Author: Priscilla
Chapter 1
A warm breeze swayed the tree’s branches and the sun made the water look a clearer shade of aqua marine as the 2002 silver Mercedes Benz drove down Puerto Valiente. It was a very hot day to be in the back seat of car with men she hardly knew and didn’t want to know, ever. But Evelyn didn’t have a choice; it hadn’t even been her choice to pick what she was wearing today.
“Are you alright Mrs. Roberts?” Tony, the bodyguard in the back seat with her, asked. Evelyn slowly turned her head away from the glorious view of the ocean coming from the window and looked at him.
“I’m fine Tony.” She replied politely before turning her head back to the view of the beach. Always act like a lady Evelyn. Don’t embarrass me Evelyn. You are nothing without me Evelyn. Ideas drilled into her head by her husband. It was bad enough that he said them, but she was no longer sure if she believed them or not. Evelyn had tried to make Frank change his mind about coming to Mexico. Anywhere but Mexico she had pleaded, but Frank Sloan ran his wife, like he ran his business and those who worked under him: with an iron fist. Always asserting his power over others, making sure they were never in any position to contradict him, he was the boss. He had refused her suggestions. They were going to Mexico, period.
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Dominic walked into the garage with a huge smile on his face holding Letty's hand as they walked in through the door. They'd just spent about three hours "making up" for their latest argument. Brian and Leon looked up at them from inside the hood of a 2001 Honda Supra, who Dom had just won last weekend, and looked at each other in astonishment.
"Their back together." Brian commented with a smirk.
"At least the nightmare's over.... for a couple of hours anyway." Leon said chuckling; referring to the horrible past days he and the rest of the team had had to endure. When Dom and Letty fight, they expect everyone else to choose sides. Everyone usually runs for the hills.
"You guys hungry or what? Lunch is ready." Mia asked smiling from the kitchen door.
“Hell yeah!“ Leon and Brian yelled in unison as they raced to the inside of the house. Dominic and Letty laughed at their childish behavior. He put his arm around her shoulders, and said, “That felt good.” Letty turned her big black eyes up to meet his and smiled, “It’s been a long time since I had a reason to laugh.” He explained as they walked into the house for lunch.
A lot had happened since that fateful day with the truck. It had not been easy on any of them, but thanks to whatever influence Brian had left, nobody went to jail except for Tran who was picked up on attempted murder and illegal betting charges. Dom had no choice but to take the money they had left and run to Mexico. Vince and Jesse had to stay in the hospital in LA to recover. It would have been too dangerous to have them be in constant need of medical attention in Mexico so Dom had made the incredibly hard decision to leave them behind when they moved.
Letty had had some minor injuries, but the accident had scared her, changed her. She would work on the cars and go to the races, but not race herself, something about being behind the wheel of a car again terrified her. Brian had been discharged, never to hold a shield again, but when he showed up in Mexico and came back to Dom, he was not turned away. He had a family now. Mia remained the "mother" of the group but was definitely happier now that she had Brian by her side and Leon remained, as he’d always been, the one everyone came to when they had a problem. He was the “brother” everyone could count on.
“Damn it’s hot out today.” Brian said as he took a bite of his tuna fish sandwich, his favorite.
“Hell yeah.” Dom agreed from his place at the table, Letty on his lap. “How’s that engine coming along?”
“Purrin’ like a kitten.” Leon replied as Brian gave him a high five.
“Yeah? Let’s go check it out.” Dom said standing up and almost dropping Letty.
“Oh no you don’t Brian get back here!” Mia called from her place at the sink when she saw Brian trying to slip out.
“Mia but-” Brian was cut off when Letty pulled him out of the kitchen. Leon was the last one to finish eating. He got up really slowly as if to not distract Mia from her task of doing the dishes.
“Leon Rodriguez, get back here right now.” Mia said never stopping her cleaning.
“Aww Mia-” Was all he got out before Mia gave him one of her lost puppy dog eye looks and he said, “Ok, ok. Goddam woman, do you only use you powers for evil?” He asked and Mia laughed, hard.
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“There’s something wrong with the car boss.” Mario said from his place in the driver’s seat. Frank sighed long and slow through his nose, trying to calm the wave of anger flowing through him. Not only had their flight been delayed 2 hours, which shifted all his plans back a day, he’d had to call and cancel the meeting with Gerry Gutierrez, who had huge potential for his business, and now there was something wrong with the car. Just fucking great.
“Well pull over and see if you can fix it, moron. Angel, go help him.” Frank barked at his bodyguards, who quickly pulled the car over and started looking under the hood.
“I told you your car couldn’t take this rough terrain Evelyn, it’s your fault if we get stuck here.” He said turning his icy blue gaze upon her hazel one. Evelyn’s mouth fell wide open, he had some damn nerve, but she didn’t say anything, just turned her head away.
“What the hell’s going on out there?” Frank asked, a little annoyed at the fact that his snub hadn’t induced a reaction from his wife. Mario peeked his head into the car and said, "I temporarily fixed the problem boss, but we gotta get to a mechanic real quick."
“Alright, can you drive us there or is it too dangerous?"
“Nah, its cool boss, we gotta find a garage though.”
“Fine get us there.” Frank ordered.
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"You done playing house with my girl Rodriguez?" Brian mocked when he saw Leon finally come out of the house.
"Fuck you Brian." He replied with a grin and the group laughed.
"Listen we gotta go pick up some parts for the Lincoln that came in yesterday, anybody wanna come?" Dom asked.
"Yeah, I'll go." Brian said, sounding like an exited little boy at the prospect of going somewhere with Dom.
"Me too." Letty chimed in. It seemed she couldn't get enough of him lately.
"Alright, Leon you stay and finish up with the paint job on the Supra and check in on Mia every once in a while, cool?"
"I'm cool dog, no problem."
"Alright, we'll be back in a little while." Dom said backing the black Jetta out of the driveway.
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About two hours later, Leon had just finished up the Metallic Blue paint job on Dom's new Supra and was wiping the paint off his hands, when he heard the beeping noise of a tow truck coming up the driveway.
"Yo Dom! We got customers." He yelled into the garage looking at the three guys in dark suits that stepped out of the Benz. He could see that there was someone in the backseat, but he couldn't tell if it was a man or woman. He watched as Dominic stepped up to the guys and asked them what was wrong.
"Yo Leon, come over here." Dom yelled for him to look at something under the hood. Leon whistled when he saw what Dom was pointing to. The brake controls were nearly fried and the gas pump had a leak.
"This is gonna take a while to fix." He said to the guy that seemed to be in charge of the group, the one wearing the Armani suit in 95-degree weather.
"How long?" Asked the man in the suit.
"A couple of days." Dom answered.
"Why that long?" Frank asked irritably, he was not in the mood for any more setbacks.
"Because we'll have to remove the brake mechanism entirely to get to the wires, and as you can see, we've got other customers to take care of." Leon said waving his hand around pointing to the other cars they needed to work on to make his point.
"How much is it going to cost me?" Frank asked trying to calm himself down.
“About three hun-" the person in the backseat coming out of the car and making her way towards them cut off Leon.
"Excuse me, but would I be able to get some water to drink?" She asked. Leon felt like he'd had the air kicked out of him.....could it really be her?
"Evie?" He asked almost in a whisper and she looked up, eyes wide with shock. Then she glanced at her husband out of the corner of her eye.
"No, you must have me confused with someone else." Evelyn replied quickly. But her eyes revealed her lie, Leon realized.
"It's think it's about three fifty, but the price could change depending on how long it takes to get it done." Dominic replied to Frank's earlier question, trying to diffuse the sudden friction in the air. “Letty can you get her a glass of water?
”
“Is there any paperwork I need to fill out?" Frank asked and Dominic handed him the clipboard. Dominic slapped Leon on the arm to get his attention away from the woman. He'd noticed she was lying too, but he couldn't let Leon blow this for them, they still needed money to get back on their feet. Evelyn tried with everything in her to avoid Leon's blinding green gaze and found herself succeeding. Soon it was time for them to leave for the hotel and she almost ran to the car. Leon stood in the driveway and watched her drive away, his Evie, his Evelyn.
Title: Fuel
Author: Priscilla
Chapter 2
"What's the story with you and that girl?" Dom asked when it was just him and Leon cleaning up the garage before closing down.
****FLASHBACK......****
***A beautiful living room, people in expensive clothes cluttered the champagne colored carpets covering the outside courtyard. Leon looked around at all the people, he'd never felt so out of place in his entire life but he couldn't leave, not before saying goodbye. He slowly walked up the backstairs that led to Evelyn's bedroom, putting his ear to the oak door and listening to see if anyone was inside. A series of voices came to him and he tapped the door twice, waited a minute and then tapped it three times, their secret knock.
He heard a few minutes pause and then the door opened. Leon smiled at Evelyn; she looked absolutely beautiful in her wedding gown, just like he'd pictured her looking for him one day. Evelyn was smiling back as she looked him up and down.
"You clean up real well Rodriguez."
"Yeah, well you know what they say about us grease monkeys." He replied, glad he'd made her smile one last time.
"So what's up?" She asked and his smile faded instantly. Leon walked further into the room, noticing how full it seemed with all the gifts, makeup, and shoes probably all Evie's and waited until Evelyn closed the door and sat on the bed facing him.
"Evie, I can't stay for the wedding."
"What?!? What are you talking about, of course you can stay." Evelyn said getting up and grabbing hold of his hand. She sounded so shocked. Leon swallowed the lump that formed in his suddenly constricting throat.
"No I can't."
“Why not? What's stopping you? Are you having problems with the other guests? Cuz I fuckin swear, not one of those bastards deserves to be here more than you. I-"
"I can't watch you do this Evelyn. I can't watch you marry him.”
"Aren't you happy for me Leon? That I've found someone who cares about me?”
"Why did you have to go looking? I've loved you all your life." Evelyn took a step back in shock and stared at his pale face with big eyes. She was trembling with shock and rage. She felt hurt and angry and betrayed.
"You're my best friend Leon, why are you doing this to me? On the most important day of my life?" She asked, eyes brimming with tears, voice quivering.
"Because I can't fuckin do it ok! Because I can't watch you marry another man when I know he doesn't deserve you. He don't love you half as much as I do!”
“Leo-”
"I'm sorry.” He said before turning away from her and going down the back stairs. Evelyn ran after him, yelling at him to come back but he forced himself to keep going. It was better this way, he told himself. His stride was fast and his facial features betrayed every painful emotion tearing through him then. The guests parted like the red sea for Moses when he walked through the gathered crowd on the lawn. He reached the comfort of his car and sped away. Leon sat in the driver's seat, trembling like jello for hours before going home and packing up his stuff to move to LA.****
****END FLASHBACK****
"What girl?" Leon asked pretending to not know whom Dom was referring to.
"Don't bullshit me Leon, I saw the way you reacted to her and I saw the way she pretended not to recognize you. Tell me what's going on."
"It's a real long story Dom-"
"I got all the time in the world." Dom said before Leon could make up any excuses.
“C’mon.” They drove to Paloma beach and sat in the sand facing the water.
“So you gonna tell me or am I gonna have to beat it outta you?” Dom asked jokingly. Leon smiled a little and then he let out a long sigh, looking out to the water.
“We’d been friends since we were kids. Our parents were close. I was there when she was born, even though I can’t remember it cuz I was like two at the time. She was sort of like Letty was to you and Vince ya know? Always hanging around with the guys, wearing anything but “girl clothes”. She was such a tomb boy.” Leon paused, smiling to himself as he remembered how Evelyn had been as a teenager. Dom smiled too because he couldn’t really picture the beautiful woman he met yesterday dressing in baggy jeans and t-shirts like his Letty.
“So what happened?" Dom asked, interrupting Leon’s train of thought. “I mean, you keep saying “was” like she’s dead to you or something.” Dominic explained, trying to get the full story out of Leon before he closed himself up again.
“I happened. I couldn’t keep my damn mouth shut about what I was feeling and I fucked everything up.”
“You loved her?” Dominic asked incredulous.
“I LOVE her. I thought I was over her and then the minute I see her again, all those feelings come rushing back and I can’t get her outta my fucking head, man.”
"She's married now." Dominic pointed out while doodling in the sand with his finger, effectively missing Leon's icy green gaze.
"I know that, so what?" Leon asked irritably, knowing full well what Dominic was doing and knowing he was right in doing it, even if it wasn't working.
"She looked like she was scared of him."
"What do you think I should do?" Leon asked, gaze fixed on Dom's reaction and response to his question.
"Fate has a real weird way of fucking with our lives Leon, but it seems to me like you got a second chance with this girl, don't blow it."
"She's married-" Leon chimed, knowing that that little bit of information was the only thing holding him back. Did she WANT to talk to him? To see him?
"That's too bad for him ain't it?" Dom said giving Leon one of his mischievous smiles and Leon smiled back.
When they got back to the garage, it was dinnertime; everyone was washing up and getting ready to eat. Mia had cornered Letty into helping her set the table and Dom was taking a shower upstairs. Leon took advantage of everyone being so wrapped up in what they were doing to notice him going into Dom's office. He quietly closed the door behind him and opened the file cabinet where Dom kept all the paper work for their customers, a necessary pain in the ass they'd had to get used to in Mexico, and looked up the letter S. Leon plucked the paper out of the file when he found the "Sloan" folder and jotted down the address to the hotel they were staying at.
"Tomorrow." He whispered to himself. He wasn't letting her get away without a fight.