Rebel With A Cause

by Ashleigh Neame

  But he was taking care of her now, and she had to give him credit for that. He was finally turning into a proper boyfriend.

  “I love you,” he whispered quietly. “Don’t worry, ‘cause from now on, I’m going to look after you.”

  Upon hearing those words, she relaxed a bit more. It was nice to know that he was sticking around, despite all the craziness.

  It took a while for her to settle into the movie, but when Hakuna Matata came on, she couldn’t help grinning. Her mum had played this to her and Jordy when they were younger, showing them a clip from the original movie. This song had been a regular at Jordy’s birthday parties.

  Thinking of Jordy brought a familiar wetness to her eyes, but she willed herself not to cry. Jordy was at home with their mother; he’d be ok.

  When the movie finished and the lights came back on, Kaitlyn turned to Carter. He’d been staring at her throughout the whole movie.

  She stopped leaning on him and gathered herself. She gave him a small smile. “That was a cool movie.”

  He stared back, his gaze intense. “Yeah, it was.”

  She stood up and offered him her hand. He took it and pulled her back down. He slung an arm around her shoulders and placed a kiss on her head. He had a hard time resisting kissing her on the lips, but he knew she probably wouldn’t appreciate that right now.

  “I’m supposed to help you up, remember?” he said casually. He rose to his feet and grabbed her hands, pulling her to a standing position. “Let’s go.”

  He began to walk down the stairs and out of the movie theatre, still holding Kaitlyn’s hand. She didn’t object.

  When they were back to the pre-movie lounge, he slung his arm around her shoulders again. He was looking down tenderly at her, and she was looking unwaveringly back at him.

  “Well, look who we have here,” a male voice interrupted. “Carter, my man.”

  They turned around and faced the brute. Deangelo Carboni stood there, his arm around a tall, dark-skinned beauty. Carter pushed Kaitlyn behind him and scowled at De.

  “What the hell do you want?” he growled menacingly.

  De held his hands up in mock surrender, but there was an evil glint to his eye. “Relax, man,” he said, lightly punching Carter on the arm. “Just came to say hi.”

  Carter scowled. His eyes flicked over to the girl. “Does she know what an abusive asshole you are?”

  De laughed. “Despite what you say, Carter, I’m not that bad. If I was, do you think Aria would be going out with me?”

  De’s eyes flicked to Kaitlyn, who was half-hidden behind Carter. She could see the burning anger in his eyes.

  Carter flexed his fists. He wanted to hit De, but he didn’t want them to get kicked out. However if De hit him first…

  De’s girlfriend, Aria, spoke up. “De, baby, our movie’s going to start soon.”

  De looked down at her and grinned. “Of course. Let’s go.” He offered his arm to her and she took it, giggling.

  Carter and Kaitlyn watched them leave, without so much as a goodbye.

  “Do you think we should tell someone?” Kaitlyn asked. She felt like she was going to vomit, running into him again, and she feared he would hurt Aria the way he hurt her. Aria seemed harmless, and if De hurt her, she was going after him herself, with a gun.

  Chapter 14

  Carter shook his head. “We should, but when we tell them you were raped and didn’t come forward within twenty-four hours, the cops won’t be too impressed. They’ll probably think we’re just stirring up trouble.”

  Kaitlyn sighed. “We can’t just let him hurt her, Carter!”

  He looked at her, worry lines etched on his face. “I know, but we need to get out of here. Time to go home.”

  Kaitlyn clutched at Carter’s shirt. “Please tell me we can get the house fixed up soon. I hate sleeping on the airbed.”

  He looked down at her. “I promise. Now, let’s get out of here, before I walk back in there and pummel him.”

  She nodded, and they walked back to the car. She could feel the adrenaline in her veins, and all she wanted was to run, run as far away as she could and never come back.

  It seemed Carter had the same idea. On the drive home, he gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white. He kept screwing up gear changes, and each time he did, he would bang his fist hard on the steering wheel.

  “Carter,” she tried quietly, “don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”

  He growled and thumped the car again in response. She’d stopped trying after that.

  They were almost home when Carter decided to pull into an all-night liquor shop. He left Kaitlyn in the car, angrily slamming his door behind him, and stalked into the store.

  She sighed and slumped against her seat. She’d known Carter for a long time, and she knew him really well. She knew that right now, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was blaming himself for her attack, and if anything happened to that girl, Aria, he’d be blaming himself for that too. That was Carter for you, always wanting to protect everyone. Kaitlyn had her suspicions that he’d been damaged by the death of his parents more than he let on.

  He came out of the shop with a bottle of rum under one arm, and a bottle of vodka in his other hand. He climbed back in the car and handed the bottles to Katie, before slamming the door shut.

  “It’s not your fault, you know,” she said quietly. “It was my own stupidity, and De’s gross behaviour that are to blame. I just wanted to get back at you, and I guess, so did De.”

  “Don’t even mention his name anywhere near me again,” Carter spat angrily. His jaw was set in a hard line, and he was scowling at the windscreen. He pulled out of the derelict parking lot and drove the five hundred metre distance home.

  Kaitlyn wanted to help him, but she didn’t know how. He radiated an aura of self-loathing, and when she tried to touch him, there seemed to be an invisible barrier stopping her.

  He turned into their driveway with a rocky jolt and pulled the car to an abrupt halt. He snatched the bottles out of Kaitlyn’s hands and practically ran out of the car. Kaitlyn sighed and followed him.

  She went inside the house and heard him in the kitchen, banging around. What he could possibly be doing, she didn’t know, because they sure as hell didn’t have any cutlery or glasses.

  She walked towards the noise and stood in the doorway. “What are you doing?”

  He answered, without looking at her, “I don’t know! I just need to do something! De’s a murderer! He needs to be locked up!”

  Carter slammed the empty cabinets shut and thumped his hands on the kitchen bench. “I can’t let him get away with it!”

  Kaitlyn was confused. “Ok,” she instructed, “take a deep breath, and look at me.”

  Carter ignored her, and instead chose to glare at the bench top.

  “Carter!” she yelled. “Look at me!”

  He spun around, an impassive mask on his face. His eyes were blank, and Kaitlyn knew there was something more to it than Carter was letting on.

  “What’s really bugging you?” she asked softly. Being calm and quiet was probably the best way to get him to stop freaking out.

  Carter just looked past her. “There’s more to this than you think,” he said robotically.

  Kaitlyn shivered. This wasn’t funny. He wasn’t himself right now, and he was scaring her. But she wanted the regular Carter back, so she tried to get through to him.

  “Do you want to tell me?” she asked.

  Carter shook his head. “No. You’ve been through enough.”

  She decided slowly approaching him might be ok, but she didn’t know whether to risk it. She needed to hug him, to let him know that it would all be ok, but she didn’t know where she stood with this version of Carter. It was a side to him she’d never encountered before.

  She stepped into the kitchen, one foot at a time. Carter caught the movement, and he rushed over to her. He gathered her into his arms and pressed his face
into her neck. He breathed deeply, her scent gradually calming him down.

  It was a while before he managed to completely relax. Kaitlyn just held him until he was ready.

  When he finally pulled away, he looked tired. His eyes were droopy and his shoulders sagged.

  “Come on,” she said, grabbing his hand. “Time for bed.”

  He let her lead him to the bedroom, where the uncomfortable air bed lay. Carter dropped to his knees and crawled on top of it. Kaitlyn grabbed a blanket from the floor next to the bed and covered him with it.

  “Just sleep,” she said. “You need to sleep.”

  He let out a huge yawn. “You come sleep too,” he said tiredly.

  “Soon,” she promised. “I just need the bathroom.”

  She watched over him and stroked his hair until he fell asleep. When she was sure he was in a deep sleep, she gathered the strength to move and got up. She tip-toed to the toilet, careful not to wave Carter, and expelled the contents of her stomach. She’d been feeling nauseous since they ran into De, but she’d managed to control it.

  Until now.

  She couldn’t tell how long she vomited for, but when she woke in the morning, her head was on the toilet seat, and her neck ached terribly.

  “Ugh,” she groaned, noticing the strong stench of her extended vomiting session last night. Her stomach heaved, and she quickly flushed the toilet. She sat up and closed the lid, trying to ignore the rolling in her stomach.

  “Katie?” Carter was looking for her. She realised she hadn’t gone back to bed last night, and he might be worried.

  “I’m in the bathroom,” she croaked. Her throat felt parched, and talking made it feel like it was on fire.

  She heard footsteps approaching, and Carter soon found her crouched on the toilet floor.

  “Katie?” he asked urgently. He sounded like he was panicking. “Are you ok?”

  She shifted her head so she was looking back at him. “If spending the night on the toilet floor puking my guts out is ok, then yeah.”

  Carter grabbed her in a bear hug. He didn’t even seem to mind the disgusting odour.

  She relaxed against him. “I feel so guilty. I should have gone straight to the cops,” she said. “Then De would be locked up, away from vulnerable girls.”

  Carter squeezed her briefly. “I know, but we’re racers, we do things differently. We can’t involve the cops in any of our business, because if they find out what we do, we’ll be the ones locked up. We have to deal with this our way.”

  Kaitlyn leaned against his chest and sighed. “I just wish there was somewhere that we could go, a city full of racers, one where there’s no cops, and we’re governed by our own rules.”

  Carter chuckled. “Yeah, that would be cool. We wouldn’t have to live in secret then.”

  They sat there for a while, just holding each other, before they heard a car in the driveway. Carter tensed in anticipation.

  The engine noises suddenly stopped, and the heard a car door click shut. There was a beep of a car alarm, followed by a joyous yell.

  Kaitlyn relaxed against Carter. “It’s Jordy,” she said casually. “Don’t worry.”

  She got up and went to brush her teeth, when a knock on the door reverberated through the empty house.

  “Go and answer the door,” she ordered Carter. “Go on. You have to officially meet my mum sometime.”

  He frowned. “Seriously? All by myself?”

  She shrugged and grinned. “You better hurry, they’re waiting.”

  She went off to brush her teeth, and Carter went to the door. His shirt was creased, his jeans were rumpled, and he had a gazillion butterflies in his stomach, but there wasn’t much he could do about that now.

  He ran his hands down his shirt in an effort to flatten out the wrinkles, and nervously patted his hair. He reached the door and opened it, to see an attractive woman and a young boy on the front porch. He recognised them as Kaitlyn’s mum, and little brother.

  “Hi, you must be Carter,” the woman said amicably. She smiled at him warmly. “I’m Layla, Katie’s mum. This is Jordan, her little brother. It’s nice to finally meet you for real, with no blustering husband around.”

  “Uh, it’s nice to meet you, too,” he said, his cheeks flaming red. He remembered their last encounter, ashamed of his conduct. He’d been a real jerk back then.

  Kaitlyn’s mother was laughing. At him, he suddenly realised.

  “Don’t worry,” she said smoothly. “I’ve already forgotten about last time.”

  Carter nodded. He swallowed nervously.

  “So, is Kaitlyn home?” she asked.

  Carter nodded, unable to find his voice. He stepped back and held the door open in welcome.

  “She’s uh, she’s brushing her teeth,” he said timidly. This was a huge first for Carter. He’d never been speechless in the presence of a woman before. Of course, it didn’t help that the woman standing in front of him was the mother of the girl he loved.

  Kaitlyn’s mother – he refused to think of her as Layla – ignored him. Her eyes were scanning the empty lounge room.

  “I didn’t realise quite how much work this place would need. It’s going to be quite an expensive do-up.” She shot Carter a sideways look. “Are you sure you have enough money for this?”

  He shrugged. “Is two hundred and fifty thousand enough for you?”

  She gaped. “How on earth did you get that much money?”

  Carter shuffled his feet. “My parents left me a trust fund when they died.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said quietly. He shrugged.

  Kaitlyn re-entered the room, the acrid taste of vomit now ousted from her mouth. Jordy ran towards her and she pulled him into a big hug. Her mother turned around to face her and grinned.

  Carter was thankful for the distraction. He hated people always apologising for his parent’s death; as if they were really responsible for it.

  Truth be told, he still wasn’t sure how exactly his parents had died. Perhaps the car crash story he’d been told, was the truth, but he didn’t really know. Being in foster care, he’d never been able to figure out the truth. He just had to do his best to move on.

  “What are you doing here?” Kaitlyn asked her mother.

  Her mother replied, “I thought I’d come by to figure out what needs doing myself. I’ve already pulled a few strings to get the carpet people to come tomorrow, so the builders should be getting here soon. Once the carpet is done, we can get the tiling guys in for the bathroom and kitchen, and the wallpaper guys can come in on the same day. I have landscapers coming in a few days to take care of your yard, and maybe your driveway. I think we can build you a better garage if you want to as well, but that’s entirely up to you.”

  Kaitlyn looked at Carter. Was he getting all this?

  “So, we won’t be able to stay here, will we?” she asked rhetorically.

  Her mother shook her head. “No, it’ll be too chaotic. You can both come and stay with me and Jordy, or you can go and stay in an apartment .. I’ve already reserved a room there for you, just in case.”

  Kaitlyn was gobsmacked. “Wow, Mum, thank you. You’ve obviously given this a lot of thought.”

  Her mother hugged her and kissed her forehead. “I just want the best for my baby girl.”

  Carter watched as the family embraced. He felt so guilty, and he didn’t know why. He felt so out of place. He needed to get out of there.

  Kaitlyn looked over her mum’s shoulder and saw Carter silently panicking. She wanted to reach out and grab him, but his eyes kept darting to the door, and she was locked in her mother’s arms.

  “Mum, get off me,” she said lightly. “You’re suffocating me.”

  Her mother pulled away. “Don’t be so dramatic, Kaitlyn Johnson.”

  Kaitlyn sighed and bent down to her brother’s height.

  “Hey Jordy,” she said in a hushed whisper, as if she were conspiring with him. “Why don’t you go outside and play with Cart
er? You like soccer, right? Well, Carter here used to play.”

  Jordy spun around to look at Carter. “Really?”

  Carter looked down at Jordy. Here was a young boy, possibly loved soccer, and who loved his parents. Except he may have just lost his dad. Jordy reminded him so much of himself, and he couldn’t help being reminded of innocence lost. It was unfair, and he was sure as hell not letting that happen to Jordy.

  He cracked a grin. “Yeah, I love soccer. I used to play all the time.”

  Jordy’s mouth fell open in surprise. “I didn’t think adults like you played soccer!” he said, astonished.

  Carter grinned. “Anybody can play soccer. Do you want to see my trophies?”

  Kaitlyn tipped her head to the side and watched the interaction between her on-off boyfriend and her little brother. It was cute, watching them chat away, as if they’d been friends for years. She could tell that there was some kind of connection between them, but she couldn’t think what.

  She stayed crouched as Jordy ran over to Carter and jumped up and down excitedly. She watched Carter lead Jordy into one of the empty bedrooms, where Carter’s unmarked boxes sat. Carter had never told her what was in them, but obviously at least one box was full of trophies.

  “They’re so cute together,” her mother commented. “It’s really sweet.”

  Kaitlyn rose back into a standing position. “Yeah, it is.”

  Her mother pulled out her touchscreen tablet and began tapping away. She pulled a stylus out from the side and scribbled something on the screen.

  “Right,” her mother said importantly. “Time to get to work. We need to start making notes of what we want done, so when the builders get here, we can see if it can be done or not.”

  Kaitlyn’s shoulders slumped, and she wriggled her sore neck around. “Sure,” she replied.

  “Now, I see you’ve already started ripping up the carpet. That’s good, it means we can see what state the floor is in underneath.” Her mother walked over to the rolled up carpet, peered over the loop, and grimaced. “Well, we’ll certainly need to do something about that floor before we can lay any new carpet down.”

  Kaitlyn sighed. Her mother was in business mode, and that fact that her daughter was her client, didn’t make her any less formal.