1992
The crowd cheers as the racers flash by. All of the drivers were highly respected and it was shaping up to be a great race. My best friend Letty and I are right in the front making fools of ourselves while the guys laugh.
I'm Beaut by the way, or Beauty as my mother put on my birth certificate. Let's not get into that. I'm almost thirteen and I've lived in L.A. my whole life. Anyways we are at the track today because my uncle Jack is racing. He's not my real uncle, of course, my dad and he are best friends and we've lived on the same street all of my life.
" Don't get too close Beaut. We don't want you to faint from the fumes. " My dad jokes making everyone laugh.
Everyone including Dominic. " Yeah, I don't want to have to carry you to the car again. " He says, which causes another round of laughter.
A blush is clear on my face. " Whatever. "
Letty nudges me in the side. " Don't listen to them I'll carry you on my back like a monkey. " She jokes making me smile.
BFF! This girl always has my back. " Thanks Let. "
God, I passed out one time and I'll never hear the end of it.
A girl can never get a break around here. " Hey, dad? Me and Letty are going to get some nachos. " I say eyeing her.
He reaches into his pocket and hands me ten dollars. " Get enough food and drinks for everyone okay? " He asks before looking towards Dom. " Will you go with them and help carry everything back? "
I have to fight the urge to smack my lips. Dom has been mean to me all day and I was trying to get away from him. He's sixteen and treats me like I'm five. I'll be thirteen in two months this is getting old.
" Sure I gotta make sure the baby gets back okay. " He says pinching my cheek like a douche.
" Can I have a blue slushie? " Little Nina, the youngest Toretto, asks cutely.
I smile down at her. " Of course. We can't have nachos without blue slushies. "
" I can help too. " Jacob says getting ready to take his headset off looking like he doesn't want to miss out on our little adventure.
I look back to see Dom place his hand on his little brother's shoulder. " No, dad needs you here. We'll be right back. "
" Asshole. " Letty mutters under her breath.
He catches up and puts his arm around my shoulders. " God you are fast. "
" Eww get off. " I say shrugging him off of me.
Leaning his head on my shoulder he says," oh come on, you know you love me. "
" With every bullet. " I say under my breath.
He laughs a big throaty laugh. " I love you too, Beauty. "
" Don't EVER call me that again. " I say through gritted teeth.
Pulling me closer he says, " aww the baby doesn't like her name ".
That's it! I elbow him in the side and catch up to Letty. " He's such a douchebag. "
" At least he talks to you. He barely notices me. " She grumbles.
This girl. " You have Jose remember?
" Jose is a boy... Dom is a man. " She whispers in my ear making me giggle uncontrollably.
I lean in and whisper back, " eww, he is such a scrub ".
" A fine scrub. " She whispers back.
Eww no. Dom is such a guy. All he cares about is food, cars, and girls. Nothing else really pops into his puny little brain. It's pathetic.
" What are you two whispering about? " Dom asks as we get to the snack stand.
Not turning around I reply maturely with, " mind your own beeswax. "
" Next in line! " That's us.
We walk up to the counter looking at everything they have to offer." Can we have a large nacho and five cokes? "
" Sure thing. " The boy behind the counter says with a smile.
Letty stills and growls under her breath. " Look who's here. "
I look over where she's staring and glare. Susie Tran. I can't stand her what is she doing here? " Just ignore her. "
We get our food and Dom carries most of the drinks for us. I guess he's good for something after all.
" Hey, Dom! " Susie says in her shrill, nails on a chalkboard voice.
He's trying to keep the balance of the drinks so he doesn't even look at her. " Hey, Susie we're kind of busy but I'll see you later. "
" Okay, I'll see you at school! " She says batting her lashes before running off to whatever hole she crawled out of.
Smacking my lips I mock, " I'll see you at school ".
He laughs as we make our way back to our seats. Everyone gets a coke and we dig into our nachos while watching the race. Of course, Uncle Jack is in the lead with Kenny Linder coming up behind him fast. We were gone so long that we're seeing the final turn for the win and it looks like Uncle Jack has it in the bag.
He pulls up to the pit stop just as Dom puts his headset back on. Once Uncle Jack's lead guy is done talking to him Dom heads over and they exchange words I can hear. Jacob is under the hood of his car making adjustments before putting the hood back down.
" You're good. " He says while hitting the hood.
Dom backs up as Uncle Jack heads back out to finish the race. He takes his binoculars and is on the lookout. In one split second Linder's car sandwiches Uncle Jack's. It just gets worse from here as his car flips a few times before exploding horrendously. Everything starts happening so fast after that. Dom runs out on the track before being held back from the accident. People are everywhere with fire extinguishers trying to put the flames out and all I can do is hold onto Nina and watch in horror.
Dom is screaming over and over " that's my dad! " but I can't see him. All I can see is the destruction. My dad pulls me and Letty away and thinks finally slow down and I can focus.
" Go back to the car and wait for me. " He yells over the crowd seeing that Dom is still screaming in shock. " Vince! Get the girls home I'll take care of Dom and Jacob. "
Vince has to drag me away by my arm with Letty right behind in order to tear us away. Poor Nina is crying the whole time so I pick her up and hold her close to me.
The ride home is silent. I feel numb. Uncle Jack has to be okay right? He was going really fast but he just has to be okay. He's all Dom and Mia have.
The funeral has been hard on everyone. Dom is sixteen and as the oldest, is suddenly the man of the house. He has to keep the garage open and take care of Mia. She's a year younger than me and Letty and I. Even though we don't have much in common I still feel for her. And Nina... The eight year old barely understands what happened let alone why all these people are here.
After the service, everyone comes back to the Toretto house where all the food my mom and I cooked the night before will be served. Everyone pulls Dom, Jacob, and Mia in for hugs and keeps telling them that their dad was a good man and that they will be fine.
It has to be getting old. I send Dom a sympathetic look. He looks so down. Angry almost. Jacob on the other hand... He's the quietest I've ever heard or not heard him. Mia doesn't know which way is which and I don't blame her.
Today is a very bad day indeed. But not as bad as what happens a few days later...
Just as we're sitting down for dinner my dad gets a call from Dom in jail. My dad went nuts on him before hanging the phone up and getting his keys to go pick Jacob up from the station. He was so disappointed. The kid he watched grow up is now heading to prison for attempting to murder the man who he saw as the one that killed his dad.
He said he didn't mean to, but Linder started talking about Uncle Jack and he went apeshit on him with a torque wrench. Right in front of Jacob and everything. He's tried as an adult and gets sentenced to four years in Lompoc with the possibility of early parole.
It was a very bad day indeed.
Author's Note: Okay so I've done what I've been putting off for the longest... I watched F9. This is why it has taken so long to update this story. Not because I didn't watch it, but because of the changes I knew I'd need to make to this story. As we all know, before F9 we never heard Dom and Mia's father's name. At least not when I researched it. So I settled on Richard and no have to change it to Jack. I also have to add Jacob into the mix since we didn't know about him until the last movie. So I decided, hey, why not throw in another Toretto female to even things out? Once I've got the two extra characters in place, I'll be wrapping this part of the story up in the next two chapters. Don't worry there's way more to come.