“You have to tell me your address, so I can bring your truck.” I was grasping for any reason to be around him.
“You can drive that until your car is ready.” My face turned up in disappointment. “Be grateful I’m not putting you out on your ass homeless Hattie.”
“Fuck you, Dodge.” Snatching the keys out of his hand, I opened my door and got ready to get out of the car. “Are you going to train me?”
“I told you; I don’t race. Get yo lonely ass out of my car. You might need to holla at them Barbies. You need a friend, and I’m not him. Oh, and if you touch anything else in my shit that doesn’t belong to you, I’ll break your fucking hand.”
“Yo uglass always threatening somebody when we both know you ain’t gone do shit. Come see me when you’re no longer scared of the throne.” Getting out the car, I slammed the door.
“At least I ain’t twenty bands down. Work on your people skills. When I put your ass out of my house and you have to go to that motel with them prostitutes, you gone have to be a lil friendlier trying to sell that lil cat. From the way you dry stroked that shift, you not gone get no more than twenty dollars.” Before I could respond, Dodge drove off causing me to look stupid.
Jumping in his truck, I sat there fuming. Mostly because I had a lot of sexual frustration built up, but also because I’ve never been snubbed by a man before. Back home, everyone knew I was a tomboy, but it worked for me. I never had to try and be feminine. Seeing how out of place I was down here; I would have to step out of my comfort zone to get laid. At least that’s how it seemed.
Looking over at the tracks, I couldn’t believe I lost. That shit was humbling, but even then, I refused to see it was me. In my mind, it had to be the car. I had created a name for myself, and my name shook niggas back home. Here, in this small ass town, I learned that I wasn’t shit. Leaning my head back, I fell out laughing hard. The racers I smoked back home would have given anything to see this.
I know Dodge thought I was asking him to teach me because I was being a sore loser, but that wasn’t it at all. From the moment my uncle took me to the tracks, people looked at me as if I didn’t belong. Girls had no place in racing. When I got old enough to be out there on the asphalt, I cried. It was my dream and some niggas shitted on me and told me I couldn’t get in the race. I bet my car and every dollar I had to convince them. Some nigga who never raced a day in his life and was in some shitty ass car was let in without a second thought. I smoked all they ass because I had a point to prove, and I’ve been proving it since.
Losing the race tonight put me right back to my first race. They wouldn’t take me seriously, and I would have to jump through hoops to prove myself. I had no idea why Dodge was soagainst training me. The way he drifted that car had my pussy so wet, I just know God built cars with him in mind. Them shits had to be made especially for him the way he handled that shit. I had no idea why he would ever give racing up with the way that he drove. My nosy kicked in, and I grabbed my phone.
Typing in Dodge Customs, I waited for his real name to pop up, so I could search his ass. Darion Peterson. His picture at one of his races popped up and he looked so happy. Like he belonged there. I don’t know why, but I felt a sense of pride as I continued to read. Article after article, it was nothing but awards and high praises. A few of the pictures had the same guy in the pictures just like the ones at the house. Scrolling some more, I saw an article that caught my attention. It was about a car crash. Reading on in horror, I now understood why Dodge stopped racing. I felt so bad for him. That was a guilt that he would probably carry with him forever. Going to my contacts, I texted Sass.
ME: I need you to do me a big favor.
SASS: If you bring me pickles and ice cream, I’ll think about it.
ME: I need Dodge’s home address. I want to apologize to him.
SASS: I’m sure you do after the stunt you pulled. I’ll see what I can do. Let me text Aubree.
ME: Thank you.
I sat around and waited to see if Sass would come through. If she did, I would definitely take her ass a jar of pickles. Twenty minutes later, I was starting to think she wasn’t going to come through when she finally texted me the address. Putting it in my GPS, I took off in that direction. On my way there, I noticed the town wasn’t as small as I thought. It was really nice, and I could see they took pride in most of their stuff here. Turning on Dodge’s block, I couldn’t believe how big thehouses were. His was no different. They said you can’t judge a book by its cover, and my ass had side eyed the fuck out of that shit.
Thoroughly impressed, I parked in his driveway and got out. Taking a deep breath, I walked up to his door and rang his bell. I never pictured Dodge mean ass living in a mini mansion. Now that I thought about it, who buys this kind of house and live alone? He might have a bitch and a few babies running through here. Realizing I didn’t think this through, I tried to fast walk back to the truck.
“You stalked me just to play ding dong ditch?” Hearing his low voice had my pussy turning around before I did.
“I didn’t want to piss off your girlfriend. When I figured how this would look, I changed my mind and decided to talk to you when I came to the shop.” He crossed his arms across his chest as if he was calling bullshit.
“Why are you here, Storm?” I noticed he didn’t speak on him having a girl.
“Is it okay if we talk?” I tried to ask on the low again. When he didn’t respond, I walked back towards him. Dodge walked inside, so I followed behind him. His house was immaculate, but he had the basic necessities. He didn’t put no effort into decorating it at all.
When he walked over to the bar and poured a drink, I grabbed a cup and put it in front of him until he filled my cup. I noticed Dodge didn’t speak; he was waiting on me to break the ice. Sitting on the couch, he looked at me as he took a sip. Taking a seat next to him, I threw my drink back and decided to say what I needed to say.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I was wrong for going through your stuff, and even more wrong to drive the car. I’ve given you a bad impression of me since I’ve been here, and I would like to change it. You’re helping me, and you don’t haveto. I just want you to know I appreciate it.” Dodge stared at me without saying anything for a while and then took a sip of his drink.
“You know.” I was going to lie, but it wasn’t a question. He said it in a matter of fact tone, so it was clear he knew.
“Yes.” His jawline danced around before he stood and walked to the bar again. His back was to me, and all I wanted to do was get up and put my arms around him.
“Are you okay?”
“DON’T-… Don’t do that shit.” Dodge started to yell but then calmed his voice. I didn’t know what to say, so I just sat there. “How did you find out?” This was the part I knew would piss him off.
“I ummm, googled you. I know I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy like that, but I was trying to look up your accolades. To be honest, I was hoping the king of the tracks was just some cocky bullshit and you didn’t know what you was talking about. I was reading article after article, and I’ve never felt a rush like that before. I felt proud to see what you accomplished. I didn’t know the next story would be that one. I’m sorry.” He nodded, but still never turned around.
“I don’t need your pity. It is what the fuck it is.” Dodge went silent again and I was starting to think this was a mistake. “I feel like it’s wrong to keep living life while my brother is dead, and I’m the reason he’s gone.”
