Chapter 26 - The answer is obvious
She woke up the next day and headed to work. Brian saw her come in and smirked at her. "So, how did last night go?"
"Obviously not as well as you think, cutie, from that smile you're givin' me."
"What'd ya mean by that?"
"Well, you're smirking at me like you think we got it on last night and we didn't." Kat blushed.
"You didn't? What'd ya mean you didn't?"
"What'd ya think I mean Brian? Geese. I was home by 12am."
"But Leon didn't get home till like 3." Brian realized he likely shouldn't have said anything about that when he saw the look that crossed Kat's expressive face.
"Well, he wasn't out wit me that long." Kat frowned. Leon should have known better, after all he did know he lived in the same house as Brian didn't he, Kat asked herself. So there must be an innocent, logical explanation.
"I'm sure he had a good reason. After all he musta known there was every chance you'n I'd talk about how things went." Kat looked slightly less concerned now. "I'm sure he just had to calm down from not gettin' any." Brian gently nudged her in the ribs with his elbow to drive home his joke.
"Yeah, that's it." Kat laughed. "He's too much of a gentleman. I been trying to.Ok, Brian, you don't need any more detail then that." Kat giggled.
"Aw, you were just about to the good part." Brian faked a frown.
"Yep, and you don't need to know. So what's on today's agenda?" Kat wanted to end this conversation and get to work.
"You get to climb the ladder and wipe off the rims on the top shelf cause Harry noticed they've gotten dusty, and you're dressed for it today. What's up there?" Kat had been wearing cloths lately that had prohibited her climbing ladders.
"I just didn't feel like dressing up." Kat was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a tank top. She had a hoodie with her cause she found it cold in the store sometimes. She looked at where the ladder was and saw that the vents were gonna mess with her hair if she left it down. She pulled on her hoodie and tucked her hair under the hood. She figured that would keep it out of her eyes. She got a rag and some wheel cleaner and climbed the ladder. She had no issues with heights so she was ok with this job. As Brian had said for the first time in a long time she wasn't wearing a skirt, and she couldn't climb a ladder in a skirt.
She was up cleaning the rims when she heard someone enter the store. Brian greeted them and she realized it was Leon. She wondered why he was here. Was it to see her? She waited for Brian to tell Leon where to find her. Even if he wasn't here to see her he wouldn't leave without saying hello she figured.
"So where's Kat?" Leon asked Brian. He'd come down on the pretense of needing some little thing for a customers car. He was really here to see his girl. He wanted to make another date with her. This time he wasn't gonna reject her advances. He knew all he wanted to know, he was done waiting, he decided he knew her well enough and he could get to know her more after. After all they had forever.
"You walked right by her when you came in." Brian laughed.
"I did not Dawg. I'da noticed."
Brian pointed. "Well, that looks like her to me." But it didn't really. She could be a guy in that outfit, Brian thought, and the thought made him smile, she was such a tomboy and now she looked like a dude.
Leon looked at the figure up the ladder in front of him. He had this nagging sense of knowing that ass again, and not just the way he should since it was Kat after all. He looked again. Baggy jeans hanging off her ass, hoodie covering her head, hair and most of her face, looked kinda like a guy in that outfit, not much in the way of hips or breasts to give her away.
He cocked his head to the side and looked again. She started down the ladder since she'd heard Brian tell Leon that it was her up the ladder.
Oh my god, Leon thought as something dawned on him, Kat was the skinny white person that'd robbed him that night. Leon couldn't believe he hadn't saw it sooner. The fourth person involved had been a white girl and he was looking at her now. He was floored. He couldn't believe that had been Kat and her gang that had done that to him. When was she gonna tell him? Never? After they'd become even more into each other. How could she do this to him? That was why he'd had that sense of knowing her all those times, his subconscious had known who she was from the start. She got off the ladder and turned to face him, lowering the hood and shaking her hair out as she turned.
Leon schooled himself to not let on to her in front of Brian. He wanted to talk to her outside, or away from Brian and Harry. He was so mad though he didn't know if he could do it, didn't know if he could trust himself not to say or do something he'd regret. He'd been shook up for months over what she'd done.
"Hey baby boy, whatcha doin' down here?" She asked with a big grin. He only came down here to see her, otherwise he'd just ask Brian to bring home what they needed. She knew that, but she asked anyway.
"I needed a part for Dom. Can we talk outside?" She seemed so happy to see him. If he hadn't stopped her with his tone she'd be hanging off his neck right now.
"Um, sure. Is something wrong?" She looked upset and nervous at the look on his face. He looked really upset.
"No, we just need ta talk for a second." Leon said and took hold of her arm, steering her out the front door of 'The Racer's Edge' and out to the pavement outside. Kat pulled off the sweater as the blast of heat from the California sun assaulted her at the door. Leon's grip had been almost painful, she glanced at her arm and found she had finger prints on it where he'd grabbed her. She wondered what was up. It most definitely wasn't nothing like he'd said. She didn't know what would cause him to grab her like this. She was gonna have bruises. She felt a week of no tank tops in her future or the guys were going to hunt down whoever did that to her, and she didn't want them to go after Leon. He must have just been lost in his thoughts and not known what he was doing.
"Well, what's wrong Leon, and don't say nothing cause you're acting funny." She frowned at him, and glanced at her other arm.
"When were you gonna tell me?" He saw her look at her arm and was ashamed of having hurt her, and surprised that she didn't look at him with accusation for having done it. She looked concerned for him, not herself. He schooled himself to say calm, and mad at her, despite wanting nothing more then to pull her into his arms, kiss the marks he'd inflicted on her and tell her it was all gonna be fine.
"Tell you what?" She looked genuinely confused.
"You know what Katherine." She regretted admitting to her full name. She hated it when anyone called her Katherine. Her mother'd done that when she was in trouble or when she was really happy with Kat. Either way it made her miss her mom. A nagging doubt was forming in the back of her mind.
"No I don't, Leonardo, and isn't that a woman trick, the old I'm not telling you what you did cause you already know routine." Leon winced at her use of his full name, he'd grudgingly gave it up when she'd been questioning him last night.
"Well, you know what you did that would piss me off, I figured it out."
"God Damn it Leon, this is getting old, what did I do?" Good lord no, she thought, he'd figured it out. She knew that he had to have figured it out. Nothing else could make him this mad. She could tell when she looked for it he was downright pissed at her. She couldn't just let on could she? Could she convince him she hadn't recognized him from that night? Was that better or would it be better for her to admit it?
"Come off it Kat. You know what you did." He yelled at her loud enough to bring Brian to the door of the store.
"Is everything ok?" Brian asked with concern.
"Everything's fine but for one thing, right Kat?" Leon asked with sarcasm.
"I don't know what you mean." She kept trying even though she knew he was not going to be convinced it wasn't her. Leon looked ready to shake her. She was getting a little afraid of him; she already had a set of 5 reasons to know he was on the verge of violence. "Ok, ok, do you need to yell about it out here? Could we go for a drive and discuss this?" She knew he wasn't going to accept she didn't know. He must have seen the truth in her eyes. She knew she'd might as well admit it, since he obviously already knew anyway.
Leon didn't know if getting in a small space with her was smart right now. He was so mad. Why couldn't she have told him this right away? Why had she made him find out? If she'd told him in the first place he could have dealt with it, but figuring it out and knowing if she hadn't told him by then she was never going to was very upsetting to him. "I don't think you want to be alone with me right now Kat. I could shake you. When were you gonna tell me?"
"Never." She admitted in a small voice. "I didn't know if you'd be able to forgive me and I figured that you'd never know. I see now I shoulda known someone as smart as you was gonna figure it out." She was clearing fighting to keep her composure. Brian didn't want to leave them alone because he didn't know where this was going.
"Yeah, you shoulda told me. I mean what else is a lie wit you? Do you always get what you want? Oh yeah, I guess you already told me you always do." He thought back to the first day he ever saw her, when she showed Brian her car, and she'd told him that her guys spoiled her.
"Leon, this had nothin' to do wit you. It was somethin' we did. I'm not proud of it, but it wasn't like we singled you out. It was a big coincidence. It wasn't about you." She reiterated, getting more and more upset.
"Yeah, you can look at it that way, must be nice to have been on the side of things you were on, but from my side of things it was very much about me wasn't it?" Leon couldn't believe she expected him to just let it go. She was acting like she did expect just that.
"But I didn't even know you at the time. I only met you way after through Brian. I had no idea I was gonna fall for you when I did what I did. I didn't know you. You were just a means to an end then. I.I care about you a lot now Leon.and if I could go back and fix it I would. But I can't. I'm so sorry that it was you. But if we didn't do it I wouldn't know you because it was what spurred me on to get my life in order. I only got this job after I got my life back and that's the only reason I even met you. I was made to know you." She had such a heartfelt look of sincerity on her face it was all Leon could do not to pull her to him, say he didn't care and make it all better. She'd placed her hand on his arm while she made her impassioned speech and he jerked away from her.
But he did care about what she'd done and that was what people had been doing for this girl for her whole life, giving her an easy way out of her difficulties. Robbing him had been the easy way. She could have gotten a job and worked for money, just like him and Jesse'd had to do. But no, she robbed someone. She'd gone way past the time in her life when someone had to make her take responsibility for her own actions he figured and he couldn't find it in himself to just forgive her this.
"What's goin' on here?" Brian asked. He didn't like the way Leon was talking to Kat. He could see it was upsetting her. He could see the little bruises on her arm too.
"Just stay out of it Brian. It has nothin' to do wit' you." Leon answered, holding up a hand to keep Brian at bay.
"Well, your almost makin' Kat cry out front of the store Leon, I think that does concern me." Brian answered.
"It's ok Brian, go back inside. I'm fine." Kat sniffled and looked at Brian, tried to smile. "We'll need to work this one out on our own Bri."
"Yeah, for once there's no one to pick up the pieces for you and keep you in your little fairytale land where everything goes your way and you get away with whatever you want, get whatever you want." Leon was out to hurt her like she'd hurt him, and when she started to openly cry he figured he'd managed. He cringed mentally but outwardly showed no signs of any emotion but anger.
She woke up the next day and headed to work. Brian saw her come in and smirked at her. "So, how did last night go?"
"Obviously not as well as you think, cutie, from that smile you're givin' me."
"What'd ya mean by that?"
"Well, you're smirking at me like you think we got it on last night and we didn't." Kat blushed.
"You didn't? What'd ya mean you didn't?"
"What'd ya think I mean Brian? Geese. I was home by 12am."
"But Leon didn't get home till like 3." Brian realized he likely shouldn't have said anything about that when he saw the look that crossed Kat's expressive face.
"Well, he wasn't out wit me that long." Kat frowned. Leon should have known better, after all he did know he lived in the same house as Brian didn't he, Kat asked herself. So there must be an innocent, logical explanation.
"I'm sure he had a good reason. After all he musta known there was every chance you'n I'd talk about how things went." Kat looked slightly less concerned now. "I'm sure he just had to calm down from not gettin' any." Brian gently nudged her in the ribs with his elbow to drive home his joke.
"Yeah, that's it." Kat laughed. "He's too much of a gentleman. I been trying to.Ok, Brian, you don't need any more detail then that." Kat giggled.
"Aw, you were just about to the good part." Brian faked a frown.
"Yep, and you don't need to know. So what's on today's agenda?" Kat wanted to end this conversation and get to work.
"You get to climb the ladder and wipe off the rims on the top shelf cause Harry noticed they've gotten dusty, and you're dressed for it today. What's up there?" Kat had been wearing cloths lately that had prohibited her climbing ladders.
"I just didn't feel like dressing up." Kat was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a tank top. She had a hoodie with her cause she found it cold in the store sometimes. She looked at where the ladder was and saw that the vents were gonna mess with her hair if she left it down. She pulled on her hoodie and tucked her hair under the hood. She figured that would keep it out of her eyes. She got a rag and some wheel cleaner and climbed the ladder. She had no issues with heights so she was ok with this job. As Brian had said for the first time in a long time she wasn't wearing a skirt, and she couldn't climb a ladder in a skirt.
She was up cleaning the rims when she heard someone enter the store. Brian greeted them and she realized it was Leon. She wondered why he was here. Was it to see her? She waited for Brian to tell Leon where to find her. Even if he wasn't here to see her he wouldn't leave without saying hello she figured.
"So where's Kat?" Leon asked Brian. He'd come down on the pretense of needing some little thing for a customers car. He was really here to see his girl. He wanted to make another date with her. This time he wasn't gonna reject her advances. He knew all he wanted to know, he was done waiting, he decided he knew her well enough and he could get to know her more after. After all they had forever.
"You walked right by her when you came in." Brian laughed.
"I did not Dawg. I'da noticed."
Brian pointed. "Well, that looks like her to me." But it didn't really. She could be a guy in that outfit, Brian thought, and the thought made him smile, she was such a tomboy and now she looked like a dude.
Leon looked at the figure up the ladder in front of him. He had this nagging sense of knowing that ass again, and not just the way he should since it was Kat after all. He looked again. Baggy jeans hanging off her ass, hoodie covering her head, hair and most of her face, looked kinda like a guy in that outfit, not much in the way of hips or breasts to give her away.
He cocked his head to the side and looked again. She started down the ladder since she'd heard Brian tell Leon that it was her up the ladder.
Oh my god, Leon thought as something dawned on him, Kat was the skinny white person that'd robbed him that night. Leon couldn't believe he hadn't saw it sooner. The fourth person involved had been a white girl and he was looking at her now. He was floored. He couldn't believe that had been Kat and her gang that had done that to him. When was she gonna tell him? Never? After they'd become even more into each other. How could she do this to him? That was why he'd had that sense of knowing her all those times, his subconscious had known who she was from the start. She got off the ladder and turned to face him, lowering the hood and shaking her hair out as she turned.
Leon schooled himself to not let on to her in front of Brian. He wanted to talk to her outside, or away from Brian and Harry. He was so mad though he didn't know if he could do it, didn't know if he could trust himself not to say or do something he'd regret. He'd been shook up for months over what she'd done.
"Hey baby boy, whatcha doin' down here?" She asked with a big grin. He only came down here to see her, otherwise he'd just ask Brian to bring home what they needed. She knew that, but she asked anyway.
"I needed a part for Dom. Can we talk outside?" She seemed so happy to see him. If he hadn't stopped her with his tone she'd be hanging off his neck right now.
"Um, sure. Is something wrong?" She looked upset and nervous at the look on his face. He looked really upset.
"No, we just need ta talk for a second." Leon said and took hold of her arm, steering her out the front door of 'The Racer's Edge' and out to the pavement outside. Kat pulled off the sweater as the blast of heat from the California sun assaulted her at the door. Leon's grip had been almost painful, she glanced at her arm and found she had finger prints on it where he'd grabbed her. She wondered what was up. It most definitely wasn't nothing like he'd said. She didn't know what would cause him to grab her like this. She was gonna have bruises. She felt a week of no tank tops in her future or the guys were going to hunt down whoever did that to her, and she didn't want them to go after Leon. He must have just been lost in his thoughts and not known what he was doing.
"Well, what's wrong Leon, and don't say nothing cause you're acting funny." She frowned at him, and glanced at her other arm.
"When were you gonna tell me?" He saw her look at her arm and was ashamed of having hurt her, and surprised that she didn't look at him with accusation for having done it. She looked concerned for him, not herself. He schooled himself to say calm, and mad at her, despite wanting nothing more then to pull her into his arms, kiss the marks he'd inflicted on her and tell her it was all gonna be fine.
"Tell you what?" She looked genuinely confused.
"You know what Katherine." She regretted admitting to her full name. She hated it when anyone called her Katherine. Her mother'd done that when she was in trouble or when she was really happy with Kat. Either way it made her miss her mom. A nagging doubt was forming in the back of her mind.
"No I don't, Leonardo, and isn't that a woman trick, the old I'm not telling you what you did cause you already know routine." Leon winced at her use of his full name, he'd grudgingly gave it up when she'd been questioning him last night.
"Well, you know what you did that would piss me off, I figured it out."
"God Damn it Leon, this is getting old, what did I do?" Good lord no, she thought, he'd figured it out. She knew that he had to have figured it out. Nothing else could make him this mad. She could tell when she looked for it he was downright pissed at her. She couldn't just let on could she? Could she convince him she hadn't recognized him from that night? Was that better or would it be better for her to admit it?
"Come off it Kat. You know what you did." He yelled at her loud enough to bring Brian to the door of the store.
"Is everything ok?" Brian asked with concern.
"Everything's fine but for one thing, right Kat?" Leon asked with sarcasm.
"I don't know what you mean." She kept trying even though she knew he was not going to be convinced it wasn't her. Leon looked ready to shake her. She was getting a little afraid of him; she already had a set of 5 reasons to know he was on the verge of violence. "Ok, ok, do you need to yell about it out here? Could we go for a drive and discuss this?" She knew he wasn't going to accept she didn't know. He must have seen the truth in her eyes. She knew she'd might as well admit it, since he obviously already knew anyway.
Leon didn't know if getting in a small space with her was smart right now. He was so mad. Why couldn't she have told him this right away? Why had she made him find out? If she'd told him in the first place he could have dealt with it, but figuring it out and knowing if she hadn't told him by then she was never going to was very upsetting to him. "I don't think you want to be alone with me right now Kat. I could shake you. When were you gonna tell me?"
"Never." She admitted in a small voice. "I didn't know if you'd be able to forgive me and I figured that you'd never know. I see now I shoulda known someone as smart as you was gonna figure it out." She was clearing fighting to keep her composure. Brian didn't want to leave them alone because he didn't know where this was going.
"Yeah, you shoulda told me. I mean what else is a lie wit you? Do you always get what you want? Oh yeah, I guess you already told me you always do." He thought back to the first day he ever saw her, when she showed Brian her car, and she'd told him that her guys spoiled her.
"Leon, this had nothin' to do wit you. It was somethin' we did. I'm not proud of it, but it wasn't like we singled you out. It was a big coincidence. It wasn't about you." She reiterated, getting more and more upset.
"Yeah, you can look at it that way, must be nice to have been on the side of things you were on, but from my side of things it was very much about me wasn't it?" Leon couldn't believe she expected him to just let it go. She was acting like she did expect just that.
"But I didn't even know you at the time. I only met you way after through Brian. I had no idea I was gonna fall for you when I did what I did. I didn't know you. You were just a means to an end then. I.I care about you a lot now Leon.and if I could go back and fix it I would. But I can't. I'm so sorry that it was you. But if we didn't do it I wouldn't know you because it was what spurred me on to get my life in order. I only got this job after I got my life back and that's the only reason I even met you. I was made to know you." She had such a heartfelt look of sincerity on her face it was all Leon could do not to pull her to him, say he didn't care and make it all better. She'd placed her hand on his arm while she made her impassioned speech and he jerked away from her.
But he did care about what she'd done and that was what people had been doing for this girl for her whole life, giving her an easy way out of her difficulties. Robbing him had been the easy way. She could have gotten a job and worked for money, just like him and Jesse'd had to do. But no, she robbed someone. She'd gone way past the time in her life when someone had to make her take responsibility for her own actions he figured and he couldn't find it in himself to just forgive her this.
"What's goin' on here?" Brian asked. He didn't like the way Leon was talking to Kat. He could see it was upsetting her. He could see the little bruises on her arm too.
"Just stay out of it Brian. It has nothin' to do wit' you." Leon answered, holding up a hand to keep Brian at bay.
"Well, your almost makin' Kat cry out front of the store Leon, I think that does concern me." Brian answered.
"It's ok Brian, go back inside. I'm fine." Kat sniffled and looked at Brian, tried to smile. "We'll need to work this one out on our own Bri."
"Yeah, for once there's no one to pick up the pieces for you and keep you in your little fairytale land where everything goes your way and you get away with whatever you want, get whatever you want." Leon was out to hurt her like she'd hurt him, and when she started to openly cry he figured he'd managed. He cringed mentally but outwardly showed no signs of any emotion but anger.