High Card Bluff (House of Cards Series 5)

(6) How to Make Friends

A couple of hours later, and Tomas had a wad of cash in his pocket, grease worked into his hands, and a massive headache from where some pendejo had hit the horn while he had his head under the hood. But Jerred had finally gotten all they boys to close their hoods, the work done, and Tom was trying to wipe up his hands. If he messed up the Supra his father would kill him, after making him clean it to perfection.

"Here, it works on most grease," suddenly the brat was right there, passing him a makeup wipe from Honey's borrowed purse.

"If this makes me smell like lilac I'm putting you over my knee."

"Scent free you Goon. What's happening now?" She'd stayed close enough they could talk while walking the Supra.

"Races." He grinned, feeling a spike of adrenaline at the idea. Cash only, group run GPS races were the vice he liked to indulge in that got him into the most trouble with his parents. Given that Carlitos had trouble walking and Maya had heavy facial scars from a car crash, it made sense. But Tom knew cars, and he knew exactly how far he could push his car in comparison.

She slid into the passenger seat as if accustomed to begin a race but Tom could see her unease only because her expression looked so unbothered. Tom had an issue with adrenaline; he liked it a little too much sometimes. Drive fast, play hard; he was a jump in with both feet kind of guy, but with Dri in the Supra, he couldn't help but be aware that if anything happened to him, it was happening to her too. It added an unexpected edge to his driving, as he stayed hyper aware of where Jerred and Adrien's cars were.

The bufón he passed quickly, and although Tom wasn't stupid enough to try and win this thing, he also couldn't help but chase the lead pack. Until one car got close enough to pit maneuver Tom a little too expertly for it to be an accident. A squeal of tires as they spun out, the momentum letting the Supra cover some distance as Tom corrected and kept them from crashing. Some kind god smiled on Tom as they came to a stop still on the road and even mostly facing the right way.

"Motherfucker did that on purpose!" Dri swore in Spanish, tone savage and he couldn't help looks at her in surprise. She'd grabbed her seatbelt to keep it from digging in, her other hand pressed up against the roof to help keep her from being crushed against the door by the force of the spin, and her eyes blazed with indignation, "What are you waiting for, drive!"

So he did.

Tom ended up losing the wad of cash in his pocket but was rewarded with the experience of seeing Adrianna go absolutely off at the pendejo that had clipped them. Apparently, she'd recognized the car because the next second she'd hopped out of the Supra as Tom parked, and gone charging at the driver getting out of his BMW.

"Hey fuck-face, what kind of idiot driver are you?" Again god blessed Tom by having Dri keep to Spanish to rage in.

The fuck-face in question looked shocked to have the brat suddenly up in his space and angry, but he smartly didn't try to push her away. Instead, he looked from her to Tom, "You wanna get your bitch out of my way?" Tom heard someone in the watching crowd gasp.

The crack of Adrianna's hand across the man's cheek was loud, and immediately followed by laughter from the audience watching the spectacle. Tom had made it to her side the moment he could, ready to deal with it if fuck-face tried to hit her back.

Even as the man looked to push the fight, Jerred stopped him by calling out, "You earned that Will, didn't your mama teach you how to be respectful to women?"

Dri stepped back against him as Jerred came closer, so Tom brought his arm up to hug around her waist. His hand ended up on her ribs, thumb high enough on her sternum to feel how fast her heart rate still was. Since her back was to his chest, he slowed his breathing to try and calm hers.