An Eye For An Eye (Fast & Furious | Hobbs/OFC)

Chapter 8

"After the briefing. Maybe."

"See?" She nudged Owen and smiled. "He likes me already."

"No." Owen eyed Little Nobody as he stood in the doorway, waiting and watching them. Unarmed and tense, he was a rabbit caught in the sight lines of wolves. "He's scared of you."

"Even better. He'll leave us alone."

"Get your asses inside." Luke stepped past Eric and looked the Shaws dead in the eye. Whatever delay tactics they were using were about to be quashed. "And stop screwing around. We need to talk."

Hobbs wanted them to talk. Well that certainly sounded interesting. Elizabeth pulled away from Owen and sat on a low concrete wall that lined the edge of a garden bed. "Then let's talk out here."

"Fine." Luke wasn't going to start a fight over something as simple as where they stood. He would certainly be cautious, however. If he played Shaw's game for too long, followed her rules, he'd soon find himself on a slippery slope that potentially led to him losing sight of the mission. "Owen, go fetch your brother."

He went inside without a word and immediately found himself face to face with Deckard. Whatever was going on in his brother's head couldn't be good. That cold, dead look in Deckard's eye was one Owen had seen numerous times. It said he was all but ready to burn everything to the ground no matter the cost.

The day the military arrived at his house and told him his Victoria Cross had been forfeited because of his actions, Deckard had worn that expression. Owen imagined it wouldn't have been much different the day Deckard received the call from the hospital either, or the day a closed court passed sentence on their sister.

"You alright?"

"I'm sick of this." Deckard's jaw was clenched and his sleeves barely contained his biceps. Every inch of him radiated anger and tension while he struggled to distract himself with something. "They came to Mum's house with guns. Showed up in government cars and dragged us off... I just want Cipher dead and this whole thing over with."

Owen nodded in sympathy and rubbed the back of his neck, flinching at the sting of his nails against his scarred skin. There wasn't much to be said when Deckard was like this. They'd both been dishonourably discharged, stripped of rank and medals, their reputations besmirched. The funny thing was no one had ever asked 'why'. The hierarchy only cared for what they'd done, not the reasoning behind their actions. "Me too."

He rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen the tension in them, but Deckard had a feeling the process would require a punching bag, not a massage. He looked over Owen's shoulder at the open door and frowned, noticing nothing but a warm breeze was coming through it. "Where's Hobbs gone?"

"Beth refused to budge so he wants to talk to us outside."

"Course she did." A stubborn pain in the arse was how he'd described her since the day they'd met. Knowing his luck, her refusal was also based on some kind of exit strategy. Deckard had already begun to form his own on the way in. "I guess we should go play happy families then."

Owen raised his eyebrows as if to say 'happy?' but followed Deckard outside without protest. If they stirred up the hornet's nest too soon, it was going to be impossible to leave the grounds without an armed escort. Better to play along than push their luck, he thought.