T2 - Racer's Heart

Chapter 19

We spent the rest of the night just hanging out. Trying to chill out a little before the big shabang happens. Mia was first to call it a night so Vince followed suit. Brian and I were next, we just laid on the uncomfortable mattress, cuddling for hours.

I could feel myself falling asleep and as I did I heard Brian talking. I'm guessing he thought I was out for the night so he started to talk and play with my hair.

"I can't wait for this to be over, Charlotte. This isn't the life that I wanted to have with you. I want a family; you, me, a kid or two, maybe a dog and a rescue cat or something and a nice family home. Not a house, not just any house, I want a forever home for you and for us. I love you so much, Charlotte. I'm so sorry for doing this to us. You didn't want this life and I dragged you into . . ."

"We dragged her into this." Dom interrupted.

"What?" Brian asked.

"I figured she was asleep. We did this to her O'Conner, I can't let you take the blame or let her blame herself. She is and always will be a family girl at heart. No matter what the job was she would have done it just to make sure I didn't go to jail. When Letty died, I shouldn't have gone home. I should've stayed away from her and she'd be fine at home." Dom said.

"She's not stupid, Charlie would've known that you were in LA and she would've hunted you down." Brian said, making both of them laugh.

"Yeha, and we still would've ended up here. She's fiercely loyal and it gets her in too much trouble. Charlie shouldn't be here Brian, she should've stayed in LA."

"You try telling her that."

"She'd bite my head off. See you in the morning, O'Conner." my cousin said, leaving the room and closing the door.

"Even if it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure that you get your house by the beach. I promise you, I will." Brian whispered, kissing my head.

I didn't want him to realize that I heard what was supposed to be a private conversation but I was getting uncomfortable so I snuggled lightly into his side. He panicked for a second but relaxed again when I didn't move any more.

I didn't know that he felt this way and there's nothing for me to say because if I say something he'll know that I heard. We just need to get this over with. We need to finish this so that we can move on with our lives.

Once this job is done our lives will dramatically change, for the better. We'll buy our forever home and raise a family. A kid or two, a dog, a rescue cat, where the hell does he come up with these things? It sounds pretty awesome after everything that we've been through. It sounds pretty damn awesome.

I woke up as soon as the sun was out, so just about 6:00 am. No one else was up so I changed into the pants from the police uniform and a white cami. I'm too nervous to eat so for some reason I started to do handstands. Oddly enough it helped me calm down, which I don't understand but whatever. I'll take it.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Dom scared the hell out of me but thankfully not enough to make me fall. Instead, I landed softly on my feet, I think it's called a walkover. Damn, I'm proud of that! I've got enough scars and scratches and bruises on my arms to last forever.

"I'm calming myself down." I told him.

"What's with your sudden gymnastic obsession?"

"Youtube, I blame the internet. It makes everything look so damn easy so I decided to give it a try." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"That's true, we're gonna be okay. This is almost over, we're almost done." he said.

"Let's finish this then."

Slowly enough, well slowly to me, everyone woke up and we rehashed the plan. After a long argument, we decided that I was going to ride with Roman. They insisted it was for my own protection, of course. We are part of the first wave to leave and as we got ready my heart was pounding.

"Hobbs is on the other side of the city. We're not gonna get a better window." Mia informed us, she's on computer duty.

"Okay guys, it's showtime! First team in position, let's go." Dom shouted.

"Be careful, babe." Brian said.

"You too, I love you." I replied.

"Love you." he said, before kissing me.

"You ready, baby girl?" Roman asked me when I got into the car.

"As ready as I'm ever gonna be." I told him.

The plan was to park at a predetermined, inconspicuous location until we get the radio notification that the guys are on the road. Time started to pass and there was nothing. No chatter, no direct feel or conversation and I'm starting to get nervous.

"Okay, something is wrong." Roman finally said.

"Let's go back." I suggested.

"No! Not until we hear from someone. Anyone got eyes on the second team?" he asked over the radio.

"No, any idea what's going on?" Han asked.

"This doesn't feel right." Gisele added.

"Let's go back." I insisted.

"I'm supposed to protect you, I'm not going back blind." he argued.

"Roman, I love you, I really do, so I'm gonna be very nice here and give you a choice. Take me back or I'm going to blow off the part of you that you love the most and you get the most use out of. Do not forget who I'm related to or the fact that I've been with Brian for a few years, so I'm a really good shot." I told him.

"Damn it, Charlie, you had to go there?" he sighed.

"This is my family that's missing in action, I'll go wherever I have to."

"Charlie and I are going back." Roman told the rest of the team.

"Is that the right choice?" Tej asked.

"I'm going back for my family." I told them when Roman started driving back.

"You want backup?" Han asked.

"No, the rest of you should stay away, just in case." I replied.

I could feel that something was off as soon as we pulled up. It was too silent so we cased the outside before going in and that's when I knew something was wrong. Dom's baby was all kinds of banged and busted up, there was broken glass everywhere and a few of the rooms were completely trashed.

"This was Hobbs." I growled.

"You think he found them?" Roman asked.

"Him or Reyes, I don't know which one is worse. Did I lose them? Did I just lose all of my family?" I asked, feeling the panic settle in.

"I don't know baby girl, I wish I had a better answer for you."

Roman grabbed a radio and filled in the rest of the team, they all insisted on coming back. Me, I'm in shock, I think, maybe it's denial. This can't be how it ends, not like this.

"Run! Y'all need to hide! Hobbs is on his way here! Less than five minutes!" Tej shouted.

I'm paralyzed with fear and if not for Roman, I would've stood on the sofa. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me along. We barely made it into the room when the Gurkha started to pull in.

There is a war going on inside of me; fear of this horribly unknown situation and an intense rage for this man. He ruined everything.

We heard several doors open and close than nothing. After a few seconds, we heard some sort of scuffle and I don't know what to make of it.

"Charlotte? Charlie babe, come out please."