Collision Course

Collision Course 9: When continents collide …

The sight of the half-dressed man standing in the open doorway filled Dom with sudden lust. He gasped and felt his heart take on an erratic beat.

The tall, athletic form was silhouetted against the interior lights. The blond curls were in wild disarray and formed a glimmering halo from the backlighting. Brian was even more impossibly beautiful, even more incredibly sexy, than Dom remembered.

He heard Brian shout, then his brain shut down momentarily as Brian loped across the lawn with his long legs. Dom's mind didn't start functioning again until the object of his obsessive desire put his hands on another man.

He watched in horror as Brian pulled the smaller man close. Ice went down Dom's spine as Brian tenderly, intimately, kissed the little bastard. Pain filled him at the sight of Brian gently closing the Chevette's door and leaning in to whisper something to the driver.

Dom remained still as Brian stood in the road gazing at the small car as it drove away. When the unmarked police car pulled out, Dom slunk deeper into the shadows, fearful that the cop would spot him. He watched as Brian grinned and waved cheekily at the officer.

Dom stood there, watching until Brian started to cross the yard toward the attached garage. Then, with his shoulders hunched in defeat, his heart heavy with disappointment, and his mind in a confused muddle, Dom turned and walked away.

====

His return to L.A. had been without incident.

He'd taken a cab to Mia's apartment and jimmied the back window to get in -- he'd get her security windows before he left. She'd been surprised and delighted to find him napping in her bed when she returned home after classes. They'd spent some time catching up and she'd proudly introduced him to her to roommates. Then Dom had taken her aside and quietly asked her where he could find Brian.

Her face had filled with suspicion and she'd demanded to know why. He'd sighed and told her that he had some unfinished business that needed to be settled. Her dark eyes had glittered with a hard light as she smiled maliciously and gave him the address. "Do whatever you want to him," she had said coldly. "Just don't actually kill him. I don't want you to get into any deeper trouble because of that snake."

He had frowned in surprise and dismay at her attitude. She thought that he was seeking Brian out in order to exact retribution, and the idea seemed to please her. His baby sister had grown hard this last year and, although he understood why, it saddened him -- just one more thing for him to feel guilty about.

He hadn't explained, he'd merely asked to borrow her car.

Dusk had fallen by the time Dom drove slowly past Brian's small house. The cop was easy to spot, even in the twilight, and Dom had kept his gaze straight ahead as he drove by. He'd parked Mia's car half a block away and sat in it while he'd tried to decide what to do next.

Eventually, he had walked back the short distance to hide in the shadows of a house across the street from Brian's. He'd stood there for about ten minutes when the stranger had exited Brian's front door. He had seemed a nondescript little man, hardly worth a second glance, so Dom hadn't paid much attention to him -- not until Brian had kissed him. By that time, Brian's big body had blocked the view and Dom wasn't able to see the little fucker's face.

A mysterious face that he now longed to pound his fists into, to kiss the unworthy lips with his knuckles and watch them split open -- bleed.

Rage built in Dom as he walked slowly toward where he'd left Mia's car. Rage, dark rage mingled with the hurt of finding Brian heavily involved with someone else.

Had he really spent hours, days, and weeks in agony, wondering if Brian could possibly be gay?

A sound that was equal parts mocking laughter, angry snort, and pain-filled sob welled up from somewhere deep inside him. It escaped his chest and eerily broke the silence of the night.

Somewhere nearby, a dog howled in mournful commiseration.

Dom scowled and picked up his pace. He didn't need some fucking canine mocking him. His own mind was doing a good enough job of that. After all. what had he expected? That Brian would be puttering around his house, just waiting for Dom to show up? That someone who looked like Brian, with his blond, southern-California beauty, that perfect smile, and those eyes, those misty, blue eyes, wouldn't find someone else?

Somebody else?

Shit, for all Dom knew, Brian could have been involved with the little nobody for years. Brian probably had that guy on the shelf the whole time he was bedding Mia and lying to everyone.

Dom clenched his hands into fists.

Lying, fucking, faggot, narc. Brian had done nothing but lie from day one.

What had Mia said on the phone the other day? Something about Brian having clients? Dom hadn't paid much attention at the time; like a lovesick fool he'd been too excited to hear that Brian asked about him occasionally. He knew Brian had been bounced off the force, and Mia had said something about Brian hiring out, something about him acting as an escort.

"Fuck!" Dom spat out.

Maybe the lying fucker was *selling* himself! Maybe that drab little shit in the crummy car was just a John? That would explain the cop out front. Maybe Brian's little crib was under surveillance? Stupid fuck, turning tricks in his own house.

Dom yanked open the low slung door of Mia's Neon hard enough that the hinge creaked ominously. He folded his great frame into the bucket seat and dug the keys out of his pocket. He was just about to put the key in the ignition when another sound disturbed the stillness of the night.

A sudden growl, loud, powerful, menacing, reverberated through the peaceful neighborhood. Dom's numb fingers dropped the keys to the floorboards.

He knew that sound.

He'd grown up listening to the mighty purr of the Hemi v8, the most powerful engine ever put out by Detroit. He'd spent hours studying it, adjusting the four-barrel carb to get the tone just right. He could remember the first time he'd ever heard it. The first time his father had fired the big engine. He felt a shiver go down his spine, just as it had all those years ago.

In a stupor, he got out of Mia's car and followed the siren's song of the motor's music. It led him back down the street. It led him back to Brian's house. It led him to stand in the open doorway of the attached garage. It led him back to Brian.

His dad's charger -- Dom would know it anywhere, in any condition -- sat idling in the center of the two-car garage. Brian had his back turned and appeared to be busy putting tools away. Dom allowed his eyes to briefly caress the broad, golden back before he returned them to the car.

She was still beautiful even though she wasn't complete. One of her rear tires was flat, her chrome was gone, her windshield was missing, her blower wasn't attached -- it sat ready on a palette beside her -- but her engine, her very heart, was beating again.

Dom's vision became fuzzy and he blinked, trying to clear it, to clear his mind. Too much, too much had happened in the space of just a few minutes and he couldn't process it. He couldn't fathom how his dad's car had gotten here.

Brian.

Brian had done it. He'd rescued the mangled wreck and he'd brought her back from the scrap heap. But why?

A steady, rhythmic beat began to pound. Louder and louder the sound grew, until its volume drowned out even the mighty Hemi. His heartbeat throbbed in his ears and Dom grew dizzy from the din. He staggered toward the car and leaned against the gleaming front fender, trying to regain his balance. The cool metal was reassuringly solid under his palms and the vibrations soothed him.

Then, unexpectedly, the engine missed a beat -- with a cough and a sputter it stalled.

Brian turned.

Their eyes met.

.