Somebody To Die For // B. O'Conner

seven

Brian had brought Jessica to his friend, Tej's. He owned a shop on the water. There were boat and jet-ski races taking place, all of which Tej was hosting. Brian had introduced Jessica to Jimmy, one of Tej's mechanics. She also met Suki. Suki was someone that Brian had raced alongside several times and she was about as real as they come. He knew that she and Jessica would get along just fine. 

Brian's main concern was having Jimmy check out their new cars. He knew that there had to be some type of tracker on them. There's no way Bilkins and Markham would let them go anywhere without it. He also wanted to know what the hell was under the hoods. After that was done, Jimmy moved on to one of his customer's cars. While Jimmy did his thing, Roman was trying to chat up some girl. Brian was talking with Jimmy and Jessica had been with Suki, watching Jimmy work. Jessica noticed a Cadillac had been parked across the street since the moment they arrived. The windows were rolled up and it was too far away for Jessica to be able to identify who was in the vehicle. Jessica stood up. She made her way over to Roman.

"Sorry, excuse me," Jessica interrupted. Roman and the woman looked at her, confused. Jessica grabbed Roman's arm and began to drag him away. 

"What are you doing?" Roman asked frantically, glancing back at the woman. She waved a flirty wave at him. He was annoyed now. "She wanted that chocolate thunder!" 

"I'm going to pretend like you didn't just say that," Jessica said, shuddering. She led him over to where Brian was, then grabbed Brian like she had just done with Roman. She brought them both over to a more private area. "You see that Cadillac across the street over there?"

"Yeah." Roman answered, pretending to casually look around. He spotted the tan Cadillac parked a short distance away from them. Brian did the same. He thought that car looked familiar. He had noticed it following them when they were driving to Tej's, but he assumed it was just someone coming to watch one of the many races that Tej holds. He thought wrong.

"They've been following us since we left Verone's place. I bet Verone sent them to check up on us," Brian said quietly.

"I have an idea to shake them," Roman told the two, backing away slowly with an evil grin.

"We'll pull up and grab you before they kick your ass," Brian said to his friend, a small laugh escaping his lips. He looked at Jessica, who was unsure of Roman's plan. It didn't seem like a good idea. What if Verone changes his mind about the two drivers? Brian nodded towards the Mitsubishi. "C'mon." They went to the car and waited. Jessica was glad that Jimmy had finished inspecting the cars already. 

Roman had grabbed some windshield wiper fluid, a red rag and a lighter from Tej's shop. He snuck around the Cadillac. As he got closer, he noticed it was Enrique and Roberto. They had rolled their windows down as Roman stood in front of the hood of the car. 

"Elian and Fidel! Que pasa hota? Hey man, can I clean your windshield?" Roman questioned, laughing loudly. He grabbed the wiper fluid and began to spray it on the windshield. 

"What are you doing?" Roberto exclaimed. He knew that this couldn't be a good sign. Roman just laughed again. He began to count out loud in Spanish. He only knew a few words in Spanish and was saying all of them, hoping to get a rise out of the two from his ignorance. Enrique and Roberto quickly got out of the car, ready to kick Roman's ass. 

"Kiss my ass, putos!" Roman yelled at the two, tossing the lighter onto the hood of the car, causing it to instantly ignite in flames. Roman ran towards the road as the two frantically tried to put the fire out. This was Brian's cue to come get him before they accomplished that. The two had watched their friend from afar. 

"There he is!" Jessica said, pointing over at Roman. Brian followed her gaze and quickly sped off towards his friend. Roman, who was laughing hysterically, climbed in the car. "I can't believe you just did that shit!" The laughter of the trio echoed throughout the car as Brian drove away. Jessica was shocked at how much she had enjoyed that. She was skeptical at first, but it gave her great joy to see the panicked look on Roberto's face as he tried to put out the fire. Everything on this job so far had felt so serious so this moment, it felt nice. It gave them all a break, even if only momentarily, to just do something crazy and have fun.  

Unfortunately, that fun could only last so long before something had to ruin it.