Thanks for the reviews! For those wondering, this story is certainly Dotty. In my opinion, that pairing is unbreakable, but it will take some time to get there. Stick with me!
"Another day, another hard-earned dollar."
Letty thought to herself repeatedly as she pulled into the crowded parking lot of the Las Vegas nightclub, The Colony. She gathered her things and quickly stepped out of her prized possession – a maroon '69 Camaro Z-28. She looked up at the neon lights on the club sign and rolled her eyes. It was bad enough that she and her roommate frequented this bar every weekend, but tonight she'd be behind the bar, starting her third week as a part-time bartender.
"Finally, girl! I was starting to think you weren't coming tonight!" a perky brunette with bright blue eyes greeted Letty.
"I wasn't," Letty mumbled under her breath, pulling off her leather jacket to reveal a lacy tank-top that showed off a little midriff. Skanky clothing seemed to be the required uniform, so the top and her leather pants were as close as Letty would get.
"They've been kinda rowdy tonight, so Bubba's staying close," Brooke the brunette yelled over the loud party music.
"Great," Letty replied with very little enthusiasm. Her head was throbbing and she wanted nothing more than to crawl in bed, but she had to make a living somehow. She hated dealing with the drunk idiots who harassed her every night, but the tips were well worth it. Luckily, the 6'7" bulldozer of a bouncer named Bubba was there to keep them in line.
"Lady Bartender," Letty looked to her left where the latest creep was seated. He had been there every night since she started, overly-dressed in a suit and dark glasses. His dark brown hair was slicked back and his facial hair was trimmed neatly. He didn't seem dangerous, just very closed off and secretive.
For some reason, Letty wanted to know him, to know why he was here every weekend alone.
"Here ya go," she sat his regular drink (a gin and tonic) down on the counter and waited for him to down it before making him another.
"Thanks babygirl," his raspy voice muttered as he slid her a crisp hundred-dollar bill across the bar-top. "Keep the change."
Letty's heart seemed to skip a beat at his nickname for her. It felt familiar, though she was convinced she had never met the man before.
She went back to work, hours passing as she served drinks and watched Bubba pummel patrons who got too hands-on. Last-call for drinks was announced and she was finally ready to end her five-hour shift, only to go home and sleep for a few short hours before heading off to her day job. The club began to clear out, except for the Suit. He sat with his back to the bar-top, watching the clubgoers depart from the nightclub.
"Hey pal. Time to clear out," she said to him. He ignored her and kept his eyes on the women who sauntered out the door. "You know what? I'm not dealing with you douchebags tonight. I'll let Bubba throw you out on your ass."
Letty grabbed her jacket and paid for a bottle of Tequila, stuffing it in her purse before making her way around the bar. When she did, she felt a hand wrap around her wrist. She reacted quickly, bending his arm around his back and slamming his face into the counter-top.
"Don't ever put your fucking hands on me," she growled in his ear.
"Okay, I'm sorry!" he yelped as she twisted his arm even further. "Shit, Letty, let me go."
Her heart nearly stopped when her name spilled from his lips. She didn't know him, yet he knew her real name, not the fake one that was plastered across her name-tag. This made her even more curious about him.
"Nicki, everything all right?" Bubba called out to her.
Letty peered down at the man, whose glasses fell off in the struggle. He looked up at her with mesmerizing green eyes that electrified something in her brain. A memory of him of sitting next to her at a picnic table flashed quickly in her mind, and was gone just as fast.
As the mystery man stared into her soul, another vision of him helping her from a smoldering, wrecked vehicle blinked before her eyes.
"Nicki, you all good in here?" Bubba snapped Letty from her episode, his large frame now hovering next to her.
Letty released her hold on the Suit and nodded to the bouncer. She pushed past the two men and back out into the parking lot, which had cleared out considerably. As she stormed to her car, she hollered for her roommate Brooke, who was currently being tongued-down by a tipsy clubgoers, "Let's go, Jackson!"
Letty paused by her car and pulled a cigarette from her pack, a bad habit she was unsuccessfully trying to quit. She took a long draw to calm her rattled nerves and waited for her roommate to say goodbye. While waiting, Letty noticed the Suit walking out to a waiting cab. He locked eyes with her across the road while cradling his sore arm. He grinned a taunting smile before sliding into the taxi.
"Brooke, move your ass!" Letty hollered for the naive and sometimes clueless twenty-two year old.
Brooke hurriedly crossed the lot and slid into the car, angrily slamming the door behind her. Letty sighed and climbed in the car where Brooke sat pouting in the passenger seat. Letty reached over and ruffled Brooke's hair, something that always made the younger girl smile.
"Why do you always do that, Nicki?" Brooke griped while grinning, "Scare off all the cute guys. You never let me get any."
Letty laughed; Brooke reminded her of Mia Toretto back in their old days. She was sweet, pretty, and too trusting – three things that were a gift and a curse for her. She tended to put herself in situations that weren't in her favor, and after eight months of living together, it was hard for Letty not to care about her.
The unlikely duo ran into each other after a street race in Mexico three months after Letty arrived. Brooke was dumped and left to her own devices after a fight with her boyfriend. Living in Baja, Mexico for only a month after leaving her plush Miami condo following a fight with her father, Brooke was like a fish out of water. With the Federalis in the distance, Letty pictured herself just a few months back, standing in the middle of Texas with no friends, family, or clue what to do next.
In desperate need of some good karma, Letty stopped and rescued Brooke, taking her back to her cousin's place, which coincidentally turned out to be the girl's ex.
Seeing Guillermo with another woman just hours after his break-up with Brooke brought flashbacks swirling into Letty's brain that enraged her. Letty snapped, breaking her cousin's fling's nose before packing up for the States with Brooke in tow.
Letty contemplated leaving Brooke several times, but refused to put the young girl in the same situation she herself was forced into. So Letty took the Florida girl in, and somehow, they clicked. Letty protected Brooke, and Brooke kept Letty from being lonely.
"Brooke... what do I always tell you?"
"If I don't plan on giving up home plate, don't let them up to bat," she mimicked. "I might've let him slide in home."
"What was his name, Brooke?"
Brooke narrowed her eyes with a scowl, "I don't say anything when you flirt with the Suit."
Letty tensed up, "What're you talking about?"
"Mr. Gin and Tonic. I'm not the only one who sees it, girl. He only lets you make his drinks, he stays until you leave. Hell, I've worked there two months before you and I've never noticed him until you showed up. And the staring contests? Seriously, the sexual tension is gross. Maybe that's your problem. You need to get some, it'll loosen you up."
Letty chuckled, "I manage just fine. And there is nothing with me and the Suit. The guy obviously just likes his Gin."
"Yeah, and a little Spanish spice to go with it," Brooke teased.
Letty playfully punched her as she pulled into their driveway, "Shut the hell up, B. I don't know; something about him seems familiar."
"You say that about everyone!" Brooke replied while stepping out of the Camaro.
Letty didn't respond; that might not have been an exaggeration.
The two women finally entered their Las Vegas home around 5:15 AM. The cozy, two-bedroom place was quiet, but only until their third and final roommate Ginger realized they were home. The sixty-pound, six month old German Shepard came bolting out of Letty's bedroom toward the front door, until Letty stopped her with a simple command.
"Ginger, no!" Letty said with a snap of her finger. The sweet-faced pup stopped at their feet and waited anxiously for a greeting.
"Wow. You taught her not to jump?" Brooke asked while petting the loving dog.
"She was ruining my good shirts," Letty shrugged while hanging up her purse and jacket at the door.
"I'll take her out," Brooke said while exchanging her purse at the door for the leash, "Come on, sweetie. Let's take a walk."
Letty made her way to her bedroom, if you could even call it that. The small room consisted of a queen-sized bed, a dresser, and a bed-side table. There was nothing personal hanging on the starch-white walls, or any knick-knacks lining the barren dresser. Only one framed photo sat perched on her end table... one she just couldn't seem to get rid of.
Letty flopped down on the bed and lifted the picture frame from the table gently. She remembered the exact day it was taken, the meaning behind the special day, and even why she put up such a fight to participate in the photo-op. She ran her fingers gently over the smiling faces of the family she abandoned, and the face that keep them together.
The beautiful face she couldn't bare to see before walking out of his life.
"Ugh," Letty groaned inwardly. Her seemingly-permanent headache inched it's way back in, a sure-sign that it was time for sleep. Letty brought the photo to her lips and kissed it tenderly before placing it back. She undressed to her underwear in record time and crawled under her duvets to await another dream-filled night.
Letty woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to take on another day of hustling with her man and their crew, only it didn't feel like a regular day. Something unsettling pinched at Letty's belly, but she ignored it and rolled over. Her stomach ached when she realized the cold, bare spot next to her wasn't filled with Dom's toned muscles. Letty finally opened her eyes, and noticed that Dom was gone.
"Dom?" she called out to him while sitting up, peering around the room for some sign of her boyfriend, with no luck.
Her eyes finally landed on her nightstand, where she spotted a stack of cash and Dom's silver necklace draped over it. Letty's body went on red alert as she hopped out of the bed and began frantically searching their shack for Dominic. The lump of fear in her throat brought tears to her eyes as Letty literally ripped their bedroom apart, hoping to find anything of his... something that'd let her know her fears weren't true. Something that said he would come walking through that door any minute with a smile and breakfast.
Letty stepped over the closet door that she yanked off the hinges, the wooden chair she smashed in a rage, and flopped down on the bed. She reached over for the necklace and gently placed it around her neck. Letty crawled to the top of the bed with the cool jewelry clutched tight between her fingers, and she cried. Harder than she could ever remember crying for any man, Letty's cradled her knees close as her body racked with sobs.
Letty sat in that catatonic, sorrowful state for what felt like an eternity, yet it was only a few hours that passed since she woke up with Dominic gone. Letty had no intentions of moving from the bed until her nightmare was over, but a part of her knew he wasn't coming back.
She couldn't hide forever.
A sudden knock at the door confirmed that. The door opened with a squeal and Han peeked his head inside.
"I'm heading out of town soon with Rayna. Leaving the Road Runner for you, if you want it," Han said, his eyes searching the room to avoid eye-contact with the Latina. It was obvious he knew that Dom was gone.
Letty gently wiped her nose and her face clear of any sign of emotion and gave a nod, "Thanks man."
Han sighed and cursed his soft spot for crying women as he stepped inside the small room. He approached the bed slowly and sat on the edge, unsure of what to say to comfort his friend. Han liked Letty – she was laid-back and spunky, but he'd never seen such raw emotion in her eyes. He had seen her angry before, plenty of people had, but Han never seen Letty Ortiz cry.
He looked over at her, "I'm sor-"
"Don't," she held up her hand. The tension was thick, and Han was nervous. "Did you know he was leaving?"
"Yes... no... not really," Han struggled. He was afraid of her close proximity and her stewing mental break, "He mentioned last night that things were heating up, that anybody caught with him was going down hard. He told me to split, I figured you guys were going... together."
The word stung Letty to the core, "Yeah, me too. Imagine my shock."
"I really am sorry, Let. You're welcome to come with us. Eventually we're going to Tokyo," Han gave a tiny smile.
Letty shook her head with a disgusted snort, "No way, bro. I'm going home... wherever that is."
Letty stirred awake the next morning just as she had any other day, her face moist with tears from the vivid flashbacks that had been plaguing her for the past year. The flashbacks helped piece together years that she lost with her amnesia, but they were creating havoc in her life. She sat up to gain her wits, rubbing her hands over her throbbing temples and down her wet cheeks.
The flashback of the day he abandoned her in the Dominican Republic was a recurring one, one that almost seemed to haunt Letty. Her mind was infested with visions of the destroyed bedroom, Han's pitiful eyes, and his chain. The same one she gave to him when he came home from Lompoc. It was a symbol of her love and dedication for him, yet he left it behind, just like her. He left her as if she were nothing, so she carelessly did the same.
Only Letty regretted her decision to abandon a family that adored her, and a man that tried to make up for his mistakes.