Lala felt completely out of place in this club. She used to party constantly as a young teen but now that she's an adult, she has no idea how she was able to withstand it. Thankfully, this wasn't a wild club like she'd been dreading. Instead it was more upscale even with the young women dancing on tables.
Her eyes wandered around the crowd hoping to see her man in the sea of people but she couldn't see his blonde curls anywhere. She made her way over to the bar with Monica just in time for Carter to pop up in the overpass, watching down on everyone. Lala's eyes met his, a hungry smirk making its way onto his face as his eyes raked her figure.
"I'll be right back." Monica tapped her arm and ventured off. She hated being here especially since Monica formed more doubts about her relationship with Brian. Even if the woman didn't intend to make her feel negatively about this, she still did.
She ordered herself an ultra honeyed pineapple sour and sat on the cushioned stool, her eyes scanning the crowd again. Finally, they landed on Brian whom was over at the end of the second bar with Monica. Her face hardened when she noticed that Monica was feeling up on Brian's arm. Her fingers were toying with the bracelet on his wrist, the bracelet that Lala and Leticia had gifted him for his birthday.
"His ass gonna get us all killed." Rome's voice made her jump at the close proximity. He leaned on the bar next to her and ordered himself a drink as well. "Monica is bad news and him being all up on her like this is bad news too."
Lala rolled her eyes at him and downed her glass. "I trust him, Rome. I don't trust her ass though."
"Damn..." He muttered and she looked over at him in confusion. She realized that he noticed Carter looming above them with a smug expression as if he won some sort of prize. "We're done, Lo. He's killing us."
"I know, the question is whether or not it'll be tonight." She mused as they made their way over to Brian and Monica.
Rome leaned between the two of them, informing that Verone was here. Brian turned and noticed that Lala was standing with an annoyed expression.
"He's over there, don't be a dumbass and look." She spat out at him with irritation and a hint of jealousy laced in her words.
Lala felt a hand touch her arm as a young woman made her way into the small group. "Excuse me, Mr. Verone would like for you to join him."
"Following you, love." She responded in the southern accent she'd been using earlier at Verone's estate. She didn't even bother waiting for the others as she followed her either. But she knew they'd caught up when Brian's arm snaked its way around her waist, a quick kiss being pressed to her cheek.
"I got a bad feeling, baby." He whispered in her ear as they ventured to Carter's private room. "Shit goes sideways, you get back to the boathouse."
She rolled her eyes and looked over at Carter's men and then him. She lowered her voice before speaking back to him. "He knows where we live, B."
Rome led the walk up to Carter, Monica passing by to take a seat on the couch.
"Go sit down, I'll talk to you in a second." Carter directed Rome with eyes on Brian and Lala. He stepped forward and set a hand on Lala's exposed side. "I like this look on you, V. So much more than the one from this morning."
He stroked her cheek and pressed a kiss to the opposite one, the same one Brian had kissed minutes prior. "Have a seat."
There was zero hesitation in Lala's footsteps away from Carter's embrace. She sat down completely against Rome's side with tense form. He looked at her as if to assure her she'd be fine but it didn't make her feel any better in that moment.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Carter questioned Brian in reference to Monica.
Brian on the other hand only responded in regard to his girl. "Yeah, she's gorgeous. Best girl I know."
"You got balls, kid." Carter laughed it off, then directed his attention to the floor. "Women are a powerful force. You see the blonde sitting with the gentleman right there? Five minutes of her time, and she can get anything she wants from him."
Lala exchanged a look with Monica then Rome. What the hell was up Carter Verone's sleeve?
Brian watched as they got up from their seats to leave. "Watch...I wonder where they're going? Sit down." He immediately made his way over to Lala's side and sat down, placing a hand on her leg.
"So you lit my man's car on fire. Is that right?" Carter asked Rome in amusement.
"Yeah I did." He deadpanned. "I got a problem with authority."
Carter gave him a blank look. "I have that same problem. For me, it's cops in particular." Lala could feel her heart skip a beat in fear for Brian. He was being sought out, one slip and it was game over for all of them.
"Let's take a walk, come on." He stood up to lead them away before Monica interjected.
"We just got here." She knew that when Carter would take walks with people, he'd be the only one to ever return.
"And now we're leaving, let's go." He restated to her and helped her out of the seat.
Lala stood with Brian and followed behind him, Rome lingering behind about to grab a cigar cutter again. Carter of course picked up on the habits of his sticky fingers and circled back for him.
When he passed by her again, his hand brushed hers sending a chill down her spine but not in a good way. She shifted over towards Brian a little bit more. The walk was intense and her heart was beating heavily in her chest. Mentally, Brian was planning a way to take down Carter and his two men while scanning for the closest exit. It would cost the case but no case would be worth the risk of losing Lala in that way.
They finally turned into another room, one that held a bucket with a towel draped over it in the center of the room. Lala inched her way over to Monica, hoping for an insight on what was about to happen. Carter made his way to the counter where the two women had stopped at.
"We're going to have a little fun." He spoke and poured champagne in three glasses, handing one to Lala and Monica.
"Thanks, doll." Lala chimed then walked over to Brian and Rome. She stood against Brian's side, his arm back around her waist again.
At this point, a middle-aged man and a blonde woman walked into the room together. They were giggling and speaking in hushed tones that came to an abrupt end when noticing Carter and the others. "Hey, Carter..."
"Meet Detective Whitworth, one of Miami's finest." Carter introduced and Lala's mouth fell open slightly. She knew Carter was dirty but she didn't think he had the police in bed with him yet when she looked up at Brian, she realized he already knew. "Thank you, sweetheart. You enjoying yourself, Detective?"
"Yeah, I was. I mean, you know me." The detective chuckled and looked around nervously. He knew it was bad that Carter had tricked him into being here.
"Yeah. I do know you. You've been on my payroll a long time." Carter spoke teasingly and Lala gulped at his words.
"Verone, that ain't right!" He went to defend himself but was cut off by Carter.
"Shut up. I've got one last job for you. You hear me?" He asked but he wasn't asking. He was telling him what he was going to do if he wanted to make it out alive.
"We've been through this." He spoke tiredly and stepped back.
"Yeah?" Carter mused.
The detective put his hands up in surrender. "And I said I can't do it."
"That's the wrong answer." A sadistic look passed over Carter's features. "The table."
Lala jumped and gripped Brian's arm as Carter's men grabbed the detective and started to force him to the table.
"I'm a detective, Verone! You do anything to me, the whole force'll be on your ass in a minute." He threatened him loudly in fear.
"Shut your mouth, you fat piece of shit." He rolled his eyes and started to roll his sleeves up.
Lala bit her lip before speaking up, hoping to ease the situation. "What the hell are you doing, Carter?"
"Sit down, love. You two sit." He demanded the trio and they listened with no hesitation.
For the next few moments, they watched in fear and helplessness as Carter tortured the man. He trapped a rat in a bucket on the man's stomach then used a blow torch to create heat that the rat wanted to escape. It tried escaping through the detective's stomach but thankfully they stopped before he was too hurt.
"You betray me and my rat here is gonna visit your wife, Lynn." Carter threatened while leaning over the man. "your son, Clay and your daughter, Lexi. Do you hear me? Do you understand me? Hear me?!'
"Get it off!" He cried out.
"I'll burn your fucking eyes out!" Carter lit the torch and held it close to his face. "I'll burn them out."
Lala's heart clenched in fear and sympathy for the detective. Yes he was a dirty cop, but the man still had to protect his family and she completely sympathized with his ultimatum.
"Now, you can go. Get rid of him. Let's go." Carter ordered his men to let the detective go free and turned to the trio on the couch.
"You boys enjoy the show? Fifteen minutes, and then every cop in Florida's gonna be on you. Be at Versailles Cafè at 6:00 a. m, day after tomorrow, ready to drive." He informed them and looked at Lala.
"You make sure your boys are there, no funny games, love. You understand? Don't play games with me or you'll be next and they watch." He spoke in a stern tone and Lala nodded stiffly, he expression visibly shaken at what just took place in front of her.
"Help yourself to a little champagne." He offered and left with Monica.
Lala let out a breath she didn't realize she was even holding and put a hand over her stomach. She felt extremely nauseous after witnessing the events unfold.
"That was a damn rat." Rome whispered to them. Not needing the reminder, Lala threw up into one of the ice buckets.
Brian and Rome made sure she was okay before looking at each other with a mental mutual agreement. They needed to pull this off.
A little over half an hour later, the trio made their way through the parking lot of the garage. The guys were still talking about what they witnessed meanwhile Lala was sick to her stomach at the thought of everything.
"She was into it. What's that about?" Rome questioned, reminding the others of how Monica held the detective down. "You seen the way she grabbed the dude's head."
"Verone might've been testing her, Rome. He saw them all over each other." She crossed her arms while walking with them, just wanting to go to bed.
"Her ass is on the line, like ours." Brian spoke shortly, causing Rome to get riled up again.
He hit his arm, "you're feeling this girl way too much. She's like that trailer rat from back in the day, Tanya." He joked and Lala rose her brows.
"Tanya? She sounds lovely, how come I never heard this story?" She grinned devilishly at Brian, gaining an eye roll in return.
"It was a long time ago and barely meant shit." He then looked at Rome. "and Tanya? Man, you went out with her after I did."
"Oh!" Lala laughed loudly and made her way ahead of the boys to the small table that held Suki, Tej and Jimmy playing cards.
"Hey baby." She kissed cheeks with Suki then perched herself on the girl's lap. Suki leaned her head against Lala's arm while they looked at her cards.
Brian and Rome joined the group, pitching in on the banter going back and forth. She watched her friends with a smile etched across her face. Her brain lived for these moments - the ones where they were just racers hanging out in the garage. Not any other bullshit with feds or crime lords or the likes of johnny tran.
She missed California, even though she was only there for a month. She missed late nights on the front porch with Mia talking about boys and her classes. She missed early morning wakeups to get to the garage before Jesse and Vince. She missed her lunch runs to the cafe with Leon, even though the two would always take too long and get bitched out. Surprisingly, she missed Dom's chicken and his loud personality and the way he treated her like one of his own. But most of all she missed Letty. She missed her hugs, her laugh, the comfort of her presence. There was no telling when she'd be back with her sister again.
"I'm gonna crash, Tej. I'll catch you tomorrow." Brian told Tej and held his hand out for Lala to come with.
"Looks like I'm going to bed, too." She laughed and bid the crew goodnight before following her man back to the boathouse.
Brian held her hand as they walked together. "You know I don't have eyes for Monica, right?"
"I know you don't, it's just...some things that she said made sense to me." She shrugged and kept with him.
"What things?" He pulled her to a stop and looked down at her.
She groaned and rubbed a hand across her forehead. "She was just saying how you'll always pick the girl over the job. You did it with Mia, with me, and it seems like you're, I don't know, considering doing it with her?"
Brian laughed softly, shaking his head. "Mia was a moment of stupidity, baby. And trust me - I'm not choosing anyone over any jobs except for you." He kissed her forehead and pulled her gently towards inside the boathouse.
"I was thinking," He started his thoughts and took off the button up he wore to the club. "This job is over tomorrow and our records will be cleared, why don't we take Leticia and go back to LA?"
She turned to look at him in confusion. "Your records will be cleared, I have to serve time when I get back across county lines. I skipped out on parole."
"I worked a deal out with Bilkins." He took off his watch and set it on the nightstand. "We help bring down Verone and you get your record completely wiped. Just like Rome and just like me."
"How'd you know I would agree to help?" She asked him and swapped out of her dress for one of his shirts. "Your deal would've been for nothing if I said no."
Brian flopped down on the bed and watched her change. "Nah it wouldn't have because I refused the deal unless you got cleared with us even if you weren't involved."
"What?" She grinned from ear to ear, not believing that she'd heard the blonde boy correctly. He took up for her against feds?
"There was no way I would take that deal and leave you unable to go home." Brian pat the spot next to him lightly, Lala making her way over and laying down.
"I love you, B." She stroked his cheek gently and bit her lip.
A look of pure love took over Brian's features as he stared at the woman lying next to him. They had their fair share of arguments, especially lately, but he knew there wasn't anybody in this world he'd want to argue with other than her.
"I'm never leaving you behind again, Lolita. I promise you." He whispered, the only sounds being heard was their quiet breathing and the soft sound of the ocean. "I love you more."
She leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. Then she buried herself in his chest and closed her eyes. All it took for her to fall asleep was breathing in Brian's scent. It was musky, with a hint of citrus - no doubt the cologne she picked out for him a few days prior. Within minutes she had drifted off to sleep.
-
In the morning, daylight broke through the couple's windows and lit up the other side of the curtain in their doorway. Lala was curled up facing away from Brian, at some point during the night she had wrapped herself cocoon style in the thin blanket leaving Brian with nothing. He was lying next to her on his stomach with a pillow tucked under him.
Ever the protector, Brian could sense that somebody else was present in their tiny home. He lay rigid and unmoving yet his eyes were wide open. His heart started to beat erratically, his nerves spiking at the thought of somebody being sent to kill them in their sleep. He finally built up the nerve to turn and face his killer only to be hit with the sight of Monica sitting on the foot of the bed.
"What are you doing here?" His eyes widened and he glanced at Lala who shifted slightly in her sleep.
"They're gonna kill you. I heard him telling Enrique and Roberto." She spit out quickly and Brian furrowed his brows. "Once you finish the run, they're putting a bullet in your head."
"You sure you heard him right?" He asked with panic in his voice.
Monica nodded and did a quick double take at Lala's sleeping figure. "I'm sure."
Suddenly, Rome came bursting into the boathouse. "Verone's boys is outside-" he stopped himself at the sight of Brian and Monica. "I see what they're looking for, your little girlfriend here."
Brian and Monica peeked through the shades while Rome stood near the doorway. Lala was finally slowly coming to with all the noise now in the room. "They don't know, I snuck out."
"What are they doing here then?" He sassed back at her. Lala cracked her eyes open then shut them in irritation.
"I don't know, maybe they're guessing?" Monica spoke in nerves and Brian groaned under his breath.
"Go stall them for like two minutes." Brian begged Rome, he complied and went to the door again.
"Check her, homie." He pointed before stepping out onto the deck.
Lala sighed softly, her eyes opening again. She just wanted to sleep and had no idea why it was so impossible for her boys to let her do so. Her eyes scanned the room, landing on Brian and Monica standing in the center together. They were speaking in hushed tones which she appreciated but Rome's loud ass mouth on the deck didn't help her at all.
"Don't make that run, Brian." Monica whispered and, to Lala's dismay, kissed him on the lips.
Brian paused a beat after she pulled away and shook his head at her. "Don't do that again. Be careful."
With those words she made her way to the bathroom to escape, Brian walked out to the deck to join Rome. Lala turned over and unwrapped herself from the blanket hastily. She was purely pissed off at Monica and her audacity to lay lips on her man. So pissed off that she almost didn't notice Verone's man stepping inside with a gun pulled.
"What the hell?!" She pulled the blanket over her legs, him pausing in his steps to point the gun in her direction before recognizing her.
"Where is she?" He asked and walked towards the bathroom. Lala got off of the bed and pulled her brace on, looking over to see Brian holding the curtain back to see inside the room.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She stood up and watched as he pulled the bathroom door open revealing nobody in there. "It's just me and my boys here."
He stomped his way over and grabbed her by the arm, leading her to the doorway where Brian was seething silently. He let her go before Rome decided to bid them goodbye.
"Stay your ass off my homeboy's boat." He sassed at them causing all hell to break out.
Rome had a gun pulled on him which in turn Brian then pulled a gun as well. Lala's eyes widened and she side stepped out of the way towards the boardwalk. "Put the gun down now!"
"You first, asshole!" He yelled back at him. Lala bit her lip and reached down, picking up an old pipe.
"I'll shoot the shit out of him!" Brian screamed and she brought her arm back with the pipe to swing into his head.
Just as she was reeling to swing at him, a hand grabbed the pipe. "Enough." She whipped her head around to see Carter on the other end of the pipe.
"It's over, come on." Carter spoke sharply to his men who were unmoving. "It's over, let's go."
His hand was still on the pipe, holding it in place in the air. The two men finally stopped their shit with Brian and Rome then joined him on the boardwalk.
"I'm glad to see you boys are getting along so well, because tomorrow Roberto and Enrique will be riding along with you." Carter informed the boys with his hand letting go of the pipe. "Just so we don't have any problems, Veronica will meet us tomorrow night and ride with us to the spot."
Lala felt her entire body stiffen at his words. "Of course."
"I'll see you guys in a bit." He nodded at the trio then left with his men.
Silence blanketed the three of them, nobody knowing what to say to each other after everything that transpired. Of course Rome had to be the one to break the silence.
"What the hell was she doing in there?" He asked, his eyes bouncing between Lala and Brian.
"Kissing up on Brian." Lala rolled her eyes and dropped the pipe on the ground with a clang. She then stomped inside and threw herself on the bed.
Brian and Rome followed hesitantly not knowing what was going to happen once she noticed they followed behind. Lala looked over at them and wrapped herself in the blanket again.
"We have to update Bilkins." Brian broke the tension and Rome looked over.
"Why? Because of Verone's boys joining us?" He asked and plopped down on the bed by Lala, who was still wrapped up just watching them.
He sighed and leaned on the counter across from them. "Carter has a whole second agenda. Here's what I was told."
-
A/N: Hello everyone! I'm SO sorry I haven't updated in almost a month. I decided to take an unexpected break for my mental health. I'm back now and will be giving y'all weekly updates. I will be updating Viper every Monday with secondary updates occasionally on Fridays.
I've written up to the Act 2 & Act 3 interlude, which is two chapters. Then it will continue to Act 3: Fast Five!