Cade Creek 12 - Heart of a Mountain (3 page)

Aldrin went about the rest of his evening, taking orders and washing dishes. He smiled at customers as they came in, chatted like a good little waiter, and collected payments, even waving as people left the diner. All the while, his mind was on Jonah and the wooden deer tucked away in his pocket.

He groaned under his breath when the door opened and three men walked inside. The instant vibe he got off of them was not good. There wasn’t anything specific in their looks that set him on edge, because they looked just like everyone else. Jeans, T-shirts, and boots. It was more the way they seemed to case the place when they walked in, almost as if they were looking for a way to cause mischief.

“Hello, gentlemen,” he said as he handed each man a menu. “My name is Aldrin. I’ll be your waiter tonight.”

A dark-haired man looked him up and down, a decidedly lecherous lift to his lips. “Are you on the menu, pretty?”

His friends chuckled.

“No,” Aldrin answered with a smile. Like he had never heard that stupid line before. He would think people could come up with something better. “But I can tell you about the specials if you like.”

“I can make it special for you, baby,” the dark-haired loudmouth said as he grabbed his crotch, shaking it suggestively.

Aldrin gritted his teeth and smiled some more. It was going to be a long night. “Can I get you gentlemen something to drink?”

The guy laughed as he shook his junk again. “I’ll give you something to drink.”

Wow, really? He’d never been so insulted in his life over six little words. He felt a desperate need to go home and scrub his body clean. He’d felt that the men would be trouble, but he hadn’t imagined they would be so crude.

“Hey, pretty, aren’t you going to take my order?” the dark-haired man called out as Aldrin rolled his eyes, turned, and walked away.

“Trudy, table seven is going to be a problem. You might want to have Buck get their orders.”

“Oh?” Trudy lifted up on her feet a little and glanced around Aldrin.

“They seem to think I should be on the menu.”

Trudy chuckled. “Let me handle it. You go catch up on your dishes.”

“Thanks, Trudy.” There were some things he refused to put up with. Foul-mouthed idiots were at the top of his list. Still, he watched from the back room as Trudy walked up to the table and began speaking. He couldn’t hear what she said, but the three guys got up and hightailed it out of the restaurant like their asses were on fire.

“What did you say to them?” Aldrin asked when Trudy walked behind the counter.

Trudy smiled. “I let it slip that Jonah Cade was interested in you.”

Aldrin’s jaw dropped as his eyes shot to the empty corner booth. “I can only wish.”

* * * *

Aldrin groaned as he slid into one of the vacant booths. The diner was closed and only Aldrin and Trudy were left inside. Sunday nights were usually pretty mellow, but tonight had been insane. It felt as though everyone living in Cade Creek had decided to eat out. It might have had something to do with the heat. Today had topped the high nineties. No one with an ounce of sense wanted to cook.

“Come on, boy,” Trudy called out as she shut off the lights in the back. “Time to head out. I want to go home and soak my feet.”

“Can’t you just leave me here, Trudy?” Aldrin asked. Not only did his feet hurt, but his entire body as well. He’d run all night between tables, with hardly a break in between. The thought of pedaling home didn’t appeal to him. “Just think of how early I’ll be for work tomorrow.”

Trudy chuckled as she walked over and held out her hand. “You ain’t spending the night in my diner, Aldrin. Hell, boy, it’s still early. Don’t you have some hearts to go break?”

Aldrin could think of only one heart he was interested in and he wouldn’t get a chance at it until next week. Grunting at the aches in his back, Aldrin took Trudy’s hand and allowed the woman to pull him to his feet.

“I’m calling in sore tomorrow.”

Trudy snorted. “You and me both.”

“When was the last time we had a crowd like tonight?”

“The last time the heat hit the high nineties. Not only does everyone try to avoid turning on their ovens, but they come inside to enjoy the air conditioning.”

“So, we have an entire summer of this coming?” Aldrin’s feet ached just thinking about a summer of running from one table to the next.

“Pretty much.”

Aldrin tilted his head back as his shoulder sagged. “I quit.”

“Yeah, right.” Trudy clearly didn’t believe him. “I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven.”

Aldrin chuckled. “See you tomorrow, Trudy.”

He watched as she closed and locked the back door and then stood there and waited for her to get into her car and drive away before heading to the side of the building where he put his bike every day when he came in to work. He didn’t like the idea of Trudy being on her own at night, even in a town as wonderful as Cade Creek. There were always one or two bad apples in the apple cart. Aldrin didn’t want Trudy to run into any of them.

When he reached his bike, Aldrin strapped his bag down to the back of the bike and then squatted down to wrap the Velcro tie around his pant leg. He had had more than one accident with his pant leg getting caught in the chain. He had quickly learned to keep his pant legs tied down. It was kind of like a helmet. There were just some things a person did to keep themselves from being injured.

After tying his pant legs down, Aldrin reached for his bicycle helmet. He was just starting to lift it off the seat when something hard slammed into him from behind. Aldrin cried out as he shot forward, hitting his bike before smashing into the wall. The pedal bit into his stomach when he fell to the ground on top of the bike.

“Oh look, guys,” someone called out. “Pretty boy fell down.”

“Maybe he needs training wheels,” someone else said.

Aldrin groaned in pain as he counted at least three people laughing. This was going to hurt a lot. He kept a tight grip on his helmet as he got to his knees. Before he could stand up, a hand fisted in his hair and yanked his head back. Pain exploded along his scalp and down his spine as the fingers tightened to the point Aldrin feared his hair would be ripped from his scalp. It was the crude man from earlier. Aldrin knew he would pay for telling Trudy about what had happened.

“Hello, pretty boy.” The dark-haired man’s grin was malicious and downright terrifying. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Glancing around the parking lot, Aldrin prayed that somebody, anybody, would come by and scare the men away. There was no way he could take on one man, let alone three. Aldrin wasn’t a fighter, never had been. He was nonviolent, didn’t believe in using fists to solve problems, but apparently these men had no qualms about physically hurting him.

And for what? For turning them down? They were about to pulverize him because Aldrin hadn’t been game for their lecherous intents.

Aldrin saw the punch coming before it connected with his face. For some reason, he had expected it to hurt a lot worse than it did. Half a second later, he was pulled to his feet and another fist slammed into his face. Aldrin was pretty sure his cheek had just shattered.

Never in his life had anything hurt as badly as his face did at that moment, and from the looks on their faces, this was far from over. The dark-haired man had pure rage in his eyes. His lips were pulled back from his teeth, and as he slammed his fist into Aldrin, he snarled.

Aldrin knew he screamed because his throat grew sore and parched from overuse. He didn’t know how many hands grabbed at him or hit him, but it felt as if an entire platoon of heavily armed men were using him as a punching bag.

He was thrown to the ground and kicked over and over again. Aldrin tried to protect his head with one arm as he used the other to curl around his midsection. He turned from one side to the other, trying to avoid the boots that slammed into him.

“Think you’re too good for us?” the dark-haired man asked. “Let me show you what I think of you.”

Aldrin slid his hand into his pocket and grabbed the wooden statue Jonah had left him. He held it in a death grip as he was kicked into unconsciousness.

Jonah Cade inhaled a slow calming breath before opening his door and climbing out of his truck. He rubbed his hands down the thighs of his legs, trying to remove the cold clammy feeling. He always felt a bit nervous before walking into the Cade Creek Diner, but it had gotten worse since Aldrin had started working there.

On the upside, he now looked forward to coming down the mountain to Cade Creek every Sunday instead of feeling as though he was driving to his death.

His therapist would be so thrilled.

Jonah’s heart thudded a little faster when he spied Aldrin through the window as the man went to take someone their order. He stood there and stared, watching the most beautiful creature ever created gracefully glide across the diner. He had been taken by Aldrin’s beauty from the moment the man introduced himself. When Aldrin smiled, he had stolen Jonah’s heart.

It was stupid to be obsessing over a man as stunning as Aldrin, and Jonah knew it. He just couldn’t seem to help it. The man was beautiful inside and out. It wasn’t just window dressing. It was as if his goodness shone from deep within his soul.

Jonah reached into his pocket and pulled out the small wooden buffalo he had carved over the last week. It was a stupid idea, but he had wanted to share something with Aldrin since talking with the man was almost impossible. Jonah wasn’t good at conversation. He froze up if someone said more than a few words to him.

Jonah drew in another deep breath as his therapist had taught him to do when he felt the walls closing in on him. He had to go inside the diner and order his dinner. It was Sunday evening, after all. He had been coming in every Sunday since forever.

Gathering his waning courage, Jonah forced himself to put one foot in front of the other and walk into the diner. He paused in the doorway to check who was inside the place. After he counted heads and placed familiar faces, he looked for Aldrin.

His heart lightened when he spotted the man behind the counter, smiling at him. Jonah gave him a curt nod and then made his way back to his usual booth. He took off his cowboy hat and jacket, setting both down on the seat beside him before sliding into the booth.

“Good evening, Mr. Cade, how are you tonight?”

Jonah grunted as his throat seized up.

“Did you know that Ms. O’Brian has a little toy
Labradoodle,
but Happy, her son, calls him a snickerdoodle because the darn thing weighs like two pounds and barks like he’s a Great Dane? I love dogs, but I don’t know if I would want a snickerdoodle. Would you?”

Good grief, what in the hell did a snickerdoodle look like?

“What can I get you for dinner tonight, Mr. Cade?”

Jonah glanced up and stared, mesmerized by the depth of Aldrin’s blue eyes before he quickly glanced away. “Coffee, black,” he finally said when he could speak. “The Sunday Special, green beans, no carrots. Milk with my meal.”

“Right away, Mr. Cade.”

Jonah wished he had the courage to ask Aldrin to call him by his first name, but he just didn’t. He watched Aldrin walk away, aching to call the man back and engage him in conversation.

According to his therapist, he needed to take these outings to keep himself from becoming too much of a recluse. Talking with others was high up on the list of things he was supposed to do while he was out. It was never easy. In fact, it was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Not
the
hardest, but up in the top ten at least.

Jonah pulled his book out of the pocket of his jacket. He opened it up and stared down at the pages, not taking in a single printed word, until he heard Aldrin’s laughter, and then he couldn’t look up fast enough.

There he was, blue eyes sparkling, plush lips spread in a delightful smile, face glowing with— Jonah frowned. Aldrin’s usual golden skin was dark in places, real dark. He hadn’t seen it before because he was too afraid to look Aldrin in the face for more than a brief second, but now he could see the faint darkening around Aldrin’s eyes.

Jonah shoved his hands under the table when they curled into fists. There were a few good reasons why Jonah didn’t go out in public very often. One of them was his temper. He didn’t need a gun to wreak havoc. After years of serving in the military in more war torn places than he could count, his body was registered as a lethal weapon. He could wreak havoc with his bare hands.

And one thing he had learned while touring around the world was that he hated bullies. It didn’t matter to him if they were rebels attempting to overthrow a government or school kids pulling pigtails, bullies could get his temper flaring faster than almost anything.

When Aldrin came over to deliver his coffee, Jonah took a better look. With a closer inspection he noticed makeup covering the dark spots on Aldrin’s face, a slight swelling around the eyes, and discoloration on Aldrin’s chin. There was more discoloration around Aldrin’s wrists and a split in his lip.

Someone had worked this boy over good.

And that someone was going to be dead just as soon as Jonah found him.