I haven't sat down and written seriously in years, let alone published anything online for the world to see. This is the result of me finally having the time and the guts to sit down and write about the idea's that I have in my mind. This is by no means a well written story(sorry if there are obvious grammatical/spelling errors that I may have missed) nor is it going to be particularly light and fun but I hope you're still able to enjoy the story that these characters are going to be taking us on.
Vince couldn't help the deep sigh that left him as he dropped down onto the sun chair, leaning back against the scratchy sun-dried old wood as he brought his beer to his lips. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered how the chair still held him, the old brittle wood would groan at the slightest shift but not once has it ever so much as buckled under the weight of him. He supposed it was made well, strong in a way that most weren't. But then he also supposed he was thinking way too deeply about a damn sun chair.
Leaning back he listened to the world around him, jaw tight as his eyes gazed up at the barely visible stars above him. He could hear Mia in the kitchen again, baking some god awful concoction she swore was good for them all given the vegetarian kick she had found herself on. Leon probably wouldn't be too far from her, the man had attached himself to her side in the months following their last heist. It was amusing, Vince hadn't ever noticed how 'Mia addicted' Leon was until Jesse had been gone.
Jesse. Vince gulped down another chug of his beer, his chest tightening around his heart as he felt his free hand clench into a tight fist on the armrest. The kid was never supposed to so much as dip a toe into their less than legal exploits, Vince himself had insisted when Dom had brought up the job to him and his best friend had whole heartedly agreed. How ironic it was that the kid hadn't even tried to get involved beyond their races, the safest part of their life, and yet he had still gotten shot for his efforts. He could remember waking in the hospital, Mia crying at his side about how the younger boy had been shot up in front of their home.
"Fuck you!" The screech from behind him had his muscles tensing to the point of pain, Letty was pissed. Then again when wasn't she lately. Dom had been pulling away from her as much as Vince had from the rest of them. He could guess what was happening. Her hormones had been freaking out lately, anything Dom did would piss her off beyond the point of return and his best friend had taken to avoiding his other half out of his own anger. Vince knew Letty suspected him of cheating, he was out most nights.
Finishing his beer with a gulp he dropped the bottle to grass beside his chair, his free hand lifting to press his mouth in a fist as he heard the familiar sound of a car pulling up to the house. He could guess who it was based on the engine, heavily modified and new and so like the driver that Vince could have smiled at the sound. If it weren't for the pain it brought with it.
Emily. She was Jesse's cousin, she had come into their life not long after the buster had nearly busted them. Their trust had been at an all time low but seeing a relative of Jesse's had been good for them, Emily had hovered around their friend like a mother hen when he had been at the hospital. His subsequent release had meant she basically lived with them and for a while all was well in the fort.
She was beautiful. Blonde hair in waves that matched her cousins, tanned skin from years spent in the sun. Vince had been in love at first sight. Her laugh, her smile, it had all dragged him from the dark that he had found himself surrounded with after his injury on their last run. They were together, much to Jesse's disgust, for nearly a year before she up and left in the middle of the night. An action that would become a pattern for her in the future. Emily was back just two months after her departure in tears, claiming that she was sorry and that she had been scared. And Vince? He had eaten that shit up like the starving dog that he was, he forgave her the second she had even glanced in his direction.
Two weeks later she was gone again, only to return a month later claiming that she hadn't been able to handle his eyes. She claimed the way that he looked at her scared her, triggered her commitment issues and so she had run away. Vince hadn't understood at the time why that was, didn't get how he was supposedly looking at her until nearly six months later when she left again. He had set up a romantic date for them, kicked the team out of the house for the night to give them some privacy. He had been ready to settle down with her, maybe not so far as marriage but enough to buy them a home.
That time though Emily had been gone for years. Four to be exact. And it pained him. He had spiralled worst than he ever had before, so entangled in his own pain and misery that he hadn't noticed his family falling apart around him. He didn't notice the pain Jesse was in when he was told he couldn't drive again, that the bullet had missed his vital organs but done irreparable damage to his muscles and even his spine. He didn't notice Leon hovering Mia in her grief after the busters betrayal, or the drunken mess the woman had become. He didn't notice his best friend blaming himself for the lot of it, secluding himself away from them like that would reverse the pain they were in now.
Jesse had been due to return from his trip back home, having gone to visit his distant family and Emily around three months ago. Vince winced at the thought, he didn't think Jesse would like where they had all landed themselves in the months since he'd been gone. He could just imagine the disappointment in his eyes when he saw the mess they were, though Vince wasn't sure why he cared.
A ringing in his pocket brought him from his thoughts and he glanced down as he yanked the device from his pocket, his head dropping back against the wooden lounge as the muscles in his shoulders relaxed a little.
"Hey V." The familiar quiet voice greeted, her anxiety showing in her tone and he forced himself to take a breath before greeting her back with a gruff 'hey' of his own. He could feel the tension in his muscles lessen even as he heard Emily somewhere behind him laughing away at god only knows what, his attention focusing in on his phone.
If he allowed it to he knew the world around him would melt away, away from him and away from her. No more family, no more Toretto's and no more Emily. And if Vince was honest with himself that didn't sound all that bad, didn't scare him like it would have a handful of years ago.