It wasn't too long after that when Nour fell asleep. She was sugar high, and she crashed really hard. I was hoping she'd stay up a bit longer. Dom kept giving me looks from across the room. Seems like he really wants to talk. He'll ask questions I'm not ready to answer. And I won't. Deciding to worry about that when the time came, I turned to my conversation with Letty, excusing myself to carry my sister to bed. Before I can say anything, I feel a hand on my shoulder. Instantly panicking, I turn around, gripping the person's hand in the process, before throwing a punch. Realizing it's Brian, I step away, horrified by my actions. Everyone in the room stopped at the sound of Brian's yelp. Everyones' eyes was on me.
"Ow! What did I do to deserve that?" He muttered, applying a hand to the bruising spot.
"I'm so sorry, you just caught me off guard. I thought…I thought you were someone else."
"Damn, Bri. She got you good." Leon laughed, clearly amused.
"Tell me about it." Brian shot back.
"I really am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Let me see that. I'll just check if anything's broken." I try, stepping closer to Brian.
"Just don't punch me again."
"I won't, I promise. This might hurt a little." I warn. Softly pressing my hands to his cheekbone, Brian winces as I search for any fractures. "Nothing's broken. It's just going to bruise real bad. You should ice it."
"Yeah, I'm going to get some ice." Walking away, he presses his hands to his cheeks.
Going over to where Nour was sprawled over Jesse, I bend to carry her. I would've have, if it weren't for Dom. He picked her up before I could utter a word. Jesse snickered, seeing my facial expression.
"You shouldn't be carrying her. You're hurt."
"I've been doing this since forever. Hurt or not. Pass her over."I don't like her being carried by someone else.
Rolling his eyes, he says,"You can come along, but you're not carrying her."
Not wanting to argue, I agreed. I'm going to be right beside them anyways. No one's going to hurt her.
Walking alongside Dom, he breaks the silence.
"You got a mean right hook. Who taught you to throw a punch like that?"
"Nobody. I taught myself." I scoffed. "Brian shouldn't have snuck up on me."
"Well, he knows now. I bet nobody's going to do that after seeing the bruise." He chuckles.
Nearing a bedroom at the end of the hallway, he enters, as I slip in after him. Lowering Nour to the bed, he stills for a moment, before leaving the room. Pulling the covers over her, I leave the room, making sure to keep the door slightly ajar. Nour has always hated the dark. Outside, waiting for me was Dom. I really didn't want to talk. My only plan was to attempt to buy myself more time.
"Can you tell me where the bathroom is?"
"Down to the right. I'll wait in the room next door."
Groaning internally, I stiffly nod. Walking inside the bathroom, I lock the door behind me. I take out my blue contacts, before splashing water on my face. Quickly blinking a few times, I look in the mirror. I looked terrible. A bruise was visible on my shoulder. Another on my neck. A few more spattered all over my arms and chest. Sighing, I put the contacts back on. I hate those lens. Unlocking the door, I make my way to the room Dom told me about. I step into the room cautiously, eyes alert, not making a sound, only to find Dom sitting on the edge of a bed.
"I ain't going to bite you." He jokes, trying to ease the tension.
"Better safe than sorry." If only I had known that a few years back.
"Why don't you sit? Then we can talk."
"Standing is fine." I reply shortly.
"I'm just going to get to the point. No use playing around."
"Wasn't expecting anything different." Dom came off as down-to-earth person. Not someone that beat around the bush. I respected that.
"I saw your back."
I had thought so, but still wasn't ready to hear it. To know that someone had seen the marks marring my body. I stay quiet for a few moments, before finally answering him, "I know."
He looks at me with a barely concealed question.
"Just spit it out. I ain't going to bite you." Throwing his own words back at him.
"Who?"
"Doesn't matter." I was hoping he'd drop the subject, but he wasn't getting the hint.
"Your back looks like someone hacked it up a hundred times, and it doesn't matter?"
"Hundred." I laugh bitterly. I wish it was only it was a hundred times. "It really doesn't matter. They can-." I stop halfway through the sentence, a cry rings through the house. I recognize it immediately. Pushing past the door, I run to where my sister was sleeping. Registering the pangs of pain in the back of my mind, I ignore it, instead running faster. Bursting into the room, I swiftly wake Nour up. Holding her to my chest, I whisper soothing words in her ears, while wiping away her tears. Her cries soon turn to sniffles. Looking at me with tears in her eyes, she says clearly distraught,
"Th…they were h…hurting you."
"It was just a dream. They can't hurt me anymore. They never can." I assure her.
"But they hurt you because of me! It was always because of me." She said, still upset.
"Oh, sweetie. Of course not. They didn't hurt me because of you. They hurt me because they are bad people. And bad people hurt others."
"So you won't leave me?"
"Of course not. I love you too much to leave you. I would never dream of leaving you."
"Never?"
"Never ever. Ever. Promise."
Giggling, "Mia and Brian aren't bad. They didn't hurt you." It has always surprised me how she could laugh after crying.
"No, they didn't. Go back to sleep, you're tired. Night."
"Good night, Tessy. Love you."
Kissing her on the nose, I whisper, "Love you more."
By the time I reached the door, she was already sound asleep. Stepping outside, I see Brian leaning against the wall.
"Is she okay?" He whispers, not wanting to wake her up.
"She's fine. Just a bad dream." Nothing new, just another one, that followed another, and another.
"Everyone went to bed. It's only you and I left. Dom said he'll talk later." He says.
"How much of it did you hear?"
"Hear what?" He said, trying and failing to look innocent.
"Don't play dumb, how much did you hear?"
Looking sheepish, he turned away before answering, "I heard everything."
"I reckoned. Just don't tell anyone what you heard."
"I wouldn't have anyway."
Nodding, I asked, "Are you going to sleep?"
"Nah, I don't feel like sleeping."
"Me neither. Is it fine if I sit on the porch?"
"Sure. I'll come with you, just let me grab a beer."
"Okay." I don't mind Brain's company, he didn't seem pushy, or as serious as Dom is.
Following him to the kitchen, I watched as he grabbed a beer. Turning around he asked, "Want one?"
"No, I'm good." I don't plan to drink now, or ever.
"Your loss." He shrugged. Walking out of the house, we sat on the steps. Breathing in the fresh air, I relaxed a little. Maybe we wouldn't have to relocate again. Maybe, just maybe, luck could be on our side this time.
"Wanna play a game?"
"A game? Now?"
"Yeah. I mean, you already punched me, we might as well play a game."
"Good point, let's play. Which game though?"
"20 Questions."
I look at him with a blank look on my face,
"20 Questions?"
"You really don't know it? Never mind, don't answer that. You get to ask me 20 questions, and I get to do the same. Simple?"
"I guess, as long as it's nothing too personal." I say warily.
"Okay. You start."
"Ummm…how old are you?"
"You can ask me any question, and you ask that. I'm 22. You?"
"Don't make fun of me. I'm 20. Turning 21 next month."
"What about your sister?"
"She's nine. See, I would've had to be pregnant at 11 for her to be my kid."
"Touché."
"My turn, what do you do for a job?"
"I'm a cop, sometimes I help Dom in his garage."
At the mention of him being a cop, I stopped breathing. He might be working for him. He might recognize me. Or my sister. I try to play it off.
"A cop, huh?" Fishing for information without asking outright.
"Yeah, worked in the undercover unit a couple of years. Met Dom and the team that way." He never hired undercover agents. Brian probably doesn't even know about him. Immense relief filled me upon that realization. I was just being paranoid. But who can blame me?
"How'd you meet them? Doesn't sound like it was accident."
"It wasn't. I was sent as an undercover cop, acted like a racer. Had to find out the ones behind some truck hijacking. Everything was going fine, I was racing, most of the team liked me, I felt like I belonged, but then…"
"But then life threw you off and ruined everything." I said, remembering my own life. The way it went down the dumps in a few measly months.
Brian looked surprised, but then nodded, "Yeah, that's exactly what happened. I found out that Dom was behind the hijackings. I was too far in to back out. The team was the closest I've ever become to someone, and I was supposed to put them behind bars."
"But they're still here." I state confused.
"Thank the gods. After finding out about the truck hijackings, I planted the evidence in their rival's garage. Made it look like Tran's team was responsible. Then all I had to do was tell the higher-ups, and they'd take care of the rest. I kept thinking something was going to go wrong, but the plan worked."
"And the team just accepted you? No questions asked?"
"I didn't give them the chance to. I ran off to Miami. Stayed there a couple of months, before Dom and Vince dragged my sorry excuse of an ass back here. I never thought they'd accept me that easy. Once, when I asked, Dom said that they don't turn their back on family. And that was that. I've been with the team for a year now. It has been the best year of my life."
I listen as he talks, surprised at the team's easy acceptance of Brian. They had to forgive him to accept them. And they did. I wasn't expecting that at all, and I voice my thought to Brian.
"Wasn't expecting that."
"Me neither. But I'm thankful that's what's happened."
"I've asked all the questions. It's supposed to be your turn."
"You got a job somewhere here?"
"No, had one in some shitty diner for some time. Got fired yesterday though." I frown, remembering yet another problem that needed a solution.
"Why'd they fire you?"
"I punched a customer. Apparently I wasn't supposed to." I smirk, remembering how he had gaped at me in shock.
"You punched a customer?" Brain managed to choke out.
"Yeah, I said that already. It's not like he didn't deserve it."
"Why did you punch him? Did he catch you off guard?" He smiles showing that he meant it as a joke.
Chuckling I say, "No, the bastard put his hands on me. I told him nicely he had to take them off, or I'll take them off for him. He didn't remove his hands. So I kept my promise. Got him right in the nose. And then I got fired."
I finish looking at Brian, to find him still laughing.
"What are you laughing about? I got fired."
"Of course you got fired. I can't believe you just punched the guy." He said, amusement clear.
"He deserved it. Should've kept his hands to himself."
"He knows that now. Sadly, that means you got no job."
"Why, thank you for noticing." I obviously had no job, all I had was what I saved up, and that wasn't too much to begin with.
"I didn't mean it that way."
"I know. It's just unfair." Not like anything in life is fair.
"It's cool. You any good with cars?"
"Good." I laugh. "I'm the best, been working on cars and bikes since I was 14."
"The best? Can do everything?"
"Yes. Engine modifications. Decals. The whole deal. Worked in a garage for 4 years. Owner said I was the best he got." I wasn't even exaggerating. Getting under a car seemed like my only mean of escape. I could hide under the hood, and not feel the time passing.
"You got something to prove that?" He asked interested.
Thinking for a moment, I reply, "I built my own motorcycle from scratch. Left it in some alleyway."
"Alleyway?"
"Had to hide it, so I left it there. Nothing's going to happen. I covered it up."
"Maybe I could have a look at it. We can go for a drive, and I get to see it."
"My sister's sleeping. I can't leave her here alone." I'm never keeping her out of my sight as long as I'm alive. Not after everything that happened.
Brian looked like he was going to say something, before suddenly changing his mind. He nods, not voicing his agreement. Our talk stopped at that. Standing up, I stretch my coiled muscles. Yawning, Brian renters the house. Following him inside, I watch as he throws himself onto the coach.
"You sleep here?"
"Just tonight, Nour is sleeping in mine."
"Sorry about that."
"It's fine. Not like I sleep much. Good night, Tessy." He adds after a moment.
"Night, Brian."
Sitting quietly, I lean into the armchair. I think about what had happened all day. I still as fatigue settles in, but I don't close my eyes. I can't close my eyes. Not when it's night. Not when the dark can be calling.
Hope you guys like this chapter. Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks.