Gah!  Sorry for the long time no update!  I’ve had a hectic few weeks and it’s been a bad weekend.  Anyways, I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter Quote:
“Chances are sooner or later, we are gonna end up behind bars or buried in a ditch somewhere. But not today.”
~Dominic Toretto in Fast Five
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Chapter 3

Dom and Letty let me and Brandon take the day off since apparently they didn’t have much business planned for that day.  Brandon decided to go hang out with some of his friends from college.  I chose to stay home and sleep.  Well, I planned on sleeping.  The sound of my mother’s voice talking to someone downstairs, obviously a male, caught my attention.  Curiously, I snuck out of my bed and tiptoed downstairs.  I peered around the wall just enough to where I could see what was going on but also just enough to where I most likely wouldn’t get caught spying.  I could only see my mom hustling about the kitchen cooking breakfast and I could hear the guy talking but I couldn’t see him.  I wondered who he was.  His voice sounded familiar.  My mom had always said she would never date another guy after my dad, but secretly I wanted her to.  I hated seeing her so alone and I always worried about what would happen to her after I left home.  I know we’re very family oriented and she would always have Dom and Letty, but I still worried about her.  Dom had Letty, Roman had Gia, Tej liked being alone.  My mom would be all by herself; it made me feel guilty.

“Here, why don’t you sit at the bar and I’ll call Ember down for breakfast,” my mom said.  Knowing she’d come to the stairs, I started to scramble away.  Unfortunately, I seriously misjudged how fast it’d take my mom to get to the stairs.

“Were you eavesdropping?” she queried with a grin.

I gave her a sheepish smile. “Just wondering who was down here.”

“A customer of your uncle’s.  A Jason Stark.  I invited him for breakfast.  Go get dressed.”

“Crap…” I thought to myself, but I nodded to my mother and dashed upstairs, throwing on a pair of white shorts and a baby blue, spaghetti strap shirt that made my eyes a startling blue.  I put on minimal makeup, just enough foundation to cover up blemishes and to hide the dark circles under my eyes, and mascara to make me seem more awake.  After that, I went downstairs.  The aroma of bacon and pancakes filled my noise, causing my stomach to make a very unladylike growl.

“Thanks for breakfast mom,” I said, sliding into my chair at the bar, trying not to blush when Jace looked over my way.  Turning to him, I greeted, “Hi Jason.”

“Hey Ember.  I came by to say thank you for helping fix my car,” he said with a sincere smile.

“You’re welcome,” I said as sweetly as I could.

“Here you go sweetie,” my mom said as she handed me my plate.  She smiled at Jason as she gave him his. “So Jason, are you working or going to college?”

“I’m attending UCLA for a business degree,” he replied.

“Oh that’s what Ember did.  Are you enjoying the classes?”

“Yes ma’am, they’re pretty great.  Some of the stuff comes really easily to me, other stuff doesn’t.  Ember was actually helping me on some of it yesterday.”

“Did she help you understand it?”

“Yes ma’am, and I’m not just saying that because she’s right here.”

“Glad I was of help,” I remarked.

“What year are you in?” Mom inquired further.

“I’m in my last year.  I graduate soon thank god.”

“So you must be what… twenty two?”

“Twenty-four.  Family issues prevented me from going earlier.”

“I’m sorry about that.  Is everything better now?”

Jason shrugged. “For me it is, overall I mean.  I moved out as soon as I could to get away from it all.”

“Well you’re always welcome over here.  Do you have a job?”

“No.  I used to earn my money by betting on street races, and I got really good at it.  But then I started racing myself because it paid better.  It’s the only reason I’m racing but I love it nonetheless.”

“You know if you ever want a job, Dom and Letty could always use more help at their garage.  Talk to him if you’re interested.” My mom put her plate in the sink. “Em, I have to go to the store.  We’re running low on… just about everything.  Jason, it was a pleasure to meet you.  Feel free to come back.”

“Bye mom.  Be careful,” I said, getting up and giving her a hug.  She grabbed her purse and left, leaving me completely alone with Jason.  I wondered if that was such a good idea.  Turning around, I said, “Do you want any more food?”

“I’m good, thank you,” Jace answered. “What are you doing today?”

“Staying home.  Dom gave me the day off today so I’m taking full advantage of catching up on some sleep.  Why?”

“Just curious.  Well I’m curious because I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out at Santa Monica Pier or go to the beach but I’m not going to ask in case you decide to shoot my ego down again because let’s face it, that’s more likely than you accepting my offer,” he laughed.

I gave him a pained smile. “Stop making me feel guilty!”

“I didn’t even ask you!” he countered, trying to hide a smirk but failing epically.

“You asked me without asking.”

“That makes no sense.”

“You don’t make sense.”

“Good.  So that means you’ll go?  Listen, why don’t you invite Brandon if you’re that scared of being alone with me?” He teased.

“I am not scared,” I protested. “Fine, Santa Monica Pier.  Let me go grab my purse.  And Brandon’s not going.” I heard Jace chuckling to himself as I went upstairs.  It sort of irked me but at the same time I enjoyed knowing he was happy that I was going somewhere with him.  I slung my purse over my shoulder and went back downstairs.  Jace was staring at the wall of pictures in our living room.  I came over to stand next to him. “You ready?”

“Yeah.  You were a really cute kid, you know that?  How old were you in this picture?” he inquired with a grin.

I laughed. “Thanks.  I was three.”

“Who’s that?” he pointed to the boy standing next to me.

“That was my brother, Jack.” My cheerful tone slowly disappeared.

“Was?” Jason looked down at me.

“He was kidnapped when I was six years old.  He was nine.  We were playing outside and I ran into the house to get a football.  My mom had been watching us from the kitchen but she had gone to use the bathroom.  My dad was on a business trip.  When I went back outside with the football, my brother was nowhere to be seen.  I started calling out his name, then I started screaming it, then I started crying.  I ran to get my mom.  She panicked and called everyone in our family while she went out and searched for him.  Gia, Brandon’s mom, watched over me and Brandon while everyone searched for Jack.  We got Hobbs involved.  He’s the top DSS federal agent.  That’s who the government sends if they want to find someone.  He owed my family for helping him a couple decades ago.  Then again, he also adored Jack.  They never found him.  My dad never gave up in searching but from what I know, he never got any major leads.  And then that’s my dad,” I added, pointing to the six-foot blonde holding me bridal style in his arms and having Jack sitting on his shoulders. “My dad started helping out law enforcement again and in one mission, a car chase, the suspects shot at my dad’s car with a machine gun.  It blew out his tires and made him lose control.  He flipped over a barrier that prevented cars from falling off a two hundred foot cliff.  His car… it fell into the rocks below.  The impact killed him instantly.  That was almost four years ago.  It’s why my mom hates racing now and refuses to let me date any racers or race myself.  My dad was one of the best and if someone could kill him, she figures who knows what could happen to me or any of us.”

Jason stood silently next to me.  I forced the knot in my throat down.  I wasn’t going to cry in front of him.  Even though my dad had died almost four years ago, I still remembered it like yesterday.  I’d been studying for one of my exams in my room, wearing my pink Victoria’s Secret pajamas.  My laptop was playing Rascal Flatts and my back was hurting from bending over for so long.  My mom had been watching TV down in the living room with Dom and Letty.  It was eleven at night when the doorbell rang.  I found it strange.  It wasn’t one of our family because they’d just come in.  We all had keys to each other’s houses so we didn’t bother knocking or ringing the doorbell.  I got up out of my bed and went downstairs, peering around the corner.  It had been a habit of mine since I was little to peer around the stairwell to see who was at the door so I knew whether or not I had to go make myself look presentable.  Much to my surprise, Hobbs stood there, looking strangely grief-stricken for him.  I had scrunched my eyebrows together.

“M-Mia,” he stammered. “Brian was… was killed in action trying to stop our suspects.”

Every noise around me disappeared as I stood rooted to the spot I was standing on, swaying from side to side.  My head felt like it wanted to explode, my heart wanted to pound out of my chest.  I watched as my mom started to fall to her knees and sob.  Hobbs caught her and pulled her into a hug.  My mom didn’t fight it.  Letty and Dom stood in shock, almost as if they couldn’t register what Hobbs had just said.

An uncontrollable knot formed in my throat, and the first sob escaped my lips.  It made Dom and Letty turn around.  When I realized they saw me, I tried to run upstairs, but instead I collapsed into a blubbering mess onto the floor.  Dom pulled me into his arms.  I fought at first, not wanting to be near anyone.  I punched him, I tried wriggling out of his arms, but nothing worked and I finally gave up.  I cried myself to sleep in my uncle’s arms.  I woke up in my bed the next day.  At first I thought it’d been a dream and so I ran to my dad’s room to give him a big hug.  When I entered my mom’s room and saw about a hundred tissues scattered around the floor and bed, I knew it hadn’t been a dream.  My mom saw me and opened up her arms, silently saying for me to come to her.  My feet moved on their own accord.  I crawled into bed next to my mom and started crying again.  I’d always been so close to my dad.  At the time, I honestly could not even fathom what life would be like without him.  I knew what that was like now, but I’d been in deep depression for almost a year over it.  For almost a year, I barely ate, I barely slept, I barely went outside except to school and work.  My family tried a million things to get me to laugh or smile, but I’d practically forgotten how to do those things.

And then one night, I dreamed of my dad.  He was smiling in the driver’s seat of the car next to me.  I was in the driver’s seat of my own car grinning back at him.  The two of us looked forward at the empty, abandoned race track in front of us.  My dad sounded his horn and we were off.  My dad went into first place pretty easily but I soon caught up to him and by the second lap, we were neck to neck.  The race itself was three laps total.  On the final stretch, my dad, by a hairs’ breadth, pulled ahead of me and won.  The two of us stopped our cars and got out.  My dad took out two Diet Dr. Peppers.  We opened the cans and started drinking, sitting on the hood of our cars and facing each other.  He gave me a smile and said, “You’re getting really good.”

“Thanks dad,” I replied, feeling very accomplished.

“I’ve never seen you smile so much before.  Smiling is good for the soul you know.”

At that statement, I felt guilty. “I know I need to smile more… but it’s hard dad.  I miss you so much.”

“And I miss you.  But you’ll see me again one day.  And we’ll race every day.  Hey, maybe one day you’ll actually beat me!”

“I did beat you once!” I argued.

“Yes you did,” my dad said with a grin.  His face then fell serious. “And you’ll beat me again one day.  But for now, go enjoy your life.  Go get a fantastic job, find a nice boy to date.  And know that if I disapprove of him, I will certainly let you know somehow.  I will see you again one day, okay?” My dad kissed me on the top of my head and hugged me.  He then placed his hands on my shoulder, gave me his most loving smile, and I woke up.  From that day on, I made it my goal to smile at once.  Slowly, I started becoming my old self, I started smiling and laughing at things again, and naturally too.  It wasn’t forced.  No one knew about my dream.  I felt like it was too personal to share.

A thumb running across my cheek made me jerk back in surprise.  Jason stood staring worriedly at me.

“What?” I demanded somewhat angrily.

“You were crying,” he said.

“Oh…” I mumbled, putting my hands up to my cheeks to rid of any stray tears that might still be there.

“Are you sure you want to go out?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.  Sorry, I just started thinking about things and uh, anyways, let’s get going.”

“You want to drive your car or do you want to drive mine?”

“You would seriously trust me to drive your car?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

He dangled his keys in front of my face. “You’re a Toretto and an O’Connor aren’t you?  Driving is in your blood.  So yes, I trust you.”

I stared contemplatively at his keys, but I couldn’t stop the guilty feeling every time I thought about driving a race car. “No, I’m driving my car.  You’re welcome to drive yours or hop in mine.”

“I’ll hop in yours.  Save gas.  Let’s go,” he encouraged, a mischievous spark in his eyes.  Jace held out his arm for me so I looped mine through his.  We walked to my garage where my black 2013 Camaro waited for me.

“How do you not race with a car like this?” Jason inquired, running his fingers lightly against the hood of it.

“With a lot of self-control.  All right, let’s get going.” I got into the car and Jason got in beside me.  I pulled out my iTouch and hooked it up to the stereo system in the car.  I let Jason pick the song.  As I pulled out of the garage, I began thinking about this whole situation.  Hopefully I knew what I was getting into, and hopefully I could handle it.
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Hope you enjoyed guys :)  Please review if you did!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I need help guys.  Since I’m winging this story, I don’t know if I’m going to put Jack in it or not BUT IF I DO, who do you think would make a better Jack? Hayden Christensen or Dean Geyer?  I’m seriously leaning towards Dean Geyer because the gifs would be really easy to find, but I think Hayden Christensen looks a lot like Paul Walker so I’m torn.  I NEED HELP SO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.