Chapter Three
We Are Family
Letty stifled a yawn and stretched herself out against Dom's body. She knew it was early, too early, but her body seemed to want to be up and out of bed. So she did as her mind commanded and left the comfort of Dom's side, heading towards the kitchen to get a glass of water.
The flat was quiet and reminded her of back home. Of course that was last year when Mia was still in high school. She remembered coming downstairs first thing in the morning and the kitchen was silent, because none of the guys were awake and Mia was off at school. Letty would sit at the counter and just stare out the back window, watching the birds flying around the back yard. Usually Jesse would be the first one awake after her and he would come and sit with her in silence.
Looking over, she saw the clock on the microwave read seven-thirty. Man, it really was early. Normally no one woke up that early, not since they went to Mexico anyway. Letty wondered if Davan was awake, because there were some things that she wanted to talk to the girl about.
Why did they all refer to her as a girl? She was obviously at least twenty-one; she had to be in order to buy beer. Right? Or maybe the captain bought her the alcohol. You never knew with people, not that she was going to pass judgment. Not after all that she had been through.
Getting up from the kitchen table, Letty started down the hall towards the master bedroom and saw that the door was open. "Davan?" she called before hesitantly entering the empty room. No one was in the adjoining bathroom either. So where had she gone? She turned around and walked across the hall to the office door. "Davan?" she called, knocking.
Davan must have gone out or something so she gave up her search. She went back to the kitchen to start some breakfast for herself since she figured it would be a while before anyone woke up.
About a half-hour later, Mia came into the kitchen. Letty could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong. "Qué pasa, chica?"
"Brian's gone," she said in a whisper.
"What?"
"All his stuff is gone. He left."
Brian and Davan were both gone? Letty frowned at the thoughts that ran through her head. Why would those two disappear together? That would never happen. Maybe Brian went with her to go pick up some milk or bread or something. Yeah that was it, they went to a store.
"Letty?"
"Yeah, hon?"
"Brian's not coming back," Mia told her, near tears.
"Of course he is, sweetheart," she said, pulling her into a hug. "Him and Davan just went for milk or something."
The other woman gave a coarse laugh before breaking down into tears. "No, they didn't," she said between sobs. "He left last night when we all went to sleep." The last words were drawn out into somewhat of a screech.
"No, Mia, he'll be back. You'll see," Letty told her, unsure of how to handle this situation.
"That's not it at all, Let. He left me, he doesn't love me," Mia said, gripping her tighter. Those were the last audible words spoken before she finally broke down all the way and sobbed on Letty's shoulder.
"Oh man," she grumbled, looking heavenwards. What was she supposed to do? The elevator gate crashed to the floor and Letty sighed in relief; Brian and Davan were finally back. "Come on, Mia. They're back." She began dragging her best friend into the living room. "See?"
But the only thing she saw was Davan, looking pretty hot and sweaty, and Dangerous, panting like, well, a dog. Where was Brian? Her heart dropped. She had been wrong. What would Mia think now? She began to drag Mia back into the kitchen when she heard Davan ask, "What's wrong? Is she alright?"
"Does she look alright?" she hissed at her.
"Sorry I asked," Davan said, holding up her hands and breathing heavily. Where had that girl been to make her breath so hard?
"Mia, just sit here," she said, sitting the poor girl at the kitchen table. "I'm gonna go have a talk with our...Hey look, V's up. Vince sit with her?" Letty looked at V who seemed still half asleep. "I'm gonna go talk with Davan."
"What's going on?" he asked, scratching his head. One look at Mia and he was wide-awake. "Mia, what's wrong?" Letty heard him ask before she walked out.
She walked down the hall that Davan walked down a little while ago; she needed to have a talk with her. Catching their lovely, home wrecking hostess, she slammed her, face first, against the closest wall.
"I'm only going to ask this once, Letty: what the fuck do you think you're doin'?" she asked, turning to face her.
Letty's hands stayed on the girl's shoulders, keeping her back against the wall. "Where the fuck is Brian?"
"What! You slam me against a fucking wall to ask where Brian is? How the Hell should I know?" Davan placed her own hands on Letty's shoulders and tried to push her back, but she didn't budge. "Letty, I don't want to hurt you so just let me go!"
As out of line as she knew she was, Letty still refused to move a muscle. "Where the Hell did you go?"
"I went for a friggin' jog! Is that such a bad thing? I haven't seen Brian since last night," she said, trying to shove her again.
"Bull shit!"
Just then Mia walked in, Vince right next to her with his arm over her shoulders. "Letty! Leave her alone! She really doesn't know where Brian is, because he left, all on his own, and he isn't coming back!"
"Piece of shit!" Vince grumbled.
"What do you mean, Mi?" she asked, still keeping Davan pinned to the wall.
"He left me, Let. That's what I've been trying to tell you. We had a talk last night and he left while everyone was asleep."
Letty looked over at Davan and slowly dropped her hands, smiling apologetically at the pissed look on the other woman's face. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. And she had little time to react to the fist that came flying at her, knocking her to the ground. The girl shook her head in disgust and walked into her room, closing the door behind her. "Did she just hit me?" she asked, her voice cracking on the last word. "Ow."
"Did you just slam her into the wall?" someone's deep voice asked. She looked up to see Dom walking down the hall. He must have been woken up by all the commotion and he looked pissed too. Oops.
Sheepish was not the word to describe how she was feeling right now. "Maybe," she told him, standing up and dusting herself off.
"So then maybe she just hit you."
"And maybe you deserved it," Vince said.
"What's the matter with you, Mia?" Dom asked, rubbing a hand over his head.
"The Buster ran out on her," Vince filled in for her.
Automatically, Dom straightened up and growled. "What?"
"Brian's gone, Dom," Mia finally said, taking a deep breath.
"Mia, Letty, you two stay here. V, get Jesse and Leon up, we're hunting that asshole down."
"No, I told him to leave. There is no need for a hunt down, really." Mia said.
"What are you so upset about then? Why didn't you tell me that this morning?" Letty frowned at her best friend. She had just assaulted the one person that was giving them shelter and food, for nothing. If Mia wouldn't have left out those few details she wouldn't have shoved Davan into a wall and she wouldn't have gotten socked in the jaw.
"I couldn't get it out. Sorry. It's not like I wanted him to leave. He just made it clear that he was going back to LA and I refused to go with him. So I told him to get out, because I didn't want to be around someone who wanted me to even consider leaving my family behind."
-----
Leon shook the sleep out of his head and stood from the couch. He looked around and decided to go where all the noise was. What was going on down the hall? Slowly, he came up beside most of the team - Jesse was still sleeping - and frowned. Why did V have his arm around Mia? And why was Mia allowing V to have his arm around her?
"What's going on?" he asked, pulling at the collar of his shirt and scratching his collarbone.
"Long story," Dom said, turning to face him. "Go get Jess up, we're having breakfast and showering.
"I'm first for the shower," Letty spoke up, pushing her way past them.
"Woe, Let, what the Hell happened to your face?"
She sighed and continued walking down the hall, throwing her hands into the air in a frustrated manner. "Davan clocked her," Dom filled him in.
Leon frowned and shook his head. "Why?"
"She smashed her into the wall."
"Why?"
"She thought that she and Brian had, well, you know-"
"Why?"
"The Buster left and Davan went for a jog."
"Why?"
"Because she wanted to?"
"No," he said, holding his hands up. "I mean, why'd the Buster leave?"
"Mia told him to."
"Why?" Things were starting to get weird. Starting? he asked himself. Things were always weird.
Dom shrugged his shoulders and offered a half-smile. "She just did."
"Now, was that such a long story? I don't think so," he told him, walking back down the hall to wake Jesse. "Hey, dude, get up," he said, smacking his best friend upside the head.
Jesse turned his back to him and mumbled in his sleep. "Lemme alone."
"Come on, dude. Dom said everyone had to be up."
"Go away," he said, flailing his arm in the air and succeeding in smacking Leon across the face.
"I'm tellin' Dom on you," he said in his best eight-year-old voice.
"I'm up, I'm up," Jesse said, hitting him with his pillow.
Leon shook his head and walked into the dining room, hoping to find a nice big bowl of Cheerios waiting for him at the table. Instead he received toast with butter and jam. "Man," he whined, "why is it never Cheerios?"
"Because you never go out and buy Cheerios." Vince said from his seat next to Mia; Leon smiled. His friend must be in heaven, being able to be so close to Mia. It was no secret that V loved her, everyone knew it, and now that Brian was out of the picture he could go back to his "Mia watching" as the guys jokingly called his intense staring sessions.
"Hey! Mia's the one who does the shopping."
"Good morning everyone," Jesse said brightly, bouncing into the room, but coming to a complete halt when noticing everyone's mood. He looked left to right and sighed heavily. "Who died?" Leon called him over to sit at the table next to him and told him everything that had happened. "Well, I can see why you are all like this then...is that toast!" They all gave Jesse looks like he said something wrong. Leon didn't think Jesse realized what he said.
Davan walked into the room, a towel thrown over her shoulder. "My shower is open. Y'all are welcome to use it if you'd like."
"That's your private bathroom, no one's going to use it," Dom said, his tone saying there was to be no questions.
"You guys have an hour to get ready to see the apartment and, well with the way things are going, I don't see that y'all are gonna be ready by then," she told him. "So, someone or a few people, I don't care how you do it, can use my shower. So, no arguments."
When no one made a move to take her up on her offer, Davan walked over to Mia. "Mia, come on, let's go get you under some water. It'll help you relax." Mia nodded and stood from the chair, Vince following suit. "Vince, it's OK, I'll take care of her," the girl said, gently prying V's arm from her shoulder.
While the two girls disappeared from sight, Dom walked out to go "help Letty with her shower." Leon cringed at where that statement took his mind; that was something that he never again wanted to think about.
"Alright, Vince, she's asking for you," Davan said, walking into the dining room a few minutes later. "Just make her stay in the shower for a little while longer, the bath water will help her relax." The girl pulled Vince aside and the two of them spoke quietly to each other, before he turned and walked to the master bathroom.
Leon and Jesse looked at each other as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. "See, now why do you get to have the cereal?" Leon teased, trying to lighten the mood.
"I own and furnish this place, I think I should be able to have my choice of food," she told him, sitting across from him at the table. "You want cereal?"
"You have Cheerios?" he asked hopefully.
"Top cabinet, second to the right from the stove."
Leon stood from the table, barely catching the chair before it hit the floor, and ran for the cabinet. "Cheerios!"
"Does he normally get this excited over Cheerios?"
"You just made his millennium," Jesse told her.
"Hey!" Leon sat back down with his new bowl of Cheerios. "I do, on occasion, get excited about Cheerios. But there are other things that excite me," he said, throwing a smile to Davan.
"Quarters, pens, cars, baseball, computers..." Jesse kept his list going, while Leon stopped smiling and concentrated on his Cheerios. Leave it to his best friend to totally miss a crude joke.
"Thanks, Jess," he grumbled.
"No problem." The kid looked over at the girl. "Hey, Dav, can I check out your computer?"
"Yeah, sure. Have fun."
Leon turned to her as soon as Jesse left the room; she looked back at him and smiled. "What cha eatin'?" he asked.
She laughed and shook her head. "Unfortunately, I don't get as excited about Cheerios as you do. Therefore, I am eating Frosted Flakes with strawberries."
"What? Did you have to make up for the frosted part with the strawberries so it was still healthy?" he asked jokingly.
"Yea, that is precisely it. The fact that I just like strawberries has nothing to do with it at all," she said sarcastically.
"Cheerios are healthy, and you don't even need the strawberries."
"I know." Davan looked at him through half closed eyes. "Have you ever tried Frosted Flakes with strawberries?"
"No. Why?"
She lifted her spoon, some Frosted Flakes and a bit of strawberry, and smiled at him. "Try some."
"Why?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Because, I put poison in it and I want you to die. Because I put razor blades in the strawberries and I want you to bleed to death from the inside out. Just try some." She pushed the spoon towards him.
"Well, if that is what you want, I guess I could try some." He opened his mouth and she stuck it in. "Mmmmmm," he said, licking his lips. "That's good. And I'm not dead or bleeding." Leon looked over to see her trying to hide a laugh behind her hand. "What? What'd I do?"
"You have a little milk right here," she said, motioning with her hand where the milk would be.
He swiped the back of his hand across his face and smiled. "Did I get it?"
"No," she choked out before laughing again. "Not at all. In fact, you completely missed," Davan drawled in her ever-so cute accent. All right, truth was: he was smitten with her.
"Well, get it off!" He shrieked playfully and flailed his arms, while leaning across the table towards her.
Davan laughed out and reached for a napkin. She lifted her hand, but dropped it back down due to laughter. "Well, stop moving and I can get it." Finally, she was able to hold back long enough to lean forward and dab his face. "See, you cooperate and it gets done," she said, still trying not to laugh.
"Hey! You weren't the one with milk on your face."
"Well if I was," she started, sitting back in her seat, "I wouldn't have screamed and flailed my arms like a sissy."
Leon looked around the dining room. "Is this floor easy to clean?" he asked, smiling evilly.
"Yeah," she told him hesitantly. "Why?"
He answered her with a spoonful of milk to the face. Davan stared at him in shock as he smiled brightly at her and waved with his empty hand. "Hi."
"Did you just toss milk at me?" she asked, wiping her face with a napkin. He smiled. "You just tossed milk at me. I cannot believe this!"
"I didn't mean to do it. The spoon was there, then there was milk, then it was all bad." He tried his hardest to hold back his laughter. Leon couldn't hold it back any longer when a spoonful of milk and soggy Frosted Flakes smacked against his face. "That was harsh."
"That's what you get. I can't believe you tossed milk at me." That Southern accent got him every time. Leon smiled apologetically through the milk and cereal.
"I just wanted to see if you would flail and screech, but you didn't. I'm proud of you." He told her before picking up a spoonful of milk and Cheerios and lobbing it across the table to hit her on the chest.
"OK, you know what!"
"What?"
"This means war!" she said, flinging more cereal at him.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Milk's away!" he exclaimed, lifting his spoon high above his head.
"Huh?"
-----
Jesse walked in just as Davan was dumping a bowl of cereal on Leon's head. "Come on now! I leave you two alone for one minute and this is what I come back to? Look at the mess you made! After you two are done scrubbing the walls with toothbrushes, that's right, toothbrushes, you are punished for the rest of the day and are not allowed out of your rooms." His statement was met by two very surprised and a little embarrassed looks.
"It was all her fault, Jess," Leon said, speaking through the milk that ran down his face. "She started it!"
"Is this true, Davan?" he asked, pinning her with his most serious face.
"Sure, blame the person with the empty bowl."
"Well, that's kinda easy to do when the bowl is on my head!" Leon told her, the milk that was streaming down his face, flew everywhere when he spoke.
"What is this? Seriously, you too are acting like five-year-olds. Can't take you nowhere," Jesse said with a shake of his head. "I want you two to start cleaning this mess before Dom-"
"What the Hell happened here?" Dom's voice boomed from behind him.
He turned around to their fearless leader standing behind him; Jess smiled. "It was all them. I just walked in, dude. Notice the cleanness."
He turned to face his best friend and their host. Davan looked at Leon, and he back at her. "It was him!" "It was her!" they said at the same time, simultaneously pointing at each other.
"I swear, can't take you two nowhere," Dom said, sighing and walking back out of the room. Jesse started to follow him out of the dining room, back towards the computer, but Dom stopped him with his next statement. "Jess, you get to help them clean up!"
"Dammit!" He turned and headed back into the other room. "OK, where are the toothbrushes?"
"I'll go get some towels," Davan said, standing from the table.
"Sure, take as long as you like... You're just saying that, because you hope that we'll have it all clean by the time you come back," Leon whined.
"Right, because it'll take me two hours to walk to the closet and get some towels. And you two are gonna what? Suck up the cereal and milk with what? Your mouths?"
"You'd be surprised what my mouth can do," Leon said, a sly smile on his face.
Jesse decided it was time to break that flirting mode. "It can eat, talk, whine, sing, laugh, shout, spit, drink, drool..."
"Thanks, Jess, again."
"Hey, what's a best friend for?" he asked as Davan walked out of the room. Leon answered him with a punch to the shoulder. "Ow! That is not what a best friend is for!"
"Oops, sorry. You looked like a punching bag for a sec-" Jess saw his best friend frozen for some unknown reason and turned around to see Davan walking back in the dining room with only her bra on. "Uba-dala-aduh-uuu..."
"I'm sorry, should I go get a shirt? I hoped you two wouldn't mind because my flannel was just way too wet to wear and I will go get a shirt and-"
"Uh...NO! Wait! If you wanna get-I mean we are fine-I mean, however you are comfortable and-"
"Tongue-tied is not a good color on ya, Leon," Letty teased. "And what is with all this milk and cereal all over the place? What were you all doing in here?"
Jesse saw Davan cross her arms over herself when Letty walked in. "It wasn't me! For the last time I had nothing to do with this! Look at them! It is all their faults!" he exclaimed defensively.
"What wasn't you? What's going on? Can someone tell me what happened?"
"Well, Jesse went to go on the computer and me and Davan were talking, and then milk ended up flying, and cereal and it was all bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad..." he rambled on and on like the Rain Man. "Then Jess came in and, and Dom told us to clean up, and, and Davan went to get towels and came back shirt- without- and with only-" Leon just kept on rambling.
"I see." Letty gave Leon a strange look. "I guess I'll leave you to your cleaning then," she said, turning around and leaving them all behind her.
Jesse, Leon, and Davan each exchanged smiles before Leon went on: "Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad." He looked at Davan and shook his head. "Without the, the shirt, the bra- Oh bad."
She looked back at him and shook her head, laughing. "OK, I'm gonna get a shirt now. Will you please tell the Rain Man to calm down?" she asked Jesse, walking out of the room.
With a quick sigh he walked over to his best friend, who was grinning like an idiot, and slapped him upside the head. "Real suave, Casanova."
That seemed to bust him out of his alternate reality. "I'm sorry...was Davan just shirtless?"
"No! Dude, don't even think of her like that!" he exclaimed, slapping him again. Having someone think sexually of their hostess might not be too good.
"Ow!" He finally came back to the real world. "I'm gonna start cleaning now. It's gonna take me a while to get that picture outta my head. Not that I want to," he added with a smirk.
With another smack upside the head, Jesse said, "Come on, dude. She's putting a roof over our heads." Sure, he barely knew the girl, but still. And he did not want to hear about his best friend's fantasies that involve her.
"Will you stop smacking me!" he shouted, rubbing his head. "I'm done talking about your beloved new best friend - that you've know for all of a couple days – that way!" Leon finished wiping the table and moved to the nearest wall. When Jesse flashed him a hurt look, he added, "Dude, I was only kidding. I mean, yeah, I'm done, but I was only joking about the friend thing and... well, yeah."
"I'm going away now. I'm going back to the computer," he told him, walking out just as Davan was walking back in. "Nice shirt," he said, leaving the doorway.
Jesse sat down at the desk. He was checking out all the updated software on computer when he noticed a picture in the hallway. He decided to go look at it, but halfway there he heard Dom's voice from the next room.
"Is the dining room clean already?"
"No!"
"Go help them!"
"Yes, sir!" He saluted the wall and turned on his heels, high-tailing it for the dining room, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what was happening. "Aw! Come on!" he shouted as he turned away. "What was the point of Davan putting on a shirt?"
Jess walked over and placed his head against the far wall, opposite the room. Gross! Seeing Leon with his hands up the girl's back, while making out against a corner was not something he wanted to ever do again. This morning was just not going right.
"Is everything strategically placed?" he called out hopefully.
"Yes!" Davan answered and he could hear the smile in her words.
He pushed off the wall and walked into the room, seeing the entire room as if there was never a food fight. "Well then, you two are done! Done!" He pointed at them. "You're not allowed near each other for the rest of the day! With the table... and the hands... and the- it was just all wrong. Don't ever let me see that again! My best friend and my sister! Nasty!"
"What was that about table and hands?" Vince asked, finally reappearing after Mia's bath that Jesse assumed was done. Wait! Was V's hair wet? What was going on with everyone?
"I'm going to shower, because everything is all bad, wrong, and nasty!" he said, walking towards the guest bathroom. Silently he prayed that he wouldn't walk in on Dom and Letty doing anything.
-----
Mia was glad that Vince was there to pick up her pieces. It felt nice to have someone finally doing that for her. He came into the bathroom just as she began to cry again and everything just went downhill from there. He stripped down to his boxers, actually all he had to do was take off his shirt, and climbed into the giant bathtub with her and just held her as she cried.
Why was it that after all the years she had ignored him and shut him down, why was he still there for her? Vince probably knew more about her than she knew about herself. But was that a good thing or a bad thing? She felt bad when he told her to confide in him, because she knew some of the things that were said hurt him. Still, he sat and listened, passing no judgment.
At one point during her bath-crying session she had kissed him, expecting him to kiss her back. Mia would have been perfectly content having sex with him to forget all her troubles for a little while, but no. Vince had gently pushed her away, saying that he knew she didn't really want to have sex with him. He had waited so many years and a few more months were not going to kill him. He was willing to wait until she was ready to be with him.
Mia thought that at that moment she fell in love with Vince. Maybe it was just her emotions playing tricks on her, but being away from Brian made her realize how much Vince really meant to her.
The flat was just as nice as Davan had said it was, but not as done up as hers. All the rooms could use a good touching up and they were going to need new furniture, but it was no big deal. If she liked this place, they were getting it; Dom would do whatever she wanted. It was just the way things were around the family; no matter what, it was truly her that everyone needed approval from.
And she liked the place, a lot. And she liked Davan, too, so maybe, just maybe, they had found their new home. All they needed was to get a garage started and they were all set. Just walking around the flat gave her a sense of starting over. Ideas of how to decorate came to mind and she smiled. Yup, everything was going to be fine.
"So what do you think?" Dom asked, putting his arm around her shoulders.
"I think we found a home," she said, smiling over at the owner. "Have you gotten any offers?"
"No, and I don't plan on it. If you folks want it you go it."
"You would do that?"
"I would do anything for Davan," he said with a shrug. "She was such a big help when my wife was sick."
"Well, Mister Thatcher," Dom said. "Why don't you and I go talk business?"
The two men disappeared into the kitchen to "talk business" and Mia continued her tour, Vince close behind. She wondered if he planned on ever leaving her side sometime soon. Not that she was complaining...much.
"Hey, this is a nice dining room," she said, sitting next to the rest of the team at the table. She still had yet to see Davan's dining room. "Thank you," she said when Davan poured her a glass of iced tea. "So you were close to the Thatcher family?"
"Whenever the cap'n had to go away on business, I would stay with the Thatchers. Their son, Simon, was my best friend, but I haven't talked to nor seen him in years."
"Why not?"
"He was shipped overseas after basic."
"What exactly is the captain's business?" Vince asked, sitting down next to her. Mia took a sip of her drink.
"The cap'n is a... I don't know how to put this... he's a bounty hunter." Davan looked around the table. "It's really good money."
"I could imagine," Jesse said. "And have you ever-?"
"I've gone on business with him before. It's very time consuming, but it's worth all the money."
"Ever done it by yourself?" Vince asked.
"Once or twice when mom was sick."
"Did you have fun?"
"The whole gun aspect was nice. Anyway, you guys like the place?"
Mia looked around the room and nodded. "Yeah. It isn't any different than yours." She looked over at V, and assuming that he had talked to Dom, asked, "What are we doing after this?"
"We are going to an authentic Southern steakhouse."
Letty cleared her throat and everyone looked at her. "Davan," she said quietly, "I wanted to apologize about this morning."
"I didn't kill you, did I?" the other woman asked.
"No."
"Then we're cool. No harm, no fowl," she said with a shrug. "Anybody else want some more tea?"
"Wait! Just like that? We're cool?"
"Let me put it this way, Letty. If I was really, completely and utterly pissed off...I would have done more than just knock you on your ass with a clean punch."
"It was a sucker punch," Letty said, rubbing her chin. Mia smiled at her best friend's childish ways.
"It wasn't a sucker punch, you were looking right at me. You just weren't expecting it," Davan said, again shrugging her shoulders. The rest of the people around the table began laughing. "Now we're even."
"OK."
"I'll have more tea, please," Leon said, downing the last of his drink.
"You're not going to toss it at me, right?" the girl asked.
"I'll be good, I promise."
Jesse groaned and Mia frowned. What was going on? "Let's keep Mister Thatcher's dining room clean. OK you two?" he asked, causing mostly everyone to smile.
"I don't get it," she said, making the rest of them start laughing. "I missed it, didn't I?"
"Yes. And I can't bear to have it repeated."
"Davan and Leon got into a hot and heavy food fight," Letty filled her in.
"Hot and heavy?" she questioned, looking over at Davan.
The girl tilted her head to the side and raised a single eyebrow as Leon said, "It got a little outta hand."
"Oh?"
"I got a bowl of cereal dumped on my head."
"He started it, Mia," Davan told her.
"Children," Jess sighed. "I'm currently scarred for life, let's not discuss it anymore."
"Really, Jess, his hands weren't up my shirt. The shirt just rode up in all the commotion."
"What?" Mia asked, choking on her iced tea. Had she missed that much?
"I'm going to use the restroom. Excuse me," Davan said, standing and leaving the room while trying to hide that blush that crept up her face.
Everyone turned to look at Leon who had his head down and suddenly found the top of the table very interesting. "Could you all please stop staring at me? I can feel your eyes on me." He lifted his head and smiled at them. "It's very impolite to stare, you know?"
Shock was definitely the words to express why Mia was smiling like an idiot now. She knew she looked like an idiot smiling the way she was, but who really cared. Leon was someone who rarely ever got involved with girls, sure he had had his fair share of women hanging on him at their parties, but he had not done anything with them.
For the first few months that she had known him, Mia questioned his sexual preferences, but then they talked. He told her that he wasn't interested in the "who can sleep with the most chicks" contest that most guys had; he was just looking for someone to be comfortable with. Leon had sworn her to secrecy, making her promise not to tell anyone about his revelations. And the fact that he had been caught kissing Davan was a big deal. He had serious feelings for this girl and Mia was happy for him.
Her smile grew. She didn't even know he was attracted to her. She was going to have to get her intuition radar fixed.
-----
"Turn left up here," Davan told Leon, sitting forward in her seat. She was still trying to get used to Leon's backwards car. The Skyline. And it was yellow nonetheless. What guy gets his car painted yellow? Maybe it was a California thing.
"Where?" he asked and she answered by pointing to the street. "Got it."
"Good," she said. "Did you enjoy our fine Southern cuisine?" she asked, turning to Jesse who sat in the back seat.
"It's nothing I haven't had before."
"It was a joke, Jess." Davan smiled at him and shook her head, turning to face forward.
They had just left the steakhouse a half-hour ago, and now she was leading them to a club. Against her better judgment she agreed to take them to celebrate, knowing that she would have to be up early in the morning to take care of Benjy.
Benjy was Simon Thatcher's three-year-old son that she took care of during the week while Simon's wife, Elizabeth, went to work. Sometimes the kid was a perfect little angel, other times he was a handful. And most times that he was a handful was when she was hung-over. But she had yet to mention that she took care of little Thatcher, therefore, they talked her into going to the club.
But they would sorely pay for that, because Davan McAlester and clubs do not mix very well. She tried her hardest to avoid clubs, due to the fact that almost every time she went to one there was always a fight including her. And though fights were fun, coming home to have to ice bruised knuckles or to have to stitch yourself back together was not fun.
"What kind of club is this place?" Leon asked as he turned down the street. "No country music and shit, right?"
"What? You didn't want to go to a line dance?" she asked, looking over at him.
"You're fucking kidding me. Please tell me you're kidding me."
"I'm kidding." Davan smiled at him. "We do have some kick ass clubs around here, that do, on occasion, play country." Leon looked over at her in horror. "But this isn't one of them," she quickly added. "This is a night club. Most of the street racers hang out here."
Jesse leaned forward from the back seat and sighed. "Thank God, our own people."
She turned and looked out her window, frowning at the desert that flew by. Many of the people there knew who she was, Bryce had taken her there a few times, they knew she was Bryce's girl. And most of those people knew that Bryce had cheated on her, maybe they even knew that they had broken up. But the problem was that most of those people were spies for him. Davan did not want any trouble because she was showing up with a new guy and crew.
"Fuck it," she muttered, rolling her eyes. What did she care what happened? Bryce was a dick. And she was dressed for trouble. Hell, when they asked if she would show them some clubs after they went to dinner, Davan knew exactly where she was taking them.
Which was why she put on her favorite leather pants and matching tube top that was hidden under a tan suede T-shirt. Yeah, that was her trouble outfit. It allowed her to dance freely and show more than enough skin, but it also allowed enough movement so that if it came down to it she could kick ass.
"Fuck what?" Leon asked from beside her.
"I'm sorry?"
"You said, "fuck it." I was just wondering what was getting fucked."
"Nothing." She shook her head and forced a smile. "Turn right into this parking lot." He did as he was told and they parked next to a long line of show cars, in front of a rundown building.
"This is it?" Dom asked when they all stepped out of their cars.
"The party's not outside, it's inside," she said, leading the way to a solid steal door. After knocking, she waited for the tiny rectangle to open so that she could talk to someone. "It's Davan McAlester," she told the pair of eyes that peered through the door. "They're with me," Davan told the doorman when he opened the door for them.
Together the seven of them walked through the narrow halls of the building until they came to another steel door. Quickly Davan pulled it aside, allowing the club noises to filter through the building. The team started down a case of narrow, winding stairs that you could easily trip and break your neck on, only to be greeted by a large factory-sized room jam-packed full of people.
"This is really loud!" Mia shouted to the group.
What exactly was she expecting? Davan thought. "Yeah! I'm heading over to the bar! Anyone want a drink!"
"I'll come with you!" Leon shouted back, smiling and following her towards the bar. Together the two of them stood against the counter and waited for someone to come and ask them what they wanted. Finally, the bartender came and nodded at them. "I'll have a beer."
"I don't want anything," Davan told the guy, causing Leon to frown at her. "I just wanted to get you alone," she said to him.
"We're not really alone."
"No, but we are away from your friends."
"This is true," he agreed, taking his bottle of beer off of the bar. "So, why did you want to get me alone?"
"You dance?"
Leon drank some of his beer and looked over at her, his brow furrowed. "I spaz."
She smiled at him and shook her head. "You can't be that bad."
"I'm not, I just don't like to dance. Ever since I was at this one club back in LA and they asked me if I was having a seizure." He ended his statement with a sad look. Puppy dog eyes.
"Are you serious?"
"Hell no." He took another sip of his beer. "But I don't want to dance. I'll stand in some far off corner and watch you like a stalker."
"Kill joy." She tossed over her shoulder as she left him standing at the bar.
Davan stepped onto the dance floor and felt herself get pulled in one direction. Ah, the fun of clubs, she thought as she started dancing with some random guy. As the song ended she smiled slightly at the guy and excused herself, making a beeline for the table that the team was sitting at.
"Hold something for me?" she asked Leon, smiling sweetly.
"What?" he questioned hesitantly. Davan took this as her opportunity to reveal one of the many sides to her. The fun side. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, tossing it at Leon and revealing her black, leather tube top.
"This." She looked over at Mia and Letty who were staring wide-eyed at her. "You two wanna come dance?"
"OK." Letty said as her and Mia stood from the table.
Soon the three of them were off in the middle of the dance floor, having the time of their lives. Actually, Davan wasn't sure about the other two, but she was enjoying herself and they looked as if they were doing the same. Not too far into the dance she felt someone behind her grinding. She figured it might be Leon so she turned around. To her despair it was not, in fact, the guy wasn't even someone she would ever consider dancing with.
He was wearing a white wife-beater that he had rolled up to right below his chest, revealing all of his many rolls. And he had on baggy pants that he found no need to wear underwear underneath, therefore that sagged to about an inch below where his butt-crack started.
The guy smiled at her and winked as Davan tried her hardest not to laugh in his face. She desperately wished that Leon was there to save her. Instead, he was off sitting with the guys in some far-off corner staring at her as if he was a stalker.
"Hey, look," Letty whispered in her ear. "It's Crackman! The Girly Man that makes you wonder!" With that went all of her self-control, sending her into a bout of hysterical laughter, Letty and Mia joining in with her.
Crackman heard them laughing and began to cackle himself, obviously not realizing that they were laughing at him, not with him. "Crackman," he repeated, clearly he had heard Letty, but still did not understand that Crackman was in fact him.
Mia grabbed the both of them by their arms and pulled them away from the man. "Come on, Mia. We was just about to make fun of him to his face some more," Letty said, a smile plastered to her face. "Hey, Dom," she said as they came up to the table in the far-off corner. "Come dance with me."
Davan could see that there was no room for argument when it came to the two of them dancing. It was especially obvious when Dominic jumped right out of his chair and trailed after her like a little puppy.
"V?" Mia asked sweetly. "Dance with me?" The same could be said for Vince that was said for Dominic, leaving Davan alone with Leon.
"Where'd Jesse go?" she asked, looking around for the lost member of the team.
"He disappeared as soon as we got into the club. Ran off to dance with some chick."
"Is my shirt safe?" He answered by holding up the folded t-shirt. "Thank you. Hey can I have a sip of your beer?" she asked, indicating to the bottle on the table.
"Finish it, there's only a sip left," he told her, holding out the bottle for her.
"Thank you." As she drank the last of the beer, Davan surveyed her surroundings and watched as Crackman walked by her, tossing an over-exaggerated wink her way. "Save me," she said, sitting next to Leon.
"What's the matter?" he questioned, leaning towards her.
"There's this guy who keeps walking around and winking at me." She looked over at him with an exasperated look on her face. "And if he does it one more time I swear I'm gonna clock him."
"How am I supposed to save you?"
"Well you see that guy over there?" she asked, pointing to Crackman.
"Yeah. So?"
Davan turned to him, there faces mere inches apart. She smiled. "When you see him look over here or come near here, maybe you can put your arm around me or something?"
"He's looking now. What should I do?" he asked her, a hint of teasing in his voice.
"I dunno somethi-" Leon cut her off with a kiss. It started off soft and sweet, but slowly developed into a real kiss. "That'll work," she said breathlessly as they broke apart.
"Thought it would," he agreed, nodding.
"Dance with me," she ordered, standing and holding out her hand. When he didn't move she added: "It's not a request." At this he finally stood and grinned.
-----
"Did you just see what I just saw?" Letty asked him, a wide smile on her face.
"Letty," he warned, returning the smile. Of course he had seen it. Leon and Davan had just kissed and now both Mia and Letty were grinning like idiots. What was with chicks smiling when other people kissed? His girlfriend answered by rubbing her butt against his crotch as they danced.
"Come on, Dom. Lemme have my fun. When was the last time you saw Leon kiss a girl?"
He spun her around to face him, a sly grin on his face. "When was the last time you kissed me?"
She lifted her eyebrows. "Hours ago."
"That's too long then," he said before capturing her mouth with his. With that done, he publicly announced his availability to all the women that had thrown looks his way. He was not available.
"Everything's going to be OK, right, Dom?" she asked when the kiss ended.
"Everything is going to work out just fine, baby. Don't worry." Dom looked over to see Mia and Vince dancing to his left and Jesse and some girl dancing to his right. "Everything is going to be just fine."
Suddenly he caught a flash of Leon's jersey and Dom turned his head to follow his friend. Leon and Davan were grinding happily together when some man who had obviously never heard of such thing at a belt or girdle came up and started rubbing up on Davan. Dom assumed that Leon would take care of the matter then they'd have to jet outta the club as fast as possible. But the next few turn of events made him wonder about their hostess and Leon's current love interest.
The girl turned around and looked at– "Is that Crackman?" Letty whispered.
"Who?"
"Crackman, the girly man that makes you wonder. He's the reason we came and got you guys to begin with."
"Oh. I see." He turned and continued watching the scene unfolding before him.
Crackman, as Letty had called him, made some comment to Davan, which Leon looked as though he was going to correct. But the problem was that Davan already had the guy on the ground before Leon even lifted a finger. Shaking his head, Dom motioned for the rest of the team to follow him.
Unfortunately, when they reached the fight, security guards had the girl in their grasps and were pulling her off the dance floor. Leon followed closely behind, the rest of the team a few seconds away. Dom was really starting to wonder about this girl.
First she breaks her ex-boyfriend's nose, possibly his jaw. Then she punches said ex's new girlfriend. Next she knocks Letty down. Now she was taking on some rhino that couldn't dress for the life of him. Davan had to be more than just some Olympic hopeful.
"OK, that's it. This girl is getting checked out," Vince said from behind him. "Jesse, tomorrow morning you're getting on you laptop and pulling up as much info on her as possible."
"Done."
"Everything alright, Leon?" Dom asked as he came up beside his friend.
"Yup."
"I promise. That was it. That was my one fight for the night. No more, I promise," Davan said, smiling at one of the guards.
"Come on, Davan, you know that's not true," the taller of the two said.
"Yes, but you love me, which is why you are going to let me stay, right?" When the guard didn't answer she said, "I promise. Please?"
"Last time you said that you busted a beer bottle over someone's head."
"Oh he so totally deserved it." She smiled. "Look, I brought new people in."
"Hey, don't bring us into your trouble, Davan," Dom said, shaking his head.
"We should get going anyway, Davan. It's late and we have to start looking for jobs," Vince told them all with a quick glance at his watch.
"He's right. We should move out."
"Alright, alright. I see that I am entirely out numbered here. You are all kill joys and I am going home," the girl said, hopping off of her bar stool.
The rest of the team followed her as she proceeded to lead them over the club's dance floor and to the deadly stairs. After they all managed to make it up the stairs with their lives they walked to the cars. Only to be stopped by some other cars going out of their way to stop in front of them.
Who were these people? And why were they being dicks?
"Davan, who are these people?" some guy asked, getting out of a souped up, black Dodge Colt. After a closer look, Dom realized that that guy was none other than Bryce.
"Friends Bryce. Why the fuck should you care?" Davan asked in a tired voice.
"I'd just like to know who my girl is hanging out with," Bryce drawled in his disgusting Southern accent.
"Your girl, Bryce?"
"That's right. My girl."
"No, see, I'm not doing this now. I promised Bruse, the security guard, that I already had my one fight for the night." Dom watched as she moved towards Leon's car but stopped, scratching her nose. "By the way, Bryce, how's the nose?"
"Broke. Sorta."
"Sorta? And the jaw?"
"Who are the people, Davan!"
"OK, that's enough." Dom finally stepped in. "Dav, let's get into the cars and go home."
"Who the Hell are you?"
"Someone who's gonna kick your ass if you don't get the fuck outta our way."
"Dom, let's just go." Letty, who was usually the first one to jump into a fight, started pulling on his arm. "We don't need any trouble right now. And that asshole's not worth it."
"She's right, brudda. Let's just motor before things get outta hand," Vince agreed.
"Yeah, suddenly, home seems like a good idea," Davan said. "Though things became outta hand when he referred to me as his girl."
Dom sighed and moved along with Letty, only to stop when the rest of the people in the last three cars stepped out. If there was going to be a rumble, it was going to be now.
"OK, we don't need this shit!" Davan yelled, causing all attention to go to her. "Bryce, take your rat pack of a team and go in the fucking club. When you're ready to be mature maybe, just maybe, we'll talk. Go!" Neither Bryce nor is team made a move. "Move!" The dipshits got the hint and started walking, leaving Bryce alone with their team.
"Davan," the guy said plaintively. "I want you back."
"Let's get in the car now," Dom told everyone as the girl ran a hand through her hair. The team left Davan alone with Bryce.
"Hey, Dom, he can't do that," Letty said as they sat in his car. "She's with Leon now, he can't do that."
"That's a decision she's gonna hafta make on her own," he told her, glancing over at Leon's Skyline. Wait! Was Jesse in the back seat with some girl? Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.
"I'm going out there to kick this guy's ass."
"Letty, sit down and behave."
"I'm happy, Bryce! I'm having the fucking time of my life! And it doesn't involve you!" Dom heard Davan scream as she walked past his car to get into Leon's. "Deal with it!"
Fun.
-----
Vince felt Mia lean against him as they all crowded into the elevator. Everything about her touching him was driving him crazy. The mere thought of the two of them in the tub this morning was making him insane. He knew it was stupid to turn her down, Hell he had been waiting for that moment for quite some time.
But this morning just wasn't the time. Unfortunately, he was man enough to realize this. Stupid him. Why couldn't he be like other guys and think with his dick? He had heard that that was fun. Dom had done it on numerous occasions, but look where that got him.
His RX-7 had all its windows smashed in and Letty slit her wrists. Not one of Vince's fondest memories. Finding Letty in her bathtub a few seconds after she had done the deed was horrifying. Especially when fought with him about going to the emergency room. She had screamed at him, telling him to let her die, she needed to die, and he was an asshole for caring. Then proceeded to curse him in Spanish, many of the words he understood, some – he was sure – he did not want to understand.
Going to the emergency room was not fun. Being Letty was bleeding they took her away and made him answer the questions. And telling a bunch of strangers why one of his best friends had slit her wrists was not easy. But all that mattered was that Letty was OK...
Wait, he was off track. Thinking with his dick... Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. He loved Mia too much to take advantage of her, though she seemed to be the one throwing herself at him this morning. Had she not been getting over a major heartbreak, he would be the first person to jump in bed with her, but not now.
Mia leaned her head back to rest on his chest and he realized just then how short she was. Her head only came up to his shoulders.
"Sleepy?" he asked, leaning down to speak in her ear.
"Mm-hmm," she mumbled back to him.
"You're going right to sleep, missy. No staying up to watch TV."
"Sleep with me tonight?" she whispered and he nodded, glancing cautiously at Dom.
"You all right, Mia?" his best friend asked, looking a little bothered.
"I'm fine, Dom. V just makes an excellent cushion."
"A cushion?" Vince asked her.
"Yeah, 'cause you know? You sew and stuff the fabric with cotton, a cushion. You showed me the one you made the other day, remember?"
"You sew, V?" Dom asked.
"You know me, man. Multitalented." Vince placed his right hand on Mia's hip so that Dom wouldn't see and gave her a squeeze. "I try to keep my talents hidden from the likes of you people. Don't like the mocking and all."
"Here we are," Davan said, lifting the big iron doors. Oops, he had forgotten that other people were actually in the elevator. Must've been the Mia touchage.
They all stepped out of the elevator and Dom was saying, "Hey Jess, are you going to introduce everyone to this girl?"
"Oh, yeah, everyone, this is um...what is your name? I don't think you told me," Jesse said, turning to the redhead. It was obvious that he had had a few too many drinks while at the club. And alcohol and his ADD was not a good combination on Jesse.
"My name is April."
"Guys this is April, April this is guys," he said, motioning towards Dom.
Definitely not a good combination.
"Hi, Guys, I'm April," she said, speaking to Dom. "What are all y'all's names?" she asked the rest of them. This girl was obviously drunk, too.
"April, do you have any family you can call?" Davan asked with a shake of her head.
Vince looked on in shock as the girl proceeded to sing instead of answer. "We are family. I got all my sisters with me." He tried not to laugh as April began to dance or, more like, have a seizure, swinging her head from side to side and her arms up and down.
"Um, are you OK, hon? Do you need to lie down?"
"We are family. I got all my sisters with me. Yes, we are family. Get up everybody and sing!"
"OK, I'm beat, if this chick doesn't cool it, I'm gonna knock her on her ass," Letty said, wrapping her arms around Dom's waist. Or most recently known as Guys's waist. Dom said good night to everyone and the two of them left the living room.
"Can I sleep with someone else tonight?" Leon asked in a panicked voice. "I'll share the floor with myself, I just don't want to have to be by those two for the night."
Suddenly another voice joined in on April's solo. "We are family. I got all my sisters with me," Jesse sang, moving basically the same way as April.
"You can share Dangerous's side of the bed," Davan said, walking towards her room, Leon trailing slowly behind her. "But she is a bed hog."
"We are family. I got all my sisters with me. We are family. Get up everybody and sing!"
"Mia, why don't you and I go to bed before they get us singing it," Vince said, steering Mia down the hall. Quickly the two of them got ready for sleep and crawled under the blankets of the twin-sized bed.
As Mia curled up against him, Vince heard her mumble, "We are family. I got all my sisters with me."
Oh brother.
---------
I did not mean to get your hopes up, those of you who were hoping for chapter 4. I was merely re-doing chapters 1 through 3, because Jesse and Davan will no longer be brother and sister. For those who are still waiting for an update, it will be here within the next two weeks. Sorry about the delay.
AN: Just so you know: Crackman is a real person. I ran into him once at my local convenience store and I don't wish to repeat it.
AN: A question actually... Can someone explain to me what Hot Pants are? I'm at a total loss, especially when I read stories that contain people wearing hot pants and booty shorts... In the words of one of my favorite characters: "It's just all wrong."
Thanks all. Review please.