I stepped out of my Mazda, dressed to impress in a waistcoat top, skinnies, leather jacket and a pair of new rocks. Letty smiled at me appraisingly.

"You go get him girl." I laughed and saw Dom with two chicks.

"Letty." I nodded over to them and she made a beeline. I stayed with her on the off chance the girls tried their luck. When we got closer to them Letty sniffed the air and all I could do was smile.

"I smell skanks. Why don't you girls pack it up, before I leave tread marks on your face?" Both the girls, Camille and Monica I believed they were called, looked terrified.

"Okay." They said meekly and backed off.

"Letty, I was just talking." Dom protested.

"Yeah. Whatever."

"Really Dom?" I laughed he simply shook his head. "Hey Hector!"

"Hey girl how's it hanging?"

"Not bad, not bad. Now how come you ain't racing tonight?"

"I'm going legit. NIRA circuit. Plus you keep handing me my ass, how can I even attempt to beat Dom if I can't beat you."

"Good point." I smirked. We moved off to the others as they were gathering. I stood by Jesse as Leon was in his car, checking the police scanners, I had a radio so he could tell me when we're good to go. Edwin moved over to us and we had our racers. Edwin, Dom, Ken and Tish.

"How we doing this tonight?" Edwin asked.

"One race." Dom replied. "$2,000 buy-in. Winner takes all. Hector, you're going to hold the cash."

"Why Hector?"

"Too slow to make away with the money." I smarted Hector gave me a hurt look and I smirked.

"Okay. Good luck, guys."

"Hey, wait. Hold up." We all turned and saw Spilner heading towards us. "I don't have any cash. But I do have the pink slip to my car." He smiled holding up the pink slip.

"You just can't climb in the ring with Ali, 'cause you think you can box." Jesse said.

"He knows I can box." Vince growled and I put a hand on his arm.

"Chill Vee."

"Check it out. It's like this. I lose, the winner takes my car. Clean and clear. But if I win, I take the cash, and I take the respect." I rolled my eyes.

"Respect?"

"To some people, that's more important." He said.

"That your car?" Dom asked pointing at the 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse. I smiled and headed to it with Jesse, Jesse popped the hood and we looked in.

"I see a cool air intake. It's got a NOS fogger system and a T4 turbo, Dom." I said.

"I see an AIC controller. It has direct port nitrous injection." Jesse added.

"Yeah. And a stand-alone fuel management system."

"Not a bad way to spend $10,000." Jesse said only slightly impressed.

"You see that shit? He's got enough NOS in there to blow himself up. Period." I said backing up from the car so Dom could see for himself.

"So, what do you say? Am I worthy?" Brian said that dumbass smile on his face.

"We don't know yet. But you're in. Let's go." Dom said moving to his car.

"All right." He smiled I really did not like this guy.

"Let's go!" Hector smiled.

"CeeCee I've got a 187 in Glendale. Cops are all over it. We're good to roll." Leon said over the radio.

"Ok guys, let's go. Time to race!" The flag came down and they set off, Dom as always in the lead. "Hey who told the loser where the race was? Who invited him?"

"I'd like to know to. Then I can beat both of them." Vince growled. Mia and Letty were off at the side line looking for the racers coming back. And Jesse was lecturing Hector on his car so it was just me and Vince.

"Relax Vee." I smiled leaning back on my car. He looked down at me looking me over.

"You look good Cori, really good." He smiled brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. I felt suddenly warm smiling shyly. He went to say something more, but we heard the cars coming back. He shook himself and grabbed my hand pulling me to the front to see Dom take the win. Brian pulled up a half second behind and his car was smoking.

"Ah shit." I said. Vince moved forward backing people up.

"Come on. Come on. Back up." He ordered.

"Here's what you won, right here. There you go." Hector smiled handing the money over. "You were racing a bunch of skateboards. Know what I mean?"

"My sister holds the money. Count it." Dom said passing it to Mia. "And you're my trophy." He smiled lifting Letty and kissing her. I smiled I wanted what Letty and Dom had. Brian moved towards our group through the crowd a sparkle in his eyes.

"You have fun there buddy?" Jesse asked as we looked over his car. He had done some serious damage to the car.

"Got a problem there, buddy?" Hector asked.

"What are you smiling about?" Dom demanded.

"Dude. I almost had you." I had to laugh and so did everyone else.

"You almost had me?" Dom smiled pointing at himself and Brian. "You never had me. You never had your car. Granny-shifting. Not double-clutching, like you should. You're lucky that 100-shot of NOS didn't blow the welds on the intake. Almost had me?" Everyone was laughing now. Dom was going to rip into him.

"You tell him, Dominic. Get out of here." Someone shouted from the crowd. Dominic was pacing now.

"Now, me the mad scientist and his sister got to rip apart the block...and replace the piston rings you fried. Ask any racer. Any real racer. It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning." Dom smiled triumphantly wiping the smile from Brian's face.

"Yeah!" The crowd shouted just as my radio crackled.

"Oh, shit! We got cops. Cops!"

"Damn it move! COPS!" I shouted and everyone ran for their cars. I grabbed Mia's arm and pulled her to my car. At the races it had become my job to make sure Mia got out safe. "Shit they came quick. It had to be orchestrated." I said as we headed home, cops didn't seem bothered by us so we got back safe. They must have been coming for Dom.

As always everyone had made their way back here for a party. Vince had got the music turned up high and beers were being passed around. But Dominic wasn't back. I made my way to Vince.

"Vee we gotta go find Dom, he ain't back yet."

"Give it a few Cori he'll be back soon, he always is." I turned annoyed that he fobbed me off. Letty wasn't much help as both her and Leon were gaming, while Jesse was trying to chat up some girl. Well there was only one thing for it, go find Dom myself. I moved to the garage and grabbed my bike. I set off towards downtown. I drove at a leisurely pace. Cops were still out in force trying to pick up stragglers so I had to be careful. I rode round the usual places. The multi-storey car parks, the drive-thru's and the mall car park. But I couldn't find him though I did find his car in one of the multi-storey's.

"Shit Dom where are you?" I was about to start my bike having checked out a Burger King and not finding him when I heard the motorbikes. Tran.

"Well look who we have all alone."

"This is neutral territory Johnny, just back off." I was going to say there were cops everywhere, but they weren't there was hardly any traffic at all. I had to have been searching for an hour.

"You're all alone, you can't stop us." Lance smiled moving towards me.

"I don't think we're needed, let these sort her out, send a little message to Toretto." Johnny smiled. Lance smirked and moved back. I watched as Johnny, Lance and a few others left leaving three guys behind. They laughed amongst themselves as they climbed off their bikes and moved towards me. I smiled.

"You guys aren't so smart are ya?"

"And why do you say that?" In reply I revved my bike and sped off past them. I heard them shout and scramble for their bikes. They were determined to chase after me and chased me through downtown LA. I stayed as clear of Tran's territory as possible. Even as I got towards Dom's they still followed me. I fumbled my cell from my pocket and with one hand tried to steer. But I had to stop when I nearly careened into a car. I put my cell away and concentrated on getting home and fast. As I took the turn sharply on to Dom's road I saw a taxi pulling away and on the curb was Dom and that guy Brian. I braked hard my bike spinning. I managed to keep control and keep upright my heart in my throat.

"Cori?!"

"Dom! Tran!" I shouted jumping off my bike. Dom moved to me blocking me from them as they slowed to a cruise, going past. One of them pointed at me like his hand was a gun and he would shoot me before they disappeared.

"Keep moving." Dom spat. They revved their bikes and spun off. "What the hell are you doing out here?!" He shouted turning and heading up the steps.

"I was looking for you!" I shouted back walking into the house. Dom stood there looking around at everyone. He ignored me and turned to look behind me.

"You want a beer?" I looked to see Brian there.

"Yeah sure."

"Yo, Dom. We were just about to go looking for you, brother." Leon shouted some chick sat on his lap.

"Where were you?" He asked.

"There were mass cops there. They came in from every direction. It was orchestrated." Vince said coming over. He looked at me and back at Dom.

"This your beer?"

"Yeah, that's my beer." Dom picked up Vince's beer then turned to my brother who was making out with some girl.

"Yo, Einstein. Take it upstairs. You can't detail a car with the cover on. Can't even get that right."

"You all right?" Letty asked slipping her arms round Dom's waist as I picked up a Corona.

"Am I all right?"

"It was just a question." The question we should have been asking was, what was Brian doing here?

"Yo, Dom. Why did you bring the buster here?" Vince asked at least he asked the right question.

"'Cause he kept me out of handcuffs! He didn't just run back to the fort! The buster brought me back." Vince was quiet and so was everyone else. "And what the hell were you guys doing while Cori was out there?!" I attempted to go for the stairs.

"You did what?!" Leon snapped.

"Well Dom wasn't back. I was worried! I couldn't sit around knocking beers back hoping he'd turn up." Mia came over and hugged me. Dom sighed.

"Just don't do it again. And you can have any brew you want, as long as it's a Corona." Dom smiled at Brian and handed over the beer that was Vince's. Both Vince and I knew it was his.

"Thanks, man."

"That's Vince's. So, enjoy it."

"You." Vince looked ready to murder him, I grabbed his arm and gave him a look that said leave it.

"Hey, bro. You got a bathroom?" Brian asked wiping the top of Vince's drink with his shirt.

"Upstairs. First door on the right." Dom supplied as both Vince and I glared at Brian. I knew Vince wasn't going to stay quiet.

"He's got no call being up in here. You don't know that fool for shit." He shouted the second Brian had disappeared.

"He's right, Dom." Leon said.

"I agree, he's been fishing round here for weeks. There's something wrong about him none of us know him."

"There was a time when I didn't know you." He meant it for all of us, but was looking at Vince as he said it.

"That was in the third grade!"

"You look a bit tired." Letty said as Brian came back down. "I think you should go upstairs and give me a massage." She said her voice sultry.

"Look at all our guests." Dom smiled as I sipped my Corona.

"How about you give me a massage?"

"Crazy lady. You know you owe me a 10-second car, right?" Dom smiled looking at Brian. I had to laugh. Dom owned him now.

"Oh, shit." Letty laughed thinking the same as me before heading up with Dom.

"Did you wipe the seat?" Vince sniped at Brian. I knew Vince wouldn't leave it. Not that I could blame him.

"Jesus Christ! Would you cut this shit?" Mia said shoving Vince back.

"Mia come on this guy has no right."

"Neither did you when you guys came."

"Weren't no bad vibes from us and you guys insisted we stay." She shook her head and grabbed his arm.

"Come on!" She said, but Brian was in a stare down with Vince. "Come on. Let's go get me a drink."

"We were just about to get along." Leon laughed as they walked off to the kitchen. Leon shook his head at me. "You crazy."

"Like a fox." I winked and walked out to sit on the porch.

"Hey Cori what happened? Why he got his panties in a bunch about you being out on that bike looking for him?"

"Simple, Tran set some of his goons on me. Shit heads couldn't out ride me though." I smirked.

"Cori, you could have got yourself killed."

"But I didn't not like it matters."

"Of course it matters. What do you think I'd do without you?" He said sitting beside me.

"Probably hound Mia, until either Dom tells you to get lost or Spilner kicks your ass." I said before downing my Corona.

"Cori…"

"What?" I turned to look at him and he was leaning so close to me. I didn't think just did and pressed my lips to his. He was frozen to the spot. He didn't react so I quickly pulled back and stood up heading in just as he called my name.