A/N: I cannot THANK YOU ENOUGH! For all the love and support of this story. Like I said, I love the reviews (special thanks to those who do review faithfully) but I'm SO THRILLED to know that over 1614+ people have read my story in the past 4 days! That's 403 people a day, and 16 people an hour. I know those stats may be small for some writers, but it's HUGE for me! I also want to thank everyone who's done as I requested by adding me to a follow/like/favorite lists-those numbers are also climbing every day! I'm so humbled, thank you again.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Fast and Furious franchise.
2nd Quarter Mile, Chapter 4: Misaligned
Letters From LOPAC- First 6 months of imprisonment.
Letty,
Make sure Mia pays the cable and light bill.
Tell Vince to go ahead and pay the mortgage. I have some extra money in the usual spot- and call in the order for the grocery store. I forgot again.
Dom.
Dom,
Well it's good to hear from you too asshole. Mia restocked the fridge and we already paid the mortgage. The inventory order was put in 3 days ago, but we need some money to pay for a new generator...
Vince said the garage is getting decent business, and I finally got hired at Harry's so we'll have some steady money coming in.
How are you holding up? You're missed man. Hector told me he'd look out for us- he said he had some street races coming up and it's a 2g buy in. I almost have enough- I sold my car, this burro tried to rip me off but I got 1500$ for it, and I get paid this Friday. With any luck, they'll be racing for pinks.
Wish me luck.
Letty.
Letty,
YOU SOLD YOUR CAR?! The hell is wrong with you?! And you better not be street racing! I'll kill Hector! I swear to GOD I WILL. I had enough money to pay the mortgage, and VINCE was supposed to handle the rest. I'll tell my guy Reese to fix the generator again. I'm serious Letty. I don't want you racing. Having a second job is too much. Working at the garage is enough, let alone Harry's. Tell Vince to call me.
Don't piss me off!
Dom.
Dom,
You don't own me! I wanted another job. What I do with my car is my damn business. Besides i can beat these bums, man! We need the money to keep up the store, house and garage. Family sticks together.
You're missed-still.
Letty.
Letty,
You're Not family! None of this is really your business so please, just do what the hell I ask you to do and nothin' else.
Dom.
Letty,
What I said was fucked up. I'm sorry. If you hadn't of taken that wrench from my hands, I'd probably be serving a life sentence. You've done so much already and I appreciate it, but I don't want you giving up your life for me. And I damn sure don't want you racing. Vince said you haven't been over to the house in weeks and Mia has already called, bitching me out. I miss hearing from you.
Dom,
P.S. Don't up-shift so early in the final quarter mile.
Dom,
They unofficially announced Julian dead today-still no body, but they found his dog tags. Mom let me keep them. She wants to move to Mexico.
I won a few races and the generator is fixed. Mortgage is paid for the next six months and I put flowers on Arian's grave...Mia wasn't up to it.
Letty.
Letty,
Marry me.
Dom.
Dom didn't look back as the Lopac prison facility gates closed behind him. He wasn't Going back. Come hell or high water.
He looked around, slightly pissed. Vince was supposed to be here. As if to adhere his demand, Vince pulled up, two hot babes in the car and music blaring.
"Welcome home brother!" Vince greeted from the convertible.
"That's more like it." Dom mumbled to himself with a smirk.
The welcome home party was wild. Vince introduced Dom to the new guys who showed up. "This is Leon, Jesse." Vince said, taking a swig of beer.
"What's going on brother!" Leon greeted him with a corona. Dom liked him already.
The kid Jesse was a bit thwacked but after some quick computer talk, Dom knew he'd be an asset more than a liability.
Mia parted the crowd and gave her brother the biggest hug. Dom held her as she cried, knowing it was hard on her.
"We're having a huge dinner tomorrow, so get your whore fever over now." Mia told him, wiping away her tears.
" No disrespect sister, but He just got out! We don't want to kill the guy!" Leon joked about her culinary skills.
Dom would have punched him for that remark but Mia rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder, Vince snickered.
Clearly they had bonded while he was in the pin. So he let it go.
Vince proved to be his best friend by inviting the Tran sisters and the new girls from the Hills.
The party was still going on around 2 in the morning. Dom made his way to the garage to get a bit of air.
The garage light was open, and there was a figure in the shadows, bent over an engine, singing under her breath. A pair of tan dickies and striped boxers.
Dom could hear the clicking of the wrench tightening the bolts on the car. He watched as Letty emerged from underneath the hood. She wore a gray sports bra, her hair pulled all to one side, Greece under her fingernails.
After the first six months of his imprisonment, he hadn't heard from her. Mainly because he never sent that last letter, and refused any more outside communication.
They had a thing before his dad died and now, he wasn't sure where they stood. Almost like it was tainted.
Letty wiped her hands with a work towel and closed the hood of the car. Feeling there was someone watching her, she glanced over her shoulder. Raising a brow she muttered without much enthusiasm, "Welcome home."
"You don't sound too thrilled." Dom replied, folding his arms.
"Believe me; I'm all tickled inside." Letty grumbled, before throwing the rag into dirty wash bin.
"Why aren't you inside?" Dom asked lamely for lack of anything better to say. He'd never been one for over the top declarations of love, and neither had she.
Letty smirked. "As irresistible as booze and skanks are, Mr. Pearson will be back for his car in the morning, and I had to finish some work on it. Besides... they're here for you, not me."
He glanced to see the extra tags on her neck, his eyes met hers. "Sorry to hear about Julian."
Letty tried shrugging it off but Dom saw right through the facade. She was hurt over the news.
"I…I always believed he was dead, I was holding on for my mom...but knowing is a bitch." Letty said quietly.
Dom nodded in understanding. " Yeah, it is. Appreciate the flowers." He'd visited his father's grave just this afternoon. He'd known she'd been there.
Without much else to say she sighed. "No problem. I'm gonna take off. I'll let you get back to your skank fiesta."
She made her way past him, only for Dom to grab her waist, stopping her mid stride.
"You' were always my girl, you know that." Dom revealed, his timber voice cutting down her inner defenses with one blow.
For a moment, Letty paused, before her skepticism come in. Dom usually only talked like this when he was drunk. He was always staking his claim with her when he was drunk. Usually that claim didn't mean shit in the morning or the next morning, or the morning after that.
"Yeah, I know." she answered automatically, her emotions on the brink of exploding. She didn't feel like entertaining the bullshit, but she hadn't wanted a fight with Dominic on his first night out.
"I know shit has been absolutely cluster fucked ever since..." He tried to find the words, holding her with both arms now.
"You didn't write me back for a year and a half." Letty said. "Not one damn word. I must be that special."
She pushed his hands away from her hips, not wanting to think about her body's natural unbalance without them there. She went to her locker to change her clothes.
Dom took a letter out of his back pocket and fiddled with it. It was the one he never sent- the one asking her to marry him. She had no idea how special she was.
He knew he'd fucked things up with her. And giving her the letter would only add fuel to the flames. He slid it back into his pocket.
Letty then approached Dom, handing him a wad of cash. "That's for the new parts order. Harry's just waiting for your signature. Take care."
And just like that…he'd let her go.
-One Month Later-
Letty awoke from the guest room which had been deemed hers since she was 15. It was around 10AM, knowing everyone else was already up, she knew she'd have the shower to herself.
It had been quite an adjustment after Adrian died-especially with Dom gone. There wasn't any ancient latina music playing, no TV going downstairs, or Mia yelling at her father's off key singing. The house was quiet for a while.
But some things had started to fall back into place. The smell of breakfast had resurrected itself, causing Vince, Jesse, and Leon to wake from the dead. Knowing Mia, she probably made them go wash up first.
Grabbing her underwear, some sweat pants, and a wife beater, she headed down the hall to the shower.
Stripping of her night shirt, she tuned the radio to Adrian's Hispanic classic station. The shower felt amazing after a rough night in the garage bent over car after car for hours on end.
Despite her best intentions, her mind wondered to Dom. He'd been distant ever since his home coming party.
She supposed it was for the best. Things had been….tense since then. Their conversations were arguments, or nothing at all. She mostly worked the late shifts so she wouldn't have to hang around him all day.
Honestly, she didn't know what the hell was his problem. His army of skanks were at the house every weekend, after every race, leaving their putrid odor for the whole of California. Neither of them acknowledged the night they slept together, or his false proclamations of love.
She could blame their recent feud on Vince, Jesse, and Leon. The three stooges revealed to Dom that she'd gotten so drunk at a party, that she'd given the whole racing crowd a table dance. In her defense, it wasn't like she'd planned it. She was drunk, and depressed, and missing Dom.
But the look in his eyes that afternoon, had told her all she needed to know. He'd stared at her like she had every disease known to man, before going off about how her transformation had really gone to her head-on the brink of calling her a slut.
What did he expect? She'd been partying with him and his crew since she was 15, she lost her virginity when she was in Mexico. Not to anyone significant. It was a beach party and she'd gotten drunk and the boy was good looking. Never mind that he was 19 and she'd lied about her age.
She began to sing with the radio, shaving her legs and other fem areas. "Cada vez que lo oigo hablar, me tiembian hasta las piemas, yel Corazon igual…."
She wasn't going to be the next Jennifer Lopez, but she could carry a tune. Continuing to sing, she finished showering, slinging the shower curtain open, only to come face to face with the devil himself…Dom.
A normal girl would scream at her privacy being evaded. A normal girl would have at least covered up. Letty considered herself a cut above the rest.
She watched Dom watch her, his stare freely roaming over her entire body in all its glory. Nothing except her dog tags nestled between her breasts. Letty waited another second before she crossed her arms.
"See something you like?" she snapped, gaining his attention.
"Not lately." He muttered, smirking at her as if she were a child.
"Blow me." Letty sneered. None the less, she reached for a towel, feeling rather uncomfortable in her own skin.
"Been there, done that, moved on." He said casually. Grabbing the tooth paste, he didn't spare her another glance as he left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Clearly she'd misread his interest. He didn't find her attractive, he found her…amusing. For some reason, that cut her deep. She should have known that their one night together hadn't meant shit either. A pity fuck, for the girl with the everlasting crush.
'Fuck him.' Letty thought to herself. She knew she wasn't as girly as Mia, but she did have a great body, and hadn't been insecure about it….until about 10 seconds ago.
Dom sighed as he lay on his bed, hands crossed beneath his head. Something was wrong. Since he'd been out, he'd partied, gotten drunk, fucked nameless girls, bullshitted, and ran the garage.
But the feeling wasn't the same. It wasn't till he walked in on Letty this morning, that he recognized what was off. They were off. It took the will of a God not to bend her over the sink- to play it off, due to his pride.
Every night in Lopac, he dreamed about the way he could best himself when it came fucking her. He missed her body, more than anything he remembers. After he'd gotten out, he hadn't made a move to fix their delicate relationship, or whatever the hell they chose to call it.
He knew he should-he wanted to. But every time he tried, he discovers something new. Something that pisses him off. Something that reminds him that life had continued while he was gone.
He knew he told her that he didn't want her to put her life on hold for him. He lied. He wanted her to wait, just like he had to wait, because he honestly didn't think that there was anyone more worthy of her-not the way he would be. And for her to search, would be pointless.
More than anything, he missed his friend. The friend he'd come to love and respect. The friend who was always on his side, no matter what the risks. Lately, they had been misaligned. An experience that was new and uncomfortable for both of them.
They tip toed around each other at house, barely spoke at parties, and did nothing but fight at Sunday dinners. One fight had gotten so bad, that Letty had went to spend the night with her mother's house.
He never did thank Teresa for signing for temporary guardianship of Mia; saving her from the pain of foster care. Something he knew was only possible because of Letty.
She'd done so much for him, and he wanted her to know that it didn't go unnoticed. He wanted her to know…
'Fuck it.' Dom thought to himself as he rose from the bed. It was time for work. Jesse and Leon were already there, because they had to do inventory.
Work would help him figure out whatever it was that was blocking the bad romance that was him and Letty. Cause sitting here wasn't getting him any damn where.
The garage was doing heavy business this morning. Letty had arrived with Vince, removing her shades as she finished her smart water. Vince had gotten his assignment from Dom and had already gotten to work
She always needed a moment before she entered the garage, mentally preparing herself for the shit storm that was her and Dom. Like clockwork, they got into the stupidest of fights over nothing-just a way to blow off emotional steam from the things that they didn't say to each other.
"Letty, you got number 26-the van." Dom assigned as he came to the doorway to the garage. "I gotta pick up a part." She nodded as he got into his car, and sped off.
Walking into to the garage she made her way to her station. Suddenly, Letty stopped dead in her tracks. That van. She knew that van anywhere. There was a slight dent in the side panel, like last time. The left side view mirror still cracked.
"It got dropped off early this morning. Standard tune-up." Jesse added, as if to reassure her of something. He drank from his soda, and watched her carefully.
Vince eyed Letty as she just gawked at the van, lost in her own world. Something's not right. He thought. Letty's face was void of any expression-blank. Like she had been shot with a horse tranquilizer
Leon came up from behind and smacked her lightly on her ass. "Get to work baby girl!" he joked, but not prepared for what happened next.
Like a match that had been struck to a fuel tank, Letty growled, as she flipped him over her shoulder, grabbing a blow torch that lay on her station counter, putting it within inches of his balls, while her arm leaned heavily on his neck.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Vince shouted as Jessie's eyes grew big as saucers. "What the fuck?"
"HEY", Leon shouted in astonishment. "Jeez baby girl, it was a joke. I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!"
Letty's mind raced and spun, she saw the worry in Leon's innocent gaze, his fear. She'd totally just flipped her shit.
Easing up, she dropped the blow torch as she stood to her feet. Running her hands through her hair, she took a step back and took in a deep breath, before exhaling.
Jesse took a tentative step to towards her, careful not to touch her. "Letty, babe?"
Letty looked at them all wildly- like a wounded and rancorous animal. Leon was still in shock, but he was also bewildered. Vince looked protective and concerned. Jesse looked plain scared and helpless. But they were all confused.
Impulsively, she couldn't breathe. Feeling like she was drowning, she quickly left the garage.
Common sense pleaded with her to get a grip. The garage was overbooked and underhand with mechanics. She couldn't afford to leave them hanging, but she needed to get some air. She didn't spare of look back as all the guys called her name at the same time.
She ran as far as her feet would carry her. Before she knew it, she heading for the ocean.
When she got back home, it was around 1Am. Everyone had gone to bed because they had an early day of work tomorrow, due to her absence. She'd had over 50 missed calls and 90 texts. Half of both were from Mia, others from Vince, Jesse, and Leon. Only one text from Dom, simply asking, 'Why the hell aren't you at work?' Needless to mention, she hadn't responded to any of them.
Letty entered the kitchen to see Dom there, with a Corona, in one hand and his cell phone on the table.
She pretended not to pay him any attention as she heated up her dinner, compliments of Mia. She was starving.
"Want to tell me what the hell that was about?" Dom said casually, as he folded his arms. Letty didn't meet his scrutinizing gaze.
"No." Letty said simply, grabbing her food, and sitting down to eat.
"While you were off bullshitting, I had to fix the other three cars that were on your line up." He told her, pissed off even more as she shrugged.
"I'll pay you for it. I needed to take a day." She reasoned with an expression of nonchalance.
Dom was about to say more, then thought better of it. Fuck it. If she wanted to keep secrets, then that was her own damn business. He didn't feel like arguing.
"Don't miss work again." He warned, and left her alone.
EOC
Trivia: Michelle Rodriguez actually does sing karaoke.
A/N: R&R…or like, follow, or add. Thanks again for everyone's interest. I cannot express how happy it makes me. This may chapter may have upset some people, because it seems like all they do is fight. I like the 2nd Quarter chapters because we get to see the development of characters after Lopac. This chapter may be the shortest chapter in the story- I figured we could all use a break after chapter three was so long.
-R.
