Chapter 21-Step Off
"Girl, what are you doing back? You just left twenty minutes ago." Tempest asked Tiffany at the Toretto house. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, sitting by Leon, who had his arm around Tempest.
"What the hell are you doing with him?" Tiffany retorted as she flew up the stairs.
"Just feelin out the crew, Girl." Tempest smiled mischievously.
"Crew?" Dominic scoffed. "This is a team. My team,not a crew, not a gang. A team you're not part of." His dark eyes stared hard at her, untrusting. Brian passed by Dominic and went upstairs after Tiffany.
"Thought you had to go on a trip?" Brian leaned against the doorframe. Tiffany was franticly searching for something in her dresser drawers.
"I forgot something" She said, not stopping her search. "It's business." She said, exasperated.
"It's always business. Always slippin off, sneakin around, and never telling anyone what or where you're going." Brian ran a hand through his hair and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Since when did you become my keeper? Brian, you trying to accuse me of something? You got balls. Step up and say it." She stopped, angry now.
"I'm just tryin to understand why you can't tell me. Why you hide everything." Brian stammered. "Give me a break, please." His blue eyes were pleading. "My sister's missing…I don't know what to do. He could be killing her right now and we would never even know…she could already…" Brian sat down and his voice trailed off.
"I'm outta here. I am done. I don't need your shit." Tempest stood up. She and Dominic had waged war and she had had enough. Dominic took this to be a victory, he had won.
"Where are you going?" Tiffany demanded, behind her childhood friend.
"He's being an ass. Girl, he doesn't want me here. I'm out. Peace." Tempest shook her head stubbornly.
"You CANNOT leave this house. We discussed this already, so put your bullshit aside and deal. You promised me." Tiffany reminded her. She turned to Dominic. "Quit trippin on my girl. She came to help us, not bring out the jackass in you." Tiffany pointed at her friend. Dominic tried to keep a straight face.
"You always amaze me." Dominic sighed. Tiffany walked to the door for a second time.
"Dom, you better check your boy that is upstairs." Tiffany ordered and vanished.
"If you got such a problem with us, Tempest, why ya stayin?" Vince challenged. He had came through the back door earlier and loved to give new people a hard time. He was trying to set her off.
"I don't break promises but I do break faces." Tempest threatened, her dark eyes sizing Vince up.
"Back off, Vince. After all, she is Tiff's homegirl." Dominic sighed.
"You know, Vince, Tiff and Tempest could both kick your ass." Brian walked down from the stairs. Hours later, he walked into the living room to talk to Dominic. He was deep in thought, Dominic could tell, by his expression. "Do you really trust Tiff?" He asked. "Is it possible she could be on his side?" He was starting to doubt everything.
"Of course I trust her. You just have to learn not to ask questions. If I wanted to try and understand her, I'd be trying to talk to Tempest." Dominic advised, nodding in her direction. He looked at Tej and Roman. Both of them were on their cell phones. Vince was asleep upstairs. Leon and Jesse were outside showing Tempest their cars.
"Who's car would this be?" Tempest studied Leon's car. "Nice. Skyline. Not as good as the R34 model, but it's cool. 2.6 L straight six. Yeah, nice." Tempest concluded skeptically , looking at the Nissan GT-R.
"You know it's the bomb. Don't even play it like that." Leon folded his arms. Tempest did her best to hide her smile, knowing she had ruffled his feathers. Paybacks were a bitch.
"You don't know me well enough to know what I know." Tempest smartly remarked. She looked under the hood of Brian's Toyota Supra 2JZ while Jesse was checking her engine out.
"I'm workin on that part." Leon grinned.
"She knows her shit, bro." Jesse looked at Leon and confirmed with a nod of approval.
"Yes, I do, thank you." Tempest sat on top of her car. "Back to business. I need to find out who to talk to about Jordan. Just things about her." She said, watching Leon sweat in the hot sun. His body looked good, she had to admit. They both pointed towards the house, indicating Dominic. "No, hell no. Not that ass." She flipped her hair off of her shoulders.
"That would be her boyfriend." Jesse nodded. "I hope she's ok." He leaned back on the hood of Leon's car, again thinking of Jordan.
"I'm going, I'm going." Tempest muttered, jumping off the car and heading inside. "Dominic!" She yelled.
"I'm in the living room." He called back, not moving.
"Yo, I need to know some stuff about your girl if I am going to help you." Tempest informed Tiffany's friend.
"What do you wanna know?" Dominic asked, not even looking up. He wasn't in a good mood.
"What she looks like. Phone numbers, anything. Try to help me here." Tempest sighed, forcing herself to sit beside the guy she considered to be arrogant.
"He's not in a good mood right now." Letty scowled.
"Neither am I . That would make it two of us, then." Tempest replied, rather coolly. "And I'm not leaving, so get used to it quick." She smiled sarcastically. Letty faked a smile back and rolled her eyes. Dominic clasped his hands together while resting his elbows on his knees. He used those hands to hide his smile. This girl had game and wasn't afraid to use it.
"Whatever. I'm leaving. Call if I can help." Letty stomped out, knowing she had been shut down.
"I'm going nuts." Dominic admitted flatly and in a low voice.
"I can understand." Tempest said sympathetically. "Her name is Jordan, right?" She asked, her tone softening. Dominic nodded and handed her a picture Brian had taken of her. "Wow, she's pretty. Not the kind of girl I'd expect you, a racer, to be with. She has Brian's eyes for sure, though." She noted, studying the picture.
"She's so sweet and innocent. She has this… smile that lights up the room. She always smiles. And she makes all of us crack up, like really hardcore." Dominic laughed sadly. "I can't bear to loose anyone else." He admitted and then coughed.
"She sounds cool.. I guess you do have a heart." Tempest attempted to joke, hoping to lighten the mood.
"Don't tell anyone or I'll have to kill ya." Dominic tried to sound serious. Tempest took him confiding in her as a sign that she had earned his respect.
"Tempest, can I talk to you?" Brian walked in. Tempest studied his face. That's how she was. Ice had taught her that. She studied people, tried to get into their heads, and then usually used it to her advantage. His face wasn't clean shaven as usual and he was looking rough.
"What sup?" She asked, scooting over on the couch closer to Dominic, so he could sit down.
"Can you please tell me what Tiff is doing? Cause I am about to head over to Tran's side and just start searching." He confessed, pacing.
"Won't do you a damn bit of good." Tempest shook her head.
"She's right, Brian. They would take you out or some shit like that. That is the last thing we need right now." Dominic agreed. Tempest looked at him amazed he was siding with her.
"She's probably already dead." Brian paced faster. He couldn't handle the thought of his sister being kidnapped by Johnny Tran. He walked over to the phone and answered it.
"What else you got?" Dominic whispered to Tempest.
"Huh?" She asked, watching Brian to see if it was anything relating to Jordan.
"Sedative, tranquilizer. Something to knock him out." Dominic asked. "He's gonna go do something stupid or I'm gonna go off on him. He's workin on my nerves." Dominic informed her.
"I see." Tempest nodded and got up and headed for her car. She got her purse and went into the kitchen. "Here, Brian. Your throat sounds dry." She handed him a glass of coke and her 'medication' she had gotten for him.
"You didn't tell them I was here, did you?" Ice asked Tiffany across town. She was at her house, one she hadn't told anyone about, that she kept for business. Her and Ice were sitting at the kitchen table discussing where Jordan might be. Ice's friends were spread out around the house, working on tasks Tiffany had assigned to them. "Did you get footage from the police station?" He asked as he studied phone records.
"Yeah, she's on the tape. They had her." Tiffany sighed and handed Ice a glass of iced tea she had made.
"If she is alive, she won't be for long." Silk, one of Ice's homeboys, voiced his opinion.
"Shut up. I ain't got time for your fuckin comments." Tiffany snapped.
"She doesn't wanna hear that, Silk." Ice frowned, pointing to the other room without Tiffany seeing. He rolled his eyes and walked out cockily. "How's my girl doin?" He asked, typing on his laptop.
"You're girl? You don't have a 'girl'." Tiffany replied coolly, not looking up. He should have known not to go that route.
"Tempest." Ice leaned back in his chair and stretched. Tiffany laughed shrewdly.
"Ha. That's funny, Ice." Her eyes narrowed. "You gave her up. Remember the whole jackass trip you were on? Yeah, the one where you decided she was more like a sister than 'your girl'." She folded her arms.
"Damn. You are bitchy. How is she?" He said, automatically regretting his words. He knew she was stressed out and under pressure.
"She's cool, like always. She's at Dom's house. Looked like Leon was taking interest in her." Tiffany stopped pouring over her paperwork and examined one of her nails critically.
"He's not good enough for her." Ice objected, frowning.
"Jealous are we? Hmmm." Tiffany raised an eyebrow and hid her grin.
"Does she know I'm in town?" Ice tried to play his question off like it was no big thing to him, but Tiffany knew him better than that. Tempest and Tiffany were about the only things that could get to him or bother him. He defended them almost to the point to where it could be considered a fault.
"I forgot to mention it to her." Tiffany sighed, jumping as another guy walked up behind her and put his cold hands on her.
"Hey, Tiff, when we gonna go out?" The guy asked, checking her out. She was dressed in a white silk track suit. Her dark comp lection contrasted nicely with the white, sporty track suit number. That was her style. She always wore jerseys, track suits, and occasionally dresses for special occasions. Her addias shoes were white with silver stripes that matched the silver logo on the track suit itself. Her long hair was thick and wavy. The guy licked his lips as though she was something to eat.
"When you gonna get a life and realize I'm not?" She fired back. Ice had started to get up defensively but Tiffany had her hand on his shoulder before he had even gotten up from the chair. She knew him well enough to predict what he would do.
"Anything yet?" Tej walked in from going to the store back at the Toretto house. He saw Brian passed out and looking quite peaceful. "How the hell is he able to sleep?" He asked, knowing how upset and nervous Brian had been.
"It's called a Tempest Tottie." Tempest shrugged, referring to her mixture with an evil smile.
"I've heard of a hot tottie drink, but….Ohhhh." Tej started but stopped once he caught on. He had never drank a hot tottie before (as they had called it in his younger days) but he got what she had done.
"Watch it or she'll give you one." Dominic tried to grin. His heart wasn't there. As he watched the clock tick by, he knew Jordan's chances were ticking away as well.