SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Chapter 7

After that night, everything went back to normal. It was as if the whole episode had never happened.

It was early morning, about 6:15. Ashley and Dom were laying together in bed, she was laying on her back with Dom's arm draped over her waist. She was wide awake, but didn't move so that she wouldn't disturb his sleep. She rolled her head to the side to look at Dom and she smiled.

Almost as if he felt her eyes, Dom slowly opened his eyes. A sly grin came across his face. "Good morning." he said.

Ashley smiled brightly, "Good morning...I'm rather surprised that you are awake this early. We had a really long night. How are you feeling?"

Dom rolled over onto his back and put his hand on his forehead. "Got a little bit of a headache, but nothing too bad."

Ashley pushed the covers off of her and sat up, her back facing Dom. "You better call V and tell him to go get your car from Hector's. You know you'd shit yourself if anything were to happen to it." she laughed and reached for the phone, handing it to Dom.

"Hey Mi...it's Dom. Is Vince around?...Let me talk to him...Hey V. Do me a favor man...Take my spare keys from the office at the garage and go pick up my car...It's at Hector's....Bring it to Ashley's....Yeah, dawg, I'm fine....Yeah, I'll catch you at the shop later..." Dom hung up the phone.

Ashley had gone into the shower while Dom was talking on the phone. Dom sat up, noticing he was still naked from the night before. He grinned and walked into the bathroom. He could hear the water falling from Ashley's body and rolling onto the floor of the shower. He grabbed the shower curtain and pulled it back far enough to stick his head in. "Phew...now that's a pretty site to behold." he grinned.

Ashley blushed and splashed some water on Dom's face. He closed the curtain and walked to the sink to wash his face. He sighed when he felt the warm water on his skin, like all worry was being washed away.

Soon Ashley exited the shower and wrapped a purple bath towel around her. Dom turned to face her, resting against the sink. He cocked his head and began rubbing his chin while he looked her over.

"Don't be getting any ideas, slick. I have to go to work." Ashley teased.

"Oh don't mind me," he answered, "just pretend I'm not here." He watched her closely as she got ready for work. The events from the night before slowly began to creep into his thoughts. He shook his head and pushed them out of memory. Why think about bad shit when everything in the present is perfect and as it should be?

Soon Ashley was dressed and pulling her hair into a ponytail. "Are you gonna go to the shop today?"

Dom looked at her. "Yeah, I might go in… Jesse is the only one there that can run it without me and I don't want to leave such a responsibility on him."

As soon as he finished his sentence there was a horn beep coming from outside. Soon after, there was a knock on the front door.

Ashley walked over and unlocked it, swinging it open to see Vince and Leon standing on the front porch. "Hey guys." She said as she moved to the side to let them in. Dom came walking into the living room when he heard them.

"Yo Dom, we brought your car." Leon said as he dropped heavily onto the couch. "Don't worry, nobody bothered it at Hector's. I don't know why you'd even worry about that shit dawg, you know nobody's got the balls to fuck with your ride."

"Ah Leon…you know my motto. And Dom's ride is the only bitch he's got that don't cause him no trouble." Vince threw in.

Ashley's mouth gaped open. "You've got a lot of fucking nerve Vince." And she walked away.

Dom walked up to Vince and put his hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. "No man." He pushed Vince around towards the door. "Outside Leon."

Leon got up from the couch and followed Vince outside.

"I'll be out in a second." Dom said heavily as he shut the door behind them. "Ashley?" he called.

Ashley appeared in the hallway. "Yeah?"

"I'm taking those two fucks home. Come see me later, yeah?"

"Yeah, ok. I'll stop over at noon."

"Good." Dom grinned and strolled up to her, pressing his chest hard against her's.

His aggressiveness made her stomach sink to her feet and a grin peel over her lips. He kissed her roughly and tapped her on the ass before turning to meet the guys outside. Before he grabbed for the handle, he threw one arm in the air, "I love ya baby!" he said loudly, opening the door. "You gots dat?" he said goofily.

Ashley covered her mouth, laughing. "Yeah, dork. I gots dat."

"Well, you look a lot happier this morning!" Harry said as Ashley arrived at work that morning. "I guess things with you and Toretto are back to normal, eh?"

"Well pops," Ashley started, slinging her arm around Harry's neck, "I think things are normal. For now they are normal. But you know all the shit that happens before things can be totally normal." She kissed Harry's cheek. "Oh..is Seth here today?" she asked slowly.

"No, he called me earlier and said he couldn't make it in today. Too much partying lastnight I guess. You damn kids and your parties!" Harry shook his head.

"Harry…" Ashley started.

"Yeah, hun?"

Ashley smiled. "Nevermind… Guess I'm gonna get to work now. You know how much I LOVE slinging car parts!" she laughed.

Ashley went into the back and squatted down, shuffling through a big box of new air filters. About 15 minutes had passed and Ashley heard Harry calling to her from the store. "Ashley? You got someone here to talk to you!"

Ashley stood up and walked to the front. She stopped suddenly at the surprise of seeing Letty leaning against the counter.

"Alright birds, start your chirping. I'll be in the back if any customers come in." said Harry.

Ashley cautiously approached the counter. "Hey Letty. Need some parts for the shop or something? She asked.

Letty peeled off her sunglasses and set them on the counter. "No, I just thought we needed to talk, and this seems like the only neutral ground. I don't think if I tried to talk to you at the garage Dom would let it get too far."

"Look Letty, I'm trying to work here and I really don't need any dramatics. I had a shitty night lastnight, and I'm really starting to wonder how much more of this shit I can deal with. So if you're coming in here to…"

Letty cut her sentence short. "No. It's not like that."

"Oh really?" Ashley asked. "Then what IS it like then, Letty."

"It's really hard for me to admit to anyone when I fuck up, so just take this with grace." Letty said slowly. "I know I haven't ever been considerate of you and Dom…and I can say without shame that it does bother me, and it is hard to see you two together all the time. I know my place with Dom is no more…I mean, other than the friendship part. Look, it's just that Dom is the only person I've ever gotten close to and it took me forever to trust him. And when I did, I became really greedy over his affections. I'm catty, bitchy, whatever you want to call it…I try to chase his girlfriends away…no one is good enough for him."

"Letty…you don't even know me!" Ashley retorted.

"Let me finish." Letty requested. "I know all that bullshit last night was ridiculous, and I knew it was going to happen. I didn't know when, but I knew it would happen. I know Dom's instincts and that they would lead him in the right direction."

"In the right direction for what??" Ashley asked.

"To follow you and find a compromising position." Letty answered.

Ashley was shocked. "I can't believe you Letty. You set me up? You let Seth become an innocent pawn in all of this?"

"I have known Seth a long time…he had told me many times that he was interested in you. I saw an opportunity, so I built up his mind. I told him that you and Dom were having problems. I knew he'd come after you…like a starving dog."

"Keep going…" Ashley told her.

"I mentioned to him that you loved the Sky Barr."

"So that's why he invited me to go with him…" Ashley shook her head.

"And knowing Dom like I do, when he's upset, he goes out to get fucked up. I also knew that he'd more than likely show up at the Sky Barr as well. So when 2 and 2 go together…"

"All hell breaks loose." Ashley finished. "God Letty…you are such a heartless bitch. You are that selfish that you would make a mess out of three people's lives? And look, you didn't get what you wanted from the whole deal either, now did you?"

"No…and I'm glad." Letty answered.

"Wha…what?" Ashley said in surprise.

"I think that if I would've met you under different circumstances, I would've really liked you, Ashley. Who are my friends? Mia, Brian, Leon, Vince, Jesse, and Dom.  I don't really know many other people. Whether I like it or not, you're here..and it looks like you are gonna BE here for a while."

"What's your point Letty?" Ashley asked.

"The point is, I'm wasting too much effort trying to keep you away from "my" people. It's all rather ridiculous when it boils down to it. Mia made me see something last night that I had been ignoring all along."

"What's that?"

"If Dom means so much to me, and you mean so much to him…I have to accept it and be happy for him. I don't mean him any unhappiness. You make him the happiest I've seen him in a really long time, and much happier than he ever was when he was with me. It's time for me to be the big bitch I want everyone else to think I am and pull the boot out of my ass. I'm…sorry." Letty drug out the last part slowly.

"That was really pins and needles for you, wasn't it Let?" Ashley asked, smiling.

Letty laughed, "Yeah…you don't know the half of it." Letty extended her hand out to Ashley. The two grasped hands and gave a firm squeeze. "Muy bien. It's settled."

With that, Letty turned and left.

"Wow..what was that?" Ashley thought to herself with a smile.