Wish Fulfilled
A drive of twenty-odd kilometers was absolutely nothing when cruising in a high-performance car.
The roaring engine of the modified Acura easily swallowed the distance, the coastal highway blurring past them as the California sun began to dip low over the horizon, casting a brilliant, fiery orange glow across the Pacific.
The ride back was filled with a comfortable, lingering silence, the heavy adrenaline of the afternoon giving way to a warm, sun-drenched exhaustion.
They were soon back at the familiar, crumbling asphalt of his apartment complex parking lot. Arthur Sterling killed the engine, got out, and smoothly popped the trunk.
The heavy smell of ocean salt and charcoal dust drifted up as he lifted out the heavy steel grill and the remaining, half-used bags of charcoal.
He set them carefully on the pavement and was just about to say a polite, casual goodbye to Mia, fully expecting her to slide into the driver's seat and speed back to the Toretto house.
However, when he turned around, he saw the sun-flushed, mixed-race girl step completely out of the car as well.
"Let me help you carry some of this," Mia offered, her voice soft in the evening air.
Without waiting for his answer, she reached out and picked up the heavy plastic ice bucket they had bought together at a bait shack near the beach.
Earlier that afternoon, Arthur had spontaneously rented a worn-out fishing rod and a small, rickety rowboat for a bit of quiet, casual fishing off the rocky coastal shallows.
To his pleasant surprise, the absolute moment he had cast the line into the water, he had triggered a brand new [Fishing] skill within his system. By the time they rowed back to shore, he had successfully landed two fresh fish.
Neither of the catches was particularly massive; together, they weighed just under three pounds, but they were more than enough for a delicious, high-quality extra meal. So, he had bought a small pail and two heavy bags of crushed ice on the spot and brought the fresh fish all the way back to the city.
"I've got it covered. You should head on home!"
Arthur hoisted the heavy bag with the steel grill and the charcoal easily in one hand and reached out for the ice bucket with his other hand, fully intending to take the load from her.
But Mia smoothly sidestepped his reach and headed straight for the shadowy entrance of the apartment building, her steps deliberate and quick.
Surprised by her sudden stubbornness, Arthur stood by the bumper and watched her curvy, athletic figure from behind.
His highly enhanced mind instantly flashed back to noon on the glaring white sand, when they had intimately rubbed cool, fragrant sunscreen on each other, bare skin touching bare skin under the sweltering heat.
A sudden, undeniable heat flared up inside his chest, racing through his veins.
He swallowed the polite, dismissive words that were just about to leave his mouth, picked up his gear, and followed her inside.
Walking one behind the other, they began to climb the dark, echoing stairs in complete silence.
The old, rusted elevator in this decaying building had permanently broken down decades ago, and absolutely no conscientious property manager or local city council ever bothered to come around to repair or replace the massive steel coffin.
Luckily, Arthur only lived on the third floor, which meant just a few short flights of cracked concrete steps.
He didn't exactly know what had gotten into him while climbing the stairs; his sharp gaze kept drifting, almost entirely unconsciously, to the hypnotic sway of Mia's hips and the perfect, peach-shaped curve of her rear as she walked ahead of him.
Perhaps his intense stare was just a bit too frequent, or a bit too visibly heated.
Mia, possessing the sharp instincts of a girl raised in a garage full of men, soon noticed the heavy weight of his eyes on her, and the warm flush on her sun-kissed cheeks deepened considerably in the dim stairwell.
"Wait for me!" Arthur called out softly as they reached the landing.
Standing right at his apartment door, Arthur casually slipped a hand into his jacket pocket, but he actually pulled the heavy brass key directly from the invisible safety of his dimensional private space.
To a man living in the dangerous cinematic world of Los Angeles, absolutely nowhere on earth was safer or more secure than that invisible, system-granted pocket of reality.
He unlocked the heavy wooden door quickly, the deadbolt clicking loudly in the quiet hallway, and held the door wide open with a warm, welcoming gesture.
Mia seemed completely unaware of the heavy, hidden tension in the air, or she simply chose not to catch the hidden, electric meaning in Arthur's silent invitation.
Carrying the dripping ice bucket, she walked right in.
Arthur followed right behind her. The absolute instant he stepped fully into the apartment, he swung the door shut and firmly locked the deadbolt behind them, sealing them off from the rest of the chaotic city.
Leaving the steel grill and the bags of charcoal leaning against the wall to one side, Mia lifted the ice bucket, looking around the small kitchenette. "Arthur, where exactly do the fish go?"
"I've got it," Arthur replied smoothly, stepping in close.
He took the cold, plastic pail from her hands, and the exact moment his warm fingertips brushed against the cool, soft skin on the back of her hand, he clearly felt the mixed-race girl give a tiny, involuntary shiver.
He knelt down and opened the lower cabinet of his humming refrigerator.
Sliding out an empty, frost-covered freezer drawer, he carefully stuffed the two ice-packed fish inside for later.
"Go ahead and wash up in the bathroom. The smell of the bait is pretty strong," Arthur suggested, tossing the empty bucket aside into the sink and speaking to Mia over his shoulder.
Mia nodded quietly and headed straight for the narrow bathroom.
Standing in the kitchen, listening to the sudden rush of water from the faucet, Arthur's racing mind drifted unavoidably back to the sun-drenched beach at noon. He thought of the sensual, utterly bewitching body of the girl as he had carefully spread the lotion over her shoulders.
An eighteen-year-old girl in the prime of her youth was at her absolute, undeniable peak of vibrant, breathtaking beauty. She possessed a natural, fiery energy that captivated his senses completely.
While he stood there lost in his musings, the water shut off, and Mia finished washing, stepping out into the small living room and drying her hands.
"Arthur, I'm done."
Arthur nodded, realizing his own hands still faintly reeked of seawater and fish scales.
He strode purposefully into the bathroom and quickly rinsed off the grime under the hot water.
Standing behind him in the living area, Mia nervously opened her mouth.
She fully meant to say a proper goodbye, but for some inexplicable reason, the words stubbornly stuck in her throat, refusing to come out.
I'll just say it in a minute, she rationalized internally. Any later and Dom will be absolutely furious again.
For absolutely no reason at all, the crude, menacing image of Vince violently flashed through her mind.
The hulking man who had been aggressively hounding her since she was fifteen or sixteen had left her with a terrible, suffocating impression. He was crude, violently jealous, and fundamentally savage.
Because of Vince's relentless bullying and toxic presence, Mia hadn't been allowed to have a single male friend her own age before meeting Arthur.
She was incredibly sick of him and had angrily complained to her overbearing brother more than once.
All she ever got in return from Dom was a careless, booming laugh and a few dismissive questions that entirely missed the point.
In time, she had simply given up trying to fight it.
She felt exactly like a beautiful bird trapped in a chrome-plated cage, and the one holding the lock and key to that cage was her own flesh and blood.
Arthur finished washing his hands, grabbed a towel, and walked back out to join her.
"What would you like for dinner, Mia?" Arthur asked, his voice a low, smooth baritone in the quiet room.
"I've mastered a few complex, incredibly delicious new recipes recently. Do you want to stay and try them?"
He extended the invitation, his eyes locking onto the beautiful mixed-race girl, silently begging her to stay for supper.
Mia shook her head, a flash of genuine regret crossing her features. "No, I really have to get back, Arthur."
"Any later and Dom will be incredibly angry with me."
The absolute moment the rejection left her lips, she felt a faint, inexplicable sense of hollow loss settle heavy in her chest.
She forced a bright, tight smile, waved playfully at the handsome young mechanic, and turned around to leave the apartment.
But the exact instant she turned her back, she felt her right hand suddenly grow incredibly warm. A large, powerful hand had closed firmly around hers.
She spun around reflexively, her amber eyes wide, and saw Arthur standing right behind her, entirely closing the physical distance between them.
The strong hand holding hers belonged to him.
"Stay a little longer," Arthur commanded softly, his tone carrying an irresistible gravity.
The handsome boy's intense gaze burned right into her soul.
From his dark eyes, Mia saw a blazing, unrestrained fire that seemed entirely ready to step out of the shadows and devour her whole.
Her throat suddenly felt incredibly dry.
She opened her mouth, desperately trying to form a coherent refusal. "I..."
But before she could even finish the single syllable, the boy's sculpted face was moving closer, bypassing all her defenses and aiming straight for her lips.
The absolute instant their lips met in the dim light, it felt exactly as if a massive, electrical bomb had gone off deep in her head.
Her racing mind went entirely blank, and then her arms and legs suddenly lost all of their structural strength.
Her body turned strangely, overwhelmingly hot, melting against his solid frame.
When their lips finally parted for a desperate gasp of air, the boy's magnetic, husky voice sounded right beside her sensitive ear.
"Stay a little longer. Okay?"
His words seemed to carry a binding, hypnotic spell; Mia felt like her trembling body was no longer under her own control.
She actually gave a tiny, defeated nod, entirely surrendering to the pull.
A pair of incredibly strong, heavily muscled arms swept her right off her feet and carried her off into the bedroom.
A wild, unstoppable storm soon broke inside the small, quiet apartment.