Unspoken

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve – Atlanta

She woke up the next morning and felt completely safe and content for probably one of the few times in her life. The only place she could feel like this, was at home – in Indiana – with her family and friends all around her.

That was until she opened her eyes slightly, only to be greeted by an intense and blinding bright light. Groggily, she pulled the pillow out from under her head and plopped it down over her face, keeping the light out.

"Kase?" she mumbled, "Are you here?"

Receiving no answer, she turned towards the other side of the bed and pulled the pillow off of her head, looking for her boyfriend. In his place, she found a piece of paper.

Ki –

I had to head out to practice a little early to talk to Tommy and Paul and all the guys about the two cars. If you want me, you know where to find me. If I don't see you beforehand, meet me at the garage at 1. We'll go out to lunch and then head to the zoo. Hope you slept good, and see you soon.

Kasey

She collapsed back against the pillow and sighed, a bright smile on her face. There was just no way he could get any better. It was nearing ten now, and she had a couple of hours. She thought about going out and trying to find him, but just couldn't coax herself into getting out of the bed that smelled like him, and getting clothes on for the day.

Her thoughts were broken into, when the incredibly loud and annoying voice of her brother broke through the door. "Kiera!"

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Is that anyway to talk to your brother that you love so much?"

She growled, and narrowed her eyes, clutching the blankets to her chin. She had clothes on underneath, but Tony's face was not one she particularly liked to see so early in the morning. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing or something?"

"Nope, not for over another hour. Our car is near perfect right now."

Her eyes closed again, and she nodded. She was still tired, but it didn't matter. "Oh."

"Yeah, so come on, get up and dressed."

"I don't want to."

Tony pouted, "Kiera, come on... I'm your brother, and I don't get many chances to do stuff with you anymore. Come on, breakfast on me." He pointed to his face, "How can you say no to this face."

She smirked. "Very easily. See: no."

He turned his back to her, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not talking to you until you get up and get dressed and go out to breakfast with me."

"And I'm not talking to you until you stop acting like a two-year-old."

"I am NOT acting like a two-year-old, if anyone is, it's you."

"No, you."

"I don't think so, it's you."

"I'm not listening to you!"

"Kiera's a baby!"

"Tony's a jackass!"

He held his hand over his hand, and sighed, "That stung Kiera. Stung a lot. What would Mom say if she heard you saying this to me?"

"She'd probably laugh and agreed with me."

"I despise you sometimes."

"Good, then leave."

"No," he shook his head, "I'm going to stand right here and annoy you until you get your ass up and get dressed... even if it takes all day."

"Tough words Tone, tough words. And I won't be here all day. I've got a date with Kasey at one."

"Well, if you don't get your ass out of bed and go to breakfast with me, you're not going on that date, because I will stand in this room, blocking the doorway all day and all night."

"And what will Kasey have to say about that?" Kiera challenged, "What do you think he'd have to say finding you in his bedroom, let alone on his motor coach."

"Well, Little Miss Genius that calls herself my sister, for your information, Kasey AND Kale told me that I could find you here, and to just go right on in. So! So! What do you have to say to that?"

"I say... I'm getting up."

There was a twinkle in his eye, and he knew he had her. "That's what I thought. Now, get dressed and meet me outside in no more than ten minutes. I don't have all the time in the world before practice, and I want to go out somewhere and have a good breakfast."

She sighed, "Fine then. And if you want me to get done quicker, I'd suggest you get your ass out of here quicker."

He surrendered and walked out the door, closing it behind him, and she fell back on the bed, shaking her head. "Why did he have to be my brother?"

^*^*^

Tony had driven to a little diner just down the road from the track, and led Kiera inside. They would have gone somewhere bigger, but Tony really didn't want to be bothered by fans... he wanted to talk to Kiera.

The waitress had come, and taken their orders, and Kiera was pretty sure she had recognized Tony, because her eyes got wider, her skirt had gotten shorter and her smile and attitude perkier. Kiera almost wanted to laugh at the obvious attempts for this girl to flirt with her brother. And, being the typical guy that he was, he was oblivious to it all.

She left, and went to put their order in, and Kiera rolled her eyes.

"What are you rolling your eyes about?"

"The waitress," Kiera said casually.

"What about her?"

"Are you that oblivious? She brought out our menus, and then she came back to take our orders, and her skirt was shorter, and her smile and attitude perkier. She recognized you there NASCAR stud, and she wanted you to notice her."

"Oh shut up, she did not!"

"Did too! Wait until she comes back with our orders, you'll see then!"

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say Kiera. But... I didn't bring you out to breakfast to talk about the waitress who was wanting me to notice her..."

"Uh oh, this doesn't sound good. What, exactly did you bring me here to talk about?"

"Kasey..."

"Tony," she groaned, "He's my boyfriend. That's it. I don't ever take you out to breakfast when you have a girlfriend and ask you questions about her, or your relationship. So, why are you doing it to me?"

"Kiera, I'm just looking out for you is all! Won't you at least listen to what I have to say?"

"Why should I? I like Kasey, he likes me, we're happy when we're around each other, that's all that should matter."

"What about his intentions, Kiera? Did you ever think about that? Don't you think it's going a little fast; your relationship? I just... I don't think he's seeing the same thing in you as you are seeing in him. I mean, I can tell he's really special to you, but Kiera, he's a twenty four year old guy, and at that age, most guys just aren't looking for someone to love them, they're looking for someone to have fun with... they're looking for someone who won't expect too much from them or the relationship. I've been that age before Kiera, and not too long ago, and I know what I was thinking at that age. I just... I don't want you to get hurt."

"First of all, his intentions are perfect Tony. He's not looking for anything I'm not looking for right now. We enjoy our time with each other, and our relationship is our business."

"I'm your brother Kiera! Mom and Dad expect me to watch out for you and make sure you don't get hurt. You didn't come back to the motor coach last night! You stayed at Kasey's. And you didn't even call to tell me."

"I told you yesterday afternoon that I might not be back Tony, and what do you know?" she asked sarcastically, "I didn't come back."

"You could have at least called to say it again Kiera, I'm your older brother, and I care about you."

"If you care about me so much, butt out of my life! A relationship is between two people; not three." She grabbed her bag, and stood up.

"Kiera! Where are you going?"

"Back to the track! I'm not going to sit here and listen to you belittle a relationship and a person that are important to me."

"How are you going to get back Kiera? I drove here."

She glared at him as she started to walk out of the diner. "I'd rather walk back than be around you right now."

^*^*^

It took her nearly a half hour to get back to the track, but once she did, she immediately retreated back to Kasey's motor coach. She didn't want to be near Tony or anything that reminded her of him right then. He was her brother, and it might have been petty, but she was pissed off at him.

Only once she was in the comfort of the bed she had slept in the night before did she let the tears escape her eyes.

She knew she shouldn't let her brother's words get to her, and upset her, but she couldn't help it. He was basically putting Kasey down without him being there to defend himself, so she had to defend him.

Burying her head in the pillow on his side of the bed, she ignored her ringing cell phone, knowing it was probably Tony wanting to talk to her, and he was the last person she wanted to talk to right then.

Her phone kept ringing and ringing incessantly, and she ignored it each time, instead, burying her head deeper into the pillow each time the phone would ring. Soon enough, with tears still falling down her cheeks, she fell asleep.

^*^*^

After practice was over, Kasey stood at the garage waiting for Kiera to come, he figured they'd go out to lunch and then to the zoo like he had told her they would.

He glanced at his watch when he realized it was after one, closer to twenty after, and she was late. And if he had learned something about Kiera as of late, it was that she was NEVER late.

He walked around the garage a few times, just to make sure that he hadn't missed her somewhere, or she hadn't misunderstood what he meant, and when he assured himself that she wasn't anywhere around, he told Tommy and Kale that if she came, to make her stay there, and he'd be back, before he let himself wander down the row of garages, going to check Tony and Dale's.

No one was even in Dale's when he got there, so he knew she couldn't be anywhere around there. He looked across, and spotted Tony's bright orange #20 Home Depot car, and saw all the people moving around in the garage, and knew she was probably there visiting her brother and had just lost track of the time.

Walking towards the garage, he immediately saw Tony standing towards the front of the car, talking to his crew chief. He slowly walked in, smiling and waving at a few guys as he did, and stood back a few steps until Tony was done talking before he approached him.

"Hey Tony! Have you seen your sister anywhere? She was supposed to meet me at my garage like a half hour ago, and she's not there, and she's never late for anything. I figured she was probably here with you."

Tony ignored him, and walked further back into the garage, till he was in the back corner and away from his milling and curious pit crew. He leaned against one of the tool boxes that wasn't being used, and watched on as his crew got to work on fixing up the things that needed to be fixed for race day.

Kasey just figured that Tony hadn't heard him over all the loud noise, so he leaned up against the tool box next to Tony, and started speaking again. "Have you seen your –"

"I haven't seen her okay! Not since this morning. So obviously, she's not here."

"Fine, fine," Kasey held up his hands, "All you had to do was say that. Jeez..."

He walked back out of the garage as quickly as he had entered, wondering exactly what had crawled up Tony's ass, and still not knowing where his girlfriend was. Pulling his cell phone out, he dialed her number one more time, only to get the voice mail once again. His worry level sky-rocketed as he made it back to his garage again, and Tommy and Kale shook their heads. She hadn't showed up there yet, either.

With nowhere else to go, he figured she might be back at the motor coach, still sleeping, she had been pretty exhausted the night before.

It was his last hope... if she wasn't there, then he'd really start to get worried, because he honestly couldn't think of anywhere else she could have possibly been.

"Kiera? You here?"

He walked back towards the back bedroom, noticing the door was still closed. Frowning, he pushed it open, and immediately wished he would have come here looking for her first. He rushed to her side. "Ki, baby, what's wrong?"

Trails of tears had made their presence known on her cheeks, so even now if one or two hadn't slid down her cheeks, he would have known that she had been crying. It was obvious.

She looked like a deer caught in headlights as she frantically tried to wipe away all the evidence that she had been crying. "N – nothing's wrong Kase."

"Kiera, don't lie to me! Something's wrong, and you know it! Otherwise I wouldn't have walked in here to find you crying, and you wouldn't have just not showed up at my garage stall like we had planned, and worried the hell out of me."

A hand slid down her face as her small frame wracked with sobs. Everything seemed to be going wrong for her today. Her fight with her brother, not meeting Kasey like promised, and now it seemed he was pissed at her too.

Tony she could handle, brothers and sisters had fights like this all the time, and eventually they're get over it. But Kasey, him being pissed at her she couldn't handle. In just a month he had become so important to her. Before she did anything nowadays, it seemed as if she thought about what Kasey might have to say about it.

His opinions and thoughts mattered to her, everything about him, or concerning him mattered to her. He mattered to her more than she cared to admit. The one thing she had always learned was that you never wanted to get too close to someone so soon... it almost always ended in heartbreak.

He eased himself down onto the bed next to her, and drew her into his arms, trying to comfort her, and calm her down.

"Kiera, come on, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong; what happened."

She sniffled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, burying her tear-laden face into his shoulder. "I promise Kiera, it will feel better if you talk about it, and get it all out."

"Okay," she sniffled, "Just give me a minute."

"I'll give you all the time in the world if you need it..."

She drew her face back so she was sitting next to him, and laid her head on his shoulder as he soothingly rubbed her back, urging her to go on. "Well... everything was good first thing this morning, I woke up and got your note, and was all ready to just relax in bed for a little bit until my brother barged right into the bedroom and demanded that I get dressed and go out to breakfast with him. I refused, I just wanted to relax for a while. So we argued for a bit until he finally said he was willing to stand in that doorway until I got my ass up and got dressed. So I relented, and he took me to this little diner a couple miles from the track. It was nice until he informed me there was a reason he wanted me to come to breakfast. I should have known it was no good right then, but he was my brother and I thought better of him. He basically went on to say he was concerned because our relationship was going too quickly in his opinion, and I tried to tell him it wasn't like that, but he wouldn't listen. He went on to say that he was your age before, and he knew how guys thought. That they weren't looking for anything long term at this age, just looking to have a little fun. So I told him to butt out of my life, and our relationship, and I left and walked back to the track. I came back here and cried myself to sleep, and obviously you just woke me up."

"Kiera, you should have called me! I would have come and picked you up."

Another tear escaped her eye, and he tenderly brushed it away. "You were out on the track for practice Kase."

"Still, Kale had my phone on him, and he would have come no questions asked."

"If I would have known, I would have called."

"Listen, don't get mad at me for saying this Ki, but I see where your brother is coming from. That is how most guys my age are. But I'm not that way. I'm happy with our relationship; with you, and I don't want you to doubt that no matter what anyone says."

She nodded, "I never will."

"Good, now, how about a change of plans?"

"What do you mean?"

"Instead of the zoo, why don't we just hang out here for the day? Tommy and Ray already gave me most of next week off because of how well I've been doing, told me I don't need to go to the shop much, and I've been in the Busch shop a lot this past week so they won't need me much either this week, so we'll go to the zoo for sure this week."

"I like the sound of that, it's just what I need, I think. You're a genius."

"I know," he grinned, "But I still love hearing it."

She playfully smacked his chest as they laid back in the bed and watched movies all day, Kasey never letting Kiera far out of his reach. He felt more comfortable when he was holding her, and he knew she felt the same way.

^*^*^

The Next Day – Race Day

Kiera woke up the next morning to Kasey shaking her. She blinked a few times and smiled when she caught his blue eyes right above her, staring down into her eyes. "Hey..."

"Hey babe, hate to wake you up, but it's race morning, and it's time to get ready for the day."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy except for the fact that I don't have a chance of clothes, all my stuff is at Tony's, and I don't feel like talking to him..."

Kasey got up and slipped on a t-shirt. "That's okay, I'll go over and get you something to wear, you just relax in bed."

"In your pajamas?"

"Sure, why not."

"You're crazy sometimes," she joked.

"But that's why you love me!" he threw over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

She collapsed against the pillows with a sigh, hoping Tony didn't give Kasey a hard time.

^*^*^

Kasey didn't care that he only had on a pair of flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. If anyone had a problem with it, they could deal with it; and if they had something to say about it, they could keep it to themselves.

Tony's motorcoach wasn't far away – only ten or so away – so, it didn't take him long to find it, and knock on the door.

Tony pulled it open quickly, and stared at Kasey for a second. "Kasey, what are you doing here?"

"Um, Kiera needs some clothes to wear for the day, she doesn't have a spare pair at my motorcoach, and she figured it was best if she didn't go out wearing the same clothes as she wore yesterday."

"Oh... well, come on in and I'll go back and get her a change of clothes." He raised his eyebrow. "Nice clothes by the way."

"Heh... thanks." Kasey took a seat on the couch and looked around the motorcoach. He had been there before, but had never paid much attention to everything around him. Now, he could notice little things that were clear signs that Kiera lived there on the weekends.

Her favorite magazine here... a hair scrunchie there... her brush across the room. He grabbed the scrunchie and the brush, figuring she might need them.

Tony walked back out from one of the back bedrooms, carrying a duffel bag over his shoulder. He handed Kasey the bag, and looked around the coach, "Did you already grab her brush?" Kasey nodded. "Okay, well there's a couple spare pairs of clothes in there. I figure if she wants to stay with you for a few days there's enough clothes in there for her. Her toothpaste and toothbrush are in there, as is her contact case, solution and a spare pair in case something happens. Basically everything she'll need for a few days. But, if she wants to, tell her she can come home, I'd love for her to come home, or at least talk to me."

"She's just upset now Tony, give her some time and I'm sure she'll be back... actually, I know it, because I've been told I'm quite annoying to live with and be around all the time... so once her sanity is tested, which it will be, she'll come running back because she'll need to get away from me before she kills me."

"Thanks Kasey," he smiled sadly, "Just let her know that I'll take the rest of her stuff home with me, and it'll be waiting on her bed for her."

"I will, and don't worry, she'll be home sometime this week; if my habits don't drive her away, I'll work on her during the week."

Tony realized that he had been all wrong about Kasey from the start. He wasn't like a typical kid his age; he was more mature, and totally crazy for his sister. "Really Kasey, I appreciate this..."

"Well, Kiera is miserable with being mad at you, and when she's miserable, I'm miserable."

Kasey put the hair brush and scrunchie in the bag and slung it over his shoulder as he headed through the door.

"Hey Kasey!" Kasey turned around and looked over his shoulder. "Good luck today."

"You too."

^*^*^

The Race

Kiera sat atop Kasey's pit box, next to Tommy, listening to Kasey tell his crew what needed to be changed on this pit stop.

"It's a little loose going in and coming out of the corners," Kasey told them, "Besides that, four tires and gas boys, this thing's a rocket ship baby!"

She laughed along with the crew and Tommy, knowing that when he said it was a rocket ship, it must have been fast.

His crew got him out first, and he hooted and hollered over the radio as he led his first lap of the race, and it seemed like the day could possibly end in victory lane.

Kiera thought about how much he sounded like a little kid over the radio right at that moment, and the thought brought a slight smile to her face.

"He sounds like such a little kid," Kiera giggled quietly to Tommy.

Tommy shook his head and smiled, "When he's in that car, it's like he's transformed back to when he was five years old and dreaming that he would some day be here."

^*^*^

Even with a dominant and strong car, Kasey managed to finish third place, securing his third finish of third or better in the first four races, and causing all eyes in the motorsports world to turn to watch the hard-driving rookie from Enumclaw, Washington, and securing a place for him and his intense blue eyes in the hearts of millions of women.

But, he only had his intense blue eyes trained on one woman...

^*^*^

Kiera stood to the side a little while Kasey climbed out of his car and was handed a towel and a cold Mountain Dew.

But, almost immediately, he looked for her, and refused to answer any questions until after he pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

"Great race baby!"

"Thought I was going to have it," he whispered, "But oh well, there's still 32 races to go this season, I'm bound to win one of 'em – I hope."

"You will, don't worry." Kiera looked around them at all the reporters practically salivating over being able to catch the newest rookie phenom and his girlfriend together, and she buried her head in his shoulder and giggled.

"What?"

She gestured to the large group surrounding them and grinned, "Looks like you're the newest 'most eligible bachelor' in the NASCAR series..."

"But I'm not a bachelor now, am I?" he winked, only pulling her closer to him and kissing the tip of her nose; as if there weren't a million and one cameras just trying to catch a picture of their happiness.

"I guess not," she grinned, "Listen, you do your interviews and press conferences, and I'll wait in the motorcoach, okay?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah... you do what you need to do, and I'll be waiting in the coach, because I'm ready to go home."

"So am I," he sighed, "I'll be back soon..."

As Kiera walked away, he finally turned and began talking to the reporters around his car.

^*^*^

Press Conference

Being one of the top-five finishers, as soon as he completed his interviews he had to head to the media center and participate in a press conference. After three weeks of participating in these press conferences, he was basically used to it by now.

With the winner in victory lane still, it left only the four other top-five finishers. Kasey sat up there, basically on display, alongside his Evernham Motorsports teammate Jeremy Mayfield, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman... he was definitely in good company up there.

The press was informed that the conference was now underway, and microphones were passed around; people would stand up one at a time and direct questions towards certain drivers.

Kasey sat back as questions were directed at Jeremy, thankful that he didn't have to sit through the questioning of all the other drivers before it was his turn.

His mind wandered to Kiera waiting back at the motorcoach for him to come back so they could head back to North Carolina. He felt a poke in his side, and glared in Jeremy's direction, wondering what his problem was.

Jeremy nodded his head out towards the crowd, and Kasey focused once again, just in time to hear the first question directed his way.

"Mr. Kahne, congratulations on your finish, you're really beginning to make a name for yourself in this sport. But, what I would like to know, is who was the woman with you after the race today? Can we assume she is your girlfriend?"

Kasey shifted uncomfortably, swiping a finger under his nose. Since when did people want to know about his personal life? He leaned on an elbow and felt all eyes on him, waiting for his answer. "Um... yeah, she is my girlfriend."

Another woman stood up, so Kasey nervously bit his lip waiting for her question. "Are the rumors that your girlfriend is Tony Stewart's younger sister, true?"

He almost bit right through his lip when he heard that. "Um... yes, she is Tony's younger sister – that's how I met her."

"What's her name?" someone else yelled out.

His level of anxiety was rising, and he could feel himself growing more uncomfortable by the second. He hated to sound like an asshole, but he wasn't in this press conference to answer questions about his personal life. "I'll answer this last question, but from now on if we could keep the questions away from my personal life, I'd really appreciate that. But, her name is Kiera Stewart, and she is Tony's younger sister... and that is all I am comfortable discussing at this time."

Whether he diverted their questions about his and Kiera's relationship, he knew that if they really wanted to find anything out, they would do anything for information. And, it seemed as if himself and Kiera were the new 'it' couple in the NASCAR world.

The jury was still out on what he thought and felt about that.

^*^*^