Crazy in Love

Chapter 5

So there I was, surrounded by drivers who weren't even looking at me with their asses. "Ah, the best of the best!" echoed through the hall and a blonde stood in front of us. Nice black dress, black high heels. "You're probably wondering where Mr. Garcia is today. Well, he's unavailable. But I'm all the more pleased that you're here today," she replied with a cheerful glow. "Two more to go, I see. Then we'll wait a little longer," she said. When we heard the engines roar and two cars came into the hall, everyone turned around immediately.

"There you are."

When they got out, I couldn't believe it. It was my brother and that guy from the last race. What was his name? When they let their eyes wander, they both laughed dirty. Seemed like they knew each other.

"Sorry we're late. We had a score to settle, if you understand," my brother said, looking over at the other with a winning smile. "You must be Brian O'Connor and Dominik Toretto.", she looked at me, then at Brian. "Are you two related?" she asked into the round. "No!," I replied, as if shot out of a gun, and could see Brian's baffled face from the corner of my eye. So she just turned up her nose and looked over at Brian. I squinted my eyes threateningly, he should not make a sound, otherwise I would make him a head shorter, that was for sure.

"Okay! Let's pick up where we left off," continued the blonde. "Mr. Garcia is unable to attend today. That's why I'm here," she instructed the two new arrivals. "And what's your name?", Dominik asked. "I'm Marina Rey. And to start this as soon as possible, I'd like to ask you to put these bracelets on." so a guy came up to each of us six, and put it around our wrists. A little light came on briefly, "These bracelets will tell us your position," she explained amusingly. It clicked into place, then it adjusted to the wrist. You couldn't move or open that thing. Seemed mysterious to me.

"Wait, you're tracking us? Is that really necessary?" I wanted to know. "I understand your skepticism, but think of it as protection. Should something happen, we can track where you are and maybe save your life."

"Or control us, that's more like it." nagged the other driver. Just don't worry about it. It's everything as arranged with Mr. Garcia. So to make a long story short, part of you is transporting and part of you is procuring. Who exactly does what, we will decide in a little race," she grinned over both ears. "You will be provided accommodations after the race, and I ask that you not reveal this to anyone, not even the drivers in this room."

"Quick question," one of them interrupted her. "Why do we have a cop in the room?" And he looked dismissively at Brian, who rolled his eyes. "I haven't been a cop in a long time."

"Yes, he has discovered his criminal skills. Haven't you, O'Connor?" Toretto laughed. "Who's to say he's not playing with us?"

"We've run a check on all the drivers. Mr. O'Connor is harmless," Miss Rey intervened. "If he's still fucking with us, I'm gonna bust your ass, you got that?" he nagged him irritably. "Nobody's going to fuck with anybody," Dominik made clear. When I looked at him from a distance, I could catch a glimpse of his muscles. I wondered what he looked like under that white T-shirt. Apparently, he had read my thoughts, because he looked at me and winked at me with a mischievous grin. I immediately pulled a face, frowned questioningly and looked away.

"Okay, the race will be held towards evening. Till later you will be staying in a motel. I'll send you the address", the cell phones vibrated. "See you later. Bye," she disappeared.
"Okay, I'll see you losers later," the driver next to me said, racing away. The men did the same. So there I was with Toretto and O'Connor. I had my arms folded and was leaning against the driver's door. "All right. What are you guys doing here? Are you watching me, or is this a police action?"

"Take it easy little Sis. Dom and I are here to get some money," my brother replied. "Uh-huh. I've never seen you race."

"I've never seen you either," he replied and confronted me. "Yes, because that's my business. I didn't know you were watching me."
"I'm not watching you, Melanie, I'm protecting you. Do you have any idea what kind of people you're dealing with here?"

"Do you?"

"Hey." Dom intervened. "Don't butt in," he cut him off immediately. "He's family. "He's Mia's brother," Brian defended him.

"Funny, I've never seen him before."

"Yes, because you rarely visit," Brian replied defiantly. "You're such an ass," I grumbled.

"Listen to me you two.... don't get in my way. I'm not related to you and I don't know you, got it?" I made it clear. "Why are you acting like this? Show some respect for your family. ", Dom told me. "Oh you.Don't talk to me about family", I waved. "Melanie," Brian came one step closer. Not with a dirty look on his face, more like empathy. "No! Don't you want to be with me! You always have an idea how to fuck me up." I got in the car, started the engine and drove away.

***

We spent the few hours before the race in a motel. I was just busy polishing my car, when someone approached me. "Hey."

"Are you following me Toretto?" I asked, threw the rag on its side and turned to him with an energetic look. "I just want to talk to you," he replied calmly. "If Brian really tries to mother me now, I swear I'll freak out!
"Take it easy. Brian is out."
I looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"He's not usually so easily persuaded, but he thinks two O'Connors are one too many."

"Then why doesn't he drive against me and we'll see which one of us is better?" Dom laughed. "You're his sister. He wanted to spare you that embarrassment."

"I could have beat him easily," I said. "Yeah, right. Anyway, if you need him, he'll be there."

"I certainly don't need him." I bitchily contradicted. "That day will come," Dom replied confidently. "Do you always play the moralizing guy who tries to make everyone do what they don't want?"

"That's the way it is in a family," he said and stood right in front of me. A sweet smell came into my nose. My heart was pounding. Dominik Toretto grinned broadly. "You are in my light," I replied. He laughed, "You've got a lot of nerve."

"And you're a bit pushy," he took a few steps away. My muscles relaxed. "Your father..." he started. "We're not talking about that here. I'm here to win," I told him with confidence. "You think Brian doesn't know where your bruises and scratches on your face came from? You're wrong."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied. "I think you know exactly. You might want to freshen up." I looked at him gloweringly. "I think the race starts in 20 minutes. You might want to warm up. Or do you want to lose again."
He shook his head with a smile. "We'll see."

How Brian had told Mr. Garcia that he was no longer participating in the race, I wondered at this point.

***

"Vas a perder a la niña!", hissed the woman next to me. "If you have something to say, speak English. Otherwise, shut up," I replied. „Muestra más respeto. " Toretto's voice rose. "Respect? You two don't deserve it. This is my territory. Entiendes? ", she replied angry. I let my gaze wander from her to Dom.
"Where did that cop go?" asked the other driver. "That's right, I haven't seen him since the meeting. Has he finally fucked off?", the last of them interfered. "One defeat will be enough for you," Dom just said.

"Ladies please... stop antagonizing each other," I replied. "We'll see who got the better car from us," I added. "It's not the car that matters," Dom intervened. "Excuse me?"
"It's up to the driver to decide whether to win or not," he said. I simply replied, "You must know that better than anyone." ...alluding to the final race.

"Okay my drivers!", a loud voice was heard. There was Marina Rey. Dressed in black latex, she waved at us. "Uh la la. I'd love to eat her up."

"You're disgusting Tristan." Tristan drove a Chevrolet Camaro "Yenko" in blue and white. Since I hadn't really looked at my competition before, I did now. Tristan had well-tanned skin, dark hair and chocolate brown eyes. His mouth, on the other hand, was rather narrow and his ears stood out slightly. Low-hanging pants, white Adidas sneakers and a wide t-shirt by Calvin Klein told me that the guy was a poser.

"You know what this is about! Those who win will of course be in a better position than those who lose," she announced. "Any questions?"
"I have a question. Will the roads be closed?" asked the spirited Brazilian who stayed next to Tristan. Marina Reys laughed with amusement, "Are we in a kindergarten here? It would be boring if there was no traffic."
A little pissed off about this answer she raised her eyebrows.
"How do we know what the track will look like?"
"You'll get little computers that you can see in your cars." Now I understood why a stranger sneaking around my car. I thought he was going to steal my car, but now it made sense. The poor man, I thought, I shouted at him half an hour ago that he should get off my car immediately; otherwise, I would kick him in his balls. "This computer will give you the race course today," she concluded. "Why not our cell phones? You have the number of everyone here, don't you?", the third member of the group asked. Mike Raynor.
"You'll see, these little computers have got a lot more to them. So enough questions for today. Get in your cars and start your engines," Mrs. Rey ordered. "I don't see why we have to get anything installed right away. This is total nonsense!", I exclaimed loudly.

When I started the engine, the computer started up at the same time. "Welcome Miss O'Connor. I am your virtual buddy. Please let me hear your voice for identification," he instructed me.  "And what do you want me to say?" I asked. "Thank you very much. You are now logged in," he replied. "Fine, okay," I said, keeping my mouth shut.

Marina stepped forward, holding a flag in her right hand. "Okay. Remember, this is all about now. When the race is over, the computer will automatically guide you to your assigned places," she said. The engines were humming, the drivers were pedaling. "Here we go. On your marks, get set and go," Marina shouted, the flag dropped and the cars shot forward.

Toretto led with his Dodge Charger. I was just about to overtake Tristan and get into second place when the Brazilian woman drove into my side and pushed me off the road. When I gave her a poisonous look she grinned broadly. Tristan was able to keep second place and I fell back to fourth. So I stepped on the gas again and tried to get into the slipstream from her. Some cars were blocking the road. Understandable, it was red. So we had to meander through or use the opposite lane.

In the rear view mirror I could see Tristan and his snowflake cursing. Mike had remained unchanged on the last place. Time for a little boost, I thought to myself and pressed the small red button on the wheel, which let laughing gas flow in through an access and drove my car forward. The traffic was getting a bit heavier further forward, which required increased concentration on my part. I now drove parallel to Toretto, who looked at me with a fat grin. "Have you finally made it?" he asked. "The best comes last," I countered. He shook his head in amusement. I looked ahead and was startled. A truck hit the brakes right in front of me. I wasn't paying attention. "Fuck!" I immediately pulled the wheel to the side. Another driver honked his horn and yelled at me excitedly. I grazed the truck slightly and shot across the traffic light. Then I turned left. In the rear view mirror I could see the others again. They were quite fast on the road. When Dom suddenly turned right, I was irritated for a moment. Another 5km the virtual buddy showed me on the display. I took a closer look at the track for a minute, when Mike also took the shortcut. On the display my lead number dropped from second to third place. "No!" I cursed. I went through all the routes I knew in my head, but none seemed good enough until I came up with a daring idea. Go through the parapet of the street,the park, the alley and then turn left on the lower street. According to my calculations, the destination was immediately in front of me. I looked in my rear view mirror and could already see the car of Tristan and the other one. If I wanted to follow my plan, I would have to drive through the railing now. I turned the steering wheel around and drove straight ahead into the railing. I could feel the recoil a bit, could hear the laughter of the other drivers passing by. My bumper fell off and I still looked at it sniveling in the side mirror. There was no time to lose. Now I raced through the park. The poor people, I thought to myself and tried not to knock anyone down.

On the other side of the park came the alley that was supposed to take me straight to the street. Unfortunately I had misjudged the width of the alley and so I scratched my paint. Some cats jumped excitedly to the side, garbage cans flew around and then came the end. 100m to the finish. Now precision was needed. I shot out of the alley, turned my steering wheel around once more, applied the handbrake and turned my vehicle. A moment of shock followed as Toretto rammed me a bit and passed me. I followed, closely followed by Mike. A shower of confetti appeared on the screen and a fat congratulations adorned the middle. Immediately a new route were loaded, who took us to our overnight accommodation.

***

I drove into the yard of a hotel, got out, looked around and saw Dom's car standing a few meters away. So now we two winners were allowed to stay in a luxury hotel and dine like that, according to the SMS. I checked in when my mobile was vibrating.
Do you miss me?