Fic; Wild Force (pt. 7)
[ disclaimers and header info] [prologue]
[ part 2] [ part 3] [ part 4] [ part 5] [ part 6]
Mia had taken the story well enough that Cale was able to finish the weekend with the Toretto's without much incident. Once they were back at school, however, Mia pulled away from her friend and kept her distance.
Cale couldn't blame the girl for that reaction. What she had heard would certainly require a few days of hard thinking and solitude to make it all make sense. It would even give Mia the time to think up excuses if she decided that Cale posed a problem to Dom and his crew.
So, Cale spent the week much as she had before Mia had entered the picture. Justin, Mackenzie and Chris didn't ask questions, and Cale didn't offer information. Instead, they fell back upon their old camaraderie and pretended like nothing had happened.
Two glorious and street-race-free weeks passed and Cale found herself glad for the old anonymity. It was nice not having to worry about things. Lynn's advances in street racing were no longer Cale's concern, so she had turned a blind eye to the whole deal. Mia knew the score on that front, and could deal with it as she saw fit.
It wasn't until Cale and her friends returned to the Campbell mansion Saturday night that Cale decided some perverse street-racing god was demanding some sort of atonement for her sins. I was obvious that Lynn was hosting a party, which wasn't unusual, in and of itself. The blond usually threw parties when the mood struck her. What made this odd was the fact that all the guests sported tricked-out rides, if the parked cars in the driveway were any indication.
"Oh, fuckin' hell," Justin breathed, loud enough for Cale and Chris to hear. Mackenzie was blissfully ignorant of the others' exploits in street racing, but that was probably about to change. "I thought we were done with this lot for good."
They weaved through the people inside the house, noting happily that the majority of the revellers were in the backyard.
Cale gave her friends a sad smile. "You three head downstairs. I'll find out what's going on."
The sight that greeted Cale as she stood on the patio made her blood turn to ice. Not only was Lynn hosting a party, but she had also invited nearly the entire racing elite from L.A. With a cringe, Cale noted Butch's presence and she hastily ducked out of his line-of-sight. She noted Dom and his crew, and was a bit surprised to see Mia there. No one noticed her presence until Lynn grabbed Cale's shoulder and spun her around.
"What are you doing here?" Lynn asked harshly.
"In case you forgot," Cale said, ignoring those now looking on. "I live here."
Lynn gave her a spiteful smile. "Yes, well, not tonight, you don't. Get out."
"Bite me," Cale said, smiling happily. It was at that point that an arm slid around Cale's shoulder.
"There a problem here, ladies?" Dom asked, looking at each of them.
Lynn's expression turned murderous as she stared at Cale. "No. No problem," Lynn said, her tone disturbingly calm.
"Good," Dom said, steering Cale away from her half-sister and back to his crew.
Giving the retreating couple a death-glare, Lynn turned on her heel and stormed off.
Jesse smirked at Cale. "So you, like, live here?"
Cale let Dom pull her down next to him as he resumed his seat. She smiled at Jesse. "Yeah. Unfortunately."
"Why unfortunately?" Jesse asked, genuinely puzzled. "I mean, if my dad had all this money, I'd go nuts trying to spend it all. Seriously, you know what you could put under a hood with the salary Bryn Campbell makes?"
The group smiled at Jesse's comment, some chuckling.
"Kid has a one-track mind," Dom said, amused.
Leon took a swig from his Corona. "Seriously, though. Jesse has a point. You playing Kincaid as an alias, or something, or what?"
Cale shook her head, uncomfortably aware that she had the team's attention now. "No. My mom was Madison Kincaid. She lived down near Rockport. My dad, Bryn Campbell, met my mom while he was an intern at one of the firms down there. They fell in love and were planning on getting married."
"They never did, did they?" Dom asked.
"No. The Campbells felt my mother wasn't the type of woman an up-and-coming lawyer should attach himself to, so they pressured him into marrying someone more suitable." Cale made a face. "My mom wanted him to stand up for himself and put his foot down, but he never did. He broke her heart, instead, and gave into his family."
They had nothing to say to that. Except Jesse, who asked, "So, if your mom thinks the guy is a dead-beat, how did you end up here?"
Letty punched Jesse in the arm. "Dummy."
"No, it's okay." Cale smiled sadly. "My mom told him about me when I was born, and he claimed responsibility of me without his family knowing. I was sixteen when my mom died and, since Bryn was my only living biological parent, he felt he owed it to my mom to take me in."
Dom gave Cale's shoulder a squeeze as she fell silent. With a sigh, she gently extricated herself from him and stood up. "You'll have to excuse me. My friends are waiting for me downstairs. You guys are welcome to join us if you get tired of the Princess's little soiree." And with that she headed back inside.
Cale began grabbing drinks from the fridge. As she was gathering snacks, a delicate cough caught her attention.
"Mia?"
"Cale."
Cale went back to gathering snacks. "How's it going?"
"Things're good." Mia watched Cale as the other girl moved about the kitchen. "Uh, listen. I was thinking," Mia said. She leaned against the fridge casually. "I think you should tell Dom."
Cale paused. "You haven't told him?"
"No. I mean, I was going to, but I thought it might be better coming from you."
Cale put everything down and gave Mia her full attention. "How the fuck do you propose I tell him? The man would decapitate me."
"This is what I've spent the last two weeks trying to figure out." Mia smiled sadly. "And really, it isn't as bad as you all seem to think. You have Marc to vouch for your integrity. And…you have mine."
Cale could only stare at the girl. "That still doesn't solve anything. It doesn't change the fact that Butch lied about something that never happened and was able to back it up with his hack-job on the car."
Mia waved a dismissive hand. "Pfft. Everyone knows Butch is a lying son of a bitch."
"Yeah, and even with that solid fact established Marc couldn't help me."
"I think I have a way. Race Wars."
"Okay, now you've cracked."
"No, listen. Everyone's going to be there. Including Marc. He and Dom talk a lot, as do all the top racers. So I have it on good authority that he'll be there. From what you told me, only Marc and his crew would know you by sight, so you enter the races and wait for Marc to approach you."
Cale thought about it. "My reception from Marc will dictate how the rest of it goes. If he's happy to see me, things'll blow over. If he isn't, I'm screwed."
"It's a hell of a gamble, I know. But you need to take it. If not for yourself, then for my brother."
Cale raid a brow at that and Mia laughed.
"Dom has not stopped bothering me about you. I wouldn't even give him your phone number."
"You're evil, Mia."
Mia grinned. "He needs to know, though."
"Agreed." Cale nodded. "Fine. I'll hit Race Wars. Just get me the invite and I'll be there."
"No problem." Mia pulled Cale into a tight hug before letting her go and going back outside. Cale sighed, grabbed the munchies and drinks and went downstairs to find Justin and Chris. They had work to do.