Rebel With A Cause

by Ashleigh Neame

  Kaitlyn watched from a distance as Carter punched Marcus in the face. She heard Bekah screaming at Carter, and he ignored her. She saw Marcus fall to the ground as Carter shoved him.

  “You’re a user!” Carter screamed. “You stole my girl and now you’re using my cousin! She’s like my sister! And you knew that, you son of a bitch, didn’t you?!”

  Marcus scrambled away. “I didn’t, I swear!”

  Carter was fuming. “You using her to make my girl jealous? Or are you using her to piss me off?”

  “Carter!” Bekah screamed. Her face was bright red with anger.

  Kaitlyn decided it was time to intervene. She walked over and grabbed Carter’s shoulders, trying to pull him away. He shrugged her off and kicked Marcus in the shins.

  “Carter,” she said quietly. “Come on. He’s not worth it.”

  Carter spun around and turned his fury on her.

  “Oh yeah?” he yelled. “So you weren’t jealous just a few minutes ago? You weren’t wishing that it was him you were kissing, and not me?”

  She scowled at Carter then shot Marcus the evils. When she turned back to face Carter, she saw he had his eyes closed and was stiffly mouthing something. Instinctively, she knew he was counting to ten and moved away.

  When he opened his eyes, she saw that he’d calmed down and was staring intensely at her.

  “Were you?” he whispered quietly. “Do you really want Marcus?”

  She shook her head. “No, Carter,” she replied. “If I did, I wouldn’t have said yes last night.”

  Slowly, they both looked down to Kaitlyn’s left hand, where the engagement ring that Carter had bought her. She looked up and saw him smiling slightly.

  “I love you,” she said. His eyes flicked up to hers and he brought her lips up to meet his. He wrapped one arm around her waist and had one on the back of her neck. His tongue wrestled with hers and she gasped at the sheer pleasure running through her.

  He broke the kiss and walked over to his car. He jumped in and slammed the door behind her. Kaitlyn took that as the cue to begin the race and so did everybody else. Everyone moved to the sidelines, and she ran over to T-Man.

  “Hey,” he greeted her. “Rebekah’s starting the race tonight, ok? She’s a girl racer and all so yeah.”

  Kaitlyn nodded and stepped back as she watched Bekah’s movements. She scowled when she realised how Bekah was dressed. Tonight, instead of her usual ripped skinny’s and a tank, she had on black leather short shorts that only just covered her ass, and a shiny red corset. Bekah was way hotter than herself, and she didn’t like it. No wonder she’d managed to capture Marcus’ – and every other guys – attention.

  She heard the racers switch their engines on, and felt the vibrations of their powerful V8 engines. The boys revved their engines and the sound made her feel alive. The thundering of the engines made her feel powerful and sexy. It was weird, but the sound turned her on.

  She saw Bekah shake out her long, loose curls and stretch her arms up. She was using the exact same technique that Kaitlyn used, to put the guys off.

  “Bitch,” she muttered under her breath.

  She watched Marcus eyeing Bekah up, and secretly grinned. She was unknowingly putting her own boyfriend off. At least she never put Carter off.

  Next to her, T-Man sighed.

  “What?” Kaitlyn asked him, still watching Bekah.

  T-Man was frowning. “I wish she’d hurry up and start the race,” he complained. “She’s drawing this out way too long.”

  Kaitlyn looked up at him. “But she’s doing exactly what I do.”

  T-Man shook his head. “No, she’s looking like a ho. You never do. People actually enjoy watching you, Katie.”

  She gave a small laugh and smirked. “Nice to know I’m better than her at something.”

  T-Man shook his head. “Katie, I bet that if you were a girl racer, you’d be so much better.”

  “Yeah, I’d have Carter teaching me,” she said, laughing at Bekah’s stupid antics.

  T-Man laughed. “Na, you’d have more guts than her, and be safer. Bekah takes too many risks.”

  “Whatever,” she said. “Why hasn’t the race started yet?”

  She spoke too soon. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Bekah lowered her arms. Carter and another newbie drove off, leaving a gawking Marcus at the start line. He hurriedly shifted into first gear, but it was too late. Carter was out front, and the newbie wasn’t far behind him.

  Admittedly, Kaitlyn was jealous when she saw Marcus and Bekah, but now she couldn’t be happier that Carter was her man, and not the loser trailing at the back.

  Chapter 7

  Kaitlyn was not expecting to see what she saw. After school, she was expecting Carter to be waiting in his car, as usual. Instead, he was leaning against a grape coloured car.

  “Hey,” she said walking up to him. “Who’s car?”

  He grinned and threw some keys at her.

  “Yours,” he said, grinning. “Like it?”

  She felt her jaw drop. Carter had just asked the dumbest question in the world. The car, which she quickly learnt was a three-door, hatchback Impreza, had a spoiler at the back, which she’d always wanted, and a full body kit.

  “I love it!” she cried, running her hand over the shiny purple paintwork.

  Carter laughed. “I knew you would. So, you driving home?”

  She looked up at him, her mouth agape. “You’re kidding!” she cried. “I get to drive it?”

  He laughed again. “Of course. The car’s yours. Just try not to crash it, ok?”

  She grinned and flung her arms around his neck. “I love you!” she cried happily.

  He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Wanna take it for a spin?”

  She grinned and shooed him out of the way, eagerly getting into the driver’s seat.

  “Now, please be careful,” Carter said, climbing into the passenger seat. “You can’t die just yet.”

  She rolled her eyes. “When can I start racing?”

  He laughed. “Not yet, Katie. You need to be taught how to drive safely, first.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Carter, seriously? Street racing isn’t safe, so why would I need to do that?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Remember what happened when you were in the car with Bekah?”

  She nodded and sighed. A sharp pang went through her chest when Carter mentioned Bekah. Truthfully, she was a little bit scared of Bekah, because of her dangerous driving. But she was also jealous, because Bekah had stolen Marcus’ attention away from her.

  “Anyway,” Carter was saying. “She would never have gotten into that situation, if she’d learned how to drive safely.”

  “I guess,” she said, stroking the steering wheel. It really was the most gorgeous car she’d ever seen. “But street racing isn’t safe, so I still don’t get it.”

  Carter sighed. “Ok, street racing isn’t safe, but that’s only because of the idiots who don’t learn how to drive properly. If people did, then it would be so much safer.”

  She looked at Carter. “So, are you going to teach me to drive?”

  He grinned. “Maybe, but not tonight. We have a race to get to. I need to win another fifty grand.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to,” she said. “You just want to.”

  He grinned at her. “Damn straight. Now, are you going to start the car or are we just going to sit here all day?”

  She laughed and stuck the key in the ignition, loving the roar as the motor started.

  “Is it a turbo?” she asked.

  Carter nodded. “And it’s got the capacity for nitro. But I’m not putting any in until I know that you can drive safely.”

  She pouted. “Carter! Please?”

  He shook his head and looked down, ignoring those big eyes that she always flashed at him when she wanted something.

  “Why not?”

  This was more like it. She sounded a little bit pissed, a
nd pissed he could deal with. “Katie, you don’t even know what nitro does.”

  “It makes the car go faster,” she replied. “Duh.”

  He groaned. “True, but until you understand everything about this car, and what nitro can do, no nitro.”

  She groaned and clicked her seatbelt in. “You are so old,” she teased him.

  Carter smirked, amused. “Thanks.”

  She sighed and drove them back to his flat, going ten kilometres under the speed limit, just to please him.

  “Happy now?” she snapped at him. She just couldn’t understand why Carter wouldn’t let her use nitro.

  He rolled his eyes. “Katie, there’s no need for your dramatics.”

  She jumped out of the car and walked inside, slamming the door behind her.

  “Katie!”

  Carter was alone that night. He’d left Katie at home while he went out and raced; it was a welcome break.

  Not that he didn’t love Kaitlyn, but he was sick of the game playing. Lately it seemed like everything had strings attached, something he wasn’t comfortable with. He was beginning to think asking Kaitlyn to marry him was the wrong thing to do. They were only teenagers after all. He was well on his way to realising that Kaitlyn was too young to make her own decisions, and that so was he.

  “Penny for your thoughts?”

  Carter looked to his left to see his cousin settling herself on the hood of his car.

  “What are you doing here Bex?” he asked broodingly.

  She folded her arms across her chest and eyed him suspiciously. “I thought you’d be at the races still. I thought you loved the atmosphere. That’s always what you told me.”

  Carter lit up his roll-your-own, brought it to his lips and inhaled.

  “Since when did you start smoking?”

  He shrugged. “Since I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

  Bekah sighed. She looked out at the marshlands below the Overlook, where she and Carter used to play as kids. It was the only place where they had truly been happy, before their lives went to pieces.

  It was also the last place where Carter saw his parents alive.

  “Oh yeah?” she asked. “What was that?”

  Carter exhaled the smoke. “I asked Kaitlyn to marry me.”

  Bekah’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious?”

  Carter nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Holy crackers, Carter, I never thought I’d see the day when someone made an honest man outta you.”

  That earned her a small half-smile. “Yeah, me either. But I don’t think she will. As much as I love Katie, I get the feeling that she’s too immature to make that decision. I shouldn’t have asked her.”

  Bekah hugged her cousin. “What would your parents think?”

  Carter frowned. There was no way he could fool Bekah. She knew the real reason behind him coming. The truth was that Carter missed his parents intensely. He’d been fourteen when they died, and he’d gone into such a deep depression that he’d screwed up his life even more. He played the field, screwing anything with legs, and took up street racing. He’d ended up in hospital quite a few times before he met T-Man, his best mate, and the one who taught him how important it was to do a defensive driving course.

  “They’d probably think I was growing up,” he said after a pause. “I know my mum would be happy.”

  Bekah smiled. “She would. Katie’s been the girl to tame you. She’d love any girl who could make you settle down.”

  Carter gave a kind of half-smirk. “She hasn’t tamed me though, not really. I mean, I love her and all, but I still want other girls.”

  Bekah rolled her eyes. “Of course you do, you’re a teenage guy.”

  There was a pregnant pause, while Bekah eyed her cousin admiringly.

  “What?” he asked, feeling her eyes on him.

  “You’re growing up. I always worried that you’d never be happy again, but maybe Kaitlyn can help you regain some control of your life. Maybe she can make you into the sweet guy you used to be.”

  He chuckled and took another deep drag on his cigarette. “I doubt it.”

  Bekah was stumped. In the past few minutes she had glimpsed a view of her old cousin, the old version from when they were kids. She could picture him playing on the old swing set that used to be at the Overlook, and sliding down the slide with her as a toddler.

  Only the arrogant Carter that was often showing through was pissing her off.

  “What went wrong, Carter?” she asked him. “Why are you so down on yourself?”

  Carter barked a harsh, bitter laugh. “That’s a dumb question, isn’t it?”

  Bekah just eyed him sadly.

  “My parents died, Bex, right when I needed them the most. And what’s worse, I hated them the day of. My dad was supposed to come and watch me play soccer, but he decided that he and mum would rather go out for brunch than see me play. They sent me off with the coach and his son.”

  Bekah felt like she wasn’t getting it all. It was one soccer game, and his parents had been to countless others. What was so special about this one?

  “It was the first time I ever won Player of the Day. I got a trophy, a certificate and a free lunch. And they didn’t even care.”

  “I’m sure they did, Carter. Maybe they were just busy?”

  He snorted. “Yeah, right, busy. If they were busy, why had nothing in the house changed? Why was everything as it was when I left? The only difference was that they weren’t there.”

  Bekah sighed internally. “Did you ever find out why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why they’d gone out for brunch?”

  He shrugged. “Nope. But I really don’t care. They left me, and now I just have to deal with it.”

  “So, what does this have to do with not wanting to marry Kaitlyn?”

  “Everyone I get close to leaves, Bex. My parents left, you left, my friends, my grandparents…everyone. They all leave. I don’t want Katie to leave, but if we get married, something bad is going to happen, I know it.”

  “Where’ve you been?!” Kaitlyn was angry with him. She was furious. Standing there in the lounge in her stripy grey pyjama pants with her baby pink tank top and flushed cheeks, she was tempting Carter more than usual.

  He saw her mouth move and heard the anger in her voice, but he couldn’t bring himself to distinguish the words.

  He stared at her, muted by her beauty. He noticed the little crinkle between her eyebrows that she always got when she was angry or upset; he found it sexy.

  He noticed how cold it was, and how her tank top was very revealing. Her creamy, soft skin had goosebumps scattered along it where her bare skin touched the frosty air.

  Her auburn hair had never looked more attractive.

  Without consciously realising what he was doing, he roughly grabbed Kaitlyn’s hips and pulled her to him, gently squeezing. He moved one hand from her waist to her lower back, and the other one to the back of her neck. He dipped his head and pressed his lips gently to hers.

  Fireworks exploded.

  In the pit of her stomach, Kaitlyn felt butterflies erupt. Not only were there butterflies though, there was also an intense heat spreading throughout her body. The heat seemed to be radiating from her lower abdomen.

  Their breathing sped up as the heat from Kaitlyn passed between them. Carter tightened his hold on her while she gripped his shoulders as if she was holding on for dear life.

  She gave a little moan in the back of her throat, and Carter responded with a groan. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, unconsciously grinding herself against him.

  It was her turn to let out a groan as Carter’s tongue massaged hers. She felt like she’d died and gone to heaven.

  She didn’t really notice when Carter had started walking towards their bed until her broke the kiss and abruptly threw her down on top of it.

  She panted heavily, eyeing Carter lustfully. He was turning her on, and by the looks of it, she
was turning him on too.

  Carter watched as her eyes travelled down to the front of his jeans, where his excitement was clearly visible. When her eyes met his again he raised his eyebrows and watched in amusement as she flushed with embarrassment.

  “Like what you see?” he asked huskily. All Kaitlyn could do was nod.

  He gave her a slow smile that flamed her cheeks even more. He roughly pushed her up the bed and climbed on top of her, watching as she subconsciously lifted her hips to meet his. She groaned when her ‘downstairs’ came into contact with his.

  He lowered his head and once again their lips connected, allowing another pool of desire to blossom in the pit of Kaitlyn’s stomach.

  His lips moved from her lips and along her jawline, down her neck and across her shoulders.

  “C-Carter,” she moaned breathlessly.

  He briefly sat up and ripped off his shirt, giving her a perfect view of his toned abs. Kaitlyn made to trace the lines of his six-pack with the tips of her fingers but she was too slow. Carter grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms above her head. This left her at his mercy and he rubbed himself against her, earning him a groan in return. He grunted as he thrust against her and she ground her hips on him in return.

  His hands left her wrists and trailed down her body, over her tank top and back up under it. He trailed his fingers lightly over her burning skin and kissed her with all the passion and love that he had.

  As the night got more heated, both Kaitlyn and Carter lost themselves in the passion and desire that they had for one another. Each touch brought forth a burning sensation. Each kiss brought forth their love for one another. As the teenagers they were, they gave themselves over to their hormones, their minds shutting down as the spark between their bodies turned from a dormant ember into a full blown explosion. With grunts, moans and lots and lots of sweat, all the confusing feelings that they had been harbouring these past few weeks had gone, washed away or sweated out.

  Finally, after five rounds in which they’d both run dry, they fell asleep, each curled up in the others embrace, both content with the way their lives were headed.