Los Angeles, 1993
"I swear to god, I have never heard so many people talking shit in one tiny bathroom in my life," Mia said to Vince as she sat between him and Leon in the stands, waiting for her dad's last race of the season to begin.
"Well, shit, look at them. They act like no one knows they started hooking up while his girlfriend was in his house." Vince replied, nodding towards Dom and Letty. Dom had his arms wrapped around her waist and she was laughing at something he whispered to her. They both waved happily at Anthony as he got in his car.
"Do people really care that much?" Jesse asked with a shrug, "I know I'm gonna sound like a girl, but they look happy. Shouldn't we just be happy that they're happy?"
"I'm happy that Dom isn't fucking everyone in the neighbourhood before I get a chance," Leon laughed. "Does that count?"
Mia smacked Leon in the back of the head as Dom and Letty came to sit with them, lost in their own world.
Berlin, present
Leon and Letty sat, side by side, on the little bit of sidewalk surrounding the tiny Checkpoint Charlie building. The checkpoint's staff, two actors dressed in MP uniforms, nodded at them as they went in the building for their break. They had seen the pair there every couple of weeks for the past six months – they never did anything, never talked to anyone. They just hung out for a while, always together, never saying much. The two men had just poured themselves a cup of coffee when the phone rang.
Leon listened as the worker who answered the phone realized that the person on the phone did not speak German.
"Lett, listen," Leon told Letty, nudging her in the ribs as the man who answered the phone passed it to the other employee, who spoke English:
"Buddy this isn't an answering service, it's a museum," he said to the person on the other end of the phone. "Okay, okay, fine. Jesse Cross. Yeah, I've got the number, but it's an open air museum, man. I can't just make a PA announcement for the guy." He rolled his eyes at his coworker as he listened for a few more seconds. "No problem, buddy, good luck."
Letty and Leon looked at each other, wide eyed. Jesse had been dead for ten years but Leon's fists were still clenched and every muscle in his neck was strained as soon as he heard his name.
"Someone knows we're here, we need to go," Letty whispered.
"Wait," Leon said, holding her arm so she would stay sitting, "we need that phone number. Come on, Lett, you can't tell me you don't wanna know who it is."
"I know who it is and so do you. Now let's get the fuck out of here before he shows up," she whispered, louder than before, as she pulled her arm away.
Leon nodded wordlessly as they both stood up and hurried down the street to their Mercedes M-Class SUV. As he pulled into traffic and drove out of the city, towards the Czech border.
Los Angeles, 1993
Mia and Letty dropped their pile of shopping bags in the middle of the living room floor and flopped on the couch.
"I am never shopping with you again. There are four dollars left in my friggin bank account," Letty said to Mia, shaking her head. "What the hell am I going to do with all these clothes anyway?"
"You wear them, idiot," Mia laughed, chucking a pillow at Letty's head. "Do you forget how? My gross brother has that effect."
Letty started to laugh but stopped when she heard someone else giggle, followed by Dom's own quiet laughter.
"That he fucking does," Letty said as she hurried up to his room, taking the stairs two at a time.
Mia was right behind her as she whipped open the door. Dom's eyes flicked between the blonde on her knees in front of him and the dumbfounded look on Letty's face.
"Are you fucking kidding me Dominic!" Letty yelled, recovering first. She was across the room in seconds, pulling the blonde across the floor by her hair as Dominic hurriedly zipped up his pants.
"Baby stop," he pleaded as she climbed on top of the screaming girl, covering the floor in blood when she broke her nose.
Vince grabbed Letty around the waist and pulled her, kicking and screaming, off of the girl and into his own room. It took him and Jesse both to hold her down until she stopped fighting them and curled up on his bed, sobbing quietly.
Berlin, present
Dom stared at the silent cellphones lined up on the coffee table of Han's hotel room. He was sure Letty would get his message, but shook his head at his assumption that she would call. If she had been hiding this long why would she just call?
"She had to have stayed near that pub," Han said, guessing at his thoughts. "Let's go check out some hotels."
It took Giselle about a minute and a half of flirting to get Letty's room number from the desk clerk at the fourth hotel they tried.
"They checked out this morning, sorry sweetheart," the desk clerk said with a smile as he typed.
Giselle smiled sweetly and started to turn away as soon as she saw Han grab the master key off of a desk in the office.
"Wait, they?" Dom interrupted with gritted teeth, "who was she with?"
"Look, man, I'm not supposed to give out guest information. She was with some guy but that's really all I can tell you," he said before retreating into the office to avoid more questions.
"422" Giselle whispered to Han as she took Dom's arm and nudged him back out the front door. She glimpsed over her shoulder at the lobby before the three of them circled around to the back alley. They slid in a back door when one of the housekeepers went out for a smoke, found a staircase and hurried up to the fourth floor.
They quietly let themselves in to room 422 and started to look around. As he walked into the room Dom's knees went weak. Any doubt he had about Letty being alive disappeared as he inhaled her smell.
Dom went through the drawers in the bedroom as Han and Giselle searched the living room for any indication of what Letty was up to. All they found were receipts from a corner store and empty takeout containers on the counter until Giselle opened the fridge.
"She has serious nutrition issues," Giselle whispered to Han, "take out and nothing in the fridge but beer? She's like a boy."
Han chuckled softly as he picked up the Corona bottle but frowned when he noticed the number on the bottom.
"Hey, Dom? Does the number 906 mean anything to you?" he called out.
Los Angeles, 1993
Dom walked into the kitchen and interrupted Mia doing her homework at the kitchen table.
"Where's Letty?" he asked her "she wasn't at the garage today."
"It's Saturday, Dom. She isn't on the schedule for today," Mia told him without looking up from her book.
"It's Letty, Mia. She's there every day."
"Yo, Mia!" Leon said, laughing as he walked into the kitchen, not noticing Dom standing beside the microwave. "You could have told me you were in here! I just went to get you and Letty's fucking some guy in your guys' room!" As soon as the last word was out of his mouth he turned and walked straight into Dom. "Shit, sorry brother. I, uh… Mia?"
"Don't even think about it, Dominic," Mia scolded her brother as his fists clenched. "She's not your girlfriend anymore."
"She's right, brother," Leon said, nodding "You two are friends now, remember? You can't lose your shit over someone sleeping with your friend."
"Besides, Dad was pissed about the blood all over your floor. How about we keep it to one random with a broken nose… it can be my Christmas present, since you sure as hell didn't clean that mess up," Mia added.
Dom turned, punched a hole in the drywall above the microwave, and walked out the back door.
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