I'm so thrilled that people are actually subscribing and looking forward to this. For that reason alone, this chapter became a little longer. I hope you guys like where this is going, and while I'm still setting the stage, don't worry. The action that we all love about FnF will be coming soon!
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Love, Brooke xx
Brian found Mia in the laundry room long after the kids had gone to bed, and their guests had left. He'd avoided confrontation with her while Gi – he'd always call her that even as she stomped her foot and demanded to be called 'Gisele' – helped do the dishes and Jack finally showed up with groceries. Apparently their kids had run into each other at the store and Gisele had pushed the shopping onto her brother. He'd even avoided her as she'd showered and changed, and they'd said goodnight to the kids. But now, amidst the silence, the air hung heavy, begging to be inhaled and spat out with words.
Mia was haphazardly throwing clothes in the washer, fumbling with the dials, when he walked up next to her. He didn't say anything as he started folding the warm clothes from the previous batch. When the machine finally started whirring, and she moved to leave, he gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Brian –" she started but he shook his head.
"We have to talk about it," he whispered.
"There's nothing to talk about," she said, turning to him and moving out of his grasp. He felt a cold weight settle on his chest when he heard how close her voice was to breaking. He'd promised himself, her, that he'd never let her sound like that again. Not if it was in his hands to stop it. Yet, here he stood, being the cause of all that pain she couldn't swallow.
"There is. Come on. I want to know what you're thinking."
"You want to know what I'm thinking?" she said, crossing her arms, eyes narrowed. "I'm thinking of how tomorrow is going to be a long shift because they brought in two more patients tonight. I'm thinking of how Gi might need a vacation to get away from all this extra-curricular summer stuff she's pulled on herself. I'm thinking of how we're almost out of washing powder and we should've put that on the list. I'm thinking of what's going on with Jack and why he's been so distant lately. I'm thinking of what we're going to eat this Sunday barbecue. I'm thinking of how tired I am right now and I want to go to bed."
"Mia –"
"No, no, you don't interrupt me. I'm thinking of all these things because I'm a nurse, and I'm a mom, and I need to think of all of it because nobody else will. I have my plate full. I am up to here with all this work. And now, I don't have it in me to even begin comprehending how my brother could consider any of this, and how he thought he could drag us into it."
"Mia –" he tried again but she held a hand up. He shut up immediately, knowing she had to get it all out or she never would. He supposed it was a Torreto thing.
"We have tried so damn hard in the past nineteen years. No, scratch that. I have been trying this for much longer than you have. I'm the one who had to think of these things while Dom and Letty were in the DR doing God knows what, and you were busy playing FBI agent. I had to think of all this. I had to make the home you guys could turn to when you had nowhere to go. I was the one left behind while everyone scattered. Who do you think was left to give Jesse a funeral? Who do you think did Letty's funeral? Who do you think was the one who had to sit at home, watching agents crawl across her home and watch them treat it like it was a piece of evidence to be thrown in the locker? The one who had to be treated like bait? And when we were free falling across the world, I'm the one who had to think of what kind of home I was avoiding bringing our son into. We tried so hard to give him that life, and I didn't say a damn thing when it came to Owen Shaw because it was Letty. We had to bring her home. There was no option. And I didn't say anything when it came to his brother because it came down to family again, and we were all on his twisted hit list. I said nothing. But when you and Dom raced that last time, you went down a different road for a reason. You came back to me. To us. And you said you'd never leave again. I can't do it anymore, Brian. I can't do the whole routine of sitting home and wondering if I'm suddenly going to lose a brother. I can't sit and wonder if - if – my children are fatherless – if I'm a widow – I can't – I can't – " she broke off, shaking her head rapidly. She had tears streaming down her cheeks and Brian whispered her name, pulling her into his arms.
She was shaking hard and he held her tight, even as she tried to hit his chest over and over. She wasn't even trying to stop crying anymore. Mia was full on sobbing against him and he buried his head in her neck, tightening his hold on her.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry we've put you through that. You don't deserve that. I'm sorry."
"But?" she said, pulling away from him. Her eyes were rimmed red, and puffy, and as the weight of all her sadness etched itself on her face, Brian realized how she really looked like she'd been put through the ringer for decades.
"But what?"
"I know there was a but at the end of that sentence. This better not be about those bullets again."
"What bullets?"
"Those bullets you miss hearing."
"I should've never told you that," he groaned, pressing his palms to his face. "Mia, that was a long time ago."
"But you're still standing here, trying to convince me. What is it Brian? Is this not enough for you? Are our lives not enough for you?"
He ran his fingers through his hair, turning his back to her for a second. He didn't want her to see it but he was a little frustrated, the emotion warring to be shown but being suppressed by his conscious need to not upset her.
"Look around you, Mia," he said, turning back to her. "Does it look like I've missed out on anything? I'm fine here, with you, and our kids. This is perfection."
"Then what's your damage? Are you so messed up that you need to be in the thick of things for your life to be normal? We promised, for their sake, for our sake, that we were opening a new chapter. We can't keep revisiting the past and dragging it back in."
"What do you want me to do, Mia?" he asked, his voice raising a little. "Do you want me to let Dom walk into that alone? Do you want me to sit at home and wonder what the hell is happening with the crime scene where we live? What do you want me to do? I thought you said you felt safer with Dom and I out there, watching each others' backs."
"That was before," she snapped. "Before any of this. We were young then, Brian. I had Elena with me. Who do I have now? Do you know what's going to happen? You and Dom and Letty are going to go in guns blazing, and I'm going to have Nico, and Jack, and Gi, and Hanley wondering where the hell everyone went. I'm going to have to keep their roofs over their heads. I'm going to have to answer questions I can't silence with a bottle of milk anymore."
"You don't know Ivankov, Mia," Brian shook his head. "I've seen this guy's MO. He's bad news. We don't want that kind of shit around here."
"And then what, Brian? You take him down, and then we have to move again because his friends come looking for us? Or he has some sibling on a vengeance fantasy?" Mia demanded, pushing a finger to his chest. "Then what? It's been years since you guys have done this. You don't have anything to be fighting for anymore. Not our lives, not Letty's, not anybody else in our family. So, then, what is it? Is that it? Do you just miss it?" she asked.
"Yes!" he spat out. "Yes, I miss it. I miss it more than anything in the world, Mia."
She recoiled, as if he'd slapped her, and he closed his eyes, realizing that she would've heard the words differently than what he'd been hearing. Her lower lip was trembling and he reached out. She took a step back and turned to go back into the kitchen. He followed and grabbed her hand, pulling her back. She didn't say anything as he pulled her close, her back resting against his chest. She was shaking again.
"I didn't mean it like that. I promise, I didn't mean it like that," he mumbled.
"I don't believe your promises anymore," she whispered. He closed his eyes and shook his head, a lump in his throat. The words cut through him. There was nothing in the world more important to him than having his wife's trust. Trust had always been a rocky road for them, and it had been his fault their entire lives had started with his lies. Even now, twenty-six years after he'd met her, it still was something he didn't take for granted. To hear her say those words broke him.
"Mia," he said, turning her to look at him. He heard her suck in a breath as she looked into his eyes and, no doubt, so them sparkling a little. "Listen to me. Believe me when I tell you that I love you. I love you, I love Jack, and I love Gisele. You three are my world, and always will be. There is nothing more important to me than you three. But I need to do this, for me. I love our lives. And if this hadn't come around, I wouldn't have gone looking for it either. But it's here, and I want to take up the offer because I miss the adrenaline. I miss the rush. I miss bringing in the enemy. You have to believe me. I love our lives and I love being a mechanic. But there is a part of me that never stopped loving the speed, and the chase, and being a cop. Let me do this, please."
"That's what worries me, Brian," she whispered, resting her head on his chest and finally putting her arms around him. "It worries me because you can't even admit it."
"Admit what?" he whispered, knowing exactly what she meant and knowing exactly why he shuddered to say the words.
"You don't miss being a cop. You miss being a criminal."
"Listen," he said, pulling away and cradling her face in his hands. "I won't agree to it if this makes you too uncomfortable. I won't leave if you need me here. This relationship - our marriage is not a price I'll pay. But please don't forget that Dom and Letty need me, too. I have to bring them back. I'm the one who will have to bring them back."
"Don't. Don't do that. Don't make it sound like you're giving me a choice because then it just makes me the bad guy. I know you've already made up your mind."
"I won't say yes to Hobbs until he gives us all the information. If it's an easy plan then we'll be in and out. But if there's even a chance, the slightest, that things can go wrong then I'm out."
"That's never been the case. That train job in Rio was supposed to be easy and look what happened. It doesn't matter if you're out there bringing down a plane, or strapping a kid into the car. I think we've proven that danger will follow us everywhere. You can never know if something is easy or not."
"Let me at least try to do this in a way that makes us both happy," he pleaded.
She shook her head but let him pull her close again.
"Come home, Brian. You have to come home. I need you. We need you."
He closed his eyes and kissed her forehead. Later that night, the two of them slept huddled close together, too frightened to let the other one go. But to each of them, it felt like there were miles of separation coming in between.
The next morning, Mia found herself suppressing all her worries as she shuffled through the trauma ward. It wasn't until lunchtime, after she'd done the last of her rounds for her morning shift, that she sat down in the cafeteria and pulled out her phone. Like clockwork, it had become a habit to check on Brian before she ate. By now, it was muscle memory. Even though she didn't want to talk to him, her hand reached for the phone. She contemplated calling him but his words from the previous night kept swimming in her brain.
I miss it more than anything in the world.
She settled on sending him a text instead, one that read: Morning shift done. Grabbing lunch and then covering Damian's evening shift. Won't be home until dinner. Fix something for the kids.
After she hit send, and paused for a moment, she decided to add: Love you.
She knew he'd get the message. Texting instead of calling was a code for 'I don't want to talk to you'. But after having so many near death experiences, neither of them could afford ignoring each other. They just kept their conversations low key when they were angry. The first year or so after their marriage, it always worried Mia when they fought. What if every fight would lead to a break up? What if he left? What if she felt the need to leave? What would happen to their kids? Would the next fight put an end to this? But after being married for almost twelve years, and not even counting the years they'd been together before that, she'd grown a little immune to the novelty of fighting. Now, she just allowed herself to deal with it. In a lot of ways, it made things better. They knew that nothing could break them, and that confidence allowed them to shed unnecessary fear and deal with the problem. Not only did they get over their fights faster but it also prevented them from dealing with the same thing again.
Her phone buzzed and she checked the reply: Okay. Love you too.
"Did you put someone in the dog house?"
She looked up and laughed as Jean sat in front of her. Jean had been the person she'd known longest, right from when they'd both started their internship together. Rough times, rough cases, and rough aftermaths, had turned them into best friends. If there was anything Mia loved at this hospital, aside from helping save lives, it was knowing that there was one friend she had who didn't have the kind of baggage she dealt with at home.
"You could say that."
"What's going on? What did Brian do now?" Jean asked, uncapping her chocolate pudding. Mia stabbed her plate of pasta angrily as she recounted how frustrated she was at her husband.
"He's being – an idiot. You know how I told you Brian used to be a bit of a …daredevil?" she asked. Jean rolled her eyes, chuckling.
"You mean, do I remember you describing in nauseating detail how hot he looked sweaty and flushed from an adrenaline rush? Are you kidding? I know that's why you fell for him."
Mia didn't deny it. It came up every time anyone asked her how her and Brian had met. It was the same story. He'd been racing, and he'd always come to her store in the aftermath and order that shitty tuna. Somewhere along the way, she'd stopped laughing and started falling.
"Yeah, well, we kind of agreed to put an end to it because, you know, the kids. We can't be risking our lives when we've got someone depending on us. Besides, he's not young anymore."
"Could've fooled me," Jean muttered. Mia laughed, despite her anger, playfully shoving her friend's shoulder.
"Anyway," she continued. "He's recently heard about this…skydiving trip. And he's really pumped to go because it's summer and the kids are older. Jack barely hangs around the house anymore, and Gisele has got all sorts of plans for the holidays already. He just wants to go for the trip."
"And you're worried that once he gets a taste, he'll want more. Or worse, he won't come home alright."
"Am I being too paranoid?" Mia asked, knowing that everything she'd described was just a toned down version of just how dangerous it was what Brian wanted to run to.
"Okay, let me tell you a little story," Jean said, waving her chocolate covered spoon. "You remember how I told you I had already been married once before I met Tommy?"
"Yeah, right out of high school. You never talk about that."
"Yeah, because who wants to remember what an idiot I was with that one? That one was doomed to fail. Anyway, his name was Harry, and let me tell you Mia, he was an adrenaline junkie. And I don't mean skydiving and fast cars. I mean street racing, and illegal shit."
"Wait," Mia interrupted. "You don't mean Harry as in…from Harry's Automotives?"
"What? No, ew, he's like eighty or something. No, his son. You remember him?"
Mia tried to remember ever meeting anyone around her age being behind the counter at Harry's. To be frank, she couldn't. There had always been young employees in and out of the place, her husband included. It suddenly seemed like such a small world, for one of her best friends to have a link to Harry's even though that had all been in her L.A life. Although, it was her own fault for working in a hospital that was closer to her old home than the new one. Even if the commute was a pain during peak hours, it was still as close to home she could be.
"No, but funny story. Brian used to work there when I met him."
"You're telling me that story when I'm done with mine. Anyway, we were reckless kids. I'd let him take me to the races and it was terrifying watching them do that. I never got what was sexy about it. I mean I love looking at a nice, shiny car but I wanted to be a nurse. This was the opposite of what I'd appreciate. Recklessness was not my thing, right? But Harry Jr. was not in agreement. He always wanted to be out and on the streets."
"And that ended your marriage?" Mia whispered.
"Babe, if I wanted to give you advice that would end your marriage I wouldn't do it like this. That's not the point of this tale. Harry and I got a divorce because he started doing drugs and I drew a line at substance abuse. No, the speed didn't end our marriage."
"Then what happened in that aspect?"
"I got it. I got what he meant because even though it could kill him, I knew it would kill him more to sit at a nine to five and forget everything he loved. You should've seen it, Mia. The happiest he was before he got his license was when he was working after hours at the shop with his Dad. And I got it, because it's the same reason I walk into a place of death and dying everyday. We watch five people die on the table, but the sixth one lives to see another day and it matters, you know? Harry always used to say just one thing whenever I begged him not to go out. He'd always say: I might die, Jeanie, but I'll know I'm dying the happiest man on earth. And I couldn't force him to die sad and alone at home."
"So, I should just let Brian go do this? What if it's not safe?"
"Would you rather live with Brian the rest of your life knowing he's missing out on what matters to him? Or would you rather live the rest of your life knowing he gave up his life doing the thing that made it worth living to him?"
"I won't be able to live if something happens to him, Jeanie," Mia whispered. "I can't live without him. I can't make my kids live without him."
Jean put an understanding hand on her shoulder.
"You won't be able to live knowing your fear has made him unhappy, either. It's choosing between two evils, babe."
Mia gave her a grateful smile, still skeptical about the whole thing. If it really had been skydiving, she wouldn't have batted an eyelid. This was much worse. Jean noticed her hesitation and grinned, stuffing her mouth with more pudding.
"So, Brian worked at Harry's, huh? Tell me more."
Dom was leaning heavily into his chair when he heard the office door open and close. He didn't have to look to know who it was. The only person who didn't knock was the one who didn't need to. Besides, he knew Nico wasn't coming in today and Brian had been too distracted to even be around him.
"Hey," he said in a low voice as his wife kissed the top of his head and sat herself on the edge of the table. She looked a bit sweaty from the heat and he raised his eyebrows. Pulling her into his lap, he kissed her jaw.
"Where's the little monster?" he asked, referring to their tornado of a daughter. Letty and Dom had always known their offspring would be a terror to unleash upon the people of the world, but they'd underestimated the fact that they'd also have to deal with her rebelling against them.
"Drove me in circles all morning. I just dropped her off at her friend's. They're all having some kind of Harry Potter marathon."
"Kids," he grinned, shaking his head. She grinned back. But they both saw how neither smile was full.
"Dom. Please. Don't do this," Letty said. "You know I'd have said yes in a heartbeat if this was before Hanley. Hell, I'd have been the one dragging you into it. You know. But not with her in the picture."
Dom knew exactly what she meant. He could still hear her words, some of the last ones she'd spoken to him before he'd left her, before the accident. She'd always been the one who'd laughed and said they were doing their job if the cops were coming down on them. Domesticity and responsibility had crushed that part of her – not to mention, losing herself along with her memories. She wasn't the same Letty anymore even though she had her memories back. This Letty was darker, more dangerous, but also more human, in many ways. This was a Letty who clung to her life because she'd lost it more than once.
"You know I have to."
"You could never stay out of trouble, could you?" she demanded. "Even back then with Tran. And then in Rio, with that Reyes crap?"
"Rio was necessary. He took out Vince. He couldn't get away with that."
"You were running that job long before Vince came into it."
"We needed the money, Letty," he said, in a hard voice. "We're still running on that money. We needed freedom. We couldn't keep Brian and Mia running with Jack on the way."
"Oh come on, Dom. You were planning on messing with that chip even before Mia fessed up. You're forgetting that I know you. You got curious after they wanted the GT-40, and you had to know because you can't handle not knowing. And now, you can't handle not being a part of this. We always swore we'd stay away from the Russians."
"They're going to come to Anaheim. They're going to fuck us over. I just know it. We can't sit and wait for them to come."
"Dammit, Dom," Letty stood up, running a frustrated hand through her hair. "You nearly lost me once because of your stupidity. You nearly lost Mia when you told her to stay away from Brian. Your misplaced protectiveness has always done you in. What are you willing to lose now? Hanley? Or are you willing to let her lose you? Because I'm not sitting around and letting that shit happen. And I sure as hell am not sitting home if you're going into this. Are we going to leave the kid without both her parents now?"
"You're not coming with," he said, glaring at her.
"Try and stop me," she said, opening the door and walking out. "I dare you."
"So, on a scale of absolutely yes to fucking never, should I get a buzzcut?" Nico asked, leaning back against the table. The rest of the people in the room looked up, eyeing him warily. The group sat in the garage attached to the small house Nico shared with his friends, Cody and Skeeter. The house was small enough for them to comfortably afford. The garage was the main reason everyone even hung out there. When Nico wasn't fixing cars for Brian and Dom's garage, he was playing guitar for his band. They weren't exactly world famous. They'd started out as a little group in school, and continued after graduation instead of going to college. They played a few gigs here and there at pubs and restaurants, but none of them wanted any records or deals. They were too terrified of the fame ruining them and their love for music. They played as long as they wanted to.
Jack, as the youngest member of the band and the only one still in school, snorted while juggling his drumsticks.
"You wish you could pull it off," he laughed. Nico flipped him off.
Jack's family had never fully understood how easily he'd fit into a group of people who'd been four years ahead of him at school. He'd only been a freshman when Nico had moved to California to finish his senior year. He hadn't known any of the others back then. It was because of Nico that he'd been introduced to the other guys and because of him that they'd realized what a brilliant drummer he was. Sometimes when his dad asked him why he loved hanging out with older kids, he always said it was because they felt closer to what his life should've been like. Nobody at home ever argued that. Everyone knew how frustrated Jack felt being a nineteen year old who was still stuck as a senior in high school. It wasn't his own fault – he wasn't a failure by any means. It's just that, between being born in December and moving from Spain to L.A to the D.R and back to Anaheim, his records and schooling had gone haywire. They'd forced him to repeat the first grade to get him back on track and it had thrown his education into the backseat. He'd already been one of the older kids in his elementary school in the DR, and having it bumped again had angered him a lot. He'd felt like his life was doomed to run in slow motion because of things that weren't even his doing. Nico's band had probably been the only thing that made it bearable being a sixteen year old freshman.
Now, three years later, they were the family he had outside of his real family. He continued juggling as he ran over what Gi had told him the previous night. His dad thought he had a girlfriend and if Jack had any hope of hiding his secret street racing life then he had to bring a girl home. But whom could he possibly bring? He hadn't had a girlfriend since before the winter break of junior year. It was summer now and he had no inclination towards dating. It seemed like any girl he found was lured in by the band status and the thrill of being a racer. But they always seemed stumped when they realized he was truly dedicated to what he did and didn't just do it for showing off. His first love would always be racing and music, and now it seemed like that was going to prevent him from ever finding an actual human being.
For one wild second, he considered fessing up. He considered telling his dad to get into the car and driving that useless hybrid of a Prius to the secret garage he maintained on the outskirts of the city. He considered pulling open the doors and replacing his car with the illegally modified Skyline he actually drove to all the races. He wanted nothing more than to see the pride in Brian's eyes when he realized his son was more O'Conner than Toretto. Jack had taken a lot of precautions to make sure nobody would ever find out what he did. Aside from the fact that his car wasn't built to race, he'd always wanted a separate car in the rare situation that his parents borrowed the Prius and wondered why the hell the odometer looked like he'd been driving a 192 mile round trip each weekend. That was the only reason he even drove all the way to Palm Springs to race, even though the scene in L.A and Orange County was much better.
The racing scene here kept things real. You had genuine car loving enthusiasts who drooled over what was under the hood. You had kids admiring metal. You had kids learning the meaning of loyalty as the crowd dispersed under the police chases. You had kids who truly loved racing so much that they'd give it all – even pink slips – to feel the rush. The L.A racing scene was a thriving, living creature that survived off the love of cars.
Palm Springs was a joke compared to that. All it had were wide roads without any real worry about closing them off. There were rich kids who didn't feel the need to win because they could easily produce another wad of cash to throw in. There were no worries about losing cars to crashes or being reckless because they could buy another one. There was no worry for cops because they'd bought them all. There was no respect or love for the metal or the road. It was just a bunch of show off vacation crowds who could pretend to race till the sun went down and then, they could fly home to their real lives. Sure, it was easy money smoking them all. But Jack wanted nothing more than to become a part of the L.A scene. He knew it wasn't possible without his parents finding out.
But he couldn't tell them. He knew rare stories - ones that usually came after more than enough Corona had gone around after the Sunday post-Church barbecue. He knew stories of how his dad had once been a cop who'd gone undercover but then let them go because he respected them. He knew stories of how they used to race. Hell, he even knew they'd once been fugitives – he just wasn't sure for what. He also knew that Nico's parents had died because they'd messed with the wrong people. But that didn't change that his family's elders were adamant on not bringing their kids into the same world. He'd heard enough of no-racing lectures the whole time his dad had taught him how to drive and when he'd been given his car keys. They'd make him quit. He knew it. And he couldn't live with himself if he had to give it up.
Some days, Jack O'Conner felt like he had little to live for unless it was cars or his drums. He wasn't sure where that attitude came from. He'd always been a surprisingly lively child, always full of excitement. It felt like one day he'd just woken up wanting more and he knew it was all just out of reach.
He looked up, distracting himself from his morose thoughts. Nico was messing with the electric guitar, the one with the yellow faded print. Jack recognized it immediately. It was the guitar that Uncle Vince had owned, and then left behind when Jack's dad's mission had forced the family to scatter. His mom had found it in the garage and sent it to Nico, in Rio, when he was still a little kid. Even now, even though Nico had a newer, nicer guitar, he still practiced on his dad's. For good luck, he always said.
"So, what's up, Jack-man?" Skeeter, whose real name nobody ever remembered, asked. "Why the mood?"
"My dad thinks I'm keeping a secret. And instead of suspecting racing, he thinks it's a girl. Now, I have to bring a girl home."
"Alright," Cody grinned, looking up from the notebook where he usually scribbled lyrics and doodles. "Finally going to get yourself a babe?"
"Watch that tone, mister," Christine called out, throwing a guitar pick at him. Christine, the second girl in the band, was absentmindedly braiding her hair while humming. The other girl, their vocalist, Riley, was nowhere to be found. She was on a weeklong camping trip up in Tahoe, with her parents and sister.
"You know what I mean, Chrissy. Jack-O has been alone for too long," Cody replied.
"I'm fine," Jack waved off. "But I need someone to be a pretend girlfriend. This would be a good time to actually have any friends outside of this useless lot," he joked. "I'd ask Riley but she's gone."
"Why won't you ask me?" Christine asked, giving him a look. Christine was the other younger one in the group, having just graduated from school this summer. She'd been the one who'd kept Jack company while the rest of the band had left school. Aside from Nico, who was family and didn't count, she was his best friend.
He gave her a look, as though the answer to that was obvious.
"No, really, think about it," Christine continued, sitting up. "Your parents don't know I'm gay. And we don't have to worry about this turning into a bad rom-com where real feelings get in the way of some pretend thing. I'm perfect."
"She has a point," Nico said, not looking up.
"You're serious," Jack sat up, not daring to hope. "You'll be my fake girlfriend? I don't know how long it'll go on for, Chrissy. I don't know what they'll expect."
"Relax, I dated a guy or two before I saw the light," she laughed. "I can pull it off. And I'm sure Macey won't mind." Macey was Chrissy's girlfriend. "As long as you keep your hands off."
"Not even tempted." That earned him a well-deserved smack on the back of his head. But he had to laugh. For the first time since waking up that day, he felt a little hope. He could still have everything he wanted.
By the time evening came around, Jack was in a bouncy mood when he opened the front door to his house. All of that drained away when he caught the look on his dad's face.
"Where's Mom?" Jack asked, shutting the door behind him.
"Working a late shift. I think she's covering for a friend. How was your day?" Brian asked, looking up. He held a beer in his hand. Jack winced. If his Dad was drinking at seven in the evening and his mom had agreed to a late shift, it meant they were fighting. He'd been pretending to ignore it but him and his sister had both noticed how off his parents had been since his aunt and uncle had visited the previous night. He hoped nothing bad had happened.
"Pretty chill. I think Cody finished the new song he's been writing. But we can't test it out until Riley comes back. And unless we know how she sounds when she sings it, we can't really start working on the instrumental. Besides, it just feels wrong working on it without her around," he said, flopping down on the couch beside his father. Brian smirked at his son's words, turning back to the movie he was watching.
Jack waited for a beat or two before he cleared his throat and turned to look at him.
"So," he said.
"So?" Brian asked, throwing him a curious look.
"If I wanted to bring a girl home, it wouldn't be a problem?" he ventured. He made sure to put a nervous note in his voice, since Gisele's story had been that Jack was supposed to be nervous about bringing this girl home. He really needed to sell it if his parents were to believe that this girl was the only big secret he had.
"Yeah. Why? Did you meet someone?" Brian asked, muting the television. Jack had to stop himself from smiling. He momentarily hated himself for fooling his dad like this. Brian had always made an extra effort to be a better dad than he'd had. Not just in terms of splitting the load with Mia, or driving the kids around. It was the little things, like muting the television to let his son know he had his full attention. Jack hated himself, a little.
"Sort of. I mean I wouldn't say she's the one or anything. But I think it could be going somewhere."
"Are you going to give me a name?" Brian joked.
"Chrissy," Jack admitted.
"Chrissy?" Brian asked, eyes widening a bit. "As in Christine? From the band? How did that happen?"
"It just kind of did, I don't know. One day it wasn't happening, and the next day it was."
"And all those times your mom asked you about her, throughout freshman and sophomore year –"
"I was an idiot," Jack nodded, trying not to laugh. He'd appreciated his mother's attempt at playing cupid but even cupid couldn't change the fact that Jack was the wrong kind of guy for Chrissy. Any kind of guy was wrong for her.
"Why didn't you tell us before? We know Chrissy. She's a nice girl," Brian frowned. Jack had an answer prepared for this too.
"I don't know. We kind of agreed to take it really slow, and not just jump into telling everyone. She's worried that if it becomes too serious too soon and then we break up, it'll affect the band. We don't want that. The band's like family. We don't want anything to happen to it, or the friendship we have. Those come first."
"That's mature," Brian nodded. "Look, Chrissy's great. You bring her over for dinner this weekend. In fact, bring her to the barbecue."
"You sure?" Jack asked, surprised. His mom had always told him that, when she was a kid, Sunday barbecue was for everyone who attended Church. But Jack knew that over the last few years, since they'd come to Anaheim, Sunday was for family. They attended Church and then got together. Just the family. The only other person who wasn't related directly to them by blood or law and was invited was Nico. Tej, Roman, Carla (Roman's girlfriend) or Suki joined whenever they visited. He was sure, once or twice, someone named Santos and Leo had also joined. But that was always it. Family was family. And Nico and Jack's band was a separate family. The two had never intersected. For Brian to offer that was huge, and Jack hated himself again.
"No," Jack said. "That would be making it too serious. I'll invite her for normal dinner tomorrow or something."
Brian chuckled and shrugged. Jack didn't mention how he couldn't deceive his entire family by bringing a fake girlfriend to the barbecue. That was a line even he didn't cross.
Later, he was still planted in front of the television when his mom came home. His dad had long abandoned the movie and moved to the garage. When the front door opened, Mia looked exhausted. But when Jack went into the hall to see her, she smiled at him.
"Hey. Give me a hand with these," she said, holding out the brown packages of food. He grabbed them and frowned.
"Dad already ordered Chinese," he said.
"Oh, I know. He isn't very creative. I figured he'd order this since we did pizza yesterday. I just picked it up on the way."
"Nice," he grinned, peeping into the bag and pulling out the contents. Mia smiled back as she washed her hands over the sink.
"So, you and Chrissy? Finally?" she teased. He laughed along, pretending to blush. He felt happy knowing he brought a smile to that stressed face. But the knowledge of it all being fake was killing him. How was he going to deal with weeks of pretending about this if he couldn't do a few hours? He was okay keeping secrets as long as they were entirely separate from home. This was not separate.
"Don't say I told you so," he warned her, just as Brian walked in. Jack watched from the corner of his eye as his dad kissed the side of his mom's head. She patted his cheek in return, but neither said anything. So, there was still something going on.
The tension in the room was cut by thumping coming from upstairs, which sounded an awful lot like Gi was stomping around. There were some muffled theatrics and then the sound of her running down the stairs. Jack raised an eyebrow as he saw her flushed face.
"Oh, good, you're home. I was just remembering you," Gisele said, looking at her mom.
"What can I do for you?" Mia asked, resting her chin on her hand, leaning against the island.
"How long does it take for a foot sprain to heal?"
"Did you get hurt?" Mia asked, at the same time as Jack leaned back and looked down to inspect his sister's foot.
"No, not me. Joyce Lowell had a little incident involving roller blades. She said she's seen the doctor but there's no news on when it will fully heal. I don't know more. I didn't even hear it directly from her."
"I don't know, baby," Mia shrugged, giving her a helpless smile. "I can't tell until I've seen her foot or at least a report."
Gisele groaned in frustration.
"If she doesn't heal quick then she's going to have to sit out practice the entire summer. It's going to throw off the entire season if she doesn't catch up."
Jack grinned.
"And you wonder why people think cheerleaders are heartless bitches."
He ducked a punch from his sister.
"Not fair. I was worried about her but Lauren insisted she was going to be okay. In fact, it'll kill Joyce if she stays out of the game. I'm going to go check on her. Give me the keys."
Jack narrowed his eyes at her, sending her a silent warning.
"Jack, don't call your sister a bitch," Mia chided. "Gi, we just got dinner. I'm sure your friend will be fine. You can go see her first thing tomorrow."
"No, I want to go talk to her. If she's going to be sick, then I don't want her in a bad mood too. I'm not letting her summer get ruined. I'll just reheat leftovers when I'm back. Jack, give me the keys."
"No, you heard mom. You can go later."
They had a silent staring competition.
"If Joyce doesn't heal in time, I'm forcing you to help me with lifts."
Jack grimaced. When he'd just started high school, he'd been excited to help Gisele with her cheerleading. He'd even learnt how to properly disperse his weight and help her with her lifts. The only reason for that had been that Gisele would allow him to watch practices, or she'd have practice sessions in their backyard. And that meant cheerleaders always around him. Now that he'd gotten over the novelty of liking girls, it was a pain when Gisele roped him into helping her lifts.
Mia sighed and then shook her head as if she couldn't do much about her daughter's stubbornness. Jack reluctantly took the car keys out of his pocket and tossed them at Gi. She caught them easily and kissed his cheek before stepping out of the kitchen.
"Be back before ten!" Brian called out, settling on the counter chair with chopsticks and his box of take out.
"Yeah!" Mia added. "No turning this into a sleepover, Gisele! You've got an early morning meeting with your guidance counselor."
"I'll be back before ten! Promise! Love you guys!" she called out. Then they heard the front door shut.
Jack wasn't smiling, though. He pulled out his cellphone and texted Gisele: I know how far your cheerleader friend stays. If the odometer tells me you're going to see Danny, I'll know.
He didn't reach for the chopsticks until he got a reply: Stay out of it.
He hissed as he chucked his phone on the counter. His parents raised their eyebrows.
"Something wrong?" Brian asked.
Jack shrugged, an idea already formulating in his head.
"Gi's complaining because she has to fill gas. She says I have to pay her back since I left it empty."
"Why do you have to pay?" Mia frowned. "I thought we had a deal about this. Whichever one of you uses the car, that one pays for gas."
"That's what I told her."
"I'll talk to her when she comes back," Brian said, before taking a large bite of his noodles. Jack had to stop himself from grinning. If he was forced to keep quiet about his sister's boyfriend, then he sure as hell didn't have to make it easy on her.
There were the distinct sounds of a car screeching and gunshots. Both his parents jumped, eyes wide. Jack gave them a weird look as he got up from his own seat.
"Relax. I just left the TV on. I'll turn it off."
But his parents didn't settle down comfortably even when he returned. They remained on edge long after it was all done.
Gisele hadn't been lying when she said Joyce Lowell had a sprained foot. She did really go and see her, and gave her a little pep talk about the season. From the looks of it, it was a minor incident and she'd be up and cheering before next week. Cheering camp didn't even start for another three weeks. Needless to say, without a reason to stick around and some time left before she had to be back, Gisele drove out of Anaheim and towards Irvine.
Danny Fuller was a mystery of a guy. That much had been established when he attended school all the way in Anaheim when he could've just gone closer to home. There were always rumors about how he'd been to juvie for a few months and then decided to switch schools to escape the heat. Gisele had always wondered, even as she'd watched him from a distance. For the longest time, throughout her late middle school years, there was little Gisele had known about Jack's time in school. But she did know one thing. Jack didn't have a lot of friends. He just had a few people he considered family, and one nemesis: Daniel Fuller. Both of them were classmates and they'd always been at ends. There had been times when Gisele suspected they fought violently, but their parents never knew so it couldn't have been bad.
Of course, now that she actually knew a lot more, she knew that Danny and Jack didn't fight in the halls. They fought on the streets, their feet aiming throttles instead of kicks, their hands punching gears instead of faces. She'd always known Danny was trouble. That's probably why she'd been attracted to him in the first place. Star cheerleader, four point oh GPA, weekends volunteering at the soup kitchen when she wasn't at Church, and she'd fallen for Danny Fricking Fuller. She was a chick flick stereotype waiting to happen.
The boyfriend in question was driving up to where she'd parked her car, outside the park a few blocks from his house. Danny and Gisele had one rule. Whatever they did, it could never be near somewhere the parents could find out. The teenagers may not have held a grudge against each other, but as far as their parents were concerned, they had to pay for the sins of the father.
"Hi gorgeous," Danny whispered, getting off his bike and greeting her with a quick kiss. "Need help finishing that?"
He was pointing to the pack of fries she'd bought from the drive thru on the way over.
"Please. My mom expects me to finish dinner when I get home. I can't be full."
"Cute," he grinned, stealing some fries. "I see you got the car. Your brother didn't give you a hard time about coming over?"
She remained silent.
"Ah, he doesn't know."
When she didn't say anything again, he put aside his helmet and pulled her close, his arms on her waist. She found herself winding her arms around him in return.
"How much longer, Danny?" she whispered, asking the same question over and over again. "How much longer do we pretend this doesn't exist."
"Baby, you know that's out of my hands. I can't do shit. The only reason your brother hasn't killed me is because you're keeping his secrets. And if my mom ever knew, she'd put a bullet in you before you said hello."
He didn't sugarcoat it, didn't pretend she had a chance of being in his home. Instead, he let her have the truth and pulled her close for comfort.
"Let's face it, Gi. If your dad doesn't kill me for who I am, then he'll kill me for other things."
She didn't need to say it. They both knew the harsh truth. It hadn't been all that scandalous for them to date when they'd started seeing each other in the beginning of February. Things had been easy. Keeping secrets was new to her and she'd reveled in the thrill. But now, she was tired. And now, she also ran the real risk of not just brothers and dads, but also the police. Everything had changed in April, when Danny turned eighteen. Everything changed because suddenly he wasn't just two years older than her. He was officially an adult and he'd be in big trouble because she was still a minor. It didn't matter if they were both still school kids. Adult meant adult in the eyes of the law. And consent wouldn't mean a damn thing because she was just sixteen.
"I hate this," she mumbled. "I hate having you be my dirty little secret."
"We'll find a way," he said, lightly kissing her. "I promise, we'll find a way. I love you. No matter what happens, I love you, okay? Don't forget it."
She nodded and then let him kiss her. He always said that. No matter what happened, they'd love each other. But even as Gisele let him kiss her and make her forget her troubles, she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever it was that was going to happen, it was going to be soon.