Letty's POV
I woke up in the morning with Dom's body curled around mines protectively. I rolled over to see what he looked like in the morning. He automatically shifted position to accommodate my new position without ever stirring from his sleep. In his sleep he looked peaceful. His body relaxed and his entire face calm. He looked younger in his sleep. More vulnerable.
His eye fluttered open slowly and he grinned when he saw me staring at him. His grin allowed creases to form in the corners of his eyes.
"Morning," he murmured in his gravelly voice which was slightly thick with sleep.
"Morning," I murmured in reply.
He chuckled at me and buried his face into my neck, pressing a soft kiss into curve making me wriggle and incline my face towards his.
"What we gonna do today?" Dom asked me as he rolled over to stare up at the damp spotted ceiling. The room looked even dingier in the open, honest light of day.
I frowned. "What do you want to do?" I didn't really know LA well enough to decide what to do in a day.
"We could go to Hollywood boulevard," he said but his eyes were dancing with laughter.
I screwed up my nose with an innate natural disgust. "And hang out with the rich snobs and skanks? Not a hope in hell."
Dom laughed. "That's my girl."
My girl. I liked how the words fell from his lips with ease. They weren't prepared. They were like a familiar caress. Even though they were possessive, a claim at ownership, after eighteen months of not belonging to anyone or being a part of anything, it was refreshing to be claimed, to belong. I was a feminist but when it came to him I didn't mind being his because he was mine.
An idea struck me. "Take me to three places that are significant to our relationship. You know what I mean? Three places where something changed, started, built on or impacted on our relationship."
Dom nodded at my request. "Okay."
He kissed me gently and we rose from the bed. We freshened up for the day. We grabbed something to eat from a diner nearby. Dom organised for Brian and Mia to collect my car and he took me in his car, the 1970 Charger, and we headed off together.
His first stop was a busy street in LA. He frowned as he got out of the car. His eyes surveying every inch of the packed street. I climbed out, anxious not to miss a second of this. If I loved him the way I knew I did, this would maybe help bring back some memories. I didn't even want everything back now, something would be enough. Anything.
He paced down the street, weaving through the crowd. For a second he forgot I was with him and then stopped abruptly to slip his hand into mines. Then he led me through the crowd, making sure he didn't lose me again.
"Okay, this spot right here," Dom said stopping in the middle of the crowd.
"What happened here?" I asked. It was just a spot on the pavement. What could have happened here?
"See where you're stood right now?" Dom tilted his head in question. "That very spot?"
I nodded eagerly.
"In London I told you you got the scar on your wrist the night of your first street race. You were fifteen. That was the night you and I first got together." Dom smiled at me.
"At the time I was driving a Mk 2 Escort, a sapphire blue one. I was eighteen. I was lined up ready to race, just there," Dom gestures towards the traffic lights just under a quarter mile away. "There was four other guys up against me. All real good, solid racers. I was gunning the engine like the others, preparing myself mentally to beat them all. I glanced to my right and I saw this girl. This beautiful girl. For a long minute all I could think was damn, where have you been hiding? Then I realised it was you. You and Mia had dressed up a little for the races. It was supposed to be a pit stop on your way to a club. You looked beautiful in a little red low cut top, it showed enough to be classy but not enough to stop the mind wondering about what was really hidden underneath. Then these black skinny jeans which showed every beautiful curve and combat boots. You looked incredible Let."
For a second Dom paused, closing his eyes. He must have still been able to see it in his mind. The night, the clothes. The unexpected twist that had happened.
"Something in me shifted. I wanted your attention. I had to get your attention. So I did what was natural. When the race started, I began to show off. My eyes were focused on you though. Not the road in front of me. I lost control of the car and everyone beside you ran. You moved out of the way just in the nick of time. I often wonder if I'd been driving a little faster, would I have hit you?"
I bit my lip, waiting to hear the rest. I couldn't even find a similarity between the girl he was describing in his story and the girl I thought I was.
"I knocked myself out. I couldn't get out of the wreck of the car. In a panic you broke the glass with your fist and dragged me out of the car. When I came around you were I knelt over me, your wrist gushing blood but you were fussing over me. Trying to make sure I was okay. When I looked up at you, I thought I'd died. I reached up to touch your face and I don't know I felt like I'd connected with you in a way I'd never felt connected to anyone else."
I smiled. He was sweet.
"I picked this place because it's the place where I realised that I had feelings for you."
I chuckled and squeezed his hand tightly. "That's nice." It was a limp reply but I appreciated what he was doing.
He nodded and looked up at the cloudy sky.
"Okay, where next?" I asked. He pursed his lips and thought.
He led me back to the car and we headed off to his next place. I could tell it would be a bit more random than here. It made sense to go to where it all began. Where he realised he had feelings for me.
He stopped the car on a peak overlooking LA. From here the bustle and hustle of the city could be forgotten. The world was peaceful here, at one with itself. For a second I forgot why we were here and instead just let myself live in the moment. For those few seconds, it was as though everything stopped. It was like stealing a few moments from someone else's life. Someone else's normal life.
Dom got out of the car and leant against the hood. "This is the spot where we first said I love you."
"Really?" I asked, my tone doubtful.
Dom smiled. "Yeh. We've only said those words about a dozen times but we said them here first."
I shook my head in disbelief. "How did we wind up here?"
At my question he shook his head slightly and smiled with fond remembrance. "My Father's two year anniversary had just passed. It was the nineteenth of March. I'd come up here to escape it all just for a while. Back at the house Mia was just rousing herself from what you called her grieving routine. Mia had taken to her bed for the whole day to sob and eat ice cream from the tub and watch bad movies. You let her do that and brought the garage work to the garage out the back so you could be there for her instead of working in DT's big garage. It was my first year out of prison for my Father's anniversary so I didn't exactly know how to cope..."
He trailed off. Suddenly thoughtful. I leant against the hood of the car beside him. My posture mimicking his. Without thinking I reached out to run my thumb across the back of his hand to comfort him. His lips twitched into a sad smile at my gesture.
"I came up here to think. I must have been gone all day. I just sat up here and thought. Watched the people go by with their lives, wondering if any of them hurt the way I did. Wondering how they coped with it. It was getting dark when you showed up. You climbed out of your Nissan and sighed at me. What was it you said to me?"
He paused for a second. The pace of his story and the magic of his words left me anxiously awaiting the rest.
"So I guess I finally found you... Want to tell me why you're here?" I turned to face you. You were leant against the window of my Mazda waiting with your usual smirk for my answer. I told you I needed time to think, to get away. You agreed. We talked about my Father's anniversary. Then I asked you why you started looking for me. For a second you looked like you'd been caught out. That's when you said because Dom I love you and I'm always going to make sure you get home alright."
Dom was cut off by my sharp intake of breath. That sounded so natural, something that a couple who often said I love you said. It didn't sound like the first time. I could feel the colour rush to my cheeks. I was embarrassed for myself.
"The moment you said it your cheeks turned pink like they have done now," Dom said, touching one of my warm cheeks with his finger. "You were so embarrassed it just fell from your lips without you deciding it. To your utter amazement I told you I loved you too. Then we kissed."
I laughed. "I'm sure we did more than kiss."
Dom laughed in agreement. "Of course we did."
I smiled. "Thank you Dom. I appreciate this so much."
He shrugged. "Let, I'd do it a million times more each time with a different memory if that's what it takes to help you remember. Though I'm wondering why tell you about a million times we've shared together when we can just spend time together and share a million more days together."
I frowned as I considered his words then smiled as they sunk in. He had a point. Why tell me all about the times we've shared when we can just make new memories? I wanted him to tell me about them anyways. I wanted to find the girl I was. The girl he remembered.
"We can do both."
He nodded. "Of course we'll do both."
He took my hand then kissed me lightly. He moved on then. His smile bright and he led me to the passengers side. Opening the door for me with a gentlemanly nature I hadn't known still existed.
He drove back to the house and stopped on the front porch. He sat in one of the wicker chairs and sighed. I sat down beside him.
"It wasn't all beautiful moments. We had our first fight on this step."
"What did we fight about?" I asked.
Dom shook his head. "Our first fight, like fist fight with someone else. You and I went up against Tran and Lance. We'd been together about three years if you count my stint in Lompoc. We'd just started working for Tran and had pulled our biggest haul for him ever. We made an absolute killing from him, taking the cash up front in exchange for the goods. Then instead of actually giving him the goods I sold him empty boxes and other shit in amongst it and sold the big, expensive shit to a better buyer. Made double the money. You hadn't a clue that I'd done the double on him."
Rolling my eyes affectionately I conceded a chuckle. That seemed a very Dom thing to do even now. Make the maximum amount of money.
"The look on your face could have killed someone. You shot me a look, seeing through my immediate lies. Tran threw the first punch. He and I fought then Lance tried to double up on me. Yet he wasn't expecting the force of nature that is Letty Ortiz so when you hit him he couldn't believe the force of your punch. Not even ten minutes later you and I walked back into the house with Tran and Lance racing down the street, their tails between their legs so to speak."
I chuckled. We were idiots.
"Then you turned and looked at me and said, "If you were gonna double cross them I'd have thought you'd at least have told me first." Then you stormed inside, giving me the silent treatment you knew I couldn't handle. Your lip was bleeding and your cheek bruised. I could see your knuckles were split and blackening with a bruise but you walked into the house with your head held high."
I grimaced. That sounded like me. Blood everywhere and me seemingly unconcerned.
"Your pride ended about three minutes later when Mia came home and shrieked at the sight of your face. I'd managed to avoid her but you were in the bathroom, cleaning up and she screamed blue murder at both of us until we told her what happened."
I roared with laughter. "She'd still do the same even now."
Dom nodded. "That's very true."
He shifted and reached out for me. I sat on his lap and we just spent the next hour there watching a few cars pass on the street and a couple of kids play on their bikes. It was peaceful. We didn't speak, we didn't need to, we just sat there and watched as the world passed by.
