Fast Lane ━━ Brian O'Conner

𝟬𝟱. toward a new sun

     "Hey, hold up," Dominic said, which made Jesse pause from picking up his utensils. Beside him, Brian looked up, a little confused. "Because you were the first out of everybody here to reach in to get the chicken, you say grace."

     Jesse nervously clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. The others doing the same thing, trying to hide their amusement for the hyperactive boy. Then he trailed off: "Dear heavenly, um..."

     "Spirit," Leon muttered.

     "Spirit. Thank you." Jesse sent an awkward thumbs-up at his friend across from him. The moment he began to pray more━the more they began to feel amused. "Ahh... Thank you for providing us with a direct port nitrous injection, four core intercoolers and ball-bearing turbos, and um, titanium valve springs."

     Josephine found a pair of blue watching her across the table. She raised an eyebrow, leaning against her clasped hand as Brian faintly smirked at her. They didn't break off their eye contact until the praying ended and they had to pretend they weren't just staring at each other while the rest of them had their eyes closed.

      "Amen."

      "Thank you."

     Dominic grinned, pointing an approving finger at Jesse. "Not bad."

     "He was praying to the car gods, man," Letty laughed between the Toretto sisters.

     Brian stole another glance at Josephine as she began to hand out the foods some of them couldn't reach. There wasn't even anything on her plate yet as she put her family before herself. He had to force himself to tear his gaze off her before anybody could notice as he accepted the food laid out in front of him.

     "Look who it is. Old Coyotes R Us," Leon announced, making everybody look up and follow his gaze to none other than Vince. He laughed gruffly at his friend. "I thought you weren't hungry, pumpkin."

     Brian looked uneasy. Josephine just shrugged.

     "You know, I gotta eat," Vince said defeatedly.

     "He's always hungry," Letty said jokingly but she was treading carefully as she eyed him.

     With one word from Dominic, Vince took a sit around the table. Josephine sent the man a small smile when he walked past her as she went around the table to sit in the open space next to Brian. There was no way Vince was going to sit next to him so she had to adjust. She placed her half-full plate on the table, giving Brian another of her cheeky smiles.

     The tension was palpable between Vince and Brian, and everybody noticed it. The two men were seizing each other up like it was the end of the world as they drank their bottles of beer. Josephine was the only one amused, avoiding Mia's warning look as she decided to stare at Brian's pretty face instead.

     "Is it natural?" Josephine asked quietly, taking his eyes off Vince (the latter seemed disgruntled at this but he decided to keep his mouth shut and eat).

     Brian hummed, briefly looking at her lips and then back at her face. "You like my hair."

     "That's not a question." Josephine furrowed her brows at him, which made him shrug coolly. "I'd give it to you but it's kind of a part of me, princess."