Velocity (Tej Parker)

Chapter Four

Teagan, Hobbs and Tej all find their selves in a car auction of sorts. Teagan had put on a leather jacket and stuffed a handgun in the back of her jeans.

"Man, you really got to loosen up," Tej tells a stiff looking Hobbs. "You just can't throw a bunch of factory-line Beemer's at people and expect..."

"Hey," Hobbs interrupts. "That car is a hell of a car. You're talking about twin-turbo V8, spitting out 560 ponies, son."

Teagan just laughs a little and grabs a champagne glass off of a platter. "He reads the brochure."

"I'm proud," Tej says. "But with cars, you have to customize."

"It's all between you and the car you build," Teagan continues on.

"It's a bond, it's a commitment," Tej ends.

"It sounds like a marriage," Hobbs comments.

"Yeah, but with cars, when you trade up," Tej says. "They don't take half your shit."

Hobbs laughs and looks at the price tags in the pamphlet. "Jesus, with prices like this, these cars better be made out of gold. You ain't thinking of stealing these cars you two, are you?" Tej and Teagan just shrug their shoulders looking around.

"Kitchen help entrance is towards the back," A man who must have been running the auction walks up to them.

"Come again?" Hobbs asks.

"I don't mean any offense, gentlemen and lady, but you couldn't possibly afford the cars in this auction. Substantial lack of gaudy jewelry, no entourage. You clearly aren't a honey, and clearly you're not a 'baller'." He turns to Hobbs ready to insult him as well. "Shoes, shirt, trousers. Functional. And your posture, too rigid, no swagger. My guess is military. Take home 50, 000 a year. That's US. Which is not enough to be playing here. So, if you're not kitchen help, then you must be in the wrong place. But please, do finish your champagne."

With that the man saunters away and Teagan touches her necklace. "Okay, he needs to be taught a lesson." She says.

"Like I said," Hobbs says. "You ain't stealing these cars."

"We got this," Tej says and wraps an arm around Teagan's waist. They both clink their champagne glasses together and while he takes a sip, she just holds her drink close to her mouth.

*~*

Later that day, Teagan and Tej walked into the underground garage at the facility hand in hand with Hobbs on their tails.

"So this is how y'all 'got this'?" Hobbs asks. "By buying all of his cars."

"What good is having millions of dollars in the bank if you don't spend any of it?" Teagan expresses.

"But don't worry about that," Tej says. "Watch this."

"Mr. Parker, Miss Woods," The little man scurries over to the two. "Again, can I just express our gratitude and say how much we appreciate your business. If there's ever anything else you need, you just have to ask."

"Anything?" Tej asks and the man nods his head. "Now that you mention it, my swagger-less friend here, he really likes that shirt you have on."

"This shirt?" The man asks.

"That shirt," Teagan clarifies.

"I'm not entirely sure that this shirt would fit your friend," The man chuckles, but stops once he notices the dead serious expressions on their faces.

"It will fit," Hobbs says.

"He needs a shirt that's a little less..." Tej trails off thinking of the right word.