Page 16 of Brutal King
“Well, Kobe... come on. I don’t have all day.”
“Okay. Remember last year when I came back from camp?”
He leaned back and thought a moment. “Yes. What of it?”
“I mentioned a girl... Kat... Katrina Lee.”
“Oh,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Please don’t tell me that you’ve still got a crush on that girl. Damn, Kobe, for all the pretty girls at the specialized private school that I pay for, you have to pine over that one?”
“The only reason you don’t want me to see her is that you find her family to be too successful. That’s not a very good reason, Dad. It’s a very selfish reason to keep me from seeing the girl that I like.”
His eyes narrowed, clearly displeased with my accusations. “I’ll have you know, Kobe, that this has nothing to do with the family’s success.”
“Doesn’t it? Aren’t they giving The Oyster House a hard time? Aren’t you losing money because they opened a restaurant that is drawing in more people than you are.”
He sighed heavily and pressed his lips together. I knew I’d hit a nerve.
“Healthy competition always pushes us to strive for better,” he managed to say.
“Really, Dad? That’s lame and you know it. This has nothing to do with a ‘healthy competition’. You hate the thought of one day you’ll have in-laws that are bigger and better than you.”
“That’s enough, Kobe. You’re way out of line.” He glanced up at me with an amused smirk. “Besides, I think it’s a little premature to be talking about in-laws.”
“You know what I mean.”
“All right. All right,” he said as he leaned forward, set his elbows on his desk, and gestured with his chin that I take a seat. “If I remember correctly, Katrina is the Lee’s only child.”
I shrugged. “I never really thought to ask.”
“Well, trust me. She is.”
“So?”
“Did you know, Kobe, that the Lee family’s restaurants are so dominant in the industry that they could easily put other restaurants out of business if they so choose. They have a way of finding the very best chefs. People love their food. They love the atmosphere of their restaurants. Cozy yet sophisticated. Quiet, but never boring.”
“I’m sorry, Dad, but I don’t see what all of that has to do with me befriending Kat. We’re just two kids who like to hang out together. And because of you I haven’t talked to her in a long while. And I kind of resent it a bit.”
He tapped his hands against his desktop, stalling for time as I awaited a reply. “Kobe, you’re young and inexperienced. You’re wide-eyed and innocent. The ways of the world haven’t jaded you yet. But you’ll see as you grow older that things can get complicated at times.”
“Dad, I don’t mean to argue, but that still doesn’t explain why I can’t be friends with Kat.”
He nodded and let out an exasperated breath. “One day, many years from now, Katrina will inherit her family’s business. That means that she will own every single one of those successful restaurants.”
I shook my young adolescent head. “Still doesn’t explain why...”
“Kobe, you are my son,” he said. “You are my heir. One day you will own King enterprises.”
“Cool,” I said with a childish shrug. “But... so what?”
“When that day comes, Kat will be your rival. She will be your biggest competitor. She may even have the capacity to shut you down... ruin you.”
His words resonated in my head as I stood in the doorway of my class watching students stream in. My biggest competitor; that was what Kat was to become.
At all costs I had to avoid her, ignore her, treat her like a pariah. And while I was at it, I might as well ignore the blonde bimbo friend she’d walked into the cafeteria with, even if Axel seemed unable to do the same.
The blonde clearly had a strange effect on my brother, and with me all confused about Kat... damn... we sure were in for a very interesting semester.
Chapter 6