Thanks so much to: xsparklesthemagicalunicornx, Mrz Letty Ortiz-Toretto, and 1morning glory1 (hehe Jesse has marks, I just failed to write about them…oops! I have heard a rumor that they MIGHT get Michelle back for the sixth one!). :D

I'm in the middle of my university's finals week and putting off studying for my huge bio final! Please review and cheer me up! :D

…There's extra bad language in this one…Alex has a dirty mouth when she's mad.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Mickey and Alex though I would love to own both of their men 3

Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 28: Beautiful Disaster

By: LoveInk

After Letty's race, Alex wandered aimlessly around the team's camp looking for her fiancée since she hadn't seen him in awhile. She could hear yelling coming from inside the metal vehicle and raised an eyebrow. She knew those voices. Vince was yelling at Dominic. She edged closer, listening just in case she had to step in.

"You asked her to marry you?" Dom's voice boomed. "Are you crazy?"

"Fuck off, Dominic, it doesn't concern you!"

"Hell yeah it does!" he shouted back. "Vince, she's dangerous!"

Alex raised an eyebrow. Dangerous? Her? Really? Now, she was curious. Vince's response was barely audible. "I haven't told her, Dom. She's not a threat."

"How are you doing that?" Dom questioned, his dumbfounded. "Letty would never stand for that."

"Alex is different, Dom," Vince answered, the volume of his voice lowered. "She just accepts it."

Dom's answering voice was skeptical. "What bullshit did you tell her because I doubt the fact that you're not saying anything because you're worried she's gonna run to her brother-in-law is going to fly with her, so you're either lyin' to me or about to fuck things up with her."

"I told her I didn't want to risk getting her in trouble. It won't mess anything up with her. She'll never find out."

Alex gasped; she felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. He didn't trust her. The man she was going to marry didn't trust her! Her eyes watered as she stared down at the diamond ring on her hand. Everything that ring stood for was a total lie. Shaking her head, she started heading away, trying her best to reign in her tears.

Vince hadn't noticed her standing there, but Dom had. As soon as Vince finished his last sentence, he heard the small gasp and looked out to see her standing just a few feet away. Once Vince had stormed out, Dom chased after her, calling her name. She didn't slow down. "Would you stop? C'mon Alex! Listen to me!" she slowed down so he could catch up but didn't stop. "Look, you're not my favorite person in the entire world," Dom started, falling into step next to her.

She stopped then and glared up at him, her green eyes blazing with an angry fire. "Oh, really? I had no idea," she spat sarcastically.

Dom clenched his teeth to keep from lashing out at her angrily. He did not appreciate her sarcasm. "You're not my favorite person, but you're Vince's. And I just want him to be happy, even if it's with a bitch like you."

"Oh how sweet," Alex quipped cynically. She really needed to talk to one of her friends now, not some bald asshole. "Fuck off, Dom."

"Would you listen to me?" he almost yelled. "He didn't mean it!"

She shook her head. "Yes, he did! He wouldn't have said it if he didn't," she practically shouted at him. "He doesn't trust me!"

"He didn't tell you because he was scared you'd run to your brother-in-law. It has nothing to do with him not trusting you!"

"Are you serious?" she exclaimed, eyebrows raised in shock. "It has everything to do with it and you know it! He thought I'd tell on you! Like some five year old!"

Dom could tell he wasn't helping the situation. "Yeah but…"

Alex sucked in a deep breath, trying her best to remain calm. "Well, newsflash for you, Dominic Toretto, I've known what you guys were doing for days! You're not exactly discreet about it and anyone with half a brain would've figured it out! Leaving in the middle of the night, high performance vehicles, Vince's bruises, come on! Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Alex…"

"I'm not, okay? And I haven't told Rube, in case you haven't noticed. If I had, the FBI would be on your ass so fast; you wouldn't even have time to think about running! So don't come to me and tell me to understand when I don't! I have done nothing but protect you guys!"

"What are you going to do then? You going to run to him now?"

"NO!" she shouted, looking at him like he was the dumbest person alive. "Because I love Leon and I love Michaela and Mia and Jess and Let and because when Vince isn't driving me absolutely insane, I love him too! I don't want anything to happen to them so I'll protect them as much as I can! And I have!"

Dom blinked at her, he had never hear her speak with so much passion. "You have? When?"

"Fuck, you're dense," she said, shaking her head at him. "I haven't talked to my brother-in-law in weeks, Dominic. Do you know why?"

"No…"

"Because I am the world's worst liar and I am scared to death that he is going to ask me about the team and I'm going to have to lie to him so I avoid him and my sister at all costs so that I don't have to worry about fucking up!"

She could feel a tear make its way down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly before continuing. Sucking in a deep breath, she tried to keep calm. "Shit," she breathed, wiping at her face as more tears slipped down.

Dom didn't like the girl, he didn't even care about her, but he didn't like to see any woman cry. "Don't cry."

"Fuck you," she shot back, turning her back to him. The last thing she wanted to hear while she was crying was someone telling her not to. It wasn't like she wanted to cry or like she could control it. "Just leave me alone, please."

She heard him turn before the sound of his footsteps grew distant. Seconds later, she felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around her, pulling her into a jersey-clad chest. "Talk to me, baby girl," Leon's voice urged.

Alex sighed and let out the whole story, her tears subsiding as she did so. With one final shaky breath, she shrugged her shoulders. "Now what do I do, Lee?"

He let go of her and stepped away. "That's up to you."

She looked down at the engagement ring. It winked back up at her, almost as if it was laughing at her. "I can't marry him."

Leon's green eyes widened in shock. "Why not?"

"Lee, he doesn't trust me."

"This is a big deal, Lex. He's just scared."

She clenched her teeth, trying hard not to get mad at her pseudo-brother. "He wasn't scared when he asked me to marry him, was he?"

"That's different."

"It's not."

"C'mon, Lex…"

"Leon," she said glaring at him as she cut him off. "I trust him with everything I have. I have told him things I haven't told anyone else and I thought he told me stuff too."

"And I'm sure he has. Just not this. It was mostly Dom's idea, Lex. You can't blame just Vince."

Alex couldn't fight the anger that she felt surging through her veins. "And he can't just blame everything on Dominic! Yes, he's an asshole, but he obviously doesn't make Vince's decisions if he came back to me, right?"

Leon fumbled through his pockets nervously, looking for a toothpick. He found one and stuck it in his mouth, chewing it furiously as he thought of how to make her stay. Her logic was airtight though. If Vince listened to Dom all the time, he and Alex wouldn't have gotten back together, so it was obvious the Coyote made his own decisions regardless of Dom's opinion. There was no way he could contest to that. She'd seen it for herself. "Shit. You're right," he said in defeat.

"I know," she said softly.

"So what are you going to do? You want me to drive you home?"

She gave him a soft smile and shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know. You don't have to drive me home. I don't want to drag you into this."

He waved her off with a roll of his eyes. "Please, Lex, you're my sister," he started, draping an arm over her shoulders. "I'm already dragged into this on principle."

Alex rolled her eyes at him. "Thanks."

He gave her a squeeze before his phone beeped. Flipping it open, he swore under his breath, "I gotta go prep Jess for his race. You going to be good?"

"Yeah," she said nodding her head up and down. "Do I look like I've been crying?"

Leon studied her face before wiping away some eyeliner with his finger. He sighed before grabbing a water bottle out of his back pocket and throwing some water at her face. "There. Much better."

Her mouth fell open in shock as the cold water hit her face. "You better run, you ass!"

He started off, running through the crowds with her hot on his heels. When they passed by the Toretto camp, a large arm reached out and caught her around the waist, sweeping her off her feet and into the air.

She let out an involuntary shriek as Vince spun her around before setting her down onto her feet. "Tiny, you're all wet!" he said, shock in his voice.

"Yeah, I know, bozo over there decided to throw his water bottle on me," she said, glaring at Leon's retreating back.

Vince chuckled, giving her a quick squeeze. She turned around in his arms and studied his face. His smiling face was so…beautiful. She knew handsome was the appropriate world but she couldn't help think he was beautiful. A beautiful disaster, she decided, trying to keep smiling for him when all she wanted to do was breakdown and cry.

A flicker of concern traipsed across his face; something was wrong. "Tiny, what's…"

He was cut off as Leon ran through the camp, hitting him on the shoulder as he passed. "Heads up, bro, we got problems," he said, his eyes on the small white Jetta that was slowly disappearing into the desert.

"Where's Jesse going?" Dom asked, an eyebrow raised.

Leon sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "He just raced Tran for slips."

Vince pushed Alex behind him. "Get out of here. Go find the girls," he ordered, knowing a fight was coming. Alex stared up at him hesitantly, watching as his face took on a stony, determined quality she'd never seen before. "Alex. Go!" he shouted at her.

She stumbled back, when a pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her into the trailer. Michaela gave her a reassuring smile as she pulled her toward the window. "It's safe in here. You don't want to be out there when it gets ugly," she explained.

Alex watched in shock as the crowd surged forward, the sound of skin hitting skin filled the air. She couldn't see much, but she could hear Vince shouting Dom's name. Obviously, the bald man was in the center of the brawl. "Are they going to be okay?" Alex asked, her eyes wide.

Michaela chuckled. "Oh yeah, they'll be fine. Our boys easily out muscle everyone else."

Alex looked to Mia for confirmation; Michaela tended to exaggerate. Mia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, they'll be fine. I'm just worried about Jess."

"He'll come back when things cool down. He's just freakin' out right now," Michaela said confidently. "I told him not to race. He can visualize the win all he wants…doesn't mean it's gonna happen."

Neither Alex nor Mia found that funny, but humor seemed to be Michaela's coping mechanism. The door of the trailer flung open and a Dom stalked in, muttering curse words under his breath while Vince pushed him towards the sink. Mia was on him in seconds. "Let me see your hand," she said, looking at Dom expectantly. Dom set his large paw of a hand in her small hand. She shook her head at the split knuckles. "Jeez, Dom. How hard did you hit him? Never mind, don't answer that. V, how are you?"

"I was too busy trying to pry him away from Tran to hit anyone," Vince explained easily. "Check on Lee and Let. They're outside fightin' over who hit the most Trans. Idiots."

Michaela chuckled, stooping to grab a few icepacks from the mini-fridge before heading outside. Dom and Mia quickly followed after; both worried about the other team members.

Alex stayed where she was seated by the window, her eyes observing the quickly separating crowd. Vince looked at her carefully, wondering what had made that sad look fill her eyes just minutes before.

He approached her slowly, reaching out a hand to stroke her cheek and catch her attention. "Tiny…" Her green eyes fell on him. When he saw how much pain was behind them, he felt like he couldn't breathe. Had he caused that?

"Do you trust me?" Alex blurted out. She watched him stiffen and knew she had her answer. Shaking her head, she looked down at her hands. "Great," she whispered.

Frustration bubbled up inside of Vince, how could she know? No, he was going to see if he could convince her otherwise. "You didn't let me answer."

"I don't have to. I know you, Vince. So I'll save you the lie and say you don't," she said on a sigh. She sniffed slightly and wiped at the tears she hadn't noticed were filling her eyes. "I know about what you've been doing."

"What? Since when?"

"You're not discreet and I'm not an idiot. And if you're wondering-which I know you are-I didn't tell Rube," she said, anger resonating through her voice. "I've been avoiding even talking to him, actually. So he doesn't know. You're welcome for that."

Vince felt his heart sink in his chest at the sad tone in her voice. Regret filled him, how could he not have trusted her?s He took in a deep breath. "Tiny…"

"Just take me home, Vince," she requested softly. "I don't want to be here anymore."

:(

Reviews are well loves and greatly appreciated so leave me one please! :)

Let me know what you think Alex is going to do or what you want her to do! ;) And also if you liked this chapter!

~Love Ink