And Stay || Han Lue

twenty-seven

Beatriz rested her arm in the window of her car, tapping her fingers impatiently for Morimoto to show his face. Han leaned against the car, arms crossed. DK and his crew liked to make a grand entrance, but tonight Bea just wanted to get the race over with. It was all Earl's fault she was in this position anyway. He couldn't keep his mouth shut. The race wasn't anything special, at least to Bea. She knew she'd beat Morimoto, but it was the cockiness of DK and Morimoto that made Bea pissed.

The days leading up to the race, they were making comments about Bea. They had never seen Beatriz drive. When she came to races, she sat back and watched instead of actually getting behind the wheel. Bea never found somebody she really wanted to go up against - and Han told her she wasn't going up against DK.

When it came to the rules, Beatriz only ever raced for either pink slips or cash. Since most people didn't race for cash in Tokyo, most people either just raced for street cred or for keys. Bea decided to play for keys. Again, she knew she'd beat Morimoto, it was no issue, she dealt with bigger jackasses than him. But she just didn't want to risk losing her car to Morimoto, passing over the keys to DK.

She spent a lot on her car.

"You'll be fine, Bix."

"You're cute when you're nervous." Bea said, patting Han's side with the back of her hand. "Do I want to know why DK is taking so fuckin' long to get here?"

"Heard his uncle's in town."

Beatriz rolled her eyes. "That Yakuza." She muttered under her breath. She looked to the hood that was up with Earl and Reiko under it. "You guys okay up here?" Bea asked.

Earl's arm reached out, giving her a thumbs-up. Beatrix and Han laughed at him. Bea even shook her head as she opened the driver's door. She climbed out, taking a deep breath. As she turned her head, she heard the familiar engines that belonged to DK and his crew. Han looked at the time on his phone, "About damn time." Han commented as he pulled out a bag of snacks from his pocket.

Bea crossed her arms as Reiko closed the hood of the car. Beatriz watched as DK and his crew drove around the corner. Ever since Han decided to do business with DK, Bea and DK never saw eye-to-eye. Han promised to keep DK away from her for the most part, obviously at races, Bea would be seen around DK and his crew because of Han.

Beatriz was as respectful as possible with DK, and Takashi kept a pleasant face around Bea. He knew Han would kill him if he ever threatened Beatriz, so he kept his thoughts to himself. Han was scary when he was mad - Takashi made the mistake of talking poorly about Bea, Han had him pinned up against the wall before he knew what was happening.

But tonight's race had big bets attached to it.

Takashi was risking quite a bit of money on the sidelines if Morimoto didn't win.

Neela pulled up next to her boyfriend, looking into the rearview at Beatriz Ortiz and Han Lue. Min Woo sat in the passenger seat, resting his arm on the door. "I can't believe she agreed to this." Neela commented, looking over at Min Woo. Min Woo's head turned to his best friend, "She's insane."

Min Woo shook his head. In the week he spent at the garage, Bea was far from insane like Neela was saying she was. Beatriz was beyond kind, and extremely talented when it came to cars. Reiko had a problem with her car, and nothing she did worked to fix the issue. Bea listened once to the sound and figured out what was wrong. Beatriz knew what she was doing.

Now, Min Woo hadn't seen Beatriz drift - or race, as she said to him - he couldn't comment on her abilities. Tonight would be the night he'd find out if Beatriz was really somebody he wanted to attach himself to.