Chapter One--- Instant Connections in Death

"Come on girls, hurry the fuck up." Dom yelled from the bottom of the stairs where he was impatiently waiting. "Hey shut the hell up." Letty snapped as they walked down the stairs. "Yeah, we have to look good ya know." Mia remarked smoothing the wrinkles out of her skirt.

"I'd say you do ow! What the fuck was that for?" Leon groaned as both Vince and Dom elbowed him. Letty was wearing black pleather pants, a black wife beater and her trusty boots. Mia was wearing a short denim skirt with a pink tank top and white sandals. "It's a wonder we ever make it on time." Dom complained as he walked out.

They pulled up in the usual V formation Mia taking the place of Jesse who wasn't feeling up to coming tonight. He said he'd be at the after party though. Everyone got out of their cars and the skanks flocked around the guys. Vince walked up to Dom who was already forming the races with Hector.

He was looking around scoping out the competition when he saw this chick that looked totally out of place. She wasn't dressed like the other girls, nor she did look like them she actually had some meat on her bones. She was wearing black pants with zippers and chains with straps across the back legs and a black tank top that said "good girls do naughty things", she had long brown hair which was thrown into a messy ponytail with a few tendrils dangling down.

He also noticed she was talking to Johnny and looked completely bored. He kept staring; he didn't know why he just felt something. He wanted to know her, no fuck that he wanted her. He watched as she flashed a fake smile, and then heard her say "I think my friend is calling me I've got to go. Sorry" Only she didn't look sorry at all.

She turned to walk away but Johnny grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She snatched her arm away from him and slapped him.

"Don't touch me." Johnny's face grew bright red and he looked ready to hit her.

Vince rushed over. "There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you. Come here I want to show you this car." He put his arm around her shoulder and glared at Johnny.

She played along and wrapped her arm around his waist. "I was just coming to find you to, but this punk ass bitch just kept going on and on about his shitty Honda." She sneered at him pulling Vince in the opposite direction.

"Fucking bitch." Johnny muttered.

"What was that?" She turned back around.

"You heard me!" Johnny puffed out his chest. "You know you want me." Johnny cockily said.

"Yeah ooh baby please. The next time I'm in need of a small dick, I'll call you." She retorted before walking away with Vince in tow.

The whole crowd who had been watching this exchange started laughing; even Johnny's crew was laughing but was silenced by a glare from Johnny.

"You'll pay." He snarled as he stalked off. Without noticing she shivered. Ignoring him she turned towards Vince.

She smiled at Vince. "Thanks appreciated that. He would not get the clue. I'm Lila." She held out her hand.

"Name's Vince, and its cool I don't like seeing pretty ladies in distress." He shook her hand.

"Ooohhh my knight in shining armor." She joked.

"Damn right." He laughed. "So you look new, what brings you here? You race?" Vince questioned.

"Hell no! Don't get me wrong, I love cars just not into racing. I mean do I look like I race? My friend begged me to come so I figured I would. Don't see what's so special though, if I wanted to look at half naked women I'd go to the beach." She sarcastically said.

He laughed, he liked her even more, he was getting sick of the same hoes. "That's an interesting perspective. So we're having a party after Dom wins, you wanna go?"

"You always this confident he's going to win?" She looked over at the race set up.

"Hasn't lost yet. So you wanna go?"

"Sure I'll show up, let me just go tell my friend." She walked off leaving Vince wondering if it was a guy friend as he walked back over to Dom and stood in silence.

"What's on your mind coyote?" Dom asked. "Nothing, whose racing?" Vince asked glancing around. "Not sure, Johnny left so probably just some wannabes no actual competition." Dom replied. For some reason that made Vince really uneasy. He noticed Lila walking back towards him and he forgot all about it. "Hey it's cool but can she come to?" She asked when she was standing in front of him. "Yeah that's cool." Vince smiled at her.

Dom finally put a race together and won of course. He collected his money and handed it to Mia to count, then went in search of his trophy. The team was walking around celebrating his victory, while Vince and Lila were talking. "We got cops. Go, go, go, go!" Leons voice yelled over the scanners.

"Fuck me! Where's Gwen." Lila looked frantically around. "Come on." Vince yelled grabbing her hand, he ran towards his car as everyone scattered. Lila was looking around and she looked scared. "Don't worry." Vince gripped her hand to reassure her.

Vince took her back to the house and they went inside. "I want to make sure everyone gets back safely." Vince said grabbing some beers before leading her to the couch. He held out a beer to her to take. "I can't drink, I'm only 19." She shyly said. "Geez you're young." Vince replied. "Why how old are you?" She laughed. "24." "Geez you're old." She joked. He just gave her a look which made her crack up laughing.

"I wonder where Gwen is I need to go get my moms car." Lila wondered aloud. "I'll take you." Vince offered. Just then a girl walked in, after looking around she headed towards them. "Lila you scared the fuck out of me." The girl said when she reached them. Lila got up and hugged her. "I'm sorry I couldn't find you. Vince brought me back." She nodded towards him. "Vince this is Gwen, Gwen Vince. He's taking me to get my moms car by the way."

"Alright. Thanks for keeping my girl safe." She smiled before walking off. "She an odd one?" He questioned. "Very much so." She grinned. "Alright you ready?" He asked. "Yeah let's go." She followed him out the door

She gave him the directions and he followed them. They could hear sirens the whole way. Lila looked uneasy. Vince reached over and gripped her hand. Pulling down her street, they noticed the street was swarming with cops, fire trucks, and ambulances. "I wonder what happened." Vince said slowly pulling closer. "Oh god, oh god, oh god. That's my house. "Lila threw the door open before the car had even stopped and took off at a dead run. Vince threw the car in park and took off after her.

When he reached her she was being held up a cop. "What happened." Vince took her from him. "It looks like a burglary. The mother and son were both shot to death. However not too much was taken, just the TV." Lilas' eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out. He picked her up and cradled her against him. "There's nothing you can do. You should take her home with you." The cop said.

Vince walked back to his car and gently put her in the passenger seat. Vince drove back to the house and slowly carried her in, he was glad the party was over. "What the hell is going on?"Dom asked when he saw Vince walk in carrying her. Gwen immediately jumped up. "Just hold on." Vince carried her upstairs and laid her on his bed. She woke up when he laid her down. "Stay with me please." She whispered in a pained voice. "Ok here change into this and I'll be right back." Vince handed her a pair of drawstring pants and a t-shirt. He watched her stand up, his heart practically tearing in two. Walking towards her, he wrapped his arms around her. Starting to cry, she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed. He rubbed her back till her body was no longer wracked by sobs. "I'll be right back." He leaned forward and softly kissed her before walking out.

He went downstairs and sat on the couch, everyone looked expectantly at him. Especially Gwen who was pacing back and forth. He told them what happened and Gwen slowly sunk to the floor. Mia walked over and hugged her. Gwen just sat in shock before standing up and looking around wild-eyed. "I have to go." "No! You can't. Just stay here. You can be here in the morning for Lila." Mia said her mother hen ways kicking in. "Yeah ok if it's not a problem." "No its not, I can pull the fold out for you." Leon jumped up. Gwen offered a nod and a faint smiled.

Vince said night and went back upstairs. When he went in his room he didn't see Lila, flicking a lamp on, he saw her sitting against the wall. Knees to her chest and her head buried in her hands. "Come on baby." He bent down and picked her up. Laying her on the bed, he reached over and shut the lamp off.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked so quietly you could barely hear it. "I like you baby girl." He replied. (I think I'm falling for you!) Was what he was really thinking. She moved closer to him and put her arm over his chest, he in turn wrapped his arms around her small frame. He waited to sleep till her breathing evened out and he knew she was sleeping.

DOWNSTAIRS

Gwen waited till Leon left then sat on the fold out looking completely lost. All she could do was try and be there for Lila. Gwen pulled her knees up to her chest, leaned her head against her knees and started to quietly cry. Lila's family had been more like her family then her own had been. Lila's mom had taken care of Gwen when Gwen would stumble into their house at 2 am in the morning after her step dad would beat her. Lila was a sister to her and Lila had just lost her mom and brother. Gwen couldn't help but feel the same. But she had to stay strong for Lila. She was the one that always took care of them.

She was the one who lost her innocence so early in life lost her rose tinted view of the world. Gwen had never put herself in a position to love, just once and it'd gone terribly According to Gwen there was no such thing as love. The only people that had ever told Gwen that they loved her were Lila and Lila's mother. They had been the only ones in her life. Not her father, not her step-dad and sure as hell not her mother. Her mother could care less about her.

All the sudden she heard footsteps padding into the kitchen. Gwen didn't bother to lift her head. She was sure her make-up was ruined. She was sure she had tear trails, and no one could see her cry. Crying was a weakness and Gwen wasn't weak. The only two people to see her cry had been Lila and Lila's mother. Leon had walked into the kitchen, needing to step outside. He was jumpy as hell and couldn't get to sleep so he figured he would sneak outback and get in a smoke to relax him. Leon peered out the kitchen into the living room to see Gwen huddled up near the top of the couch, head in her lap. Leon whispered, "Gwen?" into the dark room. An irritated "What?" was all he got from her. She didn't even lift her head. He sighed quietly to himself, "I was just going outside for a smoke and it looked like you could use some one to talk to. So if you need to talk I'm just outside." Leon told her.

"I'll join you but I don't wanna talk I just need a smoke really bad," she told him picking herself up and grabbing her purse. She wiped of her face with her hands and followed him outside. He had to smile; she was still acting all tough ass bitch even after she was caught. She sat down next to him on the picnic table, pulling her pack out she smiled as she lit the cherry. " So... Leon is it?" she asked with a smile. "Yea" Leon smiled as he took a drag. "Aight" Gwen said still smiling. They sat in silence enjoying being near each other even though neither would admit it.

All the sudden a head popped out of one of the windows, "Leon! I swear if that is you out there at this hour smoking I will take away your whole carton and put them in the trash compacter! Now get inside the Damn house," Mia yelled out the window then retreated back inside the house shutting the window. Gwen smiled over at him, "I guess we got caught, huh?" she asked. Leon looked over at her with a smile, "Yeah I guess we did, now lets get back inside the house before we get in even more trouble," Leon told her taking her hand leading her back inside the house. They walked in and Mia saw them holding hands and she smiled. They both blushed and dropped hands.