Chapter Thirty-Nine

“You gonna stick by me?

“Maybe….”

**

As soon as I got out of Mia’s car and saw Letty sitting on the porch, I knew something was wrong. And, since Vince’s car was in the driveway, I knew he prolly had something to do with it.

“What’d he do this time?” I asked as she walked up to me, not sure I really wanted to know. I could barely keep track of all the fights Letty and Vince had gotten into since he’d been home.

“Just his same old shit,” she answered, leaning against the hood of the car. She didn’t touch me, didn’t even brush her arm against me, and so I knew there were people at the house.

Just once, I wanted to be able to touch Letty any time I wanted to, without having to worry about who might see us. I wanted all the bullshit with Julie to be over, wanted my life back to normal.

Things hadn’t been so bad, over the summer. Letty and I just had to be careful at the races. But the rest of the time, at home and at the garage, we could act normal. At least until Vince got home, and started bringing all of his chicks around. Then it was like the races were going on all the time, people constantly in and out. Which meant that Letty and I had to be on our guard all the time - at my place, at Leon’s, everywhere.

“Fuck, Dom,” she muttered a few seconds later, looking over at me. “I don’t know how much more of him I can take…”

“It’ll be okay, baby,” I answered. “Why don’t you just go upstairs, get cleaned up, rest before dinner. I’ll take care of Vince…tomorrow. I want today to just be about us…I miss us…miss just spending time with you…”

“Okay,” she sighed, turning to walk inside.

Letty was quiet…subdued. That worried me. Usually she’ll bitch at anyone, for any reason, give back a million times worse than she gets. It’s only when Letty’s really upset that she doesn’t say anything at all.

“You asleep?” I asked softly, walking into her room nearly an hour later.

Letty was sprawled across the bed, on top of the covers, wearing a tank top and a pair of my sweats. Her hair was still wet, the water slowly seeping into her shirt.

“Nah,” she muttered, turning her face towards me. “Just resting.”

“Took your shower without me, huh?” I laughed, sitting next to her on the bed as I ran my hands over her back.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling back at me. Teasing, she continued, “Figured you’d joined in on Vince’s little orgy or something, you took so long getting up here…”

“Sure, that’s exactly what I was doing,” I said, kissing her shoulder as I leaned over her, massaging her back. “Vince would really go for that…”

“Well, you know, if he can’t get one of us to join in, might as well get the other, right?” she muttered, turning her face into the pillow.

“What?” I asked, not sure what she was talking about. “What did you say?”

“You heard me, Dom,” Letty said as she rolled over onto her back to face me.

“Letty,” I said softly, reaching down to stroke her face, “I have no clue what you’re talking about. Did Vince say something to you? About wanting you to…?” I couldn’t even finish the thought.

“Yeah, like he doesn’t say some shit like that to me every single day,” Letty snorted. “Not that he’s interested or anything…just to annoy me… Like I’m some whore…”

“I’m going to kill him,” I muttered, clenching the sheets in my fists.

“Can it wait till tomorrow?” Letty asked, smiling up at me. “‘Cause I’d kinda like to get the rest of that massage now…”

“I guess,” I said, trying to relax. I wanted to hit something though. Anything…but preferably Vince’s face. I couldn’t believe he’d been practically living at my house, eating my food, drinking my beer, and talking shit to my girlfriend.

I didn’t know exactly what Vince thought Letty and I were. Still hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him and explain everything that’d happened with Johnny. But I thought any idiot who spent as much time around us as Vince did would’ve noticed that something was going on with the two of us. ‘Course, Vince hasn’t ever been much smarter than your average idiot…

“Dom…” Letty said after a minute or two, sounding a little impatient. “Massage…now…”

“Okay, okay,” I laughed, forcing myself to stop thinking about Vince and how good it was going to feel to beat the shit out of him.

“Better?” I asked a few minutes later, running my hands over her skin one more time.

“Yeah,” she sighed, rolling onto her back.

We didn’t talk for a while, just sat there looking at each other.

“You know what I saw today, when I dropped Mia off?” I asked a few minutes later, breaking the silence.

“What?” Letty asked, pulling me down to her as she moved onto her side, facing me.

“There was a little girl,” I murmured, “just running around on the grass, playing. Looked like she was seven, maybe eight years old. Long dark hair that just…shone when the sun hit it…dark eyes… She looked just like you did when you were little. She could have been ours…”

“Poor kid,” Letty laughed, “if she looked like I did…”

“No, she was beautiful,” I replied, reaching over to run my hand through her hair, loving the feel of its cool, damp weight against my skin. “Just like you.”

“Okay Dom,” she said, still laughing. “You’re crazy, you know that? Or you’re getting Alzheimer’s or something already… ‘Cause…I was not a cute little kid…”

“Yes you were,” I protested, moving my hand down her side to rest against the slight dip of her waist, my fingers brushing against her hipbone. “You were beautiful… You’ve always been beautiful.”

“Now that sounds like you’re trying to flatter your way into my pants…” Letty said, smirking at me as she pushed her hands up under my shirt.

“Well…” I grinned back at her, feeling myself starting to get hard as she lightly ran her nails over my chest. “Wasn’t exactly planning on it, but I wouldn’t say no…”

“Good. ‘Cause I want you. Now.”

Within about five seconds, I’d pulled Letty’s shirt off, rolled her onto her back, and moved above her. I leaned down to kiss her collarbone, flicking my fingertips across her nipple. She squirmed underneath me a little, ran her hands over the back of my head. After a minute or two, she moved her hands to the top of my head, trying to push me down her body.

“Impatient, huh?” I growled, raising my head to look at her.

“Not impatient,” she replied, smiling. “Just…ready.”

“So…impatient, huh?” I repeated.

“Yeah, okay, whatever…” Letty laughed before pulling my face down to her. “Now,” she whispered against my ear, before pausing to kiss my neck. “I love you…but if you don’t get on with this already, I’m going to have to kill you.”

I laughed, kissed her once, long and hard, drawing out every second she would give me before moving down her body. My tongue traced a lazy trail across her chest, stopping at her collarbone and the very top of her tit before taking her nipple into my mouth. My hand moved from Letty’s hip to her thigh as I slid over so I was lying next to her again. I brushed tiny, invisible patterns into her skin until I felt her body shudder beneath me, searching for more. I sank my fingers into her as she arched up to meet me, my teeth lightly grazing her skin.

I was a little surprised when I felt Letty stiffening underneath me, her nails digging into my arms. “Damn,” I thought to myself, “she wasn’t kidding when she said she was ready…” But when I realized she was trying to push me away from her…