Chapter 28 - You know they're bringing an ass kicking with them!
AN: pixiguru, yep Adrenaline is a real song by Gavin Rossdale. He use to be the lead singer for Bush. Listening to that song made me know that it had to have a story set to it. And what sport has more adrenaline then racing? So it all went hand in hand. Penning Fantasy, what can I say? Your reviews always make me smile. You rock too, I'd like to think that Carson and Kat would get along so well it would be the scariest thing on earth.Gigles, nope, she only gets to take one friend and that's me! LOL. Twisted words, you'll have to wait and see what I have in store. I said a few chapters ago that anyone who thought Kat would get to sail through this was very wrong. Happy ending? Perhaps. Stay with me, the ride should be fun. Will Leon go to Japan.Not likely. Kat needs to learn some things first, and one of the main things is that she doesn't need Leon. She has some self confidence issues, and she's gotta get over that first. But you'll all see. I hope you'll all enjoy. Sorry to anyone I missed, I appreciate every last person who takes the time to review. On to the story.
Harry walked Kat to his Mercedes with his arm around her shoulders. She looked like hell but he didn't let on to her. Anyone who saw her was going to know she'd been to hell and back. Harry opened the passenger side door and helped her into the car. Then he took her car, and with some difficulty he got it safely stashed in his store's garage. It was an awkward car to drive for the first time. She was one hell of a driver to manage it and drive it at the speeds Harry knew she did. Then he came back through the store, closed up early and armed the system. He walked back up to the car and put the top down. Kat giggled at something he said, it was like music to his ears. He got in and fired up his car and started toward Brian's since he knew where Brian lived. Neither of them saw the yellow Skyline parked behind some other cars across the street.
Leon saw how bad Kat looked. He was so very ashamed of how he'd treated her. But he still felt she'd had most of it coming. But Harry wasn't even letting her drive herself home? That meant she was in bad shape. He'd seen how puffy and red her face had been, how she'd pulled her knees to her chest and curled in on herself while Harry left her alone. He'd had to use every ounce of will power he had not to get out of his car, go to her, fall on his knees and tell her he'd lied, that he wasn't worthy of her, not the other way around. That he knew she'd done what she'd done out of desperation and that he knew she hadn't thought she'd ever see him again. That he didn't know how he was going to go on without her; with the knowledge of what'd he'd done weighing on him. It was heavy on his shoulders. If she'd felt like this while she was carrying around the guilt of what she'd done to him then he was surprised she'd been as happy go lucky as she was.
Damn it, she'd robbed him with a weapon. He'd been paranoid for weeks after. He'd found it hard to be in crowds and was always looking over his shoulder. He wondered what she was going to do. They were neighbours after all. He was also dreading seeing her friends at his door, he knew they'd be bringing an ass kicking with them. He had it coming. He'd been unnecessarily cruel. He knew also that Brian was looking for him. He was still sort of hurt that Brian had taken her side in this. Well, maybe Brian wasn't taking sides, but he'd stayed with Kat, and he hadn't seemed that mad at her. Harry sure wasn't. Of course who knew if she'd told them what had really happened. Leon merged into traffic a short distance behind Harry's blue convertible and followed, hoping they didn't notice him.
Harry pulled into a pretty house that was in fact almost right across from Torreto's house on Kat's directions. "Here we are." She said.
"Wow, it's pretty." Harry smiled.
"Thanks, come in with me? Don't let the guys leave the place. I don't want them to get in trouble, or to hurt Leon."
"Sweetheart, I can't make you any promises. I'm not as strong as I was in my college football days." Harry smiled at her.
"What team did you play football for?" Kat asked. She couldn't see Harry as a football player.
"NYU" Harry answered. Kat raised an eyebrow
"You been holding out on me Harry? You're a native New Yorker too?"
"That was a long time ago sweetheart, I don't really talk about it anymore."
"I know the feeling." Harry hopped out of the car and ran around and helped her out. He walked her up to the front door with his arm still around her waist for support.
"It's gonna be alright." Harry told her one more time.
"Thanks for everything Harry. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you stood by me. I know you shoulda stood by Leon and so shoulda Brian, but knowing you guys don't hate me for what I am is really, really nice."
"Kat. I don't know what to tell you other then I know you didn't do anything out of malice and I really care about you in a plutonic, much older then you kinda way. And as for what you are, I hope my own daughter is half the woman you are, where ever she is." Harry grinned. He wanted her to know that he wasn't implying anything untoward by this offer and that he felt much like he hoped he would have felt about his own daughter, Starlene if he'd gotten to raise her.
"Oh Harry." She cried and hugged him hard. She was crying again.
"What, more tears. I thought we were over the tears." He looked upset, he wiped her face with the pad of his thumb.
"They're happy tears. I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." A man like Harry wanted a daughter like her? She couldn't believe it but if it was true then she couldn't be all bad.
"Well, it's true. So there you go. Let's tell your guys the low down." He hugged her tightly again and then released her.
"Ok, lets. The sooner I get outa here for awhile the better I think. I'll miss the guys. I hope they'll be ok for a week or two alone." She'd never left them without female supervision since they'd been together.
"I'm sure they'll do fine." They entered her house and she was glad to find the guys were already together in the living room.
Leon watched them enter her house and he was jealous of Harry treating her with such respect. Like the lady she was instead of the tough chick he'd treated her like. Harry realized she was a lady under all the attitude, and since it took losing her to make Leon see that he felt like an even bigger ass. He'd known that she'd had this misconception about no one seeing her as pretty or sexy, but he hadn't allowed himself to think of how that would make her act. He knew that lots of guys would like to be all over her, but she didn't. Of course she thought that any little thing would be enough to drive him away from her. She didn't see herself as a prize, she saw herself as a consolidation prize if anything.
She was likely so surprised that he'd been into her that she'd felt she couldn't tell him because she was already so imperfect, he was already doing her such a favor by dating her in her mind that if she was any more imperfect he'd leave her. She'd had one strange life, and he hadn't helped anything by pointing it all out to her and throwing it in her face. He felt like such an ass he almost walked up to her house and demanded his ass kicking, confessed what he'd done to her friends and told them to bring it on. But that was just for him, to lessen his guilt in the whole situation, like if they kicked his ass they'd be somehow even so he decided to let it alone for now and go home to the minor ass kicking that Brian had no doubt brought home from work for him.
"Kat what happened?" Sean looked from Harry to Kat. He knew Kat was upset and could tell she'd been crying.
"He found out." Kat stated, trying to be devoid of emotion to lessen the chance of Sean or Stacy going nuts. If they knew how hurt she was by what happened they'd be likely to flip. She was still leaning into Harry for the support the man was offering her. Kale was sort of the Leon of their group, the peacemaker, and she figured that he wouldn't do anything foolish. The rest of them however.
"How'd he take it?" Sean asked her.
"Not good." Kat sighed and sat down, motioning for Harry to find a chair. "You all remember Harry?" They all nodded.
"Well.What happened?" Stacy asked.
"Not so fast. First I want a promise from you all that no matter what I'm about to tell you, you will not go after Leon. He had the right to be angry."
"Ok, we won't do anything stupid." Sean answered and Kat waited till the other two nodded. Kat failed to notice that Sean had said they wouldn't do anything stupid, not that they definitely wouldn't go after Leon. Sean wasn't promising that.
"He didn't take it well. He was really mad and told me that was it, he didn't want to have anything else to do wit me." How she managed not to cry she'd never know. Other then she knew if the guys put two and two together that Leon had made her cry they might run off and do something stupid. The guys listened with rapt attention to her tale. Harry noted she left out all the parts where Leon acted like a horse's ass, and she'd been careful to wear her sweater so they wouldn't see the marks. He planned on filling the men in while she went to pack. There was no way he was letting Leon get off as easy as Kat was trying to do.
"So to make a long story shorter, I didn't want to come home cause well, he lives across the street. So Harry's takin' me to Japan with him for a while so I can calm down where I don't have to see him. We leave the day after tomorrow and I'm stayin' wit' Harry till then. But I'll be home when our buying trip's done. I just need some me time ya know?"
The guys nodded. They thought this was a great idea. "And I want a solemn tiger promise you won't give Leon an ass kickin' while I'm gone." They all nodded. They couldn't blame Leon for his anger. They knew that they couldn't hold his anger against Leon, he did have the right to be mad. And of course at that point they didn't know just how he had acted out in his justifiable anger. She went to pack and Harry filled the guys in. He knew they'd only agreed not to beat on Leon because of the details that Kat had left out of the story. Important details in Harry's mind.
"I think you three deserve to know the whole story, not the biased one that Kitten felt the need to tell." Harry went on to tell them everything. "Now, I'm not tellin' you guys to kick his ass, in fact I think you know that even now you know he really, really deserves the ass kickin', Kat would be madder then hell if she came home and found out you'd beaten on him. I guess, in your shoes I might realize that Leon has every right to be angry at you all, but that he deserves a warning that might scare the shit outa him about what happens when someone hurts Kat as badly as this horse's ass did." Harry looked around the room, making eye contact with each of the three men. They all nodded and smiled. If Leon thought that he was scared after they robbed him it wasn't going to be anything compared to how scared he'd be now that he'd dared to fuck with Kat like this.
AN: pixiguru, yep Adrenaline is a real song by Gavin Rossdale. He use to be the lead singer for Bush. Listening to that song made me know that it had to have a story set to it. And what sport has more adrenaline then racing? So it all went hand in hand. Penning Fantasy, what can I say? Your reviews always make me smile. You rock too, I'd like to think that Carson and Kat would get along so well it would be the scariest thing on earth.Gigles, nope, she only gets to take one friend and that's me! LOL. Twisted words, you'll have to wait and see what I have in store. I said a few chapters ago that anyone who thought Kat would get to sail through this was very wrong. Happy ending? Perhaps. Stay with me, the ride should be fun. Will Leon go to Japan.Not likely. Kat needs to learn some things first, and one of the main things is that she doesn't need Leon. She has some self confidence issues, and she's gotta get over that first. But you'll all see. I hope you'll all enjoy. Sorry to anyone I missed, I appreciate every last person who takes the time to review. On to the story.
Harry walked Kat to his Mercedes with his arm around her shoulders. She looked like hell but he didn't let on to her. Anyone who saw her was going to know she'd been to hell and back. Harry opened the passenger side door and helped her into the car. Then he took her car, and with some difficulty he got it safely stashed in his store's garage. It was an awkward car to drive for the first time. She was one hell of a driver to manage it and drive it at the speeds Harry knew she did. Then he came back through the store, closed up early and armed the system. He walked back up to the car and put the top down. Kat giggled at something he said, it was like music to his ears. He got in and fired up his car and started toward Brian's since he knew where Brian lived. Neither of them saw the yellow Skyline parked behind some other cars across the street.
Leon saw how bad Kat looked. He was so very ashamed of how he'd treated her. But he still felt she'd had most of it coming. But Harry wasn't even letting her drive herself home? That meant she was in bad shape. He'd seen how puffy and red her face had been, how she'd pulled her knees to her chest and curled in on herself while Harry left her alone. He'd had to use every ounce of will power he had not to get out of his car, go to her, fall on his knees and tell her he'd lied, that he wasn't worthy of her, not the other way around. That he knew she'd done what she'd done out of desperation and that he knew she hadn't thought she'd ever see him again. That he didn't know how he was going to go on without her; with the knowledge of what'd he'd done weighing on him. It was heavy on his shoulders. If she'd felt like this while she was carrying around the guilt of what she'd done to him then he was surprised she'd been as happy go lucky as she was.
Damn it, she'd robbed him with a weapon. He'd been paranoid for weeks after. He'd found it hard to be in crowds and was always looking over his shoulder. He wondered what she was going to do. They were neighbours after all. He was also dreading seeing her friends at his door, he knew they'd be bringing an ass kicking with them. He had it coming. He'd been unnecessarily cruel. He knew also that Brian was looking for him. He was still sort of hurt that Brian had taken her side in this. Well, maybe Brian wasn't taking sides, but he'd stayed with Kat, and he hadn't seemed that mad at her. Harry sure wasn't. Of course who knew if she'd told them what had really happened. Leon merged into traffic a short distance behind Harry's blue convertible and followed, hoping they didn't notice him.
Harry pulled into a pretty house that was in fact almost right across from Torreto's house on Kat's directions. "Here we are." She said.
"Wow, it's pretty." Harry smiled.
"Thanks, come in with me? Don't let the guys leave the place. I don't want them to get in trouble, or to hurt Leon."
"Sweetheart, I can't make you any promises. I'm not as strong as I was in my college football days." Harry smiled at her.
"What team did you play football for?" Kat asked. She couldn't see Harry as a football player.
"NYU" Harry answered. Kat raised an eyebrow
"You been holding out on me Harry? You're a native New Yorker too?"
"That was a long time ago sweetheart, I don't really talk about it anymore."
"I know the feeling." Harry hopped out of the car and ran around and helped her out. He walked her up to the front door with his arm still around her waist for support.
"It's gonna be alright." Harry told her one more time.
"Thanks for everything Harry. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you stood by me. I know you shoulda stood by Leon and so shoulda Brian, but knowing you guys don't hate me for what I am is really, really nice."
"Kat. I don't know what to tell you other then I know you didn't do anything out of malice and I really care about you in a plutonic, much older then you kinda way. And as for what you are, I hope my own daughter is half the woman you are, where ever she is." Harry grinned. He wanted her to know that he wasn't implying anything untoward by this offer and that he felt much like he hoped he would have felt about his own daughter, Starlene if he'd gotten to raise her.
"Oh Harry." She cried and hugged him hard. She was crying again.
"What, more tears. I thought we were over the tears." He looked upset, he wiped her face with the pad of his thumb.
"They're happy tears. I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." A man like Harry wanted a daughter like her? She couldn't believe it but if it was true then she couldn't be all bad.
"Well, it's true. So there you go. Let's tell your guys the low down." He hugged her tightly again and then released her.
"Ok, lets. The sooner I get outa here for awhile the better I think. I'll miss the guys. I hope they'll be ok for a week or two alone." She'd never left them without female supervision since they'd been together.
"I'm sure they'll do fine." They entered her house and she was glad to find the guys were already together in the living room.
Leon watched them enter her house and he was jealous of Harry treating her with such respect. Like the lady she was instead of the tough chick he'd treated her like. Harry realized she was a lady under all the attitude, and since it took losing her to make Leon see that he felt like an even bigger ass. He'd known that she'd had this misconception about no one seeing her as pretty or sexy, but he hadn't allowed himself to think of how that would make her act. He knew that lots of guys would like to be all over her, but she didn't. Of course she thought that any little thing would be enough to drive him away from her. She didn't see herself as a prize, she saw herself as a consolidation prize if anything.
She was likely so surprised that he'd been into her that she'd felt she couldn't tell him because she was already so imperfect, he was already doing her such a favor by dating her in her mind that if she was any more imperfect he'd leave her. She'd had one strange life, and he hadn't helped anything by pointing it all out to her and throwing it in her face. He felt like such an ass he almost walked up to her house and demanded his ass kicking, confessed what he'd done to her friends and told them to bring it on. But that was just for him, to lessen his guilt in the whole situation, like if they kicked his ass they'd be somehow even so he decided to let it alone for now and go home to the minor ass kicking that Brian had no doubt brought home from work for him.
"Kat what happened?" Sean looked from Harry to Kat. He knew Kat was upset and could tell she'd been crying.
"He found out." Kat stated, trying to be devoid of emotion to lessen the chance of Sean or Stacy going nuts. If they knew how hurt she was by what happened they'd be likely to flip. She was still leaning into Harry for the support the man was offering her. Kale was sort of the Leon of their group, the peacemaker, and she figured that he wouldn't do anything foolish. The rest of them however.
"How'd he take it?" Sean asked her.
"Not good." Kat sighed and sat down, motioning for Harry to find a chair. "You all remember Harry?" They all nodded.
"Well.What happened?" Stacy asked.
"Not so fast. First I want a promise from you all that no matter what I'm about to tell you, you will not go after Leon. He had the right to be angry."
"Ok, we won't do anything stupid." Sean answered and Kat waited till the other two nodded. Kat failed to notice that Sean had said they wouldn't do anything stupid, not that they definitely wouldn't go after Leon. Sean wasn't promising that.
"He didn't take it well. He was really mad and told me that was it, he didn't want to have anything else to do wit me." How she managed not to cry she'd never know. Other then she knew if the guys put two and two together that Leon had made her cry they might run off and do something stupid. The guys listened with rapt attention to her tale. Harry noted she left out all the parts where Leon acted like a horse's ass, and she'd been careful to wear her sweater so they wouldn't see the marks. He planned on filling the men in while she went to pack. There was no way he was letting Leon get off as easy as Kat was trying to do.
"So to make a long story shorter, I didn't want to come home cause well, he lives across the street. So Harry's takin' me to Japan with him for a while so I can calm down where I don't have to see him. We leave the day after tomorrow and I'm stayin' wit' Harry till then. But I'll be home when our buying trip's done. I just need some me time ya know?"
The guys nodded. They thought this was a great idea. "And I want a solemn tiger promise you won't give Leon an ass kickin' while I'm gone." They all nodded. They couldn't blame Leon for his anger. They knew that they couldn't hold his anger against Leon, he did have the right to be mad. And of course at that point they didn't know just how he had acted out in his justifiable anger. She went to pack and Harry filled the guys in. He knew they'd only agreed not to beat on Leon because of the details that Kat had left out of the story. Important details in Harry's mind.
"I think you three deserve to know the whole story, not the biased one that Kitten felt the need to tell." Harry went on to tell them everything. "Now, I'm not tellin' you guys to kick his ass, in fact I think you know that even now you know he really, really deserves the ass kickin', Kat would be madder then hell if she came home and found out you'd beaten on him. I guess, in your shoes I might realize that Leon has every right to be angry at you all, but that he deserves a warning that might scare the shit outa him about what happens when someone hurts Kat as badly as this horse's ass did." Harry looked around the room, making eye contact with each of the three men. They all nodded and smiled. If Leon thought that he was scared after they robbed him it wasn't going to be anything compared to how scared he'd be now that he'd dared to fuck with Kat like this.