Chapter Four

She squealed her tires before pulling to a stop in front in him. He glanced at the car and watched as she emerged.

Madison Steele. The one that got away. Brian had to smile to himself. It wasn't everyday that someone as fine as Madison walked into his life. Of course, things hadn't worked out between them like he had wanted them to.

He looked at her now, with her straight chestnut brown hair laying halfway down her back and her hourglass-shaped body looking as gorgeous as he remembered.

She looked him over and shook her head. He hadn't changed one bit. He was still as cocky as she remembered. She had to laugh to herself.

He was wearing a red shirt that brought out his blonde hair and nice build. No doubt about it, he was attractive. But he was an ass. And always would be. There was no one that could change that fact about him. His khaki pants hung loosely around his hips and she knew he was wearing boxers underneath, she could see the band.

She closed the driver's side door and looked in his direction. She was already pissed at him for not telling her the truth about everything in his past, but she was more pissed that he would show up in town.

"Long time, no see, Madison. How are you?" Brian was trying to make small talk.

Madison walked up to him, nodded her greeting, then punched him in the jaw. He reeled from the impact, then, after regaining his composure, lunged after her.

He knocked her to the ground and pinned her arms to the asphalt.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"No, that's just the way I greet a cop that's lied to me the whole time I've known him. When were you going to tell me, Brian?"

"I was…" he began.

"When? When you arrested me? What the hell did you expect, that I'd just forgive you? And you have some nerve, coming here. What the hell were you thinking?"

He backed up off her, allowing her to stand up. When she did, he noticed that her elbow was bleeding. But she didn't seem to feel the pain. It was like she was immune.

Brian ran his hand through his wavy blonde hair and turned away. So, she had talked to Toretto. And he had told her the truth about Brian. Now Madison hated him. Damnit, why did he always have to go and screw things up.

Madison, feeling the sting of the wind against her elbow, looked at it and saw that it was bleeding.

"Shit," she cursed.

Brian turned back to her and took a step towards her. She raised her hand and walked away. He headed after her.

She got in her car and was about to close the door when Brian grabbed it and kept her from doing so. She flashed him a look of pure hatred.

"Let me help," he offered.

"Go to hell," Madison replied and slammed the door. He stared after her as she started the engine, spun the wheels, and flew off.

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Back at her apartment, she got the rubbing alcohol, some gauze, medical tape, and a glass of water and began to clean her wound.

Spilner—no, O'Connor—she reminded herself, was such an ass. He led her to believe that he was some wonderful guy, then turned out to be the last person that she needed to be hanging around. If things were going to go the way she had planned them, Brian was the last person she wanted to be involved with.

Her cell rang and she looked at the caller ID. It was Jacob, her brother.

"Yeah," she answered, sounding pissed.

"Well, hello to you too, sis. Bad day?" Jacob had a light tone in his voice and Madison could tell he was happy. She was glad. It was nice to know that Savannah was taking care of him.

"What's up," she said, avoiding his question.

"Just callin' to see how my wonderful sister is doing since she left home five weeks ago. Glad to hear you're alive. Would've been nice if you had called."

"Damn. Sorry, Jake, I forgot. I got settled in and everything's going smoothly. Except for one thing…Brian's here. And he knows I'm here," she had finished cleaning the wound and was bandaging it up. She winced at the pain.

Jacob heard her grimace.

"What happened? I swear, if Spilner laid a hand on you, Maddie…" Madison cut him off.

"No, just some problems with my elbow. Scraped it up cleaning the engine," she could tell that Jacob didn't believe her by his silence.

"Jake, don't," she continued. "I can take care of this. You can't keep fighting my battles for me. It's my fight. I promise, everything's under control. I met up with Dom and he knows I know Brian. Therefore, since he's back in town, there's some old shit that Dom has to deal with from before. And if he sees Brian, I won't have to worry about kicking his ass personally, Dom'll do it for me."

Jacob took a deep breath before responding.

"Just be careful, okay? And straighten things out with Dom. You need him on your side for this, sis, trust me. Plus, he's dealt with Spilner before, so he knows what shit to expect from the prick."

Madison smiled. She knew Jacob hated Brian, she just wasn't exactly sure why. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that the shit she was here to so went down as planned and Brian didn't get in the middle. Otherwise, everything would be fucked up.

"Aight. Give me a ring later. I'm going to bed," Madison replied.

"Call me Friday. I'll be expecting you. And if you don't call, I'm gonna be pissed."

There was a long pause as Jacob waited for Madison to say something.

"Okay," she agreed. "G'night."

"Night," Jacob repeated, then hung up.

Madison threw the cell down on the couch, headed for the bathroom and turned on the water. She was going to take a nice long shower and then go to bed.