| 17. Dom flew home. He entered the house not knowing what was waiting for him but ready to face the music. He was prepared to confess and beg Letty for forgiveness on his hands and knees if he had to. He�d eat broken glass and wash it down with bleach if that was what it took. He realized her loved her. Really loved her but he couldn�t tell her. Not now, not after what he had done. He couldn�t even explain why he had done it. He had just needed to get laid so badly and he had fooled himself into thinking he was protecting Letty�s virginity, waiting for the right time and all that shit. What a fuckin load! He was such a damn idiot! Letty would probably punch him and throw some shit, scream herself hoarse. Whatever she did, he deserved that and more and he would take whatever she dished out. Mia and the guys sat in the living room waiting for him. Dammit! Every one of them hated him. It was written all over their faces. There was no excuse for him cheating on Letty and they knew that. A stupid moment of weakness. That was all it was. It didn�t mean anything and if he could he would take it all back and never be weak again. Letty understood weakness very well. She had her moment before Dom even arrived. She never even heard him come thundering into the house. �Where is she?� Dom�s heart was racing. �She�s in the tub. You leave her alone, you stupid asshole!� Mia stopped him from bolting up the stairs. �I�ll check on her.� Mia stomped up the stairs and to the right out of view. Dom stood in the entryway shuffling his feet. He felt like total shit. He couldn�t even look the guys in the eyes. They could hear Mia knock on the door. They couldn�t hear when she tried to open it only to find it locked. �Letty? Letty, open the door.� Mia tried to sound as soothing as possible but it was hard to disguise her anger at Dom. No answer. There was silence behind the door. No sobbing, no sloshing water, no nothing. Mia knocked again. �Letty!� Her voice was louder this time. �Letty! You open the fuckin door now!� Still nothing. �Letty, God dammit! Open the fuckin door! Mia didn�t realize she was screaming. �Oh, God Letty, Please open the door!� The boys heard the terror in Mia�s voice and hauled ass up the stairs sounding for all the world like heard of elephants. Dom pushed Mia out of the way and kicked the bathroom door in. What lay before him would be with him forever. Until his dying day he would hold the vision in the back of his mind and bring it out of the dark occasionally it remind himself what a shit he had been and how lucky he was to have had her. Letty was unconscious, sprawled on the floor half propped up against the tub. He head lolled to one side and her arm floated in a tub of pink water that was getting redder by the minute. Mia was screaming again. Vince grabbed her and shook her hard to shut her up. Dom rushed into Letty and pulled her arm out of the water. Fresh blood oozed out of the deep gash on Letty�s wrist and ran over Dom�s hand. There was a razor blade resting on the bottom of the tub. She was so pale. Vomit rose up in Dom�s throat. He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her wrist and applied as much pressure as he dared without breaking the delicate bones therein. The next few minutes passed in a blur. Dom insisted on taking Letty to the hospital instead of calling 911. They�d treat it as a suicide attempt and make Letty undergo mental evaluations. She wouldn�t be able to deal with that shit. No, they�d tell the doctor or nurse or whoever that it was an accident that happened at the garage. There might be questions but they would make them believe. They took off leaving Vince and Jesse to clean up all the blood. Dom held Letty on his lap in the back of Mia�s bright blue ride. Mia was shaking too badly so Leon drove. They spent 6 hours in the hospital. The admitting nurse totally bought the bullshit garage story and no one said another word about it, suspicious or not. A kid that looked barely out of high school stitched up Letty�s wrist and bandaged it. He had asked Dom to wait outside while he worked because Dom�s pacing was making him too nervous to suture. It pissed Dom off. He didn�t want to leave Letty, but he did it. Fuckin Doogie Houser! Mia had been with Letty when she woke up. She didn�t want to see Dom so he prowled the hospital till Letty was released. Leon drove the girls home. Dom left the hospital after they had gone and started walking. He knew one of them would be back to pick him up before long and he wanted to give Letty some space. He knew Mia would take her back to the house. She would call Letty�s pop and let him know not to worry, then she would bundle Letty up in bed, crawl in next to her and just be there if she needed her. Dom walked another block before the images of a bloody Letty got to be too much. He ended up puking on the hedges in from of some swanky gated residence. That�s where Leon and Vince found him. On his hands and knees throwing his fuckin guts up and crying like a baby. Tears, snot and puke stained his face and shirt. Leon helped him up and V. punched him in the gut. Dom stumbled backward from the blow and then charged both Leon and Vince. �More!� He yelled at them rushing into their fists and heavy boots. They were more than happy to oblige and Dom just let them pound away. They beat the shit out him. Remorse, guilt, anger, pain, fear and love exploded all over Dom. He never threw a punch or blocked a single blow. He welcomed everything they gave. After the pain he had caused Letty, it was the least he could do. They threw him in the back of the car and drove home slowly hoping Mia and Letty would be asleep when they got there. Dom could barely walk inside the house but he did it on his own. He did have to lean on Vince who helped him up the stairs to the bathroom so he could clean up. Dom couldn�t be in the room for more than a minute without starting to loose it so Vince cleaned him up in his room. Leon brought him some Valium, hoping to knock him unconscious in another way. Dom took it and collapsed in a heap on the bed. 18. Everyone stayed the night. Mia kept Letty locked away. Vince slept in his favorite spot on the living room floor, Jesse had the couch and Leon crashed in the oversized chair in the corner. They slept till a little past one in the afternoon when Dom woke up screaming his fuckin head off. Letty scrambled over Mia and out the door of her room running to Dom. She beat the others and found him sitting in the middle of his bed sweating, glassy-eyed and still bellowing at the top of his lungs. The rest of them arrived just in time to see Letty bitchslap Dom back to reality. Letty leapt onto the bed behind Dom and put her arms around him like a tiger protecting her cub. He was still breathing hard and not quiet all there yet. Letty hugged him to her and rocked gently with him stroking his bruised face. Mia pushed the guys outta the room and closed the door. �They got stuff to work out. Who wants breakfast?� Mia headed downstairs followed by three half-starved overgrown boys. Vince was hot on her trail. �Can we have spaghetti?� That was V.�s favorite. He was such a little kid! Mia laughed at him. �Ok, spaghetti for you and pancakes for everybody else!� She said as she entered the kitchen. In the room at the top of the stairs Letty held Dom and traced her fingers over the patchwork of blue, purple and black that covered his chest and face. She could smell breakfast. Mia was making pancakes and what was that other smell? Garlic? Mia could get Vince to do just about anything for her spaghetti. That was the only way they could get him to do all that painting. Mia had agreed to fix pasta for breakfast every morning that he showed up ready to paint. They had had spaghetti for breakfast for a week straight before the job was done. Dom stared off into the corner of the ceiling letting Letty run her hands over him. She was still sitting behind him on the bed, propped up by his pillows, her bare legs on either side of him. She just kept petting him, calming him. After everything he had done, SHE was there comforting HIM! He caught her bandaged wrist carefully and kissed it gently. �I�m so sorry, Letty. So, so sorry.� He couldn�t bring himself to turn and look at her. Letty slapped him on the top of the head. �You should be Dom. But I�m sorry too.� At that he turned and stared at her. �Sorry you ever met me?� �I could never be sorry for that, Dom. I�m just sorry that I couldn�t deal with it last night. I hurt myself when I should have just stormed in there and tossed that skank out on her ass. Then I should have gotten in my car and run you over a couple of times. Although from the looks of you, somebody might think I did just that.� Letty sighed. �The boys worked me over pretty good.� Every bone and muscle in his body hurt. His heart and mind included. �Good. Remember that next time your tempted to whip it out and share it with someone other than me.� Letty was getting tired again. She crawled around him and settled in beside him under the covers. She curled up on her side with her back to Dom. �Then there�s a chance I can make it up to you?� Dom snuggled up next to her, spoon style and held her close. �Let me sleep on it.� She told him as she closed her eyes. 19. The next day Letty had Leon and Vince drag Dom�s beat up old desk into the back lot of the garage. She put the bloodstained clothes she had been wearing when she slit her wrist on top of the desk and the clothes that Dom had been wearing on top of that. Then she doused the pile of unwanted goods with gas and tossed a match on it watching it go up in flames. Letty inhaled the smoke letting it burn her lungs. Burnt offerings on an alter. She felt like dancing around it. Dom stood in the back doorway of the garage wiping his hands on a rag. Leon and Vince stood watching fire. Jesse tossed little bits of paper and trash into the inferno and watched at they sizzled and smoked. Letty walked over to Dom put her hand on his grime streaked, bruised face and kissed him softly. �I owe you a desk.� She said as she walked past him into the garage. Dom looked from the now blazing desk to Letty. Holy Christ on the cross! She�d just forgiven him. They went back into the garage and got back to work. Dom prayed that everything would be ok. That he wouldn�t fuck things up again somehow. Shit, if he ever did it again, he would have to just let Leon and Vince kill him and get it over with! Letty was working on a neon green Supra. It was beautiful! The owner had put about $75 grand into the car and the results were stunning. She had chosen a decal that started in vibrant red and gradually blended into bright orange and then a sunny yellow. It was awesome! Letty really did have an eye for color and detail and the owner was going to be more than pleased when he picked it up. She smoothed the tip end of the decal around the left taillight and stood back to survey her work. Dom came up beside her and whistled. �Damn, girl! That�s a thing of beauty! Good work.� Dom was really impressed. Letty turned and hugged him and then went to check on the fire she had started earlier. She wanted there to be nothing left but ashes. She planned to wash them all down the gutter and never think about it again if she could help it. The fire still smoldered. Embers blazed red and crusted over to black before turning to gray ash. Letty watched small bits of it float away on the breeze. Satisfied that soon there would be nothing left she went back into the garage. Play time. She found Dom under the hood of a Civic. He was in the zone. Working where he tuned everything else out till there was nothing but him and the car he was working on. Letty knew the zone well. It sucked to be snatched out of it and she knew Dom would be pissed if she bothered him so she snuck up on him and smacked him on the ass just for the hell of it. �What the f�� Dom looked up as Letty bent over the engine he was working on. He bumped his head and banged the shit out of his knuckle but it was worth it for the view he got of Letty�s cleavage. He remembered the first night he had ever touched her, how her nipples had felt against his palms and his pants were suddenly two sizes too small in the crotch. He hoped to God that at some point Letty would let him touch her again. He shook his head and looked at her. What was he doing? Oh, yeah, the Civic�He was a little dazed. �You want pizza or Chinese?� She knew he was trying not to look down her shirt so she leaned over further giving him a better view. It was a loaded question and he knew it. There was only one right answer and it wasn�t Chinese. �Pizza with extra Cheese. You getting a movie?� Dom rubbed the knot on his head. They were alone in the garage. Letty pulled off the work pants she had on over her jeans and threw them on the pile of other garage gear that needed to be laundered. Dom could see the side straps of a bright pink thong peaking over the top of her low riders and his mouth started to water. Letty paid him no attention and went about changing her clothes. �Yeah, Leon is bring another one of his �girlfriends� over and I think Jesse is too, so I thought I�d pick one up to set the mood.� Letty whipped the sweaty tank top she had been wearing all day over her head and shoved it in her bag. �Great. A chick flick�� Dom lost all knowledge of the English language at that point. He stared as Letty rummaged around in her bag for a clean shirt. She was wearing a lacy bright pink bra. Matching underwear. Dom almost swallowed his tongue. Letty pretended that she couldn�t find the little black tank top that she had brought from home as she searched through her bag. She walked over to Dom�s locker where she knew he had a stack of clean white wifebeaters. She opened the door and took one out. �Do you mind?� She asked as she slipped the shirt over her head and smoothed it down. She smiled at Dom and thought �this is fun. Payback is such a bitch.� Dom could only shake his head. Hell no! He didn�t mind! 20. Three of the best sexless weeks of Dom�s life passed since the night he had screwed up so badly. Letty�s stitches came out. His bruises and cuts faded and healed. His heart was much lighter and he was happy. Letty was happy. Things were good. The crew was over all the time. They watched movies and hung out. The dawgs would get drunk and he would let Letty sip his corona occasionally and then kiss her senseless because he liked the combination of Letty and beer. He took her out to dinner a few times. Did the whole �couple thing�. He took her to a movie and held her hand. Once he ordered the most expensive pink roses he could find and had them delivered to her at work. The expression on her face when the delivery guy brought them in was worth ten times what he paid for those flowers. He had gotten fiercely protective of her and when the delivery guy had given Letty a good once over, Dom had chased him out of the garage with a wrench. They all got a good laugh out of that. And Letty was extremely possessive of Dom. Racer chasers from all over came and tried to get with him. They would smile and flash their tits at him or rub up against him, anything to get his attention. Dom would smile back or make small talk but that was it because once Letty showed up the bimbos cut her a wide path. Letty had gotten a reputation for being a mean little bitch. The girl she had popped in high school for calling her a lesbian had shown up at a race and made a bee-line for Dom. When Letty spotted her with her hands on him, she lost it completely and knocked her flat on her ass in front of the entire crowd busting her nose job all to shit. Dom and Leon had had to restrain Letty for fear that she would have scratched the chick�s eyeballs out too! She was all wild-eyed and snarling and it had taken both of the grown men to settle her down. Dom ended up leaving the race early and taking Letty for ice cream. Leon, Vince and Jesse met up with them back at the fort with a wad of cash. Leon and Vince had both won their races that night. Jesse hadn�t raced. Hector had been sick so he had stood in to hold the cash. Yup! Life was good! Dom prayed it would only get better. The night did, a whole crowd of people from the race filled into the house and they partied till dawn. The party was a raging success, even though the Grease Ball had shown up again, uninvited. The dude still didn�t have a clue. Either that or he had a death wish. Dom took the trash out himself this time before the guy had a chance to molest his sister or his girl. He grabbed him by the throat and walked him out onto the porch and then pushed him off sending him flying. The dude came up swinging and Dom took him out with one punch. It was a good solid blow that left the guy laying in the front yard for several hours. Dom spent the rest of the night in the overstuffed chair in the corner with Letty on his lap. They watched people dance and made out. Dom laughed whenever another girl got too close to them. Letty would get stiff and ball her fists up ready to fight off any hootchie that crossed over into her territory. 21. The day after the party was a quiet Sunday. Everyone was still hung over except for Dom who had nursed one corona all night, and Letty who was still underage but was able to snag a few sips once in a while but not enough to get knee-walking drunk. The dawgs had gone home hours ago to sleep it off as had Letty but she was back sprawled out on the couch watching a movie barely after sunrise. Mia was studying as usual; she really, really wanted to get into medical school. Dom didn�t roll outta bed till after two or so. He was only one of the three H�s that day and it wasn�t �Hung over� or �Hungry�. Dom was Horny with a capitol �H�. He took a cold shower and went downstairs for some grub still itching for the action that he knew he wouldn�t be getting any time soon. Letty still hadn�t forgotten his indiscretion with whatsherface and while she had forgiven him, he wasn�t about to push the issue and try to get into her pants until she pretty much gave him permission. He heard Letty�s music before he got halfway down stairs. It wasn�t loud enough to be heard upstairs through closed doors. She thought he was still sleeping and didn�t want to disturb Mia so she had quietly cleaned up the remainder of the last nights party and just hung out watching movies and listening to that stuff she liked. It was some kinda ska-punk Jamaican shit that he never could understand the words to but always had a really good beat. Dom got to the bottom of the stairs and stopped cold. Letty was dancing barefoot in his living room. Her hips bounced with the beat of the music and her baggy black cargos slipped further down revealing more of the small of her back and pale pink thong and almost completely covering her feet. Her hair was loose instead of pulled up the way she always wore it at the garage and it swung like a black curtain over her back. Letty was wearing the wifebeater that Dom had �loaned� her and one of her black bra straps had slipped down her arm almost to her elbow. She moved with such grace. She was almost liquid. Her body moved like a belly dancer�s would only slower and in time to the music. It was very seductive and Dom reacted to it the any normal red-blooded American male would. He got a serious stiffy! Did she know he was watching her? Could she feel him standing there practically drooling? Was this little show for his benefit? Letty continued dancing setting her pace to the music. At one point the music jumped and Letty bounced down into a squat and slapped the hardwood floor beneath her naked feet before popping back up and shaking her booty in slow circles that made Dom think of� �Uhhemm�� Dom cleared his throat. Letty kept dancing. �Uhhemmm�� He did it again. Louder that time and Letty spun around to see who was watching her. �Shit Dom! Don't you know not to sneak up on people?� Letty patted her chest as if she had been scared half to death. She really hadn�t known he was there. �How come you don't dance like that when we party?� Dom really wanted to know, almost glad that she didn�t because every dawg in a three mile radius would sniff her out. �I don't know. Probably cause I only ever get to dance with Mia and she�s like my sister!� She was so embarrassed. She thought he was asleep, she knew she couldn�t really dance but he didn�t need to make fun of her. �I hope that doesn�t make me like your brother? He said shooting up and eyebrow at her. �Get a life and quite making fun of me. I don't like it.� Her temper was starting to bubble up. �Letty, I�m not making fun. You move like�sex�when you dance. I couldn�t take my eyes off of you.� He went to where she stood in the center of the living room and put his hands on her hips. �Dance with me.� She stared at him for a moment considering his request or was it a demand? Either way, she slowly started moving, letting the rhythm wash over them both. Her hips swayed and bumped and Dom learned the steps she made up as she went along. His hands never left her body as they danced. Letty turned her back to him and continued to sway, sticking her butt out slightly and bumping Dom in the crotch before drifting away from him again. Dom stared at the top of her head. Her hair was so dark. He lifted her hair and held it out of the way while he brushed a kiss along the back of her neck. Letty had beautiful shoulders. One of her bra straps had fallen down and again and he swept it up her arm back to its perch. The lacy fabric burned his fingers. The music stopped but they kept dancing. Letty�s hips dipped and swayed, did figure 8�s. Dom�s hands flitted over her as she moved. �Damn! Yall get a room!� Laughter erupted from the hall behind them. 22. �Fuck you!� Letty grabbed a pillow and hurled at Vince and Leon who had happened upon their little Fred Astaire/Ginger Rodgers session. Shit! They�d be laughing at her for weeks to come. �Aw, Letty, don't be mad! I was just playing, damn!� They came in and dropped on the couch waiting for the show to start again. �Yo, get the fuck outta here! Go out back or in the kitchen or somewhere. Anywhere!� Dom literally pushed them out of the living room. �Letty, babe. Don't be mad. They didn�t know.� Dom saw the bitch in Letty start to bare her claws and then recede. �I�m hungry, Dom. I think you should feed me.� Letty said as she rubbed her belly. �Anything you want, babe.� Dom went out, got the boys and left to pick up some food. They came back half an hour later with corona and Mexican food. Letty and Mia had set the picnic table and were ready to eat when they arrived. The food was gone almost as soon as it was put on the table. The salsa was hot enough to melt lead but it had been finished too. Mostly because Letty and her cast iron stomach had sucked down like water. Jesse had tried it and ended up running into the house for ice. Letty called him a baby and slapped him on the back as he held the ice to his scorched tongue. Mia cleared the table as she always did. Not that there was much to do. Take out food was her favorite. No dishes to wash afterwards! The boys were shooting hoops and Letty was chilling in the hammock watching them play. Dom shot her a smile every time he made basket. Mia watched as her brother and best friend made eyes at each other. She knew Dom would sell his soul for Letty and she knew too that Letty would follow him into the fiery pits if he did. What a pair! Mia joined Letty in the hammock and they sat side by side. �You know he loves you, don't you?� Letty looked over at her friend and smiled. �Yeah, I know. The Big Dawg loves me.� �Have you guys�you know?� It wasn�t any of her business but she still wanted to know. �Damn, girl! You�re not nosey at all are you?� Letty laughed, �Not yet, but soon. Really soon. Like within the next 24 hours soon. I can�t stand it. I�m dying here, Mia!� Dom called to Letty, �babe, get me a beer?� �Duty calls!� Letty laughed to Mia and got out of the hammock, grabbed a corona out of the cooler. She took it to Dom who was sitting with the boys on an old shit heap of a car. They had been planning on fixing it up since before he went away and now they were deciding where to start first. Letty handed the beer to Dom and looked at him longingly. She wanted to have him to herself for a while later. She hoped he could tell that from her glance. He must have picked up on cause he swatted her on the behind as she left and nodded to her. Maybe tonight would be the night. 23. Leon and Jesse had dates so they left early. Vince stayed around buggin Mia about when she was gonna given in and go out with him. As always she just smiled and turned him down. She knew he loved her and she loved him�like a brother. Mia walked him to the door, kissed him on the cheek and told him goodnight before she went upstairs for a shower and another never ending study session. Letty and Dom were still where she had left them earlier, swinging in the hammock. Dom had gotten in first and pulled Letty in beside him. He hung one long leg out and used it to push them back and forth. The ropes squeaked reminding him of a certain mattress that he�d like to have Letty flat on her back on. A naughty smile spread across his face at the thought and Letty busted him. �Penny for your thoughts?� She propped herself up on his bicep looking at him. What was going through that baldhead of his? �Awe babe! You don't wanna know!� Dom laughed, a little embarrassed. �Sure I do!� What ever it was if it made Dom blush like a bride it had to be good! Letty waited for him to say something. �Well?� Was this torture or foreplay? He wasn�t sure. �I, uh, was just thinking about you�� Really? Letty was intrigued. �What about me, Dom?� Dom cleared his throat. He couldn�t say �Geez, Letty I was thinking about throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you upstairs where I would promptly remove any and all clothing from your body and fuck you silly� so he went with �Just how beautiful you are.� �Is that right? Cause from the look on your face I was sure it was gonna be something juicy and X-rated. I�m a little disappointed, Dom.� She lightly punched him in the side to emphasize her point. �Here I thought I was gonna get something new instead of the same old �your beautiful� stuff. Guess I�m gonna have to start reading trashy romance novels�� �Fine! I�m busted! I was thinking dirty thoughts. You happy now?� Kill me now, Letty. Just fuckin kill me now! Dom wanted to hide from her for the first time ever. �What kinda dirty thoughts?� She smiled at him sweetly and batted her eyelashes before stretching up as far as she could and kissing him on the underside of his lightly stubbled chin. Her hand snaked under his wifebeater and moved over his chest skimming over flat male nipples and hard abs. Torture! Pure hellish, wonderful torture! He wanted to grab her hand and shove it down his pants. Fuck! He doubted there would be enough room in his pants to squeeze her hand down in there! �Uh, well�� Change the topic, Dom. Distract her. �I have a confession to make, Letty.� |