Thorns & Oranges

He's Pissed About Something

Chapter Nine

"You comin'?" my brother asked, poking his head into my room.

I was in the middle of going over some accounting stuff concerning his little "operation". He owned a garage that was linked to the Spanish Thorns. It's how they funneled money in and out for everyone to use. It was more like a Spanish mob than a regular street gang but it was how my brother ran things. How Marco ran things though he had a restaurant instead of a garage. "Vin?"

"Yeah?"

I glanced up at him. "How is Juan's eyesight?"

He chuckled. "Waning, why?"

"Because he's turned a seven here," I pointed to one of the books in front of me, "to a one here."

"Cooked book or real book?"

"I don't know that's the thing. The one is in the cooked book but the seven is in the real book. It should be the other way around."

I knew how my brother ran his business. All the tricks and slide of hands he used were simple for me to track but this was just...I don't know. Weird. He walked over and glanced down at the books.

"I don't know, Elina. I'll take a look at it tomorrow. But if you're coming then you need to get your ass into gear."

After everything that happened with Rey today, I really didn't want to go. I wanted to stay in and watch something violent but I knew it would mean a lot to my brother if I went. Earlier, the drive home with Rey was extremely awkward. He wouldn't talk to me and I didn't know what to say. When we got back to the house, he grabbed the fast food bags and left me sitting there. He was acting like such a child and there was no reason why this was getting under his skin so much.

I didn't have much to carry thankfully.  A gallon of sweet tea and my iced mocha but I couldn't do much except watch him walk up to the house and then disappear inside. I felt horrible, especially after everything he'd done for me but...

"I'm coming," I answered my brother's question.

They'd brought in the cars a couple hours ago, all the sound on the street was blocked out from the rumble of all the motors. It was a strange parade of brightly colored cars that stopped in front of the house.

"Get your shoes and grab your jacket. It's going to get cold tonight."

"Who am I going with?"

"Me."

"What about Chelle? Doesn't she usually ride with you?"

"She's not up to it. She hasn't been feeling well."

I hid my smile, not wanting him to suspect that I knew something was up. There were a couple ideas spinning around in my mind but I was keeping it to myself until one of them, or both, told me what I already knew. You weren't supposed to be excited about hearing someone throw up early in the morning but I was pretty much giddy on the inside when I woke up to it. "Alright." I closed the books and went to get up but he held out a finger. "What?"

"Rules."

"Of course." I sat back down. "What are they?"

"Once we get there, you stay glued to Dom unless one of us says otherwise. He's still working on his car so he's not racing tonight."

"What if..."

"I'm getting to that." He flashed me a smile. "If you want to ride, you'll do it with me. I'm scheduled once or twice tonight so that should satisfy the adrenaline junkie hiding inside you.  Other than that, you ask Dom. No going off by yourself for long periods of time. Guys are going to be there who aren't with us, use your best judgment. If you get tired, ask Dom to have someone bring you home."