Desperado,

Sitting in an old Monte Carlo

A man whose heart is hollow

Take it easy

I'm not trying to go against you

Actually, I'm going with you

Desperado, Rihanna

Z

I had felt stagnant since I'd been in Mexico. There would be times when I felt like I was having a mental breakthrough and times where I felt like my anxiety was melting away, but there were a lot of times in between where I felt like nothing was changing. I was just floating through the city like a little ghost, just taking it all in from the outskirts.

I did not feel that way now.

We hit trouble near the border. I was driving behind Han when a cop turned down the road we were traveling and lit me up. I got my first real practice driving when I outran him. I felt sheer panic and adrenaline as I pushed the Road Runner past the Camaro and off the main road. I managed to lose him, but I was sure that he was going to find me again and I was going to a Mexican prison.

Just when I was about to abandon the car and chance hiding in a tiny one-horse town I had discovered, a familiar orange Camaro reappeared. I followed him to a garage just over the border into Guatemala, and from there we moved towards Antigua.

Antigua was beautiful, with all its pastel colors and cobblestone streets in the shadows of the volcanos. We dropped our bags in a beautiful boutique hotel that Han had booked under my name. I threw him some side-eye when I realized that, but he had just shrugged and ordered some champagne for later.

He swept me off to dinner at a nicer restaurant than any of the others we had been to. I was so distracted by the food that I almost missed the man in a nice grey suit that made eye contact with Han from the bar. He excused himself to the bathroom with a coy smile. I watched the man leave his place from the bar and disappear into the adjoining dining room that Han had walked through to find the bathroom.

The cop in me couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities of that meeting, especially since this wasn't a game anymore after the car chase. I hadn't learned anything about the job, I just knew I would be playing a very small part. I knew Toretto had a habit of hijacking trucks and I couldn't see this being any different.

When Han returned a few short minutes later, he didn't say anything. I watched the well-dressed man exit the side room, drop some crisp bills on the bar to pay for his drink, and walk out a side door with another man that appeared to be a bodyguard.

Han didn't miss my alertness, but he didn't comment on it. He skirted around my sneaker attempts at needling information out of him on the drive back to our hotel. His evasiveness quickly became frustrating. I tried to press him harder for answers when we got home, but all I got from him was amusement at my frustration.

"You need to learn to live in the moment." He told me as he popped the champagne the hotel staff left sitting in a bucket of ice and poured it into two waiting glasses.

"Is that not what I'm doing?" I asked pointedly. He shrugged as he handed me the champagne flute.

"I think you're about to." He teased as he drained his glass. "This is probably one of our last nights together. What do you say we make it memorable?"

"More memorable than hijacking trucks?" I asked him. His smirk dropped.

"I don't think I mentioned hijacking trucks." He told him bluntly.

"I understand more Spanish than I speak and your race friends like to talk." I shot back. My heart jumped into my throat at the slip, but honestly, I thought I did hear it from his race friends at some point, especially when they were trying to talk him into giving him an in with Dominic Torretto.

Clearly, he believed me because he just shrugged and downed his champagne.

Z

Waking up to Han sneaking out had been a thing for a while, so I wasn't that surprised to roll over and see him lacing up his boots in the dark. The bright moonlight streaming in through the uncovered windows was light enough for me to know what I was seeing. Rather than deal with it, I chose to roll over and bury my face in the pillow. I was about to drift back off when I felt his hands tugging at the sheets, sliding them off my back.

"Time to go." He murmured in my ear.

"Go where?" I grumbled through the fuzziness of warm sleep trying to claim me.

He didn't answer. He pulled the covers the rest of the way off and dropped a pile of clothes on top of me.

I sat up ready to start a fight at the sudden cold, but he didn't let me. Instead, he shoved his mouth over mine. My head started to clear as I arched to pull myself against him. I was still expecting him to tell me he was leaving, but be grabbed a piece of clothing off the pile on the bed and pressed it into my hand.

I broke the kiss, so I could start getting dressed. He let his fingertips trail lightly across my body as I pulled my clothes on. The moonlight was so bright it made it wasn't difficult to get everything on. Still, his fingers trailed all over me, straightening everything as I pulled it on.

He came back for a kiss as he pulled me up and towards the door. I should have been used to this by now, but I still melted into it. He knew exactly what to do to keep me interested.

He pulled away suddenly when we got to the door. He shoved my purse, which felt several pounds heavier than normal, into my hands and opened up the door, dragging me out into the hall. I was not nearly awake enough to deal with this at the moment; I was completely exhausted. Han, on the other hand, looked way too put together and rested to be sneaking through some hotel at two in the morning.

"Where the hell are we going?" I finally asked as he strode past the elevator opened the door for the stairwell.

"You didn't think we were staying in Antigua, did you?" He asked as he held the door open for me.

"Considering the nice hotel booked in my name, on my credit card, I assumed I might be." I shot back.

"You knew you were an alibi," He said without shame as headed down the stairs.

It didn't take us long to make it down the four flights of stairs, out of the hotel, and onto a back street that ran behind the hotel. Town was quiet and we were the only things moving back here in the shadows, not even the moon was illuminating. Han moved like had trekked this path a thousand times before as he turned down another tiny alley to the right.

I felt a fluttery feeling rise in my chest. I didn't like the situation I was in. I'd been chased by Mexican police earlier today, and now my name was on a hotel room that I had been seen entering with an internationally wanted criminal. I knew if I wanted to, I could turn around and walk away now, but I couldn't bring myself to.

I had asked myself why a thousand times, but I didn't have an answer. A large part of me enjoyed my little run-in with the cops before the pure anxiety set in and I had a feeling I'd regret not taking a part in whatever was coming for as long as I lived if I didn't do it. The other part of me was super curious to know the man that threw Brian off the straight and narrow.

Han was striding quickly away from the hotel, getting deeper into the more residential areas of Antigua. I found myself having to work to keep up with his long legs. He didn't usually show any signs of hurry, but this time was a little different. He had a little bit more bounce in his lazy step than normal.

When a muscle car ahead of us cranked, I figured out why.

"Here's our ride now." He told me as he moved towards the passenger side.

Toretto. It had to be.

I watched as he walked up and pulled the door open. I stopped in my tracks as I watched him lean in and heard him start talking. A deep voice and a throaty laugh answered him. Han looked at me with a smile as he pushed the passenger seat forwards so I could get in the back seat.

I was ten feet from what brought down Brian's career.

My heart jumped into my throat as the bees started back in my chest. If I was going to walk away and not be Brian, this was my last chance. If I got caught, I wouldn't just drag myself down; I'd ruin Brian too.

"Are you coming, Anna?" Han asked, seeming to sense the internal struggle.

"I–I'm–" Having a panic attack like I hadn't had in weeks.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I got flashes of images from the depths of my brain. Feelings of helplessness came rushing back as my heart rate spiked. I hadn't felt this weak since I found the gun in Han's Mexico City apartment.

I felt a brush of fingertips on my shoulder as I tried to work through it. They trailed down my arm and found my hand. I let them grab my fingers and pull me forward, towards the car.

"I forgot to buy Dramamine." I finally bit out. "I'm going to be sick on the ride."

"Then drive. Take control back. Or if you want to walk away, we'll let you walk away."

Take control back. Han knew. He'd watched me lose my mind at any loss of control or hard decision from the very beginning. I think that was why he'd handed me his keys and taught me how to drive like a street racer from the beginning. It was the only time I felt in control. It was the only time I felt safe.

I slowly got my panic back under control. I let Han pull me the rest of the way to the waiting car.

I could do this. I had too much to lose if I got caught, but I wasn't going to let myself get caught. I also wasn't going to let myself go back to wasting the days away in a hotel room for the rest of my stay.

"So have you decided to try your luck in the backseat, or do you want to drive?" Han asked when we got to the passenger side door.

"Drive?" I heard a deep voice from the driver's side. I tried not to look.

"Horrible motion sickness," Han answered.

"It's not that bad," I replied with a fake brightness. "It made you hand me your keys, though."

"She's good, Dom," Han said as started climbing into the back.

"Are you actually getting in the back without bitching?" I asked in surprise. Dom let out a throaty laugh as Han did indeed start bitching about how he was too tall for the back seat and this was a favor.

A huge hand patted the passenger seat.

"Come on, we've got to get going. I'll get us out of town and then we can swap. I want to see what you've got." His voice was warm, inviting.

Before I knew what I was doing, I got in.