “Oh,” she said as we got up to the line. “So…there’s money involved in this?” “You don’t have a clue what’s going on, do you?” I asked, laughing. “Uhm…not really?” “Okay,” I started. “Well, there’s Letty’s car, over on the left. Then Memo in the Acura Integra, Edwin in the Nissan Maxima, and Matt in the Civic.” Jamie just looked at me. “Wait, lemme do that again,” I said, sighing to myself. “You know Letty’s car, right?” “Yeah…” “Well, Memo’s driving the white car next to hers, Edwin’s driving the blue car, and Matt’s in the black one.” “Ohhh…” Jamie said, like she was just realizing what the hell I was talking about. “Okay, I get it now.” “Now, Hector - you remember who Hector is, right?” I asked, giving her a hard time. “I’m not a moron, you know…” Jamie replied, defensive. I just looked at her. I mean, when you don’t even know what a Honda Civic looks like, that’s just sad. “Well, not a complete moron…” she corrected herself. I just busted out laughing, couldn’t help it. “What?” she asked, putting a hand on her hip. “Nothing, nothing…” I said, still laughing. “Okay, so…what about Hector?” Jamie asked after a minute. I had to give her credit. Even though she didn't know what was going on and was only interested because of Vince, she was willing to learn. “Well, Hector gives the signal, and they take off,” I explained. “We’re good to go,” I heard Leon’s voice say over the walkie-talkie. “Here,” I continued, taking Jamie’s arm and kind of pulling her up closer to the line. “They’re just about to start now.” I couldn’t help but grin as I heard Letty’s engine revving. Nothing I love more than the sound of a motor purring. Well, nothing except the sound of Letty’s voice… “So…they all just line up and just go, and whoever gets somewhere first wins?” Jamie asked just as the cars took off. “Well…I guess you could say that…” I said, laughing a little. “There’s a little more to it, though. I mean…anyone can just drive down a street going 120 mph. But racing? You have to think about what you’re doing. You have to know how to clutch and change gears, you have to know what the other person is doing...when they might hit their NOS, when you should hit yours…” Jamie was just looking at me, her eyes glazed over a little. “You’re not getting any of this, are you?” I asked. Had to actually shake her arm a little to get her attention. “Uhm…not really…” she said slowly, looking over at me. “Okay then… Yeah, they just line up and go, and whoever gets to the finish first wins.” We just stood there for a few minutes, watching the race. Can’t really say what Jamie was thinking, but she looked like she was pretty into it. I know I was. When I watch Letty drive…it’s almost like I’m doing it myself. I know what she’s gonna do, when she’s gonna do it. Like she’s my second nature or something. Sounds weird, I know…but it’s true. “Hey…didn’t that guy just pass Letty?” Jamie asked when they were just a little past the halfway point. “Don’t worry about it,” I said, “he won’t be in front of her for long. Letty’s timing is dead on…maybe the best I’ve ever seen.” And, like she’d heard me and chosen right then to prove my point, Letty hit her second NOS tank and flew past Matt. She was almost two car lengths ahead of him when they crossed the finish line. “Whoo!” Jamie shrieked next to me, nearly blasting out my eardrums. “So…guess you decided you like cars after all?” I asked her, rubbing my ear. “That was so cool! Did you see that? How she just…wow! I mean…holy crap, I thought she was gonna lose, and then she just…” “I saw,” I said, but I don’t think Jamie even heard me. She just kept going on about the race until Letty pulled up in front of us. “Here ya go, girl,” Hector said, stepping up to her as she got out of the car and handing over the cash. “Thanks, man,” Letty said, grinning. “Where’s Mia? I need her to count this shit…I can’t even think right now.” Mia appeared out of nowhere and took the money from Letty, started counting. “Dang…” Jamie sighed. “Would you look at all that cash? How much is that?” she asked, turning to me. “Well…this race was what…two g buy in, I think? So the take’d be eight grand,” I answered, trying to be patient and not just go grab Letty and take her somewhere that we could be alone. “You’re telling me she just made six thousand dollars off that race?” Jamie asked, sounding shocked. “Yep.” “But that’s like…two, three months of working full-time! In like…fifteen seconds!” “Yeah, I know,” I laughed. “I’ve never even seen that much money all in one place before…” Jamie went on. I thought she might keep babbling forever, but just then Vince showed up next to me and she shut up. “Hey man, I’m gonna take off…head back to the house,” Vince told me. “You wanna come with me, J?” he continued, turning back to her and nodding towards his car. “Yeah,” Jamie said, smiling like he’d asked if she wanted a million dollars or something. “Yeah, that sounds good.” “Let’s go then,” Vince said, wrapping one arm around her shoulder and walking away. |