Title: Shifting Tides – Aftermath
Episode Order: 7
Author: Gil Grissom
Pairing: Dom/Brian
Summary: Dom and Brian both have to deal with the fallout both at home and at work.
~*~
Dom pulled up to the house to find barely controlled chaos. Half their group was there, along with several Chosen. Some were sitting and drinking juice, no doubt after giving donations to the cause, and others were working on cleaning up the blood that had been smeared everywhere when Jesse and Vince had been pulled into the house.
Luckily the immediate neighborhood knew what was what and had long ago adopted the “didn’t see nothing, don’t know anything” way of life when it came to Dom and his group. Part of it was no doubt a healthy dose of fear, because while they might not know what was going on exactly, they knew something was up that they didn’t necessarily want to get involved in. But mostly it was out of loyalty because Dom and his people did right by their neighborhood and kept it as safe as possible for them and their kids.
It did help that there were quite a few Chosen families who lived in the neighborhood and aided in talking them up and keeping an ear on what was going on and who needed what. All of it meant that no one had been alerted to the shooting that had happened earlier, which was good because Dom had no idea how to explain that one. Fucking Tran.
“Did they make it?” he asked James as he walked up to him.
“Yeah, they did. Han and Mia are with them now while they go through the process and bitch up a storm because…” He shrugged. “Bullets, man. They’re a real bitch when you’re already a Vamp.”
He couldn’t argue with that so Dom simply nodded. “Tran’s dust. Not sure what happened with Lance, so that’s coming. Brian ran him off the road. Considering where we were, that landing was probably pretty fucking hard.”
“Well, he had that shit coming and more besides. He knew what he was getting into when he decided to throw his hat into his cousin’s ring.” James motioned to the stairs. “You can go look for yourself, but Mia’s in full mama-bear mode with Jesse. She Turned him herself and he came precariously close to dying on her before she could do it.”
Dom nodded. “Yeah, she gets like that when she’s in protective mode, but she’s going to have to get over it. We need to retreat to the beach house. No one knows where it is, and it’s not in any of our names. I don’t want the cops rolling up on us without Brian or Nathan knowing about it. I trust most in the neighborhood, but there are always those who move in or out, and someone might call.”
“Then you need to be the one to go up and tell her we’re moving,” James said, laughing when Dom made a face at him. “We’ll get the cars into the garage so we can transfer them without anyone in the neighborhood seeing them. They’ll be wiped for a while.”
Dom nodded and headed upstairs while James went over to talk to Jason and David, leaving him to make whatever plans needed to be done. He slipped into Mia’s room, rolling his eyes when she growled a little. “It’s just me.” He sat down on the bed and ran his fingers through Jesse’s hair. “He doing okay?”
“He seems to be. Four bullets total that we had to help dig out after Turning him to give him a chance to heal faster once everything kicked in properly. Vince had three, but his weren’t in areas as vital as Jesse’s were,” Mia told him. “I expect he’ll be awake and bitching soon enough.”
“Yeah. We need to move them. You know it’s not safe for them here, especially in this vulnerable state. And Lance is still out there. I took care of Tran, so we don’t have to worry about his dumb ass anymore.”
“Good. He needed a good killing,” Mia said. “They’re all bandaged up so they wouldn’t bleed all over the place, so as soon as you’re ready, we can get him moved. I only want you to help me. And you drive the car.”
“You got it,” Dom said. The others might be dumb enough to argue with his sister when she went into overprotective mode, but he wasn’t, so he left her to keep watch over Jesse and went in to check on Han and Vince.
Dom laughed when he saw Vince. “He looks pissed off even while unconscious.”
Han snorted. “He never intended to be Turned this young. So yeah, he’s kind of pissed off that it was this or death, because he had plans to look older and a little more distinguished. His words, not mine. But yeah, he’s pissed at Tran and actually really pissed off at Jesse for doing what he did.”
“I can’t blame him for that. Technically it did get him killed, but Vince will get over it eventually and he’ll be poking at people with his metaphorical stick in no time.”
“We’ll just have to make sure to play mediator until he calms his ass down. He loves Jesse like a brother, so at least we can be relatively certain he won’t dust him just for being dumb.”
Dom snorted. “Right. We’re moving to the beach house, so make sure he’s prepped for that.”
“I figured so he’s as ready as he’s going to get. I’ll get one of the others to help me with his heavy ass.” Han glanced behind Dom. “Where’s your prettier half?”
Dom rolled his eyes. “His presence was demanded down at the department. Tanner’s undies are in a knot because all this shit blew up in his face and Brian had to go and deal with it. Pat his feelings about the whole thing.”
“You gave him the number to the law firm, right?”
“I put Angela’s number in his phone myself.”
Han grinned at him. “Good man. She’ll eat them alive and grind the bones into dust with her teeth.”
“Nice imagery,” Dom said, making a face as he turned back around. “I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”
~*~
Brian caught Lindsey’s eye and hoped like hell he conveyed just how unimpressed he was as he continued to tune out Tanner’s ranting about the whole debacle. He’d been yelling into the ether for at least half an hour, and Brian lost track of the thread somewhere around minute five, when he realized that Tanner was starting to repeat himself and this was more an effort to blow off steam than anything.
Lindsey rolled his eyes and went back to doodling on his paper. Brian wasn’t sure exactly why Lindsey was there, but Brian was just glad that he wasn’t alone.
“Am I boring you, O’Conner?” Tanner asked finally as Nathan slipped in the door.
“Quite frankly, yes,” Brian said. “I heard you the first cycle through and I honestly have little patience for listening to repeats of the same rant over and over like you’re a hamster on a wheel.”
From the corner of his eye, Brian could see Lindsey’s shoulders shaking, though he was hiding—badly—behind a sheaf of papers, and Nathan had pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. But honestly, Brian was just done with everyone and everything. He didn’t care about tact and he didn’t give a shit if he blew up this damn job. Let someone fire him. He just didn’t give a damn.
“And do you have anything to add? Anything to say for yourself?”
“To say for myself? No, because I didn’t do anything wrong. I did what I was supposed to do. I dug into Toretto’s life and befriended him to keep an eye on what they were doing. It’s not my fault I was working from deliberately falsified information or that Bilkins and whoever else was involved were making an illicit paycheck from Tran to fuck up Toretto’s life. This op was corrupted and wrong from the beginning, and I had no way of knowing it.
“Do I have anything to add? Nope, but I would like it on record that I told you so. I told you that Tran was shady as fuck, that there was something off, that Tran was Yakuza. Bilkins, of course, blew me off and insisted it was Toretto because he was on Tran’s payroll, but you didn’t listen to me either. You know me, yet you dismissed everything I said and did nothing because you were content to get the accolades but let Bilkins run the whole damn thing, even though it was supposed to be a joint op. You might not have been complicit, but you were apathetic about the whole thing.”
Brian shrugged when Tanner glared at him, clearly furious about getting slapped in the face with the truth. But he seemed to gather himself and visibly calmed down. “Do we know where Tran is now?” Tanner asked.
“In the wind, most likely, if someone was able to get the word out before all the players they knew about were taken down. There could have been others too. Who knows what was going on, and I doubt we’ll get information out of the FBI concerning their own people. They’ll want to keep that kind of shit as hushed up as possible. Appearances and all.”
Tanner’s eyebrows rose. “So…you were pretty sure Tran was behind all this, but you didn’t keep up with him?”
“Hey, that wasn’t my job. I’ll say it again, I did mine, and I told you what I was being told by those who were actually living that life. I was ignored. You ignored what I told you about Tran. You ignored the fact that Tran and his cousin shot up that damned car I was using. You ignored the fact that I had seen nothing that indicated that Dom was in the wrong or doing anything at all. Making sure that the FBI agents and their information was legit wasn’t my job, nor was it my job to babysit the fucking guy who was supposed to be on the up and up, who was supposed to be the victim.”
“You should have taken the initiative. You should have been more forceful about your doubts regarding what was happening. If you’d been more insistent and more proactive in showing the proof to your claims, I would have taken them seriously.”
Brian stood up and leaned forward. “Fuck you. I’m not taking the fall for your incompetence and your apathy. I might be young, but I’m not stupid, and you’re not going to manipulate me into taking the blame for this because you look bad.” Brian pulled out his badge and gun and slid them over toward Nathan. “I quit.”
“You can’t just quit!”
“I can and I will. I’m done. My trust has always been in low supply, something that has to be earned. I was willing to give the LAPD a shot, give the FBI the benefit of the doubt, and trust that they knew what they were doing. More fool me for ever trusting any of you. I certainly won’t trust you with my life.”
Brian headed toward the door and Nathan picked up his badge and gun and made to follow. “I’ll take care of going through the official channels myself and I’ll be sure to write up the reports needed for this dumbass op. If you feel the need to interrogate me or question me about anything after the fact, you can talk to me through my lawyer.” He pointed to Tanner. “I meant it. I’m not taking the fall for whatever shit the chief throws at you for this.”
“You’re going to regret this,” Tanner said as Brian walked through the door.
“Not likely.”
~*~
Dom looked down at the phone and smiled as Brian’s number popped up. “Hey, Bri.”
“Hey. I’m finally leaving the station. I officially resigned and that was a nightmare and a half. Tanner didn’t take it well, since he decided he was going to attempt to throw me under the bus for the whole thing. Angela actually had to come down and get in their face just to let me leave the damn station.”
“We knew that it was a possibility. Which was why I gave you her number.”
“Yeah. But I took care of everything I needed. Lindsey just left to go home as well. I’m pretty sure he was hanging out just to be a shield for me if I needed it, but…”
“I’m glad he was there for you.”
“Yeah, me too. I really like him. He’s a good guy, and it’s nice to have someone I can trust around. Nathan was keeping close tabs too. I didn’t even realize he’d come in.”
“Yeah, he went out to the airfield to update everyone and see Adam briefly and then headed in to back you up. Didn’t trust that they wouldn’t try to lock your ass up and blame this clusterfuck on you,” Dom said as he dropped down on the bed.
“Yeah. I’m just waiting for him. He wanted to make sure that I had an escort. I’m just waiting in the parking lot.”
Brian blew out a loud breath and Dom frowned. “Is something wrong?” he asked, sitting back up.
“I don’t know. Do you ever just…get a really bad feeling about something?”
“Yeah, I do. And I’ve learned over the years that it’s not worth ignoring, even if it doesn’t come to anything. Because more often than not, that feeling is right. What’s got you feeling off?”
“When Lindsey was leaving, I just…felt this overwhelming urge to cling to him, not let him go, but I couldn’t figure out how to stop him without being a complete and utter creep for no good reason. I just…got a distinct feeling that if he left, I wasn’t going to see him alive again.”
Dom groaned. “Probably for good reason, and I’m a complete dumbass.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Tran’s out of the picture, which is a good thing, but Lance isn’t. And while Tran had a grudge against me, Lance despises Daniel. And at the very least by now, Lance would have heard about everything that went down, and since Tran likely Turned Lance, he’d have felt his dusting.”
“Which means that Lance may go after Lindsey to get back at us, and to stick it to Daniel in particular. Well, shit.”
“Can you call him?”
“No. He turned off his phone while he was here in the parking lot, saying he didn’t want to talk to anyone about anything for the rest of the night. Just wanted to veg and forget this shit happened for at least one night.”
Understandable but not helpful at all, Dom thought. “Do you know where he lives?” he asked, getting up and heading downstairs.
“Yeah, I got the address in my phone. I’ll text it to you and meet you there with Nathan.”
“Be careful. He’d take you out without hesitation.”
“I will, I promise.”
Dom hung up and jumped over the railing. “Daniel!”
Daniel jogged in from the kitchen. “What’s up?”
“Brian’s got a really bad feeling that something’s going to happen to Lindsey, and Lance is still out there and likely fucking furious. We need to get a group together and head to his place now.”
“Can’t we call him, warn him not to go home?” David asked as he got up off the couch.
“No. He turned off his phone, not wanting to deal with anything tonight. If Lance knows where he is, and I’ll wager that Tran’s intel was thorough, he’ll strike while he thinks we’re not paying attention. And he’ll want the privacy of Lindsey’s home to draw it out.”
“Then let’s get our asses moving,” Daniel said. “Who’s coming with us?”
“Adam, I want you with us. No one here needs your help, but Lindsey might. Belle, James, I want you to stay here as protection for Suki and the others. Jesse and Vince are still vulnerable, as are the humans here, and Mia and Han’s attention is divided at present. I don’t think Lance would be dumb enough to try to attack us here of all places, but he’s also likely so furious he’s going to go off the rails completely.”
Dom looked at Daniel. “And he can’t stand you in particular, so it would be a boon to cause you pain. No pun intended.”
Daniel snorted. “Pun totally intended. And you’re right. He’s always had a grudge against me. He’s always hated me because I’m beautiful. And because my ass always looked better than his in leather.”
Dom rolled his eyes as his phone chimed. “Got the address. Let’s go.”
~*~
“Well, fuck a duck. Lindsey’s got company,” Nathan murmured, pulling out his phone.
Brian grimaced as he saw the group of motorcycles on the lawn, partially hidden from the street view thanks to the hedges and the wall and fence that encircled Lindsey’s property.
“Dom, Lance and his crew are definitely here,” Nathan said, his voice barely above a whisper. Brian watched him as Nathan listened to whatever was being said and nodded. “Okay.”
Nathan pulled him back toward their car. “Dom’s less than five minutes out. We’ll wait for him. He wants you to stay back with Jason until they make a breach. They’ll be able to single you out due to your heartbeat and would likely go after you to distract everyone else.”
Brian didn’t particularly like it, but he understood it so he simply nodded and waited. It seemed like forever before Dom and the rest of the group melted out of the shadows of the semi-dark street. They’d clearly parked far enough away that it wouldn’t alert anyone to their arrival.
Brian didn’t say anything, simply pointed to the house in question, where the lights were on and there were clearly people moving around inside.
Dom held his finger to his lips and then started directing people to different parts of the house. Brian lost track of them as they moved and he and Jason crept closer. Brian could hear music from the house so it had to be quite loud inside. He knew it was likely to keep people from hearing what was going on inside, but he also knew that Dom and the others would be able to use it to their advantage. So he leaned back against the fence and waited.
Dom crept through the open garage with Daniel and Adam behind him, but no one was inside keeping watch. Dom shook his head. Tran clearly hadn’t taught his people how to remain alert and on the lookout. Or perhaps it was simply that Lance was so focused on his own fury that he wasn’t thinking straight. Either way, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Carefully he turned the knob, which turned easily so it clearly wasn’t locked, and Dom opened the door carefully, making sure no one was in the line of sight before creeping around the side of it. It led into a service room with a deep utility sink and a washer and dryer. Currently, the washer was on the spin cycle, indicating Lindsey had at least gotten into the house and settled in somewhat before Lance arrived.
The washer was just one more thing that helped to mask any noise they might make and they slipped through the room and into the kitchen area, which was also clear of anyone. Filtering out the music to hear what was going on underneath it, Dom could hear the erratic, thready heartbeat that signified at least there was one human alive in there, though clearly in distress. No other heartbeats were present, which told him that the entire group was made up of Vampires.
There had been four bikes on the lawn, so at least three others with Lance at minimum. Dom crept closer to the kitchen door, which separated it from whichever room was next door, and pushed it slightly so he could see out, but all he could see was a dining room area. He could hear the murmurs of other people, but they were further away, so he took a chance and peeked his entire head around the door. There was an opening on the other side of the dining room, but only one person was in sight and they were focused on whatever was going on in the other direction, which wasn’t visible.
Dom slipped out of the kitchen, the other three following, and they quickly slipped off to the side so the guy wouldn’t see them if he happened to glance in their direction.
On the other side of the room, they could see down a hallway where the rest of their group was creeping toward their prey. The sound of flesh hitting flesh and a pained groan reached their ears and Dom focused on that.
“You know, it’s sad that such a good, handsome man as you has to die,” Lance said. “I likely would have let you live, if you hadn’t looked exactly like Daniel. He’s a miserable piece of work, and when I realized you were a descendant, I knew I needed to take you out.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lindsey said around pained gasps.
“Possibly not, but that’s neither here nor there. You’ll be dead soon enough anyway. And then I’m going to make it my life’s work to end Dominic Toretto and his group. Then I just might focus on Border Clan completely. Dom wouldn’t wipe his own ass without Scurlock’s permission, so I know the hit order on Johnny came down from him. He’s going to pay for that too. You’re just the first in a long trail of bodies and dust I’m going to leave behind me.”
Dom nodded to the other group and they all charged just as Lindsey released a pained scream, and as Dom rounded the corner, he saw Lance pull a knife out of Linsdey’s chest. Luckily it wasn’t the heart, but death was imminent.
“Daniel, Adam,” he said, nodding toward Lindsey as the others engaged the five other Vampires in the room.
Lance whirled around, surprise and fury sweeping over his face, but Dom said nothing, simply grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the room, even as Lance swiped his knife out at him. Lance’s head hit the marble-top coffee table hard enough to cause a clear dent in his forehead, knocking him for a loop.
All around him the sound of steel meeting steel screeched in the air, and soon enough dust was swirling all around them. None of Tran’s group was ever going to be a match for his people. Soon enough, the only one left was Lance, and the rest of his people fell back, leaving Lance to him.
“He’s consented to me Turning him, Dom,” Daniel called out. We’re moving him to his bedroom. Kill that fucker extra hard for me.”
“Will do,” Dom said, nudging Lance onto his back. He was awake but clearly reeling from the hit to the head.
“Wanna trial,” Lance murmured as he held his head.
“Nope. Sorry. Johnny ruined that for you by being a complete twat. We’ve got dust-on-sight orders, coming straight from Scurlock, and you said I don’t wipe my own ass without his permission. Who am I to prove you wrong?”
“‘m not Johnny though,” Lance said as he stumbled up to his feet.
“No, but you’re cut from the same damn cloth, and look what you did,” Dom said, motioning to the house they were in. “You attacked a human who was just doing the job your dumb asses pulled him into. You could’ve walked away, started over somewhere else where you weren’t in our territory, figured out how to live life without being under Tran’s thumb. But you made a choice, and now you have to face the consequences.”
Lance glared at him. “Do it then. I’m not getting out of here alive and I can’t fight my way out. Just know that I’ll be back and I’ll make you regret it when you least expect it.”
Dust flew once more as David cut through Lance’s neck with Daniel’s talwar. “Yeah, yeah, asshole. Like we ain’t heard that shit before.”
“Dom! Lindsey’s gonna feed from your hot as fuck Mate since he needs some blood now, and then we’ll get him ready for transport,” Daniel yelled out.
Dom snorted as the others laughed. “Someone find a Dustbuster or something, start getting this place cleaned of all the ash. Let’s work on the blood as well, leave it as clean as possible in case anyone comes looking. We don’t need them investigating a damn crime scene. David, call Maldonado, have him bring a truck to haul off the motorcycles and dismantle them for parts. We need them out of here before people start asking questions.”
“And what are you going to do, oh illustrious leader?” David asked.
He heard the chime in the back of the house. “The laundry.”
~*~
Dom glanced in the mirror to the back seat, laughing a little when Brian stuck his tongue out at him. Apparently Lindsey, in his newly Turned state, had taken a liking to Brian’s warmth and was determined to snuggle him to death. It was adorable as hell, and Daniel had to be separated from them because he wouldn’t stop laughing, which kept disturbing Lindsey as he slept.
It took more than a few hours, but everything had been cleaned up as much as they could manage, and the bikes had been taken away. Now they were headed back to the beach house so Lindsey could transition fully and get the information he needed and learn to control himself quickly, because his was a job he couldn’t just up and leave like Brian could.
They were in Brian’s car, Adam and Nathan having taken his in order to pick up Nathan’s from the station and to pick up some bagged blood on the way back to the beach house, since they now had three newly Turned Vampires who would be looking for more blood sooner rather than later. He was just glad that Brian had given voice to his bad feeling, or they would have lost Lindsey tonight.
As Dom stopped at an intersection, he frowned.
“What?” Brian asked quietly.
Dom looked up to find Brian still watching him. “I just thought of something. Nathan had to have known Lindsey for a while. Or at least known of him.”
“Yeah? So?”
“He’s known Daniel for years. Why didn’t he ever tell us about him?”
Brian’s expression turned amused. “To save him from the crazy for a while?” He grinned and shrugged. “Just ask him. I mean, it could just be that their paths never really crossed before. Big city, and there’s a crapton of ADAs. Knowing someone by name and seeing them in person are two different things.”
“True,” Dom said as the light turned green, and they fell silent again as they drove down the mostly empty streets as they drew close to the beach house.
It was late and it had been a day, and all he wanted to do was get Lindsey settled in, some blood into him and the two Stooges at the house, and then curl up with his Mate for some quality sleep and snuggle time.
By the time they parked in the garage, Brian was completely conked out as well. Dom rolled his eyes when Daniel opened the passenger door and peered into the backseat and said, “Awww, aren’t they the cutest things ever?”
Then Dom laughed when Brian sat up and automatically flipped Daniel off while trying to wake up. “Help get him out so we can get him settled in your rooms.”
“I need a shower,” Brian muttered as he climbed out.
“Go on up. I’ll come find you once I get everything settled,” Dom told him, pushing Brian gently toward the door to get him going.
Brian hummed but didn’t say anything else since he was clearly exhausted.
“We can handle this, Dom,” David said as he used his free hand to close the door. “Not our first rodeo. All we’re doing is getting him cleaned up further and waiting for Adam and Nathan to bring the blood back. You can go and mother-hen Brian.”
“Thanks, guys.” Dom trailed them up the stairs and checked in on Jesse and Vince briefly before heading into his room. He found Brian just starting to undress himself, and the shower was running, so Dom lifted his shirt over his own head and helped Brian out of his.
Brian turned around and leaned into Dom, resting his head on Dom’s shoulder. “I’m so tired. It’s been a long ass day.”
“Yeah. Let me take care of you, and we’ll get some sleep.”
Brian nodded and Dom knelt down, helping Brian finish stripping before removing the rest of his own clothes, and he manhandled him into the shower. He took his time cleaning Brian and shampooing his hair, keeping his touch gentle. Once they were done, he got Brian out and dried in spite of Brian being nearly fully asleep on his feet. It didn’t take much to get him into bed and he was dead to the world before Dom had managed to pull up the covers.
Dom shook his head and smiled fondly at him before cleaning up the bathroom so Brian wouldn’t trip over the discarded clothes. Then he turned off the lights and settled in next to his Mate, not dropping off completely until he heard Nathan and Adam, the last of their group, return home safely.
~*~
Brian groaned when his phone rang from the other side of the room. “It’s too damn early,” he mumbled as he turned in Dom’s arms and buried his face against his neck. “Not answering.”
Dom hummed. “Everyone important is here. It’s only seven and we were up until three. It’ll wait.”
Brian nodded but then groaned when it started ringing again. It did the same three more times before Brian finally got up and retrieved it. He rolled his eyes when he saw that it was Tanner calling repeatedly.
When it started ringing again, Brian answered it. “I told you to call my lawyer if you had anything you needed to discuss.”
“Get your ass to the station, we have questions.”
“Talk to my attorney. I already gave you my report detailing everything I know about the situation. I’m not going anywhere without her present, so you’re going to have to wait for her to have time.”
“We can always bring your ass in,” Tanner replied dryly.
“Do it and I’ll sue the LAPD,” Brian retorted. “I don’t work for you or the PD anymore. You don’t get to order me to jump, especially since I did nothing wrong.”
“You’re just being a drama queen. We all know you’re putting on a show and will come crawling back.”
“Dude, I have two degrees and it wouldn’t be the work of anything to go for my Masters in engineering. I chose the department because I was enamored with an ancestor of mine and the work he did, but this whole experience ruined it for me. I have no desire whatsoever in remaining with the LAPD or any police department. All this did was make me realize that I’m not cut out for it, especially when I can’t trust others to do their damn jobs properly.”
“There’s still the matter of the missing and stolen merchandise,” Tanner pointed out. “You were the one out there. We have questions.”
“So do I,” Brian said, sitting up and leaning against the headboard while Dom shifted and rested his head in Brian’s lap. “How do you know the merchandise was stolen? Clearly Bilkins and his group were in on the whole thing. How do you know it was stolen at all? How do you know that Tran didn’t steal it himself from other people, and he was the thief? How do you know there was actually anything in those trucks? Or that they were truly hijacked. If it did exist and it really was Trans legitimately, how do you know he wasn’t stealing his own shit, getting the insurance payouts for it, and selling it on the black market for extra funds or whatever?”
“I don’t.”
“Neither do I. Because I was where I was supposed to be, watching Dom and his group, and I saw nothing to indicate they were responsible for anything. We know that Tran set this all up, that Bilkins set up Dominic Toretto for the fall. You want to question somebody? Find Tran and bring him in. That is, if he and his cousin and their henchmen haven’t already fled the US. They could have hit the Mexican border yesterday, as soon as they found out the jig was up. Or they could have hopped a plane, commercial or private, and headed back to Japan. Or they could have just fled to another part of the US, or hopped on a ship. Who the fuck knows?
“But I can’t pull answers I don’t have out of my ass to make you look better. You weren’t alone. A select group of FBI agents played everyone for fools. It happens. You can’t stop people from being major assholes and doing illegal things. It’s just the way it is, and I shouldn’t have to tell you this shit. Now, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night because of all the damn stress, so I’m going back to bed. If you got questions, call my damn attorney and she can set up a time if she’s so inclined.”
Brian hung up and turned down the ringer. “Persistent asshole.”
“He’s scrambling for someone to blame for it because he doesn’t want to take the heat,” Dom murmured.
“Yeah. He liked the idea of the whole flashy op. Fast cars, illegal races, felony theft and hijacking, and FBI involvement, but he didn’t want to do the work or be on the hook for anything. With the FBI out of the picture due to corruption, it makes him look like a fool. It’s ultimately not his fault and I wouldn’t be so fucking pissed if he wasn’t trying to make me culpable for something. I’m not inclined to give him any leeway when he’s clearly trying to throw me under the damn bus.”
Dom moved back to his own pillow. “Yeah, just let Angela take care of that. No need to deal with the added stress since he can’t be decent about it and deal with being duped by someone he should have been able to trust.”
Brian slid back down and plastered himself against Dom. “I just want it done with, so I’ll not drag it out. But I’m not going to let them treat me like I’m some naive kid either. That’s why they chose me, I’m guessing. They thought they could manipulate me and no one would notice. Bilkins thought I would do everything he wanted, including manufacturing evidence, because I looked young and innocent.”
He shrugged a little. “Yeah, I believed him at first just like Tanner did, but I’m also man enough to admit that he had me duped at first, until he started pushing too hard for things that didn’t make sense. Tanner needs to own it and move on, stop trying so damn hard to make it seem like he hadn’t fallen for it. It happened. He needs to deal.”
“I agree,” Dom murmured. “Now go back to sleep.”
Brian groaned. “I’m awake now. This is terrible.”
The door burst open and Han came stumbling in, rumpled and half-asleep. He closed and locked the door behind him and then went to the foot of the bed. He dropped his robe and crawled bare-ass naked under the covers and up in between them.
Brian looked at Dom, amused, as Han maneuvered them the way he wanted them, with Dom plastered against his back while Brian was flush against him, chest to chest. “Problems?” Brian finally asked when Han settled.
“Jason and James are insatiable, and I’m too damn tired to deal with their crap,” Han said before dozing back off.
Dom rolled his eyes and Brian grinned but settled in to be Han’s cuddle-buddy.
~*~
Two hours later, it was Dom’s turn for his phone to ring.
Han groaned and scooted closer to Brian when Dom got up to find his phone. “Don’t people know it’s too early?”
“No,” Dom said, laughing when Han huffed and burrowed under the blanket. A quick look told him it was Josiah, so he answered it. “Hey, Josie.”
It was totally worth the exasperated huff he received in return. “Thought I’d call for an update since I know that you went to the race yesterday. I’d expected a call sometime yesterday but it’s been silence from everyone on your side.”
“Hold on a minute.” Dom set his phone down and slipped on the pajama pants he’d nabbed, as well as a tank, and then left the room. “Han and Brian are still sleeping. Didn’t want to disturb them.”
“Your Mate’s good with Han in your bed?”
“Yeah, more so than Han has been, but he’s been sleeping with Jason and James and apparently they were too much for him early this morning so he climbed in with us.” Dom headed down into the kitchen and put on some coffee since no one else was up and around yet. “And not surprising no one checked in. It was a whole clusterfuck of a day.”
“What happened?” Josiah asked.
And so Dom told him, from heading out to Race Wars, to Jesse’s epic failure to deal with the consequences of his rash actions, to his and Vince’s Turnings, to the FBI arrests and Lance’s ill-conceived revenge scheme.
Josiah sighed. “Yeah, that was definitely a day, wasn’t it?”
“It was. I think Daniel and David will probably be staying up here once all the dust is settled. With Lindsey being an ADA, he can’t just disappear even if he wanted to. We haven’t talked much about it, but it is what it is.” Dom rubbed his face. “As it is, I’m probably going to have James and Jason head back your way and take Jesse with them.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Yeah. Vince is pissed off. Both at having to be Turned before he was ready, and at Jesse for what we considered to be an impulsive action. Jesse’s stunt essentially got Vince killed. If we weren’t Vampires, he’d have been dead. And it hasn’t occurred to him yet, but it did to me last night, that Jesse’s actions yesterday weren’t all that impulsive. Panicking and leaving after losing, yes, I agree he was acting completely on impulse.” He nodded when James came into the kitchen and helped himself to some coffee.
“But?”
“Josiah, he had his father’s car. He had the fucking title with him. That’s not something you carry around with you in the glove compartment. The only reason to bring a title to the races is if you’re going to sell your car or bet your car. And Brian said some things, talking about how he might have felt because of everything going on, that makes me think his plan to bet his father’s car was deliberate and calculated. He just didn’t expect to lose to Tran, which was stupid, because Tran might have been a corrupt motherfucker, but he was damn good at building, maintaining, and racing cars.”
“And Vince is going to figure it out eventually,” Josiah said and sighed. “Yeah, you need to send Jesse down here as soon as he’s able to get to the plane. And he and I are going to have a very long talk about actions and consequences and owning up to the mistakes one makes, among other things.” He huffed. “And I’m not going to coddle his ass like some of you like to do. He has ADD, yes, but that’s no excuse for this kind of shit. He can’t use it as a shield to protect him from the consequences of every dumbass thing he decides to do.”
“You’ll get no argument from me. I’ll let you know as soon as they’re on their way.”
“You do that. Now go back to whatever you were doing.”
“Just sleeping. I’m awake now, thanks to someone calling me at ass o’clock in the morning.”
“It’s nearly ten your time. Deal,” Josiah said, laughing as he hung up.
“They’re all squared away, so we can leave with him whenever he’s up,” James said. “All I have to do is call Enrique to make a flight plan and get the plane ready.”
“Thanks. I know Vince’ll get over it eventually, but you know how his temper runs when he’s wronged.”
“Yeah, and he has cause to be angry. I would be too in his shoes, honestly. Especially since Jesse was the architect of his own demise. He knew as well as anyone what Tran was like and what he was capable of.” He shook his head. “Josiah was right though. We often let him get away with far too much, and he plays the innocent kid with ADD card far too often to not be purposeful.”
“Yeah. It’s going to have to stop. It’s now reached the point where it’s actually caused harm.” Dom blew a raspberry. “Being in charge of shit sucks. Glad the buck actually stops with Josiah and Jose ultimately.”
James snorted. “Yep. Well, Jesse should be up by noon, and if not, I’ll kick his ass out of bed so I can take his ass home and he can pack. I’m gonna call up Enrique and get everything set up.”
Dom nodded and sat down after preparing his own cup of coffee. He was really too old for this kind of bullshit. He just hoped, now that everything was done with, that things would settle down some and he could actually get back to his life, and really get to introduce Brian to what it was really like.
That was a very enjoyable read. Thank you!