Fast Lane ━━ Brian O'Conner

𝟬𝟵. running in circles

     Josephine chuckled, burying her face onto his chest. The smell of his cologne entered her nose. A nice smell. She'd grown to like it. She looked up at his stark blue eyes that shone twice brighter than the sun when they were on her. "You're not so bad yourself, Spilner."

     For a second, his face twisted with an emotion she didn't catch on. God, it was torture. Thinking that this was all coming to an inevitable end because he was never supposed to fall for the bad guy's little sister. Brian pursed his lips and reached up to touch her cheeks, cupping them in his much larger hands. They were rough but they held her with such gentleness Josephine wondered if someone ever touched him the same.

     Suddenly, his words were stuck at the back of his throat. Brian did not know what to say. Because Josephine treated him so good, so perfectly that he was afraid he would never find it in someone else. He merely looked at her like this moment was a fleeting flame that he kept trying to burn longer with a broken match.

     For a while, Brian just held onto her a little longer and Josephine Toretto let him.

     His footsteps were heavy when he marched inside the temporary headquarters where he would meet Tanner and an unsatisfied Bilkins. The news he received before he got there was nowhere near good. They barely had anything on Johnny Tran and the boy's father had bailed him out before they could investigate further. There was not enough evidence to pin him for the stolen DVDs.

     "Is this the kind of intelligence I can expect from you, O'Conner?" Bilkins demanded.

     His eyes slowly narrowed and he turned around from where he was sitting to look at the special agent with disbelief. "You're gonna put this on me?"

     "I can put it on whoever I want to, kid," Bilkins retorted. "Perks of the job."

     Brian stood abruptly. "No, there's no way you're gonna put this on me━"

     "No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me tell you. I don't care if you have to put a gun at someone's head and blow your cover to smithereens," Bilkins exclaimed. His tone turned serious. "You've got thirty-six hours to crack this bastard... or you might want to be thinking about another career."

     Brian walked off before Bilkins could say anything else. He knew he was right, but he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. He marched outside, briefly walking past the crime board where the surveillance photos of Dominic Toretto and his team were plastered on the wall. His chest felt heavy when he saw Josephine's but he stepped out of the house as his hands turned into fists.

     "It's Toretto, Brian." He didn't notice Tanner following him until the older man spoke. "It always has been Toretto."

     Brian clenched his jaw, walking over to the edge of the pool and staring at the clear water rippling from the wind.

     "Tran and Hector are... They're just fumes." Tanner sighed, noticing the boy was trying to ignore him as he kept his back on him. He walked over to the undercover cop. "Well, I know you've been lying to me. My question is this: Have you been lying to yourself because you can't see past Josephine?"

     The young cop turned around at the mention of the girl. His face pulled into a frown. Then he shook his head at his superior. "He won't go back to prison."

     "Well, that's a choice he's going to have to make," Tanner told him and Brian looked away again, conflicted. "There's all kinds of family, Brian. And that's a choice you're gonna have to make."

     Brian didn't say anything because Sergeant Tanner was right. He was right. Brian just refused to believe him because that would mean going against everything that he believed in his whole life.