Chapter 10

"Who's this?" she asked, nodding toward Letty.

Dom fidgeted a little, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and shoving his hands into his pockets.

It was a simple harmless question. But there was no simple harmless answer...

"Letty," Letty replied as she sat up, holding her hand out to greet the woman wearing a knee length business skirt standing next to Dom. The woman smiled politely as she shook her hand.

"I'm Debbie," she smiled, "Letty...your name sounds familiar," she stated as she racked her brain for where she could have known her from. That name...

"Dom, I swear you mentioned..."

And then she remembered. Letty. Letty was his ex. And...Letty was gorgeous...torn up jeans and all. She suddenly felt a little awkward, but tried her best to hide it.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Dom did mention you. Your aunt passed right? I'm so sorry," Debbie said, giving a soft smile.

"Yeah. Thanks," Letty replied, smiling slightly as she stood up. "You wanna sit?" she asked, offering Debbie her chair.

"Oh you don't have to," Debbie started.

"It's no problem. Here," Letty smiled. She figured Debbie would be more comfortable sitting, wearing a skirt and all.

Dom and Mia exchanged glances as Letty offered Debbie her seat. Just then, Letty's cell phone rang and she fished it out of her pocket. She excused herself and headed into the kitchen.

"I'm gonna grab another beer. Deb, you want something to drink?" Dom asked, searching for an excuse to go into the kitchen.

"Sure. Thanks hun," she smiled.

Dom opened the door and headed into the kitchen to find Letty bent over, head shoved in the fridge as she searched for a beer. He walked up behind her and grabbed her around her waist. Startled, she jumped up and turned around.

"Dom...What the hell are you doin?" she gasped.

He ignored her and grabbed her tighter.

"Oh my god Dom, Debbie could walk in at any second! What the fuck are you doin?"

"I need to see you again," he growled into her ear, pushing her up against the counter.

Letty's pulse raced, her breathing heavy. What was he doing?!

"I can't stop thinkin about you..." he ran a hand under her shirt, caressing her back.

Her skin tingled at his touch. She wanted him to fuck the shit out of her. Right then. Right there. But...

"Dom..." she whispered, "we can't do this. Your girlfriend's right outside man," she grabbed his wandering hand from under her shirt, pushing it away.

"Let, I don't..."

As if on cue, Debbie walked in.

"Hey babe," her smile fading slightly as she saw him with Letty. Standing really close to Letty. She shrugged it off. "Thought you were grabbing some beers?"

"I am," he said annoyed. He opened the fridge and fished out two iced cold coronas. "Here," he said, handing them to Debbie. She looked confused.

"Are you coming out?"

"Yeah," he replied, "I gotta grab somethin from upstairs. I'll be right out."

"Okay," she smiled and headed outside.

He turned his attention back to Letty. He grabbed her hand, leading her into the livingroom.

"Dom, what the fuck..." but her words were muffled as he pushed her up against the wall, his lips crushing down on hers, his tongue shoving into her mouth. He gripped her hips hard, bringing her close. It was a bad idea. Horrible. He was a lying, cheating pig, but he didn't care. He had to have her, if only for a second.

"Hey, yo Dom!" Vince shouted into the house.

Letty pulled away, and quickly pushed him off her. Her hair was a mess, her skin flushed, and they both looked guilty as fuck.

Vince turned the corner into the livingroom with an odd look on his face. It wasn't the look of catching them in the act, it was something else. Dom had seen that look a few times before, and it was never anything good. Leon was right behind him.

Letty wiped at her mouth, and attempted to run her fingers through her hair, trying her best not to look like she almost just got fucked by Dom.

"What's up V?" Dom asked, annoyed that they'd been interrupted.

"Just got a call from Hector bro. Seems like our old friend got outta lockup today."

He didn't have to ask. He knew exactly who their 'old friend' was.

"And?"

"And your name's been mentioned," Vince replied.

"What?!" Letty interjected, "I thought that fucker got like ten years?!"

"Good behavior," Vince replied sarcastically, "word is that he's mentioning Dom."

"What about Dom?" Letty demanded.

"What the fuck do you think Letty?! Fuck him!" Dom barked, "he's fuckin dead."

"Dom, calm down," Letty whispered, grabbing his arm lightly.

Dom ripped his arm away and rubbed at his head.

"Dom," Letty whispered once more, "you gotta calm down," she asserted before turning back to Vince. "Who else knows about this?"

"Just us three and Leon," Vince replied.

"Fine. Let's keep it that way," she said. "Look, there's nothing we can do right now. Why don't we just chill, eat something," she said, trying to be the voice of reason, all while knowing exactly how volatile the situation really was.

"Hey, why are you guys lookin so serious?" Mia asked as she approached the boys and Letty.

"Where's Debbie?" Dom asked, looking around.

"Oh. I'm supposed to tell you Dom. She had to leave. They paged her back at work," Mia replied.

"On a Saturday?" asked Leon.

"She just got a promotion. Works a lot," Dom muttered, his thoughts a thousand miles away from Debbie and whatever she was doing. "I need a fuckin cigarette," he snapped, stalking past Mia, through the kitchen and out into the backyard.

It had been nearly six years since he had last seen Johnny Tran. He'd left LA thinking he'd killed the mother fucker, only to find out he'd recovered after a few months in the hospital. He'd gotten sentenced to ten years for multiple weapons charges. They'd never got him for murdering Jesse. Lack of evidence or some shit. He thought he'd never hear from him again. And now everything was flooding back. Jesse...

"You guys didn't answer me. Why does everyone look so serious?" Mia asked once more.

"Tran's outta jail."

"Leon!" Vince exclaimed.

"What? She has the right to know," Leon said innocently.

"Shit," Mia muttered as she looked around. "How's Dom?"

"He'll be alright," Letty replied. "Look, why don't we eat? Seriously. There's nothing we can do right now. Why don't you guys help Mia bring stuff out?"

"Fine. Let's go," Leon replied, smacking Vince in the arm to follow him. "C'mon Mia girl. Oh shit, did you make those baked beans I like?" Leon asked as the three walked toward the house.

Letty scratched at her head and took a deep breath. It was just all so out of nowhere. She searched the yard for Dom and found him sitting on the steps leading up to the deck. She walked over and took a seat next to him.

"Hey," she said, nudging him lightly with her arm. "You alright?"

He didn't answer, simply stared off into the streets, his eyes filled with pure hate, anger, guilt, revenge..

"Dominic..." she whispered, grabbing his cheek lightly and turning his head to face her.

"What?" he asked harshly.

"Don't do anything stupid."

"Fuck him Letty," he snarled.

She placed a tiny hand around his, running her thumb over his fingers.

"Promise me...you won't do anything stupid," she said sternly.

"You know I can't do that Letty."

She knew.

Just then Mia came out, followed by the boys.

"Girl, let me help you," Letty said as she stood up, grabbing a bowl from Mia. The two girls carried the food to the picnic table, followed closely by Vince and Leon. The spread was huge. Mia had made everything. Chicken, corn, baked beans, potato salad, hamburgers... The list went on and on. Mia sat down and laughed while watching Leon and Vince fumble for a piece of chicken.

"Dom, you comin?" Letty asked, nodding toward the picnic table.

Dom rubbed at his head and stretched as he stood up.

"Yeah," he replied, walking over and taking a seat at the head of the table.