Countdown to Cali

Chapter 7 Dom's POV

As we both reached our peak, she fell limp into my arms as the alarm went off. The radio was playing a sappy song and it couldn't have been more appropriate. "I would give up forever to touch 'you'!" I whispered into her ear. She just doesn't realize how true that is. I knew from the second I saw her that I wanted her to be mine. And after making love to her, I hope she knows that. Even in this fucked up situation, I am going to do my damnedest to make this work.

After a little more cuddling and a lot more kissing, she was finally able to pry herself out of my arms to get some, much needed, fluids. I watched her as she got dressed and walked out the door. I sat up on the bed and looked at myself in the mirror, "I can't really have feelings for this girl. Can I?" I asked myself and suddenly Letty popped into my mind.

I have been with a lot of women in my time but Letty was the only one that ever got inside my heart. Even though I know Lett would want me to be happy, I can't help but feel like I'm betraying her. It's not the sex that bothers me, it's the feelings.

I leaned my head back and stared straight up, "Letty Baby, please forgive me. You know I love you but I can't help these feelings I'm having. I just hope you would approve." I pleaded out loud as I felt my heart start to ache.

As I was pulling my pants on, a gust of wind came through the open window and I noticed a piece of paper fluttering under the edge of the dresser. I walked over, picked it up and turned it over. It was a snapshot of Letty at one of our cookouts. She had a huge smile on her face. Then I realized it was a sign. I kissed the picture, "Thank you Lett." I said and suddenly felt better about the whole situation.

I finished putting my pants on and threw on a wife beater and started out the door. When I reached the end of the hall, I stopped just outside the doorway to the kitchen when I heard Brian raise his voice, "What am I getting at? Tay, how are the two of you going to feel when 'you' have to arrest him and send him to prison in a couple days?"

I stepped into view and saw Taylor jump as she noticed me standing there. "Dom!" Taylor exclaimed.

"Brian, why you always got to rain on somebody's parade? Don't you think we know what we're facing here? Or do you just not want me with you sister?" I asked as I walked up to him and got in his face.

"Dom, man you know better then that! I think of you like a brother, which almost makes the thought of you two together kinda disturbing but you know what I mean. I just don't want my sister getting hurt and because of this, she's got a tough decision ahead of her. I don't want her to end up in the same mess I'm in!" Brian explained.

I thought about it for a minute and then cocked my head to the side, "You mean the mess you're in because of me?" I asked, wondering how much he blamed me.

"No Dom, I made the decision on my own. I got myself into this mess and I don't regret my decision, not even for a second." Brian answered.

"Well you can rest assured; I'm not going to put Taylor in that position, Bro. I give you my word on that." I promised as I patted him on the shoulder and stepped over to Taylor, giving her a reassuring hug.

The rest of the day went pretty smooth. We spend the day at the beach partying with some spring breakers. Brian kept joking about not being able to pry Taylor and me apart with a crow bar. Well, what did he expect with the way she was sporting that barely there bikini? She had a body to kill for and I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of her.

I do have to say, the best part of the day was watching Taylor kick Brian's ass when he made the mistake of telling her she couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag. At one point she actually flung him over her shoulder and he landed flat on his ass in the sand. She may be a little thing but she was holding him down with ease! I almost stepped in to help him!

Later that night we decided to go to a race and Taylor let me race the RX 7. I won six grand off some hotheaded Chicano with a slash wound tattooed around his neck. I guess the locals forgot to tell him who runs the show around here. I've only lost once in the past eight years and Taylor was nice enough not to tell them about it! We both knew she only won because my car blew up but the way she bragged about it when we were alone was really cute.

We headed back to my place to get ready for the hectic day ahead and I decided to call Leon and let him in on what was about to go down. Just in case I didn't make it back, I had to tell him.

I had intended on leaving him a message but to my surprise, he was there. "I wasn't expecting you to be there man." I stated as he said hello.

"Dom, I'm stealing one of your Von Dutch shirts." Taylor said as she walked in my room wrapped in a towel.

"Wear whatever you want Babe!" I replied as I watched her drop the towel to put it on and I tried to turn my attention back to my phone call, "So why ain't you out partying Leon?" I asked.

I heard him clear his throat in to the receiver, "I don't know man, I've just had this bad feeling him the pit of my stomach these past few days. I was about to call you!" He paused and could tell I was distracted and then he continued, "What's going on over there? Who's the chick?"

"That's what I was calling to tell you. O'Conner showed up here last night." I replied.

"Who's O'Conner?" He asked and I realized he never knew Brian's real name.

"Spillner man! His real name is Brian O'Conner." I answered and waited for is reaction.

"Oh, the pretty boy cop. I don't remember him sounding like a woman!" He joked.

"That wasn't him you twit! That was his sister Taylor. And boy is she a sight." I replied, watching her towel dry her hair as she threw me a cocky smile after hearing my remark.

"I take it she's still in the room with you cause your mind seems to be wondering." He said with a laugh.

"Yeah and she's in her undies!" I replied, joining in with his laughter.

"Watch it man, she may be a cop too!" Leon added.

"Funny you should say that, actually she's a fed. Which happens to be the reason I'm calling. You see, she came here to…." He cut me off real quick, "Whoa, wait a sec, she's FBI? What the fuck Dom? I told you, you couldn't trust that guy just cause he let you go!"

"No Leon, it's not like that, that's not why she's here. Look man, I'm going back! Johnny Tran's brother Benny has Mia. I guess he sees it as, an eye for an eye, with what happened to Johnny. He's using her to get me and Brian. He knew we'd come back for her. I just had to let you know before I left because I might not come back from this one." I explained to Leon and waited for it to sink in.

"Fuck man! I knew something was wrong. I just knew it!" He paused, taking a breath and then added, "Dude, I'm coming home and going with…."

"No Leon, you stay! You are already in enough shit; this is my battle to fight!" I said cutting him off.

"But Dominic!" He started but I cut him off again, "Leon, there's something else I have to tell you…. Jesse is alive man! He made it! And because he wasn't with us that day, they didn't lock him up. I'm going to tell him where to find you and in case I don't make it back, take care of each other. He's probably the only one either of us will ever have."

Leon stayed silent trying to grasp what I had just told him. Finally I broke the silence after hearing a silent sob on the other end of the line, "Alright man, we gotta get everything ready to leave out in the morning, so I'm gonna let you go. I just wanted you to know I love ya man and stay out of trouble!"

"Love ya too man and I'll be waiting to hear from you!" With that, we hung up.

I sat there staring at the picture on my mirror. It was a picture of the whole team, the last time we were all together at the cook out before Race Wars. All seven of us looking like one big happy family, except Vince with that death stare he was shooting over at Brian. I even miss that! Now look at us! Letty's gone, V is in lock up, Mia is…"Hey Dom, you ok?" Taylor asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh…yeah, I'm alright. Just thinking about how fucked up I let everything get. All the people I love are suffering because of me. Me and my stupid bullshit, trying to take the easy way out!" I said as I walked over and picked up the picture.

"Dom, you made some bad choices but you can't completely blame yourself. They are your family and they love you. They wouldn't have been there if they hadn't wanted to be. But now is your chance to redeem yourself. Going back is the first step to admitting you were wrong and seeking forgiveness." Taylor said as she put her arm around me.

For some reason, it is so easy to express my feelings to her. I know she would never judge me, "Oh Tay, you just don't understand how hard it is! People don't expect Dominic Toretto to ask for forgiveness."

"That's all the more reason to do it. They know you love them and that you'd give your own life to save theirs but sometimes they just need a little reassurance. No one has been able to talk to Mia but do you have any doubt in your mind that she knows you're coming for her?" She asked, completely amazing me.

"Taylor, how do you know so much about me and my family? You know things that you couldn't have read in any police file or heard from Brian, so how is it that you know?" I asked, throwing her off guard. I was trying to understand why she had such an interest in this case, aside from her brother's involvement.

"Look Dom, they put me on this case four and a half months ago when my brother went AWOL after letting you go. It started out like any other case, questioning those involved; Vince, Mia, Jesse, Hector. The list goes on. I tried to focus on Vince but it didn't take long for me to realize I wasn't going to get anywhere. Then I moved to Mia; thought I could work the 'worried sibling' angle and draw her in but she has this way about her and it ended up the other way around! She drew me in. We started hangin' out more and soon became friends. For the past four months, she's been my best friend and when Benny took her, I freaked. First I blamed myself for not being there on time to meet her that night. Then I blamed you and I knew I was the only person to get you back there to save my friend." Taylor explained and I could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

The sadness in her eyes showed me she really cared about Mia and it finally donned on me, "So it's not about getting the bad guy and making the bust to further your career. It's about Mia. You have no idea how good it is to hear that."

"Dom, I could give a fuck less about what happens to me or my career, it was always about Mia. But now it…" She stopped herself then added, "Never mind!"

"Never mind my ass! But now it's what? What were you gonna say?" I asked or should say, demanded.

"Nothing!" She retorted. "You were gonna say, but now it's about me and Mia. Right?" I stated and watched her tears begin to fall. I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her forehead, "Shh, I know babe. But don't worry, I'm gonna find a way to make this work, so that we can be together. It's gonna be you and me, Brian and Mia against the world!" I assured her as I felt my own heart begin to break. We held each other for hours before finally drifting off to sleep.