Chapter 42 - Closer to OK
Leon walked back into his house and sat down at the kitchen table.
"Where you been Leon?" Dom asked him, coming in the back door after he and Vince returned from the garage.
"Out." Leon answered and hoped to leave it at that.
"Yeah, where'd ya go?" Vince asked from behind Dom.
"Just out." Leon answered.
"He went to see Kat." Vince smirked. "She shoot you down brotha? Is that why you're in such a bad mood?"
"Shut up dawg." Leon didn't want Dom to know about this yet.
"Leon, I thought that the situation with Kat was over." Dom groaned.
"Well, I like her and I owed her an apology, which she accepted I might add," Leon added for Vince's benefit, "and she wants to try again now that there's nothin' bein' hidden. Well, I mean it was my idea to try again but she wants to too. I can't help it Dom. I need to try again and see where this can go." Leon hoped Dom would understand.
"Alright Leon, but just don't say I didn't warn you when this goes bad again. I just have a feeling it will. Besides that how can you stand to know your girl can race better'n you?"
"I don't know man, it pisses me off in some ways I guess but in others it really doesn't matter. It's just what she does. It wasn't personal. She's good and she can't pretend she's not just to be wit me. And if this goes bad or not I had to know." Leon looked from Dom to Vince.
"Very adult of you brotha." Vince said and nodded. He left the room to go change, calling back over his shoulder, "I'da been pissed as hell 'bout her kickin' my ass", laughing all the way.
Dom shot a dirty look after Vince and stalked out of the room. Dom didn't want Leon to be dating a girl that could very well end up beating him. He didn't figure she would, but out of all the people that he'd had to run in the last long while he figured that Kat could come closer then any of them had in that time. He didn't want to have to see her and play nice if the day came that she put him in his place on the streets. But he'd already told Leon his life was his own and he couldn't take that back now.
Leon sighed. He sure hoped that his relationship with Kat was worth it because Dom was clearly pissed at him. Leon didn't even know if he and Kat had an exclusive relationship or if they were just gonna date some. He hadn't wanted to push her. He had to be honest with himself that he hadn't totally forgiven her for what she'd done either. He just had this burning desire to be with her and it over rode his sense of being pissed at her. But when she wasn't in the same room as him driving him to distraction with desire to kiss her the anger came back. He figured that'd go away with time.
Kat was lying in the sun in the backyard with her shades on. She was almost asleep anyway the sun felt so good on her skin and her eyes were closed. Like warm silk, or the soft touch of a lover on her skin, it was a feeling of deep comfort as the sun melted into her and relaxed all her muscles. She could even smell it, it smelled like fresh cut grass, kittens, and salt air all rolled up. She felt like a pile of Jello she was so sun baked, relaxed. She'd needed this. She was going to be as dark as the guys if she didn't ease up on the sun though. But she just loved this feeling. Lying in the sun like this was like baking contentment into her very bones. She didn't have a worry while the sun was beating down on her. It chased all the cold worry and fear out of her and left only warm yellow light in her soul. The sun centered her, grounded her and made her feel mellow. Kat was never mellow, but she was in the sun. The hot California sun wiped all memories of the watery sunshine of New York and what came after from her mind.
The feeling was shattered and the worry and fear crept back in when she heard the voice from hell over her left shoulder from the gate. "Can we talk?"
She wanted to say no but she doubted he'd go away anyways and then he'd just get pissed and run to Leon about it. She sat up and took off her glasses, blinking at the sunspots she saw even though she'd had the shades on.
"Sure, I guess. I'm not really dressed for company." She gestured at her brief purple swimsuit.
"S'ok. I just had to talk to you about something." Dom walked into her yard and sat in one of the other lawn chairs. He admired the view from behind his own dark glasses. The girl had a tight body; he couldn't fault Leon for wanting to get with Kat that way. Kat had been lying down on a lounge chair but now she sat up.
"What's on your mind dude?" Kat asked. She knew why Dom was here. Why else would he be here. He was mad that her and Leon were speaking again.
"You been spendin' too much time around Brian." Dom chuckled at her calling him dude.
"I was like this long before Brian." She smiled though.
"Well, I just wanted to talk to you about." Dom trailed off. He didn't know how to put it. He really had no business being here and he didn't want her to run back to Leon and tell him that Dom had been over harassing her.
"Whatever Dom, just spit it out boy. I don't bite." She tried to smile. It looked forced, which it was.
"Well, are you really into Leon, or are you just getting back with him for some form of revenge for what he did to you?"
"Normally I wouldn't answer that because it's really nonea your business." Dom had the grace to look embarrassed that she was right and it wasn't his business. "But since I know you care about your team as much as I care about mine I'ma answer you. I'm really into Leon. I don't know where I see anything between us goin' which is why I told him I wanted to take things really slow, but I'm not using him or plannin on dumpin' his ass to try to get back at him down the road. Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Yeah, that was all I wanted to know. He was just really shook up by both what happened before you knew him and by how shit went down after. Plus your buddy gave him a nasty right hook to the jaw. And bruised his backside when he landed." Dom looked serious. Kat threw her head back and roared with laughter. Every time she pictured Leon sitting in the dirt shaking his head and her guys starring him down she had to laugh.
"I heard 'bout that. Stacy told me that he 'decked the punk' even though I'd asked them not to hurt him and then Stacy tried to make on like he was sorry for it. He told me 'bout how Leon fell on his ass. I tried to be mad they did that even though I asked them not to but I mean, maybe you all don't know just what Leon said to me, but it wasn't nice. I mean it's not like I did anything deliberately to him but he went out of his way to hurt me that day. Stacy says 'the punk' had it comin' and I kinda agree with him. But I don't want him to ever do anything like that again. You know the sad thing is Leon had more to be afraid of from Sean but Stacy protected Leon in a way on his own."
"How so?" Dom had to know how decking a man in the face was protecting him from anything.
"Well, when Leon dragged me out of the store he left these little bruises on my arm. I was careful to have a sweater on when I first talked to the guys, knowing they'd go nuts and I was still only blaming myself for what happened and I didn't want the guys to kill Leon when I thought that I was the only one to blame. I mean, I don't bruise easy but I knew it wasn't intentional. But when Harry and I walked out to his car I'd already changed and I forgot to cover the marks up. Stacy saw 'em. He was really pissed. You need to know that Stacy's a hot head, much like Vince if you can imagine, and he's the one I really worried about gettin' violent. I figured that he'd go after Leon just for saying what he said. Sean would never have gone after Leon just for talkin' trash if I asked him not to, but if Sean had known that Leon left marks on me in anger, no matter if it was just an accident or not Leon'd be dead. And I'm not foolin'. Sean almost killed this punk at races when I first started goin for something similar. Stacy knew that and he didn't tell Sean. And he somehow managed not to kill Leon, managed to stop with one punch. That's a big deal for them."
"Whoa. I didn't know that Leon grabbed you like that." Dom couldn't see Leon hurting anyone on purpose.
"Yeah, well, it's old news now. It's over and done wit. I'm just sayin' that Leon's lucky Sean didn't see the marks. I couldn't stop him from goin' after Leon. I can control them to a certain extent but hey, they each outweigh me by 100 pounds." Dom chuckled. She laughed, then turned serious. "You gotta remember that these guys have been lookin' out for me since I was just a kid. You have a kid sister, just think how pissed you'd be if someone grabbed her hard enough to bruise her, dragged her out of her work and called her down to the lowest and then left. Well, it's like I have three brothers who have not one quarter of the control over their emotions you do. Where we come from if someone wrongs you, you take your crew and go take care of it. That's just how it was for us."
Dom nodded to show he understood and then stood up. "Well, thanks for talkin' to me 'bout this. I know that I was outta line to even talk to you 'bout it, it's none of my business."
"You're just watching out for your friend. I appreciate that." She walked him to the gate. Dom was surprised that she was taking his showing up unannounced to go into stuff that was none of his business this well. Kat was annoyed that Dom had stuck his nose into her business, but then she had to appreciate the fact that he just didn't want to see Leon hurt, he just cared about his friend. Kat went into her house to change.
She put on her kicking around clothes and headed downstairs. "So guys, you wanna go out to eat? I don't wanna cook."
"Sure." Kale answered and got up.
"Kat, can I see you in the kitchen for a second?" Sean asked her.
"Um, sure bro, what's up?" She asked when they reached the kitchen.
"Why didn't you tell me the punk grabbed you and dragged you outta the store?" Sean was seeing red.
"You listened in on my conversation with Dominic?" Kat was now livid too.
"Well, I heard you start to tell him that and I couldn't stop listening." Sean calmed down a notch, but he was still pissed.
"I didn't tell you because of this exact reason. I knew you'd go ballistic and it was a mistake on Leon's part. I know he shouldn'ta done it but I knew you'd haveta beat on him for it and I didn't know if you'd stop before it was too late." Kat answered.
"You shoulda told me." Sean wasn't letting it drop that easy.
"It doesn't matter now bro, it's all water under the bridge. Stacy gave him a nice bruise on his chin and on his ass where he landed so we's square now." She smiled to try and lighten the mood, to try to let Sean know that if she considered the matter over and forgiven then he should too. He took the hint and Kat was glad. The subject was far from closed in Sean's mind though. The punk had another visit in his near future. They went out to eat.
Almost a week went by and Kat still hadn't heard from Leon. She was starting to wonder if he'd changed his mind about wanting to see her again. She knew she'd said slow, but she didn't mean never. She could also tell that Sean was glad that Leon wasn't coming around. He was still totally mad that Leon'd done what he did and that Kat covered for him. Kat hoped that Leon saying he wanted to try again wasn't just another way to get back at her. If so not only would he have broken her heart yet again, but the only reason Dom came to see her was because he'd heard that she and Leon were back together, and the fact that Dom came over had made Sean mad at her in the end.
Sean was really still not speaking to her. He was really mad. He saw it as his job to take care of her and in his mind she had prevented him from doing his job by not telling him that Leon had hurt her. But she couldn't help that now. She knew Sean would come around. He always did. She got back into her normal routine at work and the interest in her died off. Guys still came in and tried to pick her up but she somehow made them all feel that they were better off being just her friend. On Friday which was payday she got up and went to get some money for the week.
She walked into work with a puzzled look on her face. She saw Harry was in his office and she just let herself in and sat down in the chair across from him. He was on the phone. She started to study her nails while she waited for him to get off the phone. She was trying to let them grow out but she didn't know how that was going to work out for her, she figured the first time she worked on a car with long nails one of them would break and that would be the end of the long nail project. Harry was clearly talking to someone in Japan about some product, but he was smiling so Kat figured that it must be going well, he was not in a bad mood. She kicked her legs over the arm of the chair and sat sideways with one of the magazines off Harry's desk.
Leon walked back into his house and sat down at the kitchen table.
"Where you been Leon?" Dom asked him, coming in the back door after he and Vince returned from the garage.
"Out." Leon answered and hoped to leave it at that.
"Yeah, where'd ya go?" Vince asked from behind Dom.
"Just out." Leon answered.
"He went to see Kat." Vince smirked. "She shoot you down brotha? Is that why you're in such a bad mood?"
"Shut up dawg." Leon didn't want Dom to know about this yet.
"Leon, I thought that the situation with Kat was over." Dom groaned.
"Well, I like her and I owed her an apology, which she accepted I might add," Leon added for Vince's benefit, "and she wants to try again now that there's nothin' bein' hidden. Well, I mean it was my idea to try again but she wants to too. I can't help it Dom. I need to try again and see where this can go." Leon hoped Dom would understand.
"Alright Leon, but just don't say I didn't warn you when this goes bad again. I just have a feeling it will. Besides that how can you stand to know your girl can race better'n you?"
"I don't know man, it pisses me off in some ways I guess but in others it really doesn't matter. It's just what she does. It wasn't personal. She's good and she can't pretend she's not just to be wit me. And if this goes bad or not I had to know." Leon looked from Dom to Vince.
"Very adult of you brotha." Vince said and nodded. He left the room to go change, calling back over his shoulder, "I'da been pissed as hell 'bout her kickin' my ass", laughing all the way.
Dom shot a dirty look after Vince and stalked out of the room. Dom didn't want Leon to be dating a girl that could very well end up beating him. He didn't figure she would, but out of all the people that he'd had to run in the last long while he figured that Kat could come closer then any of them had in that time. He didn't want to have to see her and play nice if the day came that she put him in his place on the streets. But he'd already told Leon his life was his own and he couldn't take that back now.
Leon sighed. He sure hoped that his relationship with Kat was worth it because Dom was clearly pissed at him. Leon didn't even know if he and Kat had an exclusive relationship or if they were just gonna date some. He hadn't wanted to push her. He had to be honest with himself that he hadn't totally forgiven her for what she'd done either. He just had this burning desire to be with her and it over rode his sense of being pissed at her. But when she wasn't in the same room as him driving him to distraction with desire to kiss her the anger came back. He figured that'd go away with time.
Kat was lying in the sun in the backyard with her shades on. She was almost asleep anyway the sun felt so good on her skin and her eyes were closed. Like warm silk, or the soft touch of a lover on her skin, it was a feeling of deep comfort as the sun melted into her and relaxed all her muscles. She could even smell it, it smelled like fresh cut grass, kittens, and salt air all rolled up. She felt like a pile of Jello she was so sun baked, relaxed. She'd needed this. She was going to be as dark as the guys if she didn't ease up on the sun though. But she just loved this feeling. Lying in the sun like this was like baking contentment into her very bones. She didn't have a worry while the sun was beating down on her. It chased all the cold worry and fear out of her and left only warm yellow light in her soul. The sun centered her, grounded her and made her feel mellow. Kat was never mellow, but she was in the sun. The hot California sun wiped all memories of the watery sunshine of New York and what came after from her mind.
The feeling was shattered and the worry and fear crept back in when she heard the voice from hell over her left shoulder from the gate. "Can we talk?"
She wanted to say no but she doubted he'd go away anyways and then he'd just get pissed and run to Leon about it. She sat up and took off her glasses, blinking at the sunspots she saw even though she'd had the shades on.
"Sure, I guess. I'm not really dressed for company." She gestured at her brief purple swimsuit.
"S'ok. I just had to talk to you about something." Dom walked into her yard and sat in one of the other lawn chairs. He admired the view from behind his own dark glasses. The girl had a tight body; he couldn't fault Leon for wanting to get with Kat that way. Kat had been lying down on a lounge chair but now she sat up.
"What's on your mind dude?" Kat asked. She knew why Dom was here. Why else would he be here. He was mad that her and Leon were speaking again.
"You been spendin' too much time around Brian." Dom chuckled at her calling him dude.
"I was like this long before Brian." She smiled though.
"Well, I just wanted to talk to you about." Dom trailed off. He didn't know how to put it. He really had no business being here and he didn't want her to run back to Leon and tell him that Dom had been over harassing her.
"Whatever Dom, just spit it out boy. I don't bite." She tried to smile. It looked forced, which it was.
"Well, are you really into Leon, or are you just getting back with him for some form of revenge for what he did to you?"
"Normally I wouldn't answer that because it's really nonea your business." Dom had the grace to look embarrassed that she was right and it wasn't his business. "But since I know you care about your team as much as I care about mine I'ma answer you. I'm really into Leon. I don't know where I see anything between us goin' which is why I told him I wanted to take things really slow, but I'm not using him or plannin on dumpin' his ass to try to get back at him down the road. Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Yeah, that was all I wanted to know. He was just really shook up by both what happened before you knew him and by how shit went down after. Plus your buddy gave him a nasty right hook to the jaw. And bruised his backside when he landed." Dom looked serious. Kat threw her head back and roared with laughter. Every time she pictured Leon sitting in the dirt shaking his head and her guys starring him down she had to laugh.
"I heard 'bout that. Stacy told me that he 'decked the punk' even though I'd asked them not to hurt him and then Stacy tried to make on like he was sorry for it. He told me 'bout how Leon fell on his ass. I tried to be mad they did that even though I asked them not to but I mean, maybe you all don't know just what Leon said to me, but it wasn't nice. I mean it's not like I did anything deliberately to him but he went out of his way to hurt me that day. Stacy says 'the punk' had it comin' and I kinda agree with him. But I don't want him to ever do anything like that again. You know the sad thing is Leon had more to be afraid of from Sean but Stacy protected Leon in a way on his own."
"How so?" Dom had to know how decking a man in the face was protecting him from anything.
"Well, when Leon dragged me out of the store he left these little bruises on my arm. I was careful to have a sweater on when I first talked to the guys, knowing they'd go nuts and I was still only blaming myself for what happened and I didn't want the guys to kill Leon when I thought that I was the only one to blame. I mean, I don't bruise easy but I knew it wasn't intentional. But when Harry and I walked out to his car I'd already changed and I forgot to cover the marks up. Stacy saw 'em. He was really pissed. You need to know that Stacy's a hot head, much like Vince if you can imagine, and he's the one I really worried about gettin' violent. I figured that he'd go after Leon just for saying what he said. Sean would never have gone after Leon just for talkin' trash if I asked him not to, but if Sean had known that Leon left marks on me in anger, no matter if it was just an accident or not Leon'd be dead. And I'm not foolin'. Sean almost killed this punk at races when I first started goin for something similar. Stacy knew that and he didn't tell Sean. And he somehow managed not to kill Leon, managed to stop with one punch. That's a big deal for them."
"Whoa. I didn't know that Leon grabbed you like that." Dom couldn't see Leon hurting anyone on purpose.
"Yeah, well, it's old news now. It's over and done wit. I'm just sayin' that Leon's lucky Sean didn't see the marks. I couldn't stop him from goin' after Leon. I can control them to a certain extent but hey, they each outweigh me by 100 pounds." Dom chuckled. She laughed, then turned serious. "You gotta remember that these guys have been lookin' out for me since I was just a kid. You have a kid sister, just think how pissed you'd be if someone grabbed her hard enough to bruise her, dragged her out of her work and called her down to the lowest and then left. Well, it's like I have three brothers who have not one quarter of the control over their emotions you do. Where we come from if someone wrongs you, you take your crew and go take care of it. That's just how it was for us."
Dom nodded to show he understood and then stood up. "Well, thanks for talkin' to me 'bout this. I know that I was outta line to even talk to you 'bout it, it's none of my business."
"You're just watching out for your friend. I appreciate that." She walked him to the gate. Dom was surprised that she was taking his showing up unannounced to go into stuff that was none of his business this well. Kat was annoyed that Dom had stuck his nose into her business, but then she had to appreciate the fact that he just didn't want to see Leon hurt, he just cared about his friend. Kat went into her house to change.
She put on her kicking around clothes and headed downstairs. "So guys, you wanna go out to eat? I don't wanna cook."
"Sure." Kale answered and got up.
"Kat, can I see you in the kitchen for a second?" Sean asked her.
"Um, sure bro, what's up?" She asked when they reached the kitchen.
"Why didn't you tell me the punk grabbed you and dragged you outta the store?" Sean was seeing red.
"You listened in on my conversation with Dominic?" Kat was now livid too.
"Well, I heard you start to tell him that and I couldn't stop listening." Sean calmed down a notch, but he was still pissed.
"I didn't tell you because of this exact reason. I knew you'd go ballistic and it was a mistake on Leon's part. I know he shouldn'ta done it but I knew you'd haveta beat on him for it and I didn't know if you'd stop before it was too late." Kat answered.
"You shoulda told me." Sean wasn't letting it drop that easy.
"It doesn't matter now bro, it's all water under the bridge. Stacy gave him a nice bruise on his chin and on his ass where he landed so we's square now." She smiled to try and lighten the mood, to try to let Sean know that if she considered the matter over and forgiven then he should too. He took the hint and Kat was glad. The subject was far from closed in Sean's mind though. The punk had another visit in his near future. They went out to eat.
Almost a week went by and Kat still hadn't heard from Leon. She was starting to wonder if he'd changed his mind about wanting to see her again. She knew she'd said slow, but she didn't mean never. She could also tell that Sean was glad that Leon wasn't coming around. He was still totally mad that Leon'd done what he did and that Kat covered for him. Kat hoped that Leon saying he wanted to try again wasn't just another way to get back at her. If so not only would he have broken her heart yet again, but the only reason Dom came to see her was because he'd heard that she and Leon were back together, and the fact that Dom came over had made Sean mad at her in the end.
Sean was really still not speaking to her. He was really mad. He saw it as his job to take care of her and in his mind she had prevented him from doing his job by not telling him that Leon had hurt her. But she couldn't help that now. She knew Sean would come around. He always did. She got back into her normal routine at work and the interest in her died off. Guys still came in and tried to pick her up but she somehow made them all feel that they were better off being just her friend. On Friday which was payday she got up and went to get some money for the week.
She walked into work with a puzzled look on her face. She saw Harry was in his office and she just let herself in and sat down in the chair across from him. He was on the phone. She started to study her nails while she waited for him to get off the phone. She was trying to let them grow out but she didn't know how that was going to work out for her, she figured the first time she worked on a car with long nails one of them would break and that would be the end of the long nail project. Harry was clearly talking to someone in Japan about some product, but he was smiling so Kat figured that it must be going well, he was not in a bad mood. She kicked her legs over the arm of the chair and sat sideways with one of the magazines off Harry's desk.