Ah, quick change from the last chapter: Melanie does not know who Team Vengeance is. The people that were Natsu's friends were just regular, random people that Melanie was also 'friends' with. No one knows who Team Vengeance is…yet…

Note: This chapter is dedicated to CiCi, who helped me out of the writer's block by giving me the inspiration for this chapter, and for FallenAngel, who kept reminding me to write more! Thanks a lot!

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*Jesse's POV*

When I saw Melanie appear at the races, I knew something was fishy about it right away. Melanie was acting too smooth to be herself. She was playing sex-goddess when in reality we all knew that she'd only known two men (her first being an accident), and was, therefore, not exactly the kind of girl who would flaunt her long legs and curvy body. Dom didn't notice anything strange though; he just took her in as she fell into his arms, kissing him and hugging him like there was not tomorrow.

She was still my friend though, no matter the games that she was running, and I hugged her and welcomed her back like the others, making sure that she'd caught my eye and realized that I wanted to talk later. My suspicions grew when she just turned away from me, without a single nod or reaction to my stare. Something was definitely wrong.

I walked over to where Kat was hanging out by my old Jetta and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "You cold, Kat?"

She snuggled up to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and answered, "Not anymore, Jess…"

I grinned and hugged her back. Over the time that Melanie was gone, Dom wasn't in much of a racing mood, and neither were the others, so I had a lot of spare time that I spent on Kat. We'd only gone out a couple of times, and that was with the whole group, never on a date. I couldn't wait to ask her out for real. Tonight would be the night, and who knew what would happen from there? I grinned even wider at the thought.

***

At the party, Mel had disappeared somewhere with Dominic, not really helping my growing suspicions. In any case, I followed a wisp of black and purple hair, indicating that Kat had gone off into the kitchen.

As the door swung shut behind me, I watched as she pulled two Coronas out of the fridge. She was wearing a purple tube top with black leather pants that had two purple stripes running up the front of them. She looked at me expectantly, knowing that I had something to say.

"What are you doing this Saturday? At night, I mean." I asked casually. It didn't matter if the beautiful out-of-my-league woman in front of me rejected me…

"Nothing, actually. Why? Did you want to go out or something?"

"Well, yeah, I did. I was going to ask you out…um…you wanna go out with me on Saturday?" This wasn't going how I'd planned it- the element of suaveness was nowhere in sight. Oh well.

"Of course I do! Where would we go?"

"Oh, okay then...I guess I'll see you arou- what? Wait a minute- you just agreed to go on a date with me," I blushed at my mistake- I thought she'd say no. "We can go to Santucci's, and then go see a movie. How's that?"

She grinned and replied, "No, we have to go to that expensive French place, and I think we should go to see an opera rather than some old movie. Movies are so blah… the opera is much nicer."

I think that bullet a couple years back would've done me good if I'd known what I was facing.

Kat laughed at the expression of shock on my face and threw her arms around my neck. "Aw, Jesse! Cheer up I was just joking! Yuck…opera…could you stand being around all of those snooty rich people? Santucci's is great, and afterwards, we should see 2Fast 2Furious, okay?"

"Sounds perfect to me," I mumbled, hugging her back.

 ***Saturday Night***

Leon was so interested in my going out with Kat that he barged into my room at five, THREE HOURS BEFORE THE DATE. He started emptying out the contents of my closet and asking me what I thought I was going to wear.

"Leon, hold up."

He pulled his head out of my closet, and there was one of my old work shirts lying on top of his head, messing up his hair. He grinned like an idiot. "What's up, man? Why aren't you getting dressed, or taking a shower or something? You'll have to go soon!!"

"Dude, you're worse than Mia! Now get the hell out of here, the date's at eight, three hours from now! Why are you so excited about this? Almost everyone's excited, except for Mel and Dom up there…you think they realize that it's almost going to be night time again and they haven't left their bedroom?"

Leon shook his head, causing the shirt to be tossed away. "Naw man, I don't think they even realize that the sun's been up yet…and why do you think we're excited? This is the first time we've ever seen you so serious about a girl! This chick has you wound up around her little finger!"

I shrugged off that last comment. "She does not, and I'm not that serious about her. I mean, just because she's smart, funny and beautiful doesn't mean that I'm crazy about her. She's just different than all of the other girls I've been with."

"Jesse loves Kat." He stated simply. I swear, sometime she could be just like a child.

"No, Jesse does not."

 "Jesse loves Kat, Jesse loves Kat!" The crazy guy started running around my room, chanting over and over "Jesse loves Kat".

"Leon, don't you have something better to do than run around my room and sing? Where's Letty? Isn't it time for your nap or something?" I quipped, opening the door so that he could leave. He stuck his tongue out and ran off somewhere, still shouting out that damn tune.

***

I should have listened to Leon- I parked at the steps leading to Kat's house at 8:15. Not a good start to a date. Nervously, I climbed the six steps total to her door. I tugged at the bottom of my black button-up shirt (a reaction that I often got when I was freaked out) and looked around at the dark, dreary house before me. The weeds definitely needed some taming, and the windows would most likely appreciate getting acquainted with a soapy cloth. Okay, I thought to myself, Kat's house looks like a reject from a horror movie. I turned my head to a sound coming from behind me and saw a black flash of a cat's tail disappear behind a bush that was crawling over a Beware of Dog sign. Now I was really freaked out.

I knocked on the door, and let my eyes follow a few falling chips of paint to the ground. The house was probably empty; Kat had probably given me some fake address or something. It looked as if no one had stepped foot on this property for a long time. After a few more silent minutes, I knocked again and noticed that there weren't any lights on. Yep, definitely a fake address. I turned and started to walk down the path towards my car again when I heard the buzz of lights flicking on behind me, as well as the sound of a squeaky door opening up with its hinges groaning. I turned to face Kat and found myself face-to-chest with a tall, dark man who could probably almost give Dom or Vince a run for their money. Almost.

"Who the hell are you?" he rumbled angrily. Talk about beware of dog…

I took a step back to inspect Mr. Steroid and was not pleased with what I saw. His skin was half a shade lighter than Dom's, and he was looking particularly shady in black pants and a white beater. I gulped as I noticed the bulging muscles underneath his shirt, somewhere close to the size of Mia's thighs, and then stared down at where his shirt was pressed up against a neatly cut-six pack. I was in big trouble if I didn't answer him soon.

Holding my head up high, I answered, "I- I'm Jesse. Is K-Kat home?" Very brave and tough sounding, in my opinion.

"Yeah, she is. Why do you ask?"

"We're supposed to go out. Tonight," I swallowed before I continued, "Together."

"Who do you work for?" He grumbled on, seemingly unaware of my last comment.

"What?"

"You got a job?"

"Yeah."

"Then who's your boss?"

This wasn't the best time to ask why he was asking, and I was still scared beyond belief of this guy, so I answered, "Dominic Toretto" in hopes that he'd back off. No one messed with Dom's team unless they were suicidal.

"Who the hell is that? What do you do for a living, kid?" Damn.

"I'm a mechanic. Look, is Kat coming or not?"

The man's nostril's flared and he looked like he was going to tear me apart. "She ain't comin' down here if you don't answer my questions, understand me?"

I sighed and mumbled, "Yeah, I understand…"

"Good. Now, how old are you?"

"Um. Almost 22. Who are you again?"

"I'm asking the questions!!" Gotta remember the Beware of Dog thing…

I heard the clunk of footsteps coming down the stairs followed by the call of, "Paxton? Who are you talking to? Is Jesse here yet?" I whispered a tiny prayer to whoever had saved me from 'Paxton'.

Kat appeared, dressed in a casual black skirt and a black tube top that had an angel wings design across the top. Her hair was up in a clip and two purple-streaked strands hung down, framing her face. Paxton backed away from me and looked at Kat with the same disapproving look Dom got whenever Mia wore something to revealing. I goggled for a second as Kat's skirt teased me, forgetting the big man in the room.

"Jess?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Kat! Ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me grab my bag. This is my big brother, Paxton. He's been living with me after he left our old home in Miami. Have you two gotten along?" Kat chattered on as she grabbed a small black pocketbook and slung it over her shoulder. I glanced at Paxton.

"Yeah, we've been getting along great, haven't we, Pax?" I grinned at him. If he beat me up now, he'd have to answer to the most dangerous thing in the whole world: his little sister. I was safe!

I waved goodbye to Paxton and led Kat out to my freshly washed Jetta, opening the door for her as she stepped past me. Mission one: accomplished.