AN: I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! Let me know what you think!
Thunder rumbled through the house causing Stella to shoot up from the bed. She put her hand to her chest as she looked out the window as the wind blew the rain against the wind and lightening lit up her room. The storm had finally come full force and she didn't like it at all. She slowly threw her legs over the side of the bed making sure she didn't wake up Mia. She wrapped her arms around her body as she tiptoed to the door and slowly opened it. She made sure to step where she knew the boards didn't creak as she made her way downstairs. "Hi." Vince whispered causing her to stop in her tracks. "I couldn't sleep either." Stella gave a soft smile as she slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him. "You alright?"
"I don't like storms very much." She replied softly. She looked up at him with so much sadness in her eyes. "Does it hurt?"
"No." He whispered. "Not so much right now." Stella shook her head. "Your dad needed to keep you in the dark in case someone came asking questions. I'm going to be staying here for a while, Stel. My mom isn't going to like it. Someone might come to the house and begin asking you some questions. Your dad didn't want that to happen."
"I won't let anything happen to you." Vince gave a soft smile as he brought her into his arms. "You're my best friend, Vince."
"Go to sleep, Stel. I'll be right here in the morning." She felt the blanket come up around her as she adjusted her head in his chest and slowly closed her eyes. The storm continued outside as she found herself at peace lying next to him. She could hear his breathing slow down knowing he would be out soon. She was right though, Vince was her very best friend. The thunder sounded again as she jumped but Vince's arms tightened around her letting her know it was okay. She smiled as she relaxed finally letting sleep take over.
Stella stood up at her window in her room looking down at the road as she watched Vince and Dom take off down the road. "Hey." Mia walked into her room. "You ready to go?"
"This summer is beginning to suck." Stella replied turning around. "Who does homework and work during the summer?"
"A lot of people." Mia threw her her book bag. "How about we get through this shift at the diner and then we can go to the beach?"
"Fine." Stella didn't argue. Mia was finally off of punishment and she was willing to do just about anything to get out of the house. Stella put the book bag on her back as she followed Mia down the stairs and out the house. There were tree limbs all in the yard as they ignored them walking towards the sidewalk. The diner was only a mile down the road. They always walked since the weather seemed to always be nice. Stella sighed as she looked up the road. "Did you sleep okay?" Mia finally asked. Mia knew she hated thunder storms. She always had. Stella nodded her head biting her bottom lip. "I woke up and you weren't in the bed anymore."
"I went downstairs." Was all she said. Mia nodded her head refraining from saying anything else. "I wonder who that is." Stella pointed ahead of them at the big moving truck sitting in front of a house. They stopped and stared as they saw two adults climb into the van. "Mija!" The lady yelled as a tall, dark headed Latina walked out of the house. She had a white tank top on with baggy pants. "Mija!" The lady shouted again. "What?" The girl shouted. "Ma, I'm right here. Stop shouting." Stella and Mia began to laugh causing the girl to look up at them. Mia lifted her hand and waved as Stella smiled. At least a new girl was moving in down the street. The girl nodded her head as Stella grabbed Mia's arm to move forward. They were going to be late and Tony was going to be pissed. They were silent as they crossed the street just as Tony opened up the garage doors.
"Well, well, look who decided to join me this morning." Tony smirked.
"It's Mia's fault." Stella giggled as she quickly moved to the back. She could hear Mia gasp.
"Stella!" Mia shouted after her as she shut the door behind her with a loud laugh. Poor Mia, she just always got the short end of the stick when it came to her siblings. She took off the book bag and put it in the locker by the safe before pulling her hair into a pony tail. It was going to be a long six hours but she was forced to do it. That was the thing about having a family business, the family had to run things. Stella rolled her eyes as she thought about the time she would be getting off. But Mia promised her they would go to the beach afterwards and she was holding her to it. She hurried outside as she listened to Tony talk to Mia. "Listen, I need you two to come to straight to the garage when you get off."
"No." Stella approached them. "We were going to the beach."
"Not today." Tony replied. "I need your help at the garage for the rest of the night." Stella didn't respond as she looked over at her sister who was nodding her head.
"Unbelievable." Stella whispered under her breath as she moved into the bar area grabbing the wipes to wipe down the counter.
"Stel, there are plenty of times for you to go to the beach this summer. I really need some help tonight." Tony approached her on the other side grabbing her hand stopping her. "Listen..."
"Why do you need us? You have Dom and Vince. What is so important for you?" Stella finally asked. Tony didn't reply as Stella looked over at Mia. "Tell me."
"Stella, just stop..." Mia chimed in. This is what happened. Stella and Tony challenged each other and Mia always had to be the mediator. "Sure, we will go." Tony nodded his head slapping his hand on the counter before turning to leave.
"No!" Stella shouted. "Tell me. What are you doing that is so important to take you away from the garage?"
"Stella!" Mia shouted. Stella glared at her dad as she remained silent. Tony nodded his head as he walked towards the opening of the garage. "Be sure to lock up." He replied without turning around. Stella sighed as she threw the napkin down on the counter. "What is wrong with you?" Mia asked moving closer to her.
"He's racing again, Mia. He's been hiding it from us for weeks now." Stella turned towards her sister. "Those late nights...yeah he's been at the tracks." Mia shook her head. "Don't believe me, let's go tonight. I will show you."
"How do you know this, Stella?" Stella was silent as she took a deep breath in. "Of course..." Mia rolled her eyes. "You followed him there."
"Just once." Stella whispered. Mia threw her hands in the air. "I couldn't sleep. I went downstairs to get some water and he was on the phone being all sneaky. So I listened. He said the whole house was asleep and he would meet him down at the tracks..."
"You walked to the tracks by yourself?" Mia glared. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"
"We've done it plenty of times." Stella rolled her eyes.
"This is great, Stella! You are going to get yourself killed." The faint sound of laughter came from outside as Mia moved away from her.
"So we are down to go tonight then?" Stella asked. Mia didn't respond as she held up two fingers letting Stella know they were on. Stella giggled rubbing both of her hands together. She knew Mia couldn't say no to spying on their father. What else was there to do? He refused for them to have a normal summer because of some crap that went down on the other side of town, then he left them no choice but to be sneaky too.
Mia set down the box as she looked over at Stella who was staring at a wrench in her hand before throwing it in the box. Mia began to laugh as she walked over to her baby sister picking up the wrench and putting it back on the tool chest. "They kind of need that." Mia replied.
"Well he said throw away anything that looked like we didn't use. That didn't look touched in years."
"It's oil." Mia stated rubbing the side of the wrench and rubbing her finger down Stella's face. "It looks good on you." She laughed as Stella stood up on her feet. "Don't you even think about it." Stella grabbed the wrench in her hand and lunged towards Mia.
"HEY!" Dom shouted causing the girls to stop in their tracks as Stella still had a hold of Mia's arm. "This isn't a playground. Take it somewhere else." Mia and Stella began to laugh as Stella threw the wrench down onto the table. "Why don't you girls go outside?"
"Really?" Stella asked looking over at Mia. "You don't need us in here?" Dom paused as he rubbed his hands on the white towel that was in his hand. "Can we go home?"
"What are you two up to?" Dom asked moving closer.
"Nothing." Stella replied quickly. "We just didn't see the point in being here tonight. We never do anything." Vince stood up from the car and walked over to the group.
"I call bullshit." Vince chuckled.
"Yeah me too." Dom agreed. Stella looked back at Mia who was silent. "What are you two up to?" Stella shrugged her shoulders as Vince moved closer. The garage was silent. All you could hear were the crickets outside chirping as the sun began to go down. It was almost as if they were having a stand off but no one had guns. They were just waiting for the next person to speak but no one did. Dom nodded his head as he wiped his hands again but moving away. Vince followed him leaving the two girls standing there as Mia began to giggle. "We are going to get in so much trouble."
"Does that mean we get to leave?" Stella yelled after him. She shook her head knowing he wasn't going to answer her. The sun had already gone down leaving just a little bit of light. She knew exactly what her dad was up to and she was going to catch him. Racing wasn't a big deal until he flipped his car about five or six times and had to be cut out. He had promised he would lay off racing for a little while and just focus on the garage and the diner. Stella knew he wouldn't have been able to do it for long. Racing was in his blood but she was hoping it would be more than two months. Stella moved back over to the boxes and sat down on the floor. "Two more hours!" Dom held up two fingers to her. "You have two hours and then you two can go do whatever it is that thirteen year olds do."
"I'm twelve." Stella announced causing Mia to laugh out loud. A smile covered her entire face as Dom glared at her. "Thank you."
Stella kicked at the rocks as she walked along the sidewalk towards her house. She glared down at her hands as she tried to not look up at Mia who was walking in front of her. Dom let them leave after working for two more hours, he did lie about that. What he didn't tell them was that he and Vince would be walking with them. There was no way they were going to let them out of their sight. Stella sighed as she kicked the rock again. "Why are you so down? You got to go home." Vince chuckled putting his arm around her shoulder. "Wasn't this what you wanted?"
"No." She rolled her eyes shrugging her arm off of her. She could see the house in her view as she moved up to Mia. "This is stupid." She muttered. "Just follow my lead."
"Stel, I believe you, okay. Just let it go." Mia whispered. "We will talk to Pops about it when we see him tomorrow. This isn't worth getting grounded again over."
"He wouldn't ground..."
"Hey!" Vince shouted causing the two girls to stop in their tracks and look up. Vince was pointing the house as they both directed their view that way. Tony was grabbing the bags from a woman as a man stood at the edge of the driveway with a cigarette in his mouth. "What is she doing?" Vince moved closer as Stella and Mia looked up at Dom who was just staring ahead. "Dom?" Mia asked. "What's going on?"
"Stay behind me." Dom ordered. "That's Vince's mom and her boyfriend." Stella felt her heart jump into her throat as she watched Vince run up the driveway.
"Mom!" Vince shouted as he jerked a bag from her hand. "What are you doing?" The woman refused to look at him as she moved more bags from the car. "Tony?"
"I'm sorry, son..." Tony's face fell. The Toretto children moved closer as the pain on Vince's face became more and more noticeable.
"Your mother doesn't want you anymore, boy." The man spit the direction of Vince. "Come on Annie, get the rest of his shit out so we can go." Stella's hand began to shake as Mia clenched tightly to it.
"You are leaving?" Vince was shocked.
"You two get inside, now!" Tony pointed at Stella and Mia. Stella refused to move as she looked over at Vince who was still trying to stop his mom. "I said now!" Tony yelled. Mia jerked Stella's arm moving her towards the house. It all happened in slow motion, Stella could see it going down but had no control to stop it.
"I said lets go!" The man moved forward knocking Vince into the car and grabbing the wrist of Annie's hand. Mia and Stella were still walking towards the house when Vince lunged forward punching the guy in the mouth. The fight had started. Tony and Dom moved forward as Mia and Stella stopped in their tracks. They clung to each other as Dom tried pulling Vince off of the man. They knew it was only a matter of time before Vince lost it. This was it. His mother was leaving him for this man. "Stop!" Tony shouted as everyone pulled apart from each other. Vince's face was bloodied again. "Let's go!" Tony held his hand out to Vince. "Annie, I will take him because I love him like he was my own, but don't you ever come back here again."
"Lets go!" The man pushed past Dom and Vince as Dom held tightly to Vince. Tears fell down Stella's face as she moved forward.
"Don't you ever come back!" Vince screamed trying to get away from Dom. Dom tightened his grip on him. Vince kicked the side of the car as his mother and her boyfriend climbed in. Dom tried his hardest to hold Vince back, but it was no use. He was so full of rage, Stella was sure he was going to lift the car up himself. Tony glared at the two girls for still being outside. Stella tightened her hand on Mia's as they began walking towards the house. "I'll grab your bags, V." Stella replied softly bending down. She heard the car start as she bent down grabbing two of the bags in her hand. "STELLA!" She didn't know who screamed but it was loud. It pierced her ears as she didn't have time to look up when she felt her body being slammed to the ground just as the car went flying down the driveway. Stella let out a deafening scream as someone lay on top of her. She felt her hand was crushed beneath her body. The tears flooded down her face as she tried to catch her breath. She felt the weight lift off of her as she rolled over clenching her wrist in her hand. The wails could be heard all the way down the street as Tony lifted her in the air and hurried into the house. "Leave them!" Tony shouted as he took off running. Mia found herself paralyzed in the spot she was standing as she looked down at the ground where a pool of blood had formed where her sister had fallen. The tears stung her eyes as she covered her mouth with her hand. "MIA!" Tony shouted. Mia shook her head as she hurried into the house. "Mia, I need you to call the doctor. Tell him we are on own our way. Tell Dr. Torres what happened and tell him that Stella's wrist is broken, I need them to take a look at her stomach and chest area." Mia nodded her head repeatedly as she listened to her father speak but she couldn't tear her eyes away from her sister. She was quiet now. Her lip was busted causing it to gush blood, she could see the bruise forming on the side of her face. "Mia…"
"Is she okay?" Mia asked in a whisper. Stella looked over at her sister and gave a soft smile. "I'm scared."
"Don't be scared, baby. Everything is okay now." Tony's eyes were soft as he assured Mia her sister was going to be okay. Dom had let Vince fall against the wall as he went into the kitchen grabbing a wet wash cloth and some ice before coming back. "Okay, I need to take your sister and Vince to the hospital. I need you stay here with Mia and make sure that she eats, okay?"
"Pops…"
"Dominic…" Tony held his hand up. "I am trying to keep it together here, son."
"Okay, Pops." Dom whispered. That was the end of it. Dom helped Vince to his feet as Tony picked Stella up in his arms. They hurried outside to the Charger as Vince climbed in first grabbing Stella's body and laid her in his lap. Stella could feel his hand as her caressed the top of her head making sure her long, black hair was out of her face. "I'm okay." She whispered.
"No, you're not."
AN: Thank you to everyone who liked, favorited, reviewed on the last chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one! Let me know!