When I first heard this song I thought it was a little weird, but then I really listened to the lyrics and it just screamed Dom to me, so this piece happened. I know "honey" isn't a word Dom would usually use, but it's just to fit the song. The explanation of the night they met comes from a flashback I wrote in another one shot, My Angel. Sadly, I do not own the song or any characters from the Fast franchise :(. Anyway, hope you readers enjoy this one and check out my drabble collection Life in Quarter Miles if you haven't yet! :)
"Honey, I'm Good" by Andy Grammer
Now better men, than me have failed
Drinking from that unholy grail
(Now check it out)
I got her, and she got me
And you've got that ass, but I kindly
Gotta be like oh, baby, no, baby, you got me all wrong, baby
My baby's already got all of my love
So nah nah honey, I'm good
I could have another but I probably should not
I got somebody at home,
And if I stay I might not leave alone
No, honey, I'm good
I could have another but I probably should not
I gotta bid you adieu
To another I will stay true
(ooh ooh I will stay true)
(ooh ooh I will stay true)
Dominic Toretto sat at the bar in a noisy, cheap nightclub in the middle of LA. He was nursing his fifth Corona of the night as he rolled his eyes at Vince's attempts to pick up a girl on the dance floor.
These late night outings with the guys used to be a lot of fun. While his father, Anton 'Tony' Toretto, attended a race out of town, they'd hit two or three nightclubs, get drunk off their asses and, normally, Dom would be scouting the floor for a girl of his own to drag back home, get into bed, and chivalrously call them a cab afterwards. The guys would trade stories the next day, providing explicit details of their sexual rendezvous.
But that was all before Letty. Dom wasn't sure how he'd slipped into a relationship with Letty, or if he even really did. They had never discussed it, but in a silent agreement, neither of them had been with anyone else since their first night together. That was relationship criteria, right? If he was thinking correctly, he had to keep it that way so he wouldn't end up like all of the better men before him who had drank from that unholy grail.
The feisty Latina had walked into his life, specifically a street race, at the age of fifteen and turned his world completely upside down. He'd been showing off for her during his race that night and ended up slamming into the side of her car while she was leaning against it, sending her to the ground amidst flying fiberglass, one piece penetrating the skin of her left wrist. She'd scowled at him and chastised him for hitting her car all while refusing to go to a hospital. Somehow, he finally convinced her and only then did he learn her name. Leticia Ortiz, though he was warned to never use her formal name, was also a street racer, something that had only fueled his desire, not to mention the fact that she did all of the work and modification on her Torino Cobra. She was ruggedly beautiful and smart with a mean streak that allowed no bullshit to be taken and no fucks given. She was the type to put him in his place, somewhere he'd surely never been before, and have no remorse about it. But despite all of that, she was loyal to the core. For the past two years since they'd met, she had his back and he had hers. No matter what unknown roads lie ahead, for them it was ride or die.
The girl was like something out of his dreams, a persona he had created with the assumption that his idea of a perfect girl didn't exist. Because Dom was King of the Streets, he didn't need the one perfect girl. He had all of them; the giggly blondes, the edgy brunettes and the flirtatious redheads. And up until the moment he met Leticia Ortiz, that was how he thought his life would always be. A blur of a different girl every night, never taking on the responsibility of a relationship. He wondered if perhaps Letty would be the one to change that, but did she want a relationship? More importantly, did she want a relationship with him?
Dom sighed, shaking questions out of his head that he didn't have the answers to. Frankly, because he didn't ask. He tipped back his Corona, emptying the remaining contents and slamming the bottle down onto the wooden bar.
"Can I buy you another one, baby?"
Dom turned to his right where a blonde headed girl was leaning against the bar, her elbows perched on top of it. She was wearing a mini dress that could probably pass as a bandana the way it was squeezing the life out of her and exposing the curves of her ass. His eyes involuntarily lingered there for longer than he intended. She was the average racer chaser, or skank as Letty liked to call them. She was just his usual type: pretty enough, breasts pushing at the restraints of the dress's neckline and her ass on view for all to see. But the longer he looked at her, the more flaws he noticed.
Her voice was almost squeaky and not at all husky. Her hair was perfectly done, not one stray tendril. Her nails were perfectly manicured, no hint of engine grease. Her eyes were a light shade of green, bright and alert with no sense of mystery. She wore too much makeup on her face and the shade was too dark to match the rest of her light skin. With each new discovery, she became less appealing to him. And then he realized he was comparing her to Letty.
Letty with her raspy voice and wild hair, nails painted with engine grease, and eyes so dark they looked like they held the secrets of the world. He'd never seen Letty apply an ounce of makeup to her face; her caramel skin didn't need it.
Despite his silence, the girl's gaze was unwavering and he fought the urge to laugh at the sparkle of hope in her eyes. She obviously had him all wrong, he wasn't there to find a girl tonight. There was someone who already had all of his love, she just didn't know it yet.
"Nah honey, I'm good." He kindly turned her down, focusing his attention on his three desperate friends bouncing from girl to girl on the dance floor.
He could use another beer to help him handle those three hooligans for the rest of the night, but he thought better of it. The more alcohol he consumed, the less logical his decisions became. It would be easy for him to slip back into his old ways, effectively putting an end to any kind of future with Letty.
"Come on," She said, sliding closer to him. Her current position gave him a complete view of her cleavage. "Just one." She nearly begged, running a long fingernail up and down his arm.
He couldn't. He couldn't stay, not with her attempting to leave with him. He needed to get out of there before he didn't make it out alone.
"No honey," He said, standing from the barstool and throwing a few bills onto the bar. "I'm good." He gave her a nonchalant wave and approached Vince, Leon and Jesse on the dance floor. "I'm going to head out. You guys think you can handle calling your own cab?"
"We're good, bro." Leon assured him though his words were slurred.
"You taking that home?" Vince gestured to the girl at the bar, her eyes still lingering on Dom.
Dom shook his head. "Nah, I'm staying true to someone else."
The guys shared knowing looks, Vince patting Dom on the shoulder with a smile. "I'd say that's the best decision you've made in a while." He said, with echoes of agreement from Leon and Jesse.
"Good luck, Dom. You know Letty, she's going to fight you at first." Jesse spoke up.
Dom chuckled. "Yeah, she will." He agreed. "But one way or another, I'm going to convince her." He told them with a confident smile before weaving his way through the club.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped out into the cool night air, pulling at his shirt that was sticking to his sweaty skin. As he walked to his car, he pulled his phone from his pocket and typed a quick text to Mia: "Is Letty home?"
After constant insistence from Tony, Letty had moved into the Toretto household just a year after she met Dom. Reina, her mother, though she didn't deserve the title, made no fuss about it whatsoever. A few months later, Reina also moved out of the house across the street with the shitty excuse for a man she called her boyfriend. Reina had a knack for picking the worst men, Letty's father included, who made a run for it as soon as Reina told him she was pregnant.
Mia's response to Dom's question was instantaneous: "Yes."
Dom unlocked the door to his Mazda and slid into the driver's seat, typing out another text to Mia: "I'll give you fifty bucks if you leave the house right now." He started the car and waited for Mia's reply: "It's midnight, no!" and then immediately after: "Wait, why?" He chuckled. Why was his sister's favorite word. She never did anything without a reason because she always said there was a purpose for everything.
"I need to talk to Letty." Was his reply, and he was in no way surprised when his phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Talk?" Mia's voice sounded on the other end. "Like, talk?" She created emphasis on the otherwise normal word, her voice laced with excitement.
She'd met Letty five years before her brother did. Despite their differences, the two were best friends and she'd always encouraged a relationship between Dom and Letty ever since they met. She had seen the change in her brother since he met Letty, something she welcomed because quite frankly, she was tired of the never ending line of skanks that lead right to her brother's bedroom door.
"Yes, Mia." Dom sighed. "I'm going to talk. Say words. Like we're doing right now."
"Oh, for fuck's sake." His sister's voice took on an annoyed tone and he laughed. She'd been pushing him to finally make an actual move with Letty ever since she witnessed the dynamic between them.
"Alright, fine. Yes. That kind of talk." Dom admitted, pulling his phone away from his ear when Mia squealed loudly.
"Finally!" She shouted through the phone.
"You done?" He asked, placing the phone back to his ear.
"Yes." She answered, though her voice was still laced with excitement.
"So you're going to get out of the house, yeah?" He asked as he shifted the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
"Where am I supposed to go?"
"Pick up the three hooligans from the club." He suggested. "They're striking out tonight so they'll be shitfaced."
Mia groaned. "Fine."
"Thank you. I'll be home in a few. You better be leaving when I get there."
"Yeah, yeah." Was all she said before she hung up.
Dom smiled and dropped his phone onto the passenger seat. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to Letty, he had no experience in that department. He'd just have to speak from the heart and hope he didn't say the wrong thing.
He said a silent prayer pulling into the driveway as Mia was walking out of the front door. He killed the engine, pulled the keys from the ignition and grabbed his phone. As he climbed out of the car, he heard that husky voice calling out to Mia.
"Mia, why can't Dom," Letty's words trailed off as she met Dom's eyes. "Dom."
"Hey, Let." He said with a smile.
"Why aren't you at the club?" She asked without returning the greeting. When Dom didn't answer, she turned to Mia, noticing that the younger girl had her lips pressed together in an attempt to hide a growing smile. "Mia." Letty said sternly, but the Cuban girl refused to look at her.
"I've got to go." She said quickly, stepping out into the yard. "You owe me fifty bucks." She hissed to Dom before hopping into her blue Integra and heading off in the direction of the club.
"What the hell is going on?" Letty demanded, her eyes watching Dom as he made his way across the yard and onto the porch where she stood. "Dom what the," She attempted, but her sentence was cut off when Dom cupped her face in his hands and placed his lips gently on hers.
Despite her surprise, she responded to the kiss, matching the tenderness of Dom's pace. Her hands slid up Dom's arms and shoulders to wrap around his neck, her fingers caressing the back of his head.
Dom's tongue slid across her bottom lip and her lips parted, their tongues meeting. His fingers threaded through her dark hair and she pressed herself harder against him with a sigh.
Dom smiled as he slowly pulled away from her lips, his hands still cupping her face.
Letty's eyes gradually opened and she stared silently at Dom, her eyes frantically searching his for an explanation. "What was that for?" She finally asked, her voice a quiet whisper as if she were afraid he would move if she spoke too loud.
"Let's go inside." Was his response as his hands fell from her face, one of them falling to grasp her smaller one as he led her into the house.
Letty closed the door behind them and allowed Dom to pull her to the couch. She watched, confused, as he let go of her hand and sat down, looking up at her expectantly.
"What?" She asked. Her eyebrows furrowed as Dom tapped his thighs with his hands and she hesitated before sighing and taking a seat on his lap.
He rested one of his hands on her upper thigh while the other played with the fingers of her left hand.
"Dom?"
"Hm?" He mumbled, seemingly entranced with threading and unthreading his fingers through hers.
"What's up with you?" She asked, wrapping her right arm around his shoulders.
"At the club tonight, I was just sitting at the bar, and this girl came up to me." He lifted his head to look at her, a nervous look in his eyes.
Letty scoffed. "And?"
"And the entire time she was talking to me," He paused and took a deep breath. "I couldn't stop thinking about you." He admitted, almost in a whisper.
Her body immediately tensed and she turned her head away from him. He knew she was shutting him out, refusing to have that conversation as she always did.
"Don't do that." Dom said sternly. "Don't shut me out."
"I don't want to talk about this, Dom." She said, attempting to stand, but Dom's grip on her tightened.
"Why the hell not? We've been doing whatever this is," He gestured to her and then to himself. "For over two years. To anyone else, that's a relationship by default."
"We're not like everyone else, Dom." She jerked out of his grasp and quickly got to her feet. Groaning, she dragged her hands down her face. "This is not what we do." She started pacing around the room. "We don't have," She paused. "Relationships." Cringing, she resumed her pacing.
"Maybe we were just waiting for the right person." He stood from the couch and grabbed her shoulders to keep her still. "You're that person for me, Letty."
"And what makes you think that, huh? Did you come to that conclusion while we were having sex or?" She shrugged his hands from her shoulders and turned away from him, retreating into the kitchen.
"God, help me." He muttered under his breath as he followed her. He found her gulping down a Corona by the sink and couldn't help but smile. "It's that."
She lowered the bottle to the counter, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "What?"
"The way you chug a Corona when you get mad." He stepped closer to her. "The way you bite your lip when you're contemplating something." He took another step towards her. "The way you speak so bluntly." He inched closer and stopped where he could reach out and touch her. He resisted the urge and instead met her eyes with intensity, smirking when he saw the same look in her eyes. "The way you look at me because, despite what you say, you know I'm right."
She moistened her lips and adverted her eyes to the ceiling, her hands grasping the edge of the counter so tight that her knuckles were turning white. ""What if it's just the excitement you're feeling, Dom? The sneaking around, hiding from the guys and Mia?"
Dom laughed. "Hiding? Letty, they all know."
"They all know?" She met his eyes in disbelief.
Dom shrugged. "The guys aren't as stupid as we thought they were. And you know Mia, she sees everything. But I told them you didn't want anyone to know." He said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "So they pretended they didn't."
Letty sighed. "I'm not ashamed, Dom. It's just, other people make things like this complicated. Labels make things complicated."
"Let, it's been two years. Even if we don't call it what it is, that's a long time to be with just each other." An uncertain look crossed his face. "Unless I'm missing something and you have been,"
"No." Letty immediately cut him off. "No, it's just easier this way. Without a label, I have no right to get angry or jealous when you inevitably fall into bed with another girl. "
"Inevitably?" Dom repeated in disbelief. "Two fucking years, Letty." He said, holding up two fingers for emphasis. "Don't you think if I was going to 'fall into bed with another girl' I would have done it already?"
Letty dropped her eyes to the floor, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. "Well, why haven't you?" She asked, raising her head to meet his eyes.
This time he gave into temptation and reached out to her, taking her face into his hands. "Because you're the only one I want." He said quietly. "I love you, Letty." He admitted for the first time out loud. "And I want the world to know."
She fought against the urge to smile, but it was no use. Dropping her head against his chest, she smiled into his shirt. "You're an ass." She mumbled.
Dom laughed as he wrapped his arms around her body. "For loving you?"
"Precisely." She said, lifting her head from his chest and titling it upwards too look at him. "This wasn't supposed to happen." She said, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Dom smiled gently down at her. "Nope." He lifted a hand to caress her cheek with his thumb. "But you made it easy."
She scrunched her nose up at him. "Stop being so corny."
"I will when you tell me you love me too." He smiled.
Letty raised her eyebrows. "How do you know I do?"
His smile dropped. "Well I," He stammered, a frantic look in his eyes. "Letty,"
"I'm kidding." She laughed at his dramatic reaction. She dropped her eyes shyly, her fingers playing with his shirt. "I do love you." She said quietly as she looked up at him in a way that only Letty could, with her eyes first and then her head followed.
He scrutinized her with his eyes before he grinned widely. "Say it again."
Rolling her eyes she said, "I love you." She smiled at his childlike grin before a serious look crossed her face. "But if you ever cheat on me, I will cut it off."
He visibly grimaced before shaking his head, leaning down to kiss her lips. "Baby, to you, I'll stay true."
Shaking her head, amused at his corny phrases, she grasped a fistful of his shirt and pulled. "Just shut up." Were the last words out of her mouth before their lips met, words forgotten as desire quickly took its place.
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