Fast Lane ━━ Brian O'Conner

𝟬𝟰. constraints of triviality

     Jesse knocked the car with his gloved fist. "You could push this across the finish line, or tow it."

     The girls laughed, Josephine shaking her head as she looked at Brian. "You couldn't even tow that across the finish line, Jess."

     His face fell for a second. Brian shook his head. "No faith."

     "Oh, I have faith in you, but this isn't a junkyard," Dominic told him. "This is a garage."

     Brian sent an eager nod at Jesse, gesturing at the front of the car. "Hey, pop the hood."

     "Pop the hood?"

     "Pop the hood."

     So they did. I supposed they did underestimate him a little. Jesse looked surprised when he completely took the hood off. "2JZ engine. No shit."

     "And what did I tell you?" Brian said smugly. His arms crossed in front of his chest.

      Dominic smirked. "I retract my previous statement."

     "You know what?" Jesse began. His intricate ideas forming live in front of them. "This will decimate all after you put about fifteen grand in it. Or more, if we have to overnight parts of Japan."

     "We'll put it on my tab at Harry's."

     "Yes!"

     "I gotta get you racing again so I can make some money off your ass." Dominic tapped Brian with the crowbar he held, which made the blond smirk. "There's a show down in the desert called Race Wars. And that's where you'll do it."

     From where Josephine worked on a car, her back against them as she buried her face in the hood, she rolled her eyes. Mia stood next to her, watching the scene unfold as Dominic just practically made Brian Spilner his property. Golden boy didn't seem to know it, which made an amused smile appear on Mia's face at the obliviousness of her older sister's very own getaway car.

     "I'll tell you what, when you're not working at Harry's, you're working here," Dominic told Brian before he could leave them to their own. "If you can't find the right tool in this garage, Mr. Arizona... you don't belong near a car."

     Josephine chuckled at Dominic's words. She backed up from the engine and took off her gloves before slamming the hood close. Mia watched with a little smirk as Josephine trudged toward Brian, the blond not noticing her until she leaned beside his shoulder and whispered: "He owns you now."

     That made his grin falter as he looked at her figure walking away from him again. His blue eyes flickered to the other girl in the garage who shared a few similar features with Josephine. Their eyes were different though. Josephine had lighter eyes with flecks of gold and brown in them. Brian frowned at Mia when the younger girl fueled her sister's words for him with a large grin on her face.

    "Oh, you're in for a ride, Buster," Mia drawled as she followed after her sister out of the garage.

     As soon as they gathered all the brand new and some imported car parts from Harry's, the group in their respective cars convoyed Brian's red pickup truck from work with all their things attached to the back as he drove in the middle. This time, Josephine was in the passenger seat with Brian. She could see the glistening midnight blue of her Honda S2000 behind them where Mia drove it. 

     "So how do you all get these?" Brian asked out of the blue as he drove.

     Josephine glanced at him, twirling an unlit cigarette around her fingers that she picked on the dashboard of his truck. "You smoke?"