Chapter 51 – Time to Dance
AN: I'm finding it so interesting that some people are still on Kat's side, some are on Leon's and some people just want them both to realize neither of them is a saint and meet in the middle. Well, see how this goes over people! Remember, read, rinse, repeat if necessary, review. ;) Love always, Tempest.
Kat watched the Toretto's out of the corner of her eye as they had a heated debate of some sort and then she saw Dom head for his car and send Hector over her way.
"He says it's on Kat. You sure you know what you're doing?" The Latin man asked as he walked up.
"Oh, I know very well what I'm doing. He's not getting away with talking to me like he did. I'ma school him on a few home truths tonight my friend." Kat laughed. She knew she likely should be nervous at getting a shot at Dom but she couldn't find a hint of that emotion in herself.
Just hot anger and delicious adrenaline.
It flowed through her blood like NOS in her car. It hyped her up and made her disregard even the most sensible of emotions like caution and fear. It pooled heavy and hot in her lower abdomen and sent shooting pulses of pure excitement through her body. It was her drug of choice. It had her just as hooked as Blow or Juice would have. She'd do almost anything for a fix.
Even race Dominic Toretto in a car she'd only driven once before and never raced in her life.
They arrived on the line to race and Connor helped Kat into the driver's seat and watched as she adjusted the Mystic Leather racing buckets. Kat stood up out of the car and looked at Connor's face.
"I'll be good to the car C. You don't have to worry."
"I know the car'll be fine. I know you drive like no one else girl. I'd trust you with my life so the car's not even an issue. I'll worry about you racing this guy. He seems like a jerk."
"He is, but he's honourable when it comes to racing. I'll be fine that way. But if I lose I'll never live it down. I want one of you guys at the finish in case it's close and his team tries to call it in his favour even if it's not."
"Consider it done." Connor answered and gestured for Kale and Stacy to go to the finish. Nikki hugged Kat quickly and went with Stacy. Kat giggled. "What?" Connor asked.
"Some things never change." Kat replied with a smile.
"Such as?"
"You ordering the guys around and expecting them to just jump to do what you ask. The guys doing what you ask even when they'd just laugh at anyone else who tried that shit. Stacy and Nikki."
"Those things'll never change." Connor answered. That was just the way it was.
"Yeah, but some things do change." Kat answered and her face fell.
"Like what?" Connor asked.
"Like me working for a living. Like me wishing that the guys and I still lived with you." Kat's eyes clouded over.
"But I thought you were happy now baby girl. That's why I didn't make you move home." Connor said and looked betrayed that Kat would rather be unhappy then come back to 'the fold' as it were. "You wanna come home you can. We miss you around the place anyway." Connor started to knead Kat's shoulders as they spoke, sensing she was getting tense.
Kat leaned back into Connor and tried to take strength from his presence. He had so much strength and toughness Kat hoped he'd share some with her. Sometimes it was so hard for her to keep the brave act up to hide behind. But she knew, or at least she thought she knew, that if the brave wall ever fell down and everyone saw the scared little girl who was behind it hiding, no one would ever respect her again.
"I am happy. At least, I was happy. But this whole thing with Leon's just made me wish that I'd never left south side, that I'd never met him. I'd likely be wit someone like Brody. Someone like us. Not wishing I with some guy that I have nothing in common with who doesn't understand me. Someone that's just from a totally different world and doesn't get how ours works. Everything he does makes me act like a mad woman and I don't like it. I'm not myself when we're apart or fighting. It's like I spend every second of my life going to extremes and I hate it." Kat frowned and sighed. "Plus Brian lives with them and Harry's liable to go nuts when he hears what went down tonight."
"It'll be ok Baby. Really. It'll all be fine." Connor leaned down and kissed Kat's shoulder like he'd done so many times in the past to comfort her and calm her down. He knew that Sean cared for nothing in his life more then he cared for Kat and Connor seconded the feeling. He knew just what his Kitten needed to feel better too. She needed to kick a little Italian ass. "Now get in my car and win this race for me. I wanna know what the 'Stang can do and I know just the girl to show me."
"Thanks C." Kat said, turning around to face her friend. Connor hugged her to him and then helped her into the car.
"Oh, and your guy in the yellow car is still staring at us." Connor laughed.
"Good. I hope he's mad at me. I'm mad enough at him." Kat answered and started up the mustang. It came to life with a loud roar, which evened out to a steady purr after a second. It wasn't as powerful as the skyline but Kat could still sense the power, barely restrained.
All that stood between her and about 500 or so horsepower was a clutch disk. It was momentarily sobering but then the thrill of the hunt took over. It was time to dance, perform automotive ballet. She kept telling herself after 10 seconds or less she'd be the one blowing kisses from the top of the world after she handed Dom's arrogant, loud mouth, overconfident ass to him. She expected to win solidly. Racing was her calling and she didn't allow any thoughts of not winning enter her head in the minutes before she'd race the race of her life.
Vince came over to her car.
"You ready to roll Kat?" Vince asked. "You sure you know what you're doing racing Dom in a car that you're not familiar with?"
"I'll be fine. Soon as we're ready to roll I'm ready to race." Vince nodded and went to speak to Hector. Hector spoke to Leon over the two ways then held up his hands. Connor went to stand with Sean on the side. Leon said something back to Hector and then Hector dropped his arms. Kat and Dom took off in unison with a squeal.
Kat smoked the rear tires of the Mustang. She wasn't use to the weight distribution of the mustang or the gear ratio. She also found the clutch wasn't as sensitive as that of the Skyline. It was hard to feather it instead of popping it to get a good launch. She didn't quite get it right and she lurched a bit off the line.
"Sorry baby. Be good to me." Kat spoke out loud to the car. She wasn't use to the car and it was telling. Dom had launched his RX-7 better and had a lead on her. Not a big one but a lead none the less. Kat had to push the Mustang harder then the Skyline to get the same result. But she was slowly catching up to Dom.
She was pushing the car as hard as she dared. It was racing ahead with power that threw her back into her seat. The mustang matched its horsepower rating with its torque rating exactly. It had the power to haul. Dom's rotary engine lacked low end torque and didn't have as much as Kat's powerful V-8 at any point of its power band. That allowed her to gain on him each time he shifted up. He lost a significant amount of power in the lower RPMs he hit at each shift and Kat did not. However, Dom's car was lighter and had a better weight distribution. For two different cars they were likely as evenly matched as any two such different cars were going to be.
She shifted up again and caught him a bit more. Dom must have hit another gear too because he again started to pull away from her. Kat checked the aftermarket speed gage mounted to the a-pillar and she was going 130. There was about 3 seconds of race left. She hit NOS 1 and dumped a 150 shot of NOS into the engine. She laughed with the thrill of the huge NOS hit into the already straining, screaming engine. She hadn't known just how huge the shot of NOS Connor had set up was. She flew past Dom, who hit his NOS and caught her then passed her.
Kat hit her 5th gear and then used NOS 2. She caught Dom and the two raced side by side for the next second of race. One racer would edge out and the other would counter. Neither could get a head of the other for longer then a nanosecond. Then Dom slowly edged out in front of the colour changing Mustang.
With the finish line in sight and closing fast, sparks began to fly out of Dom's exhaust and Kat passed him. She got over the line ahead of him but she knew his car had been having issues. She pulled up and got out. Nikki came up and hugged her, squealing.
"You won, you won!" Nikki laughed. "That was the coolest thing I ever saw. That car looks sic under the streetlights. It changes colour totally every two feet. It was so cool!" Nikki babbled on. She hadn't seen Kat race in a long time and she'd forgotten what it was like.
"I'll let you ride along next time Nikki, if you wanna see cool." Kat grinned. She'd won. But she knew it hadn't been a fair win.
"I still can't believe you won in Connor's mustang!" Nikki fairly bubbled with excitement and Kat caught Stacy staring at Nikki's bouncing butt. She grinned. She thought it was a good match and she was glad Stacy had come to his senses and gotten back with Nikki. But then Kat felt the need to be fair and correct her friend. She didn't know where the nice streak was coming from but she couldn't let the crowd think she'd won fairly when she hadn't. She thought of being the best as racing the best and winning fair and square.
Dom got out of his car and was walking up to them but Kat didn't know that because he was coming up behind her.
"Yeah, I did win but in the last second or so of race his engine threw an apex seal. His rear rotor is toast and that's why he lost. It would have come down pretty close to a dead heat if that hadn't happened." Kat admitted honestly. Dom was again shocked at the fact she didn't just not say anything about his engine trouble and let everyone think he was just using it as an excuse why he didn't win when he told people about his fried engine. Not to mention she knew why his engine was fried too. Nikki frowned at Kat's admission.
"Thanks for the honesty Kat. But it was pretty close even before then. So you did good for someone driving a borrowed car." Dom thought it would be small to continue to fight with her after she admitted that he lost due to an engine failure. Dom watched as Kat's back stiffened. It was clear she hadn't known he was there. She was so full of pride. So much like him, Dom thought with a rueful smile and a shake of his bald head. Brian and the rest of his team had that right.
"Yeah. When I beat you I want it to be fair and square. No half ass victories." Kat arrogantly stated. Her pride wouldn't let her take Dom's olive branch at all. She was still so mad at him, and his whole team really, and ready to kick the shit out of Letty. Or at least give it her best try. Dom looked pissed again but then Vince, who'd heard the whole thing, broke in.
"Children, time to let it go for the evening. We need to get the RX-7 home now before the cops come Dom. You know you can't outrun them running on one rotor." With that Dom sighed. Vince was right. Dom climbed back into his car and took off with it. He had to limp home with it. It sounded terrible.
"Well, he's out of racing for like at least two weeks. That's if he and Jesse tear that down and rebuild it and don't do anything else during that two weeks. He's gonna have to pull the engine." Kat told the group in general as they drove back to the start and met back up with Connor and Sean. The two men had already heard the story of the race.
"Wanna have a party?" Connor asked everyone but made sure to look at Kat for the effect.
Kat could see Leon out of the corner of her eye. He was talking to some blonde chick off beside his car. They looked very cozy. Kat knew it would be like the pot calling the kettle black if she were to get upset about it but she didn't have to like it. He was within hearing distance so Kat smiled softly back up at Connor, milking the act for all she could.
"Of course." Kat answered.
"Let's go to Voodoo then!" Connor answered.
"But it's closing in ½ an hour." Nikki pointed out. It was already 2:30.
"Well, I think that they'll stay open for a 'private' party if the owner says so now won't they?" Connor stated with a self satisfied smirk.
"Since when do you own Voodoo?" Kat asked, surprised.
"Since about a month ago. It was for sale and it seemed to make sense for a Tiger to own it when it's in our territory."
"Why didn't you tell me C? Why have I been paying for my drinks like a dumbass."
"Kat, you never pay for drinks. Don't gimme that." Connor laughed.
"I pay every once in a while." Kat laughed back.
"Well, not any more you don't. My girl doesn't pay to drink at my club."
With that they all piled into their cars and many other racers followed them, knowing that there would be no party at the Toretto's after the night's events. Dom would be in a sour mood about his car troubles.
AN: I'm finding it so interesting that some people are still on Kat's side, some are on Leon's and some people just want them both to realize neither of them is a saint and meet in the middle. Well, see how this goes over people! Remember, read, rinse, repeat if necessary, review. ;) Love always, Tempest.
Kat watched the Toretto's out of the corner of her eye as they had a heated debate of some sort and then she saw Dom head for his car and send Hector over her way.
"He says it's on Kat. You sure you know what you're doing?" The Latin man asked as he walked up.
"Oh, I know very well what I'm doing. He's not getting away with talking to me like he did. I'ma school him on a few home truths tonight my friend." Kat laughed. She knew she likely should be nervous at getting a shot at Dom but she couldn't find a hint of that emotion in herself.
Just hot anger and delicious adrenaline.
It flowed through her blood like NOS in her car. It hyped her up and made her disregard even the most sensible of emotions like caution and fear. It pooled heavy and hot in her lower abdomen and sent shooting pulses of pure excitement through her body. It was her drug of choice. It had her just as hooked as Blow or Juice would have. She'd do almost anything for a fix.
Even race Dominic Toretto in a car she'd only driven once before and never raced in her life.
They arrived on the line to race and Connor helped Kat into the driver's seat and watched as she adjusted the Mystic Leather racing buckets. Kat stood up out of the car and looked at Connor's face.
"I'll be good to the car C. You don't have to worry."
"I know the car'll be fine. I know you drive like no one else girl. I'd trust you with my life so the car's not even an issue. I'll worry about you racing this guy. He seems like a jerk."
"He is, but he's honourable when it comes to racing. I'll be fine that way. But if I lose I'll never live it down. I want one of you guys at the finish in case it's close and his team tries to call it in his favour even if it's not."
"Consider it done." Connor answered and gestured for Kale and Stacy to go to the finish. Nikki hugged Kat quickly and went with Stacy. Kat giggled. "What?" Connor asked.
"Some things never change." Kat replied with a smile.
"Such as?"
"You ordering the guys around and expecting them to just jump to do what you ask. The guys doing what you ask even when they'd just laugh at anyone else who tried that shit. Stacy and Nikki."
"Those things'll never change." Connor answered. That was just the way it was.
"Yeah, but some things do change." Kat answered and her face fell.
"Like what?" Connor asked.
"Like me working for a living. Like me wishing that the guys and I still lived with you." Kat's eyes clouded over.
"But I thought you were happy now baby girl. That's why I didn't make you move home." Connor said and looked betrayed that Kat would rather be unhappy then come back to 'the fold' as it were. "You wanna come home you can. We miss you around the place anyway." Connor started to knead Kat's shoulders as they spoke, sensing she was getting tense.
Kat leaned back into Connor and tried to take strength from his presence. He had so much strength and toughness Kat hoped he'd share some with her. Sometimes it was so hard for her to keep the brave act up to hide behind. But she knew, or at least she thought she knew, that if the brave wall ever fell down and everyone saw the scared little girl who was behind it hiding, no one would ever respect her again.
"I am happy. At least, I was happy. But this whole thing with Leon's just made me wish that I'd never left south side, that I'd never met him. I'd likely be wit someone like Brody. Someone like us. Not wishing I with some guy that I have nothing in common with who doesn't understand me. Someone that's just from a totally different world and doesn't get how ours works. Everything he does makes me act like a mad woman and I don't like it. I'm not myself when we're apart or fighting. It's like I spend every second of my life going to extremes and I hate it." Kat frowned and sighed. "Plus Brian lives with them and Harry's liable to go nuts when he hears what went down tonight."
"It'll be ok Baby. Really. It'll all be fine." Connor leaned down and kissed Kat's shoulder like he'd done so many times in the past to comfort her and calm her down. He knew that Sean cared for nothing in his life more then he cared for Kat and Connor seconded the feeling. He knew just what his Kitten needed to feel better too. She needed to kick a little Italian ass. "Now get in my car and win this race for me. I wanna know what the 'Stang can do and I know just the girl to show me."
"Thanks C." Kat said, turning around to face her friend. Connor hugged her to him and then helped her into the car.
"Oh, and your guy in the yellow car is still staring at us." Connor laughed.
"Good. I hope he's mad at me. I'm mad enough at him." Kat answered and started up the mustang. It came to life with a loud roar, which evened out to a steady purr after a second. It wasn't as powerful as the skyline but Kat could still sense the power, barely restrained.
All that stood between her and about 500 or so horsepower was a clutch disk. It was momentarily sobering but then the thrill of the hunt took over. It was time to dance, perform automotive ballet. She kept telling herself after 10 seconds or less she'd be the one blowing kisses from the top of the world after she handed Dom's arrogant, loud mouth, overconfident ass to him. She expected to win solidly. Racing was her calling and she didn't allow any thoughts of not winning enter her head in the minutes before she'd race the race of her life.
Vince came over to her car.
"You ready to roll Kat?" Vince asked. "You sure you know what you're doing racing Dom in a car that you're not familiar with?"
"I'll be fine. Soon as we're ready to roll I'm ready to race." Vince nodded and went to speak to Hector. Hector spoke to Leon over the two ways then held up his hands. Connor went to stand with Sean on the side. Leon said something back to Hector and then Hector dropped his arms. Kat and Dom took off in unison with a squeal.
Kat smoked the rear tires of the Mustang. She wasn't use to the weight distribution of the mustang or the gear ratio. She also found the clutch wasn't as sensitive as that of the Skyline. It was hard to feather it instead of popping it to get a good launch. She didn't quite get it right and she lurched a bit off the line.
"Sorry baby. Be good to me." Kat spoke out loud to the car. She wasn't use to the car and it was telling. Dom had launched his RX-7 better and had a lead on her. Not a big one but a lead none the less. Kat had to push the Mustang harder then the Skyline to get the same result. But she was slowly catching up to Dom.
She was pushing the car as hard as she dared. It was racing ahead with power that threw her back into her seat. The mustang matched its horsepower rating with its torque rating exactly. It had the power to haul. Dom's rotary engine lacked low end torque and didn't have as much as Kat's powerful V-8 at any point of its power band. That allowed her to gain on him each time he shifted up. He lost a significant amount of power in the lower RPMs he hit at each shift and Kat did not. However, Dom's car was lighter and had a better weight distribution. For two different cars they were likely as evenly matched as any two such different cars were going to be.
She shifted up again and caught him a bit more. Dom must have hit another gear too because he again started to pull away from her. Kat checked the aftermarket speed gage mounted to the a-pillar and she was going 130. There was about 3 seconds of race left. She hit NOS 1 and dumped a 150 shot of NOS into the engine. She laughed with the thrill of the huge NOS hit into the already straining, screaming engine. She hadn't known just how huge the shot of NOS Connor had set up was. She flew past Dom, who hit his NOS and caught her then passed her.
Kat hit her 5th gear and then used NOS 2. She caught Dom and the two raced side by side for the next second of race. One racer would edge out and the other would counter. Neither could get a head of the other for longer then a nanosecond. Then Dom slowly edged out in front of the colour changing Mustang.
With the finish line in sight and closing fast, sparks began to fly out of Dom's exhaust and Kat passed him. She got over the line ahead of him but she knew his car had been having issues. She pulled up and got out. Nikki came up and hugged her, squealing.
"You won, you won!" Nikki laughed. "That was the coolest thing I ever saw. That car looks sic under the streetlights. It changes colour totally every two feet. It was so cool!" Nikki babbled on. She hadn't seen Kat race in a long time and she'd forgotten what it was like.
"I'll let you ride along next time Nikki, if you wanna see cool." Kat grinned. She'd won. But she knew it hadn't been a fair win.
"I still can't believe you won in Connor's mustang!" Nikki fairly bubbled with excitement and Kat caught Stacy staring at Nikki's bouncing butt. She grinned. She thought it was a good match and she was glad Stacy had come to his senses and gotten back with Nikki. But then Kat felt the need to be fair and correct her friend. She didn't know where the nice streak was coming from but she couldn't let the crowd think she'd won fairly when she hadn't. She thought of being the best as racing the best and winning fair and square.
Dom got out of his car and was walking up to them but Kat didn't know that because he was coming up behind her.
"Yeah, I did win but in the last second or so of race his engine threw an apex seal. His rear rotor is toast and that's why he lost. It would have come down pretty close to a dead heat if that hadn't happened." Kat admitted honestly. Dom was again shocked at the fact she didn't just not say anything about his engine trouble and let everyone think he was just using it as an excuse why he didn't win when he told people about his fried engine. Not to mention she knew why his engine was fried too. Nikki frowned at Kat's admission.
"Thanks for the honesty Kat. But it was pretty close even before then. So you did good for someone driving a borrowed car." Dom thought it would be small to continue to fight with her after she admitted that he lost due to an engine failure. Dom watched as Kat's back stiffened. It was clear she hadn't known he was there. She was so full of pride. So much like him, Dom thought with a rueful smile and a shake of his bald head. Brian and the rest of his team had that right.
"Yeah. When I beat you I want it to be fair and square. No half ass victories." Kat arrogantly stated. Her pride wouldn't let her take Dom's olive branch at all. She was still so mad at him, and his whole team really, and ready to kick the shit out of Letty. Or at least give it her best try. Dom looked pissed again but then Vince, who'd heard the whole thing, broke in.
"Children, time to let it go for the evening. We need to get the RX-7 home now before the cops come Dom. You know you can't outrun them running on one rotor." With that Dom sighed. Vince was right. Dom climbed back into his car and took off with it. He had to limp home with it. It sounded terrible.
"Well, he's out of racing for like at least two weeks. That's if he and Jesse tear that down and rebuild it and don't do anything else during that two weeks. He's gonna have to pull the engine." Kat told the group in general as they drove back to the start and met back up with Connor and Sean. The two men had already heard the story of the race.
"Wanna have a party?" Connor asked everyone but made sure to look at Kat for the effect.
Kat could see Leon out of the corner of her eye. He was talking to some blonde chick off beside his car. They looked very cozy. Kat knew it would be like the pot calling the kettle black if she were to get upset about it but she didn't have to like it. He was within hearing distance so Kat smiled softly back up at Connor, milking the act for all she could.
"Of course." Kat answered.
"Let's go to Voodoo then!" Connor answered.
"But it's closing in ½ an hour." Nikki pointed out. It was already 2:30.
"Well, I think that they'll stay open for a 'private' party if the owner says so now won't they?" Connor stated with a self satisfied smirk.
"Since when do you own Voodoo?" Kat asked, surprised.
"Since about a month ago. It was for sale and it seemed to make sense for a Tiger to own it when it's in our territory."
"Why didn't you tell me C? Why have I been paying for my drinks like a dumbass."
"Kat, you never pay for drinks. Don't gimme that." Connor laughed.
"I pay every once in a while." Kat laughed back.
"Well, not any more you don't. My girl doesn't pay to drink at my club."
With that they all piled into their cars and many other racers followed them, knowing that there would be no party at the Toretto's after the night's events. Dom would be in a sour mood about his car troubles.