Chapter Text
Carter Verone. The name sent ripples through Miami’s underbelly. That was just the way he liked it. No one, no one, fucked with him. Period. People knew what happened to those who didn’t follow that rule of the streets. In fact, someone just had.
“Get rid of that,” he mentioned to one of his underlings, waving his hand towards the body. Someone way too far down on the food chain who thought they could screw Verone over. A mistake he’d never make again.
The small cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth was almost done, so he flicked it away as he walked towards his black Benz. He was stressed out beyond belief, and lit up a new cigar. He grumbled to his two bodyguards about leaving, needing to unwind. Quickly.
After a long drag on the cigar, he blew the smoke out the side of his mouth roughly. “Where to boss?” Enrique asked when he settled into the back seat.
“I dunno. Just drive.” He sat back, smoking for a bit more. Going to one of his clubs was always an option to relax, but that wasn’t really appealing to him at the moment. Then an activity he hadn’t participated in in a while floated into his mind. Street racing.
He smirked a little, engaging the pair in the front. “Any races on tonight?”
“Think so, boss,” Roberto answered.
“Let’s go then.”
A grin formed on his face, wondering if he’d get the chance to see that new racer everyone had been talking about for the last month. He hadn’t been to a race in that long- an oddity for him. He liked anything with danger involved, and even if he himself didn’t race, watching was a rush in and of itself. Wasn’t a bad way to make some quick cash from betting, or new connections either.
The new racer on the scene drawing so much attention lately… What was his name? It took him a moment, but the name drifted to him. Snowman. An interesting nickname. Verone couldn’t help but wonder how he’d gotten it. Though, at the moment, he was more interested in seeing if the guy could put on as good a show as people said.
When they arrived, the party had clearly already begun. In the back warehouse lot, racing cars were parked everywhere, music blared from various rides, and the people milled around in a tangle of energy.
They parked off towards the edge of the crowd. Carter slipped out of his jacket, leaving it behind in the car. He already didn’t blend into the urban scene, not with the way he dressed. Without the jacket, and opening a few buttons on his dress shirt, it at least wasn’t so obvious. After all, he did dress with Miami class.
He made his way through the throngs of people towards what appeared to be a starting line. A satisfied smirk was plastered on his face, watching as the people around him moved out of his way. More people recognized him than not, especially in a scene like this one. If it was illegal, Verone was most likely connected to it in one way or another.
Close enough to see the racers at the start, he noted there were only three cars. It also appeared they were waiting for someone else to show. Impatiently at that. “Wouldn’t be so eager to lose your money,” Tej mentioned.
“You still haven’t said who’s coming,” the black guy replied.
The loud mouth Latino added, “He better be worth it.”
“Oh,” the race organizer laughed, “he will be.”
There was a rumble of an engine approaching, and the crowd started to part. A puff of smoke erupted from the car as it rolled up, the blue neon underneath reflecting off the silver and royal blue paint scheme. The Skyline was an incredible looking machine.
Carter watched it park next to the other racers, letting out another hiss of air and smoke. The crowd erupted in excitement seeing him, whereas the other racers cursed. This must be the guy, Carter mused.
There had been a smirk on his face, until the door opened and the guy climbed out. Verone’s breath caught in his throat, and his pulse quickened. The guy was too beautiful for his own good- all tanned skin, curly blonde hair, icy baby blues, and a smile to light up the night.
“Hey, Brian,” the female racer in the pink car greeted. Carter recognized her as a part of Tej’s crew, but couldn’t remember her name. The two other males bulked though, watching the new arrival with caution.
After the blonde exchanged a few words with the race manager, Tej announced they were raising the entrance fee. “Woah, woah, woah,” the Latino bulked, “no one said anything about raising the stakes.”
Brian, cool as could be, walked over to him. “Well if that’s the case, why don’t you ask these nice people to back off the line so you can go home.” Collective “oh’s” swept through the crowd and Carter couldn’t help the smirk returning to his face. The guy was cool as ice. Now the nickname was starting to make sense.
The dude paid up though. They all did. Brian was smiling now, lapping up the cheers from the racers gathered around. He ended up looking over towards Carter’s direction, and he could have sworn the other man saw him watching, hitching a bit in his step. Their eyes locked, if only for a moment, before he turned his attention to the race at hand.
What a race it was. When Tej had cheekily motioned that the crowd should head out to the street, he noticed the bridge rising up. Nice touch. Watching that Skyline fly up and over the other car was a breath-taking sight. Though perhaps not as much as the sight of Brian when he did a sliding stop towards the crowd, positively glowing.
He radiated energy, and with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, he stepped out to meet the cheers head on. This guy, he was definitely the Snowman he’d been told about. No doubt about it now. The business end of his mind told him the guy could be a great asset, while another voice in his head wanted to lay claim to the racer in a completely different way.
Brian was a bombshell. And the way he moved now in the afterglow was incredible. Carter had to find out more about him. With that in mind, he grinned, turning away from the celebration. He’d certainly received the stress relief he’d been looking for, and then some.
~ * ~ * ~
Brian was still riding pretty high when the crowd started to disperse. Most everyone would start to head off to different bars, clubs, or house parties. The night usually never ended after the races were done. This evening though, Brian didn’t plan on going out. Even after riding high on his win, he knew he was going to crash from exhaustion soon enough. Not sleeping well would do that to a guy.
He wandered over to where Suki was checking on her car with Tej. The whole front bumper was ripped off, and it was leaking fluids pretty good. “Damn, that sucks,” Brian spoke up, frowning at the damage.
“I’ll just make Tej fix it as an apology,” Suki jokingly replied.
“Yeah, yeah.” The man just rolled his eyes, but knew it was true. He wouldn’t complain about doing it too much anyway.
Brian smirked at them. “You guys heading to the shop now? I’ll come with.”
“You ain’t gonna go party?” Tej inquired.
“Nah man, I’m already starting to crash. I’m tired as fuck.”
Brian ended up going with them to the garage, laying on the roof of his Skyline and listening to their playful banter as they worked to fix the immediate safety issues. He tried to relax, the adrenaline of the race completely faded. His sleep had been haunted, sometimes of his past, but mostly worries of the future.
While being in Miami was great- the beach, the great racing, the money, his new friends- he’d been there for a bit now. He didn’t want the law catching up with him. After all, he was still wanted, and he couldn’t be sure how long before they caught onto his scent.
“Hey Tej,” Brian called, still lying on the car. “You see that guy at the race tonight in the nice threads?”
The man shrugged. “Can’t say I did, why?”
“Just looked really out of place…” He narrowed his eyes, getting to the heart of the problem. “Almost like he was a cop.”
With mention of the “c-word,” Tej stood and walked over, a deep frown on his face. He had Brian give him a description- thank goodness for his own cop skills- and the mechanic nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like Verone.”
“Verone?” Brian sat up then, recognizing the name. “As in Carter Verone?”
Tej nodded. “Yeah, he comes to the races sometimes. Though I haven’t seen him lately.”
“He anything to worry about?” he inquired after a moment. He knew the guy had been watching him. He’d been obvious about it. All his senses had screamed “danger,” but then they had been doing that a lot lately.
“Only if you cross him,” was the honest reply. Tej left him to his thoughts.
From what Brian had heard on the street about Verone, he’d have to say that was true. That still didn’t explain why the man had been watching him. The number of possibilities flowing around in his brain was giving him a headache. Damn the training, he thought. It wasn’t the first time he’d cursed having his police training, though it had its advantages and had saved him on more than one occasion, so he couldn’t complain too much.
“I think I’m gonna call it a night,” Brian announced. Maybe sleep would come that night. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, alright?”
“Night, hun!” Suki called, comfortable on a lawn chair while she made Tej work on his own.
Brian smirked, shaking his head at the couple before disappearing out the back door to the houseboat.
~ * ~ * ~
It didn’t take Carter’s contacts long to find out all about the Snowman. Brian O’Connor. Ex- cop. Currently wanted for questioning by the LAPD in connection to some criminal operation. Those were the easy things to find. More digging had given him all the details, and painted a very interesting picture.
The “questioning,” as the cops were calling it, was regarding aiding-and-abetting, and obstruction of justice, among other charges. Apparently, he’d been involved in an undercover assignment regarding organized tractor-trailer hijackings. Suspecting a street race crew, they had sent in O’Connor. Unfortunately for them, it looked like the guy went native, and not only had let his mark go, but even went so far as to refuse debriefing interviews and possibly destroyed evidence.
Verone was notorious for having authority issues, particularly when that authority came in the form of a badge. But Brian, he was different. His type he could deal with. They had a certain skill set he could take advantage of, and those still on the inside could be bought into doing just about anything.
He wouldn’t know the full reason for O’Connor’s actions until he heard it from the man himself. Didn’t matter though. He was a cop no longer, a wanted man, a damn good driver, and sexy to boot. Carter had to have him, and in more ways than one.
He looked up a contact’s number, punching it into the phone that sat on his desk, hitting it over to speaker phone. Verone spoke when the other end was answered, “I need some information from you.”
“Whatever you need, Mr. Verone,” the man replied.
“Next street race?”
“Two nights from now, down by the canal.”
“Any idea who’s gonna race?”
“Not really sure. Someone you’re hoping to see?”
Carter smiled softly, leaning back in his chair, steepling his fingers together. “Snowman.”
There was a thoughtful pause on the other end. “I’ll make sure he’s there.”
“Good.” Verone hung up, the smile growing.
He pulled out a cigar, lighting it up. As he watched the smoke curl upwards, he was planning his next moves. Like a chess game that hadn’t been played, he would think as many steps ahead as he needed to get what he wanted. When it came to O’Connor, there was no exception.
“See you soon, Snowman,” he mused, letting that settle into the back of his mind as he returned to all his work at hand.