Author: Tempest-Races
Title: The Funeral of a Good Girl
Disclaimer: All characters from The Fast and the Furious belong to Universal Studios and their subsidiaries and any other original copyright holders. New characters found here belong to me. I do this for love, not money, and no profit will be made from this story.
Summary: Two weeks of one hot summer is all she's got. At the end of her two weeks she says good-bye to her former self with 'The Funeral of a Good Girl'. But when, years later, reality intrudes into her idealized memories of the summer she 'went away' how will she cope? She set him free once, and as the old adage told her, as he didn't come back he was never hers. Can she go through that again, if she has no choice? If lives depend on it?
Rating: NC-17, technically. Edited to M for the fanfiction dot net audience. Sorry peeps, gotta follow the rules.
Feedback: Yes please! I'm incredibly tough so there's no need to be gentle. Please be perfectly honest with me. The pickier you want to be with me the better. But just letting me know what you think is ok too.
Warning: This story is not meant to be taken seriously. Doing so may prove hazardous to your brain. That's my way of saying this is something I'm writing because I had to write something fun again, or go out of my mind. If you want to read a serious piece by me, check out Catalyst or A Night to Remember. I'm just having a good time here. This fiction will have drama, and racing, and swearing, and all kinds of other good stuff. It's sort of Mary Sue. The story is actually written as an NC-17 fic, but to abide by the rules, when I get to the NC-17 content I'm going to have to snip it out. Onward to the fic.

The Funeral of a Good Girl

By TempestRaces

Chapter One – Of Relations and Getting Lost

"Baby you'll be rockin' my world at the funeral of a good girl."

With a sigh a feminine arm reached out of the cozy bed coverings and silenced the squawking alarm. Why did it feel like six am came earlier and earlier every day? I need a god damn vacation! She rolled out of bed and tossed on some sweats before tossing a uniform in her bag and wandering out to the bathroom. She was out of her house a mere fifteen minutes after her alarm had woken her up. Ten minutes after that she was in the gym. Monday, weight workout morning. Oh joy! Forty five minutes and a shower later she was dressed in a uniform which, to the untrained eye, looked clean. To someone who knew what it should look like, it was totally covered in melted in grease stains which even hot water and a cocktail of laundry aids wouldn't remove.

As she parked her Nissan Altima in the rear of the body shop and walked around it, heading into the garage of the local Chevy dealership she sighed again, more heartfelt than ever before. At least it's only one day until May first, it's almost time! The thought made her smile when her previous thoughts had been giving her a headache. But it being almost time to take the summer cars out of storage was enough to make almost all headaches disappear.

She liked her job. Wasn't implying that she didn't. But she was ready for a break from the monotony. It had been two years since she'd had more than a long weekend off. After the vacation of two years before she hadn't bothered to take another one. Nothing was likely to come close to comparing to the summer she went away. She stopped in front of her tool box, the keys to unlock it stuck between her fingers. It was easy to allow her mind to drift back. The two years might as well have been two days for how it felt. She could still see that summer, could still feel the warm pacific waters, could still feel the heat of the California sun, could still taste it. Taste the barbeque, taste the pasta, taste his skin. It felt like life, like she had just lived it last week, not almost two years ago.

Two years ago she had gone to visit her cousin. It had been a life altering experience. He lived in the USA, she in Canada. He was excitable, she wasn't. He had ADD, so he had his excuse. She spent too much time analyzing every little thing in her life before she ever acted on any impulse and had an attention that could span for hours. About all they had in common was a love of cars. Both were mechanics. He, by experience only. Her, by education. He was very talented, a genius. She was good because she was smart. Book learning. She shared his instinct for what would work when, but she wasn't as good at following her instincts, not like him.

She had never been farther from home than the next province over, so when her cousin offered her a free place to stay if she just found her own way to Los Angeles she jumped at the chance. She had grown up in 'the big city' of her neck of the woods. That wasn't saying much. The big, capital city she grew up in had a population of forty thousand people. Los Angeles, on the other hand, had a population of four million in the city, and over twelve million in the whole incorporated area. Her big city upbringing hadn't done a thing to prepare her for a real big city. Not a thing. Not that any of that stopped her from longing for a real big city experience. There was no way she could ever have afforded to go on her own. So when he offered her the chance to stay with his new 'family' she decided to take him up on it. They hadn't seen each other since they were children, and she didn't know the people he lived with in any capacity, but that got pushed to the back of her mind. All that mattered was she was going to Los Angeles.

She took three weeks off work, planning a week to drive there and back and two weeks to hang out with her cousin and meet his friends. As it would turn out, it wouldn't be nearly enough. But she would have to settle for what it got her. She wasn't looking for a new life, just to take a vacation. Wishing she could afford to pack up her life and take off for parts unknown permanently didn't make it feasible or practical.

If she wasn't happy with the life she had, at the very least she was content. She liked her job, had good friends, had hobbies. She had a ilife/i. It wasn't wild or wonderful, but it was hers and it was all she knew. Driving from her island home all the way down across the United States was about the wildest thing she had ever done. Well, other than oblige people who picked fights with her at the local dive that she was known to frequent, and drive her car way too fast down public roads. Both of those things were so ingrained that she didn't even really think of them as wild or crazy. That was just her, that was life.

Chucking two suitcases in what passed for a back seat in her car and driving into another country alone was a different manner. But she did it. It took three days of driving sixteen hour stretches to get there. When she rolled into Los Angeles city limits she couldn't for the life of her figure out where to go from the highway. She slid her cell phone out of the case clipped to the passenger side sun visor and flipped it open. Hitting a button on the side, she obeyed the on screen command and spoke the name of the person she wanted to call. The phone dialled. A stranger answered.

"Yeah?" came the curt greeting.

"Um hey, is Jesse around?"

"No, he ain't." The stranger didn't elaborate. Just 'no he ain't' in a snarled tone.

"Ok, can you tell me where I can reach him? This is his cousin. He's expecting me and I'm lost trying to find him."

A masculine sigh full of impatience answered her statement. "Where are you, exactly?"

"It says Riverside Drive and I'm coming up on some scary lookin' intersection."

"You're in a sweet fuckin' load of trouble if that's a scary lookin' intersection to you!"

She sighed forcefully. "No shit. That would be how I came to be lost and callin' my cousin for help, not callin' some ignorant prick to get abused, a'ight?" Her fear and frustration with being lost made her short with the stranger. Not that attitudes like his didn't always piss her off, but with her nerves so frayed, it took less than ever to set her off.

After her insult he got even shorter with her, but didn't hang up, much to her relief. "Stay in the middle lane, watch for a sign to exit onto Dayton Avenue."

"Ok, got it, I'm exiting now."

"How fuckin' fast are you goin' if you're exiting already?" A new tinge of respect filled the question. It was just a tinge but it was there.

"I'm going about one eighty, but I have to be to stand a chance of getting in front of any of these people."

"One hundred and eighty miles an hour. That's how fast you're goin'?"

"No, shit, sorry. I forgot about the whole miles to kilometres thing. I'm going one eighty in kilometres. It's about a hundred and ten miles an hour. I'm comin' up on a slightly less scary intersection."

"Exit onto the one ten and get in the outside lane."

"Ok." She stopped talking to focus on her driving. "Ok, that's done."

"Exit again, left onto South Avenue fifty. You got about a mile before that exit, like as not."

"Ok. Thanks for the help."

"Yeah, sure."

Another short answer. She had to wonder why he hadn't just told her to go fuck herself right off the bat. It was clear he really didn't want to be helping her find her way off the freeways and into Jesse's neighbourhood. She turned on her left blinker and sped up to get in front of a large black sedan. She executed the left the voice on her cell phone had indicated. "Ok, I'm on the fifty."

"That was fast."

"That's how I move," she shot back. It then occurred to her that this stranger on the other end of her call could chose to take that two ways. At face value or as a double entendre. He chuckled. The potential double meaning hadn't gone over his head.

"We'll see about that when you get here. Turn right onto Echo Park Boulevard."

There was another pause while she waited to find the street and make her turn. "Ok, done." She didn't touch his other comment. Not when she had no idea who she was talking to.

"Look for a white house on the right with a blue Maxima and a white Jetta in the driveway." He seemed to think about what he'd said for a moment. "That's a medium sized, blue, four door Nissan and a medium sized white Volkswagon sedan."

"Thank you!" she drawled sarcastically. "I know what the fuck a Maxima and Jetta are. Jesus, who the fuck do you think you're talkin' to?"

"I got no idea other than you're the kid's cousin. You see the house yet?"

"Yeah, just rollin' up on it now."

"Well, that's me on the porch. Welcome to Echo Park, Los Angeles."

She shut her phone with a snap and an irate sigh and without bothering to say good-bye. What a welcome. Lost, stressed and talked through it by the most snappish person she had ever talked to. She parked the car and took a deep breath. This was it. She had to meet the friends without the benefit of Jesse. He wasn't even home. Where the heck did he go? He knew about when she was planning on getting into town.

"No shit," he growled as he watched the car he had guided in park at the curb in front of the house. The windows were deeply smoked, not allowing so much as a glance inside. The body of the car was painted elaborately as a lightning storm. The rims were only sixteens but they were chrome and of a tasteful five spoke design he would have found appealing, had they been eighteens. As was only proper, he mused to himself. Why hadn't Jesse forewarned them that his Canadian cousin owned such a nice tuner car? Had the kid honestly thought that the fact was irrelevant? The door swung outward and a booted foot immerged. This occurred on the right hand side of the vehicle and the model of car was firmly confirmed to him.

"Skyline," he hissed out loud to himself. What the fuck had Jesse been thinking, keeping that little detail from the whole team? As he watched, finally the whole girl immerged and became visible over the roofline of her car. She leaned on the roof and looked at him. At least, he assumed that was what she was doing. She had mirrored sunglasses on.

"Do I have the right house, for sure? Jesse Adams lives here?"

Her accent was odd. Not Southern and not New York or Boston Eastern either. It was subtle but it was there. "Yeah," he growled back at her. "You his cousin?"

"Yeah, didn't I already tell you that?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Nice ride."

"Thanks. I like it well enough." She leaned into the open car door and immerged a minute later with two bags, a duffle and kitbag which had 'Nissan' embroidered on the side. "Am I stayin' here, or was Jesse supposed to make other arrangements for me?"

"You're stayin' here, far as I know. Come on, I'll show you where you can toss your stuff." He headed into the house and she followed him. He turned back to her a second later. "I'm Vince, by the way."

"Hey," she answered.

"You ain't gonna tell me your name now?"

"I just assumed that Jess woulda told you all that when he told you he was askin' me to come down."

"Well he didn't, so…" She sighed at him. It looked like she didn't want to tell him her name. "You got a problem with me knowin' who you are?"

She seemed to gather her resolve. "No, not at all. I'm Tempest," she admitted.

He had picked up on the small pause before she'd admitted her name, like she still didn't want to admit her name to him. Once he heard it he understood why. He could only imagine if he found Vincent bad, how annoying she found being named Tempest. That didn't stop the snort of amusement from leaving his body.

"That amuse you for some reason?" she asked, a hand on her cocked hip and one eyebrow lifted toward her hairline in annoyance.

"Naw, not at all," he lied before heading for the basement stairs. "You're gonna be rooming down here. The couch in the main room is a sofa bed." They dismounted the stairs into the room in question. "I sleep in there, Leon in there, and Jesse in there." He indicated three bedrooms in turn. "That's the john. If you're particular you might wanna use the one upstairs. Mia keeps it cleaner than the one down here."

She couldn't help her morbid curiosity and stuck her head into the downstairs bathroom. She reared back a second later. "Which room upstairs is the washroom?"

"First door on the right," he replied with a chuckle.

"Duly noted." There was no way she was sitting on the toilet in 'bachelor john'. It just wasn't happening.

"You could always ask Letty if you could use her room upstairs while you're here. Ain't like she uses it too much herself. All her shit's in Dom's room anyway."

"We'll see how it goes." If she was staying two weeks it would likely go toward her cleaning the bathroom down here for them. She wasn't haulin ass up two flights of stairs every time she needed to take a piss in the middle of the night and she wasn't too impressed with the idea of bunking so far away from Jesse, the only person in the place she knew.

"Yeah, toss your bags and I'll show you how to get to the garage. That's where you'll find Jesse."

She obeyed him, throwing her bags on the floor at one end of the sofa. When she turned around it was to find him watching her intently. "What?"

"Nothin'," he replied with a shake of his head. She didn't look a thing like Jesse, that was for sure. The kid had dirty blonde, straight hair cut medium around his head. His cousin had almost black, curly hair reaching half way down her back. Jesse had blue eyes, she had green. Jesse was fairly slight and tall, standing six foot two. The cousin was about five eight, which was tall for a female, and built. She obviously worked out, a lot. Jesse favoured jeans and tee shirts with an almost skateboard punk look to them most times. The girl in front of him was wearing a pair of faded, ripped jeans and a black tank top. She was pale now, but you could tell she had been deeply tanned at one point. Jesse didn't spend enough time away from his cars and computer to ever get any sun. "Let's go."

"Yes sir! Lead the way sir."

"You got one hell of a smart mouth."

"I know," she smirked. She did. It wouldn't take long for them to all figure it out. Kept her life interesting, that smart mouth. She was always trying to get out of the trouble it got her into.

He didn't answer, just shook his head as he started climbing the stairs. He walked through the house and right back out the front door. He stopped beside the blue Nissan. "Ok, get in."

"Un un. I'm takin' my own ride."

"You don't know where to go."

"You can show me."

"I ain't ridin' bitch with you."

"Then you go and I'll follow you. We'll take two cars."

"Just get in the damn car."

"No." She shook her head and moved around to the driver's side of her own ride. "I can follow you."

"Why can't we just take my car?"

"'Cause Jesse never saw my ride before and he doesn't know I even got it so I want to surprise him. I don't want to show up without it."

"So that's why he didn't tell us you were a tuner too."

She looked puzzled. "I can't tell you why he didn't tell you I was into cars and modifying. I work in a garage back home and Jesse knew that I raced a bit. He just knew I did it in my RX-7. The Skyline hasn't been around long and I didn't tell him about it on purpose. He didn't tell you guys that I work in a garage?"

"No." Vince looked just as puzzled as she did. "What do you do?"

"I'm a technician. What did you think I did when I said I worked in a garage?"

"I dunno," Vince said before clamming up.

It was clear to her that he thought she worked customer service or was a secretary or something. "Doesn't Letty work in the garage with Jesse?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Why is it your first thought when you find out I work in one is that I can't be a mechanic?"

"Dunno. Are we gonna go find the rest of the team or what?" He changed the subject awkwardly.

"Team?"

"Yeah, Dominic, Letty, Jesse, Leon, the team. Jesse didn't tell you about the team?"

"Just that he lived with some people. He didn't phrase it like it was some sort of dorm for a team he was on."

"It's not. It's hard to explain. Come on, I'll ride with you." He said it with a sigh that illustrated how put out he was to make the offer.

She decided not to argue any further. She really didn't want to try and follow him through the unfamiliar streets. She knew without asking that he would go out of his way to make following him hard. He obviously didn't like not getting his way. They headed out after she left the curb. He gave her directions and she followed them.

"So, you didn't do too much to your car inside," Vince tried to make conversation.

"All I really got done was the paint job and rims to be honest. It took so long to get the car back from paint there just wasn't time to do anything else." She looked at Vince, who had opened his mouth and was about to make a comment. She cut him off. "And before you start in at me about all show and no go, the guy who sponsored the paint job could only do it in the month right after I got the car so I had to let him have it before I started anything else."

"You coulda let him go and found someone else."

"I coulda, but he's the best and I only wanted the best."

He just nodded in answer. He understood, but it still went against a lot of what he was about to be riding in a car with a hugely expensive paint job and a bone stock engine. There were a few minutes silence only punctuated by his curt directions. "So, this a GT-R?"

"Of course."

"What year is it?"

"'90."

"Why so old?"

"It's the newest one that was legal in Canada when I bought it. It's likely not even legal down here because it hasn't been modified to pass crash tests."

"Hope you don't get stopped for it then."

"Me too," she answered before taking the next turn he indicated. The turn landed her in a parking area of a single story brick building. She assumed that the brick building was their destination and got out of the car, hitching up her pants when she stood up. She hadn't bothered to replace her too large clothes since she had decided to hit the gym hard core again and all her pants sat low on her hips. She didn't see the way Vince watched the denim slide back up over the lacy strip of her panties that had been showing. The first step she took the pants were slid right back down from whence they came. She gave up with an internal sigh. "This the door?" She turned back to Vince to ask.

"Yeah," he answered, his tone slightly rusty. She gave him a strange look but didn't stop to question the whys, just entered the garage.

"Jesse Adams, get that white ass over here this second!" she hollered into the garage.

She's got some set of balls on her anyway, Vince mused. No one walked into Dominic's garage unannounced and hollered at the top of their lungs and got away with it. Especially not since Dominic had gotten out of prison. He hadn't even been out that long, only about six months. Just as he was thinking on this topic the big man himself stood up from under a car and looked their way, quirking one eyebrow in question as he paced their way.

Before Dom could reach where they stood, Vince just slightly behind the girl he was figuring he was going to have to protect, and damn he hated chivalry more than anything, Jesse darted around them all before throwing his arms around Tempest's waist and hoisting her into the air. He swung her around and she laughed giddily before he set her down.

"Damn J, you were supposed to be waitin' on me at the house. You didn't give me directions to this place and you left the grump to wait on me. You're lucky he didn't scare me off," she told her cousin with a thumb gesture over her shoulder at Vince.

Jesse laughed, both at his cousin's words and the look on Vince's face. "Sorry, but we got busy down here and I didn't figure on you making it much before six."

"She drives crazier than you do," Vince filled in, in a mumble.

"I thought the rex threw an apex seal in the rear and you were gonna have to drive the Altima. How'd you make it so fast?"

"Took my new ride," she replied with what could only be described as a shit eating grin.

"You got a new car and didn't tell me?" Jesse asked in apparent shock.

"Umhum," she nodded to the affirmative to confirm her answer.

"Now I can't wait to get back to the house and see it!"

"Why wait? It's parked out back."

"Vince let you drive your own car?"

"He even rode with me. Is that strange?" Her head tipped to the right as she looked quizzically at Jesse. She knew it was and was merely rubbing it in for fun. She could already tell Vince lived life by his own rules and females getting to drive were against several of them.

"No shit!" Jesse took off out the door. "No shit!" He could be heard through the door he called the second expletive so loudly. "Guys get out here and see this."

They all filed out the door. She elected to bring up the rear, seeing as she already knew quite well what they were seeing. The team, as Vince called them, were all clustered around the car in a gaggle of slack jaws.

"Where'd you get that?" Dom asked in a rumble.

The look in his black eyes was unreadable. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing he was asking or a bad thing. She shrugged. "I got it outta Japan."

"Smart ass," Vince growled in her ear. She looked over her shoulder at him. How had he gotten there without her knowing? "He doesn't like sass."

She shrugged again.

"I meant where'd you get it in this country," Dom restated his question, not without showing some of his displeasure at the necessity of it.

"I'm not from here. I'm Canadian, not American and it's not illegal where I'm from."

"It isn't illegal here either. It just woulda cost a shit load." Leon broke into the conversation. "But if they aren't illegal and are cheap enough for you to get your hands on one where you're from, why didn't you spring for a newer one than an '89?"

"It's a '90 and they're only legal in Canada if they're old when you go to import them. A '90 was the newest one I was allowed to import. I guess, had I went to Japan and picked it out, I coulda got a brand new one and stripped it for parts, shipped it back as used parts in a container and put it back together but," she lifted one shoulder, "seemed too much like work. I just wanted the car here and me behind the wheel. It was hard enough to find a v-spec that old that had really low kilometres."

"How much did it set you back?" Leon wasn't ready to let it go just yet.

"The car, shipping and getting it from the west coast to the east cost the better part of fifteen thousand, my dollars. So about twelve or thirteen thousand American."

"What have you done to it so far?" Jesse asked as he opened the door and popped the hood.

"You're gonna be disappointed Jess. The body kit and paint is the only custom feature about the thing so far. I just got it like a month before I headed down here and the paint guy had it the whole time."

"You painted it first?" Jesse was clearly scandalized.

"I already heard about it from the grouch, could we not go into it again?" she asked, exasperated.

"Hey!" Vince finally got fed up at being called names.

"So you're the cousin we've heard so much about." Though Letty phrased it as a question, it was clearly a rhetorical one. It was also clear Letty had yet to make up her mind about the new girl.

"I'm her," she answered anyway.

"You know Jesse never even told us your name."

"So he," she pointed at Vince, "tells me. Why is that Jess?"

"Didn't think they'd believe me," he grumbled.

"Why's that?" Dom asked.

"'Cause her name's Tempest," Vince supplied.

"Really?" Leon asked.

"Yeah, really. Yeah, my mother was a hippy. I'll answer to T or Temp. It's likely easier."

"So, cuz, how much am I allowed to do to this car while it's here?" Jesse asked after walking over to Tempest and throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"As much as you can afford cuz, I don't got a lot of money. That thing ain't exactly good on gas and I still gotta get home in two weeks. I got sponsors for a lot of it up home but I haven't decided just what I wanna do with it yet."

"If it was built already you could clean up at races."

"I didn't come down here to race. I came down here to hang out with you and I don't need a tricked out car to do that."

"But we hang at races a lot. Like every night, almost." Jesse imparted as he led his cousin back inside the garage. Leon shut the hood of the Skyline and they all followed the pair back into DT.

"That much?"

"Yeah, it's a big deal around here. Dom's a big deal."

Dom ruffled Jesse's hair before taking him in a playful headlock. "Only 'cause of you Jess."

"Yeah, our mad scientist right here!" Leon added, getting in on picking on Jesse.

"Mad scientist?" Tempest questioned.

"Yeah, 'cause of some of the frankincars he's built that work the bomb." Leon answered. He held out his hand. "I guess I should properly introduce myself. I'm Leon."

She shook his hand. "Nice to finally have a face to put with the name. Jesse talks about you guys all the time."

Leon continued. "That is Dominic, that's Letty, you seem to know Vince pretty good, and you're related to Jesse, so that's all of us."

"I'm Tempest and that's all of me," she sassed back cheekily.

"It's enough," Vince growled, commenting on her mouthy attitude more than anything.

"Too much for you I'd bet, more'n enough," she turned to look at Vince and cocked a brow, waiting for his answer. She was willing to bet he wouldn't disappoint.

"You know where my room is babe, you're welcome to come get schooled any time you want." He fingered one of her dark curls.

'Bout what she figured would leave his mouth in reply to her accusation. "Don't hold your breath waitin' on that one, Slick. You'll turn as blue as your car."

"Scared you couldn't handle a real man, I understand."

"Scared of what a woman like me would do to a man like you, more like. Sounds like you're used to women who let you lead and pretend they like everything you do. You couldn't handle a real woman like me. You," she coughed into her hand before continuing, "stepped outta line with me you'd damn sure hear about it. And do it over again until you got it right." She smirked.

"Like I said, you know where to find me. I'll accept your challenge any night you wanna," he raised a brow in an imitation of her, 'throw down."

The rest of the team watched this exchange, bemusement on all their faces. No one could remember the last time someone who wasn't on the team proper stood up to Vince.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that someday, just to show you how outta your league I am."

Vince growled. "I wouldn't want you noways. Likely couldn't shut your mouth long enough to find a good use for it."

"Not that you'll ever find out how wrong you are," one corner of her mouth raised sardonically as she taunted him. "I got higher standards. I like men who shower and know what end of a razor is the business end."

Before Vince could retort, something he was clearly itching to do, Dom broke in. "Enough. Shit, it's like havin' a couple'a potty mouthed kids around the joint. Both of you, shut up."

"Ok, ok. And if he don't shut his mouth I'll shut it for him."

"That I'd like to see," Vince growled.

"Let's take it outside and I'll show you how you'd look less a few'a your teeth."

"I don't hold with hittin' girls, but for one with such a huge set'a balls I might make an exception." Vince took a few steps closer to Tempest.

"Yeah, I just don't keep my balls in my girlfriend's purse, unlike you. And if you can get close enough to me to hit me I'll admit I deserve what I get."

Vince floundered after being told he kept his balls in a woman's purse. "Fuck you!" It was the best he could do. Leon laughed while Jesse and even Letty chuckled.

"Did I not just say enough?" Dom roared.

"Seems he's deaf and dumb," Tempest retorted, nodding her head toward Vince.

"Bitch!" Vince growled.

"Both of you, outta here until you can keep your mouths shut!" Dom roared and pointed at the door. They were giving him a splitting headache.

"A'ight I'm outta here. Jesse, you got my number, call me later, we'll hook up and you can show me where to find trouble 'round here, k?"

"Sure cuz, I'll walk you to your car." Grabbing her elbow, Jesse led his cousin out of the shop. "You gotta take it down a notch with Dom Cuz. He's use to running the show. Getting mouthed off to isn't gonna make him like you."

"I don't know how to be any other way Jesse. Sorry for making trouble with your friends, but if someone gets in my face I'm not the best at letting it go."

"I know that. I've heard about it a hundred times from mom when she gets letters from your mom. I know how much shit you get into at home. But this isn't home. This is L.A."

"Just a bigger place full of trouble, Jess. But it'll be alright. I'll try to slow my roll around Dom, but I can't make any promises if scruffy keeps pushin' my buttons."

"That's just Vince. You'll grow accustomed."

"We'll see. I'm gonna head for a rip around the area. Call me when you're done here and we'll hook up." On an afterthought Tempest turned back to Jesse. "You got a cell number?"

"Yeah, why?"

"So I can call ya if I get lost again."

Jesse relayed the number and she programmed it into her phone. She slid into the car and turned it on, sliding it into reverse and starting to throttle up to leave the parking lot. Before the car could do much more than growl a bit in preparation for squealing out of the parking spot, the passenger side door opened up and someone got in.

Flicking her sunglasses into her hair with a sigh, Tempest turned to see who had invaded her space and was slowing her escape. Blue eyes, unkempt facial hair, and a shaggy hairdo met her eyes. "You."

"I came with you, I got no ride."

"You couldn't hang out here until one of your friends left for home?"

"I could, but you're leaving now."

"Who says I'm going back by your place?"

"Like you know where you're goin'."

He was right. That made it even worse. She sure as hell wasn't going to concede to his point. It wasn't fair for him to be right! With a snap her left foot passed her right as the clutch came up and the gas went down. She cut the wheel hard and the car shot out of the parking spot. With an irate motion the shifter went from reverse to first. After executing a very nice burnout in the parking lot, the car left the lot, fishtailing out around the building and off down the street. She hit the on button of her CD player. The sound of Eve 6 filled the car, 'The Open Road Song' blasting out.

Her taste in music surprised him a bit. Rock wasn't really how he had her pegged. He would have expected a lot of rap and hip hop. He had to revise that opinion when the next song to play was 'My Way' by Limp Bizkit. Her driving would have scared pretty much anyone else on earth, he had to guess. He also would have bet money that she was doing it on purpose to freak him out. It wasn't going to work. While it was pretty obvious she wasn't scared of much behind the wheel, she had met her match in him. Neither was he. Though, he really would have preferred to have the wheel in his own hands. She hadn't headed back to his house. He wasn't sure if she knew where she was going somehow or not, but he'd bet not.

"Where's good to hang out at around here?"

"In the middle of the afternoon? Not very many places. Hang out how?"

"Beach, mall, strip to cruise, that kinda thing."

"We ain't goin' to the beach. I ain't goin' to the mall. We could cruise the strip but there won't be anyone around at this hour. Why don't we go home and chill until races?"

"How'm I supposed to chill around you?"

"I'm glad to know I got you all wound up."

"What's got me all wound up is the fact I ain't allowed to kill you. Dom seemed like he'd miss your ass. God knows why."

"You always this prickly?"

"Yeah, you always this arrogant?"

"Pretty much."

With a shared look they each busted up laughing. She couldn't remember the last guy who had kept her so on her toes about what she could and couldn't say. "Ok, come on. There must be a beach road we could cruise down. I've never seen the pacific before."

"Alright already. Anything to shut you up."

"Well, I'm the one going to a popular hangout with a guy who looks like death warmed over in my ride. How'm I supposed to pick up someone worth my while with you around?"

"Is there any answer that won't have you rippin' me a new one?"

"Not likely, but you can always try your best."

"Do you have friends where you're from?"

"Yeah, lots. Why?"

"I'm just curious who could put up with your ass for more'n ten minutes."

"There's people. Not many, but they do exist. I mean, you have friends. There's hope for anyone!"

He growled, "I have redeeming qualities. Somethin' you can't say."

"I can too! I can drink pretty much anybody under the table, I drive real good, I'm not bad to have at your back in a fight and I dance pretty good too. Not to mention I'm good with a wrench and know which is the business end of a ratchet. Those are all endearing traits."

"You can't drink me under the table." Vince shook his head to illustrate how absurd he found the idea.

"When will you give me a chance to meet that challenge, hot shot?"

"I'll extend the same offer to you on that one as I did on your other challenge. Any time, any place."

"So you'll let me school you on how I'm too much woman for you in bed and behind a booze bottle anywhere I want, any time I want?"

Something in her tone didn't bode well for him, but he wasn't about to start backing down from her verbal barbs now. "That's what I said."

"What if I wanna go to a bar tonight and school you on both of them in the same place?" A suggestive brow rose skyward to illustrate the question.

"I'm game if you are."

He was supposed to get embarrassed, not accept her challenge! "We'll see what tonight brings then." With a glance out the windows, Tempest realized she was well and truly lost. "Where the fuck are we?"

"Take a left here if you wanna drive down to the beach."

She did as she was told, for once, and they ended up on a four lane highway driving past the water. They reached a more populated area and started to cruise by seaside restaurants and dance clubs. There were girls in bikinis everywhere, and deeply tanned men in nothing but low slung board shorts almost as plentiful as the girls. Both occupants of the car were craning their necks to see every which way, granted both were looking at different things.

"You wanna stop for a bite to eat? This is a good place," Vince said as he pointed off the side of the road to an open air restaurant proclaimed Neptune's Net on the sign out front.

"I guess I could eat," Tempest answered as she turned on her blinker and pulled into the parking lot, almost running down a deeply tanned blonde in a barely there bikini. "Stupid bimbo," she growled under her breath as the girl jumped out of the way.

"If you killed her you'd be doing an injustice to society."

"You would think so. A girl that dumb is the only kind who'd have your ass."

"Well, there's lots of guys around here dumb enough to have you too. Until you open your mouth that is."

"Oh honey, when I open my mouth is the last time most guys decide not to like me," she winked sassily to rub in what she was hinting at before climbing out of her car and closing the door, leaving Vince inside trying to get his bearings.

One second he'd swear she hated his guts. The next she was making suggestive comments to him. Comments he knew there was only way she could intend for him to take. What was up? Was she dogging him or flirting with him? She ran hot and cold worse than a broken tap. He got out of the car with a shake of his head.

They ordered and ate, each checking out their respective opposite sex as the 'beautiful people' paraded past.

"I could get used to this," she mused out loud as a group of very deeply tanned, hard bodied guys walked past, nothing but board shorts hanging off their hips on their lean bodies. One of the guys looked at her and smiled. She returned his greeting readily, nodding her head back as she smiled.

The guy happened to glance at Vince. Seeing who the over clothed girl was sitting with put an end to any flirtation which the young man had been planning. Any girl out with a guy who looked that mean was off limits.

When the blonde surfer's attention waned in a split second, Tempest shot a look at her companion. "You gave him a dirty look! Why?"

"I don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Yeah you do. You gave him a nasty look for checkin' me out! We ain't here together; you don't have the right to scare off hot guys when they check me out."

"You had the right to run over the blonde in the red bikini!"

"She got in my way!"

"God!" He threw his hands in the air with a roar. He couldn't win. "You sure you have friends? You haven't talked them all into suicide?"

"When someone's my friend they're safe from having my sarcasm turned on them."

"Well if that ain't enough to make me want to be your friend nothin' is. I don't know how much'a your damn mouthy personality I can take."

"I told you that you weren't man enough to handle me, thanks for confirming it."

"Come on over here and I'll show you man enough," he mumbled.

She still heard him. "I thought we had the whole 'whose balls are bigger' contest set for tonight in a bar of your choice."

"Oh yeah. I really can't wait to drink you into oblivion."

"Just don't hold your breath while you're waitin', a'ight?"

"Whatever. Let's go back to the garage and see if you can't keep your damn mouth shut long enough for Dom not to kick us outta the place."

With a shrug she agreed and they drove back the way they had come. When they walked in Dom was no where to be seen. Leon was attempting to get the drums off the rear brake system of a blue Acura. He looked up from his work when they walked in. "V, here. These damn things are stuck on. You come see if you can beat them off."

"Is beating off for men something you do often?" Tempest asked Vince under her breath. He was still right beside her and heard every word.

He didn't even bother retorting; knowing anything he said would just be used against him in the new fight that would break out. Instead, with a shake of his head as he attempted to control his temper, he crossed to Leon's bay and took the hammer from his friend. He figured he could prove his manliness by accomplishing the task. He swung at the stuck drum. His blow landed with a crash. The drum stayed put. He gave it a few more blows but it didn't budge.

"Oh for crying out loud," Tempest said as she walked up beside the car. "Put down your purse sweetheart, and really give it one."

"I'd like to see you get it off!"

"By that I assume you mean the brake drum right?"

"Yeah, I mean the brake drum. What else could I mean?"

She smirked and quirked a brow at him. "I'll leave you to ponder the answer to that while I get these brakes apart for you, a'ight?" She didn't wait for him to answer, just took the hammer. She turned to Leon. "I need a pry bar too, a big one." Leon gave her the bar and she got to work. Rather than beat on the drum, which was already as loose as it was going to get from that kind of manipulation, she wedged the bar between the lip of the drum and the backing plate. Then, she tapped on the back edge of the drum with the hammer on one side as she pried out on the other. It slowly slid down the wheel studs before she put the tools down and pulled it the rest of the way off. "Tada," she said as she handed it to Leon. She turned to Vince. "See, that's why I never started to carry a purse. Just gets in the way."

"How late does it have to get before I can start getting you drunk?" Vince growled.

"It's always late enough to get drunk in my world," she answered. "I don't know how you feel on early evening drinking, however."

"If you're drinkin' booze you ain't mouthin' off. That has to be a plus."

"We got races tonight. No one gets drunk until afterward," Dom used his statement to alert the group to his arrival.

"Sounds like you have a hot date tonight with your boyfriend, sweetness," Tempest teased Vince, trying to keep her voice low so Dominic wouldn't hear. "Guess I'll just have to take a rain check."

"You ain't gettin' outta anything that easy, Mouth."

"You two still at it?" Dom asked in exasperation.

"He thinks we'll get at it later. I'm not sure if he's right or not yet." She pointed at Vince. When Tempest caught the irate look on Dom's face she wished she could take back her words. But she was too used to saying whatever came into her mind to change now. She shook her head. "So, races huh?" she asked as she rubbed the back of her neck to hide her discomfort.

"Yeah, they start at eleven. I guess you can come. If you want."

"My car isn't ready to go to races yet."

"I know that. You can ride with Jesse, if you come."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Dom nodded before walking into his office.

"Wow, you didn't get us kicked out. I'm impressed."

"It was pure luck, Pal. I didn't manage it on purpose."

He shrugged. "You goin' to races with us tonight or not?"

"Dunno. Should I?"

"If you wanna keep Dom happy and make Jesse happy too than yeah. If you don't care about any of that than do what you want."

"Jesse I care about. I guess I'll go. I just wish I could justify taking my own car down."

"Can't take a car you couldn't race and win with to street races."

"I know that," Tempest said as she rolled her eyes. "Doesn't make me wish it any less."

"Ride with Jesse. It's the kid you came down here to see."

"I know that too. Can you state anything that ain't the obvious or what?"

"I'm just sayin'. Ride to races with your cousin. We'll have our little contest after, back at the house."

"We'll see how it goes." A moment after she made her statement her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" Jesse asked.

"The garage. Where are you?"

"Combing the neighbourhood for Vince's body in a ditch."

"Naw, he's still alive. For now." She looked at Vince. The way he looked back made it obvious he knew she was talking about him and he didn't like it. "I just got invited to races tonight in such a way that it was pretty obvious I got ordered to go to races tonight."

"Sweet! I was hoping he'd ask you. You can take the Skyline down."

"No I can't. I can't take a car that I can't race in if I'm challenged."

"I never thought of that. Well, you'll just have to ride with me."

"That's the plan."

"I'll meet you at the house in a few."

"Um Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't remember where the house is from here."

"I'll swing by the shop first so you can follow me home then."

"Sweet. I'll meet you in the parking lot in a few."

They both hung up. With a wave at Leon, Tempest went to wait with her car. She carefully clambered up onto the hood and reclined on the windshield. Her eyes drifted closed behind her sunglasses and she let the sun lull her into a state of relaxation. I could get very use to this.

"You're gonna end up lookin' like a leather handbag by the time you're forty if you hang out in the sun without sunblock."

"Why do you turn up everywhere I go?" She opened one eye in a squint after sliding her shades up onto her forehead.

"I got shit to do before tonight. Either you or the kid can run me home."

"I see. And if I say I don't want your overgrown ass in my car again today?"

He shrugged. "Jess won't say that."

"Yeah, for all his car skills poor Jess just ain't all that bright."

The smirk on her fact let him know the insult wasn't intended for Jesse, but rather for himself. He leaned down and got in her face. "And you think you are?"

"Bright?"

"Yeah."

"I know I'm smart. I've seen my transcripts."

"There's more to smart than bein' good in school."

"Well, you're the one who says I run my mouth way too much, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I'm still alive an' kickin' so I must be fairly street smart too."

"We'll see."

"Yeah, you'll see. Now get outta my face before I bite your nose off."

"I can think of other things you can use your mouth for."

"Only if I'm allowed to use my teeth then, too."

"Harsh."

"It's a harsh world." She wet her bottom lip with her tongue and watched his eyes follow the movement before his pupils dilated.

Before he could retort to her comment a car horn honked behind him directly and he jumped in shock. "Fuck!" He moved and it allowed them to see Jesse sitting in the Jetta with a grin on his face. He knew how badly he'd startled Vince.

"You gonna ride with Jesse, or me?"

"You, get in the car."

"Did we ever have a conversation on how much bossy I'll be willin' to take before I kick your ass?"

"No, but I'm not too scared of you kickin' my ass."

"Get in the fuckin' car."

He went with a chuckle. She walked over to Jesse's window after getting off her hood gingerly. "I wouldn't have dragged you down here if I'd known Prince Surly was gonna bum a ride home."

"Don't worry about it. I've never seen anyone give Vince back as good as they get. It's pretty funny."

"Vince has been allowed to live like a wild thing for far too long. How fuckin' old is this boy?"

"Twenty two."

"Shit, really?"

Jesse nodded to the affirmative with a grin.

"Fool's really three years older than I am?"

"'Fraid so."

"Damn! Boys really do grow up a lot slower than girls."

Jesse went to respond, but before he could the peel of the Skyline's horn rent the air. He laughed. "You better take Prince Surly," he paused to snort, "home before he blows a gasket."

"You knew this would happen!" Tempest accused, waving a finger in Jesse's face.

"Knew what would happen?"

"That he would torture me, that I would respond in kind. You were hoping it would add amusement to your life for the next few weeks."

"I was kinda hopin' you'd hook up with Leon and decide to move down here, actually."

She sighed. "We been over this a hundred times Jesse. It would be a huge bureaucratic headache for me to immigrate to the USA."

"But it could be done."

"Yeah, if I had a job lined up, and the desire to break the heart of my mother, grandmother and assorted aunts, uncles and cousins."

"You'd go back to visit."

"Jesse," she sighed. The debate was an old and tired one.

They had only known each other first hand until they were six. That was when Jesse's mother had moved to Nevada because her husband, Jesse's father, had accepted a job there. Their relationship after that point had been all phone, letters and internet. But until he was dragged kicking and screaming out of her life, they'd been inseparable. He was only two months older than she, so they literally had grown up together. He and his mother had always just lived down the street. He and his mother had been up to visit once, but it had been years ago, the summer they were both twelve. Ever since, he had been after her to chase the 'American dream' into California with him. Despite the fact that his dad had ended up in prison down there, and his mother had remarried, and he'd hated his step father so much that he'd run off to California the second he'd turned 16.

"You know you could get a better job down here than you'll ever have on that backwards island you still call home."

"I'll think about looking into it, ok?"

"Yes!"

Her answer had obviously been taken as 'this will happen' not 'I will check into this to assess the feasibility.' "The Skyline ain't even legal down here. What about that?"

"Leave it registered in your mom's name in Canada. Then you can just say she's down visiting and you're driving it."

"You got an answer for everything, don't you?"

"I'm related to you. Of course I do."

Before she could think of a suitable reply the horn of her car blasted again. She turned to look in the direction of her darkened vehicle. "Shit, I'm comin' already!" she yelled in the general direction. She turned back to Jesse. "What iis/i his damage?"

"We think he might have been dropped on his head as an infant."

"I think his mama popped her tittie out his mouth too early. He clearly shoulda been breast fed until his late teens in the hope he grew up a bit."

Jesse had to lay his head on the steering wheel of the Jetta he was laughing so hard. "Don't let him hear you say things like that."

"Things like what?" a deceptively calm voice drawled from behind Tempest.

"Like he's a big, dumb, impatient Neanderthal who needs to wait his ass in the damn car," she growled back without turning around.

"Its a million degrees in the damn car and you didn't give me the damn keys so I can't even crack a fuckin' window!"

"Jesse, I'll see you at home in a few, a'ight?"

"See you there cuz."

She pushed past Vince and strode to her car, her hips swishing in her agitation. iAlways pushin' my damn buttons/i. She waited long enough for Vince to have the door closed before she squealed out of the parking spot.

"So, what did you say about me to Jesse that had him giving you that warning?" he asked. His tone was again a study in barely controlled anger.

"Nonaya."

"Nonaya?"

"Yeah, as in none'a ya damn business." She punctuated her statement with a violent shift from second to third, tailgating the Jetta for something to do.

"I wanna know what you said!"

"And I don't wanna tell you!" she roared. "If your only intent in ridin' with me was to bust my balls you shoulda went with Jess."

"Fuck, you're hard on the head."

"What can I say? I try." She shrugged.

"You must try hard."

"Nope, it just comes natural."

"God help us all."

"You can call to God all you want but I can tell you from experience he ain't comin' so it just gives you somethin' to do while you wait. Kinda like the button you push at the crosswalk when you're waiting to get the light. It don't make the green come any faster, just keeps you occupied while you stand there."

"Cynical."

She made a gesture uncannily like one Jesse was known for, cocking her head slightly to the left as she raised her left shoulder and squinted her left eye slightly. She even lifted her left hand, palm up. The only thing she was missing was a lit smoke between her fingers. The family resemblance was finally apparent. "Maybe, but it ain't like life hasn't given me good reason."

He simply shrugged in answer. Cynical was ok. Cynical he got. The constant smart aleck retorts he wasn't so sure he did. Why did she constantly feel the need to respond with lip? "You goin' to races tonight or not?"

"Like as not I'll go. Don't really wanna be left alone in a strange house all night."

"Good a reason as any to come with, I suppose."

They reached the house. Jesse parked in the driveway but Tempest chose to park at the curb again. She got out of the car, waited for Vince to shut his door and locked the car up before arming the security. They walked into the house to find everyone else aside from Leon already sitting in the living room.