Chapter 25 - Trading life stories
"So, Kat, what did your folks do in New York before you had to move here?" Leon wanted to know more about her. He realized that all he had been thinking of was getting in her pants in a lot of ways, and he didn't even really know her. He knew he wanted more then a one night stand with her, but for all he knew racing was all they had in common.
"Well, that's a long time ago. It's a really long story."
"Well, we got the time and I'd really like to know."
"Well, my mom was a dancer. A really good one. My dad left went I was little, but I know he was into cars." Kat smiled. "My poor mother always wanted me to dance too but I wanted Tonka toys and hot wheels. I was my dad's little shadow from what I'm told. I was always in the garage with him and he use to take me to work wit' him. I don't remember him at all now. He left us when I was 5 or 6. I don't get it cause he and my mom were really in love from all accounts. But I don't really even remember him now. My mom died when I was 14."
"Wow, so how did you come to decide to come to California?"
"It was as far away as I could get from New York." She laughed. "And I hate snow."
"True 'dat." Leon smiled. "So what did you want to be as a kid?"
"You're gonna laugh." She giggled.
"No I'm not!" Leon tried to look sincere. He leaned in toward her with a rapt look on his face. "I can tell this is gonna be good so spill."
"I wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps and be a racecar driver. And own a custom creations type car store." She blushed.
"So you got your wish." Leon smiled. "Nothin' wrong wit' dat."
"Well, no, I didn't exactly get my wish. I mean I get to race, but I wanted to do it for real. Like crowds in the stands and fans across the country, sponsors, merchandise, career real. That sort of thing. Not this sort of fly by night, run from the law, could end any time, not really what you can do for the rest of your life kinda racing. I mean I can't street race forever Leon. Someday I'm gonna half to get a real job. I wanted racing to be my real job."
"Well, why don't you try to make racing a career? What's stopping you?" Leon asked her, he really cared he found, he really wanted to know. She was good, no doubt she could race on the tracks for real and do ok. It was never a burning ambition for Leon to race pro. He got off on the thrill of the race and the chase more then the winning aspect.
Kat looked at her breasts. "What's stoppin' me is my gender." She gestured to her front. "They don't take woman into pro circuits very often. I think I'd have a better chance of winnin' a lottery."
"I can see that point of view I guess. You know you and Dom have more in common then you even know."
"How so?"
"Well, he always just wanted to race too. There was never anything else for Dom. His dad was a racer too. A real, career racer. Then one year during the last race of the year this dude Kenny Linder put Van Toretto into the wall at 120 and Van died in the crash. Dom saw Linder a week after and beat him senseless. Dom did 2 years for assault and they banned 'im off the tracks for life. So he learned mechanics for real. I mean he already knew all there was to know about all kinds of cars. But he went and got his license then because it was clear that his real dream of following in his papa's footsteps was never gonna happen and he started his garage to be a second place substitute. Real race car drivers'll take cars to Dom to fix if their own pit crews are having trouble figuring something out. Dom was gonna race and Vince and Letty were gonna be his pit crew. Now Vince doesn't even really work at the garage anymore, he just helps us out when we get busy and Dom's stuck racing in the streets just to get his fix. It's so in his blood he can't just say no to it not matter how hard he tries."
"Poor Dom." Kat breathed out. "I had no idea his dad died like that, let alone they would ban him off the track for that. I mean how old was he when this all went down?"
"He was 20 I think. Yeah, he was 20. He got outa jail at 22. Letty was 18 when he got out. Letty'd been around since she was 10 and Dom was 14. Dom's always been the guy she wanted, the when she turned 16 Dom noticed her, noticed her but didn't do anything about it right away. Then he went in. When he got out he hooked up with Letty. Dom was always a player till then from what I hear but he loved Letty and he stopped seein' other girls when he started to see her. But he went to jail before they started to see each other seriously. Then when he got out they hooked up."
"What's the deal there? I could tell that Letty thought I was after Dom from the moment I met her." She thought for a second. "No, that's not right. She thought he was after me from the get go and she assumed that because I was into street racin' that I'd just return his interest. I didn't get it. I was sorta insulted because I didn't chase after any guys let alone a guy with a girl already."
Leon sighed, he wondered if this was his business to tell her, but it was gonna help her understand the dynamic of his team and that was important. "Well, when Dom got outa jail they took up where they left off but Letty'd never liked another guy because she'd been into Dom since 10. Dom'd had lots of girlfriends before he went in and he'd never had a serious one in his life. He still wanted to be with Letty, but maybe he was too young then, and still enjoying his new freedom too much, and he shoulda made his relationship with Letty wait while he fucked around when he got outa jail. If he'd a told her he didn't want to be with her that way then it might not have hurt her so much when she found out he'd been with other girls. But he was supposed to be her boyfriend, and I guess that makes what he did to her cheating. And he did it with some really nasty girls, the kind that'd make sure Letty knew. None of those girls wanted Dom, they just wanted to be able to say they'd slept with the great one. And then they wanted to rub Letty's nose in the fact that she couldn't keep Dom at home, they implied that she wasn't good at.Well, I think you know. And it messed her up. But she still loved him too. I don't think he's done it lately, but he did it enough back then that she still doesn't trust him completely. I think Dom still likes the challenge of trying to get a girl that he shouldn't have to give into him too. He just restrains himself better now."
"Wow, that's a whole lot of history. I'd like to say that in Letty's shoes I'd just leave, but I've never been there, and that's a whole lota history. I gotta think they're some sorta fated lovers or somethin' ya know? I mean I didn't even know boys were different from girls at 10. I thought we all loved cars and bikes and dirt, much to my mother's chagrin. I don't know how she knew at 10 that he was the man for her."
"I don't know. They're somethin' else when they're together in good times."
"So, Leon, what was you're childhood like? I know your mom ran off but not in any detail."
"Well, my mom left when I was 16, the last thing she taught me to do was drive. I hate her for a lot of things but I can't hate her for that. I wish she hadn'ta left me with her husband though. He wasn't anything to me, ya know? He was her husband and he never liked me. I was another man's. I was lucky that my real dad, Jesse's dad, took me in like he did. He's a great guy. Jesse has his car."
"So you know how I got my Skyline, spoiled brat that I am. How did you get yours?"
"Oh, that's a long story."
"I got time too." She grinned at him. "I'm waiting." Their food arrived and Leon started the story while they ate.
"Well, I really wanted one. I mean really bad. I'd heard about this fantastic car from Japan that wasn't ever gonna be runnin on our side cause it couldn't pass emissions but that it was the car that could blow any other import, any other sports car outa the water. And I wanted one. I was more into racin' then, I was, or I like to think I was, as good as Dom and I wanted to have the best car. Me'n Jesse started workin' crappy jobs to save up money and every time we saved enough we bought somethin' else to speed up the Jetta. It was just his dad's car at first, his dad doesn't do cars or racin'. But we started to tune it. Tuning was fairly young then, and not a lot of people were into it yet, let alone in German cars. But Jesse, he's, well, somethin' else with engines. And he always has been. Don't know where he learned. But anyway, he started tunin' this Jetta. And I started teachin' myself to drive the Jetta fast. And we started hittin' races. We made some money but not a lot. It was better then the jobs we had before and we lived at home, not like we had a lot of expenses at the time. All this time I had the plan of endin' up wit' a skyline somehow. Then one night a guy showed up at races with one. I was floored. The R32 was the top of the line at the time so it was my dream car. It was in rough shape and I don't think to this day the kid with it had any idea what it was. He had no money and neither did I but we wanted to race each other. So we both threw down our slips. He lost."
"You bet your dad's Jetta to get the Skyline? Wow, and they call me cocky."
"Well, I wasn't loosin'." Leon looked at her with that grin she was fast coming to love.
"You got lucky huh?"
"I sure did. But I've had that car ever since and Dad always said he didn't wanna know how I got it. Then Jesse and I started tunin' it up. How'd you meet your guys?"
"You're gonna know my life story at this rate Leon. You wanna be here all night?"
"Sure, if you keep talkin' girl." He gave her a big sincere smile.
"Ok, well, I suppose I should tell you I been racing since I was 14 and my mom died. My brothers started me off in corvettes and found out I was good at it. They got off on the popularity that came from the New York skanks when it came out they had a little sister they were raising, a sister who could race better then most of the local guys who'd been doin' it for years. My brothers are thugs, they ran a chop shop, I think they were even small time mobsters or mafia. But anyway, one day I happened to overhear J.My older brother," no names she reminded herself, "on the phone, talking and listened long enough to realize he was making plans to sell me to a friend cause he didn't want to be responsible for me anymore. So I ran away in the corvette I raced for them. I ran to LA, somehow took an exit into south central and met the guys. Thankfully they took a likin' to me and took me home. Named me kitten cause Sean still insists I looked like one and I was a stray, and indulged me. They thought it was novel to have a girl child that raced and talked trash I think. But they took good care of me, made me go to school and shit. I know they protected me more then they let on from stuff. I love 'em to pieces."
"I can see that. You got lucky too."
She looked deep into Leon's eyes, so green and deep. "Yeah, I did."
Leon knew she was hinting that he was her luck, not her guys. The waitress had brought the bill long ago but they'd been so engrossed in each other they'd just kept talking. "You wanna go for a drive?"
"I'd love to." They left and sped off toward downtown. "You wouldn't be hoping for a repeat of what happened the last time we went down town in your car would you?"
"Well, would you be mad if I said yes?" Leon asked, semi serious.
"I'd be mad if you said no." Leon smiled. That was the answer he'd been hoping for. He wasn't sure if he wanted to try to take Kat home tonight. He knew they were headed down that road, and it sure seemed like she was wanting to go down it with him. But he didn't know what it was about her that made him want to know her better first.
"Well then, I know just the place." He drove them back to the beach. Kat was internally upset at this because she figured if he didn't take what she offered here last time he wasn't likely to take it now. However just kissing him was nice and if they didn't cross the finish line as it were tonight she figured she'd just have to let this relationship take it's time and get there when it was ready. But Kat was ready now.
Like she figured all Leon did was kiss her again. Well, he went further then kissing her, but he never made any move to take it all the way, no matter how she tried to entice him into it. And she did try. But he wasn't having it. He brought her home pretty well as innocent as she left it.
She was laying in bed, frustrated as hell that Leon continued to refuse what she was offering. She was starting to figure that he wasn't into her like that after all. Why else would a guy refuse to take what she was clearly wanting to give? But then again he did get involved in her and she sensed the self control he needed to stop each time.
But what was he waiting for? How much better did he need to know her before he knew her well enough? She knew from Brian that Leon was far from innocent. He'd been around enough that she knew that sex for Leon wasn't normally any sort of major commitment. Did he assume that she'd expect a commitment from him if they hooked up? Maybe, but she hadn't done anything on purpose to give him that idea. She was going to pull out all the stops she could to get him into bed the next chance she got. She laughed at herself. How many other girls had ever had to think that about Leon? None she'd bet. She'd bet she was the first one to ever have to seduce him.
She fell asleep that night with thoughts of seducing Leon on her mind.
"So, Kat, what did your folks do in New York before you had to move here?" Leon wanted to know more about her. He realized that all he had been thinking of was getting in her pants in a lot of ways, and he didn't even really know her. He knew he wanted more then a one night stand with her, but for all he knew racing was all they had in common.
"Well, that's a long time ago. It's a really long story."
"Well, we got the time and I'd really like to know."
"Well, my mom was a dancer. A really good one. My dad left went I was little, but I know he was into cars." Kat smiled. "My poor mother always wanted me to dance too but I wanted Tonka toys and hot wheels. I was my dad's little shadow from what I'm told. I was always in the garage with him and he use to take me to work wit' him. I don't remember him at all now. He left us when I was 5 or 6. I don't get it cause he and my mom were really in love from all accounts. But I don't really even remember him now. My mom died when I was 14."
"Wow, so how did you come to decide to come to California?"
"It was as far away as I could get from New York." She laughed. "And I hate snow."
"True 'dat." Leon smiled. "So what did you want to be as a kid?"
"You're gonna laugh." She giggled.
"No I'm not!" Leon tried to look sincere. He leaned in toward her with a rapt look on his face. "I can tell this is gonna be good so spill."
"I wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps and be a racecar driver. And own a custom creations type car store." She blushed.
"So you got your wish." Leon smiled. "Nothin' wrong wit' dat."
"Well, no, I didn't exactly get my wish. I mean I get to race, but I wanted to do it for real. Like crowds in the stands and fans across the country, sponsors, merchandise, career real. That sort of thing. Not this sort of fly by night, run from the law, could end any time, not really what you can do for the rest of your life kinda racing. I mean I can't street race forever Leon. Someday I'm gonna half to get a real job. I wanted racing to be my real job."
"Well, why don't you try to make racing a career? What's stopping you?" Leon asked her, he really cared he found, he really wanted to know. She was good, no doubt she could race on the tracks for real and do ok. It was never a burning ambition for Leon to race pro. He got off on the thrill of the race and the chase more then the winning aspect.
Kat looked at her breasts. "What's stoppin' me is my gender." She gestured to her front. "They don't take woman into pro circuits very often. I think I'd have a better chance of winnin' a lottery."
"I can see that point of view I guess. You know you and Dom have more in common then you even know."
"How so?"
"Well, he always just wanted to race too. There was never anything else for Dom. His dad was a racer too. A real, career racer. Then one year during the last race of the year this dude Kenny Linder put Van Toretto into the wall at 120 and Van died in the crash. Dom saw Linder a week after and beat him senseless. Dom did 2 years for assault and they banned 'im off the tracks for life. So he learned mechanics for real. I mean he already knew all there was to know about all kinds of cars. But he went and got his license then because it was clear that his real dream of following in his papa's footsteps was never gonna happen and he started his garage to be a second place substitute. Real race car drivers'll take cars to Dom to fix if their own pit crews are having trouble figuring something out. Dom was gonna race and Vince and Letty were gonna be his pit crew. Now Vince doesn't even really work at the garage anymore, he just helps us out when we get busy and Dom's stuck racing in the streets just to get his fix. It's so in his blood he can't just say no to it not matter how hard he tries."
"Poor Dom." Kat breathed out. "I had no idea his dad died like that, let alone they would ban him off the track for that. I mean how old was he when this all went down?"
"He was 20 I think. Yeah, he was 20. He got outa jail at 22. Letty was 18 when he got out. Letty'd been around since she was 10 and Dom was 14. Dom's always been the guy she wanted, the when she turned 16 Dom noticed her, noticed her but didn't do anything about it right away. Then he went in. When he got out he hooked up with Letty. Dom was always a player till then from what I hear but he loved Letty and he stopped seein' other girls when he started to see her. But he went to jail before they started to see each other seriously. Then when he got out they hooked up."
"What's the deal there? I could tell that Letty thought I was after Dom from the moment I met her." She thought for a second. "No, that's not right. She thought he was after me from the get go and she assumed that because I was into street racin' that I'd just return his interest. I didn't get it. I was sorta insulted because I didn't chase after any guys let alone a guy with a girl already."
Leon sighed, he wondered if this was his business to tell her, but it was gonna help her understand the dynamic of his team and that was important. "Well, when Dom got outa jail they took up where they left off but Letty'd never liked another guy because she'd been into Dom since 10. Dom'd had lots of girlfriends before he went in and he'd never had a serious one in his life. He still wanted to be with Letty, but maybe he was too young then, and still enjoying his new freedom too much, and he shoulda made his relationship with Letty wait while he fucked around when he got outa jail. If he'd a told her he didn't want to be with her that way then it might not have hurt her so much when she found out he'd been with other girls. But he was supposed to be her boyfriend, and I guess that makes what he did to her cheating. And he did it with some really nasty girls, the kind that'd make sure Letty knew. None of those girls wanted Dom, they just wanted to be able to say they'd slept with the great one. And then they wanted to rub Letty's nose in the fact that she couldn't keep Dom at home, they implied that she wasn't good at.Well, I think you know. And it messed her up. But she still loved him too. I don't think he's done it lately, but he did it enough back then that she still doesn't trust him completely. I think Dom still likes the challenge of trying to get a girl that he shouldn't have to give into him too. He just restrains himself better now."
"Wow, that's a whole lot of history. I'd like to say that in Letty's shoes I'd just leave, but I've never been there, and that's a whole lota history. I gotta think they're some sorta fated lovers or somethin' ya know? I mean I didn't even know boys were different from girls at 10. I thought we all loved cars and bikes and dirt, much to my mother's chagrin. I don't know how she knew at 10 that he was the man for her."
"I don't know. They're somethin' else when they're together in good times."
"So, Leon, what was you're childhood like? I know your mom ran off but not in any detail."
"Well, my mom left when I was 16, the last thing she taught me to do was drive. I hate her for a lot of things but I can't hate her for that. I wish she hadn'ta left me with her husband though. He wasn't anything to me, ya know? He was her husband and he never liked me. I was another man's. I was lucky that my real dad, Jesse's dad, took me in like he did. He's a great guy. Jesse has his car."
"So you know how I got my Skyline, spoiled brat that I am. How did you get yours?"
"Oh, that's a long story."
"I got time too." She grinned at him. "I'm waiting." Their food arrived and Leon started the story while they ate.
"Well, I really wanted one. I mean really bad. I'd heard about this fantastic car from Japan that wasn't ever gonna be runnin on our side cause it couldn't pass emissions but that it was the car that could blow any other import, any other sports car outa the water. And I wanted one. I was more into racin' then, I was, or I like to think I was, as good as Dom and I wanted to have the best car. Me'n Jesse started workin' crappy jobs to save up money and every time we saved enough we bought somethin' else to speed up the Jetta. It was just his dad's car at first, his dad doesn't do cars or racin'. But we started to tune it. Tuning was fairly young then, and not a lot of people were into it yet, let alone in German cars. But Jesse, he's, well, somethin' else with engines. And he always has been. Don't know where he learned. But anyway, he started tunin' this Jetta. And I started teachin' myself to drive the Jetta fast. And we started hittin' races. We made some money but not a lot. It was better then the jobs we had before and we lived at home, not like we had a lot of expenses at the time. All this time I had the plan of endin' up wit' a skyline somehow. Then one night a guy showed up at races with one. I was floored. The R32 was the top of the line at the time so it was my dream car. It was in rough shape and I don't think to this day the kid with it had any idea what it was. He had no money and neither did I but we wanted to race each other. So we both threw down our slips. He lost."
"You bet your dad's Jetta to get the Skyline? Wow, and they call me cocky."
"Well, I wasn't loosin'." Leon looked at her with that grin she was fast coming to love.
"You got lucky huh?"
"I sure did. But I've had that car ever since and Dad always said he didn't wanna know how I got it. Then Jesse and I started tunin' it up. How'd you meet your guys?"
"You're gonna know my life story at this rate Leon. You wanna be here all night?"
"Sure, if you keep talkin' girl." He gave her a big sincere smile.
"Ok, well, I suppose I should tell you I been racing since I was 14 and my mom died. My brothers started me off in corvettes and found out I was good at it. They got off on the popularity that came from the New York skanks when it came out they had a little sister they were raising, a sister who could race better then most of the local guys who'd been doin' it for years. My brothers are thugs, they ran a chop shop, I think they were even small time mobsters or mafia. But anyway, one day I happened to overhear J.My older brother," no names she reminded herself, "on the phone, talking and listened long enough to realize he was making plans to sell me to a friend cause he didn't want to be responsible for me anymore. So I ran away in the corvette I raced for them. I ran to LA, somehow took an exit into south central and met the guys. Thankfully they took a likin' to me and took me home. Named me kitten cause Sean still insists I looked like one and I was a stray, and indulged me. They thought it was novel to have a girl child that raced and talked trash I think. But they took good care of me, made me go to school and shit. I know they protected me more then they let on from stuff. I love 'em to pieces."
"I can see that. You got lucky too."
She looked deep into Leon's eyes, so green and deep. "Yeah, I did."
Leon knew she was hinting that he was her luck, not her guys. The waitress had brought the bill long ago but they'd been so engrossed in each other they'd just kept talking. "You wanna go for a drive?"
"I'd love to." They left and sped off toward downtown. "You wouldn't be hoping for a repeat of what happened the last time we went down town in your car would you?"
"Well, would you be mad if I said yes?" Leon asked, semi serious.
"I'd be mad if you said no." Leon smiled. That was the answer he'd been hoping for. He wasn't sure if he wanted to try to take Kat home tonight. He knew they were headed down that road, and it sure seemed like she was wanting to go down it with him. But he didn't know what it was about her that made him want to know her better first.
"Well then, I know just the place." He drove them back to the beach. Kat was internally upset at this because she figured if he didn't take what she offered here last time he wasn't likely to take it now. However just kissing him was nice and if they didn't cross the finish line as it were tonight she figured she'd just have to let this relationship take it's time and get there when it was ready. But Kat was ready now.
Like she figured all Leon did was kiss her again. Well, he went further then kissing her, but he never made any move to take it all the way, no matter how she tried to entice him into it. And she did try. But he wasn't having it. He brought her home pretty well as innocent as she left it.
She was laying in bed, frustrated as hell that Leon continued to refuse what she was offering. She was starting to figure that he wasn't into her like that after all. Why else would a guy refuse to take what she was clearly wanting to give? But then again he did get involved in her and she sensed the self control he needed to stop each time.
But what was he waiting for? How much better did he need to know her before he knew her well enough? She knew from Brian that Leon was far from innocent. He'd been around enough that she knew that sex for Leon wasn't normally any sort of major commitment. Did he assume that she'd expect a commitment from him if they hooked up? Maybe, but she hadn't done anything on purpose to give him that idea. She was going to pull out all the stops she could to get him into bed the next chance she got. She laughed at herself. How many other girls had ever had to think that about Leon? None she'd bet. She'd bet she was the first one to ever have to seduce him.
She fell asleep that night with thoughts of seducing Leon on her mind.