A/n: This is a redo of the first story, The Ultimate Betrayal, but it is hopefully with more detail, better descriptions, and more insight to the characters than before. It has been over 4 years since I posted the original and I am hoping that those of you that read the first one can give me notes on if it's better or worse or your thoughts on if I've grown and changed as a writer. My goal is to see if I can enhance the story and see if I have done any growing writing wise. I hope to get honest feedback and get some practice in at writing it with more feeling and writing from the character's point of views. This is pretty much a test to myself. A little of the old, lots of new and so without further ado, here it is. Cheer
Chapter 1
Jordan O'Connor flung her long blonde hair off of her shoulders and winced at the heat. The heat was so hot on the street she was walking on that she swore the bottom of her tennis shoes were going to melt at any moment. The air was so humid it almost took your breath away, but that was California for you. She looked around at the seemingly lifeless street with the garage and café at the end of the street and took in a deep breath. This was it. This was not only the last clue to find him but her only hope at this point to her survival. Being a 17 year old girl living on the streets was dangerous and unheard of. She was all alone and on her own. She licked her lips nervously as she got closer to the garage that said Toretto's Garage and rubbed the palms of her hands nervously on her short jean shorts that had frayed edges. She looked at the old worn down building with the sign hanging crookedly and shook her head as thoughts ran amuck in her head. This is not the kind of place Brian would be. You're nuts for even coming here, she scolded herself. He probably won't be here just like he wasn't at all the other places. Damn you, Brian for being so hard to find. Damn their parents for getting a divorce when she was 11 and only thinking of themselves. Why was it they felt that they had to split her and Brian up as though they were just pieces of property?Her mom had gotten her and Brian had won the lottery of going to their father. Here it was, eight years later and she was a ward of the state ever since her mom had given up custody of her. But Jordan wasn't staying in the state's custody and had taken it upon herself to run away and search for her brother, someone who truly would love her and take care of her until she was old enough to be out and on her own.She took a deep breath as she neared the little café, her fingers going ninety miles an hour as though she was playing a piano out of pure nerves. She fought to keep her self control.
She sat down on a squeaky old bar stool in the little café in the run down part of Los Angeles, coughing nervously. She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. The café was small, musty, and attached to a garage. The walls were made of old wood that looked like it had been stripped from wear and tear from all the elements of the weather. She looked up at the ceiling uncomfortably as she waited patiently and tried not to squirm from anxiousness for someone to come and take her order. It's no wonder this place was not packed, it almost seemed to be a ghost restaurant, she thought to herself as she started to swivel on the stool just to keep herself
amused and from falling asleep. It had been two days since she had gotten a peaceful sleep, she counted as she yawned.
"Can I help you?" A rough looking guy asked her shrewdly she almost jumped out of her skin. Jordan swiveled back around to face him, embarrassed she had been swiveling around on the stool like a kid, and studied the man with great detail as she thought of how to answer his question. She didn't want to say the wrong things, she didn't want to give out details that could be too much or put her in harm's way. It wasn't everyday a 17 year old on the loose from the state came walking into your place and asking questions so she knew she had to be careful on how she handled it all. She took in a deep breath. "What, the cat got your tongue?" He asked, putting down his rag that he had been wiping his hands on. His hands looked like mechanic hands and gross at that, Jordan thought to herself and tried to not to make a face that would give away her thoughts. She quickly finished studying his dark, scruffy beard and looked into his cold, dark eyes. He stared back at her with suspiciousness, as though he didn't like her or trust her. It could be both, she reckoned. She waited to answer him, as though trying to test his patience. She loved the idea of getting him frustrated, she didn't like the aura about him. He seemed, well, she couldn't put her finger on the right word, but she defiantly didn't like something about him. "Fine, stare all you want, I'm leaving. I have better things to do." The guy muttered, his scowl quite unattractive. Who was this girl to come in here and not say anything? She came in this place, she had the responsibility to speak. She looked like some little rich girl wanting to be a tough bad girl to him and he hated fake people. She was alright looking, but nothing spectacular. He didn't like blondes, especially really blonde blondes.
"Do you have a menu?" the petite blonde asked, her ice blue eyes catching the muscular guy's attention and a little off guard when she finally made eye contact with him.. He tossed a menu at her. She sat up indignantly, trying not to say anything about his attitude problem. Who was this guy to be such a jackass to his customers, she wondered. Oh well, she thought, she had more important things on her agenda.
"Be nice, V." A tall, lanky, almost awkward girl with long black hair came in and pushed him with a smile. "Just ignore Vince and let me know when you're ready." She nodded at the girl. The guy she had just called Vince shook his head at her in annoyance and went to the garage. Mia was always being too nice, Vince thought to himself. That was part of the reason they had suffered so much drama in the first place was because her brother had the same problem. They were too nice to people they did not know and it cost the crew to end up in bad situations. "I'm Mia." She said, holding out her hand, her dark eyes twinkling with almost what seemed to be mischief.
"I'll have a coke and a cheeseburger and fries, please." Jordan said quietly, not really too hungry She knew she needed to eat since she had been traveling for a while, hadn't ate too much, and needed a place to rest but her nerves were working the best of her at the moment. "Do you happen to have a phone book by chance?" She asked before she lost her nerve to do so.
"Sure, here you go." Mia nodded and handed her the phone book, then she began to work on her food request. Jordan studied her as the girl began to fry the hamburger. She was tall, pretty in an un-pretty kind of way, but she seemed to hold something about her in a bitter way. Jordan was
horrible at reading people but she could tell the girl's happiness was an act. Jordan knew how to pull that act off flawlessly so she could spot someone acting like that a mile away. As she waited for her food, Jordan's thought turned to where her brother could be. She was in trouble and needed him more now than ever. This was the last known area she had been told he was spotted to have been in, but she wasn't sure if she could get her nerve up to ask these guys or if this was really an accurate place at all. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't pay any attention to what was going on around her. She jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Do you need some help? I noticed the phone book and thought maybe I could help." A tall svelte "racer girl" asked after walking in. Jordan noticed she looked like a cross between a lingerie model and a racer. She pulled her long black hair with caramel highlights into a clip to get it up off her back, as it was starting to heat up outside. "I'm Tiffany Saunders." She stuck out a hand to Jordan. The tribal art tattoo on her arm mixed with the black leather pants and rhinestone tank top made Jordan feel a little intimidated. Jordan shifted nervously and shook her hand to be polite. She looked pretty rough and not someone who would be so nice as to introduce herself and shake hands so easily, so friendly. This made Jordan feel on edge about the girl and made her even more nervous.
"Jordan." Jordan said, shifting on the bar stool as Tiffany shook her hand with a very firm grip.
"So, what can I help you with? I'm very happy to help." Tiffany volunteered, knowing she was intimidating this girl. It was something she had always been good at, intimidating people. She used it to her advantage a lot. She gave Jordan a coy smile.
"Um...no, well, I'm just looking for someone." Jordan replied, licking her lips, a habit she had when she became nervous. Her mouth felt dry and she took a deep breath as she stared at the girl who was making her fidget. The girl's big brown eyes were enhanced only by a thin line of eyeliner and a lighter brown of eye shadow that really made her eyes stand out. I wish I had an edge like her, then no one would mess with me, Jordan thought to herself. She never noticed the three guys staring at her through a small square window on the other side of the café where a car garage was that made up Toretto's.
"I'm wonderin how a girl that looks that innocent found her way here." Leon Strong mused to Vince and Jesse, the boys watching the three girls from the window. It was rare that anyone found their way to Toretto's, much less someone young and attractive such as the blonde sitting there on a stool like she was.
"I don't know but she's kind of cute." Jesse said in his shaky, quiet voice and nodded, a slight smile on his face. He often didn't speak up on his own and when he had an opinion, he wasn't always sure of what his friends would say about it. He was a nervous kind of person himself, one who had been through a long and tough life. He was the youngest of the group and often the quietest. Leon ruffled his hair and left to get back to work, climbing under a car, leaving Jesse to watch the girl.
"I know a lot of people. I probably could help, come on, try me."Tiffany challenged, not getting a response. She looked at the girl and studied her. She was petite and very pretty. She looked like
a timid mouse at the moment, Tiffany thought to herself. Whatcha afraid of?" Tiffany teased, sitting on the barstool next to her and folding her arms. Jordan shrugged, trying to find the right words to say as to not sound completely stupid. This girl didn't look like she put up with stupidity and that was the last thing she needed was to sound stupid. Jordan looked at Tiffany's face and felt like maybe this girl was not as hard to talk to as most of the people she had encountered in the first place. Jordan felt a guilty pang for maybe misjudging this girl based on her looks. She herself hated to be misjudged and here she was, doing it to this girl.
"It's not that. It's just that I have been all over looking for this person I'm looking for, and I just am about to give up." Jordan said wearily as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, not sure why she felt like telling this girl this. It wasn't like this girl was the ideal candidate to confess problems to. "No one seems to be able to help me find him. I go to every place he's been known to be but it's all pointless and a wash." Jordan stirred her coke with her straw, looking down as she talked. Tiffany recognized hopelessness and sadness in her tone of voice and wondered what would make a girl like her sound so pathetic. This really intrigued her.
"What's his name? You're here so you might as well follow up on the thing that led you here. It can't hurt to ask us, now can it?" Tiffany asked, noticing the girl hadn't touched her food. She looked like she was going to faint away as it was. All the girl was doing was playing with a fry and staring at the food as though it was going to do some sort of trick. The girl needed to put some meat on her bones and she needed to eat this food, Tiffany thought to herself.
"I guess you are right." She sighed, knowing that this girl was right. "Brian O'Connor." Jordan said, getting ready to explain who he was and why she was looking for him when Mia dropped the glass of water she had been pouring and coughed. Jordan looked at her, wondering if it had anything to do with Brian's name or if Mia was just usually a klutz and dropped things. "Do you know him? It's really important." Jordan asked, not caring if she sounded desperate. She needed to find him and the sooner the better. Mia looked at Tiffany with a loss of a reply. The two exchanged glances as if they were talking to each other without words. Tiffany shook her head as if to say 'don't say anything'.
"Actually, it does sound familiar. Hold on. I'll be right back." Tiffany said, making the young girl look hopeful. She walked outside and around to the back, where her best friend and owner of Toretto's, Dominic Toretto was working. He was shirtless in the hot sun, sweat glistening down his torso. "Dom, guess who is sitting in your café?" She asked with folded arms, standing above her kneeling friend as he was trying to pull something apart close to the ground. He looked up at her, knowing Tiffany was not one to waste his time and knew it must have been important. He winced at how her silhouette seemed to glow in the bright sun as he looked up at her, not really able to see her face.
"The Pope?" Dominic asked sarcastically joking, wiping the sweat off his brow. He wiped his hands and stood up, intrigued by the way his best friend was acting. He was a burly, muscular man with a bald head. He was all mechanic and could make any girl go weak in the knees with a slight smile. He was known for having a rough and tough reputation and he was dubbed the king of the streets by all street racers in Los Angeles, his racing record phenomenal.
"Mr. O'Connor's sister." Tiffany folded her arms, smiling smugly. Dominic looked up and stopped what he was doing. "Seems she's lookin for Brian. I was thinking I could introduce you, unless that is, you don't really want to meet her." Tiffany smiled sweetly. She knew Dominic wanted to find Brian O'Connor just as much as his own sister did. Brian had betrayed the group and had taken down an empire of heists that Dominic had been using to secure his crew's future and to take care of the bills. Brian was on his to do list, to be found, to be able to get back at him for what he had destroyed, not to mention the heart ache he had caused his own sister by leading her on and lying to her. He followed her without a word, his lips pursed together at the mention of Brian. "Dom, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is Dominic Toretto, owner of this place and big brother to Miss Mia over there." Tiffany introduced, watching her closely for a reaction. Now that the girl had affiliated herself with Brian O'Connor, she wasn't sure she could trust this girl. Maybe Brian was putting her up to it and maybe it was all an act, she thought. Maybe, maybe not. Time would tell eventually, she reassured herself. One thing was for certain, this girl could be the bait she needed to find Mr. O'Connor.
"Hi." Jordan said, not looking Dominic in the eye but noticing Dominic's strong muscles on his bulging biceps."I'm Jordan O'Connor." She said, getting up the courage to look into Dominic's dark brownish eyes. She looked away quickly as though she had seen a part of him she shouldn't have. She hoped she wasn't blushing but by the way her cheeks were burning, she was sure she was.
"I knew your brother. I don't know where he's at, but I'd like to find him." Dominic said with a nod, his voice deep and gruff. He shook her hand and noticed how small in comparison it was to his and how soft and gentle it was. He could see Brian and the girl's resemblance very easily. This girl's bright blue eyes caught him off guard and suddenly he didn't really feel like taking Brian's mistakes out on her. Her long blonde hair looked like spun gold. Stop it, he told himself. He had to remind himself to stay focused. Part of him wanted to find Brian to kick his ass and part of him wanted to just say a simple thanks and then kick his ass. Either way, Brian was going to get his ass kicked if Dominic ever found him.
"That makes two of us then." Jordan folded her arms, trying to look anywhere but in Dominic's eyes. She was disappointed he didn't have a clue as to where her brother was. She had hoped this guy would be the one with all the answers. He looked like that type of guy that always had the answers, the one you went to when you were in need of something. "Well, it was nice to meet you. Thank you, Mia, for the food." She smiled politely as she pulled out some money for her tab and started to head for the door, not waiting for the response.
"If you find him, tell him we need to talk to him too." Dominic called to her as she was about to head out to the road, not really wanting her to go. She nodded and waved and took off walking on foot, her pink messenger bag slung over her shoulder. Dominic, Tiffany, Jesse, Mia, Vince, and Leon all looked at each other in shock, not speaking a word. Surely she hadn't walked here was what they all seemed to be saying to one another.
"The girl doesn't even have a car? She don't need to be walkin alone out in these streets." Leon shook his head, wondering why in the hell she would be putting herself in danger like that. Streets in LA, especially in their neighborhood, were no joke.
"Oh well, one less O'Connor on the streets if something does happen to her." Vince cackled, smiling at his own joke. His smile was erased off of his face when he saw the group give him looks of disapproval. Here we go again, he thought to himself.
"She's as crazy as Brian. Someone go get her." Dominic said, himself also finding it hard not to be concerned about her. As much as he would have liked to go back to work, his consciousness wouldn't allow him to let her go on walking down the street into an even worse part of town.
"Jordan!" Tiffany yelled out, jogging up to her. "What are you doin? Are you nuts?" she asked, now walking beside the blonde. Surely she wasn't as dumb as what blondes had a reputation for, Tiffany thought. This girl seemed smart enough to know better. Surely, surely, she had a brain.
"Why do you say that?" Jordan said, looking truly confused. Why in the world would this girl think she was nuts after only meeting her for such a brief time, Jordan asked herself.
"Where's your car? I know you can't be walking alone on these streets." Tiffany asked, holding out her arms as she refereed to 'these streets'.
"I'm a big girl and can take care of myself. Besides, I don't have a license or a car." Jordan shrugged simply, still not seeing the big deal. She wasn't afraid to walk unless there was a police car approaching, something she hadn't seen at all since she had started down this unusually long street that seemed to be dead.
"This heat must have made you insane." Tiffany tsk'd her teeth. "Let's go, you're coming with me." Tiffany ordered, putting an arm around the frail blonde girl and turning her around to take her back to the garage. "Are you on your own? How have you been surviving?" she asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. The more she studied this girl, the more she wanted to know what the deal was. She was mysterious and yet she looked very young.
"I have money saved. I started working the minute I went into foster care 'cause I knew I was going to run away and try to find my brother. I'll be fine. I'll get a bus ticket and head to Miami. That's my next place. It's possible he could be there." Jordan said flatly as she kept walking with her hands in her pockets. She tried to keep the sadness and disappointment out of her voice with little success.
"Jordan, stop, please." Tiffany put a firm hand on her shoulder and made her face her. Jordan winced and pulled away, her big blue eyes even bigger now as well as teary.
"What?" she asked, sighing as she ran her hand through her long blonde silky hair, playing with the end of it nervously. She was always fidgeting with something, Tiffany noticed. She must have really had a hard time to be so anxious and nervous, Tiffany realized. The mistrust in her stunning eyes captivated Tiffany and Tiffany hardly ever cared to notice such things as a person's eyes, their demeanor, or anything personal about a person.
"Get in, Girls." Dominic pulled up beside the girls in his car, wearing his shades and coasted alongside with Jordan's fast and determined pace. He couldn't help but notice her long tanned
legs and felt a pang of guilt for checking out someone so much younger than he was. Dominic lifted up his shades partly to look at her and gave her a small smile, hoping that would convince her as well as to keep him from looking her up and down again.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I've really got to go." Jordan shook her head stubbornly, her wide blue eyes reminding Tiffany of a deer caught in headlights. It was almost like she was afraid of them now, Tiffany noticed.
"Just stay with us tonight and get some rest. We're offering you a place to stay, no strings attached. You can rest up and start fresh tomorrow." Dominic suggested, holding up his hands innocently to convince her.
"Doesn't that sound like a smart idea? You can rest, take a shower, and borrow some of my clothes. Then maybe I can help you try to think of some more ideas to find Brian." Tiffany said, her hand still on the girl's shoulder. In the end, the girl really wasn't going to have much say about it, she was going to stay with them tonight so Tiffany and Dominic could get some more information out of her. But, Tiffany, reasoned, she wanted to make the girl feel like she had a choice in the matter to keep her from flipping out on her.
"These streets aren't nice, Jordan. You'll be an easy target to get killed or something worse. Just tonight, it's not like we're going to do something savage to you, we're just trying to help you." Dominic said in a convincing tone, the asking tone now gone. He had a way with the authoritive tones and most people who were smart listened to him. He wasn't king of the streets for nothing.
"Are you sure you'll let me leave in the morning? You won't make me stay, right?" Jordan asked skeptically, now chewing on her lip. If she stayed with them, it could be a risk, she didn't know these people but if she didn't, she wasn't sure what would happen to her on the streets, she though as she weighed it out. Plus, they didn't seem like they would let her not not stay with them, she reasoned as she battled out her decision in her head. She looked at Tiffany, who nodded along with Dominic, her arms folded. Tiffany was curious to know what kind of trouble she could be in and what it was that was so important to find this brother of hers.
"We're not kidnapping you, damn." Dominic held up his hands with a slight grin. Jordan paused for another moment, looking deep in thought and then nodded. Dominic leaned over and opened the passenger door for her and Tiffany let her in first. They drove up to a modest white house with steps leading up to it from the driveway and took her inside. Jordan looked around. The house was average. It was homey, not a lot on the walls. The furniture looked a little old but yet so comfortable, Jordan noted
"Come on, I'll get you some clothes so you can take a shower." Tiffany took the girl by the hand and led her upstairs. Jordan's feet were so tired and she longed for such a hot shower that she quit looking around the house and quit fighting the help that was being offered to her and instead followed her without any hesitation.
"Thank you." Jordan said, closing the door to the bathroom. She sighed with relief that it was clean and that the water was hot. She was so grateful at the moment, words would have been
hard to speak had someone been there to speak to. She took her time in the shower, turning on only the hot water. She put her head under it after squeezing out some shampoo. As she opened the conditioner, feeling a bit more relaxed now, she breathed in the smell of it and sighed. Simple things such as these were the things she missed the most. Why couldn't she have a normal teenage life? Her mother's actions had subjected her to so much stuff that she had blocked a lot of it out but what she hadn't blocked out had made her a very fearful, anxious, non-trusting person and she hated to be like that. She wanted to believe there was some good out there somewhere. She often pretended that the finding some good was a game and that she was on a quest to find it. She dozed off under the hot water for a moment and then woke up with a jolt, remembering this was not her house. She got out quickly and got dressed and found her way back downstairs where Dominic was in the kitchen, preparing to take some meat to out to the grill in the backyard.
"Thanks for letting me stay." Jordan said quietly in the kitchen to Dominic. She had caught him off guard. He turned around and looked at her in her pretty blue eyes. There was a softness to her that he hadn't seen in a girl before, not even in his own sister. She was very different and this not only intrigued him but bothered him that it intrigued him. It was almost as if this girl was pulling him in some way.
"It's not a problem, really." Dominic said, bending down to look in the refrigerator for a drink. "You drink? Want a Corona?" He asked, offering her one as he got one for himself. He figured he'd get her to relax. Then he found himself wondering if he should be offering alcohol to someone so young. Sure, in his world, people underage drank all the time, but what about in hers? Was she even underage? Maybe she just looked young and pretty, Dominic thought to himself, angered that he had thought of her as pretty. She wasn't his normal type at all.
"That sounds good." She smiled, her teeth showing for the first time. Dominic noticed how her teeth were not straight and how two of them were very close together in a kind of odd v formation, or maybe like vampire teeth, making her face look beautiful and very unique.
"So, what happened to you?" He asked, looking at her bruised arms. She self consciously wrapped her arms around herself, scolding herself for not remembering about the bruises on her arms. She didn't really want to remember, truth be known. She shivered at the thought she was forced to think of and shifted a bit in her stance.
"Long story." She said, not wanting to go into details, taking a drink to keep from having to elaborate. Besides, she thought to herself, what business of it was his? Sure, he was giving her a place to stay for a night but that didn't mean she had to give him her life details, right?
"I got time." Dominic shrugged. He wasn't sure why, but he felt concerned and really wanted to know what the deal was. She certainly didn't look like the fighting type that racer girls were, he noted. She looked more like a cheerleader or preppy kind of girl. She didn't look rough at all, not even on the edges and she looked like she'd be the type to say no thank you if challenged to a fight due to it getting her too dirty.
"I got in a fight." She said quietly, making Dominic look at her with surprise. How uncanny it was that she replied that at the same time of his thoughts. If he had been one to believe in mind reading, she would have really convinced him. Jordan was glad to see Tiffany come back in the room to break the silence and take the conversation off of her.
"Want another one, Jordan?" Tiffany asked, exchanging glances with Dominic. She had already finished her beer. Either she was thirsty or she was using this drink to keep from having to talk. Tiffany was guessing the latter but to her it didn't matter either way, as long as she wanted another drink.
"Thanks." Jordan smiled, reaching over the kitchen table to take it from Tiffany.
"So, where do you think your brother would be at since he's not here?" Tiffany asked, sitting back and crossing her legs. Jordan shrugged and looked sad again for a moment.
"I don't know. I think maybe in Miami. That's the one other place I haven't been." Jordan said, looking down and pulling off the paper from the Corona bottle and playing with it nervously between her hands.
"How in the world are you planning to get to Miami?" Dominic asked, sprinkling meat tenderizer over the pork chops on the plate he had. Jordan looked at him, and then looked away, scolding herself for thinking he was cute and that him cooking made him look very hot. This was no time for her to be thinking things like that, she reminded herself.
"Bus." She said, looking guilty as though Tiffany had caught her staring at Dominic's butt. Her face became warm and she prayed it wasn't beet red. Her red face and her big eyes always gave her away when she drank and she hated that. Police didn't even need any tests for her when she drank, all they had to do was look at her and they could tell she was consuming alcohol.
"I could just drive you there." Tiffany said nonchalantly, examining her nails as she talked. It was true, she had noticed Jordan's interest in Dominic but that really wasn't a big thing right now, she was more concerned with the discussion topic at the moment."I bet I can help. I got friends in Miami." Tiffany said, hoping this girl would cave easily. It was too bad she couldn't just tell Jordan she had an interest in finding Brian as well, she thought.
"It'd be better than a bus." Dominic said with a nod, taking a drink of his Corona and then heading out to put the meat on the grill. He came back in, having left Leon in charge of barbecuing them and stared at Jordan, making her fidget. "She's got to go down there herself for some unfinished business." Dominic said, smiling at Tiffany.
"You're probably right. It'd be a lot more fun than the bus." Jordan smiled, giving a yawn. She was suddenly so tired she could barely hold her eyes open. In fact, her legs felt like lead. She was beginning to relax and it was feeling good, she noted. She passed out soon after that.
"If you find him, bring him back." Dominic nodded to Tiffany, glad that had went well. His expression was dark as he stared at the girl slumped in the chair across from him, unaware that Tiffany had slipped a sleeping pill in her drink.
"That was my plan." Tiffany smiled, getting up and patting her best friend on the back.