I got off the car and circled it, stopping beside Dom as we stared at the building in front of us, where I first met Quentin. I glanced at Dom. "You ready?"
Dom had a grim expression on his face. I think I've drilled it into his head enough times for him to know that once he steps into that building, his fate would be sealed. We will either succeed in our mission and tear the Mafia down to its very roots or fail and be tied to it forever. Tonight, Dom was basically selling his soul to the devil. I wasn't in my sound mind when I did it so I couldn't even begin to imagine how Dom was feeling, knowing what he was signing up for. Nevertheless, he refused to back down. He gave me a firm nod and we began to cross the road to walk into the lion's den despite being fully aware that the odds weren't looking too good for us.
Like the last time that I was here, the small street was deserted. The bikes lining up the sides of the street were the only indication that there were people in the buildings.
The buildings themselves looked like no one have done any maintenance ever since they were built. The walls were marred with traces of rain and dust over the years and the little paint that managed to hang on to them was already chipping off.
When we got to the door, I knocked on it with the rhythm that Jax taught me to. After a second, someone pushed it open and let us in.
I walked in with Dom trailing behind me. After we stepped in, it didn't take long for Dom to catch their attention.
I tried to not let their stares get to me as I kept up appearances and continued my walk confidently to Quentin's office.
I knocked on his door before I heard his voice, "Come in."
I pushed the door open, immediately squinting and waving at the air in front of me. The smoke in the room was so thick that my vision had turned hazy as I looked inside the room. Its tendrils curled and swam towards the newly opened gaping exit from the room, escaping the dense space and polluting the air outside the room as well.
In the room, Quentin sat on his recliner big leather chair behind his mahogany desk comfortably, leaning back with his feet perched on his desk. His weight caused his chair to lean backwards and a small voice in my head wished that it would give way under the strain and break just to see Quentin fall from his throne.
I suppressed the urge to cover the lower half of my face with my arm and stepped in despite my lungs' protests.
I coughed heavily, trying to get used to the air inside the room, though Quentin didn't look the slightest bit bothered by the air quality in his office.
Pinched between his fingers was the culprit of the poor air quality. On his desk was a circular glass tray that had a mole hill of used cigarette butts.
I was surprised that he was still alive after smoking that much and staying in this room without any air circulation to let the smoke out but I wasn't complaining. I'd rather this guy choke to death alone in this room than have him contribute to global warming.
"Is this the friend you mentioned?" Quentin asked as he sized up Dom.
I stepped aside to let him assess Dom. Dom took a step forward, his hand holding the other in front of him as he looked at Quentin without greeting him.
I had to give the boy some credit for not losing his composure like I did when I first got dragged into this place.
"What makes you think you'll make a great fit with us, boy?" Quentin asked, snuffing out the cigarette between his fingers against the glass tray on his desk.
He took his feet down from his desk and got up from his seat, walking around his desk.
Dom shrugged. "I guess we won't know until we try, right?"
Quentin howled in laughter, regarding Dom with an amused look. "Why, what do we have here? An arrogant one, aren't you?"
Dom didn't miss a beat as he answered calmly. "I'm sorry that you took it as arrogance. I'm simply confident."
I crossed my arms across my chest to keep my fingers from fidgeting and my hands from clenching into fists. I didn't want to blow this for us. Dom was doing great and I didn't want to be the one to mess this up.
"So what deal are we going to make to get me in?" Dom asked as we looked at the spidery mind-map on the wall that visualized all the information we had on the Mafia.
"We need to come up with something that won't leave a loophole for them to discover down the road. It's best that we keep the lies to a minimum, such as your background. We don't want to say that you're a homeless kid that needs shelter and have them do a background check on you or tail you only to find that you live in a mansion." I spoke my thoughts as the gears in my head worked.
"What about using a similar reason as yours?" Dom suggested.
I shook my head. "They can easily check whether or not you have a bounty on your head by asking around. Besides, we can't forget that Jax is in there. He'll definitely be sniffing around more than the others."
Dom huffed in frustration. "Then what do we do?"
I bit my lips and thought for a second longer before turning to look at him. "How good can you act?"
With Dom acting like a snobby know-it-all, we were hoping that the Mafia would let him join just to bully him. We were betting on blindsiding them by making them think little of him. This way, maybe Dom would be able to find more dirt on them without having several burly men breathe down his neck, watching his every move.
Quentin let out another chuckle before turning to me as he pointed at Dom. "I like this one."
I let out a smile that I hoped didn't look as tight as it felt.
On the bright side, it felt like we just passed a hurdle. When a little of the tension had left my body, I became highly aware of the feeling of being watched. I turned to look behind me at the door that remained wide open where a few men were standing with glares that looked as though it could cut through anything. They all had similar stances, feet apart and looking like they were ready to catch anyone who tried to run out of the room – a.k.a Dom or yours truly.
I couldn't help swallowing, trying to clear the big lump that got lodged in the back of my throat.
"So..." I baited, keeping my eyes at Quentin who was still looking at Dom as if the boy was a specimen he's never encountered before.
Quentin turned to me with raised brows, "Hmm, what?"
He looked between Dom and I before making an expression that said, "Oh, right."
He started nodding approvingly, "Right, of course, of course." He then looked past me, at his men that were still looming over us by the door.
"Boys, welcome our newest member..." Quentin paused, looking at Dom expectantly.
"Dom." He answered curtly.
Dom was certainly doing better than I was. If he felt as nervous and anxious as I did to get out of this place, it definitely didn't show. The guy looked as if he was at home – the relaxed body language that he showed was unrivalled.
His answer triggered another howl of laughter. "Dom... Dominic Toretto? Man, I love that movie."
He walked closer to Dom and clapped his shoulder. "Welcome to the Mafia, boy."
Dom nodded once at Quentin, he had a cocky expression as he looked downwards at his shoes, as if he never doubted, even for a second, that he would pass the initiation.
There was something in the look on Quentin's face that didn't allow me to believe his welcoming smile. Maybe it was the coldness in his eyes or the gleam in them that didn't quite give off that fully sane vibe.
As I watched Dom and Quentin have a mini stare down, my anxiety grew along with the seconds that ticked by. Quentin's smile remained even although there was nothing warm with how he looked at Dom. Dom didn't back down. He met Quentin's eyes head on.
After a few seconds of silence, Dom cracked a smile. I bit the inside of my cheek when I saw his smile. It wasn't a genuine one, that was clear. But it wasn't a tight one either. It was as if he was trying to match the manic gleam in Quentin's eyes.
"He might be as crazy as Quentin." I thought to myself.
However, once Dom cracked the tension with his smile, Quentin laughed again and clapped Dom's shoulder one last time before walking out of the room.
I let go of the breath I didn't realize I was holding. As Quentin walked out of the room, the brooding men by the door walked away with him, like lost, giant, scary-looking puppies.
I turned to Dom after they were out of sight, walking closer to him to pat his arm.
I didn't open my mouth to say anything. You can call me paranoid but I'd rather treat the walls as if it had eyes and ears rather than risk spoiling our plan after making it into the lion's den.
Dom and I knew each other long enough to be able to converse with each other with just our eyes. I nodded towards the door, silently coding him that we should step out.
The smoke in the room was starting to choke me up. I could feel it settling in my lungs and clouding it up, making it heavy for me to breathe.
We walked out of the room and straight out the door, onto the street.
When we were about to get in the car, a voice stopped us.
"Johnson!" Jax called.
He sped walk across the road, towards our car, and I circled the car to stand by Dom's side.
When he was finally within earshot, he started spitting out everything Dom and I expected him to say. "What are you playing at here, you fuckhead? Didn't I make it clear that your sister's life is on the line?"
I gave him a straight face but didn't answer, refusing to react.
When I didn't say anything, he turned to target Dom instead.
"What are you doing here, Ross?"
Dom gave him a smile similar to the one he gave Quentin earlier before shrugging. "I thought it'd be cool."
Jax narrowed his eyes on Dom. "Do you think this is child's play?" He swivelled to me, "I'm sure you've told him about the last mission we went on, Johnson. There's no way you'd let your friend here enter such a scene blind."
I wasn't confident enough in my acting skills to pull off anything like Dom did when he was facing Quentin so I decided to shrug.
"I don't care what you think." I told him simply.
Dom turned Jax's attention away from me and to himself by piping in. "We're not picking a fight with you, Layman, so just fuck off."
Jax didn't budge, though. "You might have fooled the lot of them. But I know both of you. Watch it. I'll be keeping a close eye on you both."
That was the last thing he said before he glared at the both of us one last time and walked back to the building.
I walked back to the driver's side of the car and got in.
I turned the engine and drove away, dying to get out of the neighbourhood and as far as I could from the area.
Staying in it made me feel like I was being watched, and I didn't want to stay around to confirm that suspicion.
"Well, that was nothing we didn't expect." Dom finally said after we drove for a bit.
I guess he was as shaken as I was and needed the time to recover his wits.
I nodded in agreement. "Now, we just need to think of what to do to throw him off our trail so that we don't get caught."
"We'll think of something." Dom reassured as he looked around the road. I guess he's never been in this area before. It was understandable. Kids like us, with a comfortable upbringing was taught to avoid this area at all costs. Coming here to meet Quentin for the first time was also my first visit to this area.
I briefly glanced sideways at him, finally deciding to say what I've been meaning to say. "You can really act, dude. I never would've thought."
Dom gave out an airy laugh. "Man, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest with how hard it was beating. I kept on praying that Quentin wouldn't hear it. It was beating really loudly."
"You did a good job," I complimented him, lifting one edge of my lips to give him a half smile at the side that was visible to him.
"Thanks. That was a success, then?"
"For now." I affirmed.
I still couldn't shake off the smile that Quentin had plastered on his face. It was that creepy kind that made the inside of your skin crawl. Nonetheless, our mission was to get Dom in and we did that so today was a win for us.
I'll settle for that for now and let myself have a bit of peace of mind until the next hurdle we'll need to pass.