Page 28 of Pit Stop

Twenty-One

Odette

As we sit and wait, I take in the worn cream-colored wallpaper with flecks of gold. It’s torn and peeling in some areas, but the design was once pretty. The carpet has definitely seen better days. Worn down, holes burned into it, and if I had to guess it was originally gold but now it’s a muddy brown color from years of being walked on. A long wooden table is pushed against the opposite wall. Wooden chairs stacked haphazardly in leaning towers along it. Long skinny windows take up the wall behind us. About every six inches, the glass is spotted and in desperate need of some Windex and there are no curtains or blinds, leaving the room exposed.

“I know that a lot of crap has gone down in the last year. Things have changed and that’s mostly because of me. I know you think I’m upset by you going back to Lyle when I went to jail but I’m not. If anything, I’m upset with myself. The decisions I made put you in that situation and I can’t even begin to say I’m sorry. It’s just not enough,” Onyx says quietly. Her voice barely above a whisper.

Odin reaches over and takes her hand. “It’s okay. You were just doing what you thought was the best thing. I’m sure none of this is easy on either of you. The two of you have taken care of me for most of my life. The two of you don't get the luxury of making mistakes that normal kids our age make. There’s always a bigger picture to look at. I’m sorry.”

Instantly, my hand darts out and links with both Odin and Onyx’s. “Don’t you dare apologize. I wouldn’t trade all of this for anything. Our life might not have been exactly what we planned on, but it’s been exactly what we needed in some way. I wouldn’t trade the two of you for anything else this world has to offer.” Tears work their way behind my eyes and up my throat. I have to push them back and away.

Onyx looks at me. “I love you both. I know that you both deserve a really good explanation so here it is. The bills were piling up and I couldn’t make the ends meet with what me and Odette made. No matter how hard we tried we just kept getting hit. Then one night I took a chance and entered a race. It was a complete unknown. It was outside of Los Angeles, and no one knew me and I didn’t know anyone. I took what little money we had left and bought my way into a race. We all know I’m good with cars and speed is my thing. However, I lost in the last few seconds. Terrified, I jumped out and ran up to the guy who had been in charge. I begged for a rematch or anything, but he didn’t care. Not that I expected him to. Another guy came over and offered me the money back in exchange for some help. Decker was the guy. He was trying to change what the SK was about. We went to a coffee shop and talked for a really long time, he told me his vision and what he wanted for this place. I loved it. His vision hit me directly in my soul. Decker warned me that what he needed from me could be dangerous, but he also promised to pay me a hefty price as well as return the money I had lost at the race. We needed the money so bad that I agreed.”

She stops taking a breath and staring blankly across the room at the peeling wallpaper. “What did you have to do?” Odin finally asks the question I can’t bring myself to voice. I’m afraid of what she might have had to do for the money, the position she was put in.

She looks over and gives us a smirk and eye roll. “Nothing as extreme as either of you are thinking. Decker was right, it was dangerous. He needed me to spy on a couple of the older guys in the SK. They liked having pretty young things around to make them feel like they still had it going on.” One look at our faces and she shakes her head. “No one ever touched me. Decker would have come undone if they did. I was just trying to help him get entail on them. He had to weed out all of the people that still wanted to keep the SK as the illegal crime organization we all know it to be. I was happy to help because the first time I stepped into this hotel and I met those boys out there I knew they deserved more. The problem was... there was another boy here once upon a time... Cal. I thought he was with us but he wasn’t. Somehow the men I was watching for Decker caught on and used Cal against us. That’s how I got into trouble. We still needed money, the never-ending story of the world. Money makes the thing go round. It was random and spur of the moment and Cal told me he needed my help and that Decker had said it was okay. So, I went as well as one of the boys here.”

“Urban?” I ask. Thinking of that look he got on his face at my sister’s name makes me wonder where this story is going. What exactly did Onyx do for him?

My sister meets my eyes and sighs heavily before nodding her head. “He was trying to help us too. They all were, but Urban has a different kind of charm to him and Cal noticed that. He took advantage of it. Urban thought we were helping Decker and even when we got there, and things seemed off we just kept going with it because we trusted Decker. Then the sirens came. It was do or die. I made Urban go. He’s a minor so they would have gone easier on him, but he just couldn’t afford that kind of hit. So, I took the fall. Cal meant to take both Urban and I out. At that point Decker realized they all knew. He bailed me out of jail and made sure I wasn’t mixed up in anything anymore. He looked after me while I was in jail, sent money, paid your tuition for the semester. He made sure all the bills were up to date. Decker picked me up when I got out. He let me know it wasn't all for nothing because he had gotten rid of the rest and was working on changing the SK to the Street Kings.”

Onyx looks over at me. I shake my head. “I’m not sure I understand the difference between the SK and the Street Kings.”

“The SK is exactly what you know it to be. Illegal crime ring involved in drugs and sex trafficking, gambling, and mafia-type business. The Street Kings are different. It’s a home and family. They live here and take care of each other. None of us have much in this world but we can all have each other. Everyone pitches in some money to help cover the utilities on the building and food. They all have jobs and we all street race. Yes, it’s illegal but I was racing before the Street Kings, and I’d do it without them.”

Odin smiles and nods his head. That’s something the two of them share that I don’t. Racing doesn’t thrill me. I’m more of a wallflower. “Hell yeah,” Odin says.

“Language,” I tell him.

Onyx and Odin look at each other and burst out laughing. “So, are we moving in here? Because this place looks awesome,” Odin says.

“No,” I say at the same time that Onyx says “Yes.”

We stare at each other. “Odin go hang out with the guys. We’ll be out in a minute.”

Odin gets up and leaves but he’s not happy about it. “You can’t be serious?” I ask her. I feel like I’ve said this so much in the last twenty-four hours.

“Where else are we going to go?”

Refusing to meet her eyes I stare ahead of me. Stubborn as a bull. “Our lives haven’t come to this.”

“This place isn’t what you originally thought. I understand why you originally felt the way you did towards the SK and this life you thought I was living but now you see it wasn’t like that at all. There’s no way you can tell me we have a better option.” Onyx stands up abruptly and crosses her arms over her chest before she begins to pace back and forth.

“What about Odin? We can’t have him living like this.”

Onyx stops pacing and spins around to face me and raises her eyebrows. “I can’t believe your audacity, Odette. You’re standing there acting like you’re so much better than the people here, better than this hotel they’ve transformed into a home. Newsflash, little sister, we’re not. All of us are misfits in this world. We have very little to our names but the one thing we can have that no one else does is one another.”

Onyx’s words cut deep. She knows me better than this. To say that I think I’m better than anyone... that’s not true. I’ve never thought I was better than anyone and I never would. Materialistic things come and go so quickly in the world. I don’t even count them anymore. My thing is that I don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into. What if this is the wrong decision? What if the Street Kings are exactly the same as the SK? I stare at my sister as the fear and worry settles in my gut. I’m outnumbered. Two to one. Majority will rule. Regardless, of my reservations this will be our new home. There’s nothing much I can do about it because Onyx is right, we have nowhere else to go, unless I go back to Lyle. At the thought I flinch from the memories. Sighing, I nod my head. “Okay, we stay here.”

She nods her head before turning and leaving the room. Onyx has always been more trusting than I have but she’s also been better at reading people. I’ve been the guarded one, but I’ve also been hurt more. It’s hard to say exactly how this will turn out but I hope it’s for the best.

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