Word Count: 1,461/27,373
Chapter 13
Brian opened the door of his place and let Mia in, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one had followed her.
"Is this your way of keeping me away from him?" she asked.
He was barely able to hide his wince at the reminder of that disastrous conversation three days ago. Christ, had it really only been three days? It felt like a lifetime ago.
"You're the only one I could call," he said instead. That wasn't entirely true, but he wasn't bringing Austin into this until he had to.
"He's my brother," Mia said, as if that explained everything. "Of course I'd come."
Brian leaned back against the wall as Mia examined Dom's shoulder.
"The bullet's not in there," she said. "I'm going to clean it and stitch it up. It's going to hurt."
"I bet you're going to enjoy this," Dom said, looking at Brian with a smirk.
"A little," Mia said with a smirk of her own.
Brian grinned and left the siblings to it, calling for Chinese. When the driver arrived, he made sure to block the view inside. They all sat down at the table and Brian couldn't help but feel out of place. He hadn't parted from Mia on good terms and he hadn't had the chance to clear the air with her yet like he had with Dom on the way down to Mexico.
"You want some of this?" Mia asked Dom.
"Yeah."
"It's spicy."
"I like it hot," Dom said, reaching for her food.
"Dom, what are you doing?" Mia said, tapping the back of his hand with her chopsticks.
He stared at her like she had grown a second head and Brian ducked his head to hide a smirk.
"You reached first, you have to say grace," Mia explained.
Dom raised an eyebrow and looked over at Brian, who merely shrugged. That had been Dom's rule five years ago. He couldn't change it now. Dom gave in and closed his eyes. "Thank you, Lord, for blessing this table."
"With food, family and friendship," Mia finished, when it was clear Dom wasn't going to say anything else.
Dinner was an awkward affair. No one was sure what to say to one another. Brian had absolutely no intention of talking to Dom about what had happened on the run while Mia was sitting there. And he certainly wasn't going to try and clear the air with Mia while Dom was there. He wasn't ready for Dom to find out the truth. He was still barely managing to deal with it himself.
And it was clear that the siblings were still wary of him and his job, so they weren't saying much either.
They finally finished and tossed out the cartons. Mia and Brian sat at the table while Dom disappeared towards the bedroom. Brian stared at the table for several long moments before he started talking. "You asked me why I let Dom go," he began. He wasn't going to tell her the full truth. Not here; not now. But he was going to be more honest than he had been at the café. "I think it's because in that moment I respected him more than I did myself."
That was only a small fraction of the truth, but it was better than nothing.
"Yeah?" Mia asked.
Brian nodded. "One thing I learned from Dom is that nothing really matters unless you have a code."
"And what's your code, Brian?" Mia asked, reaching out and touching his hand.
He looked up at her, shaking his head slightly. "I'm still working on it," he said. His phone started ringing and he pulled it out, glancing at the screen.
Letty.
His eyes widened and he glanced down the trailer to where Dom was sitting on the bed, staring at him. "Shit," he muttered, standing up. Dom began stalking towards him. "Hey, Dom," he began.
"When were you gonna tell me?" Dom demanded.
"Dom, what are you doing?" Mia asked, standing up and pressing back against the wall.
"When were you gonna tell me you were running Letty?" Dom demanded again, grabbing Brian by the shoulders and slamming him against the wall, his forearm pressed against Brian's throat.
"Let me explain-" Brian tried, only to get cut off again.
"When were you-" Dom was too furious to even finish and he pressed even closer.
"Dom, stop!" Mia cried, a hand at her throat.
"You don't understand," Brian tried again. With most of Dom's weight pressing against his throat, it didn't come out as strong as he would have liked.
"I don't understand?" Dom snarled.
Brian mentally winced, knowing there was no reasoning with the man right now. He didn't want to hurt Dom, but he had to get away. He had to get some space so he could explain what had happened. He didn't want to, because he knew it was going to destroy Dom, but he had no choice. He reached out with one hand, pushing against Dom's chin and trying to get him to back off.
"Stop!" Mia cried again.
Brian was able to get Dom's arm off of his throat, but before he could slip away, Dom grabbed his shoulders and threw him through the bookshelf. He hit the ground, hard, and blinked to clear his gaze. Dom was crouching over him seconds later, punching him and in that second, Brian felt the barest flash of fear.
Not for himself, so much. He had resigned himself to the fact that Dom was probably going to kill him when he found out about Letty. It was more for Dom's sake, knowing that if he killed Brian, then there would be nothing that anyone could do to keep him out of trouble. Not only that, but Mia didn't need to see this and Dom didn't need this on his conscious.
He wrapped his legs around Dom's neck, applying pressure and hoping to get Dom to at least slow down. To his surprise, Dom merely straightened up, pulling Brian completely off the ground. He only had a few seconds to brace himself before he was slammed back onto the ground and this time, he was unable to hold back his wince.
"Stop it!" Mia cried one last time, tears obvious in her voice.
That was enough. He didn't want to do this to Dom, but he also couldn't stand to see Mia's tears. "She did it for-" he tried, only to be cut off when Dom's fist hit his jaw.
"Dom, stop it! Please!"
Dom hit him a few more times before Brian was able to get out what he wanted to say. "She did it for you, Dom!" he cried.
Dom froze and released him, backing away.
"She did it for you!" Brian stayed on the ground, staring up at Dom and allowing him to see the guilt and pain in his eyes. "Letty came to me to clear your name in exchange for bringing down Braga. She just wanted you to come home!"
Dom stared at him with wide, wild eyes, then looked at Mia for a long moment before turning and stalking towards the bedroom.
"I'm sorry, Dom," Brian called after. "I'm sorry." He kicked at the fallen chair next to him and rolled onto his side, his back to Mia so she couldn't see the tears that he couldn't stop. Not because of the physical pain. He had had so much worse than the beating that Dom had just given him. No, it was the pain of knowing he had hurt Dom that had him crying.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and tensed.
"Are you okay?" Mia asked.
He nodded once. "I'll be fine," he said, not turning to look at her.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't want him to know. She knew the risks, but she did it anyway, because she loved him. It was her choice. I didn't want Dom to blame himself because there was nothing he could have done to stop her. She was gonna do it no matter what anyone said. I did everything I could to keep her safe, but they didn't tell me everything. I didn't know. I never would have let her do it if I had."
They were silent for a long time, the hum of the generator the only sound.
"You should go home," he said finally, breaking the silence. "I don't want you any more involved. It's too dangerous."
She squeezed his shoulder slightly. "Be careful," she said. "I can't bury any more of my family."
His breath caught in his throat, but he remained where he was, even as he heard her gather her things, say good night to her brother and head out.
