Chapter 4

It was 2 days after the races, and Tiff was working in the garage with Dom and Vince. Vince left on a beer run, so it was just Dom and Tiffany. She was trying to work up enough courage to ask him about what happened between him and Brian but so far had no luck whatsoever.

" Excuse me? Um can I ask you a question" she asked timidly. He was silent for awhile and then he answered.

"Sure"

"Um... can you tell me what I'm doing wrong on this car" She mentally kicked herself. She was going to ask him ' what's your deal with Brian?' but that slipped out instead. But something about him was intimidating... Maybe it was his big shiny head or his huge muslcey arms and big boots.

" Yeah... your problems right there. The altenators starter is going bad. You might have to replace it." He said and walked away.

"Thanks" How could she miss that? Out of all her 7 years of fascination with cars and her 2 years of fixing them (Rome didn't trust her) she had never overlooked such an easy thing. But of course her mind was on something else. She reasoned with herself that she would just have to spit it out.

"WhyDontYouLikeBrian" she said very fast.

Dom looked up. There was coldness in his eyes yet they were bright with fire.

"What did you say" he questioned in his manly voice.

"I-I said w-why don't you like Br-Brian" she managed to stutter.

"Listen kid, it's not that I don't like him its jst that.. I can't trust him. I trusted him before and then I found out that he was a phony and a liar and he hurt Mia. I can't forget that... I trusted him and accepted him into the family and then found out he was cop..." he trailed off.

''Well I'm not trying to make you forgive and forget but he's a nice guy. He's helped my brother outta a few tight spots and he's always been like a second father figure in my life after my parents..." suddenly her eyes grew big and she turned way.

"What happened to your parents" Dom asked genuinely concerned. She turned to him and he was shocked to see hate and disgust in her big dark brown eyes.

"They're both crack addicts... They left me when I was 5 at home in the middle of the ngiht and never came back. I finally called Rome and he came and got me and I moved in with him. He's my legal gaurdian now and quite frankly I don't care what happens to the other two... They could die for all I care and trust me, and I wouldn't even bother going to their funerals. They get what they deserve for leaving a poor defenseless 5 year old alone all by herself just to get a fix. They didn't even come back for me. All that stuff about being daddy's littlegirl and them loving me was all lies. I hate them." she said darkly. Then she heard Rome calling her from the front telling her it was time to go and she turned to Dom.

"Thanks for talking with me... Your'e really cool. Bye." she said and left.

Dom was thinking. 'How could such a smart, intelligent, beautiful girl have such a bad past. Just goes to show you how you never judge a book by it's cover. I thought she a perfect life... Cool brother, Cool house, Cute boyfriend... And behind all that perfectness there was agirl with no mom to rock her to bed and to have private conversations with them giggling and talking about clothes and boys. She had no dad to tuck her in at ngiht and tell her how pretty she was and how fast she was growing up. Rome was a good- no, a great big brother but no one could replace a kids mom and dad.'He had to stop then because it reminded him of his dad. Then he started to think of what Tiffany had said about Brian. ' Maybe he deserves another chance...'

Later at the house...

Letty and Mia wee talking to Brian about the races when Dom walked in. He looked at Brian with an expressionless face. Letty and Mia knew that was when he really had something serious on his mind.

"Hey Brian come outside for a minute." he turned around and walked outside waiting for Brian to follow him.

"Ooohhh! Your'e in trouble now" said Letty in a baby voice.He stuck her the finger and walked out the door to join Brian. He found Dom, Vice, Leon, and Jessie waiting for him. He stepped forward and waited anxiously for one of them to stay something. Finally Dom stepped forward.

"Brian, what you did was wrong but uh... I talked with that little girl and she convinced me that your'e not such a bad guy. But if you ever lie to us again, I'll be forced to break your neck. Understood" he said.

"Uhh..." was his reply.

" Aww come here, man. Bros" said Dom.

"Yeah, man bros" said Brian happily. They all exchanged their apologizes and went back in the house. Little did Brian and Mia know, that everyone else were planning to get them back together...