Rebel With A Cause

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Ashleigh
Neame

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This
book is licensed for your
personal enjoyment only. This
book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

PG-13
 
- Includes mature
content
. There
will
be mature themes that could be inappropriate for younger readers. Characters use more mature language and swear.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Copyright
© Ashleigh Neame 2012

Ashleigh Neame asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This book uses New Zealand spelling, and differs from American spelling.

Regan came home with a
pounding
headache. After fourteen years of working at Dylan's Garage in South Auckland, he'd finally been promoted to manager.

About time
, he thought
wearily
. He’d been working long hours as a mechanic, and he’d spent many nights alone in the dining room, learning the ins and outs of the business.

Normally, the promotion
would have been good news. He'd been struggling to cope with the fact that
his wife,
Layla
,
was now a successful events co-ordinator, and the fact that she earned three times the amount of money he earned a year. It made him feel inadequate.

But now,
thanks to his promotion,
he was earning half of what she earned. It was a huge step up, especially for him.
He had no college education because Layla had fallen pregnant with their daughter Kaitlyn at a young age, and he’d worked his ass off at various jobs so they could have enough money to raise their baby.
Today, h
e was starting to feel more like a man, and he was enjoying what he was doing.

Unfortunately, after going through the books the entire afternoon with the broker, Regan could see he was not cut out for
the business side of the garage
. He had no idea about accounting or balancing books, but even he could tell that something wasn't right. Only, he had no idea what to do about it.

Tiredly
,
he pulled into the
internal access
garage and switched his new silver sedan off. He hated the colour silver, but he
was planning
to do it up and paint it a unique colour that no one else had. It was easier
to repaint
a car
if it
s original colour
was silver
.

Sluggishly, he got out of his car and looked around at his garage. Just like the rest of the house, the garage was huge, and paid for by Layla.

Angrily, he huffed out a breath and slammed his car doo
r
shut
. He walked into the second lounge - their house had three - and dumped his car keys into the bowl on small end table. He groaned and rubbed his face and planned on walking into the kitchen to get a headache pill.

That was, until he saw the two teenagers entangled in an embrace on the long sofa.

“
What the hell is going on here?
”
he yelled angrily. The guy on top climbed off and backed away, hurriedly putting his t-shirt on. The girl on the bottom screamed and tried to cover herself up with the throw
from
the back of the sofa.

His daughter was topless, and
only moments ago,
so was the guy on top of her.
Regan saw red.
He strode over to the guy and grabbed him by the collar.

“
What the fuck were you doing to my daughter?
”
he screamed.
“
What the hell was going on?
”

“
Dad!
”
Kaitlyn screamed.
“
For god's sake!
Leave him alone!
”

Regan shoved the guy up against the wall and slammed his head into it.
It left a sizeable dent, and Regan was oddly satisfied.

“
Leave him alone?
”
he screeched.
“
I come
home from work
to
see my
seventeen
year old daughter with this man on top of her?!
”

“
Dad, chill out!
He's my boyfriend!
”

Regan let go of the guy and turned around. He didn't believe it. His teenage daughter thought she was dating this pervert.

“
Kaitlyn, he's too old for you!
”
he said angrily.
“
He's got to be at least twenty!
”

Regan turned around to give the guy a death glare and saw him smirking. He looked down in contempt and scowled at the guy's ripped jeans and baggy t-shirt.

“
He's a loser. What the hell made you choose him?
”

“
I'm great in the sack,
”
the guy smirked.
“
That's why.
”

Regan growled and punched the guy.

“
Dad!
”
Kaitlyn screamed.
“
Leave him alone! God, can't you just be cool for once in your life?
”

“
Cool?
”
he screamed, punching the guy again.
“
Cool? Kaitlyn, what's cool now isn't cool in the future, trust me on that one. And
trust me to know what kind of
idiot
he is. He's just using you!
”

Layla arrived home
seconds later,
and saw
Regan punching
the lights out of a strange
guy, and her daughter in tears.

“
Regan!
”
she yelled.
“
What are you doing?
”

Regan stopped punching the guy and stood up.

“
This scum was taking advantage of our daughter,
”
he said coldly.
“
I came home to find them both topless on the sofa.
”

Layla looked at her daughter.

“
Really?
”
she said angrily.
“
God, Katie, I thought you had standards.
”

Kaitlyn was scowling at her parents.

“
Go to your room, Kaitlyn,
”
Layla said
exasperatedly
.
“
Just go. We'll talk about this later. Regan, throw him out.
”

He didn't need to be told twice. Gruffly, Regan picked up Kaitlyn's
so
-
called boyfriend and dumped him in the back yard. He went and got the hose and turned it on, drenching the guy.

“
What the fuck?
”
the guy screamed.
“
What the hell is going on?
”

Regan scowled.
“
What's your name, dipshit?
”

The guy scowled right back.
“
Dude!
You fucking wet me! What the fuck?
”

Regan sprayed him again.

“
I asked you
a question
,
”
he said sternly
.
“
And I expect an answer. Don’t make me repeat myself. I don’t like it when I have to repeat myself.”

“
Name's Carter,
”
the boy
said.

“And how old are you, Carter?”

“
I'm eighteen.
”

Regan sighed and sprayed the guy again, just for the hell of it. Then he went and turned the water off, leaving a sopping wet Carter on his lawn.

“
Ok, Carter,
”
he said when he got back.
“
Here's how it's gonna be. You're going to go back to where you came from, and never see my daughter again. If you come near my house again, I will call the police and have you arrested. I think I can fake a crime easily enough.
Break and enter, maybe a bit of vandalism. I’m sure you don’t want that.” He eyed the boy pitifully.
“
So now you have to get out of here, and never come back. You hear me?
”

Carter scrambled away from Regan angrily.

“
Dude, chill out.
You can't stop me from seeing my girl.
”

“
Yeah baby! You tell him!
”
Kaitlyn yelled from her bedroom window.

R
egan clenched his fists angrily. He was
tired of being the man who couldn't get anything done. He forcibly removed Carter from his property and strode back inside, slamming the door behind him.

He ran up to Kaitlyn's room and pushed open the door with a bang. He was sick of being under
mined, and she was going to pay.

Kaitlyn applied more pressure to the frozen peas on Carter’s face and rolled her eyes when he winced.
She’d gone over to his place the next day to see how he was doing. He claimed his was in tons of pain, and yet he’d done nothing about the bruising.

“
God, chill out,
”
she muttered.
“
It’s only a punch.
”

Carter growled.
“
My head hurts like someone’s driven a jackhammer through it, and my jaw is bruised. I look like some kinda little punk kid,
”
he spat angrily.
“
If he wasn’t your dad, he’d be dead.
And these peas are cold.
”

Kaitlyn sighed and kissed him full on the mouth, anything to shut him up.
He was being overdramatic, whining like a baby. What man couldn’t deal with the cold?

“
Ooh, I like that,
”
Carter
said quietly,
in reference to the kiss. He gripped
her by the waist and pull
ed
her close to him.
“
Gimme some more.
”

She pushed him away and rolled her eyes, taking the peas back to the freezer.

“
Babe, what’s wrong?
”
he asked, lean
ing back on the kitchen counter so she’d have the perfect view of his hot body.

“
Nothing,” Kaitlyn replied.
“
Are we going to the race
s
tonight?
”

Carter smirked.
“
Which one?
”

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. Carter was a big
name
in the
street
racer world, and he was often
requested
to
race
in a different race every night.

“
The one with the most money up for grabs?
”
she asked
casually
. She had seen a new pair of high tops at the mall the other day, and she really needed some cash to buy them.

Carter laughed.
“
I'm sure I can raise the stakes at whatever race I'm at.
”

Kaitlyn leaned on the fridge and Carter jumped off the
counter
,
going over to pin
her there
so
he
could
hungrily press his lips to hers.

When the kiss was over, he
leaned
his forehead
against
hers and looked her dead in the eye.

“
What is it you want this time?
”
he asked. She smirked. He knew her too well.

“
Some new shoes,
”
she said.
“
I have a weakness for pretty shoes.
”

Carter laughed.
“
Damn
girl, how many pairs of shoes have I bought you now?
”

Kaitlyn shrugged.
“
A few.
”

In actual fact, Carter had paid for most of her shoes, and most of her
clothes. He’d pretty much paid for her entire
wardrobe.
W
hat he didn’t spend on her
went on his car.

“
So, where are we going tonight?
”
she asked again.

Carter sighed and moved away.
“
We’re going to the Otara races.
I heard t
hat stupid foreign kid, Marcus, is going to be at the Mangere races. There’s no way I'm racing
 
him
 
again.
”