Chapter Two

Raylen smiled once again as she pulled out onto the interstate. Leon was right behind her.

'If he's going to follow me, I at least have to make it hard to keep up with me.'

She pressed the accelerator down and switched lanes. She flew past several cars before cutting back into the lane she was in previously. The six lane highway was a playground to her. A glimpse of Leon's car appeared in her rear view mirror. Quickly she pulled into the number one lane and flew past a Honda Civic. The driver honked his horn, but Raylen ignored it. Leon wasn't far behind her. Mentally she knew what she was doing was dangerous, but that didn't stop her. Up ahead, she saw a state trooper park along the side of the road. She slowed down to where she was under the speed limit and laughed as Leon flew past her. He gave her a smug smile that said, 'I beat you.'

The trooper's lights turned on as Leon drove past him. Raylen smiled and waved as she passed Leon, who had pulled off the side of the road. She waited till she was further down the road until she pulled off. She didn't know exactly why she was pulling off, but part of her wanted to make sure that she saw Leon again.

She waited several minutes until Leon drove past her. The state trooper stayed where he was. Raylen turned on her blinker and pulled onto the road. Leon was now driving at the speed limit.

'Thank you,' he mouthed sarcastically as she pulled up next to him. They continued to drive down the road, staying side-by-side most of the time.

Once they were inside the city limits, Leon motioned for Raylen to follow him. Her gut was telling her not to, but her heart was singing a different tune. She clenched her jaw as she followed Leon through downtown LA. By this point she had already put the top back on her Corvette.

Leon led her to a quaint little restaurant near the neighborhood of Echo Park. The name Toretto's was written across the top of the building.

"What is this place?" Raylen asked Leon as she stepped out of her car.

"It's a place that a friend of mine owns."

Raylen nodded and walked with Leon into the restaurant. It was around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. There was a brunette girl at the counter wiping it down.

"Hey, Mia," Leon said.

Mia looked up and smiled. "Hey Le."

She eyed Raylen wearily. It wasn't a suspicious look, it was just cautious.

"Mia, this is..." Leon turned to Raylen and looked at her.

"Raylen," she said with a smile. She stuck her hand out for Mia to shake. "Raylen Sanders."

"Now why couldn't you have told me that when I asked you?" Leon asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Wouldn't have been as much fun," she said with a smile.

Mia laughed. "So how did you two meet?"

Raylen sat down on the stool in front of her and laughed. "He cut me off."

"I told you that I didn't do that," Leon said sitting down next to her.

She turned to argue but Mia's question stopped her.

"When was this?" Mia asked as she played with the dishrag in her hand.

"Uh, a couple of hours ago." Raylen brushed some stray hairs out her eyes.

"You work fast, Leon," a man said as he walked out of the backroom.

Raylen scrunched up her nose at the man for a second before realizing that he maybe able to see her reaction. It wasn't that the man wasn't attractive it was just that his hair was in disarray and he had sweat and oil all on him. Mia smiled and turned around.

"The rest of the team around, Vince?" she asked the man.

Vince looked over Raylen before looking at Mia. "Yeah, they should becoming in at any second."

As soon as Vince said that everyone walked in. Each person looked over her before going back to doing what he or she was originally doing.

"Guys," Mia said, "This is Raylen, a friend of Leon's. Raylen, this is Vince, Dom, Jesse, and Letty."

They all said hello.

"That your car?" Jesse asked, pointing to the Corvette.

Raylen nodded.

"Nice."

"I think it's ugly," Letty snorted before grabbing a Corona.

Raylen smiled. "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, I guess."

Letty shrugged and walked over next to Dom. It was if she was marking her territory. Raylen nodded in understanding. Letty relaxed and offered her drink to Dom. Dom shook his head no.

"So, Raylen..." Dom said, capturing her attention.

Raylen found Dom very attractive but knew nothing would happen between them. He was clearly with Letty and she didn't want to upset what they had. There was an unspoken pact between her and Letty. 'You don't mess with my man, and I won't mess with yours.' Not that she was claiming Leon as hers already, it was just for future reference.

"What brings you to LA?" he asked.

Raylen tried not to smile as she answered. "I live here."

Dom nodded. Mia hid her smile from the rest of the group. It was apparent that he was interrogating her. For what reasons, Raylen was unsure of, but the rest of the team knew why. They didn't want another O'Connor incident.