Chapter Three
Yo, Where the Party

Nate, Brian, Dom, and Kate walked into the house. They were immediately bombarded by loud music and liquor.

"Where ya been, buddy?" Vince asked, hooking an arm around Dominic.

"Why is it that whenever I get caught by the police, you're always here?"

"Don't know. Maybe 'cause I know when to get my ass out of a bad situation." He received a cold glare from Dom. "Hey, at least you'd know where to find me so I can come bail you out."

"Thankfully, Kate here distracted the cop long enough for us to get away." After a quick introduction to Mia, Brian was pulled upstairs. Nathan and Vince moved to talk to some partiers, leaving Dom and Kate.

"C'mon," Dom prodded, walking to the kitchen where there were less people. "You want a beer?"

"No thanks."

"You even twenty-one yet?"

"Twenty-two, actually."

"So, why did you decide to move here?"

"I worked at my dad's shop, but he's retiring early. He gave me the business, but other than that, there's no reason for me to stay. Actually, I really needed to get away from there for a little while. I may go back and open up again, but I'm fine here right now. What about you?"

"I've lived here my whole life. Me and Mia have known Vince and Letty since we all were kids. Then Leon and Jesse started coming around years ago. And Brian showed up two years ago. How do you know Nolans?"

"He's my ex. We broke up two months ago."

"Why were you so mad that we tied?"

"A tie means absolutely nothing. It's irrelevant. I like to win, and I don't even mind losing much to someone better than me. But ties don't prove anything. If you would've held off half a second on that charge, you'd have had me."

"If I had held off for half a second, you woulda beat me."

"The chances for you winning were better than you losing. It would have been a risk, but it might have been worth it."

"Hardly anything is worth a loss, especially on my first day back. Now, down to business. When you gonna paint my car?"

"Neither of us won the bet."

"Both of us won. You owe me a paint job, I owe you a favor."

"Let's see the car." He led her to the garage, and heard her take a breath when she laid eyes on the Charger. "What happened?"

"Raced into a semi."

"Well, you've fixed the body nicely. It's just the mix of metal and paint and welding. What color?"

"It was originally black." She ran her eyes over his clothes and sighed.

"Black is not a color, it's a shade along with gray and white. And here you have my talents at your request, why would you just go with black? It seems like a waste."

"What would you suggest?"

"Well, it really depends on what I start with. Tell you what, give me time to get settled in and set up shop, and I'll paint your car. In the meantime, you decide what you want: colors, details, all of it."

"Once you get settled, you can set up at my shop. You got a portfolio?"

"Of course, why?" she questioned.

"Since you're going to be here a while and I could always use some help around the shop, I was thinking of maybe hiring you."

"What makes you think I want to work for you?"

"You sayin' no?"

"No, but I was just wondering why you are so sure that I would say yes."

"One: you need a job. Two: what else you got to do?"

"You free tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Come over, and I'll let you have a look at my portfolio." They both looked to the door when they heard a throat clear. Letty stood there, not looking the least bit happy. Kate sensed that this was something between the two of them and excused herself.

"I'm gonna have to go, my dad wants me to call him and tell him how the race went. Bye."

"Goodnight, Kate. See ya tomorrow," Dom called to her retreating figure.

"You too," she threw back over her shoulder. As she walked out the front door, she snatched a bit of Brian's conversation. Apparently, he had come back downstairs and was recounting some tale to the man in a wheelchair.

"...And so the cop looks at Dom and says, 'You a female impersonator, son?' I thought I was going to die right there..."

"What was that all about?" Letty demanded as soon as Kate of out of hearing range.

"What?"

"You just gonna give her my job?"

"I'm not giving her your job. You mostly do body work and mechanics. There's room for someone like her here. She'll eventually start painting again, and I'd much rather have her painting cars under me than taking customers from me."

"No, you'd just rather have her under you," she shot the caustic remark at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Letty wasn't so sure of herself now, but she would not back down.

"Who was it that ended our relationship? Who was it that said that they 'fell out of love?' That was you, Letty. You got what you wanted. So don't get jealous if I happen to get friendly with another girl."

-----

Kate hadn't been lying exactly when she said she needed to call her father. Wayne MacNeal had told her to give him a call later that night, but he didn't know about the race. Kate was his baby and he worried about her, that was all.

"Hi, Daddy," she said.

"Hey, Kitty. Did you get moved in all right?"

"Yeah. I still haven't unpacked everything yet, but I kinda have a job interview tomorrow."

"So soon? But I thought you wanted to relax a little first."

"Well, that was before I found out who lives next door. Oh, Daddy, you'll never guess who Nate's neighbor is."

"Tell me."

"Dominic Toretto!" she gushed. "I can't believe that Nate never told us." The MacNeals were a racing family. Wayne did his share of legal and illegal racing when he was younger. He had even raced on the same circuits as Dom's father, before Toretto's tragic end. "Anyway, we kinda had a race-"

"Katelynn Marie MacNeal, I thought I told you to take it easy. That brother of yours is supposed to be keeping an eye on you. Did you at least win?"

"Ugh, no. We tied. Can you believe it? We tied. But, at Dom's party-"

"Dom's party?! You raced and then you went partying?"

"Dad, would you stop interrupting me? Yeah, I went to a party Dom was throwing. He has a car he wants me to paint, which was at his house, which happened to be where the party was at too. It's this old Charger, and I can't wait to get my hands on it."

"Kitty, promise me you'll take it easy. Every white hair on my head can be attributed to you or your brother. Don't race too much okay, especially now."

"Okay, Daddy. Guess what else. Micheal races here."

"That good-for-nothing bastard... Did you at least kick his ass?"

"Oh yes, ass was severely kicked."

"All right, darlin', that's my girl. We both need to be going to bed, goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Daddy."