Chapter 7

The morning sunlight hit my face as I walked out the back doors into the Toretto's yard. Mia was seated on the bench with a magazine in her lap as she flicked through the pages; her back was to Letty as she sat on the table, with bobby pins in her mouth, as she braided Mia's hair and glanced down at the magazine every so often.

I took a step forward and the door slammed shut behind me instantly, causing me to cringe at the loud noise. Both Letty's and Mia's heads shot up and they both quickly smiled.

"Morning." Mia said as she shifted her head back down to the magazine. Letty nodded and smiled as she continued to braid.

My hand lifted slightly away from my body in my half assed attempt at waving and I let out a delayed grunt and hoped it passed off as a 'good morning'. I took a seat at the end of the table and crossed my arms on the table as I rested my head down and watched Letty carefully plait one strand of Mia's hair over another.

"No, Jesse! That's final." Dom stormed out of the house with Jesse speeding up behind him.

"C'mon, Dom. It's just a few days, I'll be back before you know it and be back to work," Jesse pleaded.

Dom smiled at us and walked up and kissed Letty on the forehead. "Morning, girls." He turned to Jesse and stood firm. "Jess, I said no." Dom's voice was low, and we knew it was the final answer.

Jesse threw his hands up in the air, defeated and let out a long frustrated sigh.

Letty took the bobby pins out of her mouth and clipped them in Mia's hair. "What's going on?" She questioned as she looked over at Jesse.

"Jesse wants a week off from the garage." Dom sat on the bench next to Mia and perched his elbows up on the table behind him.

"So? Give it to him. He's never asked for a day off before, even when he was meant to have a day of he still showed up at work. He deserves a break." Letty paused braiding and looked over at Dom.

"But, we got a hell of a work load this week, we need him here." Dom was quick to fight back, but he never raised his voice.

"Cass can help out, she only works two days a week as it is, give her this whole week. And Jess can go have a week off."

"Cass doesn't know the computer work Jess knows."

"I can give her a quick lesson, it's really not that hard. Ay, Cass? What do ya say?" Jesse looked over at me and I could see his eyes pleading. Dom, Letty and Mia's eyes soon followed and I had everybody staring at me.

My mind strained but I eventually let out a groggy, "Sure. I'll do it."

Jesse jumped up in delight letting out a quick, "Yes!" before he jumped at me and hugged me. I sleepily flopped my arms around him to return the hug and was almost dragged away when he went to pull away.

"So Dom, you'll let me go?" Jesse stood in front of Dom again and clasped his hands together as though he were praying. "Please. Please. Please."

Dom sighed and looked over to me, I gave him a quick wink and he looked back to Jesse and nodded slowly. "Sure man. You get a week. You're back to work next Friday."

"Yeah, sure! Whatever. Thanks man." Jesse quickly hugged Dom and ran inside again.

"That was sweet, Dom." Mia said with a hint of sarcasm.

Letty leaned over and kissed Dom and returned to Mia's hair, quickly finishing it off. She smoothed it back with her hands and then lightly slapped Mia on the shoulder. "A'ight, girl. You're done."

Mia thanked Letty and did as Jesse and went back inside.

"It was a good idea to give Jesse a break, Dom." Letty said after a period of silence. She rubbed her hand over Dom's scalp and he smiled up at her.

"Do you want me to leave you two lovebirds alone?" I smirked and instantly Letty spun around and flipped me off. I mimicked her and held my middle finger up at her, "sit on it and rotate, honey."

The low rumbles of car engines could be heard up the street, before Leon's Skyline appeared on the driveway; Vince parked right behind him. They both emerged from their cars and meandered up the driveway.

"Hey. What's up." They both said, simultaneously.

Vince picked up the basketball that lay on the ground and bounced it a few times before taking a shot at the hoop; and missing. He grunted and let the ball roll away, back to where it was.

"Nice, V. Nice." I laughed and he ran up to me and sat on my lap. He slung his arm around my neck and rubbed his knuckles into my head. I quickly tried to push him off, with no luck, all the while trying to ignore the headache that was starting to surface.

He stopped and grinned at me making himself comfortable on my lap. I narrowed my eyes at him and pursed my lips together; trying to look annoyed. "You look hot when you're annoyed, ya know that?" He smirked, looking pleased with himself. I rolled my eyes and sighed; giving up, almost, and rested my head on his shoulder as I subconsciously ran my fingers through my hair to fix it up.

Letty burst into laughter and patted me on my shoulder, "do you want me to leave you two lovebirds alone?" She mimicked me from earlier.

"Please. Would you?" I batted my eyelashes at her and then at Vince who kissed me on the cheek. His beard rubbed against my skin and tickled me as my hand automatically came to scratch the itch. "Maybe after he shaves." I smacked Vince on the knee and pushed him off as I stood up.

I slung my arm around Letty's shoulders and leaned up against the table. "You busy today?"

Letty paused and looked at me with an eyebrow raised in an almost perfect arch. "Why?" She trailed the word on for a few seconds ending on a slightly high pitch.

"Well," I paused for suspense and then looked at the guys, "how about you guys? Got any important plans for today?"

They all shrugged and shook their heads no, with an almost audible grunt that I hoped meant no as well. I nodded in approval and looked at Letty again. She glared at me to continue and jabbed her finger in my side.

My body flinched and I almost lost balance but hung on to Letty's shoulders. "Ok. Ok. No need to get violent. I need you guys to help me move my shit from my place, here."

Letty's mouth opened and almost hit the floor. "You've decided to move in?" She squealed in my ear causing me to cringe. I nodded in response, trying to get my hearing back. She squealed again and leapt off the table and onto me; Dom let out a grunt of pain as Letty kicked him in the head. Letty wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist and hugged me. I tried my best to keep my balance but failed, and soon we were both on the ground.

I had my back on the ground and Letty straddled my waist with her hands pinning my shoulders down. "You're not bullshitting me are you? You really are moving in?" I was only able to nod again, thinking about the shooting pain at the base of my skull. Letty smiled and did a little happy dance.

I looked behind her to the three guys standing in a row, with their heads tilted to one side, and each with a huge grin on their face. I gestured them out to Letty and she turned her head around and then back to me, smiling mischievously. She arched her back and let her head fall back as she feigned pleasure. I smacked my hand over my eyes and laughed. Letty made a few noises that I wished she hadn't and I peered through my fingers and saw each guy staring at us bug eyed. They each licked their lips, as if in sync and tilted their heads to the other side.

Letty stopped and laughed out loud as she stood up, "dickheads." She helped me up and we both walked inside. "I'm sure the guys will be happy to help," was all she said as she slid her arm around my waist and looked back to them still standing with their mouths wide open.