A Man of Honor.

Chapter 27: The Motleys

"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." Vito Coreleone, The Godfather 1972.

Leaving Vale had been a nice change of scenery for me. I actually found myself happy for the distance it gave me from almost everything that had been happening. A work vacation as Roman had told me to look at it was becoming appealing. And it gave me a chance to drive through these winding mountain roads in my car, that had certainly helped lift my spirits.

As much as I loved my custom Atlari I never really got to appreciate all the horsepower driving around a cramped city stopping every five minutes for a red light or stop sign. But here on the open road I was really able to enjoy the benefits of having a high performance engine under the hood. Though the rest of my crew was hardly happy around it, piled in a four door sedan that had no chance of keeping up.

Neo's scroll rang and I looked over to her in the passenger seat as she accepted the call and put it on speaker phone for me while lowering the volume on my stereo.

"Dude... come on I know you're enjoying that car but you're leaving us in the dust here. We should be sticking together right now." He told me over the line as I stayed in the fast lane passing by trucks and other slower vehicles. I felt like I was king of the road zipping past everyone.

"What are you worried about?" I asked him. "You never try sticking to me like glue when we're in Vale?" I said to him.

"We're not in Vale, and you told us yourself that we're having to deal with an Atlesian backed gang, it makes me nervous. They could try something, and while those wheels are fast they certainly stick out like a sore thumb."

"I have Neo with me," I told him, earning a happy smile and nod from the girl. I was certainly enjoying our drive together, she was certainly enjoying it too. The countryside certainly made for pleasant scenery that we couldn't appreciate in the city. Also plenty of fresh air through the open window and nice tunes on my stereo.

"Can you just consider slowing down and letting us catch up to you? Just for some piece of mind?" Cardin asked me.

I sighed because I could see his point. I didn't think the Atlesians and a bunch of bikers would be bold enough to attack two made members of the Torchwick family but I supposed that it was better to appease Cardin's desire to stay close and ready for trouble than my own thrills.

I took my foot off the gas. "Alright I'll find a place up ahead and stop so we can regroup, I could use a good leg stretch anyways," I told him. "Then I promise I'll stick to the speed limit with you."

"Thanks boss," Cardin said, hanging up.

I followed the highway for a little bit until I found a lookout that we could stop at. I pulled off onto the gravel and we both got out of the car to look at the view overlooking the countryside.

"Wow!" I exclaimed looking at the mountains in the distance, even though it was summer plenty of them were still capped with snow and the air had a very crisp clean chill to it that I breathed in. It was nothing like the air in the city.

Neo gave a nod as she leaned on the hood crossing her arms. I noticed her shiver a bit. It was a bit nippy out, I had made sure to get myself a long coat to go over my suit but Neo was dressed in her usual attire that might have come with a jacket but wasn't exactly suited for colder weather. Plus it exposed her hips which I imagined couldn't be pleasant given the wind.

"Are you cold?" I asked her.

"I'm - a - city - girl," she told me, "Besides - it's - summer - it's - supposed - to - be - warm - out."

I shrugged off the coat and handed it to her. She looked at it and raised an eyebrow. "You're - giving - me - your - coat?" She asked me teasingly, calling me out for being cheesy. Like some dumb guy in a romance movie.