Colt watches as the flames fully engulf Kaneko’s shop, his expression a mix of horror and despair. “The Brotherhood… They burned it all.”
Gabi walks over to Colt and sits next to him on the curb. “Colt, I… I don’t know what to say.” What can you say to someone who’s just lot not only their father, but his entire legacy as well?
Colt stares into the flames, his features hardening and voice chilling. ”…I’m going to kill them.“
“Colt…” Gabi reaches for his hand, and he lets her take it, but his other fist remains clenched and white-knuckled. He appears to have skipped the denial stage and gone straight to anger, but if anyone understands the pain of losing a parent and that grief isn’t always linear, it’s her.
“I’m going to hunt them down one by one. I’m going to destroy them the way they destroyed everything I cared about.” Colt pauses as a piece of charred wood cracks and falls a few feet away. “I’m going to burn them all to the ground.”
This violent, vengeful side of him scares her, but she knows he needs to process the pain in his own way. Still she knows this isn’t what Kaneko had wanted, and it’s not what she wants for him so she has to try. “That’s not what your dad died for. Your dad sacrificed himself to get you out. Not so you’d spiral into a life of vengeance.”
Colt looks away from Gabi and the flames. “You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t, but I do know one thing… Your dad wanted you to have more than he ever had, to be more than he ever was. If you let your need for revenge consume you, then he died for for nothing.”
For the first time since the bridge, Colt starts to break. “I just… I can’t believe he’s gone.”
“I’m so sorry Colt,” Gabi consoles him sincerely.
“My whole life he was this invincible force. Relentless, intractable…”
“Unyielding.”
“Exactly. He never showed any weakness. Not to me, not to anyone”
“Colt…” She doesn’t know if she should say it, but she doesn’t want to see him make the same mistakes. “Look where that got him.”
Colt’s eyes narrow. “Hey-”
“I’m just saying,” Gabi cuts him off before he says something he’ll regret, “his life, and yours, would have been so much better if he’d shown you how much he cared. Now it’s too late.” She places a hand on his arm to comfort him. “I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.”
Colt swallows hard, struggling to hold back tears as he searches for something to hold onto in Gabi’s eyes. “Things could have been…so different.”
Gabi’s still upset and uncertain about so many things. The Colt she saw back at the casino was not the one she thought knew. The lengths he was willing to go to to get rid of the brotherhood are beyond her comprehension, but in this moment, all she sees is the Colt she fell for, and he needs her. She wraps her arms around his neck, turning his face towards her, and their lips just seem to find one another’s.
“Gabi…” Colt pulls back and look in his eyes almost breaks her before his mouth is on hers again, kissing her fiercly, desperately. She clings to him as he runs his hands up and down her back as if to make sure she doesn’t disappear.
“I’m here Colt, I’m here,” Gabi assures him and he responds by deepening the kiss.
“What am I going to do without him?”
Gabi cups his cheek in her hand and lifts his eyes to meet her gaze. “You’re going to live… Now come on, the brotherhood might still be here.” Gabi takes his hand and leads Colt away from his father’s garage just as the sign over the bay door snaps and comes crashing down.
~~~~~
That’s it then.“ Gabi realizes out loud watching Colt drive away, the crew all going their separate ways after briefly reconvening to ensure everyone had safely evaded the police. Gabi and Logan are the only two left standing on the street. Gabi had never quite believed it when any of them said they had no emotional ties to the crews, that they knew they could just scatter if and when things went wrong. She thought it was just something they had said for self-preservation to hide their true feelings, and maybe in part it had been. But watching Mona, Toby, Ximena, and Colt with hardly so much as a ‘see you around if I see you’ is tough. Especially Colt. Maybe they are all built that way, but as Mona had pointed out, Gabi isn’t and it hurts.
“Yeah that’s it. Come on Gabi. I’ll get to yours friends place,” Logan says as he opens the passenger door of his car for her to get in. At least Logan cared enough to make sure she got home.
Gabi leans her head against the glass as Logan drives, watching the city drift by. “…Where will you go?”
“We’ll see, I’ve got some friends back in Detroit. Might try to lay low there for awhile. I’m more worried about you. What happens when this Jason guy comes after you?”
“Do you think he will?
“He’s dangerous and you know his secret. You being alive puts his whole life in danger. And I just hate the idea of leaving you behind all alone.”
So don’t, she wants to say, but she can’t bring herself to get the words to come out. She can’t selfishly ask him to stay and risk his life. And she can’t say she wants to go with him, because that plan is just not meant to be. She needs to get her life back together and that needs to happen here.
Gabi is looking at Logan, wondering what he’s thinking when he suddenly pulls off the road. “I have an idea.” She follows him out a patch of grass at a small park, and he beckons her closer. “Alright, Gabi…punch me.”
“Excuse me?” She hadn’t known where he was going with this when he stopped at the park, and she still doesn’t.
“Go on. Hit me, like I’m one of the Brotherhood. Hard as you can.” Still wondering what type of game he’s playing, she’s annoyed enough by his odd request to do what he asks. She clenches her fist and hits him hard in the shoulder but he hardly reacts. “Okay, good job.”
Gabi frowns. “No it wasn’t. What is this?”
“Me and the crew can’t be around to protect you anymore…so, before I leave…I want to teach you some self defense. You should learn a thing or two you help you if Jason comes after you…and hey, you can hit me as much as you want.” Logan gives a little smirk.
There’s a lot of people Gabi wants to hit right now, but Logan isn’t one of them. She wants to appease him though, so she punchesnhis shoulder harder this time. She doesn’t hit him properly so he gently takes her hand and corrects her form and teachers her how to throw her whole body behind the punch. She feels bad when he catches him off guard but he just smiles at her and tells her she’ll need to catch the brotherhood by surprise too. He seems very knowledgeable on the subject and she fears he’s had to learn out of necessity from a young age. “Logan, where did you learn all this stuff?”
“Back in Detroit, Vaughn spend a lot of time at a boxing gym. I’d follow him around a lot. He was cooler and older.”
“So you were an annoying little sibling?” Gabi smiles at the thought of little Logan trying to act cool.
“Extremely annoying. But there I was serious. I got my ass kicked by some muggers when I was a kid.” Logan continues the lesson, teaching her to exploit vulnerability. He purposely gives her an opening which she takes but doesn’t give it her all because she thinks she can get the moves down without trying to knock him out. “You can’t hesitate. Hesitation is death.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then think about something you hate,” Logan encourages. “Channel that aggression.” Gabi thinks about Jason, and is almost blind with rage. Logan swings from the right and Gabi blocks the strike and then punches him hard in the nose, causing blood to trickle down. “Perfect that was-”
She doesn’t let him finish before she hits him again, screaming with rage, hardly cognizant of who she’s fighting anymore. Logan moves to block her punch but hesitates while losing his footing in the mud. She sweeps her leg at his ankles and he falls flat on his back. “Oof, You’re really picking this up quickly.”
Gabi pounces on Logan and cocks her fist back. “I win,” she announces smugly.
Logan’s face falls and Gabi can see something in his eyes that tells her he’s been here too many times before. “Gabi, I’m not teaching you how to win a fight. I’m teaching you how to survive one. You have to run when you get the chance.”
“Like you’re running.”
“Yeah, like me.”
A silence passes between them in the still night air as the gravity of the their situation hits them once again. Gabi peers into Logan’s sad eyes and can see in the reflection that hers look the same. She’s drawn to him like she always has been, a moth to a flame. She bends down and presses her lips against his, and he kisses her back like he needs her to breathe. The feel of his warm body against the cool grass is comforting, and he rubs his hands slowly up and down her back, like he’s committing every inch her to memory because memories are all he’ll have. She does the same, running her hands through his hair and nuzzling his neck as she inhales his scent, as if she could ever forget.
Logan gently strokes Gabi’s hair. “Somehow, I like this more than getting punched by you.”
Gabi laughs, thankful for the distraction that keeps her tears at bay. She kisses him again and they hold each other there, neither willing to let go until they absolutely must, and Logan returns Gabi to Riya’s house.
Gabi heaves a heavy sight. “I’ve gotta tell Riya everything… in case Jason goes after her too.”
“Gabi…” Logan takes her hand and she squeezes his back tight.
“This is goodbye isn’t it.” She knew it was coming, but now that she’s here outside Riya’s house it hits her like a ton of bricks. This is really the end.
“For awhile at least, at least.” Gabi searches Logan’s face for any sign of hope that he means this, that he thinks he’ll find a way back, but the defeated look in his eyes tells her there’s none. She reaches over and wraps her arms around him, hanging on as long as she can. He rubs her back trying to soothe her, but it’s not enough. She starts to sob, her tears falling down on his shoulder, and at the same time she can feel one of his own roll down her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Gabi… I’m so sorry. You know if I could take it all back, I would.”
“I wouldn’t,” she nearly whispers. Despite everything that’s happened, she could never wish away meeting Logan, Colt and the rest of the crew. She found her first love, maybe even two, and experienced things that have made her grow in ways nothing else could. She wouldn’t take it all back for anything. After a beat, she reluctantly leaves the car and musters the strength to turn around, seeing Logan watch her go and not leave until she turns the handle to walk inside.
~~~~~
Gabi absentmindedly scrolls through her phone as Riya fusses over perfecting her makeup for prom. She’s going because she promised Riya she would, but she’s not excited about it at all. Not that long ago she was stressing about whether she would want to go with Logan or Colt more if she could convince either of them to go. The past several weeks have been a blur – the fight with the Brotherhood in the casino, finding out Jason was behind it all, Kaneko’s death, and the crew all taking off to spare themselves. The worst thing had been she had to face it all alone, thanks to Jason coming to threaten her at Riya’s house right after it all happened. She only hopes if she keeps her mouth shut he’ll keep up his end of the bargain. Salazar has already been murdered, by the Brotherhood shes’s certain, and she prays no more blood will be shed. She know’s she can’t protect the crew, but if keeping her mouth shut is what she has to do to keep her dad safe, she will.
Riya spins around proudly, closing her eyelids to give Gabi a better look. “What do you think, Gabi? Is my cut-crease eyeshadow dramatic enough?”
“You look great, Riya, just like you always do.” She’s trying to be a good friend, but her hearts not in it.
“But I don’t wanna look just like I always do! It’s prom!”
“In that case…I’d add a little more eyeliner,” Gabi suggests, making an effort.
Riya flashes a quick smile before turning back to the mirror. “What about you? Are you gonna try a new look? Or a new hairstyle?”
Gabi just shrugs and continues flipping through the photos in her phone. If she was going with Logan or Colt that would be one thing, but she’s not. That first week without them had been hell, not knowing where they were or if they were okay. Logan had sent her a text saying “I made it” when he got to his destination but never replied to her texts after that. She’d sent Colt a text checking in after a few days which he had left on read. At least she knew he was alive then. She’s able to look at the pictures now without crying at least, resigning to the fact that this part of her life is now nothing but a memory. She flips back and forth between her two favorites – a selfie of her and Colt overlooking the bluffs at sunset when they first kissed and another of her and Logan, Gabi resting her head on his shoulder in bed one lazy afternoon. “I…don’t exactly have someone to impress tonight. Riya reaches over and snatches the phone out of Gabi’s hand. “Hey!”
“Okay enough, moping! I know you’ve had a tough couple of months, be we have to make the most of the time we still have together! I know tonight isn’t going to be exactly what we thought…but as Dare would say, we aren’t done with this part of our lives yet. Now are you with me, or are you with me?”
If she can’t do it for herself, she at least owes it to Riya. “Okay, okay! I’m with you!”
“Good. Now, I’m gonna go put on my fabulous dress, and I want you to text whoever it is that you’ve been daydreaming about all night.”
“I haven’t-”
“You have. And you’re only going to get more distracted until you do something about it. So text them hi, then get your ass in your dress!” Riya demands before tossing Gabi’s phone back.
She’s been thinking about both of them for sure, but who does she really want? Gabi closes her eyes and thinks about who she would want to see there dancing with her at prom, and the answer is clear. She scrolls to his name in her phone, her finger hovering when the doorbell rings at that very moment. Riya asks her to go get it, so she runs down the stairs, flings the door open, and her jaw drops when she sees Colt standing there in a dark gray suit with a boutonniere on his lapel. “Colt, what are you doing here?”
“What’s it look like? I’m here to take you to prom,” he’s says almost like no time has passed. She’s so stunned she doesn’t know what to say. “I know you probably have a lot of questions, but I needed to see you again, and I knew you really wanted to go. So will you go to prom with me, Gabi?”
Before she can answer, Colt puts his arm around her waist and pulls her in close, crushing his lips to his hers. She starts to give into him instinctively, when she sees something out of the corner of her eye and thinks she may be hallucinating. She blinks to focus her eyes, but it’s still there – he’s still there. It’s Logan walking up the street, also dressed up in formal wear, but as he spots her and Colt, he stops in his tracks and starts heading back to his car. Gabi pulls away and runs after Logan. “Logan, wait! Don’t go yet.” He spins around and looks at her, and then back to Colt. Gabi turns her head to see Colt with a bewildered look on his face. She’s frozen there, torn between the two of them one more time.