AN: I really like this chapter. Hope you all do too. Enjoy!

The Funeral of a Good Girl

By – TempestRaces

Chapter Forty Four – Of Nerves and Finding Trouble

Tempest drove around until eleven thirty before she gave up on amusing herself. All she was doing was allowing thoughts of what had happened run through her head. Rehashing it with herself over and over again wasn't helping. No matter how many times she ran it through her head, she still saw herself acting the same way. She just couldn't allow someone to grab her and hold her when she didn't want to be held. It wasn't the way she was built. But when she allowed herself to look at the situation more objectively, she realized that she could have stepped back after she'd twisted her arm free, not after she'd pinned Dom to a wall by his neck. But controlling the threat had taken precedence, not merely getting free. Being the superior predator had been more important than mere escape. When it came to fight or flight, more often than not she picked fight.

She couldn't take it back now, what was done was done. So reliving it and rethinking it over and over again wouldn't help. But that realization didn't show her a way to make herself stop. She wasn't pissing off random strangers or having minor squirmishes with co-workers. She was getting physical with her cousin's friends. People he looked at as family. But it was still already done. So now she just had to find a way to live with it and not end up killing Dominic Toretto. Or being killed by the same. She parked the car behind Harry's store and climbed out. He walked up to her from one of the open garage doors.

"You're early."

"I've moved out of the Toretto residence and I haven't got anything better to do for the rest of the night," she answered Harry's statement more forthrightly than she had intended.

"What'd you mean moved out?"

Tempest told Harry the story, minus that part about her teasing Leon and watched his face blanch when she got to the part about her holding Dom against the wall.

"And he let you live to tell me the story?"

"He didn't want to. Vince held him back and Leon did the same to me and they forced us to separate. Then the more I thought about it the less ok I was with staying in his house. At least for a while."

"I guess I understand why. Well, why don't we get started since you're here? We'll go over where things are and how things are going to work."

"Sure, I don't have a better idea."

By the time twelve rolled around, Tempest was outfitted with a small 9mm handgun, a good idea where the drop point was and one Lotus Elise with the top down. Harry sent her off, following Jorge at ten after twelve. He'd asked her twenty odd times if she was sure she was ok with the job. He was aware that what he was asking of her wasn't what she did, or had ever done. But she'd proven that she had the skills to get away if she had to, and she seemed confident that she had the skills to protect herself as well.

Tempest followed the deadheading truck down the highway toward the abandoned service station they were picking the trailer up at. She idly hummed along with the radio as she drove on autopilot, still unable to turn her mind away from the situation she found herself in at Jesse's house.

Dominic hadn't known that she hated to be touched, for the most part. That she could only tolerate it from those she wanted to tolerate it from and on her own terms. How fast she'd become accepting of Vince's touch had shocked her, and how ok she was with both touching Leon and being touched by him was strange too. Jesse was a different matter all together because he was family. Dom wasn't family and she wasn't ok with him either. So his hands on her drove her crazy, and not in a good way. She knew it was one of her quirks, her dislike of physical contact, but she couldn't help it. It was part of her. And it was only worse when the unwanted contact was to hold her back against her will. She had a very defined personal space bubble and people entering it put her on edge.

She was willing to admit she over reacted, but not that she hadn't had a right to a reaction of some sort. Perhaps she shouldn't have pinned Dominic by the throat. It had been a violent, blood thirsty, visceral reaction to his actions. But she wouldn't agree that she hadn't been entitled to shake his grip off of her person if she wasn't willing to have his touch or stay where he wanted her to stay. The whole situation was made even worse by Vince.

She wouldn't tell Dom she was sorry because it would get back to Vince she'd humbled herself to Dom over doing something she'd told Vince was perfectly justified. She had to figure Vince would look for any way to use that to his own advantage to get his own back at her. She knew he couldn't be nearly as ok with her as he was letting on. Not when he figured she was sleeping with Leon behind his back and lying to him about it. Before she could analyze the situation any further, the fact that Jorge was signalling to exit the freeway brought her abruptly out of her dream world. She snapped her blinker on quickly and followed the tractor truck down the exit ramp. The abandoned station was ahead of them about half a mile on the right hand side of the road. Tempest allowed Jorge to stay out front and pull onto the lot ahead of her.

The other truck and trailer were already parked beside the crumbling building. The truck was idling, its diesel engine filling the night air with a deep rumble and the pungent odour of burnt diesel fuel. Jorge parked close to the other truck, but not right beside it. Tempest parked the Elise on the other side of Jorge, putting the truck's cabin between her small car and the other tractor trailer. She stayed put in the car until Jorge was firmly on the ground. Only then did she immerge from the tiny convertible. She wasn't scared, more slightly nervous. But she was smart enough to know that Harry hadn't picked Jorge for his looks. The Latino man was short and stocky, tattooed and talked with enough street in his voice to tell her that he was more than capable of watching her back and his own. With her own good instincts, and Jorge to watch out for her, she felt very secure.

"Shall we go meet the other side and get this over with?" Tempest asked Jorge as they met between their vehicles.

"Yeah, the sooner the better. Harry still has to get all the shit off the truck tonight."

"Ok, let's do this." They started around the nose of Jorge's truck, Jorge walking just a step ahead of Tempest. It made it clear that she was the boss and he was the hired tough there to function as her protection. Tempest was fairly sure no one in their right mind would mess with the heavily armed, heavily muscled Mexican. He wasn't tall, but he sure made up for it in attitude and build. Confidence rolled off him in waves, and she hoped it would cover up the vague sense of unease she was sure was gently wafting off her. She put a swish in her walk and hoped it looked like she dealt with criminals to buy stolen parts every day. She didn't want anything to go wrong. There was a vague sense of something wrong in the air and she could sense it, but she tried to chalk it up to her nerves.

When she saw who was sitting on the stepside boards of the other truck's cabin, she knew she should have listened to her gut. For there sat Vince, and beside him leaned Bryce. When their eyes met, shock to mirror that in her own registered in Vince's. Like they each knew it would be very bad for the other man with Vince and Jorge to know they knew each other, they kept this information to themselves. But Tempest knew she'd have to be blind and stupid to miss the anger pouring off Vince.

"How we doin' this?" Jorge asked the two men in front of him.

"Where's the money?" Bryce asked by way of an answer.

Jorge nodded her way. "We brought the money. Before you get the money you show the chica the stuff is real."

Bryce took in the duffle slung over Tempest's shoulder and moved around to the back of his rig with a shrug. He popped the double doors at the back open and stepped out of the way. Vince was still frozen by incredulousness by the door of the truck, he noted.

Tempest crossed the rest of the asphalt covered expanse between her position and the rear doors of the trailer. When she reached Bryce he offered a hand to help her up into the trailer. She took it on instinct alone and let him swing her up into the dark shadows of the well packed boxes of merchandise. Bryce swung up with her. Jorge gave him a dirty look and moved to grab the .357 out of his waistband, but a shake of Tempest's head steadied him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Bryce asked softly in a sing song voice that belayed the real worry he was dealing with.

"Buying a load of illegally obtained merchandize for a friend. I could ask you the exact same thing," she sing-songed back out of the corner of her mouth.

"Selling a load of the same." Bryce couldn't help the smirk that lifted a corner of his mouth. "I've never seen Vince shocked totally speechless before. You know he's fit to be tied right now, right? I thought he was gonna piss himself when you rounded the corner of that truck."

"I thought I was going to die of shock when I saw the two of you, so I guess we're even."

"Not even close, baby doll. He's done nothing but rant about you and how you left him for Leon all night. And about how you beat Dom up in the dining room earlier."

"Well, I never left him for Leon. He slept with me and then tried to pick Mia up in front of me again, right afterward. What was I suppose to do? Take him home to meet my family?"

Bryce sighed. "He's the most stubborn, thick skulled person I've ever met."

"No kidding. And now he's ready to kill me and that's before he finds out I packed my shit and decided to move out of Dom's house after what happened."

"Great! I don't want to be around him after this is over. I think I'll find a nice bar to relax in. And not one where he might show up, either."

"Good luck with that." As they talked in hushed tones, Tempest had made it a point to look into a box here and a crate there. Everything seemed to be in order. Of course, as soon as she'd seen Vince and Bryce, she had figured there really would be stolen car parts. When they reached the back of the trailer, this time it was to find Vince standing with Jorge, the two heavily built men eyeing each other warily. Both of them reached up to help her down, but the much taller Vince got a hold of her waist faster and much more easily than Jorge was capable of. He swung her down to the ground as if she was a feather, setting her on her feet with a gentle touch that was not mirrored in his eyes. His hands lingered on her waist a moment longer than necessary and her fingers explored his shoulders for just as long. His muscles were tense under her palms. He was livid with her.

Tempest knew she had to keep up the façade of not knowing them for the sake of the other man working with them and for Jorge. "Ok, it all seems to be in order. One of you can help Jorge change the trailer over to our truck and we'll deal with the payment while that's being done." Tempest motioned for Jorge to go move the truck, and Vince motioned for the extra man with him to go help. As soon as it was just she, Bryce and himself, he grabbed her by her upper arm and walked her some distance away from the rear of the trailer.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Making some easy money. How was I supposed to know it was you that I'd be dealing with?"

"What if it wasn't? What if it was some guy who'd just as soon kick the shit out of you and leave you for dead as look at you?"

"I've proven time and time again I can take care of my own Vince. I can handle myself in a situation like this. I'm not exactly unarmed."

"Your razor blade tongue doesn't count in this case, Trouble."

"Whatever Vince. Just count the damn money so it looks like you don't trust me and let me and Jorge get out of here."

The anger on Vince's face intensified. Not only had she done something so incredibly stupid as to take on a job like this with no experience, now she was giving him attitude when he pointed out how dumb it had been for her to do it in the first place? "When this is all done and you leave the truck with Harry—and don't even bother trying to tell me it isn't Harry you're doing this for—you will follow me home and we will deal with this."

"I'm not calling Dom's home anymore. I'm staying elsewhere tonight and that's not up for debate or negotiations. I made up my mind. I will not accept Dom's charity if it means accepting him thinking he has the right to put his hands on me. Has the right to hold me against my wishes."

"Don't even think you're going to walk away from this Trouble."

"Is the money all there?" Tempest asked Bryce with a sigh.

"Yeah," he answered reluctantly. He wasn't too hot on the idea of getting in the middle of their argument.

"Ok, then, as Jorge has the trailer transferred over, I'll be leaving. See you fellas around." Tempest headed toward the Elise with a purposeful walk.

"I mean it. Wait for me at the 'Edge, Temp."

She didn't justify his order with an answer or even a reaction, she just kept walking. She got in the car, started it, and left the lot with a squeal before pulling over to wait for Jorge to get the truck out of the parking lot and underway on the road.