Be All, End All

“Darynn?”

She’d answered her cell with the normal ‘what?’ and didn’t recognize the voice. Laying spread out on the small couch in her trailer watching the news she didn’t at the moment give a damn who was calling.

“Yeah, what?”

“This is Ian. From Che’s? I was wonderin’ if you wanted to get together this weekend.”

Speechless, anyone? A guy had asked her out on a date? He hadn’t just offered to fuck or made a rude comment that she was supposed to take as a compliment and an offer? A real live date?

“Uh, sure, I guess so. Anything in mind?”

Let him say he was planning to booze her and then take advantage, or the equivalent. She’d hang up on him and then hunt him down later to do the same to him.

“Show and a club sound good?” She could hear the uncertainty in his voice as was more than pleased by it.

“What kind of show?” Fucking mechanic drooling over some hot car with a half-naked blonde spread out on the hood was not her idea of a date.

“Movie. Theatre. Whatever you want as long it’s not some chick flick.”

She laughed. Her? Watch a chick flick? Not likely. “Whatever horror or sci-fi is playing is good with me. Sounds good, though. Sure you’re not gonna get in trouble from your buddies?” She had to ask.

“Fuck them. Too stupid to know a good thing when they see it.”

It was probably the first thing she’d ever heard him say that required having balls. And that it was a compliment towards her helped generously.

“Okay, I’m convinced. We doin’ this the traditional way, or can I drive?”

He laughed softly over the phone, “You can drive. I’ll just show up, though. That okay?”

“Fine with me.”

They set it for the following Saturday at six. He knew where Toretto’s was, but he did show a bit of surprise that she was living there.


Some Saturday’s the team worked, other times they found better things to do. For a change they’d all seemed to find something to do alone. Leon and Gregg were each off entertaining new flings. Vince was doing Vince stuff, whatever that was. Dom had gone off somewhere without much of an explanation, leaving Darynn alone.

Since her date with Ian was planned for that evening she decided to pamper herself a bit. She slept in until it felt wrong to still be in bed. An older outfit was good enough for a few hours of cleaning. Her trailer was always tidy, but it needed some deeper tending. Bleach would work. From the toilet to the windshield wipers, she gave everything a good scrubbing. Then she gave herself one.

After soaking and shaving she even put her hair up. Now that looked different and she was relieved the guys weren’t around to see her. Wearing jeans was the only possibility, but she traded in her greasy boots for a cleaner pair. Still boots, but they were at least obviously women’s. The shirt was a hard decision, but she ended up settling on simple and comfortable. A black wifebeater with a deep V-neck. The lace of her red bra just showed at the edges and the straps showed over her shoulders.

Ian showed a few minutes early and she stepped out to meet him. No way was she going to do this traditionally. He was wearing black with a red shirt. Had they communicated somehow?

He looked nervous, which she found amusing.

“You look good, Darynn.”

“Thanks, I showered for the occasion.”

Her quick tongue just couldn’t be silenced sometimes. She regretted smarting off when he clammed up. A deep breath to calm herself and a moment to force her teeth not to grind, then she reached down and grabbed hold, so to speak.

“Look. Sorry ‘bout that. Supposed to be fun here, right? Let’s try to do this without the hang-ups.”

He looked grateful and pleased. She had to wonder if it was just because his chances of getting any had looked pretty slim there for a minute. *No hang-ups, Rynn,* she told herself.

“So let’s go. Any movie you want to see?”

Darynn proceeded to have one of the most tedious evenings of her life. And it was her own damn fault. Ian was a nice guy, sweet even. But what she needed in a guy wasn’t sweet. She didn’t make a big deal about being tough, or even think about it overmuch. When a thing is, it just is. And between the two of them she was the harder.

Ian was just an easy-going guy. He agreed with her, he followed her lead, and he waited patiently for the next lead. She didn’t know whether to market him or take him to the pound where he belonged.

The slasher movie was over and it was still relatively early. A club was the next planned spot and he was leaving the choice to her, of course. One of the clubs along a busy strip worked. If it wasn’t a good one just go next door, right?

Drinks and dancing, and she carried the conversation most of the time. It was a chore. Normally not a talker she felt like a pull-string doll, saying anything to end the uncomfortable silences that seemed to be constant.

She excused herself to the ladies’ room and the relief of being alone instantly made her think of ditching him. But could she do such a rotten thing?

After washing up she took a seat on a couch in the women’s room, just to stay away longer. The idea of leaving him or at least calling a halt to the evening was so appealing it just wouldn’t leave her mind. Would it ruin an already ruinous night to cut it off early?

“You okay, honey?”

*Honey?*

She looked up to find a woman standing over her, just a silhouette. She squinted against the fluorescents and the woman sat beside her on the sofa, *close* beside her.

Without the lights Darynn saw that the impression of the silhouette hadn’t been all wrong. Short black boots, black hose, and black skirt that was short enough to make her think the woman was wearing pantyhose rather than stockings, a black top, and black hair. Her make-up was stark against her skin, vivid colors meant to stand out. Light colored eyes were bordered by more black. She was pretty, beautiful, in fact.

Darynn enjoyed her scent for a moment. Cream and vanilla? No, there was another scent there too, a darker more mysterious scent, but still clean smelling. She couldn’t have been much older than Darynn herself, maybe late twenties?

“You okay?” she repeated when Darynn just stared.

“Yeah. I just…” She just what? She shrugged, giving the woman a half-smile, “Been a while since I was on a date, much less a bad one.”

The woman leaned back, facing her more. “Well, if you’re in here to not be out there, I think it’s a bust.”

“You think?” she laughed. Then she rolled her eyes and laid her head back. “What the hell am I supposed to do? There’s more at stake here than a lousy evening, but he’s just too damn nice.”

That got her a raised brow, “Too nice? That’s the first I’ve heard of that problem.”

“Look at me.” She held her hands out to show the dirt deep in the grooves that could never be removed. Paint had helped to disguise her short nails, but couldn’t hide the damage completely. And everywhere she had marks, either cuts that were healing or the lighter pink of older injuries. “I’m not a dainty person. I work with men that have more testosterone in their little fingers than this guy has in his whole body. He’s got no balls at all.”

“You like things rough?”

Darynn snorted, “No, not rough, just…” She couldn’t think. What was the proper word? “I just need more than this. More balls, less obeying. It’s like he wants to do what I want, and all I want is to not be the leader.”

A finger trailed across her brow, brushing the hair there. “You just want some pamperin’.”

She smiled, “I guess. I don’t know what I want.”

“Can I help?” The question was followed by a kiss.

Darynn had had her head back and her eyes closed, easily accessible. The soft coaxing lips on hers felt like heaven. She opened her mouth to accept and meet the searching tongue.

Slow minutes passed. Others could be heard moving past them, but they weren’t interrupted. Darynn was left to enjoy this stranger’s kiss. No motives, no worries.

The woman finally pulled back with a new sparkle in her eyes. “You’re not new to this.”

Darynn just smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Janna.”

“That doesn’t fit you, but I like it.” An arched brow had her explaining further, “You just look more exotic than a Janna. I was…”

“I don’t need compliments.” No anger, just a statement.

Darynn shrugged, “What woman doesn’t?”

“Well said.” A hand on Darynn’s thigh, “So how do we get rid of this beau of yours?”