1.

Fast cars are my only vice

Michael Bay

Z

There it was; sitting innocently across the street. The sunlight poured over the curve of its fenders and illuminated its chrome accents. Its shiny, cherry red paint gleamed and shone to the point where it reflected every passing car and person on the skinny street.

The metal table felt uncomfortably hot on my elbow as I leaned forward with my chin cupped in my hand to get a better look. The Honda NSX sat waiting across the street. All I had to do was slip to the other side of the street, pretend to look for something in my oversized purse and block the sight of my hand working the door lock with a pick. From there, all I had to do was slip in like I owned it and get it started.

"Ellie. Ellie! Chica, are you even listening to me?" Immediately my daydream was shattered by my friend Carmen's winy Spanish. I looked away from the car for a split second to see her staring at me waiting for a response.

Carmen was a sweet girl, but she drove me crazy. She was one of those loud, blunt people that was impossible to silence. Her presence was usually announced by her many bracelets jangling on her wrists or some wildly ornate earrings with pieces that clinked together when she tossed her curls.

"What?" I stuttered in recovery. I glanced back across the street to see the town's doctor with his wife returning from Sunday lunch and getting in the car for the trip home. I sighed deeply and Carmen started looking around for whatever had my attention.

She raised her hands in question at me with her eyebrows raised and her forehead scrunched. I just shrugged in response. She rolled her eyes and a snatched her drink off the table with her bracelets rattling loud enough for someone at the next table to glare.

"I was talking about my date with Enrique. Remember? You introduced us?" She saw my eyes follow the Honda as it pulled away from the curve and she huffed in annoyance. "Why can't you be a girl for once?" She said loudly as she chewed on her straw. I felt my face flush bright red in annoyance.

"I am perfectly fine just the way I am." I replied in an indignant, snippy tone.

"Whatever, let's just get the check and go."

Z

"Goodbye, Carmen." I said with a wave and forced smile. "And good riddance." I muttered as she turned to walk back into her grocery store. I sighed and leaned against the brick storefront. I paused with pride swelling in my heart to take in the sight of our garage.

It wasn't much, just a hollow brick building on the corner with dirty windows set high on the wall and a few garage doors under the sign proclaiming it as an auto shop. Every one of them was rolled open to allow a breeze to flow through the open space.

I could see my black Camaro parked beside Han's Maverick out the back. The floor of the garage was packed with race rats' rides waiting to be tuned. When we handed them back to the owners they would be fast enough to be competitive with the best, if they were raced, but the majority of people who didn't install their own parts just sat on the sidelines. It made me a little sad to see all of our hard work not in action.

I decided I had wasted enough time and slowly began meandering across the street. When I got across, I happened to glance up and see a Chevy Opel parked on the side of our building. It was a cute one too, without the out dated looking body style I hated. Without thinking I changed course. I ran my finger down the side of the door on the smooth, shiny paint.

Daydreams of stealing it crossed my brain. I was tempted to take it. It was a passing whim that constantly got me in trouble when I was younger. I had obviously inherited my boost father's poor impulse control.

When I realized what I was thinking, I jerked my hand off the car like it burned me. I quickly shook my head to get rid of the thoughts and turned back towards the garage. My heels clicked in a hurried rhythm as I briskly walked through the open door. The first thing I saw was a pair of booted feet sticking out from under one of the race rats' cars. I carelessly tossed my purse on a work bench and walked over.

I nudged the leg with my foot and Han rolled out. His tan skin was covered in grease from his work. I sat on his firm, toned stomach and his hand moved to caress my thigh.

"I take it lunch didn't go so well." He teased with a smile when he saw the frown plastered on my face.

Han and I left Tokyo together three years ago after our relationship with Kamata imploded. He had some severe injuries from the wreck that was supposed to do him in, but after time and a lot work he was now back to the way he was before. Occasionally he would favor his bad leg, but his limp was pretty much gone.

I had been lucky. I had taken my dad's job been running drugs for Kamata after he died. He had been a big shot street racer, boost and drug runner for years before he retired. I had also been flirting with Han enough for us to be considered an item when Kamata caught the mistakes on the books. Since I had been reluctant to take my dad's job driving for him, he immediately assumed that I was either in it to get back at him, or was covering for Han because we were together, he had me beaten. I would have been dead had not decided to let his nephew handle me after he handled Han. I managed to slip away before he got to me.

We had been living in a sleepy little Columbian town ever since. We chose to stay out of most of the illegal things we were involved in and stick with the occasional street race. The scene here was decent, but we were good enough to not have much competition. After beating everyone that challenged us, we had a lot of people trying to get the engines we had and business was has been booming ever since.

"It was fine. She kept asking when we were going to have kids." I rolled my eyes. Han snorted. The only noise in the shop for a minute was the sound of the fan blades cutting the air from the rotating fan placed across the room. "Do you ever regret coming here?" I asked.

"Make your choices and don't look back, remember?" He answered in typical cryptic fashion.

"I know, but it's so quiet here. We've laid low for a long time. Do you ever wish you could go back to the way things were in Tokyo?" His forehead scrunched at my random questions.

"Where did this come from?" He asked. I sighed and put my hand beside his head so I could prop up on my arm and see his expressions better. I was close enough to him now that my overly long hair was almost brushing his shoulder and I could smell his cologne mixed with sweat. I loved that smell.

"I love this place, it's beautiful, but I just miss-"

"Being able to just race in the mountains?" Han filled in. His expression was completely unreadable.

"Did you just finish my sentence?" I asked incredulously.

"Was I right?" He shot back with a grin.

"I was actually going to say borrowing a car for the afternoon without someone noticing." Han started laughing when he saw my mischievous expression. The movement in his stomach knocked me a little off balance.

"You would miss boosting cars." He propped himself up on his elbow.

"I'm a Gonzalez; it's in my DNA." I quipped

"I need a break, too." Han answered honestly.

"Let's go somewhere; take a job, steal some cars, make some money." I suggested as I gave him a cheeky smirk. Han grinned in response. Han twirled the ends of my hair around his long fingers as he thought it over. I knew he agreed it with me; it was written all over his face.

"Not a bad idea." He said finally. "We've laid low a long time. Maybe it's time we got back."

"Good. You were about to about to be bailing me out of jail for popping cars." I joked. I got off his stomach. Han followed me up and leaned against the door.

"You have a serious problem, but I guess you get it honestly." He joked as he slung his arm around my shoulders.

"I have a problem? How about all of your money grubbing?" I jabbed him in the ribs with my finger. He wrapped his other arm around me and pulled me into a suffocating hug. I felt his full lips against my temple and melted into him.

"I won't let you get hurt again." He promised.

"Good. Now let's find a job."