Chapter 33 - Let the Games Begin.
AN: Hey all. Not much to say. Please read and Review. Oh, favour time. Please go read Returning by Ubiquitous-Angel. It's mad good. I swear. Don't forget to leave me a review before you go read her stuff. Hope you all enjoy. Peace, Tempest.
Leon had been outside with Vince in the driveway, doing some little thing to Vince's car when they got home. He'd seen the way Kat had been dressed. And she'd seemed happy, bubbly. Back to the way she was before, as the team had been putting it, what Leon did. He wondered what was up with the outfit, and he saw Vince checkin' her out too.
"Wow, did Kat enroll in catholic school while she was gone." Vince growled out, trying not to drool.
"How would I know?" Leon answered testily and turned back to the Maxima. "You wanna fix this car or what?"
"Testy huh? I guess three weeks later you're still not over her like you want us all to think eh?"
"Shut up." It was so reminiscent of that day, so long ago, before all the shit went down and everything changed, when Leon told Vince he had known the car had issues in third and Vince told him to shut up, while under the hood of the same car, they both cracked up. Life would go on, it always did. Leon had decided that Kat was better off without him in her life. She was clearly happy and he'd just fuck that up on her again. He resolved to leave her alone.
"I'm not over her Vince, to be honest, but she's better off without me, without all the shit this team'll bring her way."
"You mean that?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Leon, you gotta make up with the blonde chica. You moped around here the whole time she was gone. This team can only have one person like that and I got dibs on the spot." Vince grinned.
"Ol' Coyote, you and I are two of a kind, we both had what we wanted and fucked it up." Leon shook his head. Vince hung his.
"Yep, we're both certifiable idiots." Vince sighed.
"True dat." Leon said and then they both laughed. They were idiots, but they were gonna live.
Kat was washing the skyline. It was august and it was not supposed to be her job. She was sort of saddened by that thought. It should be her and Leon doing this. He should be giving her that stare that let her know he loved how she looked in her old stars and strips but hated to share the view with other guys and she should be getting him wet enough to get him to take off his ever present jersey tank top. She sniffled and then told herself to suck it up. Stacy walked out of the house.
"Kitten, I got somethin' ta tell ya, I'm sorry you're not gonna like it." Stacy tried to look sorry. Tried and failed, but he still tried.
"What is it Stace?"
"I hit the punk."
"What'd ya mean? Who's the punk?"
"Whitebread, what's his name, the buster from across the street. You know, the punk." Stacy sighed. "Leon? I think his name was Leon."
"You hit Leon?" Kat said in her best mad voice. "I told you to leave him alone!"
"I know, we went to just warn him off you but I was so mad, I saw what he did to your arm and while I was in his face I couldn't help it. Sean and Kale both told him to watch his back, then I hit him with a right hook right in the chin." Stacy smiled at the memory. "I'm sorry, I shouldn'ta done it when you asked me not to." He tried to wipe the grin off his face, it didn't happen.
"Oh Stacy. You didn't tell Sean what you saw did you?"
"Hell no. I know I'm the hot tempered one but damn Kitten. When it comes to you I think we'd be scraping the punk off Sean's knuckles still if he'd seen what that buster'd done to you."
"Oh thank god you didn't tell him. And thanks."
"For what?"
"For hitting the, what are you callin' him? The punk? Thanks for hittin' the punk. I think he deserved it." Kat lifted her chin.
"Atta girl. He did deserve that and more, but I thought you'da been mad if I pounded him."
"Oh I woulda been. But Damn Stacy, your right hook is as weak as mine." She squealed and ran as Stacy started to chase her. He chased her right down the street. She was like a red white and blue streak she could run so fast, Stacy caught her but she made he work for it. He dragged her home and held her against her car while he sprayed her with cold water from the hose and made her scream. Her scream brought Kale and Sean out of the house and they had a big water fight on the lawn.
Leon, Jesse and Vince watched from the driveway. Leon looked on wistfully and the other two smiled at her antics.
A week after Kat came home, true to Harry's word, the new additions of the magazines for the import scene came out and sure enough Kat and her car were in most of them, even in the US. Kat didn't know because to tell the truth, she was avoiding the news stands. She was going to die of embarrassment if her picture was all over magazines. The day after they all came out every racer in LA was in trying to get her to sign their copies of the magazines and she couldn't pretend not to know about it any longer.
Kat was signing them, she was flattered, if embarrassed, and she threw Harry a look that clearly said if you didn't want this to happen you shouldn't have made me do all that modeling. Harry just shook his head with a smile and went back to helping customers. At least a lot of the people who came to see Kat bought stuff.
The Toretto's were working in their garage when Mia walked out back.
"Mails here. It's that time you've all been waiting for. New issue car magazine day." Mia said with a smile and threw down the mail onto the hood of Dom's car.
"Bout time." Dom growled. "I think the mail man reads these first or somethin'. Why else would they come late and all at once?"
"Don't know dawg, but I been waiting to see the new 'Import Tuner'. I heard they profiled an R34 in it and its one sweet ride." Leon said and looked for the magazine in question. "Hey, we didn't get the new 'tuner?"
"Oh, did we ever. Sweet R34 isn't the word for what this article is profiling." Jesse said with some drool starting. "Sweet ass bitch in the picture too." Leon grabbed for the magazine but Jesse tossed it and Vince got it first. He got it open to the right page and looked.
"Holy shit Jesse. You ain't kidden' Brotha. Wait a second." Jesse hadn't picked up on who was in the pictures of the car, but Vince did. And then he read the article just to be sure.
"That's no bitch Jesse. Um, Dom, you wanna see this brotha?" Vince didn't know if letting Leon see this was a good idea. He figured they could play keep the 'tuner away from Leon and let Dominic decide.
"Yeah sure." Dom laughed, catching on to the don't let Leon see it cause he really wants to game. Vince again tossed the magazine over Leon's head to Dom, who caught it. Leon looked like the middle kid in that game they'd played as kids. "Holy shit! Is that."
"Yeah it is." Vince stated with a shit eating grin and laughed.
"Shit that's fine." Dom laughed out. Dom had known Kat looked ok in her everyday racer chick clothes but she was hot as hell in that outfit. Letty snatched the magazine away from him.
"Let me see that. Damn!" Letty looked at Leon and laughed. He was gonna be pissed. She found this whole situation so funny she couldn't even be mad at Dom for saying Kat was fine and looking at the pictures the way he had. Leon was coming at her. She giggled and then tossed the book to Mia over Leon's head. "Look at page 24." Mia looked.
"Hot Damn." Mia's eyes went wide when she realized who that was lying on top of her car's roof, wearing a very short plaid skirt and next to non existent little white top, rubbing her stomach suggestively, hair trailing down the windshield. The camera was above her looking down on her and it looked good, but very sexy, as spreads in these import mags often were.
"Ok, everyone but me and Brian saw that now and since Brian isn't here, and I'm the one who really likes skylines, can I have the magazine now?" Leon wanted to see the article and he was very curious as to what they saw that was making them all so shocked. He was also sick of walking up to them just to have them throw the magazine over his head to each other. He felt like a dumb ass trying to snatch the book out of the air. He waited for Mia to hand it over.
"Um I don't know Leon. Maybe you shouldn't see this. You might get jealous." Mia said. Leon thought she looked sincere.
"Well, maybe, since that car is rumored to be the R34 GT-R, but I'll live."
"Mia, give him the magazine." Dom said with a sigh and Mia tossed it over to him.
"Don't say we didn't warn you brotha." Vince added and Jesse looked confused.
"Oh my god." Leon breathed out. "That's Kat's car. Kat got her car in the 'Import Tuner'." Leon looked again. "Holy fuck, that's Kat! She's modeling her own car." Leon was shocked. That was Kat in the 'Import Tuner'. He wanted to go and beat something. She was in a magazine wearing next to nothing showing off her car; Leon knew what was on the minds of guys who looked at the girls in these magazines. The rest of the team shared a look. If Leon wasn't ready to share Kat with the world like this then he was far from over her. Let the games begin.
"Damn, how did that girl get her car into the holy grail of import car mags and I can't even get them to talk to me and I run one of the best performance garages and run street racing in LA." Dom found it frustrating. Jesse had stolen the magazine back off Leon to do a second look at the picture.
"Holy shit that is Kat." Jesse laughed. "And they called her a sex kitten in the article." Jesse crowed. "Her friends call her Kitten and the article calls her a sex kitten."
"We get it Jesse." Letty sighed at the look on Leon's face.
"Hey, she mentions me and DT in here." Jesse told them, reading the article. "She says that while her and her best friend Sean did most of the work all alone Jesse Ames and DT performance automotive helped her out with some of the engine management system setups. She goes on to say from what she knows we're the best in California." No mention of Leon but Jesse figured that the group would figure that out on their own.
"Wow, she mentioned us and my garage. That was really nice of her considering that we didn't really do anything official for her. I'ma try to find out from Brian how she managed this though." Dom said and went to his office to use the phone.
"I guess she didn't spend too much time after she left being upset over what she did, and what happened." Missing me, he thought but left that part unsaid. The rest of the team got it, even if he didn't say it. He was sort of disappointed inside. He'd hoped that she'd missed him and they'd have a chance to talk about things, he was so messed up inside over this all. He warred between wanting to go get her and talk about everything, see if they could work it out, and then figuring she was better off on her own, with out him.
"The Racer's Edge, Kat speaking." Kat was on phone duty today since she could do that and still sign the magazines.
"Yeah, is Brian there?" Dom wanted to see if Brian had the info on this whole situation.
"No Dom, he's not. Did you wanna leave him a message? To phone home or somethin'?" Kat recognized Dom's voice right away. She wondered what he wanted.
"Naw, that's fine." Dom decided to try and play nice since it was clear that Kat and Leon had to work out their issues or neither was gonna be happy. "Congrats on getting your car in the Import Tuner. That's quite an accomplishment." Plus he might get the answer he wanted right from the source.
"Thanks, Harry arranged that some how. I don't know what he did. I just went along for the ride. He kept me busy the whole time we were away. I didn't think my pictures would end up in American issues. I thought it would only go in the Japanese editions. I can't tell you how embarrassed I am to see myself like that." Dom could hear the discomfort in her voice, she really didn't want other people seeing her like that.
"Oh, I see. This your modeling debut?"
"Oh yeah. I didn't even wanna do it but Harry wanted me to and it kept me busy. I get so embarrassed when I think about how I look in those things. I just hope that people don't think I'm some Barbie when I race next." Kat blew hair off her face.
"I'm sure you'll be fine if you smoke 'em like you smoked Ricky Tran."
"You heard 'bout that huh?"
"Yeah, not much in the street racing world gets past me."
"I guess not." Kat laughed.
"Say, thanks for mentioning Jesse when they asked you about your car. He's really excited that you mentioned him and the garage."
"No problem Dom. It'd be like lying not to tell the whole story of the car, plus Jesse's something else." Kat smiled at the thought of Jesse and her working on her car that one time. Jesse was the most genuine person she knew.
"Well, still, thanks for that. I mean, everyone reads this magazine."
"Don't think about it again Dom. Hey, Brian's back, you wanna talk to 'im?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"Brian, phone. It's Dominic." He heard her call.
"What's up bro?"
"Nothin' I just called to get the scoop on how Kat ended up in the 'tuner, but I got the story from her. I just don't want her to know that's the only reason why I called." Dom admitted.
"Ok, sure, tell Mia I'll be home for sure." Brian answered, playing along with Dom.
"Thanks Brian."
"Sure, see you later bro." Brian answered with a smile at Dom's discomfort.
Kat looked at Brian. "So, did you read it?"
Brian smiled at the nervous mixed with embarrassment look on Kat's face. "Yeah I read it. It turned out good. Why are you so embarrassed over it?"
"Cause of how I look in the pictures. I just did what they told me to but it came out looking so, sleazy." She shuddered.
"You don't look sleazy. You look good." Kat smiled at him in thanks. "Oh, and thanks for giving the shout out to Jesse and the garage. Dom'll appreciate that and Jesse'll be thrilled to see his name in the Import Tuner. He's finally getting some credit for his awesome work."
"Well, like I told Dom, I just told the whole truth. That's only fair."
"Yeah, but you coulda just said nothing and Dom and the guys all know that."
"Well, I'm glad that it made Jesse happy. He's a great kid and an awesome mechanic."
"Yeah, he is." Brian gave her a wink and walked into Harry's office.
Talking about this all made her think again of what had gone down. She was losing it again. She needed to ground herself. She thought about how to do that and then it hit her.
Brian walked into Harry's office. "Hey Harry."
"Hey Brian. How's it goin'?"
"Great. So what's left to get done today?"
"Nothin Brian, I got it covered."
"Sweet, I'll go home to Mia then."
"Sure, see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." Brian turned to leave. "Say Harry?"
"Yeah Brian?"
"Kat seems happier now doesn't she? She's really gonna be alright isn't she?"
Harry sighed. "Well Brian. She's gonna be alright, but she's not as happy as she lets on. She's putting up a brave front for us. Oh I'll admit that while we were away she was almost back to her old self again, but I kept her so busy I don't think she had time to be sad. Now she's home and she's got free time again and I think she starts to think about it now and again. Plus she's gonna see this guy around."
"Yeah." Brian sighed and ran his hand though his hair. "And Leon thinks that she had a great time while she was gone and she didn't even spare him a thought. He thinks she's over what she did and it doesn't matter to her anymore." Brian faced Harry and looked the other man in the eye.
"Well, she's still guilty as hell over what happened. She's gonna have to have it out with Leon. I just don't know if sooner or later is better." Harry moved some papers on his desk. "I don't want to see her relive it but I don't see how she'll ever move on if her and Leon don't come to some sort of understanding."
"I know. I just don't know how that's gonna work out if he thinks she's totally over him and doesn't even think about what she did anymore and if she refuses to see him."
"It'll have to work itself out anyway Brian. There's nothing we can do to force it."
"You're right of course, Harry. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you Brian. Oh, and you might want to tell Leon, as for Kat not thinking about it and not caring about it, she cried herself to sleep most nights we were gone. I just didn't want her to know I knew, so that's never to make it back to her ears."
"That helps Harry. Thanks." Harry just gave Brian a tight smile and went back to his papers. Brian left. Harry looked at Kat waiting on someone a few minutes later and she was laughing at something one of the guys had said. If you didn't know her you'd be fooled into thinking everything was perfect in her life. People who really knew her knew her laugh was a little forced, a little louder then normal, she didn't throw her head back quite as far, didn't light up the room like it had before. Harry sure hoped she got over Leon. She had this funny way with the guys who came into the store, like they all chatted her up with the objective of getting to go out with her, but by the time she was done with them they saw her as a cool chick who they'd like to be friends with but couldn't imagine being more then that to. Harry didn't know how she did it. Leon was the only guy who ever got past that act into her heart, and Harry didn't know how Leon had done that, but it was evident to Harry that they were meant to be together.
AN: Hey all. Not much to say. Please read and Review. Oh, favour time. Please go read Returning by Ubiquitous-Angel. It's mad good. I swear. Don't forget to leave me a review before you go read her stuff. Hope you all enjoy. Peace, Tempest.
Leon had been outside with Vince in the driveway, doing some little thing to Vince's car when they got home. He'd seen the way Kat had been dressed. And she'd seemed happy, bubbly. Back to the way she was before, as the team had been putting it, what Leon did. He wondered what was up with the outfit, and he saw Vince checkin' her out too.
"Wow, did Kat enroll in catholic school while she was gone." Vince growled out, trying not to drool.
"How would I know?" Leon answered testily and turned back to the Maxima. "You wanna fix this car or what?"
"Testy huh? I guess three weeks later you're still not over her like you want us all to think eh?"
"Shut up." It was so reminiscent of that day, so long ago, before all the shit went down and everything changed, when Leon told Vince he had known the car had issues in third and Vince told him to shut up, while under the hood of the same car, they both cracked up. Life would go on, it always did. Leon had decided that Kat was better off without him in her life. She was clearly happy and he'd just fuck that up on her again. He resolved to leave her alone.
"I'm not over her Vince, to be honest, but she's better off without me, without all the shit this team'll bring her way."
"You mean that?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Leon, you gotta make up with the blonde chica. You moped around here the whole time she was gone. This team can only have one person like that and I got dibs on the spot." Vince grinned.
"Ol' Coyote, you and I are two of a kind, we both had what we wanted and fucked it up." Leon shook his head. Vince hung his.
"Yep, we're both certifiable idiots." Vince sighed.
"True dat." Leon said and then they both laughed. They were idiots, but they were gonna live.
Kat was washing the skyline. It was august and it was not supposed to be her job. She was sort of saddened by that thought. It should be her and Leon doing this. He should be giving her that stare that let her know he loved how she looked in her old stars and strips but hated to share the view with other guys and she should be getting him wet enough to get him to take off his ever present jersey tank top. She sniffled and then told herself to suck it up. Stacy walked out of the house.
"Kitten, I got somethin' ta tell ya, I'm sorry you're not gonna like it." Stacy tried to look sorry. Tried and failed, but he still tried.
"What is it Stace?"
"I hit the punk."
"What'd ya mean? Who's the punk?"
"Whitebread, what's his name, the buster from across the street. You know, the punk." Stacy sighed. "Leon? I think his name was Leon."
"You hit Leon?" Kat said in her best mad voice. "I told you to leave him alone!"
"I know, we went to just warn him off you but I was so mad, I saw what he did to your arm and while I was in his face I couldn't help it. Sean and Kale both told him to watch his back, then I hit him with a right hook right in the chin." Stacy smiled at the memory. "I'm sorry, I shouldn'ta done it when you asked me not to." He tried to wipe the grin off his face, it didn't happen.
"Oh Stacy. You didn't tell Sean what you saw did you?"
"Hell no. I know I'm the hot tempered one but damn Kitten. When it comes to you I think we'd be scraping the punk off Sean's knuckles still if he'd seen what that buster'd done to you."
"Oh thank god you didn't tell him. And thanks."
"For what?"
"For hitting the, what are you callin' him? The punk? Thanks for hittin' the punk. I think he deserved it." Kat lifted her chin.
"Atta girl. He did deserve that and more, but I thought you'da been mad if I pounded him."
"Oh I woulda been. But Damn Stacy, your right hook is as weak as mine." She squealed and ran as Stacy started to chase her. He chased her right down the street. She was like a red white and blue streak she could run so fast, Stacy caught her but she made he work for it. He dragged her home and held her against her car while he sprayed her with cold water from the hose and made her scream. Her scream brought Kale and Sean out of the house and they had a big water fight on the lawn.
Leon, Jesse and Vince watched from the driveway. Leon looked on wistfully and the other two smiled at her antics.
A week after Kat came home, true to Harry's word, the new additions of the magazines for the import scene came out and sure enough Kat and her car were in most of them, even in the US. Kat didn't know because to tell the truth, she was avoiding the news stands. She was going to die of embarrassment if her picture was all over magazines. The day after they all came out every racer in LA was in trying to get her to sign their copies of the magazines and she couldn't pretend not to know about it any longer.
Kat was signing them, she was flattered, if embarrassed, and she threw Harry a look that clearly said if you didn't want this to happen you shouldn't have made me do all that modeling. Harry just shook his head with a smile and went back to helping customers. At least a lot of the people who came to see Kat bought stuff.
The Toretto's were working in their garage when Mia walked out back.
"Mails here. It's that time you've all been waiting for. New issue car magazine day." Mia said with a smile and threw down the mail onto the hood of Dom's car.
"Bout time." Dom growled. "I think the mail man reads these first or somethin'. Why else would they come late and all at once?"
"Don't know dawg, but I been waiting to see the new 'Import Tuner'. I heard they profiled an R34 in it and its one sweet ride." Leon said and looked for the magazine in question. "Hey, we didn't get the new 'tuner?"
"Oh, did we ever. Sweet R34 isn't the word for what this article is profiling." Jesse said with some drool starting. "Sweet ass bitch in the picture too." Leon grabbed for the magazine but Jesse tossed it and Vince got it first. He got it open to the right page and looked.
"Holy shit Jesse. You ain't kidden' Brotha. Wait a second." Jesse hadn't picked up on who was in the pictures of the car, but Vince did. And then he read the article just to be sure.
"That's no bitch Jesse. Um, Dom, you wanna see this brotha?" Vince didn't know if letting Leon see this was a good idea. He figured they could play keep the 'tuner away from Leon and let Dominic decide.
"Yeah sure." Dom laughed, catching on to the don't let Leon see it cause he really wants to game. Vince again tossed the magazine over Leon's head to Dom, who caught it. Leon looked like the middle kid in that game they'd played as kids. "Holy shit! Is that."
"Yeah it is." Vince stated with a shit eating grin and laughed.
"Shit that's fine." Dom laughed out. Dom had known Kat looked ok in her everyday racer chick clothes but she was hot as hell in that outfit. Letty snatched the magazine away from him.
"Let me see that. Damn!" Letty looked at Leon and laughed. He was gonna be pissed. She found this whole situation so funny she couldn't even be mad at Dom for saying Kat was fine and looking at the pictures the way he had. Leon was coming at her. She giggled and then tossed the book to Mia over Leon's head. "Look at page 24." Mia looked.
"Hot Damn." Mia's eyes went wide when she realized who that was lying on top of her car's roof, wearing a very short plaid skirt and next to non existent little white top, rubbing her stomach suggestively, hair trailing down the windshield. The camera was above her looking down on her and it looked good, but very sexy, as spreads in these import mags often were.
"Ok, everyone but me and Brian saw that now and since Brian isn't here, and I'm the one who really likes skylines, can I have the magazine now?" Leon wanted to see the article and he was very curious as to what they saw that was making them all so shocked. He was also sick of walking up to them just to have them throw the magazine over his head to each other. He felt like a dumb ass trying to snatch the book out of the air. He waited for Mia to hand it over.
"Um I don't know Leon. Maybe you shouldn't see this. You might get jealous." Mia said. Leon thought she looked sincere.
"Well, maybe, since that car is rumored to be the R34 GT-R, but I'll live."
"Mia, give him the magazine." Dom said with a sigh and Mia tossed it over to him.
"Don't say we didn't warn you brotha." Vince added and Jesse looked confused.
"Oh my god." Leon breathed out. "That's Kat's car. Kat got her car in the 'Import Tuner'." Leon looked again. "Holy fuck, that's Kat! She's modeling her own car." Leon was shocked. That was Kat in the 'Import Tuner'. He wanted to go and beat something. She was in a magazine wearing next to nothing showing off her car; Leon knew what was on the minds of guys who looked at the girls in these magazines. The rest of the team shared a look. If Leon wasn't ready to share Kat with the world like this then he was far from over her. Let the games begin.
"Damn, how did that girl get her car into the holy grail of import car mags and I can't even get them to talk to me and I run one of the best performance garages and run street racing in LA." Dom found it frustrating. Jesse had stolen the magazine back off Leon to do a second look at the picture.
"Holy shit that is Kat." Jesse laughed. "And they called her a sex kitten in the article." Jesse crowed. "Her friends call her Kitten and the article calls her a sex kitten."
"We get it Jesse." Letty sighed at the look on Leon's face.
"Hey, she mentions me and DT in here." Jesse told them, reading the article. "She says that while her and her best friend Sean did most of the work all alone Jesse Ames and DT performance automotive helped her out with some of the engine management system setups. She goes on to say from what she knows we're the best in California." No mention of Leon but Jesse figured that the group would figure that out on their own.
"Wow, she mentioned us and my garage. That was really nice of her considering that we didn't really do anything official for her. I'ma try to find out from Brian how she managed this though." Dom said and went to his office to use the phone.
"I guess she didn't spend too much time after she left being upset over what she did, and what happened." Missing me, he thought but left that part unsaid. The rest of the team got it, even if he didn't say it. He was sort of disappointed inside. He'd hoped that she'd missed him and they'd have a chance to talk about things, he was so messed up inside over this all. He warred between wanting to go get her and talk about everything, see if they could work it out, and then figuring she was better off on her own, with out him.
"The Racer's Edge, Kat speaking." Kat was on phone duty today since she could do that and still sign the magazines.
"Yeah, is Brian there?" Dom wanted to see if Brian had the info on this whole situation.
"No Dom, he's not. Did you wanna leave him a message? To phone home or somethin'?" Kat recognized Dom's voice right away. She wondered what he wanted.
"Naw, that's fine." Dom decided to try and play nice since it was clear that Kat and Leon had to work out their issues or neither was gonna be happy. "Congrats on getting your car in the Import Tuner. That's quite an accomplishment." Plus he might get the answer he wanted right from the source.
"Thanks, Harry arranged that some how. I don't know what he did. I just went along for the ride. He kept me busy the whole time we were away. I didn't think my pictures would end up in American issues. I thought it would only go in the Japanese editions. I can't tell you how embarrassed I am to see myself like that." Dom could hear the discomfort in her voice, she really didn't want other people seeing her like that.
"Oh, I see. This your modeling debut?"
"Oh yeah. I didn't even wanna do it but Harry wanted me to and it kept me busy. I get so embarrassed when I think about how I look in those things. I just hope that people don't think I'm some Barbie when I race next." Kat blew hair off her face.
"I'm sure you'll be fine if you smoke 'em like you smoked Ricky Tran."
"You heard 'bout that huh?"
"Yeah, not much in the street racing world gets past me."
"I guess not." Kat laughed.
"Say, thanks for mentioning Jesse when they asked you about your car. He's really excited that you mentioned him and the garage."
"No problem Dom. It'd be like lying not to tell the whole story of the car, plus Jesse's something else." Kat smiled at the thought of Jesse and her working on her car that one time. Jesse was the most genuine person she knew.
"Well, still, thanks for that. I mean, everyone reads this magazine."
"Don't think about it again Dom. Hey, Brian's back, you wanna talk to 'im?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"Brian, phone. It's Dominic." He heard her call.
"What's up bro?"
"Nothin' I just called to get the scoop on how Kat ended up in the 'tuner, but I got the story from her. I just don't want her to know that's the only reason why I called." Dom admitted.
"Ok, sure, tell Mia I'll be home for sure." Brian answered, playing along with Dom.
"Thanks Brian."
"Sure, see you later bro." Brian answered with a smile at Dom's discomfort.
Kat looked at Brian. "So, did you read it?"
Brian smiled at the nervous mixed with embarrassment look on Kat's face. "Yeah I read it. It turned out good. Why are you so embarrassed over it?"
"Cause of how I look in the pictures. I just did what they told me to but it came out looking so, sleazy." She shuddered.
"You don't look sleazy. You look good." Kat smiled at him in thanks. "Oh, and thanks for giving the shout out to Jesse and the garage. Dom'll appreciate that and Jesse'll be thrilled to see his name in the Import Tuner. He's finally getting some credit for his awesome work."
"Well, like I told Dom, I just told the whole truth. That's only fair."
"Yeah, but you coulda just said nothing and Dom and the guys all know that."
"Well, I'm glad that it made Jesse happy. He's a great kid and an awesome mechanic."
"Yeah, he is." Brian gave her a wink and walked into Harry's office.
Talking about this all made her think again of what had gone down. She was losing it again. She needed to ground herself. She thought about how to do that and then it hit her.
Brian walked into Harry's office. "Hey Harry."
"Hey Brian. How's it goin'?"
"Great. So what's left to get done today?"
"Nothin Brian, I got it covered."
"Sweet, I'll go home to Mia then."
"Sure, see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." Brian turned to leave. "Say Harry?"
"Yeah Brian?"
"Kat seems happier now doesn't she? She's really gonna be alright isn't she?"
Harry sighed. "Well Brian. She's gonna be alright, but she's not as happy as she lets on. She's putting up a brave front for us. Oh I'll admit that while we were away she was almost back to her old self again, but I kept her so busy I don't think she had time to be sad. Now she's home and she's got free time again and I think she starts to think about it now and again. Plus she's gonna see this guy around."
"Yeah." Brian sighed and ran his hand though his hair. "And Leon thinks that she had a great time while she was gone and she didn't even spare him a thought. He thinks she's over what she did and it doesn't matter to her anymore." Brian faced Harry and looked the other man in the eye.
"Well, she's still guilty as hell over what happened. She's gonna have to have it out with Leon. I just don't know if sooner or later is better." Harry moved some papers on his desk. "I don't want to see her relive it but I don't see how she'll ever move on if her and Leon don't come to some sort of understanding."
"I know. I just don't know how that's gonna work out if he thinks she's totally over him and doesn't even think about what she did anymore and if she refuses to see him."
"It'll have to work itself out anyway Brian. There's nothing we can do to force it."
"You're right of course, Harry. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you Brian. Oh, and you might want to tell Leon, as for Kat not thinking about it and not caring about it, she cried herself to sleep most nights we were gone. I just didn't want her to know I knew, so that's never to make it back to her ears."
"That helps Harry. Thanks." Harry just gave Brian a tight smile and went back to his papers. Brian left. Harry looked at Kat waiting on someone a few minutes later and she was laughing at something one of the guys had said. If you didn't know her you'd be fooled into thinking everything was perfect in her life. People who really knew her knew her laugh was a little forced, a little louder then normal, she didn't throw her head back quite as far, didn't light up the room like it had before. Harry sure hoped she got over Leon. She had this funny way with the guys who came into the store, like they all chatted her up with the objective of getting to go out with her, but by the time she was done with them they saw her as a cool chick who they'd like to be friends with but couldn't imagine being more then that to. Harry didn't know how she did it. Leon was the only guy who ever got past that act into her heart, and Harry didn't know how Leon had done that, but it was evident to Harry that they were meant to be together.