Lala toyed with the strap on her brace while sitting at the table with Monica. Carter was standing at a window nearby and watching out to see who would return first. She was not built for being undercover, especially if he starts digging on her. As much as she wanted to help Brian and Rome she felt like she'd crack under pressure.
Monica clicked through the profiles built for Rome, Brian and herself. "Juvy record for popping cars. Two years in J.D. and another year for aiding and abetting an armed robbery."
"He's clean, sweetheart." Lala snapped her gum, a fake southern twang to her voice.
"He's clean, dirty but clean." Monica confirmed with a twinkle in her eyes. She knew the other woman was interested in Brian. Lala saw the looks she gave him, the same looks that Mia had been giving him last year.
Carter turned to the two ladies, "Monica, I'd like to hear about Veronica's file."
Lala's gum chewing faltered a beat before she shrugged and sat up a bit more. "I'm an open book, darlin'."
An amused chuckle came from Carter and he turned the monitor to himself so that he could read off of it. "Hm, Veronica Leigh Spilner. Twenty one years old, based out of Jacksonville, served four years at Orange County for...auto theft and armed robbery. Awfully young to be causing that much havoc."
She shrugged and gives a cocky smirk. "What can I say, I really liked the car. Besides if the guy I was running for never flipped on me - I would've been in the clear."
"Say I have you do a run for me for an undisclosed amount of money. What's to stop you from flipping on me?" He asks while narrowing his eyes at her.
Lala leaned forward, the cocky smile still on her face. "We just keep our business ours, sweetheart."
Carter grinned in a masochistic way. "I like you." He looked at Monica. "I like her. She stays even if her guys don't get back first."
Excited clapping and gum popping coming from Lala was the only sound as Monica and Carter locked eyes with each other. He was mentally daring her to challenge him while she was trying to find a way to keep him from crossing boundaries. They wanted her close to Carter but not that close.
"Verone." One of the men from earlier stepped inside the room, "Her two are back."
Carter stood and held a hand out for Monica, which she took to stand, before then holding his hand out to Lala. She hesitated before taking his hand and standing up, her brace making a slight squeak. "Now that is a story I'd love to hear about."
"Not a fun story, unfortunately." Lala cleared her throat and followed Carter and Monica outside.
"Take her to the pool, Monica with me." Carter ordered before walking away. The same bald man, Enrique, led her to the poolside and pulled a chair out for her before helping her sit.
"Thank you." She gave him a charming smile and he nodded before walking away, he seemed like such a joy.
Meanwhile Carter and Monica had just gotten to the two men. Brian handing him the package that they had retrieved from his center console.
"Where's our girl?" Brian questioned while his eyes scanned the area not finding Lala.
Carter simply stared at him with an unreadable expression before Rome interrupted. "Hey, man. You got something to eat up in there? We hungry."
Brian gave Rome a look as Carter spoke. "Sit them by the pool."
He and Monica shared a look, Carter walking off somewhere else.
"Nice. Come on." She motioned the two to follow her. As she walked, she swayed her hips in a sultry manner ensuring she got Brian's attention.
"What are you checking her out for?" Rome hit him on the shoulder as they followed.
Brian shook his head, "I'm not checking her out." He muttered while they walked to the pool. Relief filled his body as he saw Lala sitting at the table, her hair no longer in its braid to leave it flowing over her shoulders. The sun glistened on her skin making her look like a goddess among the humans, like Aphrodite had come down and blessed his eyes.
As they approached the table, Monica excused herself to go to Carter.
"Yes, you were." Rome piped up from next to him as he made his way over to Lala, side hugging her before going to a seat.
"No, I wasn't." Brian gritted out and kissed the side of Lala's head quickly then squeezed her shoulder. "Everything go okay here, baby?"
She nodded and gave them a smile while eating the bowl of strawberries. "Carter loves me, I'm set. What is he going on about?" She reached over and fed one to Brian casually while Rome's jaw dropped at them after what he witnessed.
"Really, Brian. Y'all just gonna sit here and feed each other fruit after I seen you checking her out?" Rome gave him a pissed off look.
Brian swallowed and sheepishly looked at Lala then Rome. "Okay, I was. Now shut up."
Her eyes narrowed at him and she scooped the fruit dip from her tray, shoving it on his mouth. She wiped the excess on the cloth napkin in front of her.
"That shut you up, ain't? Don't tell me to shut up." Rome sneered in annoyance towards Brian like a child on the playground.
As Brian was wiping his mouth and face off, Monica approached the group. "Both you girlies shut up. Unbelievable. How do you deal with this all the time?"
"Luckily, I haven't had to deal with big mouth over here much at all." She motioned to Rome with a laugh. He rolled his eyes at her and made a pshhh sound.
His attention turned to Monica who was eating grapes almost seductively, being sure to slightly suck them as she ate. She was definitely doing it for Brian again but the blonde's attention was on his brunette angrily consuming berries nearly by the fistful now.
"You sure are cosy in this big old mansion. Sleeping with the enemy." Rome verbally pushed her in distrust. He didn't feel comfortable running with Brian in the first place but throw some baby mama drama and a dirty cop sleeping with the enemy in the mix, it was hella personal now.
Carter walked up to the table causing Brian and Rome to go to stand while Lala just blissfully ate her berries. She could go for a some greasy cheese fries right now from Fat Burger. Vince introduced her to the chain restaurant back in LA. "No, no. Sit down."
"Nice Ferrari you got in the driveway." He mused while Rome sat there almost pouting at having to be there.
"I'm glad you like it." Carter said smugly while emptying the contents of the package onto his plate. "Darling, will you hold that?" He passed it to Monica and Lala watched as she peeked inside.
She nudged the bowl of berries to Monica and leaned back in her seat, sipping the champagne that had been served to her while she waited. "Is that a cigar, Carter?"
"We did all that for a damn cigar?" Rome asked in bewilderment to Verone while Brian chuckled in disbelief, rubbing his jaw with irritation. Lala slid her glass of champagne to him and he downed it.
"No. You did that for a job." He pointed to the two men sitting near him. A brief hand flick had a young woman in uniform come over and refill Lala's glass quickly before shuffling away again. "Do you really think that I would let somebody impound my car?"
Lala sighed and looked at them, "boys the boatyard is his property. He owns it."
"By the way, you two owe me a gate. I'll take it off your cut." Carter chuckled while snipping his cigar and peering across the table to Lala. Something about the woman intrigued him but he couldn't figure out what it was exactly.
Rome scoffed at his words. "Off our cut?"
"Yeah." Carter snapped back at him, this one was going to be a handful he could tell by the way he came off.
"I like that." He spoke sarcastically causing him to snap in irritation again.
"Good." Carter bit at him while Lala looked at Brian mentally calling him to intervene before Rome inevitably insulted him.
Brian caught onto her look and spoke up from his seat. "What's this job you got for us, anyway?"
"Come with me, you too darling." He motioned to Lala. "The house has ears in it."
The trio stood and followed Carter, Brian being sure that Lala was next to him as they walked down the estate to a path. Once he stopped, she leaned against the wall while they talked. Rome slid over next to her and looked at the sandwich in her hand and looked back at her again. Rolling her eyes, she silently passed the sandwich to him gaining a grin as he took it.
"I have something I want you to carry from North Beach to the Keys." Carter informed the trio while Lala played with one of her curls.
"What is it?" Brian questioned.
Carter gave him a look. "Just put it in the car, drive it to me and don't let anybody stop you. Understand?" He looked between the two men.
"Any chance of cop trouble?" Brian asked and Carter looked past him to Lala.
"Does your boy always ask so many questions, darling?" He asks her and she gives him a light smile.
She stepped forward, now in between her boys. "We just like to be informed, prepare for anything that might come our way." She spoke in the southern accent and Brian felt chills pass over his body. Everything about Lala turned him on but the accent definitely did it for him.
Carter nodded, "I'm buying you a window of time, but it won't be open very long. You make it and I'll personally hand you $100,000 at the finish line."
Of course Rome had to open his mouth in this moment while Carter was just about to close the deal. "Make it $100,000 apiece." He challenged and Lala gave him a 'please let me handle this' look.
"Look, man obviously your pockets ain't nervous." He grinned and before Lala could stop him, he reached forward and patted at Verone's pants.
Carter slapped his hand away being fed up at his behavior and Lala stepped slightly in front of Rome. "Don't ever touch me." He warned.
"Ours are empty. Like I said we hungry." Rome shrugged and bit the sandwich he had previously taken from Lala.
"I apologize for my guy's behavior, he has...social issues." Lala excused Rome's actions and Carter nodded.
"I've had my fair share of those but I got an idea. Why don't you boys, and lovely lady, join us at the club later tonight?" Carter offers up to them and Brian nods eagerly.
"Yeah. We're down."
"Pearl at midnight? Get to know each other better." He directed the last part at Lala, his eyes glazing over her frame.
"Sounds good." Brian responded shortly and shook Carter's hand. "See you."
A grin etched over his face, "see you tonight." He spoke to Lala, watching her walk away with the guys.
Lala couldn't help but shudder internally at the looks Carter gave her. He was keen on the young woman and it made her sick to her stomach. Her shoulder brushed with Brian's arm as they started making their way back up towards the cars.
"Hey, you! Your pockets aren't empty." Carter called out to them causing the trio to falter in their steps. No way one of them would be so stupid as to steal from Carter Verone.
Rome muttered a curse and Lala looked over at him before turning around. Of course if one of them would be stupid enough, it'd be Rome. "I'll take my cutter back."
Lala and Brian shared a knowing look with each other as Rome walked back down to Carter. "Stupid ass." They spoke in sync.
-
The trio made their way back to Tej's garage, Lala riding with Rome again. Brian wanted to take the ride back with her because of the whole Monica thing. The blonde man had no intentions of pursuing or doing anything with Monica but he couldn't deny that he found her attractive.
Lala went inside ahead of the boys as Brian gave Rome a breakdown of the garage. She spotted Jimmy and threw her arm over his shoulder. "Hey baby, we got two rides out in the lot. B's gonna need your help looking under the hoods."
He grinned and wiped his hands on his pants. "Anything for you, Vi."
While he headed out to talk to the boys, Lala slipped into the locker room and changed into her bikini then slid shorts on. "Much better." She spoke softly and strapped her leg brace back on.
Her hands stopped on the straps and she squeezed her eyes shut as vivid flashbacks hit her. Ever since that day, she'd get an occasional flood of the drive-by happening again or her time in the hospital post-shooting. She remembered every second of how it felt laying on the floor of her hospital room. The doctors had no idea that she'd lose nearly all function of her leg after the surgery, it was completely unexpected. There were multiple surgeries done afterwards and lots of physical therapy but nothing helped her leg get better. She had to learn how to adapt to her new normal.
A knock at the door disrupted her thoughts and when it popped open, she grinned at the girl standing in the doorway. "Hey, Angel."
"Hi, Sugar." Lala quipped and made her way over to hug her best friend. She subconsciously breathed in her scent, a mix of sweetness and sea salt from the ocean.
Suki pulled away with a concerned look on her face. "Where'd you disappear to? I haven't seen you around."
"Long story short, B got himself caught and now we gotta deal with some things." She explained vaguely and wrapped her arm around Suki's waist. The girls made their way outside to the docks where Tej was monitoring a race.
"Hey, boy." Lala leaned over his shoulders and gave him a hug. "How's business today?"
Tej pat her arms affectionately, "business is boomin', girl." He stood up so that she could take his seat next to Suki, who already had her sketchbook on her lap.
"That's what I like to hear." She plopped down on the chair just in time to hear Brian and Rome approaching them.
Lala slapped Tej on the shoulder. "What the hell is Ray doing?" She groaned out and Tej started edging him on.
"Come on, Ray!" Tej yelled into the megaphone while Lala crossed his name off of their VIP team list. "Do it!"
"Tej Parker? This is Roman Pearce." Brian spoke up, not necessarily wanting to interrupt him while he's in the zone. "Basically, he's the man to know in Miami. Has his finger in everything just like Lo."
"It's just the way it is." Lala piped up from her spot, taking notes on the clipboard for the garage's expenses while the two men greeted each other.
"How you doing?" Brian spoke sweetly to Suki and leaned down to kiss her cheek.
"Good." She smiled and kissed his too. If it had been anyone else, Lala probably would've lobbed her clipboard at their head. But since it was Suki she didn't mind it at the moment. The night of the race was a different story, he had been getting under her skin all night.
"What's this? What's the latest?" He questions her as she flips the sketch over to show him. Suki was hands down the best designer that Lala had met, her and Jesse would've gotten along perfectly.
"It's a work in progress. It's not finished." She excused the unfinished drawing and Lala leaned over and put her head against Suki's shoulder.
"That's some artistic shit. You got talent." Rome praised her which gained him a nod of appreciation.
After Tej collected his payments from the crowd, he made his way back over to the crew.
"I see you're about your money, homie. You race, too?" Rome asked curiously and Lala grimaced slightly. She knew how bad he wanted to get over his fear of being in the races but he just couldn't. Not yet at least.
"No, man. I hit a wall doing like a buck 20 a couple years ago." Tej sighed. "Ever since then I've just been...organizing and collecting. Plus we got all this, thanks to Viper." He motioned to the dock and the garage behind them.
"I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat, especially saving your ass after the crash." She poked at him.
Brian shook his head at them. "Anyways, check it out. He'll be in town a while. Can he use that cot?"
"What's wrong with your place?" He raised a brow and gave him a look. Then he looked at Lala. "Y'all got a second room in the back."
"I don't want to stay with him." Rome interrupted, shooting Brian a glare. "He has bad habits."
Lala narrowed her eyes at Rome then at Brian. "Oh does he now?" She cocked her head at them.
"Take it somewhere else, Vi. Show him around and I'll be up there in a minute." Tej handed half the money from the race to Lala.
"I'm gonna drop this quick." She took the money inside, going to the office. The young woman needed a break from Brian and Rome even if it was only for a few minutes. She sat on the chair and put the money in the safe before leaning back and closing her eyes.
It wasn't long before the silence was interrupted by Brian coming in and closing the door.
"What's your problem?" He spat out bluntly. "Why are you so hot and cold?"
"Must be the weather today." She shrugged and looked up at him as he made his way over. "Or maybe you should ask Monica Fuentes."
Brian grinned at her signs of jealousy. He knew that Lala still loved him, hell he was still head over heels for her too. But they both held themselves back which he wanted to put an end to right now.
"I knew you'd say some shit sooner or later." He pulled her up from the chair quickly.
Lala stood and crossed her arm in annoyance. "I don't wanna do this right now, let me be irritated with you and your new girlfriend in peace." She stepped around him just for him to grab her arm and spin her back.
"You know I only want your stubborn ass, right? No matter what the hell we got going on in our lives I want you to remember that you'll never have to doubt me, or us."
Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. All she wanted was to let him back into her heart but it was too hard. Yet she knew that she couldn't do the back and forth - no matter how hard she tried.
"Brian, we have to figure us out. We can't...I can't do this." Lala pleaded with wide eyes looking up at the man she knew she still loved deep down.
"You know what?" He picked up a sweatshirt from the chair she had been sitting on and put it on her.
She furrowed her brows and let him pull it on.
"I've loved you since December 13th, 2000." He spoke just above a whisper. His hands were still holding the bottom of the sweatshirt.
Lala laughed breathlessly, she had no idea what was so special about the 13th of that month. "I think you mean January of 2001, that's when we started dating."
"No, I mean December. It was the first day that I saw you wear the color blue." He confessed with a small smile. "It was the same shade that I used for the Skyline. It was this simple blue dress and black work shoes. Which I later found out you wore it because you were out with Emilio all night. You had a killer hangover but pushed through a double with a smile on your face."
Her hands covered her face in embarrassment. "How do you remember that?"
"I remember that because it's the day that I knew you were the one for me." Brian pulled her hands from her face. "Just like I know right now that you are still the one for me."
"So what does that mean for us?"
Brian smiled and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. "It means that I want to work this out. I want us to be us again, because you and I both know we still love each other."
"I want that, too." She blinked away the tears that started to form again. For the longest time she'd been craving their past relationship. It was the one thing she wanted the most in this world.
"I promise that we'll get through this and get our fresh start, legally." He grinned at her and she leaned up to press a quick kiss to his lips.
"Let's go find Rome before he gets himself in trouble." Lala pulled away from him and led the way back out to where Rome was waiting with Jimmy looking at the cars.
All she could think about was Brian's words. Would they really get their fresh start? It's something that she'd been trying to find a way to make happen but nothing worked out. After they pull this job off, would they finally be able to be a family? Her, Brian, and their baby girl. The family that she'd been wishing for since their third date.
Brian promised that it would happen and he tried his best to keep his promises. Last time he made her a promise, he failed to keep it and people got hurt. He'd be damned if he failed to keep this one too.
______________________________________
A/N: I just wanted to give a quick thank you for over 1,300 reads on this book!! I will be posting two more books shortly!
One will be an OC book, where you get a break down of my current and upcoming original characters. You'll get an in depth look at them as people and everything about them.
The second will be a book based off of the 2010 film, Takers. It will feature the main cast (paul walker, hayden christensen, idris elba, michael ealy, chris brown, and T.I.) alongside my new main character.
They'll both be up within the next day so keep an eye out for them if you're interested! I have others in the works but they're not completely ready to publish. Thank you again for 1,300+ reads!