Summery: The BBQ and flirting Dom topped off with a date. How will Bri take Vince's suspicions about her being a cop and his and Dom's threats? Johnny Tran gets lube happy and Bri finally talks about her past.
Fast and The Furious AU Ties That Bind
Chapter Three Furious Fast
After everything she seemed to fit in rather well with Dom, Mia, Leon, and Jesse but Vince and Letty spent as little time around her as possible. She knew why Letty didn't like her she had a thing for Dom and saw her as a threat, competition. Vince she didn't get at all, she'd never done anything to him but he kept giving her dirty looks. She wondered at first if he like Letty and hated Bri for her but she was quick to spot his thing for Mia.
"Tell me what you think about this." Jessie asked her cigarette in hand while they sat in the office in the garage loading the computer with a disk. "Koni adjustables. Gonna save us about two pounds. And they're gonna give us better traction for the hole shot. All right. This is your basic layout of the car, and that's pretty much what it could look like when it's finished. Red, green." Jesse explained to her as the images came up on the screen.
"Man, you should be goin' to M.I.T. or somethin'." She told him in awe.
"Yeah, right." He laughed mockingly. "No, I got that--Oh what's it called? That attention disorder…" Jesse said trying to think up the name.
"Oh, A.D.D.?" She asked him.
"Yes, that shit. Yeah. You know, I was good in algebra…and like math and shit. Everything else I failed. Dropped out of school. I don't know. It's just somethin' about engines…that-that calms me down, you know?" Jesse explained to her.
"Like that Ritalin shit they gave to some of the kids. I knew a few who had to take it. Messed up. Made them like zombie's half the time." She told him with a nod.
She was just heading out to her truck to go find some grub for dinner before bed when Dom followed her outside the garage. She turned in surprise when she heard him watching him walked over to her.
"You got any plans tonight?" Dom asked her.
"Uh, not really." She told him.
"Follow me to the house. Your goin' to have some of my BBQ maybe we can actually get some meat on those bones." Dom told her teasingly.
"Planning to fatten me up for your BBQ?" She teased.
"Nah, you'd only be wasted on the BBQ." Dom replied flirtatiously.
"Right." She replied sarcastically turning towards the car. Dom reached out quickly grabbing her bicep in an iron grip making her flinch in surprise.
"Sorry." He said sheepishly pulling his hand back.
"You startled me. Was there something else?" She asked him.
"Yeah…are you comin'?" He asked her and she laughed shaking her head. Oh I'm cuming every time I'm near you, she thought to herself wickedly, mind out of gutter girl.
"Would you take no for an answer?" She asked him.
"Nope." He replied with a cocky grin.
"Alright then, guess I'm goin' then aren't I?" She stated more then asked.
Bri slid behind the wheel buckled up and sat for a moment staring out the window. "Did Dom just flirt with me? He couldn't have actually been hittin' on me, could he? Nah, just imagining things." She said aloud to herself. Not too much longer found her outside the house with Dom by the BBQ beer in hand. Vince, Leon and Letty still hadn't arrived from the store and she wasn't too eager for the coming scene. So she watched a little tensely as they pulled up and climbed out of their cars.
"I'm outta here." Letty said handing over her bags when she saw her.
"Come on, girl." Leon said taking her bags.
"What're you talkin' about?" Vince asked.
"Yo. Dom." Leon said calling his attention to Letty.
"Letty, get over here and give us a hand." Dom called out to her.
"Looks like you got all the help you need, Dom." Letty replied angrily getting into her car and peeling out as she sped away.
Bri felt guilty after that, not that she was made to feel unwelcome (other then Vince's dirty looks). She forced herself to at least pretend to be okay and having a good time. It surely wasn't very hard just every time she laughed she remembered why she felt so at ease. Because Letty wasn't there and it made her feel like a usurper when that wasn't her intent.
She helped Mia lugging all the side dishes she'd cooked outside to the table while Dom BBQed. It smelled great and looked better as the chicken was loaded up to the table. They were all sitting around after Jesse saying grace just about to eat when Letty showed.
"Look who it is. Lil wily rascal. I thought you weren't hungry, pumpkin?" Leon asked as Letty ambled there way.
"You know, I gotta eat." Letty replied.
"All right, sit down." Dom told her motion to the table. She walked up behind Dom kissing the top of his baldhead affectionately while Dom cast a glance her way.
She glanced away suddenly feeling uncomfortable but less guilty at least. She didn't know why she came she knew it'd cause problems, and she hated causing conflict for Dom and Mia in their family. They were good people and she didn't like to pay back their friendship in such a way. They started talking Letty having apparently picked up a movie to watch after dinner.
She hung out in the kitchen helping Mia clean up drying the stuff she washed and putting it away. She was working on the stack of plates when Mia stepped out to pick up the rest of the trash from the table. Dom stepped into the kitchen the sounds of the movie 'Enter The Dragon' in the background as she glanced back at him.
"You're a guest, you shouldn't be doin' that." Dom chided her.
"Well, you see. Where I come from the cook doesn't clean." She told him.
"Yeah I'd like to go there." Dom told her. "Why aren't you there still?" He asked walking over to stand next to her and wash some more of the dishes.
"Because there isn't a 'there' to go back to any more." She told him sounding sadder then she would've liked.
"No one?" He asked her.
"Nope, I'm the last. When I'm gone the family will be extinct." She said trying to make a joke that fell flat.
They sat in silence for a while Dom seeming to want to say something but not sure either what, or how to say it. She turned at the sound of footsteps to see Letty coming in picking up a bag of popcorn. She gave Bri a wicked smirk as she popped it into the microwave
and started to set it.
"Wash my car when you get done." Letty said laughing.
"What was that?" Dom asked crossly turning to face her.
"No, Dom. I'm talkin' to the ho. And wear your favorite dress cause when you're done, I'm puttin' you on the street where you belong cutie." Letty said directing the last bits at Bri. Bri gripped the counter behind her not willing to start something in Dom's home but not trusting Letty enough to turn her back on her. "This thing broken?" Letty asked when the microwave wouldn't work, banging on it. "What's wrong with this thing?"
"Let?" Dom asked stepping towards her. "Let, what was what was the name of that Cuban restaurant you wanted me to take you to?" Dom asked her. "The one with the picadillo and the--" Dom asked Letty interrupted him.
"Little-little red candles and the wooden table?" Letty asked with a big grin.
"Yeah, the plantain too? Food all over the place. What was it called?" Dom asked her.
"Cha Cha Cha." Letty told him.
"Yeah, that's it." Dom replied enthusiastically.
"Yeah." Letty told him.
"Well I'll take you there." Dom said turning to face Bri. "Friday night at 10:00. Is that good for you?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, it's perfect." She replied more then a little shocked.
She watched as the meaning of his words hit Letty and her face darkened before she stormed away hitting the door on her way by. Any chance she had of reconciling with Letty was just shot out of the water, quiet out of the blue and by the most unexpected person.
"Okay that wasn't pretty. And that was a little out of the blue." She said the first more to herself the last directed at Dom beside her.
"Don't worry it'll be fine. She had to get over that adolescent crush of hers eventually." Dom assured her.
"Okay wait, did I just unwittingly become volunteered as a part of your 'breaking it to Letty the hard way' campaign?" She asked him a little crossly.
He glanced over at her and smirked at little before slowly stalking towards her. She swallowed and backed up into the sink counter digging into her back. He pinned her there hand coming up to cup her cheek tilting her head back. At first the kiss was just encouraging but as soon as she started to participate it became much more heated until they parted panting for breath Dom resting his forehead against hers.
"Whoever I'm with is goin' to have to put up with Letty and her shit one way or another." Dom told her and she sighed.
"Yeah." She replied more then a little dazed getting a chuckle from Dom.
She and Mia were alone at the Café for lunch the next day and she coaxed her friend into sitting with her since the place was slow. She wanted to tell her what happened at the BBQ since she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her since Dom kissed her and asked her on a date. Then again she supposed Mia already knew some of it what with the scene with Letty.
"Well, spill." Mia told her.
"So I take it Letty told you?" She asked her.
"Letty nothin'. Saw myself. Did you really think I was gone that long picking up the back?" She asked her in disbelief.
"You, you saw?" She asked in surprise.
"Yeah. I still can't believe you got Dom to wash some dishes." Mia told her in awe.
"It uh, wasn't that hard." She told her still a little blown away.
"So, you like him?" Mia asked her. "Obviously you enjoyed that kiss." She teased.
"What did you watch the whole thing you voyeur?" She asked Mia with an embarrassed laugh.
"Nah I don't have to live vicariously anymore now that I met Brian." Mia told her.
"Oh really, who's this Brian? Do tell." She told Mia.
"He's another racer I met been runnin' with Hector. He's different though a little classier then the other racers. There is just somethin' about him." Mia explained to her.
After lunch and her 'girl talk' she went back to the shop working the counter. She wasn't there too long when Hector came in the door followed by a few other Hispanic's and one white boy with blue eyes and curly hair. Something in her gut told her this was the Brian that Mia had told her about. Hector greeted Harry before spotting her by the counter obviously surprised walking over to her alone.
"Damn what have we got here? Hired some new help huh?" Hector joked.
"Don't even think about it." She told him with a smile moving forward.
"Oh, all right. Like that. What's up, Bri? How you feeling?" Hector asked as they exchanged a light friendly hug across the counter.
"Pretty good. So what's up? What do you need?" She asked him
"What's up, chica. I'm gonna need you to hook me up. Three of everything. I made a list." He told her digging it out and handing it over. "Why don't you look that over?"
"When do you need this stuff by?" She asked him moving behind the computer.
"Tomorrow, today, now." Hector told her in a mock stern voice.
"Right." She replied sarcastically.
"Come on chica, white girls work fast don't they?" He asked jokingly. "Beto, pasa le feria, homes. That's right." Hector said to one of his friends who handed him a fat wad of bills.
"Hey, you said you need three of all this stuff?" Bri asked him realizing what a haul he was asking for.
"Yeah, three of everything. What do you think about that? Check this out." Hector asked waving the fat wad of bills at her.
She realized she had trouble and once she was off work, she headed towards Hectors garages. It was nothing personal, she liked Hector but she needed to know what all he had under the hood before Race Wars. She owed too many people too much and needed every advantage she could get. So falling back on old ways she slipped inconspicuously behind the building it's owner and his crew at a bar across the lot.
It was depressingly easy as always to break inside the place as she pocked around checking under the hoods. Looked like she was going to have her work cut out for her at Race Wars. Checking her watched she made her way out having a few more garages to check before the night was over. She had just climbed down the side of the building in the back when she was struck in the back of the head the force of the blow smacking her face first into the wall she had shimmied down.
She was starting to come round as she was dragged by the back of her leather jacket until she was dropped roughly. She glanced up and got even more confused at the sight of Vince with a shotgun pointed down in her direction.
"She moans like a cop." Vince stated and that was when Dom appeared from the shadows. He had an angry cold look on his face and all she could think was, what the fuck?
"Brianne, this is one of those times when you need to be very clear about what you say." Dom told her. "Nod if you understand me."
Understand him, about being clear? Hell she barely knew what was up from her little double blow to the head. No question about it now Vince didn't like her but she was still too much out of it to pick up on exactly why. Or what the fuck was going on.
"Nod!" Vince screamed at her when she didn't answer fast enough for him, so she did.
"Sit up." Dom told her sternly. Eyes on Vince and his gun she sat up slowly wary and very sore. "Tell me what the hell you're doing down here." He ordered her.
"What I'm doing?" She repeated, just to be clear getting pocked with the barrel of the shotgun when she didn't continue fast enough. "Dom, I owe-I owe you a ten-second car. And what this is about, this is about Race Wars." She said getting pocked roughly with the gun barrels and knocked over. "I just went in there and Hector is gonna be runnin' three Honda Civics with Spoon engines. And on top of that, he just came into Harry's today and he ordered three T-66 turbos, with NOS and a MoTeC system exhaust." She explained to him.
"So what are you saying? You're going to go around and check everybody's shit out, one garage after another?" He asked her.
"Yeah." She told him slowly coming to her feet. "Because Dom, you know…I can't lose again."
"She's a cop." Vince told Dom. "She's a cop!" He insisted heatedly.
"You a cop?" Dom asked taking a few steps towards her and she scoffed at the absurdity of the question.
"No." She told him levelly.
"Let's go for a little ride." Dom told her after giving her a small smile walking past her.
"Walk!" Vince said pushing her forward.
Before she knew it they were in the last Garage of the night Trans when they got company. Dom pulling her behind a car with him just as Tran and his crew pulled inside. A man was pulled out of one of the cars Bri having a feeling this had something to do with the missing engines from the cars. That was when she noticed Dom's handgun and Vince's not sure if she felt better with that knowledge.
"Let me ask you a question Ted." Johnny said to the man held at gunpoint. "Do you see anything wrong here?"
"No." The obviously thick man stated.
Johnny grabbed him and began to bang him head first into the empty engine carriage.
"We got no engine's do we?" Johnny yelled angrily. Bri was really beginning to have seconds thoughts about the whole move to L.A. right about then. She thought the whole guns and violence galore was just a stereotyping of Los Angeles and nothing more. So very wrong girl, she thought to herself, didn't I leave Arizona to get away from this shit? "Do we?" Johnny repeated as he pushed his head in.
"No!" Ted cried either answering the question or telling him to stop she wasn't sure.
"Do we?" Johnny repeated.
"No!" Ted repeated before finally getting pulled upright.
"Couple of Nissan S.R.-twenty motors will pull a premium one week before Race Wars, huh?" Johnny asked him.
"Probably." Ted replied.
"You're a smart fence, Ted. Maybe too smart. What are you feelin' Lance? Forty weight? Fifty weight?" Johnny asked his cousin stripping off his leather jacket.
"A forty weight sounds nice." Lance answered.
A moment later Johnny had Ted pinned to the ground and the lube hose in his face, practically in his mouth. Lance pumped it while Johnny made sure the man was practically drowning in the stuff.
"Where are they Ted? Where are they?" Johnny asked him.
"Enough!" Ted gasped.
"Where are they?" Johnny repeated.
"There in a warehouse. There in a warehouse, man!" Ted cried from his prone position as best he could hose in mouth and all. Johnny finally let him up looking disgusted as he tried to clean himself up with a rag.
"Ted. Kiss my shoes?" Johnny asked him though it wasn't really a question, or a suggestion it was an order.
Slowly the man who was coughing on his hands and knees gathered himself enough to crawl towards Johnny with Lance waving his gun in encouragement. As soon as he lowered his face to kiss his shoes he was kicked Johnny knocking him back on his back.
"Let's go get our engines." Johnny said throwing the rag on Ted standing and making for his ride. She watched feeling cold as they left the three of them making their way out wordlessly. Jesse was obviously freaked as he headed back towards the house, Dom having had Leon take her truck to the store so she was stuck accepting Dom's ride after they got to the house.
She sat in silence next to him, trying to absorb everything that had happened today. It was another long day for her and she had a feeling she wasn't going to have very restful sleep tonight. She was very angry about what had happened tonight and fighting to keep the anger contained. She had to work with Dom, she owed him a ten-second car and he was her boss she couldn't go off on him.
"How's your head?" Dom asked from beside her.
"Oh peachy considering it was hit but a shot gun butt and a brick fuckin' wall." She replied sarcastically.
"Brick wall?" Dom asked in confusion.
"If you really want to know, ask Vince." She replied shortly.
"Bri." Dom said hesitantly pulling to a stop outside Racers Edge.
"What? Got more questions about my past history you already know the answers too? More guns to have pointed at me and have me knocked out with?" She asked him sardonically. "No? Good. Thanks ever so much for a lovely night." She told him scathingly getting out of the car before pausing to lean in the open door. "Oh and about Friday? I really think it's better if we keep this relationship on professional terms from now on." She informed him before closing the car door and moving for the front doors of the store.
"What?" Dom asked sounding surprised and she turned at the sound of him exiting the car.
"Really Dom, don't sound so surprised. You've had me followed your buddy Vince knocked me out and held me at gunpoint. You more or less unsubtly threatened my life tonight. You really think I'm going to go out with you still?" She asked him in disbelief.
"Bri." Dom started. "There is a lot more to it then that."
"You know what Dom, right now, I really don't give a shit! I'm tired I've had a long day. What with the head wounds, the death threats and the pleasure of watching Johnny Tran torture a man with a lube hose." She told him turning towards the door and pulling her keys. She started when Dom's iron grip grabbed her arm dropping her keys annoyance surging threw her as Dom turned her forcibly back to face him. "I think I've had enough of bein' fuckin' man handled tonight, Dom!" She spat angrily yanking her arm free.
Only to rock back on her heels almost falling back into the glass door behind her as her head lightened and blackness threatened. She blinked her heartbeat suddenly pounding in her head and ears loudly as her perceptions narrowed. She felt like she was floating there and time (or the neurons firing in her brain) slowed down. Then she realized she was blinking dumbly up at Dom who lifted her chin with his hand looking down at her with concern.
"Brianne?" Dom asked in concern.
"Huh? Wha?" She asked in confusion.
"You may need to go to the hospital, your head may be worse then we thought." Dom explained and she scoffed.
"Nah, just a mild concussion. It's s-not so bad." She assured.
"Not so bad my ass." Dom told her pulling her towards the car by her arm. "No Hospital…then you're stayin' with me." He told her.
"No!" She exclaimed, violently wrenching herself free. "In the same house with the same people that put me in this condition? With Letty and Vince and you? Ha, I think not. Had enough of that shit growing up. Hell I'd feel safer back in juvie." She bit back heatedly, noticing by the look on his face she scored a direct hit with that one.
"What do you mean you've had enough of that shit growing up?" Dom asked her and she sneered at him.
"More bullshit? Gonna ask me more questions you've already had Jesse look up the answers to? Funny I would've thought for sure I could tell if Jesse knew about my parents. I kept picturin' the sad puppy dog look of guilt on his face. Guess you schooled him too well, huh Dom? Want to know if it's true? That it? Fuckin' pigs told me they would keep my name out of it. Knew better then to trust that." She scoffed at herself, oh yes she knew better then that didn't she?
"So what? Want confirmation? Didn't believe your own eyes? Thought maybe the info was wrong? That maybe there was no way I could do somethin' like that? Especially not seven years ago when I was only sixteen? Yes, it's true! Happy? I was helpless to save my mother from my fathers hands and she died, and when he came for me I blew his fuckin' brains all over my bedroom walls with his own gun." She told him scathingly shaking with rage exhaustion or she didn't know what.
It was the look of shocked surprise on his face that told her she'd made a mistake and she started to back up away from him. Backing towards the door remembering her keys on the ground knowing he wouldn't just let her go in. If he wasn't planning to pity her before he was now and she looked down at the ground. She didn't want to see the look on his face the pity and disgust, she was supposed to be leaving this all behind her.
tbc
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