Chapter 38: Miscommunications

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The warm surface beneath July's face shifted and brought her out her slumber. She stretched her body out before tucking herself deeper into the crevasse between Vince's arm and chest. One of her hands rested on his shoulder while one of his rested on her hip.

"Morning," he murmured, his voice gravelly from sleep.

"Morning," she said with a big smile on her face and pressed a kiss against his chest.

"How did you sleep?" he asked with a deep sigh.

"Good. What about you?" she asked raising her head to look at him. His eyes were still closed and a smile tugged at his lips.

"Me too," he said opening his eyes open a slit to look at her. Her face was glowing and her hair was wild but he still thought she looked beautiful.

"What are you thinking?" she asked propping her head on his chest.

"How beautiful you are," he answered as he trailed a thumb across her bottom lip.

"Really?" she asked playfully as she crawled closer to his face.

"Yeah," he mumbled against her lips.

Soon they were kissing and lost themselves in their passion.

"You want to know what sounds good right now?" July asked when she pulled back to breathe. Vince gave her a lustful look and she laughed at him. "That too but not what I was thinking off. A shower sounds better," she said with a mischievous smirk. Vince gave her a sly smile of his own before jumping out of bed and hauling her over his shoulder.

"All right, let's go," he said giving her a light smack on the butt.

"Vince! Stop!" she yelled.

"What?" he asked stopping in his tracks.

"A little case of nakedness here. There's no way I'm going out of this room with nothing on."

"Fine," he said setting her down. Vince grabbed one of his shirts and pulled it over her; it stopped around the middle of her thighs. "All better," he said before hefting her back onto his shoulder and heading towards the door.

"V!" July squealed.

"What now?" he asked stopping again.

"You're still naked. Not that I'm not enjoying the view but it's my view to enjoy and not everyone else's," she replied giving said view a squeeze.

Vince pulled her back down and pushed her into the door. His eyes were dark with desire.

"Is someone jealous of other people seeing me?" he asked in a teasing banter.

"Maybe," she said with a saucy smirk.

"You'll just have to cover me, make sure no one sees anything."

"I think I can do that," she answered before crushing her lips against his.

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Much later, July and Vince made their way down stairs. July wore her skirt from last night and borrowed one of Vince's smaller shirts. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Everyone was in the living room and looked over at them with knowing looks on their face. July flushed and buried her head into Vince's chest. Vince laughed before saying bye to everyone and then they headed over to her house.

"You hungry? We could go and get something or I could make something," July asked as she opened her door and then entered. Vince's reply died on his lips as a very naked Mike entered their sight.

"Oh my god!" July yelped and covered her eyes. Vince started cracking up laughing and July thumped him on the chest. "I don't find this very funny."

"July! Vince! What are you guys doing here?" Mike asked as he covered himself up with his hands.

"I live here you nitwit!" July said at his general direction.

"I know that but I didn't figure you guys back for a while."

"Mike, can we do this later, like when you have clothes on?" July asked.

"Why, you've already seen everything," he commented carelessly.

Vince stopped laughing and snapped his eyes to July but she couldn't see him because she still had her eyes covered.

"Mike, please, just go upstairs and continue whatever it was you were doing, in your room," she said stressing the 'in your room' part.

"Okay, I'm going," he said and July could hear him go up the stairs.

"And don't parade around the house naked again!" she yelled up after him. She heard him laugh and mentally cursed at him. She waited a minute before taking her hands off her eyes and looking at Vince. He had that slightly pissed off look on his face.

"I thought you said there was nothing between you and Mike," Vince said strained.

"There is nothing between us. There use to be, as in past tense. Not anymore. I thought we already had this talk. I told you that I think of Mike as my brother," she said as anger began to grow in her.

"Yeah, a brother who you saw completely naked," Vince shot back at her.

"So that just gives you a right to be mad? Because Mike and I use to date? I thought you understood that I want to be with you and no one else. I don't use the word love lightly and I don't sleep with someone unless I love them. I thought that last night meant something but I guess it didn't if you still doubt my feelings for you," July said as the tears started to gather in her eyes.

"July that's not…" Vince started to say but never got to finish because July was racing up the stairs. He chased after her but her door slammed in his face and locked before he could open it.

"July, open the door," he said knocking on it.

"Go away!" she shouted.

"No, come on, you know that's not what I meant," he yelled back but it didn't matter because she had turned on music and it was too loud for her to hear him. He gave the door one last thump before leaning against it sliding to the floor.

"All right ass wipe, what did you do now?" Letty asked as she came out of Mike's room.

"Screwed up," Vince said with a sigh.

"Well, duh, that much is obvious, I meant what exactly did you do," Letty said crouching next to him.

"I said something when Mike said July had already seen all of him," Vince said as Mike came out, fully clothed this time, from his room.

"You said something, didn't you?" he asked.

Vince lunged up and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "You did it on purpose didn't you? You said it because you knew I would make a deal about it," Vince said with hostility, his other hand clenching into a fist.

"No I didn't. I didn't really think it would matter. I swear, I didn't say it to get you two in a fight or anything," Mike said calmly.

"Whatever," Vince growled before releasing Mike and shoving him away. He started to stop down the stairs.

"You go after him, I'll talk to July," Letty said giving him a quick kiss. Mike gave her a 'do I have to?' look and Letty crossed her arms, waiting for him to go.

"Fine, I'm going, but be prepared to call 911 when he beats me to a bloody pulp," Mike said before heading downstairs. She heard the front door close and then turned back to July's door, knocking on it.

"JJ! Open up, it's me," Letty yelled over the music. The music turned notably down and then July's muffled voice sounded.

"Letty? Are you by yourself?"

"Yes it's me, by myself, and I'm dressed," she said and heard a half chuckle.

The door unlocked with a click and it slowly creaked open. Letty pushed her way in and closed the door behind her. July's face was pale and tears were still streaming down her cheeks. Letty gave July a comforting hug before directing her towards the bed and sitting down. Letty patted July's back while she cried and waited until her sobs faded away.

"Feel better?" Letty asked.

"No," July said with a pout as she wiped her face.

"Let me explain something to you. Vince is insecure when it comes to girls. Yes, I know, it's a shock but believe me it true, even if he'll never admit it. See, Vince has liked Mia since high school. Did anything for her, all she had to do was ask and Vince would drop everything. Then Brian showed up and swept Mia off her feet and Vince was left alone. He figured he might have a chance when Brian ended up being a cop but was wrong when he showed back up asking for forgiveness. Now Vince can't really hate Brian since he saved his life and that ticks him off more than anything. So you got to understand that Vince has always been the one to stick it out and then be left in the cold. So he's a tad bit insecure when it comes to relationships," Letty said and saw July's eyes soften a bit.

"But that doesn't give him an excuse to start crap every time something happens or gets said," she said

"I didn't say it was. Just give him some slack," Letty finished with a sigh.

"He did seem sorry," July muttered and continued her inner battle on what to do about Vince.

"You know you're lucky that I like you enough to be doing this, because normally, I would have said 'not my problem' and walked away. Or get Mia to handle it."

"Or maybe you're scared I'll kick you out," July suggested, laughing as Letty's eyes got wide.

"I didn't think about that," Letty said. "But you wouldn't."

"You sure about that?" July asked with a smirk.

"You couldn't throw poor, innocent old me out into the streets could you?" Letty said, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Innocent? Yeah right," July shot back sarcastically.

"Am too," she argued back.

"Right, and the horns are just there to keep the halo straight?" July asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Damn right," Letty said laughing before turning serious again. "So you think you can give V a chance?"

"Yeah…"

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"Yo, Vince! Wait up!" Mike yelled as he cut across the lawn.

"What do you want?" Vince asked in a low voice.

"Look, I really didn't mean for anything to happen. I know that July is happy with you and I would never do anything to ruin that. She's been through a lot and deserves to be happy," Mike said looking down at the ground.

"So you were just having a bit of fun this morning?"

"Yeah, I didn't mean anything by it. I mean, it's true," Mike saw the livid expression on Vince's face and quickly continued, "But I don't think of July like that anymore. Plus, I think I've found someone else," Mike said with what he hoped was a friendly smile.

"You mean Letty?" Vince asked.

"Yeah, she's something," Mike answered with a wistful look.

"So you don't want to get back with July?" Vince said, voicing the question that he had at the back of his mind.

"No, of course not. For one, she's with you and I don't take other guy's girls, and two, there's Letty, and three, I really don't see me and July ever being like that again, even if I wanted to. She's hooked on you pal," Mike explained with a serious expression. "So if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and make you pay."

"The same goes for Letty," Vince said with a threat of his own.

They nodded their understanding at each other before turning away from one another.

"If you want to keep her you have to completely trust her. July's won't be with someone who doesn't completely percent trust her, remember that," Mike said before turning and going back into the house.

Vince turned back to go inside but stopped. He didn't really want to go inside where everyone would ask what was wrong. He felt his keys in his pocket and pulled them out. A drive was what he needed right now.

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When Vince got back to the house it was late in the afternoon, around two. His heart stopped as he saw the ambulance in July's driveway. He parked his car and rushed over just in time to see Letty being brought out on a stretcher.

"Le, don't let them take me! You know I hate hospitals!" Letty screamed as she latched onto Leon's arm. There was a deep gash on her forehead and blood was dripping down the side of her face.

"What the hell is going on?" Vince asked as he stood next to Mia.

"I don't know. All the sudden the ambulance pulled up to her house and we all came rushing over," she said as tears ran down her face and Brian held her.

"Let, what happened?" Vince asked as he walked beside the stretcher.

"They took them," she said worry in her eyes.

"Who did?" Vince asked as he was hit with a cold fist of fear in the gut.

"I don't know. I got hit and when I woke up July and Mike were gone. V, you have to find them," Letty pleaded. Vince just nodded his head and fell quiet.

"Do you have to take her?" Leon asked the paramedic.

"Yes, she might have a concussion. We want to take her for observation and stitch her up. Are you going to accompany her?" the medic asked.

"Yeah," Leon said nodding.

"What hospital?" Mia asked.

"We'll be taking her to Providence Memorial."

"We'll follow you in the car," Mia told Leon as he went into the ambulance. The doors closed and it took off just as an officer came over.

"I'm officer Ray Gilroy. If you could just answer a few questions, we would be grateful for the cooperation," the officer said to the group.

"We don't know anything. All we heard was the ambulance and came out to see what was going on," Dom said.

"I understand that there were two other individuals in the house, a July Jones and a Michael Bradley, is that correct?" he asked looking up from his notepad.

"Yeah, they live in the house."

"According to Ms. Gonzales, she said that she was clocked on the head and then when she woke the other two were gone. Did any of you see anything shady? A strange car or a unfamiliar person?" he asked in his monotone voice.

"No, we didn't see anything," Mia answered, everyone agreeing with her.

Officer Gilroy asked them some more questions and then took a description of July and Mike. "We'll put out an alert for them and try our best to find them. Please don't try to find them on your own as the kidnapper may be armed and dangerous. Thank you for your time," he said before turning and getting back into his car.

"We're going to head to the hospital and see how Letty is," Mia said to the group. "You going to be okay Vince?"

Vince looked up and Mia could see the tears in his eyes. "I have to get her back. I just got her, I can't lose her," he rambled.

"You'll find her Vince, I know you will," she replied, giving him a hug before Brian pulled her away and they got into his car and headed into the direction of the hospital.

Just as Brian's car disappeared from sigh, Amy's car pulled up and stopped in front of the house with a screech. She got out and they all knew something was wrong; she was crying.

"What's wrong?" Jesse asked as he came over to her and held her in his arms. She tried talking but her crying made it hard to understand. "Shh, calm down. You have to stop crying so you can tell us what's wrong," Jesse said as he smoothed back her hair.

Slowly she calmed down and took a couple deep breaths.

"I don't know what happened but something's wrong. I came home and Mom was crying, saying something about Dad having enough and going to finish what he started a long time ago. I tried to ask her what she was talking about but all I got out was something about Texas. And the only thing I can think of when she said Texas was July. So I came to talk her," Amy finished with a hiccup.

"Amy, he took her. Both her and Mike," Vince said as rage boiled beneath the surface.

Amy's face crumbled and she started crying again. "He couldn't have. He wouldn't do that," Amy cried, shaking her head.

"Look, we don't know for certain but it's our best bet and the only thing we have to go on. Do you know where he might have taken them?" Vince asked trying to keep calm.

"I don't know," Amy answered as she searched her brain. "Wait, I might. He owns a beach house on the outskirts of LA," Amy said as her eyes flickered around while she thought.

"Then we'll look there," Vince said turning towards the house just as Dom came out.

"Here," Dom said passing him a gun and gave Vince a meaningful look. Vince understood and took the gun from him. They both check their magazine clips before tucking them in the waistbands of their pants.

"Amy, do you know how to get there?" Vince asked as he turned around.

"Yeah," she answered in a shaky voice, Jesse still holding onto her.

"Look, I really need your help. I don't know why he wants July or what he's doing to her but I have to get her back and I need your help to do that. Are you with me?" he asked looking her in the eyes. Her brown eyes were filled with confusion and worry.

"Yeah," she said after taking a deep breath, slowly nodding her head.

"And you understand that if it is your dad, it's not going to matter."

Amy didn't trust her voice then and just nodded her head again. She gave Jesse a worried look and he squeezed her hand.

"All right. Jesse, you're driving. Amy you sit in the front and direct Jesse. Let's go," Dom said and they all got into Jesse's car.

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tbc…