Fast Lane ━━ Brian O'Conner ¹

𝟬𝟱. toward a new sun

CHAPTER FIVE
there's things i wanna say to you

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     𝐃ominic made Brian stay for dinner. Josephine wasn't sure whether to feel glad or suspicious because her older brother had sent her a certain look before he told Brian to hang around longer. Mia wanted to say it was because Dominic was warming up to him, but the girl couldn't lie for her life. Her grin only grew twice as wide when Brian proceeded to stand closer beside Jo and discreetly touched the middle part of her back when Dominic left them.

     "He so cannot keep his hands off you," Mia giggled as they whispered to themselves in the kitchen like teenagers who were gossiping.

     Josephine grumbled as she grabbed another clean plate from the cabinet. "He needs to keep his hands away if he still wants them by the end of the day."

     "Like I didn't see you freezing every time he brushes up against you," Mia scoffed, giving her that cheeky smile of hers.

     "Please." Josephine rolled her eyes, shaking her head adamantly. "I just don't like anyone touching me."

     "Tell that to your man over there." The youngest Toretto nudged her shoulder teasingly as she walked past her out of the kitchen and into the garage yard with a handful of plates in her arms.

     Her hazel eyes flickered at the blond man standing by the grill as he stoked the fire. Brian looked like he belonged. He didn't complain. Or even speak about trivial things. He just did what Dominic told him to do. Brian didn't even need to try. Mia was right. He was too good to be true. There had to be something━a bad thing, a flaw, literally anything wrong about him. He cannot be just that perfect.

     After Vince's little outrage, the others were left to ignore the man's immature actions and prepare dinner. As usual, Josephine was assigned to take out the food and drinks because she could not cook for her life. Mia and Dom did all of the cooking for her while she was left with the simpler stuff━cleaning and washing the dishes. Strangely, Josephine liked her designated job at the house.

     "Jo!" Dominic called from outside the kitchen. "The chicken's dry."

     Josephine rolled her eyes, kicking Jesse's shin as he walked in front of her holding a big plate stacked with sandwiches. Jesse grinned at her and ran away before she could reach him again. Behind her, Brian watched them with a smile on his face. He was carrying a few bottles of Corona, following the two twenty-one-year-olds who were trying to trip each other on the stairs.

     "Here you go, my kind, balding sir." Josephine tried to be sarcastic but she always had a soft spot for her brother. The man pulled her into a hug and babied her, which made Brian grin at the familial love in front of him. "Get off. Please. Before I drop this on you."

     "Yeah, we get it, Jojo." Mia chuckled at her siblings, pointing her hand which held a kitchen tong in Josephine's direction. "You're the clumsiest."

     "Do not call me that again."

     "What are you going to do, Jojo?"

     They settled around the table with the food all laid out in front of them on the open driveway. The sun was just dipping over the horizon, giving the scenery a golden glow as a warm breeze wafted over their faces. The hills overlooking the city of Los Angeles. They were content with the presence of each other. Bright smiles on their faces, some fainter than others, but they all shared the same warmth in their eyes.