Chapter 5

Cassie fumbled with the lock as she stumbled inside the house. She giggled to herself and tried to be as quiet as possible, but somehow, in her intoxicated state it wasn't quiet enough. She smelled of alcohol and smoke and sex and she knew that if she didn't get showered and to bed quickly, Faith would give her one of her lectures on how she needed to be careful when drinking - a lot could be said when your inhibitions were low.

She carefully closed the door behind her and continued to stumble her way towards the kitchen. The house was dark, but she had done this so many times before, she could easily make her way through even if she had a blindfold on. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and a packet of aspirin for the headache that she could feel coming already. She scratched the back of her neck and messed up her hair as she popped out two pills and downed them with the water.

As she was about to head up to her bedroom she head footsteps coming down towards the kitchen.

Letty, slowly, painfully, but surely, had meandered out of her room. She'd been waiting for this ever since Cassie had left. She knew she shouldn't have left things the way that they were, and that it would only amount to worse if she wasn't careful. Cassie had always been a great friend to her, her chica, the one that she could rely on if she needed someone. The one who wouldn't screw her over when she was already down.

She listened to her footsteps on the cool hardwood floor, and silently thanked spirits that they weren't as scorching as before. The heat was unbearable, but at least her feet were cool. She slowed her pace even further as she reached the kitchen archway, and grasped hold of the door frame, and just stood. Her expression indolent, her actions even slower. She offered a smile to Cassie, followed by a meek, "You're back."

Cassie looked up only for a second to see Letty standing in the archway. She had pretty much forgotten that they were there - it was still new in her mind and hadn't become habit to see them. She looked back down at the packet of aspirin still sitting on the bench and picked it up, returning it to where it belonged. "Yeah, but I'm goin' to bed now." She said forcefully as she made her way past Letty, and going the long way through the living room. She threw her keys into the small bowl on top of the TV that kept everybody's keys.

Letty turned hurriedly and raised her voice a little. "Cassie..." she started and followed her. "Can we talk?"

Cassie spun around and leaned one hand up against the TV box. She blinked forcefully to try and sober herself up a little, but with no luck she just stood there and listened. "Yeah, talk." She shifted her weight to one foot and tilted her head to the side as she waited.

Letty saw that she wasn't in the right frame of mind for them to start having this conversation, her inebriated body apparent in trying hard to stand up, and still. She watched the drunk girl for a moment, and then scoffed. "Forget it." She decided it quickly it would be better for them to talk when they were both sober and serious, rather than talking to Cassie right now, and then she forgets it all in the morning; or throws it up no doubt with the rest of the contents of her stomach. She rubbed her hand over her forehead and decided to go back up to bed.

"Fine," Cassie threw her hands up in the air in frustration, "it's always been like that with you. One thing one minute, another thing the next. Jeez, I dunno how the team ever puts up with you." She snorted and anger and shook her head slowly. "It probably would be better if we spoke in the morning, at least then when everybody started wondering why we're yelling at each other, they'd already be awake. And I know how much you hate waking people up at night." She said, her voice laced with sarcasm as she stepped in front of Letty and walked towards the stairs.

Letty clenched her jaw and watched Cassie heading for the stairs. "Why'd you have to bring that up?" she said quietly, trying hard to keep her temper. She couldn't lose her temper for a second time today with Cassie.

"Because I just loooove digging up the past with you, Letty. It's my favourite past-time." Cassie rolled her eyes, knowing Letty was so close to losing her temper and if she did, an argument would be imminent. Cassie hated to argue with Letty, her best friend, but sometimes things just would happen.

She paused and spun around again, and with a normal tone of voice she spoke, "I'm sorry. Maybe we really should just leave this until morning - it's not really the best time." She gestured with her hand, and made her lose her balance slightly - she grabbed on to the railing for support as she continued to stare at Letty.

Letty clenched her jaw, just watching Cassie stumbling about before her. "No. We're gonna talk about this right now. Seeing as you brought it up." She paused and took a breath. "It just makes you laugh to dig up my past doesn't it...this afternoon, now...you think its funny to watch me lose my temper." She was pretty pleased with herself, that she hadn't lost it yet. But all the more she spoke she could feel herself losing her temper bit by bit. "Why the fuck do you always do this to me!" she said, raising her voice a little more, as so it was just above a whisper.

"Why do I do this to you?" Cassie spat back, her voice growing louder slightly. She shook her head, an attempt to show anger, or frustration - or maybe a mix of both. "Yes Letty, like I said... I just love bringing up YOUR past. Because it has nothing to do with me what so ever. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway." She waved her hand as if to brush the subject away as she started to ascend the stairs.

Faith could hear them from the confines of her room and it sounded as if they weren't even yelling at each other yet. She pulled back her sheets and rose from the bed, and as she pulled the door to, she could hear Letty's attempt to keep the noise down.

Letty could feel her temper starting her and hated whenever people would say stuff against her. She could feel the cool material of the vase inside her grasp, and as she picked it up, she knew it wouldn't be a vase for much longer. She threw it in the direction of Cassie, missing by about an inch as it smashed against the wall beside her. Only then did she realise she was getting too mad too quickly.

Cassie ducked the flying vase just as it hit the wall, just barely missing the flying shards or glass. "Holy shit! What the fuck!" She yelled now, not caring who heard.

Dom woke with a startle, and thought maybe he was just having a weird dream, until he heard Cassie yelling downstairs. He quickly slipped on his pants and shirt and carefully peeked out of the door from the bedroom he had been given and watched as the two women argued downstairs. Not being able to handle any longer he stormed out and down the stairs, "what the HELL is going on here?" He boomed over everybody, glaring at both Cassie and Letty.

Cassie crossed her arms across her chest, suddenly feeling quite sober. She stared at Letty but didn't say a word.

Faith, jumping a little at the sound of the vase breaking against the wall pulled back her door and hurried downstairs, wondering why there was so much commotion. "What's goin' on?" she asked as she came to see the two girls staring at each other.

Letty failed to break her gaze with Cassie for a moment, still annoyed that she was being a bitch, though eventually wavered and broke her gaze, and went to scratch her forehead. "Why don't you ask her, it seems like she has all the solutions..." she said under her breath, moving away from them all a little.

Cassie laughed sarcastically, throwing her head back to make her point across, "Oh ha-ha Letty. You're the one that seems to be causing the problems - I'm just the peacemaker around here. And don't you get me started miss thing - I can lay all your shit down - and then we'll see how you feel." Cassie put her palm to her head as the headache started to sear through her skull. The painkillers weren't doing anything to stop the throbbing. She snorted in anger and wandered back into the kitchen and pulled out the box of aspirin again and mumbled, "4 hours between each dose my ass."

Dom blinked in confusion. It seemed he had been left out of the loop for longer than he had suspected. He used to always know what was going on with his team, but now it seemed everybody had shut themselves off from him altogether - and it was really starting to strike a nerve. But of course, being the 'strong leader' he wouldn't show anybody that - he would keep his cool for a little longer, and play this out. Whatever this was.

Faith moved down into the lounge and stood by Dom, just as confused as he looked. She saw Cassie in the kitchen popping some pills and exhaled as she looked back to Letty, frowning. "You broke my vase."

Letty eyed her, then the broken vase. "Yeah, I know..." she looked across at Cass, then back at Faith. "Sorry."

"I get up for a 12 hour shift at the restaurant this morning at 6, and I get home finally thinking I'm gonna get some rest, when an old friend of mine calls and says she needs a favour. So you guys arrive a couple of hours later, and I'm thinkin 'Can't be gettin' me some sleep now, I got me some guests.' And here's me thinking, when the day's finally let up I'm gonna be gettin' me some sleep, you know like the peaceful kind, where people aren't breakin' all your shit and rowin' the house down. I work 12 hours a day, 6 till 6 every day. Am I in for rough ride or not? Cos I swear Cass told me you weren't gonna be like this..." She looked at both Letty and Dom as she said this, the tone of her voice indicating how bothered she was.

Dom put his hands up in a surrender sort of way, "I'm sorry, truly I am. I'll pay for the vase, and as for these two - I'll make sure they get to bed... quietly. You should go back up, it's been a long day for all of us, and I can't even begin to imagine how strange this must be for you - it's just as strange for me, trust me. They're not usually like this." Dom looked at Letty, the confused look still plastered on his face. He then glanced back into the kitchen to Cassie.

She stood with both hands, palm down on the bench top, and her bent over with her eyes closed. She cursed herself silently for having that last drink and then stood up straight. "I'm sorry Faith. I thought things might be a little more peaceful." She said as she made her way into the living room.

Dom nodded in agreement, "If you want us out, I'll totally understand."

Cassie smirked nervously and slightly embarrassed, "if you want me out, I'll understand. It is your house after all." She let out a soft chuckle and draped her arm across Faith's shoulders.

Faith moved out from under Cassie's touch and pulled her arms off of her. "It's fine it's just..." she looked at each of the three for a moment. "...If there's gonna be any tension hangin' around I'd prefer it out in the open, rather than the broken vases and the snide comments, and the unfashionable glares..." she trailed off, hoping they'd understand what she meant. She really was jonesin' for her sleep, but if this meant that she could get more peaceful nights then better to have it all settled right now, rather than later.

Letty glanced at Cassie, then Dom, before heading for the stairs. "I have nothing to say," she told Faith quietly as she crossed past Dom and started upon the stairs one by one.

Cassie shook her head as the 3rd aspirin she took finally kicked in, and mixed with her already drunken stupor, she stumbled slightly then raised her hand to say something. "Actually, I have something to say." She took a deep breath in and turned to Dom, "In all the years I've spent with you guys, I've watched Letty stomp all over you and accuse you of cheating on her or looking at other women and blah blah blah - when it obviously wasn't true. But did you ever think, maybe she was sayin' all that shit just to get the attention away from her. I mean... why would Queen Letty want to cheat? Nooo... she's just miss perfect." She waved her hands in the air, "C'mon Let. Tell Dom about what I was meant to keep a secret. What I walked in on. Why don't you tell him why I REALLY left. Hmmm, Dom ... I'm just as pissed off as you, really. I mean, what me and Let had going - that was nothing. But--"

Dom cut Cassie off mid sentence, "what the fuck are you babbling on about Cassie?"

Cassie looked over at Letty and waved her hand in front of her body in a 'why don't you let her explain' way and then crossed her arms across her chest, trying her best to keep her balance.

Dom did the same and looked over at Letty. Were his suspicions actually coming true? His blood boiled, and he tried his best not to do anything stupid. He clenched his jaw and didn't remove his eyes away from Letty, "Well?"

Faith, also curious as to what this secret was, folded her arms across her chest, eyes wide, really interested.

Letty looked at all the eyes on her, and cleared her throat. "Em..." she started quietly. "Well..." she looked over at Dom, his eyes piercing her, and Cassie's just as much. "Leon and I..." she mumbled. "We, em..." she didn't need to explain everything. Just the way she started was enough information. "But it was just one time..."

Dom felt like a tonne of bricks had just landed on top of him. He collapsed on the couch with his head in his hands. "When?"

Cassie sat down next to him, "the day before I left. While Leon and I were together. I swore to Letty that I'd never tell anybody. She's my best friend - I couldn't say no. But, I didn't think I'd be able to keep it from you... so I left so I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore." She put her hand on Dom's shoulder.

He flinched away slightly, but looked back up to Letty. "Why? I...I just don't... understand."

Letty shrugged and moved into the lounge once again, standing before him. "It just...happened - I never meant for it to, but we...just...had a couple of drinks and I was pissed - I thought you were out doin' your dirt as usual and Leon was just...there." She knew she'd hurt him; but she honestly did feel like he was the same. Sleeping with the skanks in every direction and for once she wanted to be appreciated by someone who wasn't just gonna use her whenever he needed a fix.

Faith leant back against the doorframe of the lounge and raised her eyebrows. Sure she'd been told about the Team's dirty dealings, heists, drugs whatever. But never the personal shit. It interested her, sure, but she never thought it was anything like this.

Letty sat upon the coffee table in front of Dom, hesitating to reach out and touch him or anything. In truth, she couldn't be fucked. It was a secret she hated keeping. Not that she'd wished it hadn't happened...but she was tired. She hated the fighting and the running, and felt as though her secret was nothing compared to what he'd done to her. She would never believe that he didn't cheat. It was in his nature, as they'd seen a couple of days ago with the last heist. He cheated with the cars, with the business and more than definitely with her.

Dom dropped his head to his hands again and swore a string of obscenities, mainly to himself. "Not once did I cheat on you. Not once. And the only reason I put work first... I had a gut feeling something was going on. But not with Leon. I just didn't want to admit it to myself." He paused, "I... just ... I..." he couldn't make the words come out, no matter how hard he tried. She stabbed him right through the heart. Dom had a forgiving soul, he would have been able to forgive Letty if it was a random person from a race, drunk or not drunk, but with Leon. His best friend. His family.

He then looked back up at Cassie, "and you knew all along? And didn't tell me. Just picked up and left! That's just cowardly!" He threw his hands up in the air in anger.

Cassie jumped back slightly at his outburst and hung her head. She knew what she had done wasn't the best thing - but she was only thinking what would be best for the team. Even if it meant they'd have to be without her. Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she refused to show them her weak side - she just couldn't.

Faith once again, stood back, just watching.

Letty also, tired, not bothered by this, just watched him absorbing this all. But then something clicked in her mind. "You didn't cheat? Not once?" she started, her voice low, sort of realising.

Dom shook his head gently, "not once." His voice was low, and broken. "The women that hung off me? They were nothing - just..." he shook his head, disgusted. "You were always first. Before everything. I would have done anything for you, Letty. Anything!"

He stood and shook his head again. He paused to say something, but decided against it and continued walking through the living room, and through the kitchen straight out the back door to the patio. He took a seat on the bottom step and stared out into the darkened bushes in front of him. Dom played the words that Letty had said through his mind. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it would have - but it still felt like a screwdriver through the heart. "Fuck!" He growled at the ground as he sat in the silence.

Cassie watched quietly as Dom walked out, then looked to Faith. Her throat and eyes burned from the sick feeling in her stomach and she couldn't look anybody in the eyes anymore.

Letty stood and looked towards Cassie. "Thanks," she said flatly, undecided about her feelings of Cassie letting everything out in the open. She headed out to the patio where Dom was and stood behind him, watching for a moment. "Dom..." she finally started, her heartbeat now beginning to thump inside her chest, the realisation of everything only just hitting her. He knew about her little secret, he thought he knew all along...She stood at the top step and leant against the wooden pole. "I'm sorry," she said simply. She meant it...but once again...she was too tired. Fed up. She didn't even know if she wanted Dom anymore. All the believing that he had cheated had made her turn away from him emotionally, and that's why she turned to Leon. She was sorry about that, she really was...but Leon was there for her, and there were times when he would look at her and could see that he loved her. With Dom it was impossible to tell.

She watched him sitting on the bottom step, absorbing all of this still. "Say something," she told him quietly, realising he hadn't in fact said anything in all the time she'd come outside.

Dom forced the lump in his throat down. He couldn't say a word to Letty. He couldn't even look at her anymore. And Leon... he didn't even know what he'd do when he saw him. Punch him? Maybe. Ignore him? Possibly. He looked up at Letty with red rimmed eyes, but couldn't even look at her for longer than a second before he looked back down to the ground. "I have nothing to say to you. You obviously never wanted me. Maybe once, when we were young and didn't know what we were getting in to. But not now." He stood and brushed the back of his pants off with his hands, "I'm leaving you with Leon. As friends, as lovers, whatever. I'm gonna go somewhere else, you can stay here, I'm sure Faith will let you. But I can't look at any of you anymore. I just have to get out of here." He bit down on his bottom lip as he said the last words and then walked down the rest of the patio, and down the driveway. He figured it would be a good time to go for a walk - to clear his mind.

Letty couldn't follow him. Only then had she realised how much of a fuck she herself had been. All the times when she wanted attention and didn't get it; she was selfish and thought of herself. And she knew Dom was right to say what he had done, as much as it was a knife to her gut, she deserved it.

She watched him walk away from her, failing to look back even once, and realisation hit like a ton of bricks as she thought about how things would become. She'd lose him, Leon would lose him, and the Team would fall apart. And it would all be because of her.