Chapter 3

"You alright?" Vince asked softly, breathing slightly rushed from the adrenaline and chase. We had found shelter under a bridge not two minute ago.

"Yeah. We gonna wait 'em out?" I replied.

He nodded, warily watching the entry point in his rearview. "We'll have to."

"This happen often?"

"Not very often, but it does happen."

"I hope Dom and the others are alright." I huddled there, trying to keep my fear at bay.

"They'll be fine." I noticed him watching me. "You sure you're alright?"

I nodded. "Little scared but I'll be fine." I assured him. I gave a slight start when he reached across the car and took my hand. The warmth and strength I felt in his grip calmed me a bit.

"Dom trusts me to keep you safe and I won't let anything happen to you." His voice is soft and it soothes my nerves further.

"Thanks Vince."

"Did you have fun?"

At that, I smile at him. "Hell yeah. I'm an adrenaline junkie and racing cars is my rush." I leaned back against the seat. "The first time he took me to a race, I felt like I finally belonged. Since I was a kid, I never felt like I truly belonged anywhere, but that night, I felt like I had finally come home."

"What happened to your real parents?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. As soon as I was born, my mother put me up for adoption and due to my inability to fit anywhere, I constantly got into fights, which caused them to move me from place to place. Finally I end up with this one family and learn my foster brother was racing cars secretly at night. Instead of telling his parents, I get him to teach me to race instead and since I was so young, he taught me my way around a car. When I tuned sixteen, he taught me to drive."

"What about your dad?"

"Don't know him."

"Do you ever want to know about your parents?"

"I'm happy not knowing." I replied. "Shit, I don't even know where to start if I ever did want to."

"Who named you?"

"The first family I was adopted out to." I told him. I jumped two seconds later when a crackling sound came from somewhere between us.

Grinning at me, he released my hand long enough to pick up a walkie-talkie unit from the cup holder and transfer it to his other hand before taking my hand again. "Its just Dom, checking in." He told me. "Yeah?"

"Where are you and Kira?" Came Dom's voice and Vince gave him our location. "Everybody's here at the Fort except for you two."

"We had a little trouble and we're waiting for it to cool down before we head home." Vince assured him.

"How's Kira?"

Vince smiled at me, giving my hand a little squeeze. "She's fine."

"As soon as it looks safe, pick up our the winnings from Hector and head for the Fort." Dom told him.

"You got it." He set the unit on the dash and it slid down to the windshield. "Let's go see if the coast is clear."

"You think everything will had calmed down by now?" I asked as we got out of the car and made our way to the road.

"At least enough where we can make it back to the Fort without getting hassled." He replied, steadying me as I slipped on a rock. "You alright?" I nodded and kept my eyes on the ground, choosing my footing. We finally made it to the road and we looked both ways as far as we could. The sound of sirens seemed to have died down. "It looks clear, let's get out of here." He stayed ahead of me and steadied me when I slipped. When we got back to the car, he handed me the keys. "You want to run with my car, you're going to learn how it runs. Just don't mess it up." There's a glint in his eyes and I knew he's teasing me.

I pushed him. "You saw how I ran Dom's RX- 7!" He laughed as we got into the car. There was no further incident as we collected our winnings and made it back to the Fort only to find a good portion of the street packed with street racers. "Holy shit. Talk about Party Central."

Vince grinned as I pulled the Maxima into the driveway and shut it down. "The Fort is the after race party spot. Come on."

We headed inside and my ears were bombarded with loud music. I followed behind Vince as he led me through the house where Dom and Letty were moving to the music. Seeing us over Letty's shoulder, he said something to her and let her keep dancing as he came over to us. I happily brandished the wad of cash and Dom took it from me.

"Part of this goes to repairing your car. If you're going to race for me, you need to get out of everybody else's rides and back into your own."

"You just wanna see what she can do." I grinned at him. "As much as I enjoyed running the RX- 7, it'll be good to get back in Reaper."

"I look forward to seeing what you can do in your own. Go have fun, you earned it." Pocketing the money, he returned to Letty. Finding a couple girls had hijacked Vince's attention, I grabbed a beer from the kitchen and headed to where I had seen Jesse in the living room playing the playstation and plopped down beside him.

"Your first shift was off." He commented as I picked up the second controller and he started a two-player game..

"I was learning the perfect shift, the rest of them were spot on." I reply.

He nodded. "How'd you like getting chased by the cops?"

"The race was hella fun, while the aftermath… not so much."

"Get used to it, it happens when you're racing."

"Yeah, I know. The guys who chase me make the cops look fluffy."

"They that dangerous?" Jesse actually sounded worried.

"Danger with a capital D, cuz." I told him. "I'm not about to end up dead for something I didn't do."

After a few races, Leon comes up to me. "You dance any?" I could tell he was slightly drunk.

I shook my head. "Don't know how to."

He offered me a hand. "I'll teach you. You hang with us, you gotta know how to dance."

I look at Jesse. "He won't bite, Kira, go on. We'll play some more later." Finishing my beer, knowing I'd need the fortification it supplied not to make a fool out of myself, I took Leon's hand and let him help me up and to the dance floor where Dom and Letty were still grooving. Though it looked more like they were making out than dancing.

Once we reached a spot, Leon turned me around until my back was to him. His hands went on my hips. "The first thing you gotta do is relax a bit, feel the music." He whispered in my ear. "Watch Letty."

"They're doing anything but dancing." I retort, pitching my voice so they could hear since they were nearby. "Get a room!" They break apart from a heated kiss and look over at me. Dom laughs and they resume dancing. In my ear, I hear Leon laugh.

"Close your eyes and just feel the music." I feel him press himself against my back and I feel him move. "Follow my lead." Closing my eyes, I listen to the music and feel the rhythm he had set. After a moment, I catch on and begin to move with him. I feel his hands tighten on my hips and tug me a little closer. "That's it, baby girl, feel the music. Let go." His voice is encouraging in my ear and I gain confidence, loosening up further. He changes the rhythm and I quickly catch on, actually push myself more fully against him. I get so into the music, I almost miss his hand as it leaves my waist and travels upwards. I wouldn't mind it, but he was starting to hitch up my shirt along with it. Even though I wanted so bad to keep dancing with Leon, I had to stop him.

I put my hand over his, keeping it from advancing further. "Leo, stop."

"What's the matter Kira? I bet you got a sexy stomach." He tried to lift my shirt again and I put a bit of strength into my arm.

"Remember what I told you?" I asked.

"'bout what?" He hummed in my ear.

"About how my foster brother botched a drug run and how him and his parents paid the price." I reminded him.

"What about it?" I felt him nuzzle my neck.

"Before he showed up to save my ass, they were working on me. I've got scars on my stomach from them."

"They can't be all that noticeable." He commented.

"I'm still self conscious about it." I told him.

He placed a kiss to my neck. "Alright. I won't bug you about 'em. Can we keep dancing?"

"As long as you don't try to lift my shirt again." I reply.

"Fair 'nough." He releases the hem of my shirt and places it over my stomach. To make sure his hand didn't stray, I kept mine over his. He takes my other hand and brings it up to wrap around his neck before placing it back on my hip. I realize the position allows for greater freedom in movement, as he begins to move more fluidly and I easily follow.

Dom smirked as he watched the two. Throughout the party, he had kept an eye on the new girl. Upon discovering Vince had abandoned her for a couple of his usual girls, she had grabbed a beer and sought out Jesse where the two had quickly struck up a conversation while they played the game. The next time he had gone looking for her, he had found her dancing with Leon. Now, he found her outside perched on the hood of Vince's Maxima as he leaned against Jesse's Jetta and the two talked. He spotted a guitar leaning on the hood next to her and knew it was hers since he had seen Vince's not two seconds ago.

He knew the minute Letty approached. All day, she had been wary of the other female. Turning slightly, he wrapped an arm around her waist and held her to his side.

"What is it with you? You've been watching her all damn day." Letty growled, miffed. Yeah, she was in a mood. Luckily for him, he knew how to make it up to her and then some.

"Just keeping an eye on her. Whether she knows it or not, she needs us more than she realizes. She's been running from something that she had no hand in. Her adoptive brother messed up a drug run years ago and the boss' goons are still after her. You saw what her car looked like when we brought it into the garage. They did that to her as they were trying to kill her. There's no need for an innocent to be killed for something they didn't do. Kira needs family who will have her back, friends who won't let her down."

"Bringing her into the group is asking for trouble." Letty protested softly.

"Trouble she's innocent in causing. Drug lords are a bit like the mafia, they don't like to leave loose ends hanging around." He reminded her gently. "To them, Kira is a loose end, even when her brother sacrificed his life to save hers. She's the only one alive and they will do whatever they can to see her dead. She's been running, with no real home, and no real friends, for years. She's been having to survive on her own for years just trying to keep her distance from them. She knows, as do the rest of us, that there will be a day when she can no longer run and hide. She will have to stand and fight if she wants to be truly free. You see how she interacts with the rest. Jesse, Leon and Vince already accept her as part of the team and I'm sure both Leon and Vince will not hesitate to have her back when that day comes. From what I'm seeing, Vince more than the rest of us. I don't think he'll let her run if she wanted to. He'll force her to face them just to keep her on the team and with him."

"How do you know that? We only just met her today." She asked, curious, and he noted that there were no hostile tones in her voice. He had curbed her anger for now.

"Just by the way she interacts with them. She's had the longest time with Vince and whether or not they both know it, she's had an effect on him. He hasn't been as frisky with his usual girls as he had been before she arrived. His mind seems to be elsewhere around the girls and something tells me Kira is on his mind, whether he wants to admit it or not." He gave her a gentle squeeze. "Give it a few weeks and you'll see something start to happen. Right now, I've got some butt kissing to do." With that, he drew her upstairs.