5. Raven
Chapter five
Raven
Waking up the next morning and rolling over, I grab my phone and see a text from Reyes.
Reyes: Morning, heard I’ll be seeing you later?
Me: Yeah, after I get done at Orpheus. Morning to you too.
Reyes: Well, I’ll be waiting ??
Me: I’m sure you will be ??
Closing the text thread and setting my phone down, I roll out of bed, throwing on some purple workout shorts, and a black tank. Finishing up getting ready, I hop in my car and head to the gym.
Pulling up to Orpheus, I go through my training routine with Eddie. A couple of hours later, we’re done, and I'm a sweating mess. He lets me know he has a job for me Saturday night. He managed to get his hands on someone coming through town who apparently works with some traffickers we’re trying to take down. Knowing my feelings on this subject, he wanted to give me a heads up before anyone else was privy to this information. I told him to just text me the details and I’ll be ready. Going to the back where the showers and lockers are, I grab a quick shower, change clothes, and head out to my car. Typing a quick text to Luis to make sure they are still at the shop.
Me: I’m done at the gym, I’ll be there in thirty minutes.
Luis: See you in a few. I have someone here you need to meet.
Rolling my eyes, I close the thread, put my phone down and head towards the interstate.
Pulling into the shop thirty minutes later, I park my car and get out. My phone rings as soon as my feet hit the pavement. Pulling my phone out, I look and see Naomi is calling.
“Hey bitch, what’s up?” I ask.
“Where did you go?You were here for a few hours, then boom, you left.”
“Luis and Reyes asked me to come to the shop if I got done before my race. I just pulled up here.”
“Okay, I just wanted to check on you. See you at the race tonight then, bye! Oh, and don’t have too much fun.” She laughs on the other end.
“See you later, I’m sure I won’t.” I chuckle as I hang up.
As I start to walk inside, Reyes meets me in front of the shop.
“So, I get to see you two days in a row? Is it me that can’t stay away or you?” He continues to close the distance between us.
“Just admit it. I know you’re obsessed with me.” I sass, raising a brow as I place my hand on his chest to stop his movements. Grabbing my hand, he pulls me in closer.
“Oh, Little Devil, I am not obsessed. Yet. Come on, we have someone who we want to introduce you to.” He grins, walking us inside.
Inside the shop, I spot Luis standing by someone I haven’t seen before. Reyes walks us over to them. Pulling out of his grasp, I eye the new guy. Did I mention I am not a people person? For fucks sake.
“Raven, this is Damien, the friend I told you about that owns Osiris Car Shop. We wanted to introduce you to one another before the race tonight, seeing as you’ll be racing each other.” Giving him a questioning look, I turn to look at Damien. He’s just as sexy as they are. How are they all so tall? He has bright, emerald green eyes. His dirty blonde hair is thrown in a small messy bun on top of his head and has just as many tattoos as the others, if not more, that cover his olive-tone skin. Fuck me, did God make them his favorites or what? Pulling myself from my own thoughts, I meet his stare.
“Hey, yeah they told me about you. Reyes said you have a shop if I need anything done to my car.” The sass is obvious in my voice. He glares at me, then gives me a mischievous grin.
“I’ve definitely heard about you, Raven.” He practically growls my name as he continues, “And I have to say, you are nothing like they explained. They weren’t lying about the attitude, but you are definitely prettier in person.” He raises an eyebrow at me. Crossing my hands over my chest, I snap back.
“Oh, so they told you about me, huh? Guess I’ll have to make sure to live up to my fiery attitude.” He chuckles,
“Damn, y’all weren’t lying when you said she was feisty. I like it.” He grins at the other two but turns back to me, adding, “Really though, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve worked with Eddie for a while, he always did talk about his niece and her best friend running shit with him.” He finishes, licking his lips, I catch a glimpse of metal. Wait. He has his tongue pierced? Walking to the couch they have in the shop, I sit down and nod.
“Yeah, Naomi is his niece. Let’s just say Eddie took me in when I was seventeen because of some unfortunate events.” That makes them all turn towards me with questioning glares. Stalking towards me, Reyes and Luis sit on the couch next to me while Damien sits right in front of me on the table.
“Wanna talk about these unfortunate events?” He pries.
Snapping back, “Not particularly, I don’t know any of you that well. Definitely don’t think you need my life story and how I got where I am today. I’ll just say Eddie made me a better person.” Because that’s a whole story no one is ready to hear. And I’ll need a stiff drink to relive it.
“We won't pry today, Little Devil. We will get the whole story though. I, for one, want to know everything there is to know about you.” He declares and Damien nods in agreement. Luis just glares at me, cocking his head to the side.
“Says the one with just as many secrets as me?” I taunt back and quirk an eyebrow. He just looks at me stunned, like I was some stupid little girl .
Pulling a joint from his pocket, Reyes lights it up, takes a hit and grabs my face.
“Open your mouth.” He commands, and I raise my brow. Grabbing my face harder, he takes another hit and blows the smoke in my mouth. Inhaling the smoke, I slowly blow it out. “I knew you smelt like weed that first time.”
“What?” He questions with a grin.
“Oh, did I say that out loud? Well that day I dropped my bike off, I thought you smelled like weed. Turns out, I was right.” I laugh, grabbing the joint and taking another hit. Damien suddenly puts his mouth on mine as I exhale and I look at him in shock as I pass the joint back to Reyes.
“Okay, that’s it for me, especially since I have to race tonight. Plus this,” I make a circle with my finger motioning between all of us, “is doing all sorts of things to my body.” I go to get up, but Reyes is the one who speaks up.
“Oh, are we turning you on?” I feel the heat rising to my face as I sit back down.
“Definitely not, it takes more than blowing smoke down my throat to do that.” I quip back, causing them to chuckle.
Changing the subject, we ease into conversations about how they started working for Eddie and Zeke. I throw a few questions into the mix and they give me vague answers in return, of course. We talk until my alarm goes off on my phone letting me know I have about an hour until the race. Standing up, I walk toward the shop door, giving them my signature two-finger salute.
“Alright guys I’m out, I like to be there early.” I say, but before I make it to the door, Reyes stops me.
“I’ll drive you, if that’s okay? Luis is going to ride with Damien anyway.”
“Umm, I guess. Just please tell me you know how to drive a standard? I swear I’ll gut you if you fuck it up. It wasn’t cheap having to swap for a manual transmission.” I threaten with a brow raised, all humor leaving my tone. He looks at me and laughs,
“Yes, Little Devil, I know how to drive a standard. Don’t worry, I won’t fuck your car up.” I look at him with narrowed eyes before I toss him my keys and we head towards my car. Luis and Damien go around back and head towards the garage where Damien is parked. Getting in, he starts the car and starts a Bohnes playlist. Looking at him I say,
“Well at least we have the same taste in music.” He laughs. Sitting back, I stare out the window and wonder why these three guys are trying to make me feel things. I don’t do feelings.
Pulling up to the starting line, I focus on getting into the zone. Of feeling the car rumble under me while the music plays low in the background. This is the only time I don’t want it blaring. I want to hear everything. I don’t focus on anyone or anything but my car, and the other three racers' on either side of me.
Walking through the middle of everyone, a guy holds up a green flag as he reaches the line. Once he makes eye contact with each of us, we nod and he drops it. The sound of tires squealing is all you can hear as we take off. I don’t even notice the lead I have on the others at first. The tunnel vision sets in. I can see one car trying to get close to my front tire, but I don’t budge. The worst thing to do is panic and jerk. This race is basically a straight stretch to the finish line, with people lined all the way down. Noticing I’m still in the lead, I can see the finish line just up ahead. Looking out of my passenger window, I see a red Challenger as it creeps up, now almost nose to nose with me. Flooring it, I speed up, passing the finish line and ‘whoop’ when I realize I just smoked that car's ass.
Everyone is running down the sidelines cheering and waving their hands around. Naomi comes to my driver window and taps. Opening the door, I get out as she’s jumping up and down while coming at me for a hug, wrapping her arms around my neck and squeezing.
“Yes bitch, you fucking won! I never doubted you, but fuck, that Challenger was close. I am always nervous when you do this shit, and when that motherfucker got right up on your front end, I’m not gonna lie, I was freaking the hell out!” She hollers in my ear before stepping away to give me room to breathe.
“Trust me, it kinda freaked me out too when he got close. You know how it works out here though, no rules, anything goes, but I was in my zone.” I quip, trying to ease her just as Reyes and Luis walk up. Before they get a word in, the red Challenger pulls up next to us, the driver getting out and turning toward us. Holy shit. “Damien?” I arch a brow in question, my jaw damn near dropping. He looks surprised and walks over to the rest of us, sliding right in front of me,
“Well, Little Viper, you definitely surprised me. I didn’t expect you to beat me. Guess I can finally say I got my ass handed to me by a woman. And damn, if you didn’t look good doing it though.” He says with a coy smirk.
“Well, glad I am the first woman to ever beat your ass. Luis said the same thing.” I wink back to Luis, all the attitude in my tone. Naomi, Reyes and Luis start laughing and I can’t help but laugh with them. I know they are laughing because I always reply with an attitude, and I’m sure one day I’ll pay for it, but right now, I couldn’t give any fucks. These guys seem to pull all the sass out of me too, and that makes it even better.
Naomi walks up to me and hugs me again saying, “I gotta go, I have to be up early tomorrow for a job. See you tomorrow night at Sirens? Also, bring the guys with you, I think it’ll be fun.” Winking, she steps back. I look at her and smirk.
“Yes, I’ll bring them. I have a job before we go to Sirens, but I’ll be there. We are definitely due for a night out. It’s been too long.” She tells everyone bye and walks towards her car in the parking lot. Looking at the guys, I give them a ‘what now?’ look, and they all smirk. Looking around, the lot has basically emptied out. Leaving us alone on the strip.