Lucy's poor old, black Cadillac deVille groaned and shuddered as it rolled into Complete Auto Repair. Sadly, that wasn't unusual in the least. Over the last year, she'd been in here more times than she could count, getting some stupid thing or another fixed. Every time she got it going, something else seemed to go wrong. Of course, it didn't hurt that one seriously cute mechanic worked at this place and always managed to get her smiling. She found herself coming in even for small things, ones that maybe she could have ignored a little longer, just because she liked chatting with the guys. She'd get the money, honestly or dishonestly, so she wasn't too worried about the price.
She hopped out of the car and bumped the door shut with her hip, already zeroing in on the person she was looking for. "Miguel~!" she called, dragging his name out in a singsong as she closed in on him where he was leaning against a tool chest, smoking a cigarette. He must be on break.
A mischievous glint sparkled in her dark eyes as she reached him. She snagged the cigarette from his fingers and took a drag from it herself before offering it back to Miguel Alvarez with a cheeky grin.
"How's my favorite mechanic doing today?"
Last Edit: Jun 24, 2021 3:47:43 GMT by Lucy Marone
Post by Miguel Alvarez on Jun 24, 2021 4:23:17 GMT
There was a new shipment of contraband firearms and ammunition coming in later tonight, and apparently Rafe wanted him in the truck. Ever since the situation with the cop- with "Chuck"- Miguel had been on edge. He had slipped away when the secret was revealed and the copper had a gun at, and he was just waiting for the boss to question his loyalty. His nerves were frayed, and he was on his last cigarette.
Running his free hand over his shaved head in thought, he paused at hearing the familiar sound of the Cadillac pulling up to the shop. Speaking of loyalty and needing to stay in the gang's good graces...
Breathing out a small cloud of smoke, a smile was seen instantly spreading across his face as it dissipated; dark eyes following her from the moment she climbed out of the car. Rez gave up the cancer stick without protest, taking one more drag when she offered it back.
"Depends on how long you're stayin'," he quipped back smoothly. Miguel finally drew his attention away from her to gesture the cigarette-holding hand towards the car. "What'd you do to her now?"
Lucy rolled her eyes at his answer, but her smile never fell. If he kept smiling at her, maybe she'd stay a while, make sure his day was fantastic. The question about Cruella brought her into a pout, though, as she put her hands on her hips.
"Hey! I didn't do anything." Her eyes flicked to the side guiltily, and she laughed. "This time." She strode back to the car and hoisted herself up to sit on the hood as she explained. The still-hot metal radiated warmth through her ripped jeans and into her legs. It felt nice, relaxing her muscles for the moment, but that didn't mean she wanted to stay that hot.
"Cruella just all of a sudden decided that I didn't need air conditioning, bless her heart." She patted the car affectionately, despite the exasperation in her voice. "And uh, much as I might enjoy it, I don't think me driving around in my underwear so I don't get roasted alive is gonna go over all too well."
Okay so maybe she didn't have to say that bit out loud, but maybe she wanted to see his reaction. Meanwhile, the back of her brain was already playing her Charlie's reaction, which involved a lot of swearing and threats to bundle her up in one of those hideous CSI jumpsuits before anyone saw her.
Post by Miguel Alvarez on Jun 24, 2021 21:03:12 GMT
The little quips and gentle banter were always fun. When he was told to get friendly with the cop's sister, he hadn't been entirely comfortable with it. So, it helped that she was a pretty, little thing to look at, with a sharp wit that never failed to leave him amused. Suddenly, the job didn't feel so dire.
To be honest, sometimes he forgot he was supposed to be fooling her and keeping tabs on her for Rafael. That probably wasn't a good thing. Still, she always seemed to have his attention very easily.
"Uh huh..." he murmured in response, watching her retreat before he was snuffing out that cigarette in an ash tray nearby. None of the guys should be smoking in the garage, but there were a lot of rules they didn't seem to obey. Shoving his hands into the front pockets of his coveralls (the top of them, as usual, lazily tied around his waist), he followed her closer to the car.
Opening Cruella's creaky door, he was holding his hand out for the keys so that he could lean in and turn the car on. Seated behind the wheel as he messed with the old Cadillac's dash, the AC was definitely not working. Still, he lingered in the driver's side seat for a moment- despite being a bit beaten up, he had a slight fondness for the hunk of metal.
The car was immediately pushed away from his mind as he shut off the ignition after hearing those words she definitely shouldn't have said out loud. His gaze found her through the windshield, slowly drifting up to her face and the small grin that curled a corner of his mouth was almost involuntary. Well, that certainly got his attention. "I mean..." his words of insinuation trailed off with a shrug of his shoulder because he realized he wasn't the only one who heard her.
Miguel caught a couple of the guys in his peripheral kind of pause and look over...and he didn't need to look at them to see the vile grins on their faces. He didn't like that. At all. So, he was quick to climb back out of the vehicle and close the door, moving to lean against the side of it as close to her as was possible without being creepy, and as close as Lucy would allow. He dangled her keys in front of her to give them back.
He was quietly staking his claim on her to get the others to back off. Miguel didn't think he had to, considering the plan, but that didn't mean there weren't dangerous and crude men lingering about. And he didn't trust some of them, especially here.
At least, this was what he was telling himself.
"I'm gonna have to pull apart the whole dash to have a look inside, so she's gonna have to stay for at least a day," he began to explain. His head tilted as he regarded her, a thought occurring to him. "Doesn't have to be now, but...I can give ya ride home if you wanna leave her today, and I'll check her out first thing in the mornin'."
And he could get a quick look at her place, see if the traitorous cop also lived there.
Oh yeah, he heard her. Lucy's smirk returned as she watched him catch on. She felt the eyes of the other guys, but it didn't bother her. She was used to it--had been since she was a girl. Let them look. Long as they didn't try to touch, she wouldn't make a fuss. And if they did, well, they'd pull their hand back with a few less fingers.
She kept her attention on Miguel as he got out and leaned against the car; she even angled her body toward him as he got close. If the others hadn't figured it out already, she was claiming him just as much as he was claiming her, in that moment.
He dangled her keys for her to take back, but as she lifted her hand to take them, he was explaining that he'd need Cruella for the day. She frowned a little and hesitated until he suggested giving her a ride home. Now that sounded like fun. Too bad it wasn't somewhere she could ask him to stay awhile. Still, he made the offer for a reason, and she was curious. She flipped her hand and pushed the keys and his hand back into his chest.
"Deal," she answered, letting her hand linger on his for a moment as she leaned an inch or two closer. "But, uh, you might wanna drop me a block away--big bro doesn't take too kindly to strangers. Be a real shame if he took it personal and messed up that face of yours. I happen to like it." She let go of his hand to pat his cheek instead, grinned, and hopped down from the car.
"You need me to wait around a bit? Finish your shift?"
Post by Miguel Alvarez on Jun 24, 2021 22:58:00 GMT
She shouldn't be used to it. In all honesty, he shouldn't care, and maybe he wouldn't have if he hadn't found Lucy to be a pleasant distraction every time she came by. The guys would probably tell him to cool it, that it didn't matter because of what they had planned.
For a second, he felt his stomach churning into knots.
But Chuck had betrayed them...he betrayed him. Miguel really thought he was a man he could count on and look up to, and all the cop did was use him. Then forgot about him the first second his cover was blown.
He wanted to hate him, he was trying to hate him, but it was difficult to think straight. Sometimes, he wondered what he was even doing here among Los 13. No, it was because he didn't know any better. He knew nothing else. Where else could he possibly go? He was in too deep- there was no just leaving after everything he knew.
Lucy was stealing his complete attention again, something she happened to excel at, and that smile was returning back to his face wider now. The keys were pressed to his chest, his thumb moving just enough to brush against the side of her hand before she pulled it away.
'-big bro doesn't take too kindly to strangers.'
And there it was. She still lived with Chuck, and that was a good thing to know, especially since he also kind of liked his face the way it was. A light huff of laughter came out through his nose when, she too, "happened to like it".
"Would it...be a shame?" he found himself asking without skipping a beat. Of course, getting his face knocked in would be (and the copper would recognize him immediately), but everything else she was subtly hinting at? Miguel remained against the car even as she got down, idly twirling the keys around on his finger. A glance at the clock, he realized it was late afternoon. "Nah, I can duck out now. Just gimme five."
Finally drifting away, drawing his gaze with him, he headed for the back room where he would drop the keys to the Cadillac off, then swiftly change and grab his stuff from his locker. When Miguel returned, he was in jeans and the plain t-shirt from before with his favorite hoodie draped over his shoulder. In his hand, though, was a motorcycle helmet that he held out to her; grin on his face. "I don't have a car...hopefully that isn't a problem." From past experience, it normally wasn't. He could probably take one of the rentals they had at the shop, but...where was the fun in that?
Walking again, he'd lead her around back to where his favored Harley awaited.
Lucy watched him go, smiling to herself. Maybe she was being stupid, letting some guy take her home, but Charlie knew where she was. Worst case scenario, this guy tried something, she bought herself some time, and Charlie showed up guns-a-blazing. Not as fun as what she'd like, but not the end of the world.
Somehow, though, she didn't think Miguel would try anything she didn't want him to. The other guys around here might leer at her, but Miguel admired. Appreciated. She could feel the difference, even if the other dolts didn't get it.
As Miguel vanished into the back, she let her eyes wander idly over the rest of the shop. She caught one of the other guys looking at her and flipped him off with a smirk. For half a second she worried that he might make something of it, but he laughed. She winked and laughed it off, turning to lean in through the front window and grab her patent leather mini-backpack out of the passenger seat. She fished out some vanilla lip gloss and swiped it on, then dropped it back in just as Miguel was returning.
Her eyebrows went up as he held out the helmet to her, and a brilliant smile blossomed. "Problem? C'mon, man, who do you think I am?" Not only was she going to get a fantastic excuse to put her hands on him, she was also getting the rare chance to ride a motorcycle--something she adored.
She took the helmet and followed him out to the bike, barely containing her childish delight. She was supposed to be the cool girl...but damn if she didn't want to squeal like a little girl who'd just gotten offered a pony. She'd always wanted a motorcycle of her own, but she'd held off because she was still trying to get Cruella into decent shape before she took on something else. Besides, she could only imagine the coronary Charlie would have--he'd probably find some way to get her license revoked or something.
She turned the helmet in her hands, getting a better idea of how it should fit before tucking it under her arm so she could run her hands through her hair and push it back out of her face. She grinned at Miguel one more time before pulling on the helmet as she waited for him to get on the bike first.
Post by Miguel Alvarez on Jun 25, 2021 17:35:18 GMT
She was being stupid. Lucy didn't seem to know the viper's nest she had fallen into and what they had planned. However, fortunately for her, she was being cornered by one of the few guys in Los 13 that wasn't a complete sleezeball, and whos conscience was eating away at him.
Of course, that didn't mean he hadn't thought about her in ways that would definitely make her brother angry. Y'know, besides all the other reasons, that is. Miguel would be a fool to deny that the cop didn't frighten him, and hopefully his impulses didn't get him killed.
But damn...it would help if she didn't make torturous comments. Still, it was that snark and brazenness she presented that made this "job" of his easy to do. Were he anyone else, Lucy would have been in trouble a long time ago.
That Cadillac did have a nice, big backseat, though...
'Problem? C'mon, man, who do you think I am?'
Miguel smirked. Yeah, he thought so.
Squinting against the California sun, he still slipped that hoodie on and zipped it up. It didn't offer nearly the proper amount of protection should he crash and skid across the pavement, but he didn't care. The leather only came out when he could bear it in the heat. He was reaching for his own helmet that had been hanging from the handlebar when he heard her excitement.
Brow rose in amused surprise before he let out a soft chuckle. "Ever ridden one before?" he asked, straddling the bike before drawing on his own helmet. He'd wait for her to climb on before talking again, louder over the sudden rumble of the Harley beneath them. "Hang on...and you'll have to direct me. Otherwise, I'm just goin'." Miguel could likely find his way to her place just by the address, knowing a lot of this part of the city by heart, but he purposely didn't ask because he was leaving all of that in her hands.
Just in case, because he would play the good boy for as long as she wanted him to.
For as long as Rafe wanted him to...
Already pushing those dark thoughts away, when she was ready he knocked the kickstand up to drive them out of the lot, and out onto the freedom of the open road.
Lucy straightened up when she heard that little chuckle, shoving her giddy excitement down deep and replacing it with the hot-bitch exterior she always wore.
"Nah, I've never really had a good chance. My ex was always promising to get me one, but he never got his shit together enough for that. And I bought Cruella a few years back instead of a bike because...well, you can't sleep in a bike." She shrugged like that was no big deal.
'You can sleep in a car but you can't drive a house' was the saying that she remembered hearing as a kid, and it had stuck. Whenever her living situation changed unexpectedly, Cruella was there for her. The dumb car was probably the steadiest thing in her life; even Charlie was gone unpredictably and always busy. She knew he said to call him if she ever needed him, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to do her damndest not to need him.
She slid onto the bike behind him and didn't hesitate to pull close and slip her arms around his waist. She'd been called 'bold' before, and she'd always liked it. She was bold--louder, more noticeable, someone you remembered, someone who didn't fade away. She did her best to tune out the racing of her heart as she noticed the way his body felt under her sliding hands, or the way the smell of the auto-shop lingered on him and mingled pleasantly with whatever soap he'd used.
"You know where the library is, over by Elm? I'm just a couple blocks from there." She didn't give the address, not because she didn't trust him, but because she didn't expect him to just know how to get to a place by the number. It was easier to go by familiar places, in her mind.
That had given him pause, wondering what that was about. They'd been friendly with each other, sure, but he didn't think it was his place to dive deep into her personal history, regardless of whatever small details she shared.
He didn't want to grow any more attached than he already was.
Luckily, the helmet would shield the grimace that crossed his features at the thought of everything again, of what was to come. And that guilt only grew deeper when he felt her arms around him. It somehow calmed him and made his heart race at the same damn time, and he liked it. He liked having her there so close.
Miguel nodded at the mention of the library and turned their destination in that direction. There was almost an immediate feeling of serenity, this wave of freedom that always overcame him whenever he rode. No blasting music, no voices filling his head- just the loud rumbling of the Harley and the wind washing over him to make any troubles temporarily go away. It just would make conversation with her a little difficult, unfortunately.
Soon, they neared Elm and were approaching the library. He'd pull into the parking lot if she indicated, or a few more blocks- wherever she wanted. And the entire time, he was wondering how he could keep her around for even another hour longer.
Lucy didn't really have a sense of peace, at least not on a regular basis. But like Miguel, she found herself relaxing into the ride and enjoying the rush of the wind over her skin. She felt a little like she was flying.
As they neared the library, she felt her heart drop. The ride had been far too short--she would much rather stay right where she was. Still, she let him pull into the library's lot--it was around a corner from home, so Charlie wasn't likely to see her if he was home, and the big police building was in the opposite direction from the house, so theoretically he shouldn't drive past. Better to be as safe as she could for both of their sakes. Charlie, for all his detective experience, had a habit of jumping to conclusions when it came to his baby sister.
She slipped reluctantly off the bike, although she took the opportunity to hold onto Miguel's hips (for balance, of course) as she did so. She lingered close to him as she pulled off her helmet and shook her hair back into place. The smile that lingered on her lips was more genuine than her usual smirk.
"Thanks for the ride, Miguel. You're my hero." She rolled her eyes up and to the side and twisted the toe of one of her little black boots against the blacktop, playing at innocence. "You know, this parking lot would make for a pretty good place to pick me up, too, if you ever wanted to take me to dinner or something." She glanced back down at him, that sly smile returning. "Just sayin."
Better to be safe than sorry when it came to Chuck. That was something Miguel learned from the moment he met the man, and it was something he kind of figured didn't change about him. One look, and you knew not to mess with Fanelli.
Or, well, Marone as it were. He missed him, but that deceit ran too deep. It cut him deeper than any blade could. All Miguel had to do was remember that and he'd get this job done.
Yet, when Lucy climbed off the back of the bike, Miguel disliked the absence of her warmth immediately, even if he enjoyed the sight of her removing that helmet. Yeah, she knew what she was doing, and the smile on his face matched her own behind the visor. He was hesitant to remove it because then he couldn't ogle as freely, and he had to fight the instinct to wrap an arm around her waist with her standing so close.
"Don't sweat it," he said, before she was mentioning the parking lot and dinner, "or something". He finally pulled the helmet from his head but didn't rise from the seat; instead, he glanced up to her after a quick look at his watch. It was still early enough- he wouldn't be needed until later.
"Just sayin', huh? So then...what're you doin' now?" Lucy opened that door just a little, and now he was daring to push it fully open. He had just needed that nudge, the "go ahead".
Lucy's smirk widened into a bright smile--just as dazzling as when she'd spotted the motorcycle. She was genuinely excited; while she'd been flirting around with Miguel for a while now, she'd surprised herself with how badly she wanted this. Maybe it was because every move he made checked a few more boxes, or maybe it was just the way his smile crinkled his eyes, but either way she was glad he'd taken her not-so-subtle hint so well.
"I dunno," she replied, shrugging one shoulder and leaning toward him a little more, as if drawn by a magnet. "What are we doing?"
Post by Miguel Alvarez on Jul 7, 2021 22:24:51 GMT
Yes, she was as subtle as a neon sign in the pitch black night. But hell, he wasn't complaining.
That smile of hers should have stirred the guilt he was carrying around, but it was momentarily forgotten. It was hard to remember a lot of things when she did that. The snarky grins were great and all, but there was something better about her genuine smiles, and he didn't care if he stared a little.
And with that smile, his grin increased a little as he glanced around, mentally judging the distance between this place and another. "How about whatever you want, joined with some entertainment and interestin' views?" he questioned, barely realizing that his hand had lifted gently to her elbow as she drifted a little closer. "Ever been to Venice?" Naturally he didn't mean Italy.
The locals (and tourists) knew of Venice neighborhood with its beach and boardwalk, down to its interesting boho culture, skate park, and art walls to name a few. It wasn't too far from here, either.
His hand on her arm sent a little tingle rippling across her skin and added a few extra watts to her smile.
"I haven't been out to Venice beach since I was a kid. Charlie took me to this really cool arcade out there before he went into the army. I remember he played one of those shooter games with the plastic guns and just absolutely smoked the other kids. They were so mad." She laughed, remembering their faces. "Meanwhile I was only good at Ms. Pac-Man." She made a face, faking like she was embarrassed.
Her face softened as she leaned closer to bump her arm against his shoulder. "Long story short, it sounds great."
She swung her bag off her shoulder and fished out her phone (her shorts' pockets were too small) to send a quick text to Charlie, just to make sure he didn't go berserk when she wasn't home. He had a tendency to be a little paranoid.
"Ok, that should stave off the manhunt for a while," she joked, shoving her phone back into her bag with a wink. She pushed the helmet back on, then swung back onto the bike behind Miguel and purposefully wiggled herself a little closer and held him a little tighter.