Ride Home To Me

Chapter 37

Hector: We're short a few racers tonight. Want in?

Gabi: it gonna be worth my time?

Hector: 5K buy-in sound fair?

Gabi: only when I win it ;) see you in 20

It takes a while for the race to get started, because even after I get there people are pulling together racers that wanna take a chance at the earnings for tonight. I wait by my car, chatting up some of the girls and not paying attention to the other dudes that walk by, until finally I hear somebody calling all the cars to the starting line.

I don't give the other racers a second glance as I watch a girl with some red flags in her hands walk across the starting line to the middle, raising her hands above her head.

"Ready!"

The engines roar to life.

"Go!"

The flags come whipping down to her sides but I'm already gone. The grin doesn't leave my face when I see headlights in my mirrors, indicating that I'm in the lead.

Avoiding my old team isn't easy and it means that I get to race way less than I used to. But every time I'm here, in this moment, with my back pushed against the seat and my foot on the gas, I rediscover what it's like to fly. I'm free.

That is, until I see a black object hurtle past me right before we cross the finish line. My jaw drops. I haven't lost to anybody in a while.

I hear the cheering crowd moving over towards the black car and greet the people that stop by to say hello to me as I climb out of mine. I don't pay all too much attention to them, though. My thoughts are on the driver that beat me. But as I see the figures surrounding him, it hits me.

"Still the only one that can catch me, huh Dom?" I say, coming to the front of the crowd.

I see him tense up at the sound of my voice and he turns to face me. His face is hardened, but I don't miss the softness in his eyes when he finally makes eye contact with me. He clears his throat.

"I didn't know you'd be here today," he says.

"I guess that makes two of us."

I glance behind him and see my old team. Vince looks conflicted, looking back and forth between me and Dom. Leon is standing protectively in front of Mia and Jessie, and then...

Letty. My breath catches in my throat when I see her standing behind them all. She looks as good as ever and seeing her in front of me makes my heart start aching. I look down at the ground, and then back up at Dom, reaching a hand out to him.

"Well," I clear my throat. "Fair. I'll see you around, Toretto."

I clap his hand and walk as quickly as I can back to my car without another word. As I drive off, a buzz from my phone makes me pull over and check to see who's texting me at this hour. My heart stops when I see the name written across the screen.

Letty: We need to talk. Meet at the beach.

For a moment I hesitate. It's been months since I've seen them. But I know I'm not over Letty yet, and as much as I could try and convince myself otherwise, I really want to see her.

Gabi: ok

I hear her before I see her. I wait on the beach for about five minutes before the sound of a car pulling into the parking lot catches my attention. I wait until I can hear the crunching of sand beneath someone's feet coming up right behind me.

"Letty."

"Hey."

I stand and finally turn to look at her. For some reason I'm nervous, but I can't find anything to say, so we just stand and stare at each other for a moment in silence.

Suddenly she lunges forward and I raise my fists, thinking she might hit me, but I pause when I find myself wrapped up in her arms instead.

"Gabi, I just-" She pulls back and looks at me, at a loss for words.

I stare at her in disbelief.

"I thought-" I stammer, "I thought you hated me or something."

"Gabi I never hated you. I was frustrated, and angry, and hurt, but I never hated you," she says softly.

I almost cry with relief and finally let myself sink into her embrace, burying my face in her neck and taking a deep breath. She smells like sweet perfume and gasoline and something so special that only belongs to her, to my Letty, and to no one else.

"They miss you Gabi," Letty whispers. "I miss you. Please just... come home."

But for some reason my resolve hardens at those words, and I get a strange feeling in my gut. One that tells me it's too good to be true.

"You tell Dom you were meeting me here?" I ask.

Letty stammers out a response that I don't hear. Her face tells me everything I need to know. I nod and glare down at my feet.

"Well you let me know when boss man wants to talk." I pull away and start back towards my car. I stop for a moment, sigh, and add softly, "Tell Mia I say hi."

And as much as it kills me, I get in the car, start up the engine, and drive away, watching Letty's figure on the beach grow smaller and smaller until it disappears.

•-•-•-•-•

Tap tap tap.

Tap tap.

Tap tap tap tap-

"For fuck's sake will you cut it out?!?!?" I snatch the fork out of Natalia's restless hands and place it back on the diner table.

She nearly jumps out of her skin. "Shit. Sorry."

Over the last month Natalia and I have been hanging out a little more, starting to become friends again. I've been spending my day off with Natalia like we had planned last week, but it seems like anything I say or do goes right over her head. And after my little meeting with Letty the other night, my patience is thin and my temper much shorter than usual.

"What the hell is up with you anyway? You've been out of it the whole goddamn day."

"It's... nothing. It's fine."

"No it's not. What's going on?"

She huffs and turns to me, but doesn't meet my eyes.

"Okay fine. David's been asking about you."

"David..." Everything in me screams for her not to say what I think she's going to say, and as soon as she opens her mouth again I can feel myself cringe.

"Tran. Look, you don't have to if you really don't want to, but it's honestly just one job he needs you for and then he says you're off the hook for good."

"I-I don't know Nati," I say.

"Gabi..." Nati leans forward across the table and lowers her voice, looking down. "He's offering three times what you got before."

My jaw drops. That's a lot of money.

"That's-" I stammer.

"Yeah, I know."

"Will you be there?"

Natalia shakes her head. "I'd just be an extra man. I can't drive like you do, and I'm not really useful until after everything is done. But you didn't hear that part from me." She winks, and I can't help but chuckle. The kind of money I'd get from this would really help me start over. I don't want to leave LA. I really like it here. But this area stopped being my home as soon as I walked out of that small two-story house a several months ago. And now I know I'll have to actually move in order to get back on my feel and get a clean start.

So I take a deep breath, and clap her hesitantly outstretched hand.

"Okay. Let's do it."