Chapter 1: Routine Breaker.

It was just an ordinary day of work out at the garage, the heat took over my mind so I couldn't even work properly.

First, I dropped a heavy tool and almost twisted the hood of my Silvia while working on it, and then I lost the stickers I planned to re-decorate it with…and finally…just fell downstairs and got injured.

I heard Leon calling my name. "Jesus Letty, you okay girl?" he asked and came closer to lift me up. His hands were around my waist, I slowly reached to hold my forehead, he bent me over 'till I was standing on my feet, then we slowly stepped down the few stairs that were left.

"What's with you? You're kinda out today…" he said as stepped outside while I still leaned on his shoulder.

He sat me down, still very careful, on a plastic chair at the front of the house, where we always used to do barbecue and just spent the afternoons together as a family.

Then he got back to the house, it took him like a minute or two to come out with two Coronas in his hands, he handed over the bottle, it was cold and dripping. "Right from the fridge" he said with his familiar hoarse voice.

I loved these particular moments…I always thought they weren't appreciated as much as they should have. I found myself often thinking about all those times, those silent or regular situations that made us who we are. All of a sudden everything seemed so much more meaningful.

Maybe it was just cause I had this one or two moments in time...away from the daily race, and I'm not only talking about the cars…my daily race of life, I guess I didn't know I was about to reach my breaking point. I just leaned back to meet the back rest, watching Dom passing some spare parts from the garage to the inside of the house, I was wondering why he put them there but when I was about ask him I saw Mia coming right towards me.

"Catching some sun?" she said, smiling at me. "Hell yeah girl." I said, trying to move my leg. "Ouch…" I added after I felt this terribly sharp pain in my ankle. Mia's eyes narrowed, she looked confused.

"She fell downstairs" Leon explained. "Ouch…" she said. "Tell me about it" was all I could say, as I looked behind her, searching for Dom. I saw his image from the half closed shades. For a second I could see him looking back into my eyes, those pair of eyes bursting from between the louvers.

Mia slowly sat on a chair in front of me, leaning on the table a bit. I could tell she was tired too by her slow and careful movements. "Maybe you should see a doctor or something…" she offered but I turned her down immediately; "I got a lot of work to do for the next like…two years? Barely making a living so no time to see no damn doctor." We all laughed, cause we all knew it was true.

Ever since Jessie died plans about Mexico were cast aside, no one ever dared to come up with the idea of a vacation. Like we need to suffer and grieve forever.

I heard the house's door shutting down, but my eyes were already closed and my head was laid back comfortably. I think I also heard a few steps cause there was an prolonged moment of silence, then I felt a big warm hand, playing with my hair, moving it over my shoulder

Dom's low and deep voice broke the silence. "Ya'll finish your day of work I see…" he said with a smirk. "Yeah I can tell you're tired…" he slowly pushed my head to get a better access to my back area and started massaging my neck.

I groaned in pleasure, hearing their giggles at the background about my reaction.

"You're so tight baby…" he informs. "I know…" I shrank my eyes harder, feeling the sunrays hitting my face over and over, flooding and warming my skin.

"Okay guys get in and turn the AC on…Mia will you please start making lunch…?" Dom ordered and started to step away. "Wait, where's Vince?" I asked suspiciously. Dom turned his head back a little, looking at me but his body was still directed to leave. "He's inside the garage, giving me a hand over the car that Smith brought in yesterday…we'll join you when everything's ready." And as he finished talking he kept walking away into the garage.

Mia and I looked at each other, knowing something's going on, but dropping it for a while and already making room for other thoughts in our minds…such as, what's for lunch?!

We all got inside, Leon walked right into the living room, turning the TV. Mia and I headed straight for the kitchen. "So… lasagna?" I offered. "Yeah why not." she replied without even looking at me. After that she opened the refrigerator and grabbed few things.

"God, I need a vacation." I said quietly, this way only Mia could hear, I didn't want Leon to know I'm bringing up the subject. Mia was silent, she turned around slowly, staring at me with a serious look on her face. I was sweating a little, my face was probably a little shiny, and my eyes were heavy and tired.

We both remained quiet…we were thinking the same thing. Jessie…this kiddo… "Ever since he…" I started off as she cut me saying: "I know! It's like…we all need to be careful, not saying something that might freak someone out. It's impossible." I nodded, I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"This week was horrible." I murmured, "So glad it's over" I kept talking even though her back was what I was talking to. "mhm…" was all she mumbled back. "Hey what's with you lately? Don't think I haven't noticed." I asked after a few moments of thinking about her behavior recently.

"It's really nothing." She said while she continued cutting a few vegetables. "C'mon girl…we know each other for like…ages? It's so obvious something bothers you." Cause yeah, I wasn't buying it.

"This is pointless." She finally gave up. I heard this tune of a hopeless girl which I didn't like at all. "What is?" I pushed. "I'll get over it." She tried to convince me as she started to step towards me, lowering her voice. I got it…don't want Leon to hear anything…this subject is gotta be a taboo almost as Jessie's death. Oh yeah…how could I forget?

"It's Brian, the cop huh?" I said. "Shhh!" she freaked, almost sending her palm to cover my mouth. Well, it did come out kinda loud. I blinked with tiredness. "I just can't seem to get over him!" she confessed quietly. She set infront of me, leaning in my direction. "You gotta forget him girl, he wanted to hand over your brother Mia, and he was playing with you under cover. That basterd."

I tried to give her my most confident look. But deep inside I knew it wasn't as easy as I made it sound.

"You gotta move on." I said. "I will." She added immediately and got back to the countertop. After a few seconds of cutting vegetables, I heard her weeping and then putting the knife down so she could dry the dropping tears.

I was never good at these things, even Dom was better then me. So I just got up and hugged her from the back. We kinda stood there for a few minutes, just like that. There was probably nothing I could to make things better for her.

A noisy explosion bounced us both and broke the hug. It came from the outside. "I'll go check." I said without even hesitating and went limping out, Leon was already standing outside the garage. "What the hell…" I said loudly and got up, filthy fog and a stinky smell were surrounding the whole place, I could barely see, but I guessed Dom saw me, I heard him calling my name and followed his voice.

"What happened?" I asked as I saw his hand bursting forth between the fume. "Vince happened." He explained - a little annoyed. "Sorry Dom, I should've listened to you…" I heard Vince's voice in the background. He usually never said these kind of things, never apologized or admitted he was wrong. Only when he talked to Dom, or only when he caused a really serious problem.

We were all standing there for a couple of minutes, waiting for the fog to spread out of the place, opening any possible windows, doors or vents. "Well…let's see how you fried the piston rings." Dom said and popped the hood. A few massive clouds of fume were spreading across the room, Dom was blowing them off in on hand, stabilizing the hood up with his other hand.

"It'll be alright after we'll let it cool off for a bit," he said after he took a short look on the inside. "Let's go eat in the meanwhile" he decided and stepped towards me, he kissed my cheek and wrapped his dirty arms around me. "Dom!" I protested. "What? Did you get a shower?" he asked to provoke me. "No but…" I was about to answer but he shut me up with a kiss.

No one spoke as long as we kissed, I hugged him. We slowly broke our kiss and Vince was already standing outside the garage, "What's with the NOS?" he asked as me and Dom stepped outside. "We'll just keep the doors open and wont touch anything 'till there will be some fresh air around…" he said and we kept walking towards the house. I saw Vince looking at us when I turned my head a little, he was still standing next to the garage, guess he didn't like the fact that we left everything wide open.

Dom and I took our places, Dom was sitting at the head of the table, and I took the seat next to him. Mia came along with the baked dish, "Looks great!" I mumbled, testing it from where I sat. She smiled, "You hungry huh? Why won't we eat outside?" she offered. "It's too hot outside. Especially at noon, maybe we'll have dinner outside." Dom said, stressing his low manly voice.

Then Vince came over, taking his place next to me. I heard a few steps down the stairs, and then Leon showed up. "Yo Dom, there's a little problem up here." He informed. Dom stared at him without saying anything, waiting for him to explain himself. Leon just said "Later" and started a small talk with Vince. Those were the moments in which I felt Jessie's absence most. The whole picture wasn't full, there was something missing. That kid.

Mia set infront of me, next to Dom. We set almost in the same order we used to sit in those barbecues outside in the afternoons. When we were still living a sweet lie that Brian was just Mia's boyfriend, and before Jessie messed with Tran.

I watched the guys eating, talking and laughing, I felt like I'm seeing a voiceless black and white old movie. Everyone was happy, I saw the absence of the people we loved, but everybody seemed almost okay with it.

I knew Mia was thinking about Brian, and the boys were missing the voice of Jessie as he pries to the car Gods for all the NOS we bought. "Letty, take a piece from the lasagna, you'll love it!" Mia's voice woke me up from my daydream, she asked for my plate and then handed it over with the dish. "Thanks" I mumbled and tasted. Everybody liked it. "Very good", "its awesome Mia" they said between their chewing noises. Dom tapped on her shoulder, they switched smiles. "I like it." He said quietly.

We all talked about work issues and TV shows, the next race and what were the plans for Friday night, we talked even after we were done eating. But after fifteen minutes Dom got up, "Lets clear the table and come back to the garage, Vince, I wanna get the fuel map fixed." Vince nodded and handed over his plate, Dom took all of them to the kitchen, Mia followed.

All of a sudden it seemed like a good idea to sit on a lawn chair with a couple of cold Coronas in my reach. I stepped into the garage, looking for the bunch of lawn chairs I put aside a few days ago. I didn't remember where the fuck I put them. But then I saw something was wrong. The hood of the car Dom was working on was closed, and I remembered that when we left the garage to eat he kept it open so it'll cool off for a little.

I stepped a little closer to the car, then I saw a big black Jim bag on the floor, I recognized a few of our tools were dropped next to it.

'This is impossible' I thought to myself, Dom and I were standing over here before we got inside the house, the floor was clean and clear. I lifted my hand, wanting to see if something was going on under the hood, but right when I was about to do that, a man ran into me, he was hiding after the car and came out running into me, pushing me back. I grabbed his arm, trying to take him down. "You son of a bitch!" I screamed. "What are you trying to do asshole?" I screamed harder. I wished someone could hear, I knew how to fight and I intended to use it.

The guy pushed me back at once, he tried to punch me with all of his strength but I bent down and pushed his chest with my arms, he dropped to the floor, and I thought I wore him out just a little. I sat on his hips, trying to suspend his hands. He rolled over me, then we were face to face, I could see a part of them now, I could see his eyes. His skin was a little suntanned and his eyes were dark green. I could see the tip of his forehead, he was sweating. He was stressed? was he a newbie at the theft business?

He constantly moved and rolled from side to side underneath me, trying to get rid of me, but the harder he tried, the harder I settled. In one sharp movement I felt his knee hitting my backbone - one death-blow that dropped me off him.

I writhed in pain, trying to get up, but just as I started to lift myself slowly he kicked me in the stomach, I felt I was about to black out so I screamed for the team. "Guys! Someone is stealing stuff from the garage!" but no one seemed to hear. I crawled forward after noticing he was out of sight, I groaned in pain, feeling my guts burning up. I saw him bending over, grabbing the Jim bag and another bag, they were loaded. I tried to lift myself in vain.

I saw Mia's back farther away on the pavement, she was out to drop the trash. "Mia!" I cried out in agony. She turned around, looking in my direction, it took her eyes a few seconds to find me on the floor. She rushed into the garage. "Jesus Christ Letty, you're okay?!" she asked worried. "Your lip is open, you're bleeding. What happened?!" she was more hysterical than me. When she tried to sit me down I screamed in pain, I felt my ribs cracking and moving like thin brances. "Oh god!" she cried out even harder, I thought I saw tears in her eyes. "Chill Mia I'll be fine, we were robbed. This son of a bitch, when I'll find him!" I whispered in anger.

"Jesus Dom, get out here right now!" she yelled. A few seconds later I saw Dom coming inside, Leon followed him. "Letty!" Dom called and hurried to sit next to me. "Are you okay baby? What happened?" he checked me out, looking my whole body to see where I got hurt. "Someone came into the garage, he stole things, and I don't even know what! I caught him in action, he probably heard me getting in…he was hiding and before I could see what he took he showed up, we started to fight." I explained. Dom rubbed his eyes, then his head, pressing his eyes shut again. Then he took a deep breath as he tried to lift me and helped me into the house.

"I'm calling the police." Mia called out after a few minutes of sitting all quiet in the Boiler room. She didn't move regardless of the statement, after a second she walked towards the phone. "Nobody is calling the police!" Dom said, following her and grabbing her arm, he held her back and pointed at me. "What are we gonna tell 'em? We were robbed? We rob from others. We're street racers, our goddamned garage ain't exactly legal."

Again this annoying silence all around. Everybody's thinking how Dom was fucking right. He finally said we should solve this our way. "We gotta find this motherfucker." He raised his voice aggressively and hit his right fist in his left palm. Dom turned his look on me, he was holding his big cross medallion in one hand, and the other hand was resting on my tight. "I swear to god Letty." Then he waved his cross infront of me and went on "We'll get the NOS back, and this gets settled."

"Fuck yeah!" Vince yelled, tapping Dom's upper back. I gave them a weak smile, I thought they were crazy, how the fuck were we supposed to find this son of a bitch? I didn't even see his face. "Dom, I didn't even see what he looks like." I said quietly, not wanting to make things worse or annoy someone even more.

"This Friday night, everybody's gonna talk about the story. I'm gonna spread it like wildfire, we'll figure it out. We won't stop 'till we find him."

All of a sudden, I felt a greater weakness falling upon me, I closed my eyes, groaning softly. "You okay?" he asked, worried. His grip around my arm got tighter. I nodded. "I'm just tired." I didn't want any pity, I'm glad I gave the thief a hard time, he deserved it. Because what else was I to do? Runaway? Fuck no - that was not in my nature.