Thanks for all the reviews and follows!
It took a day and a half to get to Miami, but when they finally got there, any cranky attitudes about how long the drive took or how tired some people were disappeared when they rolled into the city.
"Check this place out!" Leon said as they got out of the cars. Miami was certainly something else. It was vivacious and loud, and just what the crew needed. Letty had to smack the back of Leon's head to get him to stop ogling some girls as they passed by in barely-there bikinis.
"Man that's gross." Letty said and Leon just shrugged.
"Let's get hotel rooms and then we can take a little ride." Dom said. As he turned to enter the hotel, he saw a group of guys staring at their cars. When they saw Dom looking at them, they walked over.
"Nice cars you got there." The leader of the group said. "You race with that?"
"I might." Dom said, eyeing the man in front of him. The guy nodded and turned to his friends, saying something in Spanish. Dom looked over at Letty.
"Papi you gotta learn Spanish." Letty said walking up to him. "They're talking about you being a racer. Sayin' maybe they should tell us about something." Letty rattled something off in Spanish and the guy turned around.
"Yeah we race." He said. "We're okay, but nobody's as good as Bullet. Am I right?" He turned to his friends who all shouted their agreement.
"Well say we wanted to race." Dom said. "Who would we talk to?"
"You'd wanna talk to Tej." The guy said. "He's in charge of all of that. He's got a garage a couple blocks from here." Dom nodded and then the guy and his friends walked away.
"Racing?" Leon asked. "Shit, Miami's getting better by the second."
"Can we just check in?" Vince asked. "It's humid as hell out here."
"Alright, alright." Dom said. "Let's go get some rooms." Letty, Leon, Vince, and Jesse walked into the hotel. Dom turned to see Mia looking around. "Mia. What do you think?" Mia attempted a smile and Dom had to control the sad smile that was threatening to break through.
"This will be nice." She said quietly. Dom walked over to her and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry Dom. I'm trying." Dom nodded and kissed her on the forehead. Mia walked inside and Dom sighed. Mia was still completely broken up about what happened with Brian. And all Dom wanted to do was kick the crap out of Brian for what he did to Mia.
"Man you smoked those guys last night." Brian, Tej, Suki, and Roman were sitting around one of the tables in Tej's garage. They were talking about the races from the night before. Brian had won all of them, something that didn't shock the group anymore.
"I don't know why you're surprised anymore." Suki said, looking up from her sketch book. "We don't call him Bullet for nothing."
"I'm starting to worry that people aren't gonna wanna race anymore if Brian's there." Tej said.
"Now you know that's not true." Brian said with a smirk. "There's always gonna be someone willing to put money down to race. And I will gladly take their money."
"That's what I'm sayin' cuz." Roman said sticking his hand out, to which Brian slapped his hand in response.
"Y'all are crazy." Tej said. "But as long as the races keep runnin', I ain't complaining." The rev of engines made the four of them look up. They stood up and moved outside to see where the noise was coming from. Two cars had pulled up right in front of Tej's garage.
"Check those cars out." Jimmy said walking up to them. "Good old fashion American muscle!"
"Never seen those cars before." Tej said. "Guess we got some fresh blood around here." Suki and Roman nodded as they watched the cars. The doors opened and six people got out of the two cars. Brian's eyes went wide as he saw who was in the car.
"Shit." He said and Roman looked at him. "Fuck. I am so dead."
"What's up, man?" Roman asked, noticing the panic crossing Brian's face.
"Remember what I told about L.A?" Brian asked and Roman nodded, before looking at the six people looking around.
"Shit man." Roman said. And then the six people laid their eyes on Brian.
All hell was about to break loose.
After checking into three separate hotel rooms, one for Dom and Letty, one for Vince, Leon, and Jesse, and one for Mia, Dom got directions to the garage that they had been told about. Even if they weren't going to race, they could at least find out where the races were.
"Everything's bigger in Miami." Vince observed as they pulled up to the garage. It was certainly flashier than Dom's garage. And from the sounds of it, there was something going on behind the garage, a party of some sorts. Dom pulled up to the curb and they got out of the car. Tej's Garage, as it said on the building, was more of an open space unlike Dom's garage. He could see someone working on a car out front.
"Check that out!" Everyone turned at the sound of Leon's voice. He was pointing to a silver Nissan Skyline with blue accents.
"She's a beauty ain't she?" They looked up to see a short Asian man approaching her. "Name's Jimmy, I work here."
"Who's car is that?" Leon asked, starring at it. The way he was looking at the car was like he was staring at a beautiful woman, but Leon had had more long-standing relationships with cars than girls.
"That's Bullet's car." Jimmy said with a smirk.
"What kind of name is Bullet?" Letty asked raising an eyebrow.
"The kind of name you get for being the fastest racer in all of Miami." Jimmy said. "He actually works here with the rest of us." He pointed inside to where four people were standing. "He's the blonde."
"Oh hell no." Letty said under her breath. Because the guy Jimmy was pointing to was none other than Brian O'Connor. He and the three people he was with stepped outside. Dom was sure the dumbfounded look on Brian's face only matched the rest of the crew's. He then glanced over at Mia. Her face was a mixture of shock, anger, and sadness as she locked eyes with Brian. Without a second thought, she stormed over to where Brian was standing and slapped him across the face.
"Damn!" Mia didn't even bat an eyelash when the two guys behind Brian reacted to her slapping him. She was so angry. Angry that he had lied to her, angry that he had tried to destroy her family.
"Bastard." She said. And that word brought them back to that moment at Race Wars when he had revealed that he was a cop. But this time, there was sadness in her voice. Because underneath all that anger, was a girl with a broken heart. As much as Mia wanted to hate him for what he did, she just couldn't. And Brian clearly heard the break in her voice. He looked away from her, unable to stand the hurt in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry." Was all Brian was able to get out. Mia's hand flew up to her mouth, trying to choke back a sob. And it that instance, Dom pounced.
He moved across the lot outside of the garage and punched Brian straight in the jaw. He hit him again, knocking him down to the ground. He was hovering over Brian, hitting him again and again; all the anger of what had happened 18 months ago bubbling out. He could hear people shouting and arguing as he continued to hit Brian.
"Dom!" The scream came from Mia, causing Dom's fist to freeze in mid-air. It was then that Dom realized that Brian hadn't been fighting back, barely even protecting himself. Dom moved off Brian and stepped away. Jimmy and the other two guys helped Brian up, but he ignored them and walked off, blood dripping down his shirt. And he watched as Mia took off after him.
"The buster deserved worse than that, Dom." Vince said, his hands balled into fists.
"Man you better watch what you're saying." One of the guys got in Vince's face. "That's my boy you're talking about."
"Roman." The one girl of Brian's group of friends spoke up. "Chill. This ain't our battle."
"Doesn't mean I'm gonna let someone come in here and disrespect my boy." He said, still in Vince's face.
"He deserved it after what he did to us." Vince said, a snarl in his voice. He wasn't intimidated by Roman. In fact, if necessary, he'd kick his ass.
"Oh you mean helping you got off while he had to run from the cops?" Roman asked. He noticed a look of shock pass through Vince's eyes. "Yeah, that's right. I know who you are. You're the LA crew. And if my boy hadn't of let y'all go free, y'all would be rotting in a jail cell somewhere." Vince gritted his teeth.
"You don't know the whole story." He said.
"That's the thing." One of the other guys said, pulling Roman away from Vince. "We do. Brian told us everything. And unlike all of y'all, he had to pay for what he did."
"And then you think you can show up on my baby's property." The girl said, walking between Roman and the other guy. "And beat out friend up?"
"That's some fucked shit right there Suki." The other guy, presumably Tej, based on it being described as his property, said. "Now I suggest y'all turn yo asses around and get off my property."
"I'm not leaving without my sister." Dom said, glaring at the group in front of him.
"I'll go find her." Letty said walking off in the direction Mia went. The rest continued their stare down before Roman stormed inside, before being followed by Tej and Suki. As Jimmy turned to leave, Jesse called out to him.
"Jimmy!" Jimmy turned around as Jesse stepped forward. "Can you tell Brian that I said thank you?"
"What?" Vince nearly roared.
"Jess, what are you thinking man?" Dom asked, looking incredulously at Jesse. Jesse sighed.
"Look," He said turning to his friends. "If Brian hadn't gone after Tran and if Tran found out I survived his drive-by shooting, he would've kept coming after me until he finished the job." He turned back towards Jimmy. "Tell him that Jesse said thank you." Jimmy nodded before going inside. Jesse sighed before heading back towards Letty's car. Leon followed after him, not saying a word.
"The buster deserved what he got," Vince said as he and Dom walked towards his car. Dom nodded, though he couldn't explain the little voice in his head that said otherwise.
Mia chased after Brian, not sure what made her do so. She tried to argue that it was because he was bleeding and someone needed to help him. There were a lot of people hanging around the docks behind the garage, but she could see Brian's blonde hair through the crowd. She tried to catch up with him as she saw him walk onto a boat before slipping inside. She reached the boat and tentatively stepped on. The door was still partially open before she stepped inside. It was small and the bed took up most of the room. She didn't see Brian, but could hear the sink running. Why was she there? Dom had beaten Brian up because of what he had done to all of them, including her. And yet she had gone after him. To check on him? To yell at him? She didn't know. The water stopped running and Brian walked out of the bathroom, bits of dried blood under his nose and his lip. There was already a bruise forming on his right cheek and his lip was busted open. He looked shocked to see her standing there. They stood their wordlessly, staring at each other for some time before Brian diverted his eyes and sat down on his bed.
"Are you okay?" Mia asked quietly, breaking the silence.
"I deserved worse." Brian said, not looking up at her.
"Brian," Mia started but he cut her off.
"I did Mia." Brian said, still not looking at her. "I deserved much worse for lying to Dom, lying to everyone." He sighed sadly. "Hurting you." His head hung low as he spoke, the sadness evident in his words. What he had done, had been weighing on him for months. And Mia being here, it just reminded him of all the horrible things he had done back in L.A. He felt the bed sag a little as Mia sat down next to him. They sat in silence, Brian's eyes trained to the floor. Finally, Mia broke the silence.
"Why won't you look at me?" She asked sadly. She could feel the tears slipping down her cheeks. Was it true what she had tried to tell herself? Had the lies gone as far as the relationship they had? "Brian." She needed to know why he wouldn't look at her.
"I can't." He said. "I can't do that Mia." His eyes were already stinging with tears. It was killing him just being in the same room with her, how could he bear to look at her again? To see all that pain he caused? He just couldn't do that.
"Brian." Mia pleaded, her vision clouded with more tears. "Please. I just need to know if it was real or not." Words wouldn't mean anything to her, but if she could look him in the eye, she would know the truth. Slowly, Brian lifted his head. A small gasp escaped Mia's throat as she saw his eyes, filled with sadness and regret.
"I never lied about how I felt." He said looking at her. "Never." A small tear escaped down his cheek and Mia lifted her hand to wipe it away.
"Mia!" They both heard Letty calling for her. Mia looked at Brian, her hand hovering by his cheek.
"You should go." Brian said, his gaze falling back to the floor. Mia stared at him, not moving. They heard Letty call for Mia again. "You should go." He repeated. Mia stood up and walked towards the door. She glanced back at Brian, who was still staring at his feet. She shook her head, a fresh set of tears threatening to fall. She opened the door and shut it behind her before climbing off the boat.
"There you are." Letty said, spotting Mia. "We have to go, those guys didn't like what…" She trailed off when she saw that Mia was crying. Letty pulled the girl who was like a sister to her into a hug. "What did that pig do now?" Mia shook her head as she pulled away.
"Nothing." She croaked out. "That's just it. He did nothing." Letty pulled Mia into a hug, confused why Mia was upset.
"Let's head back to the hotel, okay?" Mia nodded as they headed back to the cars.
When he was sure Mia was finally gone, Brian slammed his fists down onto his bed. He had buried these shitty feelings a long time ago. He had accepted what had happened and understood that he could never fix it. But now Mia was here, in Miami. How could he avoid her now? How could he avoid Dom and the rest of the crew after what he did to them? He leaned back on his bed and squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself not to cry.
"Yo Brian!" He heard Roman calling for him. "Those punks are gone." Brian didn't want to deal with Roman, or Tej, or Suki right now.
"Brian?" He heard Suki's small voice calling for him. "Are you okay?" Brian stayed silent, hoping they would take the hint and leave him alone. "We're here for you if you need to talk."
"Come on y'all." He heard Tej say. "He needs some space." Brian waited until he was sure they were gone. He opened his eyes and sat up. Things had been going so well for him and Miami. But with the arrival of Mia, Dom, and the rest of the crew, Brian didn't know how he was going to handle things. He sighed getting up and heading towards the bathroom, to tend to his injuries.
So I always felt that Jesse trusted Brian the most of everyone and that he'd be the first one to forgive him. I just hope certain characters weren't OOC or anything. I always worry about that when I write something for the first time. Anyways, make sure to review!
