“Fuck it. Why not?” She laughed and walked away. One of the girls from the table got up and made her way over to me. She was gorgeous and very obviously pregnant.
“I don’t mean to get in your business, but was that your cat you pulled up in?”
“I’ve never rode anybody else’s cat. I don’t really swing that way.” I could see she didn’t catch my joke, so I shook my head and answered her. “Yeah.”
“Well, if you haven’t figured it out, we’re a car club. Hellcat Barbies. I’m Sass, that’s Dashai, Imani, Zora, Cress, and the one behind the bar is our founder, Aubree.” I nodded not really understanding where this was going.
“That’s what’s up.” I didn’t want to be rude, but I wasn’t really a friendly person.
“Are you just visiting?” Seeing she wasn’t gone let me be, I said fuck it and engaged.
“I don’t know yet. I need a new place to lay my head, but I can’t be in a zombie town. Is it some lit shit to do around here? It seems pretty quiet.” A smile crossed her face, and I could tell she got excited.
“You have no idea. I’m going to the racetracks later, you want to go? You can get your feet wet, and then maybe-…” I didn’t mind being friendly, but I cut her off right there.
“I race alone. I’m not into the crowd thing, but thanks.” Reaching her phone to mine, she bumped it transferring her number to me.
“Well, think about it. Everyone doesn’t race, and you don’t have to in order to be a part of Hellcat. Trust me, I camehere on a whim trying to leave my past behind me, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“How you figure I’m running from something?”
“People don’t just end up in Diamond Cove. I’m not asking you to tell me your story, I’m just saying in a town full of strangers, it’s easier to have a group of genuine people in your corner. If you change your mind about tonight, let me know.” I didn’t know if I would ever join them, but I did like her vibe. She was cool.
“I’ll let you know. My car overheating, so I may not be able to race anyway. Oh, and I’m Storm by the way.” Sass smiled at me in a mischievous way.
“If Dodge is fixing it, trust me, it will be ready.” She walked off and left me to ponder over my thoughts and finish my drink alone. This lil town might be aight after all. It takes a while for me to warm up to people, but once I did, shit was good. If I was gone have to stay here, I might as well figure out everything Diamond Cove had to offer. I’ll swing by, but I wasn’t going to race as a group. As I said, I race alone. Didn’t hurt to go look though.
2-DARION “DODGE” PETERSON
Pulling Storm’s car in my garage, I already knew what was wrong with it without having to pop the hood. The smell of burning antifreeze, and the puddle she left in my parking lot told me everything I needed to know. Once I parked it, I grabbed a box of baking soda and headed back out the door. Pouring it on the wet spot, I left it to soak, so I could clean it up. Even though I worked on cars, I hated dirt.
Heading back inside, I popped the hood, and I couldn’t do shit but admire the beauty in front of me. The engine, cold intakes, and larger throttles and injectors had me impressed. Seeing she had a nitrous system not only told me Storm put a lot of money into her car, but that she also raced. I had no idea if she was any good, but I would never turn a racer away knowing something was wrong with their car.
Fighting back the memories that tried to make their way to the surface, I continued to look over the piece of art. I tried to picture Storm racing, and I was sure she wasn’t any good. Even though all this stuff was good to have, it was usually to compensate for lack of skill. Storm definitely sold the look though. The women around here usually went out of their way to look good. Diamond Cove was often looked at as some hillbilly town, but it drew in crowds from surrounding cities because of the races. So, the women made sure they were dressed to the nines to prove a point.
It was how I knew Storm wasn’t from around here. She had on some jogging pants, a fitted t-shirt, some Jordan 1’s, and her natural hair was pulled into a ponytail. Shorty looked tougher than me around this bitch. Her brown mocha skin was smooth and fit perfectly with her oval shaped eyes, button nose, thick lips, and perfectly aligned teeth. Storm was about five six, with a small frame. She wasn’t curvy, but her body fit her look.I’m not going to lie, she was fine as hell, but I’m sure she bats for the other team.
Closing the hood on her car, I walked over to my desk and put in an order. I didn’t want to deal with her longer than I had to, but I didn’t have the reservoir box that her car would need on hand. Since I was at it, I grabbed a hose as well. Once I was done with her shit, I went back to working on the cars that was bringing in the money. Time slipped by, and it was nine pm before I knew it. Finishing the last thing for the night, I cleaned up and got ready to lock the shop down. When I walked out the door, I could feel someone walking behind me, so I turned on guard. Seeing Storm fuming almost caused me to laugh.
“If you weren’t going to fix my car, all you had to do was say that shit. Give me my keys.” Locking my door, I ignored her and her rant. “Dodge!” She yelled my name causing me to look at her.
“You got a lot of mouth for a mufucka that needs my help. If you keep talking, you gone be pushing this bitch to the next town that happens to be about thirty miles from here. Fix your damn face, and your attitude before you piss me off.” I could see her trying to figure out how she wanted to proceed, so I left her to her thoughts and made my way to my car.
“I don’t have anywhere to go, and you’re not telling me anything.” Hearing the desperation in her voice stopped me in my tracks. If she learned to start off this way, she would get a lot further.
“I had to order the parts because I’m not that kind of shop. They should be in tomorrow or Friday, and I’ll fix it. There are no hotels, but it’s a motel about ten miles from here.” I didn’t bother to tell her that it’s where all the prostitutes and drug addicts went because that wasn’t my problem.
“I need to get my bag out the car. I-…” She stopped herself from saying the next part, but I really didn’t give a fuck whatshe was about to say. All I wanted to do was go home and go my ass to sleep. Walking back over to the shop, I unlocked the door and walked inside. When I opened the door to her Challenger, I looked around until I found the bag she was talking about.
A stack of money fell out causing me to look inside the bag. There was no way this girl was going to be able to go around town carrying this. Somebody was definitely going to rob her ass. Groaning, I walked back out and locked the door. I threw her the money and continued towards my car. She stood there looking around like she didn’t know what to do next, and I knew I was about to regret the words that were about to leave my mouth.
“Get in.” I could see the relief on her face, and I hope she saw the disdain in mine.
“Thank you. I know-…” I cut her off by turning my radio up. I didn’t want to hear the small talk or fake ass appreciation. This was why I didn’t like outsiders. Everyone else here knew that I liked my space. Outside of them bringing their cars to the shop, they pretty much left me alone. The way Storm fidgeted in her seat, I could tell she wanted to ask me something, but I pretended not to notice. She was lucky I was trying to help her bean head ass. The least she could do was allow me to do it in silence.
Pulling up to the house, I parked and grabbed a set of keys out of my armrest. When I got out of the car and walked to the door, I got annoyed seeing her still sitting inside. Turning around, I walked back to the car and tapped on the window. This slow mufucka rolled the window down instead of catching the hint and getting out of the car.
“If you don’t bring yo lil booty ass on.”
