“Dom? Dom! C’mon, man. He’s had enough. It’s over, chill.” Leon had both arms wrapped around Dom’s midsection and was holding on for dear life. It was like trying to ride an angry bull. “Calm down, calm down. Relax, bro.”
It took what felt like forever, but Dom stopped struggling and appeared to regain his grip on himself. Leon chanced a look across the garage where Jesse was trying to hang on to Vince. From the look of it he was starting to calm down too.
In that instant, Dom wrenched from his grasp and charged across the garage toward Vince. Before Leon could get hold of him again, his fist slammed a final time into Vince’s chin sending a spray of blood over the white Integra to their left. Vince slumped to the floor taking Jesse down with him.
Leon tackled Dom again, struggling to get a good hold and failing. Dom was shouting, “Get the fuck off me!”
“Dom, man, he’s on the ground. It’s fuckin’ over!” Leon couldn’t get a secure hold and was fairly sure he was a hairs breadth from getting his own ass beat. Without option he shoved Dom as hard as he could towards the door. “Go walk it off.”
Dom shot him a killer look and then stomped out into the sunshine, heading for the Firebird.
Leon watched until he got there and then turned back to his friends. Jesse was helping Vince to his feet. The poor guy was beat to hell, blood pouring freely from his nose. Leon asked, “You okay, Vince?”
“Yeah. Tink my nose id broke dough.” Vince brought one finger to his nose and winced. Glaring at the blood dripping onto the concrete he muttered, “Modder fucker.”
Leon met Jesse’s eyes over top of Vince’s head. Even if they’d been there, they couldn’t have stopped the fight. The first time it happened, back when Leon and Jesse were new to the group, both of them had wondered if they hadn’t jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Marco was one evil dude, but he didn’t beat the shit out of his best friend. The second time it happened, Mia had assured him that it wasn’t anything to worry about, just something Dom and Vince had done since childhood. When Dom started to get pissy, Vince started pushing buttons, one after the other, until Dom beat his ass. Then, when the smoke cleared, they’d pick each other up, dust each other off and go on like it never happened – until it happened again. For the life of him, Leon couldn’t understand that.
Vince squirmed out of Jesse’s grasp and held the hem of his shirt to his nose. You fucking moron, Leon thought, turning to grab a clean towel out of the nearby storage closet. He returned shaking his head and wondering aloud, “When are you gonna learn, V? Every time you two fight this shit happens.” He held out the towel, “Here, take this.”
Snatching it in a jerky motion, Vince held it to his face and sat down on the hood of the Integra. “Domebody had a set dat addhole straight.”
“Riiiiight.. You think being his punching bag does that? You look like hamburger, man.” Leon turned to look out the door. Dom was sitting on the hood of the Firebird glaring at his boots. It was almost time to start patching this shit up again. Jesse seemed to have the same idea and started for the door. Leon caught his arm. “Let’s give him a little more time, okay Jes?”
Jesse glanced out at Dom and shrugged. “Yeah, probably a good idea. My skull ain’t as thick as V’s, Dom might do some actual damage.”
Vince took a half hearted swing at the kid who ducked it easily.
~~~~~
“This is such bullshit! Do I look like I have time to plan a party? Why in the world is he marrying her?” Claudia was stomping back and forth, arms flailing about in her irritation. She stopped, “When did you find out about this?”
Margie pushed her glasses back up on her nose and asked, “Would you prefer to hire a party planner, Claudia? It would be easier.”
Avoidance. Always avoidance. Why couldn’t anyone just say what they were thinking? Did everyone have to complicate things with lies and subterfuge? How come she was always the last person to know anything? She tossed her hair over her shoulder and snapped, “Answer my question, Margie. When did you find out about this?”
Margie sighed, “I picked up the ring before they left.”
That was nearly a month ago! A fresh rush of anger washed over her and she demanded, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Margie shrugged as if it was nothing offering only, “You had exams coming up and I didn’t want to upset you. Don’t pretend you’re surprised, dear. You knew this was coming.”
“Argghhh! That stupid, trifling, Pamela Anderson wannabe, slut! What the fuck is he thinking? He could have done so much better...”
“Language, dear. I know you are upset, but ladies do not curse like sailors.”
Claudia had an almost irresistible need to stick out her tongue at Margie. Instead she did something equally childish and kicked the bedpost. It hurt and she muttered a curse as she sat down on the edge of her bed and rubbed her foot.
Funny how sitting down made it easier to think clearly. She’d thought that was just some sort of pathetic storybook cliché. Apparently it wasn’t.
Truth was her dad wasn’t the pillar of society he pretended to be. He was a guy who, if asked, would admit to having Hugh Hefner as his personal hero. What else could she really expect?
He liked them young. Not jailbait material but young just the same. That hadn’t been so bad when she was a kid, but now she was the same age as some of his girlfriends. His fiancé, Theresa was actually younger than Claudia for heaven’s sake. Never mind that she had the body of a blowup doll with the morality to match. Couple that with the intellectual capacity of a poodle and a high squeaky voice that made echolocation sound melodious and you had the walking, talking torture devise that was Theresa.
Claudia looked over at Margie. She wasn’t young and she wasn’t beautiful. But she had wisdom and a silken voice that had the power to calm, making even the cruelest of news bearable.
What was more, Margie had dedicated her life to dear old dad. Whenever he had a problem who did he call? Who did he go to for advice? Who did he treat like garbage because, in his opinion, she was little more than the hired help? Who loved him enough to put up with it? Claudia shook her head. What a loser her dad was. Stupid man was chasing after a dream when a wonderful reality already lived in his home. “It should have been you, Margie.”
Margie looked stung. She blinked behind her glasses muttering, “I am sure he is quite pleased with his choice. Now if you will excuse me, I have a wedding to plan.”
Margie abruptly turned and walked out of the room.
Claudia watched her go, feeling terrible about everything. The situation, the way she was handling it, the way she’d ignored Margie’s feelings. She could be tremendously selfish sometimes. Flopping back in her bed she whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
~~~~~
Dom wiped blood from his lip and stared at its stain on his fingers. His right cheek was a little tender and his knuckles were a mess. His hands had already swollen to the point that he couldn’t make a fist. Nor could he open them all the way. Hurt like a bitch too.
He deserved it though. Yet again he beat the shit out of his best friend for no good reason. Yeah, Vince had a tendency to pick the worst possible moments to sound off about what was bothering him. Yeah, he always did it in the most confrontational way but even if he was out of line, did he deserve to get his ass beat? The answer was a resounding no. They were like brothers, friends from way back. Their roots were too deep to let petty shit destroy them.
Still, what was going on between him and Letti was their problem, not Vince’s. Hell, Vince had no idea what was going on anyway. Did V know that he called her at least twice a day and that she wasn’t taking his calls? Did he know that she was fucking someone else? Did Vince know that, contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t fucking anyone? Dom shook his head and let his eyes fall to the rusted metal again.
Stupid fucking bitch and her ghetto trash boyfriend. Let Marco have her tramp ass. You’re the only one I’ll ever love, she’d said to him. No one but you, Dom. Lies. All lies. He wondered if Marco was the only one, if there had been others and he was just too blind to see them. Would anyone have had the balls to step to his girlfriend? He didn’t think so, but then he’d never thought she’d leave him either. He’d been real wrong there.
His thoughts grew darker and darker as he sat there, swirling in ever tightening circles threatening to choke him.
He heard rather than saw Jesse walking toward him.
The boy climbed up on the Firebird beside him and held out a cup. “Hey, Dom. Want some coffee? Think I got it the way you like it. Cream, no sugar, right?”
He took the cup and almost dropped it, grimacing as he closed his swollen hand around the hot Styrofoam. Raising his head to take a sip he glanced over at the boy and nodded, “Yeah. Thanks, Jes.”
Jesse held out a box to him. Inside were half a dozen doughnuts. “Want one?”
Dom chuckled but it didn’t sound right so he stopped. People always brought him food as a peace offering. Kinda funny that they thought he’d lighten up if he was eating. He waved the offer off. Never was much of a doughnut fan and still couldn’t understand what was so wonderful about Krispy Krème. “Nah. Thanks though.”
Silence descended between them, both men sipping at their drinks staring off into space, neither inclined to break the silence.
He felt bad. Staring into the garage he could see Leon and Vince talking, Vince still holding a bloody rag to his face. Shouldn’t have hit him, asshole. What’s your problem? Turning a little toward Jesse he asked, “Vince okay?”
Jesse nodded. “Yeah. Think you broke his nose but the rest of him’s okay.” Jesse glanced at him and then down at his hands. The boy flinched at the sight of them. “You sure you were only fighting Vince? Looks more like you had a run in with a meat grinder. Your knuckles are shredded.”
Dom almost told Jesse about his other fight with Marco but couldn’t bring himself to explain it. He didn’t want to hear the collective ‘I told you so’s’ that were bound to follow. He’d been warned by all of them with irritating frequency that this exact thing would happen if he didn’t change his ways. He looked down at his battered flesh and sighed. “Been a rough weekend so far, Jes.”
Jesse looked concerned and like he had a lot to say but all he said was, “Yeah, and it just started. Maybe you should stay home for the rest of it.”
Somehow, Dom didn’t think that would help.
~~~~~
Mia drove back to school with the music blaring at a thunderous level. At a stoplight she pulled up next to an older couple. The woman rolled her window up in a vain effort to block the sound shooting Mia an ugly look as she did so. Mia didn’t notice.
Letti was seeing someone else. Sure, she’d known it was possible, she’d warned Dom it could happen but had never really believed it would. Letti had been in love with Dom from the first time she’d met him, that she suddenly wouldn’t be was inconceivable.
They’d met back in grade school when Letti’s family moved to the neighborhood. Letti has been seven. Mia was five at the time. Two years difference was a veritable lifetime of experience at that age but, after some initial hesitation, they’d become fast friends. The age gap wasn’t the only thing that made their friendship an odd one. Mia was self aware enough to admit she had always been a girlie girl while Letti was as tomboy and they came, even back then.
Mia had seen the Ramirez family move in. She’d prayed they had a daughter her age because she lived in a neighborhood full of boys, all of them Dom’s age. She wanted someone to play with and had been overjoyed when she saw Letti, a tiny little girl in jeans and pigtails.
She’d run out to the garage to tell Dad and ask if she could go over and visit. He’d said no, explaining that it was better to let them get settled first. She’d skulked back into the house with her tail between her legs to whine to her grandmother.
Nana was in the kitchen, cooking up her usual storm. She’d asked Mia, “Did you see the new family moving in across the way, m’ija?”
“Yeah, but dad wont let me go over. There’s a girl there my age too.”
“Ahhhh, such a man,” Nana dismissed with a shake of her head. “I am taking them dinner. She will be too tired to make food for her family after such work. You will help me carry,” she’d paused looking around for something Mia wouldn’t drop, “you carry the tortilla’s, yes?”
“Yes, Nana.” She had been overjoyed, eagerly taking the container and following Nana out the door and across the street.
Nana rang the doorbell and they’d waited. Before long, the door was opened by a short, skinny girl with huge dark eyes and an angry pout on her lips. Nana cleared her throat and asked, “Is your mother home?”
“Yeah.” The little girl cocked her head to the side and stared hard at Mia.
Nana’s brow furrowed and her voice became more authoritative. “Would you let her know that Silvia Famosa de Lopez is here with her granddaughter, Mia.”
“Yeah.” The little girl half turned and yelled at ear splitting volume, “Hey mom, there’s people here to see ya!”
“It is not polite to shout, Lucetta.” A beautiful woman came around the corner wiping her hands on her apron. Mia watched her just long enough to see the resemblance to the photographs of her own mother before looking away and focusing on the other girl.
“Hi, I’m Mia,” she said offering a hand as her grandmother had taught her.
Lucetta looked at her outstretched hand with mild curiosity until Mia dropped it back to her side. Mia had started a little when the other girl’s eyes finally met hers, surprised by the lack of expression she saw in them. Then a smirk broke out on the girls face and she said, “Yeah, I heard. Letti.”
Mia was confused, “But your mom called you…”
The other girl’s eyes had gotten cold. “My name is Letti.”
Mia wasn’t used to people being so unfriendly to her. Still, Letti had been the only other girl for many blocks so if she wanted a playmate she’d had to make Letti like her. Wearing her most winning smile, she’d asked, “Wanna come over and play?”
“Whatcha got to play with?”
Once again Mia had been taken aback. Playing was playing, what difference did it make what toys she had? The reality was she’d had a huge selection of toys but there was one specific collection she’d been very proud of. She’d smugly offered, “I’ve got lots of Barbies and tons of clothes for them. I’ve even got the house and the corvette…”
“I don’t play with dolls.” Letti had cut her off wearing a bored look on her face.
Mia had had no idea what to say to that. She’d loved her doll collection, in fact, she still had most of it. On the rare occasion classmates got to come over, they’d all enjoyed playing with her dolls. At that point Mia had begun to think she didn’t want to play with Letti after all. That was when Letti’s mom spoke up.
“Lucetta, you are going to go over to the Toretto’s for the afternoon. You can play with Mia.”
Letti and Mia had both looked at her like she was crazy but only Letti protested, “But mom…”
“I will see you at dinner, now go. And be nice, Lucetta.”
Letti had looked ready to throw a tantrum but instead she said, “Fine. Be that way.”
~~~~~
His coffee was gone and he’d eaten a doughnut, reminding himself why he didn’t like them. Too sweet and greasy. Felt like a brick in his stomach.
He looked into the garage where Leon and Vince sat talking in hushed tones. From the look of it, Leon was playing peacemaker again. Was just a matter of time before Jesse went back into the garage and Leon came out to talk to him. It was so predictable. He waited while Jesse got more and more restless and then jumped down from his perch saying, “I’m gonna go get started on the Jag. Got a couple little tweaks I wanna make to the timing. You gonna stay out here a while?”
“Yeah.”
Not five minutes later Leon sauntered out. Dom watched him come curious to see what the tactic would be this time. Leon was carrying a first aid kit.
“Lemme see those hands. Jes said you really did a number on ‘em,” He said when he reached the car. Dom obligingly held them out, watching as Leon flinched at the sight. Leon pulled hydrogen peroxide from the kit and started to poor it over his knuckles saying, “Shit. Either Vince has gotten better at ducking and you kept punching the wall behind him or this wasn’t your first fight this weekend.”
“Little bit of both. Shit, that stings.” Dom grimaced and forced himself to keep his hands steady. It burned like hell.
Leon screwed the cap back onto the bottle and pulled out some gauze and antibacterial ointment. He grabbed one of Dom’s hands and started to carefully coat the wounds. Dom met his eyes when Leon glanced up at him. There was uncertainty in them, but there was also determination. “So what the fuck’s goin’ on, Dom? You got a lot of people worried, man.”
“Nothing.”
Leon finished wrapping one hand and reached for the other. “Fuck that shit, bro.”
Tired but not defeated, Dom sighed. “Look, what happens in my life is my problem. Butt the fuck out.”
Leon finished with his other hand and started to put things back in the first aid kit. He looked up, green eyes earnest. “Can’t do that, Dom. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you’re fuckin’ up the vibe around here and that ain’t cool.” He paused for a moment, looking down at his feet before he said quietly, “Mia misses you. She’s your sister, man.”
Dom jumped off the Firebird and nearly fell, his legs loath to carry his weight. He slumped back on the car’s fender for a second and then came upright. He crossed his arms, painfully aware of his aching hands, and tried to look like he could go a few more rounds if he had to. Leon had no right bringing Mia into it.
Leon looked unimpressed. “Whatcha gonna do? Hit me too? With those things? I don’t think so.” He dropped his chin and took a step back when Dom leveled his patented ‘do not fuck with me’ glare at him. He spread out his hands wide and said, “Look, I’ll concede that what goes on between you and Letti is your business, doesn’t mean I’m not effected by it, but what you do with your dick is your problem. But the shit with Mia is fucked up, dog. You know damn well she didn’t mean it. She knows you would never hit her.”
Dom felt kicked in the gut. Mia had complained to Leon? That was bullshit, total fucking bullshit. He turned on Leon, determined to find out exactly what she had told him. Leon’s face fell and he muttered, “Oh shit.”
~~~~~
Letti was doing something she preferred not to do. She was thinking about the past.
She hated fighting with Mia. Every time, she ended up feeling like a royal bitch after the smoke cleared. She was always over reacting or taking things the wrong way. Mia meant well and why she couldn’t remember that in the heat of the moment was one of the few things she ever chose to beat herself up over.
Mia was her best friend and had been most of her life. She remembered the day Mia and Nana had shown up on the doorstep of their new house. She remembered her first impression was that Mia was a prissy little girlie girl. She’d been right, but somehow it didn’t end up bothering her as much as it usually did.
That first time she’d gone to the Toretto’s house she’d gone less than willingly, forced to go there by her mother. One look at Mia, in her frilly little dress and socks with lace on them, and Letti had wanted to run as fast as her legs would carry her back to New Jersey. Instead she found herself in Mia’s living room trying to explain to her that she didn’t like dolls, no matter what the game was, unless it included dismemberment and defacement.
She’d been convinced that she had finally arrived in the hell her mother was always warning her existed until he walked in.
One look and she was smitten. One look was all she got too. He’d walked through the living room and out the front door without even a glance at either of them.
Before the door slammed closed behind him, she’d asked Mia who he was. She’d been more curious about Dom than she had ever been about anyone before in her life. Discovering that he lived there made playing with dolls, or whatever other stupid toys Mia had, palatable and from that day forward she spent almost all her free time at the Toretto’s.
It turned out that the Torettos, with the singular exception of Dom, were really nice people. Nana was a wonderful woman who seemed to spend every waking moment in the kitchen. It was her domain and anyone who passed through it while she was cooking became sues chef, chief in charge of vegetable chopping. No one was granted immunity, not even Dominic Sr., or Nick as they called him. If he couldn’t be found in the garage it was a safe bet he was toiling in the kitchen under Nana’s watchful stare.
In Letti’s opinion, Nick had been awesome. He’d taken an active interest in his kids, driving Mia to ballet classes every afternoon and teaching Dom all about cars. He’d even let her help, much to the dismay of his son who was a perpetual pain in the ass.
At first it had been little more than an excuse to be close to Dom but within days she was hooked, just as fascinated by the cars as she was by the young mechanic. Working with them hadn’t always been easy because Dom had treated her like she was a contagious disease to be avoided at all costs. Nick had found her doe eyed crush on his son amusing, ribbing her about it all the time.
She’d loved Nick like he was her father. He’d been a pleasant man with a great sense of humor. She couldn’t remember seeing him angry.
Being angry was Nana’s job. She was the authoritarian leader of the household. She’d had eyes in the back of her head and superhero hearing. No one got away with anything, not even Nick.
Nana knew exactly how many beers he drank and she kept level marks on the liquor bottles. One time, Letti had walked in on Nick pouring water into a vodka bottle to fill it back to the proper level. It had become their little secret. In hindsight, Letti was positive that Nana had known about it and chosen to ignore it, but at the time it had been a bonding experience for Letti.
Things stayed pretty much the same for eight years, the singular highlight being her mom’s divorce from Jose. He’d been mean. He never hit her but he said terrible things to her. The things he said to her mother were even worse. He drank all the time too. Not like Nick, who was like a Great Dane puppy when drunk, but like a Rottweiler with and attitude problem. She remembered Nana and her mom having had many long conversations about the sanctity of marriage but in the end, Maria had opted to defy the church and divorce Jose. It had been one of the best moments of Letti’s life.
It was followed by the lowest point of her childhood. Two months after the papers were signed, her mom had her first bout with breast cancer. It had been terrible, replete with a radical mastectomy and chemotherapy. Letti had been 15 when the diagnosis was made and it was the first time Dom had ever been nice to her.
After her mother told her what was going to happen, she’d had to go out and get some air. Dom was in the shed out back tinkering with the Charger that he and his dad had been working on. She sat on the lawn under the big oak in the backyard and watched him. He was 17 and a lot skinnier than he would later be, but he was utterly beautiful to her…and every other girl in school.
He must have felt her eyes on him because he’d stood up and glanced out at the yard, seeing her there. He’d looked prepared to yell at her for staring at him, but something changed in his face and he’d walked out to her and sat down beside her. He’d asked what was wrong and she’d had her first verbal hemorrhage, gushing out everything she knew. He’d listened quietly, resting one huge hand on her forearm, squeezing every so often. When she was finished he’d told her that no matter what happened, she shouldn’t worry. He would take care of her.
“Liar,” she muttered, glaring down the freeway. She slammed the gearshift into 5th and hit the gas, weaving in and out of traffic like she had a death wish.
~~~~~
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