Chapter Twenty-One

“You gonna stick by me?”

“Maybe…”

**

“Holy shit,” was all I could think when Letty walked into the garage Tuesday afternoon. Her hair was down, curled a little bit around her shoulders. She was wearing a little white top that showed off her tits, a short black skirt that hit about five inches above her knees, and black boots. Looking back up to her face, I noticed a slight shimmer to her lips and eyes. “Makeup too?” I thought to myself, amazed. I’d never seen Letty looking like this before, all dolled up.

“Damn, baby,” I purred, walking up to her. “What happened to you?”

“My aunt happened,” she groaned, looking down at her feet. “With a little help from Clarice.”

“Clarice?” I questioned.

“My aunt’s best friend,” she explained. “Also known as the lady who does my aunt’s hair and lives to torture me with various beauty products. The two of them decided, since it’s my birthday and all, that I ought to look like a girl instead of a car mechanic… So first my aunt took me shopping yesterday, and then she drug me to the salon this morning. I look ridiculous, don’t I?”

“Remind me to thank your aunt, next time I see her,” I murmured, circling around Letty. “Ridiculous? Not at all. You look good. Damn good…”

“Really?” she asked, finally looking at me.

“Yeah,” I said softly, reaching up to brush a stray piece of hair away from her face. “Not quite as sexy as the grease-stained coveralls. But I’m gonna have my work cut out for me tonight, keeping all the guys away from you…”

“Guys?” Letty asked, a panicked tone to her voice. “Keeping guys away? Dom…what are you talking about? I thought we were all just going to hang out here tonight. What do you have planned? You really want me to go out looking like this???”

“You’ll see,” was all I said before taking her by the hand and leading her out to my car. “Here,” I said, handing her the keys.

Letty just looked at me for half a second. “You’re really going to let me drive? Your car? Dom, you been smoking crack or something?”

“Just don’t let this be a repeat of the first time I saw you drive,” I answered, laughing.

“Hey now, I was only eleven. And that was the first time I ever drove. I don’t think I did too badly…”

“Yeah, I’m sure that work bench you clobbered wouldn’t feel the same, though. And I’m pretty sure there’s still a dent in the wall of the garage…”

“I couldn’t reach the brake pedal!” she protested, smiling.

“Sure, sure,” I smirked at her. “Just make sure you can reach in my car…I just finished putting that new aero kit in, I don’t need any dents in my fenders.”

“Who just finished putting the new aero kit in? I know you didn’t just say you did…”

“Okay, okay, we just finished putting the aero kit in. Happy? Now…you gonna just stand out here arguing with me, or are you gonna drive?”

Truthfully, I was a little nervous about having Letty drive my car. I really hadn’t seen her behind the wheel since that day when she was eleven and nearly took out one whole wall of our garage while she was pulling my dad’s truck in. But after less than five minutes of being in the car with her, I knew I didn’t have anything to worry about. The girl could drive. Hell, almost better than me. I just sat back and watched her, giving the occasional direction.

“Here it is, on the right up here,” I finally said as we cruised down Sunset. “Just pull up to the valet.”

“You’re really gonna let some idiot valet guy park your car?” Letty asked, astonished.

“Well, now that I’ve let you drive it, might as well,” I teased as she reached over to lightly swat my arm. “Nah, you’re going to park it. See that spot? Right there, where the valet sign is? Park right there. Think you can do that?”

Letty just rolled her eyes at me. I was still laughing when I got out of the car, practically walked right into Jake, one of the bouncers.

“Dom,” he said, a little too loudly, showing his surprise. “What are you doing over here?”

“I’m getting out of my car, Jake,” I explained slowly.

“But…” he continued, as if he hadn’t even heard me. “On this side? What are you doing getting out on this side of the car? Who’s driving? You let someone drive your car? You never let anyone drive your car, not even when you drove that piece of crap back in high school…”

“And I’m not letting just anyone drive it now, Jake,” I replied, laughing as Letty walked up to us. “This is my girl, Letty. Letty, this is Jake.”

Jake just stood there with his mouth open as we walked past him.

“What the fuck is his problem?” Letty wondered aloud as we went inside.

“Well,” I replied, still laughing, “first off, Jake’s never seen me let anyone drive my car before. And second,” I continued, wrapping my arm around her shoulder, “I’m sure this is the first time he’s ever seen a girl as beautiful as you.”

Letty just stared at me for a few minutes with a stunned look on her face, like no one had ever told her she was beautiful before. “You mean that?” she finally asked, softly.

“Mean what?”

“You…you think I’m beautiful?” she repeated, hesitantly.

Before I could answer her, Frankie walked up to us. “Hey, Dom, long time no see, man. What are you doing down here?”

“Frankie,” I said, greeting him. “This is Letty. Letty, this is Frankie Maretto. The Caddy that was in the garage last week? His.”

“Ah,” Letty smiled, remembering the car. “Nice to meet you, Frankie. You really ought to take better care of that car, you know.”

“Hey now,” he protested, smiling back at her. “You think this club runs itself? I’m too busy to worry about the car. That’s what I pay Dom for. Now, for real, Dom,” he continued, looking over at me again. “What can I do for you tonight? You don’t come around for months and then all of a sudden you show up? You trying to get me shut down or something? Or trying to get Jake fired for letting your underage ass in here during business hours? You still got six months before you’re legal, don’t think I don’t remember that.”

“Hey, Frankie,” Letty said, interrupting him. “You got a bathroom in this place?”

“Hmm? Yeah, honey, of course… It’s over there, in the corner,” he replied, distractedly.

Letty looked at him for a few seconds, and I wondered if she’d go off on him for calling her ‘honey’, but she finally just walked off.

“So?” Frankie continued, not even noticing that Letty had left. “What’s up?”

“I need a favor, man. See, it’s Letty’s birthday today…”