Ash's POV

A few weeks passed and I had not heard from Johnny or seen anything out of the normal. It was almost like a bad dream that had never happened. Today Rome and I were at the farmers market. He was off trying to haggle some strawberries down to a cheaper price for us while I wondered the flowers market a block away from him.

"Oh I am so sorry!" Someone had bumped into me and dropped all the flowers she had in her hands. I smiled and leaned down helping her gather them up.

"No worries, these flowers are beautiful," I commented seeing all the white roses she had.

"Thanks! I just moved here, trying to fill our little shack on the beach in Darwin."

"I live out that way too, what a small world. Are you from the states?" I asked not detecting any type of accent.

"Yeah I am! I grew up in California before I got relocated to Tokyo my senior year of high school with my dad and I have kind of just been a citizen of the world since I graduated forever ago," she explained.

"Wow no way I grew up in California too! That is so crazy." I took a moment to really look at her now, she looked similar to age as me. She was a little shorter than I was, light brown hair that looked to have some blonde undertones. She was very pretty, striking eyes appeared to be in good shape her shirt was tied back and showing off her stomach and I could see an outline of some shallow abs.

"I am Ray," she extended her hand for me to shake.

"Ash," I replied.

"Here is my address if you ever want to stop by for a drink my other half is never home he travels all the time and does not care to socialize anyways." I took her information and she headed off. Her house was only a few streets down from mine; Rome popped up a few minutes later triumphant with a bag full of strawberries.

"Did you find some flowers you like?" he asked looking disappointed at my empty hands.

"They are all so beautiful I cannot decide!" I joked. Rome looked around the area we were standing in before scooping up a bouquet of sunflowers. We paid and started to walk back to where our scooter was parked. "So I bumped into someone who grew up in California! She was buying flowers and ran into me. She moved into a house like 2 streets down from us, told me to come by for a drink sometime."

"I think that is great, give you someone to spend time with while I am working at night or to do other girl type activities while I work on the car. You are alone too often," he leaned in and kissed the side of my head as we arrived to our scooter. It was an easy ride home.

Kazy's POV

"How did you sleep?" Mia asked coming into her guest room.

"I slept well, happy to have some peace and quiet, Dom never sleeps anymore always so restless and popping up in the middle of the night for no reason." Ever since Ash and Rome had left it was an absolute nightmare it was all Dom was focused on. He and Vince were in Mexico now looking into some leads they heard about and Brian was in Miami for the past 2 weeks talking to old mutual friends. "When is all of this going to end?" I asked her. She dropped her head defeated.

"I have no idea, I pray soon. I have never seen Dom like this and Vince of course is a wreck having no idea where his baby sister is."

"Where do you think they are?" I asked her.

"I have no idea, we have friends all over the world but they must be keeping away from the race scene otherwise we would have heard some kind of noise by now."

"That must be killing Rome." Mia laughed at that and nodded her head.

"I always liked them together but I am not too sure about long term, breaks my heart to say this but Ash does not belong here all this team does is tear her apart she is not cut out for it… but Rome I don't see him staying away. Brian is his oldest friend and racing is in his DNA."

"So you think he will leave her?"

"I think she will probably end up moving on from him and he will return here eventually, no time soon but Rome is one of us," she explained. He absolutely was and she was probably right, we are Rome's family and he will be back eventually but Ash I can't imagine the day she will ever return.

"What do you think Dom will do if he finds her?" I asked, I had been wanting to ask Dom for a while but I was scared of his answer.

"Try and talk some sense into her, put Vince in front of her to play the guilt card. I am not sure, Vince is not above dragging her back but they have to know she would just leave again and that she would be miserable. This life isn't easy and it sure as hell is not for everyone."

"Don't I know it," I agreed thinking of all the tough times we had been through with Rez, Ace in the Dominican and now Vince's baby sister.

"Once they return from this trip I am going to sit Brian down and tell him it is time to move on, and that he needs to talk some sense into Dom and if he can't then we will be leaving until this is all sorted out."

"No! You cannot leave me," I burst. I would be lost if Mia left me and took my brother with her.

"This has been hard on me and Brian and I think Dom would understand and wake up to the fact it is time to move on," she reassured me. I breathed a sigh of relief praying she was right she had been with Dom the longest she would know his reactions the best.

Ash's POV

Just over a week had passed since I bumped into Ray and I was alone on the beach reading while Rome was working. I decided today I would take her up on the offer for a drink. If we were going to be here long term I would need to have some friends besides Rome. I jumped up and headed down the street to where her house was. It was cute and small just like mine. The door was newly painted a bright red. I tapped lightly on the door, there was no car in the drive but they did have a large 2 car garage that was about the size of their house. A few moments later Ray answered the door. She caught me off guard slightly. She had heavier makeup on, a low cut top that exposed her midriff and some small leather shorts.

"Hey Ray, is this a bad time to take you up on that drink?" I asked. She glanced down at herself and laughed.

"Oh no! Come in, I was just bored playing dress up. I swear sometimes I run out of things to do all alone." I walked inside and she showed me where to sit out on the porch swing looking over the ocean. The sun would be setting in the next hour and it was very peaceful. Ray jogged out a few minutes later in some gray sweats and a white clingy tank top, very beachy. She also had a bottle of wine and 2 glasses.

"I hope you like red," she said bouncing to take her seat next to me. She popped the cork out and poured us each a large glass.

"Is there such a thing as bad wine?" I joked. "Your house is really nice, I love that you have a deck, I wish we had room to build one, but I guess the 5 minutes it takes me to walk down to the beach isn't too terrible." She laughed and I took a sip of wine, it was deep and earthy one of the best glasses of red wine I had ever had. "Where is this from?" I asked her.

"I honestly could not tell you, Mo brings me back wine from his travels and I just drink them happily," she explained.

"Oh is Mo your husband?" She had briefly mentioned that she had a significant other who was gone all the time.

"Yeah something like that, we have been together since I was in high school," she explained a large smile across her face.

"How long ago did you move here?"

"Just a few weeks, still getting settled." I glanced around and she did not appear to have anything to settle, her house was simple but homey, a lot of white furniture, I saw she had white roses around the space, the ones she bought from the market I am sure. There were no boxes or any other signs of moving though, it looked like they were plenty settled, and I also noticed there were no picture though, which for a couple who has been together as long as they have been seems odd. "How are you liking it here? Any fun things to do?"

"I spend most of my time on the beach, reading or I work some mornings at a diner in town, but Rome and me try and get out to the farmers market and he likes to work on cars. Otherwise we have not done too much exploring, we are kind of home bodies," I explained. She wrinkled her nose at me and it made me laugh.

"You don't really seem like a home body to me! You just need a new adventure partner," she raised her glass and we clinked before taking large sips. "Do you like to dance?" she asked.

"I do!" I exclaimed, oh man it had been so long since I had been dancing.

"See perfect! I know this really fun spot we can go to, they actually have a super drinks too! We should get dressed up and go! Mo won't be back until tomorrow and you said Rome is working right?" It seemed to escalate quickly but my wine glass was empty and I had not had a real cocktail in months.

"Yes let's do it."

"Perfect!" She grabbed my hand and yanked me towards her closet. It was half the size of her room, and like the rest of the house the majority of the room was stark white with décor.

"How do you keep all this furniture so clean? I would ruin it in a night." I slide my hand over the sheet in amazement.

"Ah it is a challenge but that is how Mo demands it and I find it best to give him what he wants, you know how men can be."

"Rome is the most laid back guy I have ever been with so I guess I am just lucky." I smiled. She handed me a small black dress. Clean and simple just what every girl needs in her closet. I took it and walked into her small bathroom to change. I was grateful the dress fit even though it was a bit shorter than I would normally dress myself. I yanked my hair out of my messy bun and looked over her counter before grabbing some sea salt spray and spritzing it in my hair. I flipped it a few times and walked out to see what she changed into. She kept with her small leather shorts but had changed into a blood red halter.

"Damn girl you look fire," she said handing me another glass full of wine.

"I love that color on you." I sipped the wine again and smiled, it was like nothing I had ever tasted before.

"What size shoe are you? Do you want some heels?" I shook my head.

"No that is alright, I am more of a sneakers girl, if you have a jacket though." I asked feel too exposed. She searched before quickly handing me a red jacket.

"Now we can match," she smirked. She showed me her amazing makeup collection and we finished the bottle of wine glamming up. I had the giggles before we even made it out the door. We walked out to her garage and when I walked inside there was a pickup truck. It was in decent shape though clearly not from this decade or the last, it had some work done to restore it, very beach vibe. I was into it.

"Are you ok to drive?" I asked her, knowing I was absolutely not.

"Oh yes! You drank most of the bottle." I blushed embarrassed I had not even noticed she just always had my glass full. I jumped in and almost died when my favorite Destiny's Child song began playing.

"SHUT UP!" This is one of my favorite songs, it is like we are meant to be friends."

"California girls meant to be, half way around the world." We drove about 20 minutes before she turned the corner and it hit me in the face. It was a race scene. The cars, the girls, and the music. There was no mistaking it, I felt my face get hot and began looking around expecting Dom or Vince to show up. "How much do you know about cars?" She asked all smiles.

I tore my eyes off the crowd and locked with hers. I took an extra moment to look at her deeply, but I had never seen this women in my life. "Not much, but it looks fun." The familiar lights and crowds had my adrenaline pumping and it felt good…

A/N Please let me know what you think and if you have read previous F&F fics of mine hopefully you enjoyed the new characters and will stay tuned to see what is coming and if you have not hopefully you will like the added fun! Please leave a review with thoughts and ideas if you see something I might be missing.