Adrenaline

“Let me see those scars, Dominic,” Blair beckoned the burly man to the side of the pool where she sat, dangling her feet into the water. She and Mia had been sunning themselves in the summer “heat” while Dominic and Brian threw things such as beach and volleyballs at each other in the large pool on the roof of the mansion. Other people were on the roof as well - a few tattooed men drank beers and reminisced about weeks on the beach in Cancun or some place similar before they ran to the Compound, and a few of the Compound’s less butch females were on the roof admiring the shirtless men.

Blair sucked greedily off her cigarette as Dominic splashed over to her, holding his hands out for his Corona and lime like a small child would for a cookie and a glass of milk. The Brit smiled as he wrapped a tattoo-covered arm around her small waist, a smile that turned into a frown and finally a shriek of panic as Dominic launched her through the air and into the pool. She hit the water with a dull thwap! and a splash which caused Mia to shout angrily from her dry poolside perch.

“What the hell, Dominic!” The little redhead screeched as soon as her head broke the surface, her hair dripping down her face in a solid mass. She flipped it back angrily, eliciting an out-of-character tirade of curses as her English Cosmopolitan magazine was wetted again.

“Watch it you two, these things are like Gold! I can’t read Russian you know!” Mia reprimanded the two like children while she pulled her chair as far back out of the splash zone as she could. Blair and Toretto locked eyes for a moment before they began to giggle. Brian scooped Blair’s ruined cigarette from the water and dumped it on the brick that lined the pool as the redhead slowly made her way back to Dominic and where she had been sitting.

“Sorry Mia,” Toretto called as he lifted Blair back out of the water, blinking as she squeezed the water from her hair out onto his face as he lifted his body to kiss her cheek.

“Now may I see your back?” Blair asked, shaking her mane back behind her back while Dominic obediently turned around before him. She ran her hand over the sinuous, Saleen Mustang Hood-shaped scar that ran from shoulder to shoulder across Dominic’s upper back - the only remains of the terrible but timely and useful accident in the garage. She traced the new scar, sending a shiver down Dominic’s back as he moved away from the little redhead to evade a thrown volleyball from Brian.

As the two men swore at each other, Blair extracted herself from the pool and walked over to where Mia lay with the Cosmo. She wrapped her white towel around her waist and laid down in the chair next to Mia, squeezing all of the excess moisture out of her long hair before looking over her friend, who regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” Blair asked, taking a sip of vodka from her signature glass tumbler, which she chased with a breath of smoke.

“You so have him eating out of your hand, Blair!” Blair feigned confusion, looking around as if she didn’t know who was eating from her hand. Her mismatched eyes touched on the muscular man in the pool, a Corona in one hand, his other arm cocked back with the volleyball to lob at Spillner and a goofy grin plastered on his face.

“He’s not over Letty yet. Or else he would be eating out of more than my hands -”

“Oh God Blair, too much information!” Mia interjected, following Blair’s gaze past Dominic to Spillner, who had just been conked in the head by the volleyball and was recovering by throwing a soaked tennis ball, which sank upon contact with the water.

“What makes you think he wants me, anyway?” Blair mused, drinking from her tumbler again while she slid the Cosmo magazine from Mia’s hands to read.

“The way he looks at you like you’re about the most beautiful car he’s seen in his life,” Mia shrugged, taking Blair’s cigarette for a quick puff while Brian looked away.

“What a naughty girl,” Blair attempted to change the subject while looking over swimsuit trends for much warmer climes than Russia. She was nearly shivering in her garnet-colored bikini, especially since she had been so unceremoniously thrown into the water.

“You’re one to talk.” Mia threw her luscious brown locks over her shoulder. For a moment, jealousy reared its ugly hand as she compared Mia’s effortlessly tan and fit body to her own mercilessly thin and pale one, but only for a moment. “Look, Blair, I just don’t want you to take advantage of him. My brother’s a delicate creature.”

“Who’s a delicate creature?” Dominic called from the nearest edge of the pool where his head was propped on his arms. “What’re we doing tonight, Blair?”

“You have an awful lot of questions for someone you just threw into the pool,” The Brit replied with a shiver, wrapping her towel tighter around her body.

“Well, Spillner here is out of commission, so let’s get you out of the cold.” Toretto didn’t notice as Blair and Mia exchanged glances, he simply began guiding Blair along as she scrambled to grab her cigarettes, drink, bottle of vodka, and hand Mia the Cosmopolitan all at once. “So what are we going to do,” He asked once the pair was descending the staircase to Blair’s floor. Her tiny feet pattered wetly against the floor as she desperately tried to keep up with the hand that guided her by the small of her back.

“Slow down Toretto, why so hasty?” Blair murmured, taking a drag of her cigarette. “I have a new shipment due out on Monday and another new round of cars in the Monday after.” She sighed, thinking of all the work she was currently putting off by lounging around by the pool in the beautiful weather. “Would you like to learn to fireproof cars or go into town and drink?”

“Both?” Dominic asked as Blair handed him the tumbler and bottle of Vodka in order to fiddle with the key of her door. Once inside the warmth of her rooms, Blair dropped the towel on the floor in favor of finding an ashtray for her burning cigarette. Seconds after she had she set her cigarette down in the blue and white china tray; Dominic’s hands were on Blair’s small shoulders, his calloused fingers caressing her back.

“Dominic,” Blair murmured, her neck rolling backwards at his touch. His lips met the curve over her collarbone, one hand holding her neck while the other rested on her stomach. “Dominic,” This time her voice was more stern - Toretto stopped kissing her clavicle to look into Blair’s mismatched eyes.

“What, Blair?” He backed away while Blair turned to face him and perch atop the dark granite counter.

“Aren’t you the same man who told me you probably weren’t over Letty?” Her eyes were piercing, her tone harsh as she questioned him; Toretto couldn’t help but regretting that bit of information slip. He crossed muscular arms over his bare and equally as muscular chest - Blair had a habit of noting details like that about the burly man before her. Even balanced as she was atop the tall counter, he was still a head taller than she was. “Well?”

Dominic shuffled his feet uncomfortably and leaned against the counter of the little Island in the middle of the kitchen, cursing when he smashed his head into a pan hanging above the stove. “Why the fuck do you even have these if you never use them?” He asked as he rubbed the back of his head. Blair remained glaring and sullen as ever.

“Don’t change the subject, Dominic.”

“Why, you do all the time.” Ouch. Blair turned her gaze to the mirror in the corner, where she could see and gauge his reactions without him seeing hers.

“I always answer your fucking questions eventually. But this is a little more important.” She murmured, watching his chocolate brown eyes darken as his brow drew over them. “Well?”

“You’re a trip.” Toretto moved to the fridge and drew out not a bottle of Corona but the Vodka from the freezer. He poured it into the glass tumbler Blair had been using and took a hearty swig. For a moment, Blair’s eyes widened in shock - she had never seen him drink anything but Coronas and water. Sure, she had her signature drink of Vodka on the rocks, but to see Dominic drinking hard liquor? He sighed and banged the glass down on the table to refill it. “I mean, you want me then you don’t. You say I can’t race for you then you say I’m your prizewinner. You wanted me to change how I look and now you won’t even look at me!” His hand was on her chin then, forcing her head around to face him. “Fucking look at me Blair!”

She did look at him, tentatively glancing in his direction before she let her eyes slide to meet his for the first time in minutes. Her hand lifted to rest lightly upon his, as she wondered inwardly if alcohol would make the burly man in a fight. While she might be able to hold her own normally, Blair knew there was no way for her to take out a drunken man behind a locked door.

“Could you expect me not to want you the way you play me like a fiddle?” Dominic drew his face in to hers for a brief moment before he realized that he was frightening her, at which point he pulled away from her, looking away toward the fridge as she had earlier. Blair’s hands remained clasped in her lap; her thumb nails digging painfully into the sides of her hands as she attempted to keep the cold composure that was her trademark. Lightly, she slid from the counter and reached to twine her long, thin fingers with his thick, calloused ones.

“Dominic, I -”

“Don’t finish that though. Please.” But Blair knew she needed to finish the thought - with her free hand on his chest for balance, Blair reached up to touch her lips lightly to his. At first, Toretto tensed, and Blair feared he would pull away from him, but after a brief second his free hand twined through her long red hair.

“I’m afraid of being hurt,” She finished, breathing into the hollow between his chin and his shoulder where she had managed to nuzzle her face. Toretto was startled at how easily she could change his emotions - from outraged to cuddly in a matter of seconds. He enjoyed the way her chin felt as it dug into his collarbone, her soft breath on his neck.

“Blair,” He tilted her chin as to angle her face to him. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” The smile that shined up from her bright face to him was genuine, he could tell, and it wiped away any trace of anger. Toretto craned his neck to crush their lips together once more. “About those Mafia cars?” He asked after a few tentative seconds. Blair grinned.

“You’ll have to let me get dressed, honey.” Blair laughed and pulled away, her arm trailing behind her where her fingers were still locked with his.

“Can I watch?” He looked hopeful.

“Get yourself a Corona and hold your horses.” She grinned before disappearing into her bedroom. Toretto did as he was told - finding himself a new Corona before pouring a glass of Vodka on the rocks with a touch of olive juice for Blair when she emerged. He stood her box of Marlboro’s on the table next to the new drink and waited, beer in hand. After a few minutes of waiting, Toretto heard a dull thud and a curse from inside the bedroom.

“Screw this,” He breathed and took a giant sip of his beer for encouragement before getting to his feet - her drink and the box of cigarettes in the same hand that he gripped the Corona bottle by the neck. Dominic lumbered over to the door and listened with his ear pressed to the thick wood for a moment before he tapped the smooth surface lightly with his free hand. He could hear Blair freeze - he could nearly see the startled look on her face - then scramble for a moment before he turned the handle and allowed himself in to Blair’s bedroom.

Blair’s room was pristine - not a pillow out of place except for the heavy-looking crystal vase on the thick carpet that had apparently caused the thump Dominic had heard from the living room. She had apparently made the enormous four-posted bed after she got out of it that morning, the plush wine-colored comforter made Toretto want to throw himself atop it. But he refrained, setting her crystal tumbler down on the dresser by the door as he watched the tiny redhead flit in and out of her closet in her usual matching set of lingerie and a pair of black thigh-high tights.

“What?” The little redhead finally turned toward the muscular man who hovered by her doorway, her bright eyes fixing not on him but the box of cigarettes in his hand. Dominic watched her as she unconsciously straightened the comforter and pulled back one of the hanging gauze curtains back more securely.

“I brought you your drink.” Toretto shrugged, his muscular shoulders rolling gently beneath his shirt. He noticed that she had taken out all of her earrings, he could practically see through the first two 00-sized holes in her head. Tentatively, he held the drink out to her as she pulled a high-waisted skirt up her lithe torso before crossing the room to seize the tumbler to take an enormous swig.

“Thank you.” She set the crystal back on the dresser as she pulled open a drawer to retrieve a white blouse that was neatly folded there.

“Why get all dressed up and fancy,” Dominic set his beer down, his hands gently took the blouse from hers to set it back in the drawer. “When you know I’m just going to take it all back off you?” He asked, his hands gently unzipping the back of the high-waisted skirt. Blair’s breath caught in her throat, but she allowed herself to fall into Toretto’s thick arms, her lips searching for his neck, his face, anything not covered by the fabric of his black t-shirt.

She couldn’t help but wonder - as he wrestled with her skirt and she with his shirt - why she would let the muscled man do this to her time and time again (for she knew it would happen again and again). He could admit he wasn’t over Letty, yet she’d still let him sleep with her. The image of composure and control was gone as Dominic finally got to throw himself down on her wine colored comforter with her body beneath his, as they writhed in the throes of passion once more.