Chapter 2
As Isabelle drove her Mustang behind the precession of the brightly coloured cars through the streets of LA towards 'DTs Diner' she watched as they drove as if they were all one, all flowing seamlessly together, each car making up a part of a bigger body and she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, her cousin had made a life for herself and she was happy. Letty had a family, a real one that loved her and by the looks of it would do anything for her and Isabelle craved the same, someone to love her for all of her faults and not curse her for them and someone that she could love back.
Isabelle pulled up in front of the diner and parked in the spot Letty had left for her in between Vince's blue Nissan Maxima SE and Letty's purple Nissan 240SX, Letty had walked into the dinner and was talking to the girl behind the counter and as Letty and the girl smiled and laughed Isabelle tired to swallow her longing for friends, she longed to be her cousin's friend again but more then anything Isabelle longed to not be alone anymore.
As she stepped out onto the road she noticed Vince was leaning against his car, his arms crossed across his chest as his eyes burnt a hole into her; Isabelle looked up catching his gaze and gasped at the heat in his stare.
She began to blush as she realized she would have to squeeze against Vince to get past him and into the diner. Vince didn't move back to make more room for her, if anything he seemed to take up more room as she moved closer. Isabelle bit her lip looking anywhere but at him and tried slide past, which pressed her right against him his crossed arms in line with her chest and his lips in line with her forehead.
Vince's warm chuckle rumbled through his chest and into hers causing her to pause, squished between him and her car, she finally looked up at his face and blushed harder at his smirk and the quirk of his eyebrow, leaning down Vince placed his mouth so close to her ear that when he murmured she could feel his lips moving against her skin.
"Coulda just asked me to move, cutie," Isabelle closed her eyes and licked her suddenly dry lips as Vince's warm timbre washed over her, his voice was so sensuous, it reminded her of chocolate and honeycomb melting against her tongue, rough and yet velvety at the same time, the feel of Vince's whiskers tickling against the soft skin of her cheek had her imagining how his beard would feel as he kissed his way around her body.
The sound of laughter coming from the diner snapped her out of her fantasies and caused her to jump back, bumping up against her car making Vince chuckle again.
"Belle, come meet Mia," Letty called from the front of the dinner, Isabelle looked over at her cousin, noticing the frown on Letty's face and quickly untangled herself from Vince, she'd been barely back in Letty's life half a day and she really didn't want to make her mad at her again.
Isabelle pushed the loose strands of her hair behind her ears in a nervous gesture as she walked past Letty into diner; Letty continued to glare at Vince in warning as he began towards the diner, Vince simply raised his eyebrows back at her. There was no way she was gonna let Ol' Coyote use her baby cousin like one of those race skanks, Isabelle was too good be used and thrown away like yesterdays trash. Letty was gonna make sure if Isabelle had to be with someone it was going to be with someone who looked after her and treated her right not someone who would treat her like a whore.
Letty entered the diner with Vince trailing after her just as Mia was introducing herself to Isabelle, Letty glared at Vince who sat down at on the middle stool and began to slide the salt shaker across the counter to catch it in his other hand. Mia looked at Letty confused and Isabelle blushed.
……………………………………
They closed the diner and garage early and headed back to the fort, Dom had decided that they would celebrate Isabelle's arrival with a barbeque, a chance to get to know Isabelle better before heading to the races. Dom watched as Letty hovered over her cousin, never letting Isabelle out of her sight for more then a few second. Though her face remained impassive Dom could see the apprehension and fear in Letty's eyes, like she was afraid at any second Isabelle would disappear again.
No one in the team except Dom knew what had happened to Letty growing up and just how close Isabelle and Letty had actually been, he only knew because he had caught Letty at a vulnerable moment. Letty had been living at the fort for a only a week, it was the first time Dom had seen Letty cry, he had felt her creep from their bed in the middle of the night after everyone else was asleep and after waiting a few seconds he had followed her, he found her in the kitchen with her back to him, the phone against her ear, he could see by the shake of her body she was sobbing.
"Please nanan, just let me speak to her, just for a second," Letty pleaded as she raised a hand to roughly scrub at the tears streaming down her face. Dom listened as a voice yelled back in Spanish, he didn't speak fluent Spanish but he knew a few swear words and whoever was on the other end of that phone had just called Letty all of them.
"Please!" Letty cried out as the phone on the other was hung up and dial tone filled the room. Letty crumbled to the floor like a marionette that had just her strings cut and Dom rushed over to pick her up. He sat down at the kitchen table with Letty on his lap; he listened as sobbed and ran his hand across her back in a soothing gesture he remembered his mum doing to him when he was a kid. Letty's sobs turned into hiccups as she slowly stopped crying but she held onto him more tightly.
"They've turned her against me, they won't even let me speak to her," Letty said mournfully and Dom looked down at her confused.
"Who?" Dom asked not sure who 'they' were and who she wanted to speak to. Letty hadn't said a word about her family since she had shown up on his door step with her back pack, except that they had kicked her out and called her a whore.
"Isabelle, they won't let me talk to her, my fucking grandparents have probably turned her against me…How am I suppose to tell her what happened if I can't speak to her" Letty said as she started to get angry. Dom nodded, he knew Isabelle was the only reason Letty had let her parents drag her away to her grandparent's farm for half the summer every year.
"How am I supposed to keep her safe… she's going to hate me," Letty said softly, her anger melting to sadness as she started to cry again.
Dom was brought back to the present at the sound of laughter of the three girls' in the kitchen, his eyes caught Letty's through the kitchen window and he raised his corona in salute before taking a sip, Letty merely smirked back at him before sipping her own beer and turning back to Isabelle and Mia. He had held her while she cried herself to sleep, waking up in the night to cry some more; he had never felt so helpless until one day Letty just stopped crying, she stopped mentioning Isabelle and would get the huff if he brought her up, so he didn't and Letty made like she had forgotten her cousin but Dom knew better, knew that just below her rough exterior were a lot of unhealed wounds her family had covered her in.
Watching as Isabelle threw her arms around Letty giggling, Isabelle was his girl's weak spot and though she seemed nice enough Dom couldn't help but worry, she could destroy Letty if she wanted and that made Dom wary of her.
Letty sat on the kitchen counter drinking her Corona as Mia and Isabelle were chopping up the salad ingredients. The last time Letty had tried to help with dinner she had nearly cut her thumb off, so Letty only watched now. The boys were all out the back, Leon and Vince shooting hoops while Dom and Jesse stood over the grill.
Mia and Isabelle had been talking about boys for the last twenty minutes, Letty laughed out loud as they swooned over Orlando Bloom.
"What? Don't you think he's hot Letty?" Isabelle asked popping a piece of carrot into her mouth, Letty shrugged and smirked.
"Well, I wouldn't kick him out of bed…Dom might though," Mia snorted as she started to cut up the lettuce.
"Letty's only got eyes for my bone head brother," Mia said rolling her eyes, Isabelle and Letty started to laugh.
"Dom is kind of hot," Isabelle said, her eyes widening as she realized what she'd said, Mia 'ewwed' and Letty laughed harder.
"Dom's not my type though; I like my men to be a bit more…scruffy, manlier." Isabelle said and Letty stopped laughing and gaped at her cousin.
"Are you saying Dom isn't manly enough for you?" Letty asked crossing her arms across her chest.
"What? N-n-n-no that's not what I mean, I just meant he isn't my type" Isabelle said panicking until Letty began laugh again.
"That's ok girly, I don't share anyway" Letty said still chuckling as she winked at Isabelle who was looking extremely flustered.
"That was cruel Let," Mia chided with a smile as she bumped shoulders with Isabelle who smiled back, embarrassed. Letty sculled down the last mouthful of her corona and jumped off the kitchen bench and chucked her empty bottle into the garbage can next to Isabelle.
"I'm gonna go jump in the shower real quick, god knows there wont be any hot water as soon as everyone starts getting ready for the races…you ok hanging with Mia?" Letty said causing Isabelle to nod and smile at her cousin, Letty smiled back and headed out of the room. The room fell into silence until Mia began to giggle.
"So, scruffier…someone like say, Vince?"
"I noticed the looks he's been giving you; I've only ever seen V look at food that way." Mia said cheekily trying to hold her grin from exploding across her face. She wanted Vince to find someone worthy of him, not some skank that was only after him cause of Dom. Vince and her friendship had come along way since the truck heists a year ago and his crush on her, she had been there to help him through his rehab to get back the use of his arm and he had helped her get through her feelings of hurt and betrayal that Brian had left her with.
When Brian had come back to try and win her back, she had been angry and confused and had gone to Vince hoping to have someone to commiserate over how much of a terrible person Brian was, looking back she probably shouldn't of gone to someone who owed Brian their life.
That night she had kissed Vince, had tried to take it further but he broke off their kiss, pulled her into his lap and wrapped her in a big bear hug and told her that he had come to realize that he loved her like a like a friend and a sister and that the reason he had had a crush on her was because she was one of the only girls to like him, because of him and not cause of his car or the team. Vince had held her while she cried and urged her to at least hear Brian out even if only to bitch slap him when he was done, he had also stood as a buffer between her and Dom when she had taken Brian back.
Vince had changed a lot since the heists, his skank-capades were few and far between and he didn't drink nearly as much, he could still act like an ass and he still was always hungry but he had grown and mellowed out, to Mia it looked like he was ready to settle down but that was something she kept to herself, if she told Vince that he would freak, he may have matured but he sure as hell wasn't ready to admit it yet.
"And as for that little scene out front of the diner… Phwoar!" Mia said fanning herself with her hand. Isabelle bowed her head as she remembered the way her skin had tingled at the feel of Vince's breath tickling the shell of her ear. She had never felt that kind of reaction before, none of the boys who tried to get her pants before had anything on Vince, he was a man, masculine and rugged and one look into those deep blue eyes had her wanting to drown in them.
"Yeah, Vince seems…" Isabelle sighed and looked at Mia who giggled and nudged her shoulder. She probably should keep her thoughts about Vince to herself, especially since her cousin really seemed to dislike the idea of Vince even looking at her like that but when Mia bumped her shoulder again she found she wanted to spill all her secrets to the girl she had just met, other then Letty, Isabelle had never had many girlfriends to tell stuff to and Letty wasn't really the gossipy kind of girl.
"…Really, really hot, I have never, ever seen a man that was just so… I don't even have words," Isabelle gushed with a whimper before joining Mia in a fit of giggles.
"I don't see it but he's like a brother to me so that's a good thing" Mia laughed but quickly put her fingers to her lips to shoosh Isabelle's giggles as she heard footsteps up the back steps.
Vince reached the door and stopped, watching as the two girls spotted him and broke into hysterics, he frowned and raised an eyebrow at Mia, who shook her head silently telling him not to be offended.
"We were just talking about you," Mia said as their giggles slowed enough for her to speak.
"Thought my ears were burning," Vince said leaning against the door frame of the back door.
"What exactly about me?" a smirk firmly planted on his face as he watched Isabelle's cheeks turn tomato red as she placed the chopped vegetables into salad bowls, not daring to look up at him least she melted into a puddle from a mixture of embarrassment and lust.
"You know, just girl stuff," Mia said smugly as she picked up one of the salad and Isabelle picked up the other, making to follow Mia out the back door but was as Vince lifted an arm and blocked the doorway.
"Are you gonna tell me, cutie?" the gravely words whispered into her ear made Isabelle shiver and made her grasp the bowl in her hands more tightly as her palms grew damp but shaking her head she looked up at him and sent him a cheeky smile that went straight to his groin and pushed passed him and made her way down the stairs.
Vince stood in the doorway thinking maybe she wasn't the innocent push over he had first thought she was, maybe she was more like Letty then he'd realized, it would definitely make getting to know her a lot more fun.
"What are you up to Coyote?" Letty asked standing in the other doorway, freshly showered arms crossed across her chest as she stared at him intently, trying to see what was going on inside his head. Vince knew she wasn't talking about what he was up to in the kitchen but he also knew she wouldn't like anything he had to say about Isabelle, nor would she believe that his intentions weren't to fuck and run, Letty didn't believe in change but Vince had changed and if he couldn't prove it with words he'd show her with his actions.
A hint of a smile lifted one corner of his mouth as he moved into the kitchen headed for the fridge. Pulling out a cold beer he twisted off the cap top and lifted it to his to take the first pull before pulling out another beer and offering it to Letty, who nodded and reach out to grab it from him.
"Just came to get a beer, Let," Vince said taking another pull of his beer.
…..To Be Continued….
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