CHAPTER 14- I Need To Know.

Stacey's P.O.V

I walked in to the kitchen kissed Junior on the head then placed my car keys on the kitchen side. I smiled watching Junior swing his legs at the table whilst he ate his cereal Mia had made him.

"I'm gonna take a shower" I told Mia coming out of my day dream.

I stood in the shower washing my hair. I looked at myself in the mirror and wanted nothing more than to punch the image away. I watched the tears form in my eyes and let them fall having no choice. I sobbed whilst I rinsed my hair.

I opened the bathroom door in my towel, made sure the coast was clear, and then shot across the hall to mine and Dom's bedroom.

Dom's P.O.V

I walked up the stairs having heard Stacey leave the bathroom; I wanted to say good morning to her.

I walked to the bedroom door that was open slightly. Enough for me to see her pull her jeans over her firm tanned arse. Her body took my breath away. She was wearing her favourite pair of boot cut Levis jeans and a black bra. She was gorgeous. I'd thought it the moment I had seen her across the street when I was 15.

She walked over to the mirror and picked up an afro comb and ran it through her wet wavy hair.

I knocked on the door before she noticed me in the doorway in the mirror. She shot her head round to look at the door.

"Morning" I said walking in to the room smiling at her. I sat on the edge of our bed then laid down, my feet still on the floor but my head tilted so I could see her face. "You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah" she said obviously hiding something. "I'm fine" she added quickly. I raised my eyebrows at her as if to say 'I don't believe you for shit'. "Honestly babe I'm fine" she added smiling.

"How was work?" I asked her. We had lived in the same house for nearly 2 months now, and Stacey had started her new job a few days after the Tran thing was over. She had fallen into a routine--she'd come home at 9 am every morning, stare at Junior for five minutes, and then take a shower.

"Fine" she said putting her attention back to the mirror and her hair. I walked over to her and took the comb out of her hand.

"Quit" I said softly looking at her through the mirror.

"It's all I got Dom, and it's a lot less risky than racing. I couldn't afford to get caught!" she told me moving away from the closeness of my body. "I have no choice at the moment, lap dance or race. I couldn't handle being put behind bars!" she explained sitting on the side of the bed.

"You hate it though" I said sitting beside her.

"What would you know?" she asked aggressively.

"YOU THINK I HAVEN'T HEARD YOU CRYING IN THE SHOWER EVERY MORNING?" I shouted. "I know you hate the fact that you've gotta dance for sleazy old men" I added calmly.

"Yeah well it's the only way I can put food on the table" she told me sighing.

"You can have the money I win from my races, Junior's my kid too. And that way I don't have to stop myself from punching something every time you leave for work." She looked at me. "The thought of another guy touching you makes my blood boil" I told her.

"I can't depend on you Dom. Something'll go wrong and you'll be out of California like a bat out of hell! And as for the punching thing, you will just have to control your temper" she said getting up off the bed. I grabbed her arm and stood up in front of her. I was so close to her I could feel her chest go in and out as she took deeper breaths. I leant down and kissed her. She kissed me back. I slowly slid her bra strap down her arm.

"Stop Dom. Stop." she said pulling away from me. Ever since she got back from being kidnapped and started this new job she couldn't bare for me to touch her. She would kiss me and hug me but that was it; she turned frigid as soon as someone mentioned sex.

I had asked her about what Tran had done to her, but every time she changed the subject or said she wasn't ready. So I left it, she would tell me in her own time. Bilkins took a statement from her and she insisted she do it at the police station with neither of us there. I asked Bilkins what she had said but he refused to tell me, said she would have to tell me when she was ready, which meant it had to be something really bad.

"I'm gonna go see Tej bout the race tonight" I told her.

"Ok" she replied sitting down at the mirror again. I left her alone to finish her hair and get ready. I was getting so pissed off with not knowing what was going on in her head. Why couldn't she bare for me to touch her? Why wouldn't she tell me about Tran? Why was she like a robot the last few weeks?

I had to get some answers so I went to Brian. I asked him if he could get a hold of Stacey's statement. "Yeah I got a few guys that owe me favours" he told me. "But are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah I need to know" I said to him.

"Just be prepared for the worst" he warned me. I was prepared for the worst, what was going through my head couldn't be as bad as what had actually happened. Mia walked through to the kitchen.

"What's with all the whispering?" she asked smiling at us both standing in the middle of the kitchen.

"Nothing" I told her looking at Brian with a 'don't tell her' look in my eye. He nodded his head at me.

"Leon called. Letty and Haley are all fine, settling in to their new place fine." Mia informed me. Letty had had Haley a week after Tran reappeared. They announced a few days after her birth that they were moving back to L.A to have a fresh start. They moved three weeks ago and that was the first we had heard from them since they left.

"Some good news at last" I muttered. "Right. I'm going to see Tej bout tonight" I added picking up my jacket that was on the back of the chair that Junior sat colouring in.

"Yeah and I got some stuff I need to take care of" Brian told Mia.

"Where you going?" Mia asked walking over to Brian.

"I just gotta do some stuff. I'm sure we'll all hear the result later" Brian commented. I shot a look at him. Mia looked from me to Brian.

"What are you two up to?" she asked.

"Like he said I'm sure you'll hear the result later" I called back walking out of the front door.

I went to see Tej about tonight's race and to make some last touch ups on my car. When I arrived he was working on Jade. We hadn't told Stacey about it and come to think about it she hadn't asked about her, something was seriously wrong!

Me, Tej, Suki, Vince and Brian had all been taking turns to fix her up nice and new, the way she use to be before Tran ran her off the road into those parked cars. While Jade had been in the side of those cars, some kids had gone in and almost totally gutted her--they took the stereo, NOS, the computer, everything. Then when they couldn't rip anything else out they vandalised her.

If Stacey had seen the state it was in she probably would have broke down into tears. But slowly and surely Jade was beginning to look like her old self.

Brian had told me he would call me as soon as he had something. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to the call now, so when my pocket began to ring and vibrate some random tune I got nervous.

"I gotta take this" I told Tej walking away from him and Jade. "What's up?" I answered reading Spilner on the caller ID. I knew it wasn't his real name but O'Conner was a cop. Spilner was O'Conner's alter ego, and I prefer that side of him, so I called him Spilner.

"I got what you asked for" he replied. "I will be home in about a half hour if you wanna meet me there."

"Take it to Vince's" I told him quickly. "I don't want her to know" I added.

"Cool man" Brian replied before hanging up.

"Hey man, see you at 8?" I asked Tej walking towards him again. He nodded and held up the peace sign and watched me walk to my car.

"Dom" he called once I had opened the car door. I looked up at him. "You're not gonna like what you read." I knew she had told Tej what happened, it was obvious. She spent most of her time with him when it was all over. And whenever she would get upset she'd run over there.

"I just need to know" I called back to him.

"Yeah" he said nodding. "I get that. Just be ready for it" he added.

AUTHOR NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO MY SISTER KATRINA WHO WON £10,000 THIS MORNING (22-10-04) WELL DONE BABE. LOVE YA!

HOPE YOU ENJOY ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO THEN I'M TOTALLY STUCK SO WON'T BE ANYTHING FOR A WHILE!