High Card Bluff (House of Car...

It had taken Tomas' mother Maya almost a month after Salali's funeral to finally ask Tom to take over the rally case. She was an astonishingly effective PI, used frequently by various law enforcement agencies for covert stakeouts and recon as she still fit into the slightly seedier side of any city she lived in. But his mother was also in her 40s and stuck out like the mom she was amongst the crowds this case called to linger in.

Once the weather had cleared enough for the races to start again, he'd known it was inevitable. Mainly because he was getting a lot of service calls out to them anyways on behalf of the garage, and this was giving him the chance to hit two birds with one stone; his mother loved efficiency like that.

And like with all seductions, it took a while to go from simply being called out to fix the issues of the moment, to having a regular invite out, and finally landing as an established face at all the events. But by April he was collecting all the information his madre could want; about the cars that is. He was still having trouble finding the angle needed to land an invite to the poker table where all the dealings were made. It took money, reputation, influence, or sheer dumb luck to be dealt in to that table and Tom had heard of some of the 'buy-ins' required. The man running the deals and the parties, Jerred, was a snake just waiting to strike out at whatever he could sink his fangs into.

Unfortunately for Tom he was seen as just the mechanic and lacked the funds to bribe in. His reputation was likewise not enough to interest Jerred, and he had no network in this crowd to pull on to talk on his behalf. He was stuck trying to work an angle in but none had presented themselves.

And then his plans were seriously derailed by the brat.

"Adrianna!" the bellow drew even his attention from the car he'd just finished on, and he rolled his ass out from underneath to see what it was about women with that name that made men yell so much. "Adrianna I need you up here." It was the useless peacock he'd seen strutting about trying to impress Jerred with his money and flash car.

Tomas wasn't surprised the idiot had managed to talk his way into the game upstairs, he looked like he had a lot of money to lose after all, but all thought of that fell out of his head as he saw that it wasn't just any Adrianna the idiot had been yelling for. Oh no, somehow the bufón (buffoon) had managed to get an invite to the table upstairs, and now he was calling out to none other than Adrianna Vega; the brat was walking into the lion's den.

There wasn't a single good thing he could think of happening if she went in that room right now, and the little idiot was just gliding up the stairs while everyone else watched in oblivious fascination. Including Tom, who was on the other side of the damn room still, with a crowd of people between them.

Tom was moving as soon as the thought occurred to him, and he moved as swiftly as possible for a man his size in a crowd this packed. Everyone had packed together, trying to eavesdrop from around the base of the stairs, and Tom could only thank god that the brat was silhouetted in the still open door. He'd have enough gray hairs from tonight as it was.

Jerred's satisfied laugh added a few more as Tom made it through the crowd to the actual stairs and everyone below heard why Jerred was so damn happy, "No one would take that ante Adrianna, though he did try. So he bet the one thing we'd be interested in; a strip show from you in the back room."

He was going to have to kill that man, him and the bufón that brought her here. It was the principle of the thing. Tomas was the oldest out of 'the kids' and he knew it was his job to keep the others safe, even if the brat had literally sashayed her ass right into this situation. But before he could ruin whatever reputation he'd built at the rallies to go save her, Adrianna reminded him that she was not a passive woman.

"Like hell," her voice was beautiful in its bite and Tom knew the tone well, "you're a complete and utter moron if you think I feel at all obligated to pay his debts like that."

"Adri," the whine sounded like the bufón, "you don't do this they take it out on me."

"Then I hope they have a good time of it. Don't bother trying Adrien; I was never your girl and I never will be." Tom could see her in the door frame, storming out of the room like the figurehead of a ship breaking through rough seas.

Of course now Tom was standing directly at the bottom and there wasn't a hope in hell she couldn't see him there. He hadn't ruined his reputation by going up but he was certain the brat was about to rain down on him in front of everyone. Her eyes were flashing with the kind of anger that occasionally got him a smack on the arm if he provoked it, and despite her excellent facial control he could see how pinched her mouth was. The brat was scared. And when she recognized him, he actually saw a flash of relief before her expression became unreadable again.

She started down towards him but the bufón came out after her. "Adrianna," he looked ready to grab her so Tom took a step up himself, aware that he was now inextricably involved.

"Adrien, be a professional there are cameras around." Her voice barked out in the same tones she'd once told Tom to eat shit and die with. It made Tom carefully scan the crowd he was still mostly anonymous in and see the cell phones out and recording the scene at the top of the stairs.

She had to be terrified of whatever had happened in there, and yet she was actively aware of the people below watching that could also ruin her life, Tom actually felt bad for the brat. "I was your ride here." The bufón reminded in warning and Tom felt his eyebrows lift in surprise as Adrianna held up car keys to one of the flashies outside.

"I have my own way home." She tossed the man his own damn keys and Tom felt a bemused grin on his face. It wasn't often he got to see the brat unleashed at someone else.

"Get in and close the damn door Adrien," Jerred's voice called out in friendly sounding command, but Tom could see the panic in the bufón's eyes at the reckoning he was about to get.

"Babe please!" he tried one last time and Tom knew it was a mistake on the man's part.

"Be a man, pay your damn debt yourself." Her snarl was impressive and silenced the man at the top of the stairs. And then to add to the shit Sunday he was eating, she made a point to face Tom at the bottom of the stairs, "Tomas, if you'd be so kind I'd like to get out of here now." She asked like she knew he'd take her.

Everyone was watching the show with fascination, and her attention on him had irrevocably included him now too so Tom held his hand up to her. As if the stairs were treacherous, as if he were a gentleman, and as if she wouldn't rather yell at him than take it, but she did. "I'll take you home Dri," he managed not to call her the brat in front of strangers.

They were watched all the way out of the warehouse, through the chaos outside with the races until the mass of people hid them from view. She let him keep her hand in his as they walked, carefully taking her to the car he used for such events. The Supra wasn't technically his; it was one of the project cars his dad kept around the shop for when Tom needed to be kept busy. But it was the right kind of lure to keep the guys like Jerred taking bites at the trap Tomas had been trying to set.

The car purred to life, the only sound between them as he peeled out of the rally party long before his job was done. Months of work had likely just gone up in smoke on him, and Tom was torn between feeling infuriated at her for wasting all that effort, and being obscenely grateful he'd been there to help if she'd needed it.

"Do I even want to know?" he growled out, realizing that this was probably the longest they'd been at a party and hadn't fought over something.

Adrianna gave such a dramatic sigh in response to his question that Tom fought a smile, if she was giving him attitude than the fear he saw making her hands shake was easing off. "A night that's making it onto my list of worst dates I've been on; although sadly it is not top five." The bite she'd had in her words earlier was gone and he swore she almost sounded sad.

"Mierda, I don't want to know what's worse than your boyfriend trying to sell you in a striptease during poker." He tried to make it a joke but his peripheral caught her flinch.

"He was not my boyfriend," her tone was the more familiar anger again, "we work together and he invited me out to a party tonight. I had no idea about all the rest until I found myself in it. I sure as hell didn't expect to have some creep to have told him to bring me."

The lecture he'd been about to lay into died, all commentary about her needing to think like an adult now that she was pretending to be one gone as she gave him something much worse to worry about. "Who asked for you?" he had a bad suspicious he already knew who.

"The creep Jerred." Of course he'd been the one to demand it, Tomas realized that bringing the brat to the party had probably been the bufón's buy-in for the game.

It made him very grateful to have gotten her out of there as easily as he had; she had rescued herself but for some reason Jerred had manipulated things to put her there in the first place. Even Tomas wasn't so ignorant as to wonder why Jerred had wanted her. "Can you tell me what happened?" he carefully coached the question, knowing that for all he called her the brat she wasn't stupid.

And to his surprise, she didn't argue with him, but just explained the entire sequence of events, seemingly word for word. Jerred had set the whole thing up, Tomas had already guessed at the missing pieces of Dri being the bufón's buy-in. House rule was that in those games nothing can be bet that was not already seen by those at the table, and Jerred had made sure Dri had been brought up so she was included on that list too. Despite her detailed review, Tom saw no further signs of the fear he'd caught earlier, and it impressed the hell out of him that she'd handled the night so well.

Adrenaline does funny things to people's higher reasoning; Tomas had seen a lot of bad reactions from people with experience when things went wrong, and it wasn't often someone as sheltered as Dri could talk their way out of trouble. "What was with the keys?" he finally thought to ask.

Now Adrianna laughed, the lingering traces of strain seeming to ease out of her with the sound. "I'd lifted them so I could leave his ass there; I try to always have an escape plan Tomas."

He was glad to hear it, though not getting in the situation in the first place would have been even smarter. "Food?" he was too wired to sleep yet and figured she'd be in the same state.

"You know what? Yes please. After the day I've had the calories don't fucking count." She gave a flap of her hand, the weary version of the slap he'd earned on the arm a time or two.

A drive thru wasn't the most nutritious solution for dinner, but there was no complaining from the brat as they ate while driving. Though his padre was going to have things to say about the lingering smell. Her street was quiet by the time he pulled the Supra up it, well past midnight and beyond the witching hour. Thankfully that meant he didn't have to explain to her parents why he was the one dropping her off instead of the man that had picked her up, but Tom was still trying to figure out how his night had gotten so very fucked.

"Tomas?" the lack of fire in the brat's voice almost bothered him, "thank you. For the ride, and for somehow being there tonight. If Nate had been in town I would have just texted him to get me after I started to feel uneasy."

"Give me your phone," he watched her dig it out of the tiny clutch she had and took it from her, "you get in a bind, you call." He kept it simple, angry that she'd stuck around for want of a ride.

But now she was giving him a look that he was more familiar with, annoyance. "Tomas, you don't answer your phone, what's the point of flying the bat signal if it's going to be ignored?"

He was just tired enough by then to snort at her indignation, "Remember when you used to wear Alice's high heels and pretend to be catwoman while jumping around the furniture?" he didn't argue with her about the phone thing though, she was right that he had a tendency to ignore it.

"I never broke my ankle, and don't change the subject," her tones slide into exasperation and the perfect model composure broke, "I appreciate you not giving me a lecture but let's not pretend that I was trying to get into trouble. I was brought there in bad faith, you were there deliberately."

Somehow she'd maneuvered him into having to explain himself even though they were parked in front of her parent's house and it was late enough to feel weird. "I'm working." Every now and again he'd get stuck repeating something simple because it was true, and nothing else really summed it up as well.

"You were working?" she sounded doubtful, though there were cars there and Dri knew he worked in his dad's garage as well as the bar.

"I'm working." He repeated uselessly, and she gave a soft laugh.

"Considering what was going on there, it's the perfect haunting ground for someone like you then." Her insult had no body to it.

"You have no idea, I found you afterall," they weren't fighting but it was still close enough to be familiar. "Now get out of my car before your parents wake up and make assumptions."

"Goodnight Tomas," Dri bade farewell, taking the garbage from the take-out with her.

Tom shook his head and drove off only once she was inside. It had been a hell of a night and he still had to figure out how explain that he ruined months of work to his mother. He could tell his parents about the brat's involvement, but Tom wasn't certain that wouldn't get back to hers somehow, and it'd be nice to not get screamed at.

His phone gave a bleep, the sound the default as always. [TEST] The number was unknown and he guessed it was the brat.

[TEST BACK] He replied to prove a point.

[BE STILL MY HEART, YOU REPLIED!] He chucked his phone aside after setting a new tone so he'd know it was her the next time.

Tom made it all the way back to his apartment before he realized the brat had forgotten her purse in his car.

--

Adrianna had made it to her early morning class on Motivation and Emotion without having to confront the miserable failure her latest attempt at a social life had been. She had friends, at least those she could be friendly with in class and at work, but Adri knew that she used business to keep the solitude at bay. Her high school friends had all but disappeared after graduation, and that left her with an awful lot of alone time to fill. So she'd taken psychology classes because she knew modelling wasn't forever, and she took modelling jobs because at least that filled the time right now.

And it was only ever to herself that she admitted to having no clue what it was she wanted to do with her life as an adult. She'd been the one to always have a plan, and then given their family hi온라인카지노게임 she always had an escape plan too. But Adri wasn't even certain she wanted to keep modelling given how toxic some of the shoots had become over the last year; her careful plans were falling apart and she had to deal with it on her own, because she was an adult.

A childish part of her was almost mad at the James family for not having had a second child so she could have had a built in best friend for life too.

Her phone buzzed, on silent but grabbing her attention. It was two hours into her 8 am class, and she had no idea who would be texting her. [COST OF ME RETURNING YOUR SHIT, IMMA GO THROUGH IT AND KEEP THE GOOD STUFF] Tomas Guererro warned, clearly overestimating what could fit into a woman's clutch.

[ENJOY THE CHANEL LIPSTICK, EVEN YOU CAN PULL OFF THAT COLOUR] It occurred to Adri that Tom had gotten home even later than she had, and yet he was up almost as early.

[WHAT IS THE POINT OF A PURSE THIS SMALL? YOU ONLY FIT LIPSTICK AND GUM IN THERE!] He sounded so scandalized even through text.

[I KEEP MY GLOCK IN MY BRA] her professor cleared his throat and Adri tried to refocus on class.

Her phone buzzed. A minute later it buzzed again, and despite actually being interested in her class, after the third message she couldn't help but check it.

[THAT I COULD BELIEVE] [WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS?] Adri had forgotten there was room in her purse for one more item, and the picture attachment Tom sent made sure she recalled what it was. A small tube with a joint safely inside it.

[THE ONE THING I CAN INDULGE IN WITHOUT GETTING FAT] She shot back in a pique of honesty.

[ITS NOT EVEN THE GOOD STUFF] Adrianna started at her phone for a moment, absolutely torn between the urge to give him hell for stealing her treat, and the gleeful need to point out that of course he would know.

"Are we keeping you?" her Professor's voice snapped her attention from her phone finally, but Adri didn't blush at the realization that he was trying to embarrass her.

Even Nate tended to stumble when caught in the public eye like this, but Adri could handle anything in the moment; it was after the fact that she fell to pieces. "Quite Professor. I have a personal issue to attend to. Thank you for a stimulating class." She rose up and packed her things without hurry, the calm dispassion with which she dismissed herself lasting until she was safely in the hall.

[I JUST GOT KICKED OUT OF MY CLASS BECAUSE OF YOU; AFTER YOU STOLE MY TREAT. THIS MEANS WAR] She had to warn him, already trying to figure out how to apologize to her Professor after this.

[GO TO BIG ASS STAIRCASE ON WEST SIDE] Adri was surprised he knew the campus well enough to boss her around, and she wasn't certain if he'd been here because of Nate or as a student himself.

She had no better plan at the moment, this morning's class her only one before this afternoon's shoot. It was one of those sessions where she'd get to work with her brother but not really spend time with him. There was the creative lead, Nate as lead photographer, but other photogs too, props, outfits, and models all performing. They'd both be too busy to hang out, but it'd still ensure this was one of the good shoots for Adri; no one was willing to mess with Nate's brotherly protectiveness. But until she had to be at the shoot Adri was supposed to be in the class she'd just dramatically walked out of.

Adri went to the big ass staircase and saw the same car Tom had used the night before. The windows were too tinted for her to see through, and she had to watch her feet because this really was a big ass staircase and she had no desire to fall down them with Tom watching. Her pride was already stinging from the scene in class, so without knocking she opened the passenger door and got in; able to smell that Tom hadn't been joking about claiming the joint.

In fact, it was still in his fingers, lit but mostly gone so she snatched it and took the last drag it had left. And tried not to die as the urge to cough hit her. Angry willpower squashed it down but Tom was still laughing at her.

"Easy there brat, if looks could kill you'd be making my mama cry right now." He was obviously enjoying her misfortune far too much.

"I'm tired, I'm annoyed, I'm hungry, you stole the one thing I had to look forward to, and now you want me to smile and thank you for getting me kicked out of class?" She didn't care about him calling her brat, the habit long engrained since childhood. One of her psychology classes even suggested it might be why she hated nicknames so much.

"I can help with some of that," he ignored her angry tone, reaching in front of her to open the glove box even while he drove. "No smile needed but a thank you is only polite." And then he dropped a joint in her hands that looked like a professional had done it, except it was as big as her finger. "This should help with two and four of your complaints, and one and three I'm working on." It took Adrianna only a moment to recognize that this was Tom's way of making the peace.

"I'm assuming you know how to light one of those things since you had one in your purse, but if not give here." So much for making the peace.

Adri had a lighter in her bag but couldn't be bothered to dig through it, "where's your lighter smartass?"

He was already pulling one out of his pocket, unsurprisingly one of the freebies given away by the bar both Tom and Nate worked at; the Nightside. It surprised her only in that Adri had expected some kind of lecture about her little stress buster, even if it wasn't illegal anymore. Though come to think of it, driving while smoking was but that wasn't stopping Tomas. So she smartly kept her criticism to herself since he was doing the same and lit the monster joint he'd rolled. The windows were cracked, and for the first time in too long Adri felt the anxiety lift away.

"Thank you for bringing my purse," she finally felt able to say, the nonjudgmental silence comfortable. "Today would have been enough of a pain without having to hunt this down as well; it's Honey's."

Tom shot her an amused look, seeming to have no real destination in mind as he drove them around. "As I said, two and four taken care of. Now what do you want to eat?"

"I have food at home, though if you drop me off right now mom will yell at us both. It's a little skunky in here," but it felt blessedly nice to just relax like this. Adrianna always had to be so careful; never take an open drink, never let it out of her sight, never get drunk or else anything that happens is her fault. There'd been a reason she'd been saving the joint as her reward; she could climb on the roof above her window at night where she was safe and alone.

"I'm not dumb enough to pick a fight with Alice," Tomas threw the stub out the window, "your dad may be scary but your mom has access to surgical equipment."

Adri couldn't help laughing, more than aware how pointed her parents' type of disapproval can be. Even with their sordid pasts, her parents had become respectable adults and Adri lived up to that better than her brother Nate had for a long while. That didn't mean they couldn't still be intimidating, or surprising; apparently they'd had a betting pool on when Nate and Grace would be an official couple. Adri would have lost the bet long ago, she'd gone from the 'you should never date' to the 'you are soulmates' bandwagon by the ninth grade. That certainly hadn't happened, though at least they had gotten things figured out now.

Nate had gotten caught in bed with Grace by the Wolf himself, her dad, and after that the cat was out of the bag. Adrianna had been thrilled to hear it, and horrified at the details that had come out because that was her brother after all. Grace had moved in with Nate the day everyone found out they were together.

"Since I'm not going to risk being filleted," Tomas' amusement gently brought her focus back, "where do you want to eat?"

"Where I want, and what I can, are two different places." She admitted without meaning to. "Model problems," she knew no one was forcing this on her so she shouldn't complain.

Tom gave a grunt that Adri's stoned distraction couldn't translate, but to her surprise pulled them up to a Thai place that had a decent menu. It was a fair attempt on his part, and Adri was glad for the compromise; if she had to eat another salad she'd scream. With it being too early for a lunch rush, they almost had the place to themselves; a small mercy because Adri knew they stank. At least the food would make it safe for Tom to drop her off at home, she had to change and Nate would pick her up the shoot tonight.

"Don't you normally work all the days Nate can't?" that was what she recalled they'd worked out years ago, and Nate wasn't available tonight.

"Boss finally picked up new bodies to help, means less pressure." He polished off everything despite it being so spicy Adri could smell it across the table.

"Also means less pay, was that why you were working the rally parties?" she put it together; he wasn't a bad guy despite the creeps at the party, so he had been there to work like he said. She just wasn't sure if it was just as a grease monkey, or as a goon for his mother.

Now he gave her a long look, as if trying to figure out how to avoid answering the question. "There's easy money to be made working on the rides there," Adri knew when she wasn't being told everything and felt almost disappointed.

"And you always had a thing for easy," the barb was more familiar than getting along anyways.

"I'm not the one that got walked into a room full of creeps," he shot back and fell silent only because he seemed to realize the comment had actually hurt her. Adri knew how lucky she'd gotten, she had the nightmares last night to prove it and didn't appreciate being reminded after finally relaxing.

The ride to her parents had none of the bemused ease of earlier, but it was faster at least. She didn't forget her purse or bag, and once again tried to act like she had everything under control. "Thank you," she kept it simple and closed the door before he could say anything else.

Today had not gone how it was supposed to, and Adrianna desperately wanted to get back to her preplanned schedule. It was just less demanding somehow, even if it was lonely.