Rebel With A Cause

by Ashleigh Neame

  She looked sexy, but on the inside, she was hurting. Carter had dumped her, her parents had split, and she had no one. T-Man didn’t count, because he was Carter’s friend, first and foremost. He had to be, because Carter was a racer, and he was one of the best.

  As she got out of the car – she refused to think of it as her car – she noticed that news of her split from Carter had spread quickly. Many new racers, up and coming racers, and even some of the older racers were eying her up. She was glad that she’d dressed up for this.

  Her eyes scanned the crowd for the one guy she didn’t want to see. She subtly searched for Carter, and found herself disappointed when she didn’t find him. Her disappointment was short-lived however, when his car pulled up and he stepped out. He looked just like he always did, and her heart did a little flip. She wanted to run up to him and wrap her arms around him, never to let go.

  She couldn’t, however, and she looked away.

  She walked over to T-Man, who was collecting the bets for tonight’s race.

  “What’s the stakes?” she asked, purposefully avoiding Carter, who was standing with T-Man.

  T-Man looked at her and smiled. “Fifty thou. It’s a little more than usual, but this race is longer than usual.”

  She nodded. “Cool. Want me to start?”

  It was T-Man’s turn to nod. “Sure. We’ll start in half an hour. Feel free to mingle, or whatever it is you girls do.”

  Kaitlyn cracked a half-smile, although she felt like she was dying inside. She turned around and walked away, not knowing where exactly she was going, but wanting to get as far away from Carter as possible. She meandered up K’Road, looking in shop windows at the unique sights of the op-shops, wishing that it was daytime and that she could go shopping.

  She turned around and begun to walk back to the start line with her head down low and drooping shoulders. She stopped when she heard hurried footsteps approaching her. Familiar high-top sneakers came into view and she closed her eyes.

  “Katie,” Carter said worriedly. “How are you?”

  She lifted his head and looked him dead in the eye. “I’m just fine.”

  His expression softened. “Katie, you don’t have to lie to me. I still want to be your friend.” It was true. Carter loved Katie, but although he wasn’t good enough for her, he still cared. He wanted to make sure that she was ok.

  Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You’re an arrogant jerk. You do what you want, when you want. I’m so over your bullshit. You cheated, you lied, and you bet me like a toy…I’m so over you, Carter. Just leave me alone.”

  She made to push past him and head back to T-Man. Carter grabbed her arm as she passed and pulled her into a hug. She pushed him away.

  “Leave me alone, Carter! I am so sick of you! Just piss off, leave me alone!” she cried. She jogged away before he could grab a hold of her again.

  Deciding to give Carter a show, Kaitlyn walked purposefully up to Deangelo, the third hottest street racer, who was standing near his car. When she reached him, she pushed him until his back was against his car and hooked her index fingers into the belt loops of his jeans. She pressed her face close to his, until their lips were almost touching, and eyed them as if she was hungry for his kiss.

  “So, Deangelo,” she purred seductively, “are you going to win for me tonight?” She looked up at him with her big hazel eyes, the picture of innocence.

  She saw him swallow nervously. He was nervous at the proximity of their bodies – she was pressed right up against him, her legs on either side of his, pinning him to the car.

  Luckily for him, he quickly recovered. “Yeah, sure,” he smirked.

  She gave him a small smile and leaned in further, almost brushing his lips with her own. He bent his head forward, but at the last second, Kaitlyn pulled away. He looked up, disappointed. She gave him a sexy, teasing grin.

  “Now, you know I don’t come cheap,” she husked. “You’ll have to win tonight, if you really want me.”

  His eyes darkened as he lusted for her. “I’ll win,” he promised, “and then you’re mine.”

  She smiled at him. “We’ll see.”

  With that, she walked away and over to T-Man, her heels clicking and hips swaying. She was putting on a show. News of her break-up with Carter had spread like wildfire, as she was the hottest girl in the circuit. The act was her way of showing that she was available, and that she didn’t care.

  As she reached T-Man, she saw him grinning.

  “Man,” he said, amused. “I’ve never seen you like this before. Look what you did to Carter!”

  She laughed. “Don’t know, don’t care. He’s not worth my time.”

  T-Man looked at her. “Are you sure? He looks like he wants to crush De.”

  Indeed, he did, for when Kaitlyn snuck a glance at him, Carter was scowling. If looks could kill, Deangelo would be dead. That puzzled Kaitlyn. Why should Carter care? He was scum, and scum didn’t care about anything.

  She sighed. “He’s pathetic. Anyway, is it time yet?”

  T-Man nodded at Kaitlyn. “Yeah, go and do your thing Katie.”

  She grinned and danced over to the starting line, secretly proud of herself. So far, she’d been doing an ok job at concealing the hurt.

  She stood in her usual position, and the racers got into their cars. She lifted her arms and they started their engines.

  “Ready!” she yelled.

  The boys revved their engines.

  “Set!”

  They activated their special effects. Carter’s car blew steam; Deangelo turned his pulsating strobe lights on; Marcus’s car spurted flames from the modified exhaust.

  “Go!” she yelled, bringing her arms down in one fluid motion.

  The boys revved their cars and shifted from first gear into third, almost immediately shifting into fifth after that. After the boys rounded the corner, they’d be straight into sixth. On the home stretch, they’d be using their nitro.

  She wandered back over to T-Man, who was leaning against her – Carter’s, she reminded herself – car. She jumped on top of the bonnet and lay back, closing her eyes.

  “Going to sleep already?”

  Her eyes flew open and she looked straight at Bekah, who was leaning over her like a stalker. Bekah laughed.

  She pulled Kaitlyn into a sitting position and sat down next to her.

  “So I see Carter bought you a car,” she said casually. “Nice.”

  Kaitlyn shrugged. “I guess.”

  Bekah eyed her suspiciously. “Is everything ok with you two? I noticed you messing with De earlier. What’s up?”

  Kaitlyn sighed. Obviously Carter had failed to tell his cousin what exactly it was that he’d done.

  “Carter broke up with me,” she said bitterly. “He wrote me a note and dumped me like I was trash.”

  Bekah sighed. “That sucks, Katie.”

  She shrugged.

  “Do you know why he did it?”

  Kaitlyn shook her head. “No, and I really don’t care. Being dumped isn’t the be all and end all of my life.”

  Bekah was sceptical. “Sure it isn’t. But look, for what it’s worth, I don’t think Carter’s too happy about your break up either.”

  Kaitlyn snorted. “Yeah, right, that’s why he dumped me.”

  Bekah looked at Kaitlyn like she knew something that Kaitlyn didn’t.

  Kaitlyn saw the look. “What?” she snapped. “You know something, don’t you?”

  Bekah faked a look of innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Kaitlyn scowled. “You do! You do know something. So come on, spill. What’s going on? Why’d he dump me?”

  Bekah sighed. “Look, Katie, ask him. He’s the one who dumped you, so he needs to explain it. It’s not my place to tell.”

  Kaitlyn groaned in frustration. She slumped back onto the car. “Yeah, right, like he’d ever tell me. He never tells me anything. He proposes and then dumps me. I know what he thinks of me.�
��

  Bekah scowled. “It’s not what you think, Kaitlyn.”

  Kaitlyn got up and walked away. She’d had enough of Carter and Rebekah. The whole drama with them and her parents split had taken its toll on her. She felt physically drained.

  Everyone was breaking up these days, is what it seemed like. Her parents, once such a strong team, were now breaking up. They no longer loved each other.

  Carter no longer loved her.

  She was depressed. Not clinically depressed, but with all the drama in her life, she was feeling really down. She wandered off, not caring where she was going. She just wanted an escape, just for one night.

  Now, she was beginning to understand how Carter felt.

  The loud roar of the racers cars soon came into earshot. She looked up and saw Carter and Deangelo in the lead. It was close – Deangelo kept taking over Carter, then Carter would push ahead and take over Deangelo.

  Despite Kaitlyn’s earlier teasing, she didn’t really want De to win. She wanted Carter to win, same as always. It was hard to let go of the love she still had for him.

  She stood on the sidewalk, waiting with baited breath for one of them to cross the finishing line.

  Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Carter crossed the finish line before Deangelo, winning by an inch. She felt like jumping up and down, screaming in ecstasy, but wouldn’t even allow herself a grin.

  When the boys climbed out of their cars, both looked over at Kaitlyn. Carter had hope written all over his face, clear as day, but Deangelo looked furious.

  De turned around and kicked his car, slamming his fists on the roof. He was furious, thinking that he’d lost his chance with Kaitlyn.

  He hadn’t. Kaitlyn glared at Carter, masking her joy that he’d won. She jogged over to Deangelo and pushed him flat against his car, grabbing him by the neck and bringing his lips down to meet hers.

  De was stunned for a moment, before eagerly moving his lips against her, kissing her back with such fervour that it caught her off guard. She gasped, and his tongue delved into her mouth, teasing her.

  As his hands roamed her body, she realised that he was taking it too far. They were in public, and what they were doing was just too much. She wasn’t loose; she had standards.

  “De, stop,” she murmured. “Not here. Why don’t we go back to your place?”

  He pulled away. “Why not? Carter’s over there shooting daggers at me for kissing his girl, so maybe we should take this somewhere else.”

  He let go of her and climbed into the driver’s seat. She walked around the front of his car to go to the passenger side, but Carter was waiting for her, holding the door shut.

  “Don’t do this, Katie,” he pleaded. “Don’t go with him.”

  She scowled. “Butt out, dickhead, I don’t need your opinion.”

  “Katie,” he begged. “Don’t go. Come home with me.”

  She slapped him. Neither of them saw it coming. His head snapped to the side and he touched his cheek disbelievingly. Carter had never thought that Kaitlyn would hit him, no matter how angry she got. She would always just get even.

  This was a new side to her.

  Kaitlyn stared at her hand in shock for a brief moment, before returning to scowling.

  “You deserved it,” she snapped irritably. “Butt out.”

  Carter wanted to cry. He wanted to wrap Katie in his arms and never let go. Even though they had a strange relationship, deep down, he knew she was The One. He wanted to apologise, and take his time doing it.

  Seeing the hatred in her eyes, he stepped away, allowing her room to get in the car. That didn’t stop him from pleading with her one last time, though.

  “Baby, please, don’t go with De. You don’t know him like I do. He’s just going to use you, and he’ll hurt you during the process. Don’t leave, not with him. Please.”

  Kaitlyn felt sick. Carter was a good guy, and he let others do what they want. He wouldn’t warn people off someone without good reason.

  “Is there something I don’t know?” she asked quietly.

  Carter was about to reply, when there was a knocking on the window. Deangelo had got sick of waiting.

  “You coming or not?” he demanded.

  With one last look at Carter, she turned around and opened the car door. She got in his car and they roared off, leaving their world behind them. Everything felt so surreal, and Kaitlyn knew that she would heed Carter’s warning. She would be on her guard, ready for anything.

  Chapter 10

  Carter was worried about Kaitlyn. He and Deangelo went way back, and he knew things about De that no one else knew. De was dangerous, and Kaitlyn was only going to get hurt.

  Not many people knew about Estella Carboni. It was only by chance that Carter even knew about her.

  Estella was De’s daughter, and she died when she was only few months old. De got into a temper, and while his then girlfriend, Alana, was holding Estella, he attacked her. He’d lunged at her, attempting to beat and strangle her.

  Estella died. Alana ended up in hospital, in critical condition. She didn’t last long before dying from her injuries.

  The post mortem determined that Estella died from head injuries, due to being dropped.

  De had fled from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand. Here, he was hiding.

  But De’s past was not what Carter was worried about. He was worried about Kaitlyn. She was angry and hurting, more than he thought she would.

  And now she was going overboard. Hooking up with De was a mistake, and Carter wished he’d been able to stop her.

  He didn’t want her to get hurt.

  Meanwhile, Kaitlyn was pinned underneath Deangelo, as his sweaty hands roamed her body. He was pushing her tops up with one hand, and attempting to pull down her leather pants with the other.

  “De, no,” she murmured. “Stop it.”

  He stopped kissing her neck for a moment. “But I thought you wanted this, Katie,” he whispered in mock sadness.

  She squirmed. “Not like this, De.”

  He pouted. “Come on, Katie, aren’t you having fun?”

  She tried to sit up. “No De, not anymore.”

  He frowned, and his face darkened in anger. “Too bad, Katie baby. You wanted to play, and we’re doing it my way.”

  She suddenly felt scared. No, scared was an understatement; she was terrified. She tried to struggle, even attempted to scream, but Deangelo slammed a hand over her mouth and used his other forearm to cut off her airway.

  “Can’t breathe,” she choked. De growled.

  “Shut it. If you scream, it’ll be that much worse for you.”

  Kaitlyn believed him. She wished she’d never gotten in the car with him. She wished that she’d listened to Carter, and stayed away. It was only her need to feel wanted that drove her to De.

  Now, she was feeling worse than before. She just wanted Carter.

  She wanted her mum.

  She wanted her dad.

  As she cried silently, Deangelo did his thing. She pretended it was happening to someone else. She didn’t want to remember any of this in the morning.

  When it was over, De rolled over and went to sleep. She silently got up from the bed, picked up her clothes, dressed and then left the room. She tiptoed out of the house and pulled out her phone. No signal.

  She bit her lip, willing herself not to cry. She walked to the end of the cul-de-sac and gripped her phone tightly in her hand. She checked again, but still no service.

  She couldn’t phone her dad, which was obvious; she didn’t have a signal.

  But she did recognise the area she was in. She was in Manurewa East, not far from Carter’s place. She could easily walk there.

  So she did.

  It was chilly, as it often was at two in the morning. It was dark, and definitely not a starry night. It was cloudy and oppressive, just like the feeling in her chest.

  Her tears warmed her cheeks but blurred her vision, and she felt like she was being f
ollowed. She couldn’t tell if she really was, or if it was just a feeling. Either way, she hurried her steps, realising that as she did, the noise of her feet hitting the ground increased. This didn’t worry her; she was too scared to slow down.

  In five minutes, she had managed to reach Carter’s house, and she frantically pounded on the door. Her heart was hammering, tears were streaming down her face, her eyes were burning from the cold, and her breath was caught in her throat.

  “Carter!” she screamed. “Carter, please!”

  She was banging hard on the door, hoping like hell that he was home and praying that no one had followed her.

  Luckily, the door flew open underneath her fist, and strong arms pulled her inside the house.

  She heard the door slam shut behind her, and the lock clicking into place.

  Carter’s arms wrapped protectively around her and he pulled her to his chest. Instead of talking to her, asking the dumb questions, he picked her up and carried her to his bedroom. He then deposited her on his bed and lay down with her. She was still wrapped in his arms, and he let her cry.

  Eventually, Kaitlyn fell asleep in Carter’s arms, and he gently removed himself from her vice-like grip. He was furious. No, furious was too soft a word. His blood was boiling. He knew exactly who had hurt Kaitlyn, and how. The rips in Kaitlyn’s clothing said it all. De had forced himself on Katie.

  Carter went over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. In there was a change of clothes for Katie. He’d taken some clothes out of the wardrobe before he’d dumped her, keeping them because they were what he loved to see her in the most. No, the clothes weren’t her usual style of sexy and slutty, but they were the things she was most comfortable in, and when she was comfortable, she was happiest.

  As was he.

  He went into the bathroom and hung the clothes over the heated towel rail. He also added one of his new towels that he’d bought a couple of days ago.

  It was light now, around nine in the morning. He debated whether to wake Kaitlyn up now, and decided to do it. Yes, she needed to sleep, but she also needed to wake up and have a shower, to scrub off the dirty remnants of Deangelo’s hands.

  He crawled onto the bed next to her and brushed her hair away from her face.