"I appreciate the ride back to the shop," Derin said to the young man with a large dragon tattoo running up the side of his neck and stopping just shy of his massively gauged ear.
"It's my job dude," he said without even looking over. The record truck had arrived within thirty minutes of his phone call and before long, his car was hooked to the back and they were heading down the road to a local mechanic shop.
The rest of the ride was in complete silence other than the roaring engine of the old truck as it drove down the streets of the city, heading toward its destination.
They arrived at a small garage soon later and the driver pulled past the large doors of the garage just enough so that Darin's car was stopped in front, put the truck in park and looked at Derin expectantly.
"We're here bro," he said almost in a frustrated tone. "Gotta get out."
"Sure," Derin said, not wanting to set in the cab any longer than he had to anyway. "Thanks again for the ride."
He opened the truck door and stepped down onto the gravel parking lot of the mechanic shop. He sighed in despair. All he wanted to do was go home and await his meeting with Aurora. He had so many questions for her. What was the fortune teller talking about? Who was Aurora really? Was she something to be feared or was the fortune teller afraid of her because she didn't understand her?
"What the hell have you brought me here," a woman's voice called out from behind the record truck.
Derin stepped around the truck to see a short muscular woman with long curly dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail and grease spots all over her white tank top, ripped blue jeans and a large smear of it across the side of her face.
"Dunno," said the young man "It broke down on him so I took it to you. You said things been slow lately right?"
"Yeah, yeah," said the woman dismissively. "Thanks for thinking of me. I'll comp the bill to mine and have your money ready tomorrow."
"Remember," said the driver, "You owe me a hundred and fifty also from last week."
"I'll have it all for you tomorrow," she said with a bit of an angry edge to her voice. "Now get the hell out of here!"
With that, the man unhooked car from the back of his truck and drove off, leaving Derin and the woman alone in the parking lot.
"What happened," she asked as she popped the hood and bent over the front to look inside. Her apple shaped ass caused Derin to instinctively begin looking her up and down for desirable spots.
He forced himself to stop with a shake of the head.
"Not sure," he said as he cleared his throat. "It was driving just fine and then suddenly smoke started coming from the engine."
"Hmm," the woman said as she moved hoses around to get a better peek at the components. "Well, good news and bad news."
"I'd love some good news right now," Derin said as he walked over and looked in the engine with the woman. It all looked foreign to him.
"Good news is that I can have this up and running by next week," she said as she looked over to him from under the hood with a smile. "Bad news is that it's going to cost quite a bit for the parts needed replaced."
This wasn't what Derin wanted to hear. He was by no means broke, and at least he'd be able to get a rental and have something.
"Ok, well I'm just glad it isn't totaled," he said as he tried to match the woman's smile. "Just do what you need to do and I'll pay whatever when I receive the bill.
The woman's face changed slightly to a more concerned appearance.
"I'm going to need the money for the parts and the record driver up front unfortunately," she said in an almost embarrassed tone. "I owe that kid's boss money that I don't have. I won't be able to front the parts and bill later."
The woman leaned back out from under the hood, turned around and leaned her ass against the front of his car.
