Above it All Ch. 06-07

PUBLIC BETA

Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.

You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.

Click here
coaster2
coaster2
2,590 Followers

"So, you're telling me everything is going to be fine and dandy, eh," he smirked. "Don't bullshit me, Richter. I've known you too long. That lawsuit is just a way of getting even for this," he said, pointing at my leg. "You'd be happy to be his executioner if they allowed it."

I laughed for the first time. "Well, that does have a certain appeal," I agreed. "But he's really fucked up my life, Tom. He needs to have some pain to go with it too."

"You're going to have to let the courts deal with him. You don't need to make a bad situation worse by ending up doing something stupid," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know," I snarled. "You wait, Tom, they'll plea bargain that guy into community service and a promise to be a good boy for a year. You wait and see."

"I doubt that. He's already got a criminal record, you said, so that will be taken into account by the D.A. He's not going to get off scot-free."

"I don't have any faith that he'll be punished the way he deserves," I said. "That sonofabitch ran me down and took away my future. I'm going to have to have an artificial knee and who knows what else because of him. I want payback!" I snarled.

"Yeah, I can tell. Well, do what your therapist tells you and get as well as you can, Kyle. I'll see you when you're out of here," he said, turning to leave. He'd had enough of my attitude already.

The only good news I had was Thursday when they decided I could go home with Gabrielle as long as she would keep me available for my PT treatments. I had to hand it to her; she agreed immediately. I wondered what that would do to her job requirements.

"You can't just take time off every day to baby-sit me," I told her. "I can get a cab and you don't have to worry about driving me."

"No," she said adamantly. "I want to do this and I've already arranged with Georgette for the time to do it. So live with it," she snapped.

It seemed that my girlfriend was getting to the end of her rope with my attitude as well.

"Okay, you win. We'll do it your way," I surrendered. Somehow I didn't think that was quite the answer she was looking for.

~*~

Our relationship continued to deteriorate, and the reason was me. I was miserable and hardly the attentive lover that she thought she knew. I knew what was happening and it wasn't an accident. In my mind, I didn't want her to be saddled with a man who wasn't the one she fell in love with. I wasn't that guy any more. I knew it and she knew it.

"I'm just about at the end of my patience with you, Kyle," she said one evening when I'd been particularly sullen and argumentative. "You need professional help. It's time you got some counseling for your attitude. In fact, it's overdue," she said forcefully.

"Oh great! Now you think I'm crazy. There's nothing wrong with me, Gabrielle. Nothing at all that wasn't caused by that bastard on his bicycle. If you're sick of the sight of me, then say so and I'll go. You won't have to ask twice," I almost shouted.

"It isn't the sight of you that the problem, Kyle. It's up here," she said, tapping her forehead.

"Okay, fine. I'll no longer burden you with my unpleasant presence. I'll get out of here and leave you alone. I'm sorry I'm not all sweetness and light, but that's not how I really feel and I don't think I'm up to faking it."

And that was how it ended. I slept in the spare room that night and after she'd left for work in the morning, I packed up my things and with several trips to my Jeep, loaded my possessions and drove away. I had no destination in mind and in my current mental state, I wasn't sure what the hell I was doing except reacting. But later that day, when I checked into a motel in Tracy, I began to realize just what I had given up.

Chapter 7 ...Will Make You Stronger

"There's someone here to see you, Kyle," the intercom squawked.

"Okay, Mike, I'll be there in a couple of minutes." I pulled off my surgical gloves and made sure I didn't look too untidy before I headed out of the shop to the showroom floor. Maybe this was another potential customer.

I stepped into the big, bright room, littered with new models and the odd display, looking around to see who might be asking for me. I saw her, hunched down by the Matchless, examining it. There was no mistaking the single silken blonde braid and the lithe form of her. It was Gabrielle. How long had it been since I'd last seen her. Three years? It didn't seem possible, but it was.

I walked up behind her while she was still stooped over, examining the old bike in detail.

"Hello, Gabrielle," I said softly.

She stood and turned to me and I saw the look of surprise immediately. "Kyle? Is that you?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah ... it's me."

"You look so different. The hair, the beard. I almost didn't recognize you."

I shrugged. "It was time for a change, so I started with this," I said, stroking my trimmed reddish-blonde beard.

"It ... it looks ... good on you. The tan, the beard, the pony tail. You look like a biker guy," she said, still examining me.

"Naw, I'd never qualify," I chuckled. "No tattoos, no piercings, no Harley, and no bitch."

She seemed to be taken aback by the harsh comment despite the fact that I'd said it in good humor.

"How did you find me?" I wondered.

"Uhhm ... Olivia. She said you were working in a motorcycle dealership, so I took a guess and started with Sacramento. I wondered if you might have gone back to your roots, and it seems you have."

"Yeah," I nodded, "I guess you could say that. Look, Gabrielle, this isn't the best place for us to talk. Why don't we go to lunch? It's just about time and I know a place where we can talk and not be interrupted."

She was already smiling. "I'd like that. I want to find out all about you, Kyle. You've changed, and from just this little conversation, I can tell it's for the better."

"Let me tell Mike what I'm up to and then I'll meet you at the front door."

She nodded, again with a smile and I turned and walked to the front desk.

"Someone from your past, Kyle?" Mike said, looking beyond me to the front.

"Yeah ... someone who was very important once. Do you mind? I need to talk to her in private."

"You know I don't mind. At least it will be something that isn't work," he said. "Good luck," he offered with a smile.

"Thanks," I said as I turned and headed for the front door.

"Okay if we take my truck?" I asked. "It's easier to get in and out of for me."

"Oh, yes, of course," she agreed immediately. "Still hard to bend the knee?"

"Yeah. It's as good as it's going to get, so I figured something big with lots of head and legroom made more sense," I explained as we walked toward my Ram 2500.

"This is a big truck," she said as I held the door open for her.

"Yeah, well I needed something to haul my trailer around when I deliver bikes or pick them up. I wanted all-wheel-drive for the winter and Tahoe," I added.

"You still ski?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I use one of those knee braces the football players wear when I ski or go hiking."

"You go hiking too?" she asked, even more surprised.

"Yup. It was the chosen substitute for running. The brace keeps me from twisting the knee, which is the main way for it to get damaged again. As long as I don't do something crazy when I'm on skis, or try to climb rock faces, I'm okay."

"You look very healthy, lean, tanned," she observed.

I nodded without looking at her. I was driving to a local bistro that would give us a little privacy with our lunch.

"What about you, Gabrielle? Still in QA with Diamond Stream?"

"Yes and no," she answered cryptically. "I'm actually head of QA and training for Smithton, the parent company. I'm up here to help set up procedures for the new waste processing plant."

"Oh ... congratulations. I'm sure you've earned it. Tell me about it."

"Well, you'll remember that we were opening plants in North Dakota and Oklahoma, and I was in charge of implementing SPC and QA. That's where the training was focused. Then, I was sent to Dublin to set them up with the same procedures and practices. After that, I was involved in some of the preliminary planning for the pilot plant for the new project. We've purchased a building off I-80, just east of I-5. It's near the Sacramento airport, so we made an agreement with them for our initial test material."

"Test material being a euphemism for aircraft toilet waste," I grinned.

She laughed and it brought back some very painful memories. "Yes ... exactly that."

"I don't envy your new job," I suggested.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," she assured me. "I don't have to get involved in the actual handling of the waste, just making sure the right procedures are observed. It's such a huge project that we've got a whole slew of new employees on board to make it happen."

"You've risen to the role of upper management very rapidly," I noted. "Nothing you haven't earned though."

"Thank you, Kyle. I have been very fortunate to be on the ground floor at Smithton and Diamond Stream. I'm very happy there."

"Will you still operate from Union City?"

She shook her head. "No, I'll be moving here. This is likely where the new company will operate from. No one in the Bay Area wants the new company as a tenant, so this will be home base. I have a person reporting to me from Union City, and he supervises the other three plants. The new project is so big in potential, that I'm devoting almost all my time to it. It looks like I'm going to be a neighbor of yours," she smiled.

I turned and smiled. "I'm pleased to hear that. You can't have too many good neighbors."

"So ... tell me about your journey in the past three years, Kyle," she said as we settled into a nice booth in the restaurant.

"Oh ... well ... let's see. There's more than one part to it. When I left Hayward, I drove up here for some reason. I really didn't have a destination in mind, I just knew I had to get away. I stopped by my former home in Davis and had a good cry. I missed my parents, especially my dad. He was my anchor when I was younger and now ... with how I'd acted with you and all my friends and supporters, I needed him more than ever. But, he was gone and wasn't coming back, so I had to deal with that.

"I stopped in to Mike's Bikes to see Mike again. It had been a good memory from the past and I guess I wanted to see the Matchless again and see Mike too. He greeted me like I'd never been gone and within five minutes he was offering me a job. I wasn't ready for that and told him a little about what had been going on in my life. He didn't seem to care and said when the time came, I'd be welcome back there."

"And you did go back," Gabrielle said with a smile.

"Yeah, but not right away. I had to shake the anger and frustration of the past before I could do that. So ... I took your advice and saw a psychiatrist. I wasn't in denial any more. I knew I needed help and it was the only place I thought I could get some. I still had medical coverage from Dow, so I called Midland and asked for a referral from their insurer. They gave me the name of Doctor Aaron Urquhart at UCal Davis. That worked fine for me, so I contacted him and he took me on as a patient."

"Did he help?" she asked.

"Well, I guess he did, but to be honest, for a while I couldn't see any real progress. But now, looking back, he made some important points that I kept. First, he claimed that I didn't like myself very much. I didn't like who I was. I couldn't argue with him on that, could I? After all, I'd driven you of all people away. He also said I had to make a clean break and find something that would give me peace and pleasure. Whether that was a job, or volunteer work, or an activity didn't matter, but I needed something to give me some peace of mind and a sense that I was doing something constructive with my life."

"So, is that what turned it around for you?" she wondered.

"That and something Olivia had said to me earlier that came back to me. We'd had a big row about my attitude and how she didn't want to see me at her wedding. That hurt, but it didn't really register until she was leaving and turned to me and said, 'What would Dad think if he could see you now?' That really hit me later on. The one man who meant the world to me and she thought he would be disappointed in me. That haunted me."

"So what then?" she asked.

"I had to start mending fences," I said. "I wrote a long letter to Olivia and Shan, telling them that I was getting help and apologizing for my behavior. I must have tried to write you a hundred times but couldn't find the words that would be even halfway adequate to apologize for how I treated you. You never deserved that and I still haven't forgiven myself."

I could see Gabrielle's eyes glistening, near tears I thought. She remained silent, listening intently.

"It was one kind of healing that I needed to do, but yet I still couldn't find a way to make amends with you. I pushed my failure to the back of my mind and tried to get on with the rest of my life."

"And how has that gone," she asked, still watching me with a fixed gaze, her eyes still glistening.

I sighed. "Better, I guess you could say. I came back here and bought a house."

That brought about a look of surprise. "A house? Where?"

"Woodland ... just north of where we lived in Davis. I've got some acreage and a workshop there."

"Acreage? How did you afford that?" she asked with a concerned look.

"Well, I wasn't broke, considering the insurance settlements and inheritance from my parents. But wonder of wonders, the Italian trucking company finally settled our lawsuit. My sisters and I got a nice check from them. Then, after some serious pressure from Darren Hatcher, the courier company settled my lawsuit over my injuries before it went to court. That was another nice windfall, although I wish it hadn't been necessary.

"So, I was cash rich and looking for ways to hide it from the tax man. I decided that I wanted to live in this area again. It was some of my happiest memories and maybe I was looking to relive them. Whatever the reason, I went back to see Mike Trask and see if there really was a job I could do. I didn't need the money, I just wanted something to do that I could cope with and enjoy at the same time.

"It turned out that my timing was perfect for a couple of reasons. One, Mike had been turned down for a bank loan after all the years that he had been a responsible customer. He needed to expand, but I guess the bank had new management and the new manager didn't like the idea of 'biker' guys being customers. Mike is the furthest thing I can think of as a 'biker.' So, I got Mike together with Conrad Leitner, my financial consultant, and Darren, and we worked up a partnership agreement. I am now a minority partner in Mike's Bikes," I grinned. "I have become a venture capitalist," I chuckled.

The look of astonishment on Gabrielle's face was unmistakable. "That's amazing. So ... what was the second reason for joining Mike?"

"Mike was getting inquiries about repairing damaged bikes and even restoring older bikes, just like Dad and I did with the Matchless. You'd be surprised at how often people would drop their bikes on the ground, usually with nasty results to both the bike and themselves. Anyway, Mike's strength is sales and service. He knew that Dad had taught me well and that my quality standards were high, so he proposed that we try doing repairs and restorations to see how it went. If it was profitable, maybe we could find enough business to make it worthwhile. That's how this all started," I concluded.

By now, Gabrielle was beaming. That old familiar smile and bright face was back. "This is amazing," she said. "You're happy now, aren't you," she said, a statement of fact not a question.

"I am. Maybe this is what I should have been doing all along, but I'm not that old that I can't make a career out of this. I've been collecting and reading old manuals for various makes for future reference. So far, we have all the business we can handle. I'm actually having to be selective and farm business out to others. Mike says he thinks the only time I'm not working is when I'm sleeping, and it's only a rumour that I actually sleep," I kidded.

"Is that a way of staying there is no one else in your life?" she asked with her trademark sly smile.

"Now who's being clever?" I laughed. "I remember you catching me checking out the opposition when we first met. But, as a point of clarification, no ... there is no one else."

"Good to know," she said absently.

The mood was upbeat and I felt an enormous relief that we could talk and not have to deal with my past mistakes any more than what I'd already confessed to.

"Where are you staying tonight?" I asked.

"I was going to see if I could get a weekly rate at the Springhill Suites. It's near the new plant location."

"Uhhm ... yeah ... that's nice, I hear ... but ... well ... I've got a spare bedroom or two and my rates are very reasonable. Look at all the money you'd save your company," I stammered.

She looked confused at first, probably wondering what I was suggesting beyond a place to stay.

"I'm still a pretty good cook, so I could make something for dinner as well. No obligation, of course," I added.

At that point, she did the unexpected. She laughed.

"You sound like a high school guy trying to work up the courage to ask a girl for a date."

After I got over my embarrassment, I managed, "Well, maybe that's close to the truth."

"If it was anyone else, at any other time, I'd say no," she said quietly. The look on her face said she was quite serious. "But, since I think I know you and know you don't have a devious bone in your body, I might just take you up on your offer. After all, I know the food is good at Maison Richter," she smiled.

"Great," I quickly said in relief. "Hell, I did sound like a high school kid, didn't I," I admitted.

"I'm afraid so. For a guy who is nearly twenty-eight, it was unexpected."

"Yeah, well, I'm long out of practice and I didn't want to take anything for granted. Look, I don't have anything urgent for this afternoon, so why don't I take you back to the shop and I'll hook up my trailer and lead you to my home?"

"You sure the boss will be okay with that?" she grinned.

"Yeah, he's not a bad guy. I've banked a few hundred hours over the last while, so there won't be any complaint. I can really come and go as I please, but I do have a responsibility to Mike for taking me in when I needed him to. We've got a great relationship."

"I'm glad to hear that, Kyle. I can tell you're happy here, and that's a big step," she said.

"Yeah ... you're right ... I'm happy."

~*~

Mike had no problem with my leaving a little earlier than usual. In fact, he said he was surprised that I came back at all, considering the company I was keeping. I thanked him and told him I'd be in at my usual time in the morning.

"What is your usual time?" he asked. "You're always here before me."

"Okay, so maybe I'll be a little later tomorrow," I said with grin.

"I would, if I were you," he said, casting a glance at Gabrielle waiting for me at the door.

I left him with a wave and headed for the door, holding it for Gabrielle.

"It will only take me a couple of minutes to hook up the trailer," I told her.

"Can I help?" she asked.

"Uhhm, yeah. Keep an eye on how close I come to the hitch. When I'm inside six inches, I can handle it from there. Thanks," I smiled.

She did a great job, holding her hands apart and closing them slowly together as I got closer to the hitch. I heard her "whoa" and stopped the truck immediately. When I got out and checked to see how close I was, I looked up at her and shook my head.

"I guess I'm going to have to have you available for all the tricky hookups in the future. I'm less than two inches from the ball. Nice going," I smiled.

coaster2
coaster2
2,590 Followers