Letty's Mistake
As told by Leticia Marie Rodriguez (with occasional butt-ins by Dom
Toretto)
Chapter 1
Oahu's North Shore, near Pipe
I was lying on some beach ten minutes from my house, in a white bikini. Feeling sorry for myself. I stared out into the ocean, watching the ten- foot breakers crash around a crowd of short boarders. Reminded me of that movie, Johnny Tsunami or somethin' like that. Mostly guys out there; dark- skinned Hawaiian boys with deliciously hot bodies and great cutbacks. I sorta envied them. I wished I could somehow get a surfboard and go out there. Maybe a few of them could teach me how to do it.
I was feeling sorry for myself because I was alone. When Leon and I ran to Hawaii after the last heist had gone down, I was sure I'd see my family again soon. A year and a half later, I wasn't so sure. I felt like I had deserted them, which I had. No phone calls or letters to them, no visits. I felt like a horrible little shit, just running away to save my own ass. At least I wasn't alone; Leon did it, too. He left his best friends, his family. The only family either of us had known for so many years.
I missed them all terribly.I wondered how Vince was, if he made it back alive. I wondered how Mia was holding up, if Jesse came home in one piece. I wondered where they all were, if they were home, or if they went to Mexico like Dominic said they might. Dominic. Most of all, I wondered about my Dominic. I loved him so fucking much; when Leon and I first got to Hawaii, the pain of being away from him hurt so bad. It's gotten better now, but I still cry myself to sleep at the thought of how much pain I caused him when I ran away and never looked back. When I left, I was so angry with him for getting us into this situation - all for the damn money. Well, Dom. Money isn't everything. Our team, our family was shattered, torn apart. I felt like even if I tried to come back, they would have been so mad at me when I left that they would have forgotten who I was. The thought scared me and left goose bumps on my sun-warmed skin.
The situation I was in felt familiar to me. Wait, it was familiar to me. When I was ten, my mother had her jerk-off boyfriend try to kill my Papi to get rid of him. She ran away with the greasy asshole, leaving me to care for my now-injured father, before the police caught them and threw 'em in jail. They ran back to Puerto Rico and that was the last time I'd ever seen her. She left to save her own ass. Like mother, like daughter.
My dad died in Kosovo when I was twelve. His mother flew to L.A. from the Dominican Republic to take care of my older brother Raul and I. Raul didn't do well after Papi died and didn't like the idea of being babysat by our abuela so he moved in with some guys that had an apartment in the projects when he turned nineteen, a few months after Papi died. I hung around with the Torettos for the past twelve years, and eventually moved into their house when Dominic and I started dating, when I was eighteen. My grandmother sold our house and moved back to the Dominican Republic. I haven't heard from Raul or my mother in a long, long time.
A frustrated scream dragged me out of my heavy thoughts. I sat up on my fluffy towel and looked in the direction of the yell. There weren't many people on the beach that day, mostly surfers and some spectators. And me. It came from far down the shoreline, where two dark-tanned figures seemed to be fighting and struggling against each other. I squinted to see better, but the bright sun made it hard. I finally made out the two figures.
"Get off of me, Adam! Go away!" screamed a girl. She had long, straight golden blonde hair that was being tousled by the extremely muscled guy pinning her to him.
"Give me back my fuckin' board and I'll let you go!" said Adam. He had a pretty damn good hold on the girl and the surfboard she was attempting to carry out to the lineup.
"It isn't yours, you prick!" The chick, now sounding near tears, went limp in Adam's arms as if she had given up.
"I gave it to you, and I can take it BACK!"
"You stupid shit! You GAVE it to me. It's MINE now!" I didn't like the way this guy was treating a fellow chick. He might have been hurting her, holding her that tight. I was NOT going to take this lightly. I gathered my slim form and stood, ready to smash this asshole's head in. Before he could try anything else with her, I stormed over to him and uppercutted him in the jaw. He released his hold on the girl and howled in pain.
"You BITCH!" he screamed at me. It didn't faze me one bit.
"You DICK!" I screamed back. "Get back out there, man! It's just a stupid surfboard. Get over it, punk!" Adam's mouth was bleeding. I probly knocked a few teeth loose. Oh, well. His dentist was gonna have a field day.
"Fucking hit me again - wait, if I ever see you again, you'll be fucking sorry!" Adam yelled at me. He held his aching jaw.
"Ooooh, I'm shaking in my pretty white bikini." I smirked at him and crossed my arms. He shook his head and kicked some sand at me, but wind blew it back in his face. I laughed out loud and got ready to turn to the girl, but when I turned to face her, there was nothing in her spot but the sweet scent of lightly fading perfume. Baffled, I watched Adam walk away, cursing to himself in Hawaiian. I thought I recognized the words 'fuck' and 'bitch'. He spit some blood out and dove back into the roaring surf.
I began walking back to my towel, intent on packing up my shit and never coming to this beach again. I threw everything into my ripped-to-shit old book bag and jammed my feet into some flip-flops. As I was walking to this old-ass faded Iroc Camaro that Leon bought me for 300 bucks, I saw the most beautiful, shiniest black Mustang that I had ever seen parked a few cars away from mine. A Cobra SVT, to be exact, probably a 2002. Most likely stick shift and supercharged. It had a full body kit, expensive rims, and dark tints. A white and teal surfboard was sticking out of one of the rear windows. I thought I recognized that board.
Someone started her up, because the purring of that engine charged right through me. It had been awhile since I was near a car that nice. On a hunch of who the driver was, I tiptoed up to the car but before I could get within ten feet of it, the engine revved and the sleek, shiny machine roared away and out of the beach parking lot. A wave of blonde hair flickered out the window before the car turned out of sight. It was her! That chick Adam damn near molested about the surfboard. I knew that board looked familiar.
Chapter 1
Oahu's North Shore, near Pipe
I was lying on some beach ten minutes from my house, in a white bikini. Feeling sorry for myself. I stared out into the ocean, watching the ten- foot breakers crash around a crowd of short boarders. Reminded me of that movie, Johnny Tsunami or somethin' like that. Mostly guys out there; dark- skinned Hawaiian boys with deliciously hot bodies and great cutbacks. I sorta envied them. I wished I could somehow get a surfboard and go out there. Maybe a few of them could teach me how to do it.
I was feeling sorry for myself because I was alone. When Leon and I ran to Hawaii after the last heist had gone down, I was sure I'd see my family again soon. A year and a half later, I wasn't so sure. I felt like I had deserted them, which I had. No phone calls or letters to them, no visits. I felt like a horrible little shit, just running away to save my own ass. At least I wasn't alone; Leon did it, too. He left his best friends, his family. The only family either of us had known for so many years.
I missed them all terribly.I wondered how Vince was, if he made it back alive. I wondered how Mia was holding up, if Jesse came home in one piece. I wondered where they all were, if they were home, or if they went to Mexico like Dominic said they might. Dominic. Most of all, I wondered about my Dominic. I loved him so fucking much; when Leon and I first got to Hawaii, the pain of being away from him hurt so bad. It's gotten better now, but I still cry myself to sleep at the thought of how much pain I caused him when I ran away and never looked back. When I left, I was so angry with him for getting us into this situation - all for the damn money. Well, Dom. Money isn't everything. Our team, our family was shattered, torn apart. I felt like even if I tried to come back, they would have been so mad at me when I left that they would have forgotten who I was. The thought scared me and left goose bumps on my sun-warmed skin.
The situation I was in felt familiar to me. Wait, it was familiar to me. When I was ten, my mother had her jerk-off boyfriend try to kill my Papi to get rid of him. She ran away with the greasy asshole, leaving me to care for my now-injured father, before the police caught them and threw 'em in jail. They ran back to Puerto Rico and that was the last time I'd ever seen her. She left to save her own ass. Like mother, like daughter.
My dad died in Kosovo when I was twelve. His mother flew to L.A. from the Dominican Republic to take care of my older brother Raul and I. Raul didn't do well after Papi died and didn't like the idea of being babysat by our abuela so he moved in with some guys that had an apartment in the projects when he turned nineteen, a few months after Papi died. I hung around with the Torettos for the past twelve years, and eventually moved into their house when Dominic and I started dating, when I was eighteen. My grandmother sold our house and moved back to the Dominican Republic. I haven't heard from Raul or my mother in a long, long time.
A frustrated scream dragged me out of my heavy thoughts. I sat up on my fluffy towel and looked in the direction of the yell. There weren't many people on the beach that day, mostly surfers and some spectators. And me. It came from far down the shoreline, where two dark-tanned figures seemed to be fighting and struggling against each other. I squinted to see better, but the bright sun made it hard. I finally made out the two figures.
"Get off of me, Adam! Go away!" screamed a girl. She had long, straight golden blonde hair that was being tousled by the extremely muscled guy pinning her to him.
"Give me back my fuckin' board and I'll let you go!" said Adam. He had a pretty damn good hold on the girl and the surfboard she was attempting to carry out to the lineup.
"It isn't yours, you prick!" The chick, now sounding near tears, went limp in Adam's arms as if she had given up.
"I gave it to you, and I can take it BACK!"
"You stupid shit! You GAVE it to me. It's MINE now!" I didn't like the way this guy was treating a fellow chick. He might have been hurting her, holding her that tight. I was NOT going to take this lightly. I gathered my slim form and stood, ready to smash this asshole's head in. Before he could try anything else with her, I stormed over to him and uppercutted him in the jaw. He released his hold on the girl and howled in pain.
"You BITCH!" he screamed at me. It didn't faze me one bit.
"You DICK!" I screamed back. "Get back out there, man! It's just a stupid surfboard. Get over it, punk!" Adam's mouth was bleeding. I probly knocked a few teeth loose. Oh, well. His dentist was gonna have a field day.
"Fucking hit me again - wait, if I ever see you again, you'll be fucking sorry!" Adam yelled at me. He held his aching jaw.
"Ooooh, I'm shaking in my pretty white bikini." I smirked at him and crossed my arms. He shook his head and kicked some sand at me, but wind blew it back in his face. I laughed out loud and got ready to turn to the girl, but when I turned to face her, there was nothing in her spot but the sweet scent of lightly fading perfume. Baffled, I watched Adam walk away, cursing to himself in Hawaiian. I thought I recognized the words 'fuck' and 'bitch'. He spit some blood out and dove back into the roaring surf.
I began walking back to my towel, intent on packing up my shit and never coming to this beach again. I threw everything into my ripped-to-shit old book bag and jammed my feet into some flip-flops. As I was walking to this old-ass faded Iroc Camaro that Leon bought me for 300 bucks, I saw the most beautiful, shiniest black Mustang that I had ever seen parked a few cars away from mine. A Cobra SVT, to be exact, probably a 2002. Most likely stick shift and supercharged. It had a full body kit, expensive rims, and dark tints. A white and teal surfboard was sticking out of one of the rear windows. I thought I recognized that board.
Someone started her up, because the purring of that engine charged right through me. It had been awhile since I was near a car that nice. On a hunch of who the driver was, I tiptoed up to the car but before I could get within ten feet of it, the engine revved and the sleek, shiny machine roared away and out of the beach parking lot. A wave of blonde hair flickered out the window before the car turned out of sight. It was her! That chick Adam damn near molested about the surfboard. I knew that board looked familiar.