The Fast and the Furious: Redline

Chapter Nine
Criminal

When Leon awoke the next morning, a feeling of dread quickly enveloped him. He turned to where he was facing Taylor, who was sleeping next to him. Slowly, he moved his hand up her arm and began to draw small circles on her shoulder. Taylor smiled softly and opened her eyes.

"Mornin'," she whispered.

Leon smiled in return, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

"What's wrong, babe?" Taylor asked as she moved closer to him. She placed her cheek against his chest, and her hand slid over his hip.

"There's something I have to tell you."

Taylor moved back a bit and looked him in the eyes. Concern was written all over her face as well as confusion.

"What is it?"

Leon took a deep breath and pushed the cotton, navy blue sheets away from his body. He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Taylor lifted up her torso and put her arms behind her to hold her up.

"Leon, what's wrong?"

He ran a hand through his hair before speaking. His words were slow to come out. He placed his head in his hand. Fear for her reaction to what he was going to say kept him from looking up.

"When you asked me last night what Dom and I were always talking about, it got me thinking. I wasn't going to tell you at first, but now I see that I have no choice. You not knowing is slowly but surely driving me insane…" And with that, the whole story of the truck hijackings spilled out. Leon kept his eyes on his hands through the whole story, afraid of what he might see in her eyes.

Taylor sat up all the way and looked over at Leon, shock and hurt written on her face. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Leon looked over at her. "Because I was afraid of what you might say. I didn't know how you were going to take it."

"You were afraid that I was going to leave you?" she asked. Her voice was eerily calm. All emotion had been erased.

"Yeah." He attempted to move closer, but she moved away from him.

"Well, guess what…you thought right," she spat.

A look of hurt splashed onto his face. "Taylor, I…"

"What'd you expect, Leon? That you would tell me about the trucks and I wouldn't care? That I would just say 'Oh, okay' and pretend as if nothing was wrong? Hello! You're a criminal. If you get caught, they could send you away for years. The police could even link me to it. They'll claim that I knew something about it and now I do… God, Leon, my life could be ruined all because of greed. Money isn't everything!"

"It is when you're living with six other people who all work at the same place," he replied to her frantically. Quickly, he noticed that Taylor was getting more and more upset by the minute.

"You invited me to live with you when I got kicked out. You didn't have to. I could have moved to another apartment or something. You guys put yourself in this situation and I'm not going to be here when the fall-out happens."

Taylor jumped off the bed and grabbed her keys from the nightstand. She stalked out of the room and up the stairs with Leon quick on her heels. By this time, everyone in the house had noticed that the couple was having an argument and had appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Everything all right?" Letty asked with a slight smile on her face. She knew what it was like to have an argument and how quickly they started and ended.

"Move," Taylor barked out as she reached the top step.

Shocked, Letty stepped to the side and watched her plow through Dom and Leon.

"Taylor, stop," Leon begged. He continued to follow her as she walked into the living room and out of the front door. "Please, just let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain, Leon. You're a criminal. End of story," she threw over her shoulder. Leon reached out and grabbed her arm as she neared her car. Angrily, Taylor spun around and pushed him away from her. He bumped into Vince, who in return grabbed his arms.

"Just let her go, dog," he said to Leon.

They both watched Taylor get into her car. Without looking back, she drove away from the house, leaving the whole team in the front yard.

Leon sat straight up in his bed and immediately looked over at the alarm clock. It was 5:37 in the morning and his body was drenched in sweat. Movement beside him caught his attention as he began to replay the nightmare he had just had over in his head. Taylor shifted in her sleep and pulled the navy blue, cotton sheets closer to her. Leon sighed heavily at the sight of her in his bed and laid back down.

"You okay?" Taylor asked, her eyes barely opening.

Leon smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Now I am," he whispered back to her. He placed a light kiss on her forehead.

She nodded before closing her eyes and moving closer to him. He couldn't help but notice how easily she fit against him. He promised himself that he would never do or say anything to make her leave his side.

As he closed his eyes to drift off to sleep again, the words "You're a criminal" played over and over in his mind. He sighed deeply knowing that there was no possible way he would get a restful sleep.

Taylor padded her way upstairs and smiled when she found Vince sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Whatcha doin' up, big guy? It's only 10 o'clock. I figured you'd sleep in, seein' as it's Saturday and your day off."

Vince didn't respond. He merely grabbed the remote and began to change channels with his trademark scowl on his face.

"What happened now?" she asked, exasperated as she plopped onto the couch next to him.

There came no response.

"Hello? Earth to big man."

Taylor moved closer to V and grabbed the remote from his hands. Only then, did he look at her.

"Do you mind?" he growled out.

"Woah, someone didn't have their coffee today," she said with a small smile as she handed the remote back to V. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'," he replied while returning to changing the channel. The sound of infomercials filled the air seconds before the channel changed. Taylor rolled her eyes and moved closer to V, but not too close.

"Nothin' usually means somethin', so spill," she said, not giving up. Part of her was only playing with him, but deep down she knew that he was majorly peeved about something. She just wanted to know what that thing was or if it had to do with her.

The muscles in Vince's jaw clenched and she decided to leave it alone. If he wanted her to know, then she would. "Okay, I get it," she mumbled. Defeated, she headed into the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice. As she entered, Taylor saw Mia standing at the stove making breakfast.

"Sure smells good."

Mia glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "I try my best," she replied, modestly.

Taylor reached into the fridge and grabbed the orange juice. After pouring a glass, she hopped onto the counter next to the stove.

"You know what V is mad about?" Mia asked after a bit of time had passed.

"Nah, he wouldn't tell me."

"Me either." Mia moved some of the scrambled eggs around in the pan that she was holding. "I came downstairs and he was on the couch, scowling away."

"Same here. Somethin' must have happened before I came home last night."

As she scooped the scrambled eggs into a bowl, she asked, "Where did you go last night?"

Not wanting to think about what had happened the night before with her and Jarrett, Taylor merely said, "I just needed to think, that's all."

Mia shook her head in understanding. Without pressing the issue further, she changed the subject back to V. "You think he's still pissed about Brian taking me out to eat?"

The other woman shrugged. "Not sure, but that was real mean to do. I know it's not my place to say so. V is head over heels for you, Mia."

"I didn't know what else to do. He came in here, being a typical ass hole. I had to show him that I didn't have the same feelings for him as he did for me."

"What's wrong with V, though? He is so sweet to me. Yeah, he can be an ass hole sometimes, but what man isn't?"

Mia laughed. "So very true."

The two girls continued talking in the kitchen while making breakfast. They ate their breakfast in the process. After a half hour past, the rest of the team began to fill into the kitchen. Vince or Dom didn't say anything as they prepared their plates. Jesse and Letty were talking about a car that had been brought into the garage the day before. Leon placed a soft kiss on Taylor's lips before grabbing and plate and her hand. He led her back down stairs to his room.

"How long you been up, baby?"

"Only about thirty minutes."

Leon nodded and began to eat some of his scrambled eggs. He seemed real distant, and Taylor couldn't figure out why. Fearing that it was something she had done, she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong but nothing came out. Nervousness spread like a wildfire throughout her. What if he knew about her run in with Jarrett? How could he know about that? Why would he care?

"You okay?" he asked, snapping her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinkin' that's all."

"'Bout what?" He placed a piece of his toast in his mouth, while waiting for her answer.

"Nothin' big."

Accepting her answer, Leon placed his plate on the floor and pulled Taylor closer to him.

"I'm sorry 'bout last night."

"You already told me that, Leon," she said with a small smile.

"I know, I just feel like a complete ass hole."

A giggle escaped her lips and he looked at her curiously. "It's okay, all guys can be ass holes at times."

"But I shouldn't have been one." He wrapped his arms around her waist and sighed, the nightmare haunting his thoughts.

"Leon, baby, I don't care." Her sentence came out as a whisper and Leon could sense the sincerity in her voice. Knowing that he was getting off to easy, he laid his head back against the headboard.

How she could not want to know about all of the mysterious disappearing acts and meetings baffled him. But there was really nothing he could do about it, but come right out and tell her what was going on. Fear that his nightmare might come true kept him from doing that.