See Chapter One for the rules.
Picking Back Up
chapter iii
Tick Tick tick
The bed was empty the next morning when I woke up. I could smell the found cooking downstairs so I knew Nicki was cooking breakfast. I got up and pulled on a pair of lounge pants and a T-shirt. I took the deep sigh I knew was needed to clear my head before walking out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen and lounge. I found Nicki cooking and putting the finished food on plates and in bowls. He smiled at me in the tight fitting dark shirt and gym shorts. I smiled back taking my seat on the cold stool.
“Morning.” He said softly.
“Morning.”
# # # # # # # # # #
Me and Nicki got ready for the day, I took a shower while he got dressed and then we went down to the kitchen, finding Roscoe already awake and had made breakfast. After eating a small proportion compared to Nicki I decided to go into the office again to finish reading over things. Roscoe followed me out while Nicki stayed behind. After locking the door behind us we got on the cold elevator but soon found ourselves in the warmer parking garage. I walked over to my SLR McLaren and opened the door, letting it swing up and open.
“Well, get in.” I said looking back at Roscoe
“Nope. Its too flashy. Too unique. We're trying to stay low key, pick something else.” He ordered.
“Uh, no. I'm not going to just change my lifestyle because of some idiot who can't cut a set of brakes. Now get in or I'm leaving you here.” I warned.
“Try it.” I pulled the door down, locking the doors as I started the motor. It growled as I backed out, turning towards the now open gate. He tried to get in my way but there was more than enough room to go around him and out the gate. He was running after me as the gate closed behind us.
“How about now? I can out run you.” I said out the cracked the window as he came up to my side of the car.
“Fine. Unlock the doors.” I watched as he walked around the front of the car and waited for me to unlock the doors. “Thanks.”
“Better. Now hush about staying low key, its not who I am.” I smiled pulling out of the garage and up onto the main street.
“Fine, just means we'll have to upgrade security, including the vehicles.”
“To
what, this thing is made for racing. 6.75 liter V12 engine, nothing
made bigger.”
“Then
we'll have t buy a couple more.”
“Not going to happen.” I said cruising through traffic.
“Oh come on, you want to be safe, right?” I could hear the smile in his voice as well as him trying to stifle a laugh.
“Yeah but spending a mil and a half on 3 cars, not really looking like the best idea.”
“Well, what is your life worth?”
“About
as much as yours.” I said pulling into the parking garage and
right into my usual spot. There was already a security guard sitting
there waiting. Roscoe was talking to him while I went inside to my
office.
“Dan, pull up the plans and designs for the car modifications division please.” I asked walking into the office as he was doing something on his phone.
“Sure, I'll have them in in no time.” He said getting up and walking out of the office.
My latest little project was to design my own collection of rims, body kits, modification kits, anything and everything in the way of car accessories. It was going good and was almost ready for mass production with only a couple months of design and planning. There were just a few more small details to finish up but it wasn't much. Even on a few of my own cars I had similarly designed rims that would be released. All the designs were based on my life and my cars.
Dan brought in the files as Roscoe came up as well. He took his seat at the same desk from yesterday while Dan brought in the files. I began to flip through the files skimming over things and examining the pictures of the real, actual rims. They were really well designed and were kept close to my vision of the design. After reading the over all expense report and reading the different bids for production of each rims I did a bit of research on the different companies who I thought had the best bids as well as the ones selected by my design team.
After doing a bit of research I finished with the rims and moved onto the body kits. There were a number of different types of kits I was designing. Sport Kit, City Kit, Comfort Kit, and Long Ride Kit. Each of these kits were unique. The Sport Kit lowered the suspension with thicker springs that were also coiled tighter. It added a spoiler that was specially chosen for that vehicle by the design team. The grill and exhaust were changed out for an body color grill, short, wide chrome or painted exhausts. There were also carbon fiber lower body trim added to make the vehicle appear even lower than it is. The electronic speed limiter on the vehicle is raised to a higher speed. The City Kit is specially designed for those who live or drive mainly in the city. It provides for a better ride, better brakes that are more resistant to slipping, a slight performance upgrade with also in combination of an environmental package which gave you more gas mileage without giving up the power the car has.
The Comfort Kit is more for a chauffeured car, a car who has a great deal of rear seat passenger's or a family car with kids. The suspension is modified for the weight, a rear seat entertainment system is available. A second radio in the rear is added as well as an optional panel to divide the rear and front seats with a sliding glass and solid panel matched to the interior materials. A rear seat center console is optional with reclining seats with feet rests as well. If the vehicle does not already have a full panorama sunroof or a dual panel sunroof for the front and back seat, one is installed.
The Long Ride Kit is for those who like road trips. Longer lasting tires are installed with a suspension upgrade for the changing roads and terrains the vehicle may encounter. It has a manual suspension selector or when certain drives are engaged the suspension will change to meet the needs. When a speed of 65mph is reached then the ride is lowered one level to hug the road better. When 4WD is engaged in an SUV then the suspension is raised to allow for a higher ground clearance. The tires can withstand the extremes of temperatures in any areas of the country. The motor is modified in the same way as the City Kit but it increases the MPG more as well as the power of the vehicle.
After reviewing the kits I took a quick break since Dan came in to take my order for lunch. There was a small deli down the street that was more than happy to deliver to us and were open 24 hours a day which was nice if I ever pulled a late night at the office, only a few times. While I was waiting for my food I went through the few files on my computer trying to see what was there and what wasn't so far everything was there, everything I remember. It didn't take long for the deli to deliver the food and it get up to my office. Dan took the seat across from me as he dug into his sandwich waiting for me to eat mine.
“Yes?” I asked unwrapping my sandwich.
“Nothing, just wondering what all you're doing?”
“Going over everything before it all gets put into mass production.” I answered before taking a bite off the corner of the sandwich.
“And how does it look?”
“Good, close enough for my tastes.”
“Best design team in the country for that sort of stuff.”
“I know, that's why I hired them.” I smirked before taking another bite of my sandwich.
The rest of the time we spent it eating in silence and Dan would occasionally look at some of the pictures of cars with the body kits or rims. When he finished he took my trash and walked out of my office, letting the door fall shut. I went back to going over the designs and other things.
The next few things I was going to look at were the spoilers. I had a few different styles from the typical car huger that the installation team can mold to the car. Then there's the spoilers that sit up on the trunk of the car leaving a small gap between the car and the spoiler. And from there the spoilers increase in size, height, and width. There are also a few grills that I have been designing to go with kits and things.
After taking one last look at the smaller things and minor details I gave my final OK on things and singed some papers before walking them out to Dan who was working on the computer on something. He took the papers and put them in a basket on his desk labeled “OUT” and went back to work.
I sat in my office facing the large flat screen hanging on the wall in my office. Grabbing the remote out of the drawer I turned the TV onto the local news just as they were changing stories.
“And in local news, Jason Vutali was released from the hospital after that terrible accident last week. He swerved up onto the sidewalk to avoid the minivan full of small children and right into the guardrail which broke and sent him in his SUV over the edge and right into a large rock. The most mysterious thing though is how he ended up on the sidewalk, soaked in water though. He was found a few feet from the break in the guardrail unconscious and with no help from rescue teams or anyone. No one can report seeing him jump out from the SUV and he had no marks to provide any help in the matter. He was recently seen driving his 600 thousand dollar Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren around town today after leaving his home on Star Island. Clearly he has made a nice steady recovery. He was reported later seen at the high raise office building where he controls his multi billion dollar empire from. He has yet to be seen leaving the building.” I kind of laughed a bit that someone had actually followed me, not well enough to know that I was nowhere near my house. “Jason, if you're watching this, we commend you and wish you the best of luck in your recovery.” I changed the channel trying to find something interesting and not with a story on my release from the hospital. Finding nothing I turned the TV off and turned back to my computer where I logged onto my MySpace and Facebook accounts and not seeing anything new I logged off and just sat there, putting my feet up on the desk and leaning back in my chair. Roscoe was doing almost the same thing but I think he was asleep.
“Dan, I'm going to take off, nothing really for me to do here today.” I said walking out of my office and punching in the code to lock the door and arm the alarm in just my own office.
“Okay
Jay. I'll get everything taken care of before I leave
tonight.”
“Thank you Dan. Either call me or come
by the house if you need anything.”
“Even borrow the SLR?”
“Your Z4 still working?”
“Yeah.”
“M5
still work?”
“Yeah.”
“Then
no.” I said smiling as I walked out of the office, Roscoe
following behind me.
“What is this Roscoe?” I asked seeing the large black SUV parked in the garage next to my car.
“Your ride.” He said opening the door for me
“No, that is.” I said pointing to my SLR.
“Nope, someone saw you in it today, which means we have to switch. Hand over the keys and someone will drive it back to your home.
“Yeah, right. No one drives this car, but me. I don't trust anyone else sitting behind my 600 thousand dollar car. It has too much power and if you're not used to it, it does and will overwhelm you. I don't need someone crashing this car. Any other car yeah sure. Not this one.” I said opening the door and getting in the car. “Now, either ride in that or this, either way I'm going home with or without you.” I said pulling the door back down and starting up the motor. I watched from the rear view mirror as he walked around to the driver's side of the SUV and talked with the driver. I locked the doors as the SUV pulled away and he walked to the door. I revved the motor while I sat there and he tried to open the door to the car.
“Sorry Roscoe, I need some alone time, I'll be fine.” I said backing up while he continued to try and open the door as I pulled out of the spot and sped through the garage, leaving him behind as I went off to find Cole. I needed to talk to him without Roscoe around. I knew where he would be about this time and hopefully I would be able to catch him. If he was sticking to his normal schedule he would leaving the gym right about now so I quickly sped over there.
Pulling into the parking lot of the gym I waited since I didn't see Cole's car parked in the lot but then I remembered he ran to and from the gym. That is if he was keeping the same schedule since before my accident and hopefully he was. With the windows up no one could see into the car but I could see out perfectly fine. I saw him walk out and stretch a bit as I pulled up to the front of the gym, rolling down the window.
“Cole, get in.” I said smiling as he smiled back, taking his headphones out of his ears.
“Okay Babe.” He said opening the door and sliding in.
“We need to talk.” I said as he closed the door and I sped off out of the parking lot.
TO BE CONTINUED. . .
So I'm hoping this new format of the writing helps people read things.
I love the feedback I got from everyone. I know it's helping me read what I wrote now. I'm not really sure what to say other than, I hope you guys and gals are enjoying the story. Chapter 4 should be out either this Saturday or Sunday. It'll just depend when Nifty updates.
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“To start anew is to forget who you are. . .”