The Falling Kind

by Kennedy, Randileigh

  “If you’re telling me that, I believe you,” I replied, studying his face.

  “I don’t want to scare you, but those guys there tonight, guys from West Cove… They’re dangerous, Sydney. I don’t want them around you.”

  “Well I have no plans on heading back there,” I said with a soft laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “It was just for Sam.”

  “You guys won’t be heading back there for any more shows?” he asked with a serious tone to his voice.

  “No,” I said skeptically. “But why the dramatics? I get it, there are probably some sleazy guys there who wouldn’t mind harming us, but following me home? Why would they want to go out of their way to hurt me?”

  “That’s the thing, it’s not you,” he said, shaking his head. “They want to hurt me.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Cole said goodnight to me somewhat abruptly, insisting again that he didn’t want to come in so that I wouldn’t misread his intentions. Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure what his ultimate intentions were. He simply said he’d pick me up after work around seven to go out for tacos and that was the end of it. He watched me walk inside, got on his motorcycle and rode away.

  My night of sleep was interrupted by weird dreams. West Cove either appeared completely corrupt and terrible in my head, or sometimes in my dreams it would appear like the happiest place on earth, with rainbows overhead and cute puppy dogs roaming the well-kept front yards of sweet-looking houses. Cole never appeared in any of my dreams, but some other unsavory men did.

  I made it into work just before six a.m., and I was happy it was a day Sam was there. The hours passed by so much quicker when we had the same shift. She was no doubt disappointed that I had no story with Cole the night before, but I assured her I would have something to tell her about our date tonight, good or bad.

  I mindlessly performed numerous x-rays, took urine samples, and assisted Dr. Nikki in a few minor surgeries. Finally three o’clock rolled around.

  “Do you want to head to the beach for a bit?” Sam asked, trying to gauge how I felt about any plans before my date tonight.

  “Sure,” I agreed, figuring a little normal downtime would be beneficial. My nerves started to creep up into my throat. I didn’t even know what I was nervous about – other than everything.

  Sam drove us back to my place after our shift and we fed the pig and the tortoise, then grabbed our beach bags. She kept one at my house since we typically left from there anyway. It was easier than her carting it to work every day.

  While we were lying in the sun, she asked a couple times if I wanted to talk about anything, but I declined. I didn’t want to think about the date before I had to.

  Finally a little after five we packed up our stuff and headed back to the condo.

  “If you need anything, call me,” Sam said sincerely. “But remember, you promised me you’d give this a chance.”

  “Get out of here,” I said with a laugh. “No pep talk. I’ll call you later. Or, since you don’t work tomorrow, I’ll keep you waiting in great suspense until I see you on Friday.”

  “You would never be so cruel,” she shouted back as she climbed into her car.

  I took a long shower and the warm water rejuvenated me. What was I going to wear tonight? He did drive a motorcycle. Any type of dress or skirt was out if I was going to be straddling him. Geez, a first date and my legs were already going to be wrapped around him. No wonder guys loved motorcycles.

  I dried my thick hair and scrunched it up a bit, keeping it simple with my natural wave. I grabbed a hair tie for my wrist, expecting to tie it all up anyway as soon as we got on his bike.

  It’s just tacos. I had to remind myself that this was just a simple, casual dinner. Nothing fancy. I put on some tight dark jeans and a cute white blousy shirt. It was a simple outfit, but still very feminine without showing any leg. I wore a high pair of wedge sandals. I loved how tall Cole was. I didn’t have to even consider my flats like I always did with Ian, since he was only two inches taller than me. The sun was about to start its descent behind the mountain tops, which meant the air would cool considerably by the time he picked me up, so the jeans felt like a good choice.

  A few minutes before seven, there was a soft knock on my front door. I gave Dexter a quick chin scratch and said goodbye, grabbing my purse and a light sweatshirt as I opened the door.

  “Very prompt,” I said with a smile as I made eye contact with him. He was wearing dark jeans and a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up halfway. I was surprised to see him in flip flops. Although I wasn’t sure what I really expected – motorcycle boots? Was that even a thing? What shoes did he have on last night? I hadn’t even noticed.

  “Harvey taught me to never make a woman wait. Whoa, we practically match,” he said with a smirk, pointing to my outfit. “Next time we should really coordinate this better.” He spoke so jovially that despite the butterflies in my stomach, he put me at ease. I noticed a large black truck parked in front of my house.

  “I brought the truck instead of the bike for tonight,” he said, picking up on my gaze. “I wasn’t sure how you felt about the motorcycle, so I figured that could wait.” His thoughtfulness floored me. Quite honestly, motorcycles terrified me, but I wouldn’t have said a word about it if that was our transportation tonight. The fact that he genuinely thought about it ahead of time was extremely courteous. “If you’re disappointed, we can go back for the bike,” he added, trying to read my expression.

  “No, this is perfect,” I said warmly. I threw my sweatshirt back on the couch as I turned out the lights and locked my front door. “I forgot to mention it last night, but thanks for the towels the other day. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Hey, when I bleed all over a woman’s linens I replace them. It’s just the kind of guy I am,” he joked. “And tacos. They’re my ultimate groveling gift. Whether I’m thankful, or apologetic, or begging for something… tacos are my answer. So I hope you really know how appreciative I am of you fixing up my arm.”

  He helped me into the cab of his truck, which was lifted pretty high. The inside was impeccable – not a single crumb or piece of paper. It felt brand new.

  He climbed into the truck and started up the engine, smiling at me from the driver’s seat. “Have you ever been to Antonio’s before?” he asked with a raised brow.

  “I don’t think so,” I commented. Most of the restaurants I ever went to were in downtown Mountain Ridge. Cole was headed towards the other side of the lake. “It sounds Italian.”

  “That’s the beauty of this place,” he said excitedly, “Antonio, the owner, is an Italian guy. But he’s obsessed with tacos. So he opened up this little dive and he only makes Mexican food. The place itself isn’t all that great, but there are some tables across from there near the beach. It’s one of my favorite spots.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” I commented, looking forward to trying something new. We continued driving west for a few minutes before finally pulling off the main road.

  “This is it,” he said with a huge grin, maneuvering his truck into a small lot in front of a tiny yellow building. “Like I said, the inside isn’t much, but we’ll sit over there.” He pointed to an area of picnic tables across the street from where we parked. They faced a beautiful little stretch of beach. The water looked perfectly calm tonight, and a few stars began appearing overhead as the sun began to slip past the horizon.

  We climbed out of his truck and he led me into the restaurant, holding the door open as I passed through. A small menu board hung above the counter. A petite dark-haired guy who looked to be in his forties smiled as soon as he saw us.

  “Antonio,” Cole said happily. The two men did a pseudo handshake similar to the one I saw Cole exchange last night with Luke. It was definitely some weird version of male communication.

  “I haven’t seen you for at least a week,” Antonio said with animated arms. “I was beginning to think you left me for tacos cooked by a Mexican. Now I see you
just found something better than tacos altogether,” he said, slightly nodding towards me.

  “I’ve been busy at the shop, Harvey had a bit of a setback,” Cole answered vaguely. “This is Sydney. She helped me out of a bind,” Cole stated, holding up his still-wrapped left forearm.

  “This guy is all muscles but it takes a pretty girl to save him from trouble,” Antonio teased. “What’ll it be tonight?”

  “Do you mind if I order for you?” Cole asked politely. “You’ve gotta try a bunch of these to know what you really like here.”

  I smiled and nodded at him. “Sure, I eat pretty much anything. Just not too spicy.”

  “One of each from the left side, please,” Cole relayed to Antonio.

  “Oh Syndey, you found yourself a man who knows how to properly treat a woman,” Antonio replied with his Italian accent and a smile.

  Cole held out some money towards Antonio, but he shook his head and refused.

  “Your money is no good tonight,” he stated, still shaking his head. “You brought me a new lifelong customer. I shall thank you for that with tacos.”

  “See, I’m not the only one who says thank you with tacos,” Cole said to me. Antonio headed towards the back of the restaurant and within three or four minutes he came out with a heaping tray of wrapped food. “Thanks man, I appreciate it,” Cole said as he grabbed the tray.

  “Besides, I’ll be taking your money tomorrow night for cards, yes?” Antonio asked as we made our way out of the restaurant. We filled up the two empty paper cups he gave us at the soda machine.

  “Yep, I’ll be there,” Cole said over his shoulder. He held the door open for me again and we made our way out of the small building. We headed across the street to the beach area he pointed to earlier.

  Cole laid the food out and joined me on the same side of the table. “I know this feels like a trick so I can sit close to you, but I swear I’m just in this for the view.”

  I smiled shyly and looked at him as he sat down next to me. His arms and chest pressed tightly against his form fitting white shirt. His smile looked warm on his tan face and his light brown hair was short on the sides and perfectly combed on top. He looked like a guy you’d see in a beer commercial – tan and strong and slightly rugged – but yet with such a sincere smile that warmed his eyes and made you want to party with him.

  “If these aren’t the best tacos you’ve ever had, we probably can’t be friends,” he stated, unwrapping the food. “So please, think about your reaction to them before you speak. Because I think we definitely need to be friends.”

  “Oh yeah?” I replied with an amused laugh. “What makes you think I’m even a good friend? I might be the type to borrow your clothes without asking, or maybe I’ll talk about you to all my other friends when you’re not around.”

  “You have my full permission to borrow my clothes any time you want,” he teased back. “And I should be so lucky for you to talk about me to your friends.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to figure him out. He was witty and fun and charismatic. Part of me found it odd that I’d never seen him around before in such a relatively small town, but then part of me wondered how it came to be that we really met each other at all, given how different we seemed.

  “So what’s your story? Are you from Mountain Ridge?” I inquired, changing our conversation. I really didn’t know a lot about him, other than the fact he drove a motorcycle and he said Harvey was his father. When I went out on dates back in college, I felt like I knew them first before it got to that point. Other than two random run-ins with this guy, he was still essentially a stranger.

  “Yep, born and raised all twenty-four years of my life,” he answered, handing me a taco. “I’ll spare you the boring details, but Harvey has pretty much raised me since I was twelve. I work for him, and also at a shop fixing up bikes on the side.”

  “What exactly do you do for Harvey?” I asked, curious to know more.

  “A little bit of everything,” he replied with a shrug. “I run a lot of errands for him, stuff like that. He gives me a free place to stay in a cabin behind his, plus a decent cut of his business for the week.”

  “What exactly is Harvey’s business?” I further asked, taking a bite of my taco. Cole was right, the flavors were delectable. I tasted seasoned steak strips, lettuce, and some kind of fruit salsa. It was absolutely amazing.

  “Nothing interesting,” he replied nonchalantly. “Let’s just say it’s not your typical nine to five. There’s a lot of money changing hands, that kind of thing. Honestly he keeps me out of the loop on most of it. I’m just in charge of drop-offs and pick-ups. I go where he tells me and follow his orders. That’s about it.”

  I was pretty sure there was more to it. Surely Cole knew more about what he was doing for Harvey, especially if he’d been close to him all these years. I didn’t want to push the questions though. He didn’t seem to want to elaborate.

  “It’s all temporary though,” Cole added, continuing the conversation. “I doubt I’ll live here too much longer.”

  “Where are you going?” I questioned, polishing off my first taco.

  “Hopefully southern California,” he said with a shrug, as if his plan wasn’t fully solidified yet. “I have some ideas, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, I know plans are fluid. I know everything can change in a single instant. So, I’m planning on it and we’ll see when it happens.”

  He stared directly into my eyes as he said it. His words resonated with me more than he realized. My life had been a pretty simple one for the most part, but unfortunately I also realized in an instant how cruel the world could be. How life-altering it could be in a single split second. There was no way to plan for that.

  “I understand what you mean,” I commiserated.

  “So what about you, what are your life plans?” he asked sincerely.

  “To finish the rest of these tacos,” I teased. “You were right, I’ve never had Mexican food like this. It’s amazing.”

  “Well it’s official then, we can be friends,” he stated with a soft laugh. “But after the tacos, what’s your plan then?”

  I hesitated for a moment. The first thought that entered my mind was that I wondered what his chest looked like without his shirt. I almost wanted to reach out and put my hand on his chest, just to see if it really felt as rock hard as it appeared through the thin fabric. Then I immediately chided myself for those thoughts. Get it together, Syd. In what world did my future plans include undressing handsome strangers?

  “My life plans have changed a lot,” I stated honestly. “I graduated in May and here I am, not really sure what I’m doing.”

  “What was your plan originally?” he asked, handing me another taco.

  “Well, this summer I was supposed to be moving to Washington State to start my graduate program in the fall,” I began, not sure of how much to tell him. The full story wasn’t exactly first date worthy. Quite honestly, I would’ve been happy to never talk about it again. “But I’ve officially turned that opportunity down,” I said vaguely. “Sam is still heading out to Oregon though next month and I’ll still be here. So I guess I need a new plan.”

  “Sweet. Then why don’t you move to southern California with me? We’ll start a taco stand,” he joked.

  “That sounds about as random as what I have in mind,” I replied, trying the second taco. This one was full of chicken and avocados with some sort of tangy sauce. It tasted even better than the first one.

  “These other two are spicy,” he explained, completely shifting the conversation. I was relieved by that. I certainly wanted to know more about him, but I can’t say I was all that eager to tell him more about myself. “Do you want to at least try them?”

  I nodded and he held one out to me. I bit into it, trying to decipher all of the flavors. This one tasted like shredded pork. He was right though, the spicy pepper sauce on it certainly had a kick.

  “It’s good, but hot,” I commented once
I swallowed the bite.

  “Try this one.”

  I took a quick sip of my Sprite before biting into the next taco he held up. I couldn’t even figure out what was in that one – different meats, some crazy type of chunky salsa. It was pretty fiery.

  “That one’s too much for me,” I said, quickly taking a sip of my drink.

  “I’m impressed you bit into it without even knowing what they were,” he stated with a raised brow. “It’s quickly changing my opinion of you.” He had a boyish grin and I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

  “Do I even want to know what your opinion is?” I mused.

  “Not until I have you figured out. I need more time. You’re an enigma. You’re all pretty and proper one minute, then you’re dive-bar hopping and eating taco stand food the next. You’re all over the place, I can’t quite get an accurate read on you. You have a pig living in your kitchen, but yet you have no hesitation finishing off a pork taco. You’re fascinating.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was completely mocking me, but his tone was sweet. Honestly I couldn’t figure him out either, so we had that in common.

  “Do all the other girls turn down your tacos when you shove them in front of their mouths?” I said lightheartedly.

  “You’re the first girl I’ve ever brought here actually,” he said sweetly. “Usually I just hang around here trying to pick up on ones who already share my love of Tony’s,” he teased.

  I playfully swatted his arm. “Well while we’re on the subject, where’s your girlfriend? Or did you dump her because she was a vegetarian or something?” I joked.

  “No girl,” he replied. “Not for a long time.”

  “I imagine your strong stature and perfect jaw line are quite a turn off for most women,” I said sarcastically.

  “So you noticed my face,” he replied playfully. “Everyone else just stares at my chest. I know what you women go through. The struggle is real.”