Blacktop Obsession chapter 14

"All right, Kaidyn. It's time for us to saddle up." Brian sighed, hoping Hector was wrong about him and his decision.

"Let's go cowboy." Kaidyn shrugged.

"Hey, Kaidyn, come here for a minute, would ya?" Hector asked, using his finger to call her over. She bounced right over.

"What is up?" Kaidyn asked sweetly, leaning down on Hector's driver side window as he got ready to start his car. They were all traveling in packs of two so to speak. Hector would lead out and make sure it was clear for Brian and Kaidyn to go and he'd hang behind them about ten miles or so.

"You sure you want to ride wit the white boy over there?" he asked, nodding towards Brian.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's going to love our ride." Kaidyn smiled sweetly mixed with a look of innocence.

"Give him hell, kid." Hector laughed, patting her shoulder. He loved playing both sides. He was rooting for Brian but he didn't want Brian to be able to win Shayde over easily. He was in the perfect position to make sure this didn't happen.

"No problem. He won't get past me." Kaidyn skipped off, making Hector shake his head. He swore she was shaking just like Jesse did. She was so damn hyper. He wished he had her kind of energy all the time.

"They never do, that's for damn sure." He muttered to himself, pulling out. He gave Brian and Kaidyn a big grin and wave when he pulled out.

"So, what kind of music…" Brian had started to ask when Kaidyn reached over to the radio to adjust the station. "Nevermind." He sat back, getting comfortable for the long drive.

"So, you think all juvies are the same or different?" Kaidyn asked, crossing her legs and getting comfortable as well. Brian shrugged, his eyes on the road.

"I don't know, why do you ask?" Brian asked, not sure why she was asking him this.

"Just wondered how your juvie was compared to mine." She shrugged, making Brian look at her.

"Dom tell you I been to juvie?" He asked, trying to not validate her shit eating grin at his shock.

"Nope, I found it on the internet like everyone else does." She said, looking around. She fiddled with the air conditioner.

"You a computer guru like Jesse huh?" He asked, wondering if she was as good as Jesse.



"Uh-huh." She said, sounding distracted. Her eyes were scanning the car, just dying to find something to mess with. "Is this the nos button?" She asked, reaching to his steering wheel and almost pushing it. Brian, startled, fought to react and yell at her.

"Yes, don't touch it." He tried to sound authoritive.
"Why can't we use it?" She asked, her hand still too close to the button for Brian's comfort.

"Um, I'm out." He lied, focusing on the road and not looking at her in the eyes.

"You are a crappy liar. Probably why you did two years in juvie." She sat back, folding her arms as she studied him.

"You must be too if you got community service and did some time too." Brian countered.

"Nah, I just had sucky attorneys who wanted to get with my sister and who were distracted." Kaidyn shrugged, making Brian laugh at her candidness. "I don't see that as funny." She said, glaring.

"I wasn't laughing at you, really, I just …"Brian stopped, not sure of how to get out of the hot seat on this one.

"Uh-huh. You were probably just laughing cause you can see why they like my sister. I know you like her, Brian." She said, making eye contact with him, her voice almost sounding like a voice in a horror movie. Brian shivered at this thought.

"I think she is very …. I mean, I think we …" he ran a hand through his head, trying to word it correctly. He scolded himself for having a problem talking to this girl. He could look Verone in the eye and tell him he thought his girl was pretty, so why couldn't he tell this girl her sister was hot?
"Yes…" Kaidyn asked, still staring at him.

"Okay, so maybe I do like your sister. What about it?" Brian asked, suddenly turning to look at her doing the 'stare and drive' but in a different context than what he normally did.

"I was just curious was all. It's no big, wow, you need to relax." Kaidyn shook her head, making Brian's mouth drop. He couldn't believe this girl! She was switching moods on him faster than he could keep up with.

"So, this cat of yours nice?" Brian asked, knowing her likes were a way to get her distracted.

"Oh, he's really awesome. SO cute." She said excitedly, making Brian relax a little bit. It had worked. He knew how to work people really well, he smiled to himself. "But we're not talking about me or Sprinkles, nice try." She said, the smile from her face gone.

"Okay…" Brian said, irritated at himself for thinking he had gotten off so easily.

"So, how was dating a federal agent? Still dating her, Casanova?" She asked a few more miles down the road, out of the blue. This made Brian's face turn red and again he scolded himself for letting this girl get the shock factor on him yet again.



"What are you talking about, Kaidyn?" he asked, not trying to hide his shock anymore.

"Fuentes or Flueszy or something like that was her last name." Kaidyn shrugged. "You still a cop?" She asked, her eyes narrowed.

"What the….NO, I am NOT still a cop." Brian said defensively, shaking his head vehemently. "You have no idea who you are talkin about, Kaidyn." He said, now his defenses up.

"My sister hates cops, and honestly, I'm not quite fond of them either." Kaidyn inspected her nails nonchalantly.

"I'm not a cop." Brian said through gritted teeth. How was he going to convince her? Hector's words were replaying over and over in his head about her being the one who decided if he had a chance. He had to shift this, he knew. He just wasn't sure how to do it.

"So why'd you get kicked off that soccer team back in middle school?" Kaidyn asked as Brian took a drink of his soda. Now he saw why Hector refused to drink around this girl, he mused. He had looked at Hector earlier, lost as hell when he had divulged that information. "Oops, did I do that?" She asked, covering her mouth in a smart aleck way.

"Yeah, I guess you did. You kinda caught me off guard." He said dryly, trying to keep his temper at even strength. "Do I want to know how you dug that up?" he asked, not getting a reply. "Ok, let's have it, what else do you got on me?" He asked, fearing the worst but knowing this had to be asked. He couldn't handle any more surprises.

"Why would you think I have more?" She asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.

"Because I know you do. Now tell me so I can clear it up." Brian ordered, not playing.

"Ok, why'd you flunk your first driving test?" She asked, giving him time to answer.

"What is important about that?" Brian asked, his face becoming red again. He could feel the temples in his forehead pound.

"I'm just curious. I would think a street racer, if he is really a street racer would have already known how to drive." Kaidyn shrugged.

"Oh my hell, Kaidyn. How did you get this information?" Brian asked, rubbing his eyes. He was becoming so tired all of a sudden.

"I got resources." She nodded smugly. "Can we stop so I can get a drink?" She asked, seeing the sign for the gas station up ahead.

"You know Dom and them said we can't stop." Brian sighed, also wishing they could stop. He needed a break, even if it was only a minute or two. Yeah, he needed a minute so he could buy this girl some things to keep her busy. If only he felt like taking the risk. No, he couldn't he decided.



"What are they, prison wardens? Besides, what am I supposed to tell my bladder?" Kaidyn asked, squirming to prove her point. "How much further do we have to drive?" She asked as Brian groaned.

"About an hour and half, maybe two hours." Brian sighed, hating Hector at the moment for being right about this girl.

"I can't wait that long!" She wailed, knowing she was grinding his nerves.

"Just a minute." He said, sighing as he dialed Hector's cell phone. "Hey Hector, you still back there?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"Who's this?" Hector asked with a grin.

"Man, don't play with me right now." Brian rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, man, coast is clear. What's up?" He asked as he checked his rearview mirror for the millionth time since he had started to drive.

"I need a break, I mean we, Kaidyn needs to stop at this convenience store. You think it's cool?" he asked, hating to hear Hector's laugh. It was as bad as hearing 'I told you so'.

"Yeah, I'll come up to your car to make sure there's two of us if anything goes down." Hector nodded, feeling like it wasn't any risk to them. There hadn't been a car behind them in a very long time.

"Cool, thanks man." He said hanging up grateful. He had no sooner than pulled up and Kaidyn jumped out, not waiting for him. "K…" He started but she held up her hand and kept walking.

"How's it goin, paleface?" Hector asked, pulling up.

"Don't even say it or I'll run your car off your road." Brian warned. "Yo, man, you got a few bucks?" He asked, leaning on his car with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, why?" Hector pulled out a small role of 5's. Brian grabbed them and took off.

"Gonna buy her some stuff to keep her hella busy." Brian called over his shoulder as he headed inside.

"What you doing?" Kaidyn came out of the bathroom just in time for Brian to be in line to pay for the armful of stuff he had.

"Paying for some things. Hope you like crosswords." He grinned.

"Ah, the let's keep Kaidyn busy trick, huh? Boy, I know all the tricks in the book. My sister wrote them all." Kaidyn shrugged.

"You don't know what I have, so be quiet." Brian grinned boyishly as though he was proud of himself. She stood by Brian as he laid his things on the counter and tried to look amused.

"Wow, is that all your money you made on the last deal?" Kaidyn asked, her eyes wide.



"What are you talking about?" Brian asked, not understanding her. The older granny looking lady behind the counter peered over with her thick glasses looking at them crankily.

"You know from selling all those little packets of white stuff?" Kaidyn swayed on her feet, twirling her hair. Brian's face went red immediately as he kept his fixed smile on the woman.

"You are insane. Obviously too much sun today." Brian tried to make an excuse for her. 'What a sabotaging little….' He thought until the lady pushed it back at him.

"I don't sell stuff to people with drug money." She growled, pointing to the door. Kaidyn was sauntering out leisurely. Brian walked up behind her, grabbed her arm and ushered her nicely outside.

"Get in. Get in NOW." He ordered, making Hector stand up. He turned to Hector. "Dude, I'll tell you later. I have to get out of here so can you please go inside and pay for the stuff on that counter? Please tell her that this girl is a rebelling teenager and pay for that stuff? Here's your money." Brian placed it in Hector's hands and leaned on Kaidyn's door so she couldn't get out. Hector was so taken aback that he started to go inside without any questions.

"Hope you have your keys, essay." He said before going inside. This made Brian check his pockets and then thank the car gods that he did. "Here. The lady was ranting about druggies, what in the hell was that all about?" He asked, handing Brian the bag.

"Later man. I have to get her back on the road. I'm sure she'll tell Dom and Shayde some story about how I delayed us." Brian muttered, getting back into his car. He threw the bag in the back seat.

"No, I won't, thank you." Kaidyn said sullen.

"No you won't what?" Brian asked, pulling out.

"You told Hector I'd make some reason on you why we were late." Kaidyn picked at the bottom of her shirt as she sat with her head down, knowing he was more than pissed at the moment.

"You sure about that?" Brian asked, no longer able to hide his agitation.

"Yes, I keep my battles and their happenings to myself." Kaidyn said, holding her chin up defiantly.

"Battle? You think this is a battle? You got serious problems." Brian exploded. It was quiet in the car for at least ten minutes. Kaidyn went to reach for the bag. "Nope, hell no. You stay out of that." He lightly smacked her hand, making her draw it back and look like she'd been wounded in a world war. "I didn't even hit you that hard so don't try it." He warned, his foot feeling like lead on the floorboard. He fought the urge to speed. Getting in his car always gave him urges to speed but when he was mad or upset, he had to really restrain himself from caving to the craving.

"Why are you so freaking mad?" Kaidyn asked, now irritated she couldn't look at the stuff he had bought.



"Ha-ha. You're cute. Shay may have created that set of Kaidynisms but I am on to you now. Don't even act all innocent. You know what you did." Brian said, shaking his head.

"Kaidynisms? I like that." Kaidyn smiled, loving the word. He wasn't going to forgive her that easy, he vowed to himself, even if she was hilarious.

"What would you have done if she'd have called the cops?" He asked, his eyes bright and blazing as they often became when he became furious.

"Well, you are a cop..." She started, but decided to recant that statement as she saw his expression. She wondered if she had pushed him too far. "I mean, were a cop so you'd have gotten off." She shrugged, making him roll his eyes. 'Good save, little girl, good save' he thought to himself angrily.

"Yeah, and you think it magically happens like that?" He fumed, not giving her a chance to answer. "It doesn't for your information. But maybe one of my cop friends can take you on a ride with them to see how it does happen." He offered.
"Um, yeah, no thanks. Why does it have to be drugs anyways? All I said was small bags with white stuff. It could have been anything. It could have been powdered sugar, snow in a bag, baby powder, shaving cream, icing, salt, flour, pulverized candy…" She named off on her fingers and paused for a second.

"Yeah, I get the picture." He grinned, not able to stay mad at her any longer. She was too damn funny.

"I'm sorry. Can we be friends now?" She asked, her eyes looking sincere as she held out her hand.

"I don't know, can we? Can you stop acting like you are your sister's watch dog?" He asked, still grinning.

"Can you do the pageant wave?" She countered back.

"Nope, no can do." Brian said, shrugging as he negotiated.

"Well, then I guess I can't stop being a watch dog and I guess I can't help you with my sister. Too bad. I was starting to think you were an okay candidate." Kaidyn sighed.

"Just okay? After what you put me through?" Brian's eyes went wide.

"Oh, I'm being nice to you compared to what I have done to others, my friend." She said with a convincing nod. "This was only the intro to the initiation." She said, making him almost snort with laughter.

"I feel sorry for them. Are they still residing in the local asylum?" Brian joked, but seriously wondered.

"I don't know, ask Hector. He seems to be sane again." Kaidyn grinned, making Brian confused yet again. Hector had said she hadn't remembered him and that he had never wanted to date Shayde. He reminded himself to ask him about that later.

"Hector's never been sane." Brian said, hoping she couldn't see he was thinking about what she had just said.



"So, what's it going to be? The wave and my sister or we can keep this up all the way home. I have all day and all month. Dom said you stay at that house too." Kaidyn sat back, looking at her watch.

"You think you're tough stuff, don't you?" Brian asked, eyeing her satisfied grin.

"Nope, I don't think. I know." She smiled.