Chapter 1: Fast & Furious
"Arthur! Arthur!"
"Hey!"
"Take it easy on him, will you?"
The voices were a chaotic, abrasive buzz.
Arthur felt hands shoving his shoulders roughly. A sharp sting across his cheek told him someone had just slapped him.
Groaning through a thick fog of morning crankiness, he finally forced his eyes open.
A group of unfamiliar faces hovered over him. As his vision cleared, his sense of smell kicked in, instantly grounding him.
Gasoline.
Motor oil.
Ozone from a welding torch.
Arthur blinked, his gaze shifting across the group before locking onto the two people at the center: a heavily muscled, bald man and the fierce, striking woman standing right beside him.
Two names almost ripped themselves from his throat.
Holy crap. Dom. Letty.
He bit the words back just in time. A sudden, blinding rush of memories flooded his mind, colliding with his own consciousness.
He shivered, closing his eyes tight as he cursed internally.
Wait a minute... these people...
Aren't they fromFast & Furious?
Did I just wake up in another universe? Am I actually part of Dom Toretto's crew?
The sheer force of the unfamiliar memories sent a sharp spike of pain through his skull. He winced, clutching his head with a pale, strained face.
Dominic Toretto crouched down, his voice a low, steady rumble. "Hey, kid."
"If you're really hurting, go home and sleep it off."
"Letty will square up your medical bills later."
Dom shot a harsh glare at the burly man standing beside him. "Vince, you hit him too hard."
Vince scoffed, his eyes still locked on Arthur with open hostility.
"The kid's been stepping out of line lately," Vince snapped. "If we don't teach him a lesson, he's going to forget his place."
Letty rolled her eyes and shoved Vince's shoulder.
"Look, even if you're trying to get with Mia, you can't just scare off every guy who breathes near her."
"Besides, Arthur isn't dating Mia, and he isn't trying to. Her car needed a tune-up, and Mr. Parker put Arthur on the job. That's it."
By now, Arthur had processed enough of the body's fragmented memories to understand exactly what had just happened. He fought the urge to give Vince the middle finger.
This was Vince. Dom's oldest friend. One of the original members of the crew. Loud, hot-headed, and built like a tank.
He had been carrying a massive torch for Dom's younger sister, Mia, for years. But Vince was rough around the edges, and clearly not Mia's type. She barely gave him the time of day.
Frustrated and rejected, Vince had made a habit of taking his anger out on any guy who got too close to her—especially the ones who were young and in shape.
The guy whose life Arthur had just inherited was the perfect target.
His name was Arthur Sterling. Eighteen years old. Just a few months older than Mia.
He was a solid six feet tall, largely thanks to a healthy diet of beef and milk, and undeniably good-looking.
But that was where his luck ended.
Arthur realized his current life mirrored the gritty origin stories he'd seen in countless movies. Both of his parents were dead. They had left him a house, but property taxes in California were ruthless. With no extra cash to cover the bills, he was left with a decent face and an entirely empty bank account.
Unable to afford tuition, Arthur had dropped out of high school to find work. Whether by dumb luck or a cruel twist of fate, he'd landed a job as a mechanic in Los Angeles.
The shop just happened to be co-owned by Dom Toretto.
Dominic Toretto. Dom.
The man was infamous in the local street racing scene. He valued loyalty above everything, fiercely protecting his found family, even if it meant dragging them into his dangerous world.
Dom's father, Jack Toretto, had been a pro racer. Years ago, struggling with crushing debt, Jack had asked his younger son, Jakob, to tamper with his car's engine to throw a race.
During that race, another driver had clipped Jack's car, sending it into a roll. Because of the tampered engine, the car exploded, killing Jack instantly.
Dom had nearly beaten the other driver to death and served two years in prison for it. When he got out, he discovered Jakob's role in the crash. In a blind rage, Dom challenged his brother to a race. The stakes: whoever lost had to drive away and never come back.
Dom won. Jakob left.
Since then, Dom had raised Mia on his own.
Mia had grown up surrounded by the garage, naturally inheriting her brother's love for cars and racing. When she came of age, Dom had built her a customized ride.
A few days ago, she'd noticed a slight issue with the car and brought it into the shop. Arthur had been assigned to work on it, which naturally led to them talking.
Just hours ago, when Mia stopped by to check on the repairs, Vince had followed her inside. He caught Arthur and Mia mid-conversation.
Vince, who had watched Mia grow up and obsessively viewed her as his, snapped. Seeing Mia act distant with him but laugh easily with Arthur was too much.
As soon as Mia left, Vince cornered Arthur. Blinded by jealousy, he shoved the unsuspecting teenager hard. Arthur had fallen, slammed his head against the concrete, and blacked out.
Arthur still had no idea how it happened, but somehow, during that blackout, he had woken up in this body.
Thankfully, he was a massive movie buff in his past life. He knew the Fast & Furious franchise inside out, minus Fast X, which he hadn't gotten around to watching yet.
Because he already knew the Toretto family history, the shock of waking up in a cinematic universe began to settle into a cold, hard reality.