Chapter 6: House an a club, I never seen dis before ummhmm

Knight suspected there was gonna be trouble from the second he arrived at the house. He shook his head slightly, hoping he'd be proved wrong. "Ok Karr, keep your scanners peeled."

"What will you be doing?"

"Getting noticed," Knight replied, getting out of the car and heading up the path. "Just keep an eye out, alright?"

"Acknowledged," the car replied, its twin scanners rippling back and forth. Knight tested the door, and headed in, hoping he was putting on a good show of confidence as he strolled in, taking a look around. Letty was sprawled on the floor playing Playstation, against Leon, who looked to be struggling to play while Kat nibbled on his neck from where she was sat across his lap. Vince was busy playing a riff on an electric guitar, before handing it to Nyssa and noticing Knight.

"Yo Dominic, what's the domestic doing here?"

"What you on bout V?" Toretto asked, coming out from the backroom and noticing Knight. Knight watched as the bigger mans jaw tensed and he stalked over. "I don't recall inviting you."

A noise came from the stairwell, as Brian rapidly descended. "Chill Dom, I did. He's a friend, just like Rome. You remember Rome right?" he asked, with mock innocence.

"Yeah, he ran his mouth off," Dom replied.

Brian grinned. "Yeah but you liked Rome. Eventually."

"Rome wasn't asking to get his lights knocked out. This guy is, he's a smartass."

"Smart mouth actually," Knight contradicted, ignoring the glare Dom gave him.

"See what I mean?"

"Dom, chill, get a Corona or something," Brian said. "Trust me ok?"

Dom gave him an unreadable look and clenched his jaw as he mentally debated with himself before making his decision. "keep him out of trouble."

"Thank bro," Brian answered, and steered Knight away from Dom. "You need to watch yourself cuz. Smart mouthing Dom, not a good idea."

Knight shrugged. "I didn't think. He's just in a bad mood coz Kat beat him."

"Yeah, I know you didn't," Brian grinned. "You never do. And she doesn't always beat him."

Knight gave him an irritated look. "What do I have to do to get a drink?"

"For starters, promise me you won't get me in any more trouble," Brian answered.

Knight shrugged. "You know what I think about promises."

"You changed your name to distance yourself from that," Brian pointed out. "Don't you think you ought to move on?"

"I have," Knight shrugged again. "But the lessons have still been learnt."

"Ok, now I know you need a drink," Brian gave up. "C'mon."

**************************************************

"How does he do it?" Leon asked, chucking the pad away in disgust, Kat laughing and tickling him after he'd lost again. Knight put his pad down and took a swig of his Corona as Leon continued to complain. "I mean, I was in a Skyline, how did he beat me in a damned corvette?"

"Maybe I'm just better at Gran Turismo than you," Knight grinned, then looked at Brian. "Damn I wish Tej was here. He'd have had so many bets riding on this."

Brian just grinned. "You know Tej, he'll bet on anything. Odds on ten straight wins, he'd be laughing if he'd backed you. Although I think ethically you're on dubious ground, bouncing your car off Leon's and his into the wall."

"Hey, it claims to be the most realistic driving simulator ever," Knight grinned, "if realistic is having cars that don't take damage, I'm not complaining," Knight finished, and then suddenly thought of Karr, knowing full well that he could crash Karr headfirst into a wall at well over a hundred, and not sustain any damage to the car. The thought made him laugh, and drew curious looks from the team. He grinned boyishly. "Private joke."

Brian picked up the pad. "You're going down this time bro, no way can you win again, ten wins in a row even on a game is a long enough streak."

"Care to make it interesting?" Knight challenged. "Twenty bucks says you lose."

"I'll see you on that," Brian replied.

Leon smirked. "I'll cover ten of that for you."

"Nice," Brian replied, selecting his car, like Leon heading for the same car as he drove for real. Knight scrolled through, choosing one of the RUF modified Porsche 911's. Two minutes later, and Brian discarded his pad as Knight broke out in laughter. Leon gave Brian a disgusted look as he dug out his wallet, before Brian stopped him. "I'll cover you for it since I let you down," he said, handing Knight his money.

Knight grinned then looked around. "Anyone else want to try their luck?"

Dom watched the scene from the kitchen doorway. While he played occasionally, the Playstation wasn't a major pastime of his. He couldn't see the point, particularly with racing games. Why bother, when you could race for real, was his opinion. Most of the team—his family—seemed at ease with Knight now, except Vince. To the point where they accepted Knight still being here, despite everyone else having gone home, even Kat's team, who just lived down the road. Nyssa seemed to keep her distance too, but he suspected that was more loyalty to Vince and taking his side than anything else. He wasn't even too bothered himself that Knight was still there, despite that the guy had actively got on his nerves before. He looked up as Mia said something. "Sorry, what?"

His sister gave him a teasing grin. "Did my eyes deceive me, or was the great Dom Toretto lost in thought?"

Dom gave her a vaguely annoyed look. "You got all the brains in the family, but that doesn't mean I can't think."

Mia smiled innocently. "So what was on your mind?"

"Brian's taste in friends," Dom admitted. "Both Knight and Rome can be very annoying, but they have a habit of growing on you too."

"What does that say about you?" Mia asked teasingly.

Dom gave her one of his looks. "Meaning?"

"Oh nothing," Mia grinned and headed to sit down besides Brian as he tossed the pad back to Leon after failing to win his money back.

"Alright, how do you do it?"

"Practise," Knight replied. "I've played all the GT games excessively. It's why I almost flunked my second year at uni."

"And your third?"

"I did flunk that year, different reason though. I had to resit which just meant more practise for me," Knight admitted.

Leon quickly handed the pad to someone else. "Well, if you had that much practise, I'm not playing you again."

"Good, you're too easy to beat," Knight shot back.

Kat quickly rose to Leon's defence. "How about you take me on, unless you're afraid to lose to a girl?"

"Sure," Knight answered, rising to the challenge. "If I win, you get to clean my Trans-am tomorrow. In that outfit from the magazine. Two coats of wax."

Leon looked ready to protest, but didn't get chance before Kat accepted. "Done, and if I win, you're my slave for the day, and have to do anything I say."

"I don't think so," Knight protested.

Vince laughed gruffly. "Chickening out punk?"

"Nope, but the bet isn't very even. Got a lot more to lose than I have to gain."

Kat laughed. "Isn't that the point? You're the one who was so sure of winning."

"Until you agreed to wash my car in what amounts to underwear," Knight shot back.

Kat gave him a dazzling smile. "You are backing out aren't you?"

"Hell no," Knight replied. "But I'm gonna suggest we go back to money on the bet."

"Has to be big stakes though," Kat agreed. "Tell you what…I won four large off Dom tonight. You won what, six large? Means you can afford this. Four large says I win."

"You're on," Knight agreed, and Kat laughed.

"You still chickened out before," she said, grabbing the second pad. Both of them picked R34 Skylines, and the game began. Four laps later, and Knight made a disgusted noise, and handed four grand to Kat, who just grinned and with a teasing tone. "Thank you."

Dom half smiled as he watched the scene unfold, till Jesse came out of the backroom. "What is it Jess?"

"You might want to take a look at this," Jesse said earnestly, handing Dom a printout.

Dom scanned it quickly. "So what does this mean? That he doesn't exist?"

"I don't know," Jesse answered, watching the others distractedly as Brian jogged over.

"Hey Dom, have we got space for Knight? He's got nowhere to stay tonight bro."

"Brian, how well do you know him?" Dom asked, eyes narrowed.

Brian shrugged. "Pretty well, why?"

"Is he a cop?"

"Hell no," Brian replied. "Or at least, not as far as I know, why?"

"Take a look at this," Dom said, handing over the printout.

Brian scanned it. "So? Doesn't prove anything. Other than that he ain't a cop cuz."

"How'd you work that out?" Dom asked.

Brian frowned slightly. "Ok, I was undercover and you did a background check on me, what does that tell you?"

Dom went in to what Brian called his "deathly calm" face as he considered what Brian said. "You think that if he was a cop, they'd have done better as a background."

"Yeah man," Brian replied. "Chill ok, he's cool. Besides, why would the cops be investigating us again?" he asked, keeping his tone neutral.

Dom shrugged. "I don't know. But how'd you explain his background or lack there-of?"

Brian seemed to debate something for a moment. "Ok, all I know is, the guy showed up while I was helping Rome in Miami. We hit it off, became friends. I know he's from England originally, and that he's changed his name to distance himself from something. I don't know what it is, but it hurt him badly enough to still effect him after a few years, that's all I can tell you."

Dom looked over Brian's shoulder at the newcomer. "He can stay. Don't say anything to him about this conversation though. Not yet. Alright?"

"Sure bro," Brian answered, gave Dom a disarming grin, and bounced back over to the others.

Jesse made to join him, till Dom caught his arm. "Get on the computer. I want to know exact details about what happened in Miami with Rome and Brian. There's something we aren't being told."

"Sure Dom," Jesse smiled, giving Dom a worshipping look, like a child would give an older sibling, and headed back to the computer. Dom frowned slightly, and turned back to watching his friends and family.

End of Chapter 6…