| Chapter 13 When Johnny and Lance Tran pulled up at the garage, Leon was the only one there, save for Marc, who was buried in a mountain of paperwork in his office. Leon looked up from under the hood of the Talon that he, Dom and Vince had been working on all afternoon. The other two had gone to pick up some valve covers for a car that was due in tomorrow. Johnny and Lance emerged from their cars. Both dressed in smart and expensive leather jackets. Wearing mostly black. Looking rich, which came almost too naturally with them. Acting like their shit didn't stink. Leon wouldn't be overly surprised if it actually didn't, with the amount of money they had. "Where's Dom?" Johnny asked, getting straight to the point. He had no time or patience for idle chit-chat. He glanced around the garage like Leon had seen people looking around for cops at the races a week ago. He was almost nervy, in the cool, calm and calculated way that Johnny did everything. "Not here" Leon replied, rubbing his greasy hands on his navy jumpsuit, "Him and Vince won't be back for about another hour. Went to make a pick up for Mr T". Johnny didn't look overly happy about this, but Lance didn't seem to mind at all. He pulled a manila envelope from a pocket inside his leather jacket. Johnny looked at him warily for a moment, and they seemed to war silently for a second, just looking at each other, before Johnny shrugged and gave in. Lance pulled a pen from another hidden pocket inside his jacket, and wrote a quick note on the front of the envelope. "Give that to Dom" Lance instructed, holding out the envelope to Leon, "Tell him we're moving into a higher tax bracket". Leon rubbed his hand on the leg of his jumpsuit again before taking the envelope, not wanting to mess it up and have the Trans think any less of him than they already did. Trans = bad news. "Thanks" Lance gave him a fake smile, but Leon didn't think he knew how to smile any other way. He and Johnny were constantly accompaning their fathers to meetings and conventions and lunches with associates. They'd already become hardened, money-grubbing and mercinary, like their fathers. Johnny didn't even go for the fake smile. He just looked at Leon for a moment, silently warning him not to get on his bad side, and then they were gone. Leon looked at the envelope in his hands. Lance's neat, spidery hand writing was on the front, reading 'let your boy Leon in on this', and the envelope hadn't been shut by being licked and stuck down, the flap at the back was just tucked in. The niggling need to know what was inside started almost instantly. Leon decided pretty quickly to wait for Dom and Vince to come back, but that didn't make him any less curious. It felt like the letter or whatever was inside was pretty heavy and fairly thick, assuming it was a letter. Perhaps he *should* look inside, to see what he was being let in on? "Leon" Marc stuck his head out of the office, and Leon almost jumped a mile in shock. Instead, he dropped the envelope. "Um, yeh?" Leon asked, glancing down and finding that it had landed just past a puddle of motor oil. "Jus' checkin' up on how you're goin' with the Talon. The boys should be back soon" Marc gave him a genuine smile, not seeming to notice the guilty look that Leon could supress, even though he didn't know what he was feeling guilty about. "I'm comin' along great, Mr T. Should be ready for pick-up by tomorrow" he answered, glancing back at the Talon so that he didn't look so preoccupied with the envelope that lay at his feet. Marc didn't seem to have noticed it yet. "You're a savior" Marc grinned at him, teeth almost blinding white against the honey brown of his skin, "Dominic and Vincent would've taken weeks to get that done. They're haven't quite grasped 'time management'". Leon smiled at the praise, and breathed a sigh of relief as Marc retreated back into the office, shutting the door softly behind himself. Leon crouched quickly and snached up the envelope, moving over to the relative cleanliness of a work bench. Wiping his hand again on his jumpsuit for good measure, Leon carefully peeked into the envelope through the opening, which wasn't shut properly. All he could make out was the glossy shine of a photo. The roaring engine of Dom's MR-2 almost caused him to drop the envelope again in his haste to make it look as though he was just idly standing there, not trying to pry into Dom's personal messages. Vince and Dom emerged from the car, not looking overly happy. They weren't due back for an hour, as Leon had told the Trans. He guessed this meant the valve covers hadn't been there for them, ready to pick up, as promised. "No valve covers?" Leon guessed, as they came into the garage. The sour looks answered stronger than words. "Nope" Vince grunted, noticing the envelope in Leon's hand, "Tran been here?". Dom's gaze instantly cut to the envelope. "Uh, yeah. Johnny and Lance said to give this to you. They, uh, Lance said to tell you they were moving to a higher tax bracket or something" Leon handed the envelope over to Dom, who snatched it away from him, and read over Lance's fancy hand writing. He glanced up at Leon, then showed the note to Vince, who took a moment longer than Dom had to read it. He too glanced up at Leon, before casting a questioning look towards Dom. "C'mere" Dom waved for Leon to follow, and the three of them moved to the opposite side of the Talon to where Marc was in the office. Dom sat on the cement floor, careful to avoid oil patches and other such things. Vince followed suit, so Leon caught the line and did the same. Dom opened the envelope, pulling out a bunch of papers, and a few photographs. Dom raised his brows, ebony eyes widening, as he looked a the photo, the papers resting in his lap, disregarded for now. He flicked quickly through the pictures, before handing them to Vince. The way that V's look mirrored Dom's exactly when he saw the first photo was almost comical. Dom picked up the papers in the meantime, skimming over the computer printed writing. Vince handed the photos to Leon. The one on top was of a mighty impressive looking 1998 Dodge Neon, sitting parked on someone's front lawn. From what he could see of the house in the background, it looked like some place he'd expect the Trans to live. The car was silver, with darker silver flames along the sides, starting at the headlights. The second photo was of a royal blue 1998 Dodge Avenger ES. It was parked under some trees at a picnic area Leon had never seen. The next was a black 2002 Lexus GS-Series, parked outside a shopping centre. Then a cobalt 2001 Lexus IS-Series, outside a hotel. Then what appeared to be two street racers in the last two pictures. A red Nissan Skyline GTS25t and a 1996 Honda Civic with a chrome paint job and blue flame decals. "Who's cars are these?" Leon asked softly, figuring this was something that wasn't to be shared with everyone, because they were hiding from Marc. "Don't matter" Vince shrugged, "They'll all be someone else's soon". Leon frowned and looked up at him from the photos. Dom and Vince both had computer generated sheets of information in their hands now. "Wotchoo mean?" he asked, not liking sounding clueless about everything, always asking what he meant, but right now, he didn't really have a choice. If he was going to be in on this, he had to know exatly what it was that he was in on. "We're gonna boost 'em" Dom told him, not looking up from the papers he held, "And Tran'll sell 'em. Fifty-fifty split on the profit". Leon took a long moment to let that sink in. He was going to steal six majorly expensive cars, and hand them over to Tran, who would sell them somehow. He was going to be a car theif. He was going to be a felon at age 17. He was going to go to prison. "How?" he choked out, not knowing what else to say. It was a plausible question. How in hell would the three of them steal six highly priced, highly insured, and highly protected vehicles? "Go to these addresses. Break into the garage. Take the car. It's simple. We've managed, easy enough" Vince pointed a thumb towards Dom, indicating that he and his best friend had been doing these jobs on their own before Leon had been let in on the arrangement. "You don't have to help, if you don't want to" Dom said, looking up from the papers, "It'd be an easier task if you did, but it's not impossible without you. It's your choice". Both Dom and Vince turned their gaze on Leon, waiting for his decision. Leon stared at the photos in his hands, still trying to get over the initial shock of being asked to help to commit a serious crime. His first thoughts were of prison. Of being thrown behind bars with the sociopaths and rapists and murders. Then he thought of Skye. Of Jason and Daron, and even Luis, for a few brief moments. What would they think, if they ever happened to find out? Leon was sure that if his father knew of anything to the effect of him breaking the law, he would break his legs and probably drown him in the ktichen sink for the aggravation he'd caused. And if he was caught, which at this point seemed inevitable, what would become of Jason and Skye? With him gone, who would Luis vent onto? His last thoughts were spared for the money that was sure to be involved. Six very luxurious, very high performance and very highly priced cars. Even Leon knew that had to fetch something somewhere in the seven figures range. The question was: Was it worth it? Would he commit a crime for that money? Would he endanger himself, and his friends, and on a broader scale, his family, for that money? Did it really mean that much to him? Was he even going to do it for the money? Or would it be for Dom and Vince? Because they wanted him to? Because they were his friends, and they needed him? The latter made up his mind for him. "A'ight. I'll do it" he decided. He could always pull out, right? It wasn't like he had to sign a contract in blood, binding himself for all eternity to them and the arrangements they had with Tran. It was still his life, and his choice, in the end. "Had me goin' there" Vince grinned, breathing out a breath of relief, showing Leon just how much they needed his help on this. Dom offered an appreciative smile, and Leon accepted it with one that told Dom he could count on him. "Alright" Dom collected all the papers up, taking the photos as Leon held them out to him, and put them all back in the envelope, "Leon, your parents gonna be in tonight?". "Ah, yeah. Think so" Leon answered. Perhaps Luis would go to the pub, it *was* Saturday night after all. And perhaps Skye would go over to Slim's for a smoke, beer and popcorn on the couch in front of a chick flick. But that all depended on their moods, which changed more often than Elizabeth Taylor's marital status did. "V?" Dom turned his questiong ebony gaze towards his friend, who shook his head, scratching at his dark brown hair, then running his fingers over the three day stubble that always seemed to be there. "Yeah. The girls an' Lex got that little birthday party, remember? Mom'll be home from work early to pick 'em up" he said, and Dom let out a sharp breath. "Damn. My Mom's closin' the shop early tonight. Dad too..." he detailed his own situation. "My parents might go out" Leon offered after thinking about how easy it would be to get Luis to the bar, and Skye to Slim's, "Dad'll probably go to the bar, an' I can get Skye to go to Slim's pretty easily. Jason'll be in bed and Daron'll be drunk or stoned, passed out either way". Dom nodded, deciding this was their best bet, "Alright. Your place then. Nine tonight". Leon nodded, and Vince did the same. Chapter 14 On his way home from Vince's, after dropping Lex home, then having a quick drink and a breif, forced game of skip-rope with Abbie and Jamey, Leon made a quick directional change and crossed the road to Hector's, where his friend was out the front, on the driveway, rubbing a soapy sponge against the side of Chucho's Celica. His cargo shorts and t-shirt were splashed with water and soap suds, and the hose was dribbling away near his feet. "Hey Hector" Leon called as he stepped up on their lawn, which was mostly a golden colour from being burnt by having spinklers on during the day, then leaving the wet grass under the unrelenting L.A sun. Hector glanced over his shoulder, not having heard Leon coming up behind him, then stood and offered a genuine Hector-smile. "Ay Leon. Sup, man? You bin workin'? Coz you look like shit" he asked with a cocked eyebrow, quiet-withdrawn-Hector all but gone. He was glad to see him back, having missed the loud, brash, and somehow charming Hector last night. Leon didn't forget that other person, though, and even though he wasn't sure this was the time or place to speak about it, he didn't want to leave it too long. "Uh, wotchoo doin'?" Leon asked, digging his hands into the pockets of his jeans, deciding it was best to begin with the small talk. As soon as he'd said it, he realised how stuid the question was, because the answer was sitting right in front of him, covered in soapy water. Hector raised an eyebrow, smirk in check, "I'm cultivating a crap factory right here on our front lawn. And you?" "I'm trying to work out how long you can keep up the act" He could've sworn Hector paled, if it was possible with his latin skin tone, darkened considerablly by spending so much time under the hot L.A sun. It only last a tenth of a second though, before Hector recovered. "OK, I suppose that performance *was* a little transparent" Hector acted as though he didn't know what Leon was really talking about, "What I'm actually doin' is washing Chucho's car". "You know I'm not talking about that, Hector" Leon answered clamly. He felt an urge to get angry. Frustrated. Because he didn't like being sidestepped around, and Hector was the king of sidestepping, but he didn't. Hector was not going to open up to him if he psyched and bit his head off. And the last thing he needed right now was Leon angry at him, on top of his father. "Well, when you wanna let me in on what you're talking about, I'll gladly join the conversation" Hector answered, turning his back to Leon, grabbing the soapy sponge from the bucket by his foot and beginning to rub the suds over the roof. If it'd been day, he would've had to work in sections so that the suds didn't dry and stain his brother's car. Not now though, with the sun halfway through setting. He could soap up the whole car, then hose the whole thing down instead of going back and forth between the bucket and the hose. Then it was on to the 300GT. Leon moved up to stand beside Hector, almost touching the suds that lazily oozed down the side of the Celica. The light breeze ruffled his shirt, causing him to end up with a wet patch or two. "I know how you feel, Hector. I know how scared you are. But you can trust me, I swear" Leon said softly, considering this to be another one of those things that you don't share with anyone and everyone. Hector didn't even look at him, just kept up the steady circular motions he had going on the car roof, "The offer still stands, Leon. Tell me wot we're talkin' about, and I'll gla.." "Your Dad. I'm talkin' about your Dad. About wot you told me last night" Leon interrupted, giving in to Hector's teasing. Hector paused in his car washing, staring at the car to so that he didn't have to look at Leon. "I thought we agreed to forget it" he stated, trying to resume his cleaning. It wasn't something he wished to discuss with anyone, ever. And he didn't understand why Leon was so intent on forcing him to speak about it. What did he care? What did anyone care? "That was until it came to my attention that you lied" Leon chose his words carefully, not wanting to dob Vince in. With his choice of words, it could be taken either way. Either someone told him, or he worked it out himself. Hector didn't seem to know which way to take it, because he just looked sidelong at Leon and didn't say anything. When Leon opened his mouth to continue, Hector interrupted, "Wot do you care, Leon?". The question caught him aback. What did he care? *Why* did he care? Because he considered Hector his friend, that was why. And in his experience, that's what friends did. They cared. "Coz I thought we were friends" he shrugged, it now being his turn to be the uncomfortable one. "We are. But I'm friends with alot of people. And you're the first one...you're the *only* one who's bugged me about this after the first time I politely asked you to fuck off outta my business" Hector answered, putting down the sponge and bucket, then bending to retrieve the hose. Leon was somewhat glad to see that atleast part of the Hector he rathered was still present. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but, it'll get to you, Hector. Sooner or later" Leon warned, taking up the leading position in the conversation again. The return of control made him feel better, more at ease. "Yeah. Right" Hector answered, turning on the hose a directing the steady stream towards the hood of Chucho's car, taking up his position in the conversation, and putting up his defenses. He could be as stubborn as Letty or Dom, if he really wanted to be. Stubborn as Vince, if he *really* put his mind to it. "Hector..." Leon began, trying desperately to hold down his frustration. He was usually a pretty laid back kind of person, but, as mentioned before, he did not like being sidestepped. And Hector was doing an excellent job of it. "Leon!" Skye called, not screeched, from the porch, "There's fish and chips on the table, so you better hurry!". Hector turned as Leon did to face her, and her smile was visible from the opposite side of the road. "Comin'" Leon called back, and Skye went back inside. "She looks happier, y'know? Since she's been hangin' round wit Slim and stuff" Hector remarked, turning off the hose and looking at Leon. "This conversation is not over" Leon answered, raising his brows and wagging his finger like he would expect a normal parent to, before heading over the road to his house. Hector watched him for a long moment, before going back to washing his brother's car. "Leon!" Jason clung to his waist and put his own little feet on top of Leon's Timbalands. Leon knew this game, and began to walk down the hall, hence forcing Jason to 'walk' with him. His little brother errupted into fits of giggles, this game being one of his favourites. "Have fun at the beach, Boo?" he asked, letting Jason off when they reached the kitchen, where Daron and his old man were already most of the way through the fish and chips that were spread across the table. "Yeah!" Jason grinned up at him, "We saw a jellyfish!". Leon smiled, sitting down at the table between Skye and Daron. Jason scrambled onto his lap, and wriggled until he was comfortable. This was the first time they'd sat together as a family and eaten in as long as Leon could remember. It wasn't like at Hector's house though. They didn't talk and laugh and jostle each other. They just... ate. "Build any sandcastles, Boo?" Leon asked, wrapping an arm around Jason's stomach as he leaned forward for a handfull of chips, careful not to let his little brother slide off his knees and smack his face on the table. "Yep" Jason answered, "Marshall put seaweed in it so it didn't break". "I'll be back later" his father announced, standing abruptly. He already smelled of beer and cigarette smoke. He planted a sloppy kiss on Skye's mouth as he passed, smearing her lip gloss. As soon as he was out of the kitchen, she wiped a hand over her chin and mouth. Luis's car started up out the front, then pulled down the drive and screamed down the street. Leon watched Skye for a moment, then looked back to his food. "I'll watch Jason, if you wanna go nex' door" he offered as Daron got up, swayed slightly, stoned out of his mind, then made it to the lounge before collapsing on the couch, out cold. "Thanks" Skye managed a smile, then ruffled Jason's hair, "You finished, baby?". Jason nodded a wriggled down off of Leon's lap. He ran out of the kitchen and in the direction of his bedroom. "Is it OK if Dom and Vince come round for a little while?" Leon asked as Skye began to clear away what was left of the fish and chips. He stood, pushing his chair in, then moved to help. "Uh, yeh" she shrugged, "Don't know when your Dad'll be home, so, it's fine with me". Skye dropped the greasy food and paper in the bin, then sighed, rubbing a hand back over her blonde hair. "It's cool. I'll finish up here. You go next door" Leon offered, noting the tension in his father's girlfriend. Skye sighed again, and let her arms flop down by her sides, "OK then. Thanks, Leon". He smiled and shrugged, and she headed out. Jason came running back into the kitchen, and stopped at the doorway, looking around with wide dark eyes. "Where is everyone?" he asked, looking at Leon. His clothes were still covered in sand from his day at the beach, and his already sightly olive skin was tainted pink at the cheeks from sunburn. "Out. You wanna bath?" Leon answered, finishing up with the clearing away. Jason looked around more, seeming a bit vague, then nodded. Leon ruffled his chocolate brown curls, then scooped him up, hauling him over his shoulder, and Jason instantly began screaming and laughing. He flung his little arms out, thinking he was really high up, and continued to make a racket the entire way to the bathroom. Once the bath was going, Leon left Jason to get out of his sandy clothes, and went to grab the cordless phone from the lounge. From the loungeroom, at the front of the house, Leon could see through the window, and across the street. He picked up the phone from where it was wedged halfway under a passed-out Daron, and walked over to the front window. Hector was still out the front. He'd stopped washing the car though. He was just leant against the brick letter box, staring at the car, arms folded, making no effort to resume his business of cleaning. Leon hoped he was thinking about what Leon had said. About what he'd been so intent on not talking about. Hoped he'd gotten through to him, even in the tiniest degree, because he knew how hard it was to deal on your own. He wasn't about to go blurting his own problems across the entire neighbourhood, and while he knew Hector was a loyal as they came, probably even more so, Leon was also aware that the Mexican was a fast talker and a loud mouth, and even in the week he'd been living in L.A, Hector had said things, without meaning to, that had gotten him into trouble already. He trusted Hector, but he still had his reservations about his private life being talked about across the entire neighbourhoood. Hector snapped out of his daze when Chucho emerged from the garage, joint hanging limply from his hand, the tattoo's on his arms seeming to blur together because of the distance and quickly fading light. He said something to his younger brother, waving a hand at the Celica, and Hector nodded. Leon watched as Chucho handed his joint to Hector, then climbed into the Celica and pulled away with a scream of tyres. Hector took a drag on the cigarette before squashing it out and dropping it on the driveway. He picked up the bucket of soapy water, and the hose that was still dribbling all over the place, and headed into the garage. Leon waited a few moments, but he didn't show any signs of returning, so he sighed and turned back to Daron. His older brother was sprawled all over the couch, mouth hanging open, completely stoned and completely loving it. He sighed again, then headed down the hall to check on Jason before he called Dom to tell him the coast was clear. More To Come... |