Flesh and Feathers (5 page)

My instinct was to look through the peephole to see if he was still there. Sure enough, he was and with the same expression on his face. I calmly opened the door, which made a creaking sound at the slow pace. Staring at the floor, I cleared my throat and began to speak. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. I was out of line and… um… I didn’t mean anything I just said… or screamed.”

His face turned several shades of
amused
. “Azaleigh, I do apologize that I cannot stay. However, I do have somewhere I must be. Do you think it would be acceptable that we reconvene tomorrow?” So he was mocking me. I guess it was a lot better than him saying
get over it, you crazy psycho.
 

“Yes, tomorrow would be nice,” I agreed. He turned to leave, but then stopped.

“Azaleigh.”

“Yes?” I asked, sounding a little more hopeful than I wanted.

“Isn’t this weekend your birthday?”

“Yeah,” I tried to remember me mentioning my birthday to him, but I couldn’t.

“If it would be okay, I have made some arrangements for us. That is, if you are alright with leaving for the weekend?” He wouldn’t smile, but I knew he wanted to.

“Yes, that would be great.”

“Perfect, I’ll see you later.” I watched him as he walked down the hall to the stairwell.

Only after I was sure he was completely gone, did I start doing my victory dance. I had three days before the weekend; all I could do was hope that I would make it until then. Luckily, Tannah had already scheduled me off for the weekend, insisting that I take some time for myself even though I had argued that I didn’t need any. This was a good thing, since I didn’t want to explain why I would need it off now.
 

***

We lay on the beach in front of the house we were staying at. The sun wore hot on my skin. Kale laid next to me motionless, wearing sunglasses and shorts. I had worn my favorite two-piece bathing suit that bordered between flirty and classy. The white beads from it caused the sun to glint tiny flickers of light on Kales skin. Trying to be discrete, I peered under my sunglasses at him. He didn’t budge, and I couldn’t help but stare at him as he lay there. He was so content. I started to pick out all of my favorite features about him, like how his jaw line was slightly squared and came to a peak at the tip of his chin, and how his lips filled out into a perfect oval shape.

One arm was used to rest his head on and the other lay by his side, and as I stared at it close to my thigh, I prayed he would brush it against me. He, being only inches away was too far for me, and as if he had read my mind, using the knuckle of his index finger, he ran it down my leg one time. His touch tormented me. I wasn’t sure how he could control himself. If he felt an ounce of what I did, he would have rolled over and latched on to me never letting go.
   

The smell of the salty air was infectious. Birds cluttered the sky while they danced in a synchronized motion. Waves crashed on the beach relentlessly, one after another, pulling the sand back with each retreat. The sound was more relaxing than any drug could induce.

“I don’t want to leave,” I said lowly.

“The sun won’t go down for another hour,” Kale replied nonchalant.

If it was possible, my voice seemed lower. “I mean, ever.”

The sand shuffled, making a crunching sound as he rolled onto his side and set up on his elbow. He placed his hand on my stomach, running it across my bare skin. My chest heaved in and out, and, for the first time, I was nervous. There was something about his face–so serious yet so gentle.

“We can’t stay
forever
…, but we can stay
tonight
.” The way he said it made me want to fold myself around him.

I sat up, pushing him back down to the warm sand. I placed a leg on either side of him and sat down easily on his abdomen. My hands ran the length of his torso and spread out to his arms. My face was within an inch of his when I removed his glasses.

“What is it that you want from me, Kale?” I was pretty pleased with how seductive my voice sounded.

“Everything.”

He kissed me what felt like a thousand times, but I still couldn’t get enough. It was like he was a part of me, breathing my breath in and out. He tilted my head back and kissed what he thought was my perfect neck. He moved his lips down to my collarbone as he slipped the strap of my bathing suit top off my shoulder. I couldn’t contain myself. I circled my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He ran his hands up the sides of my outer thighs. The sand was rough on my skin, but it didn’t matter to me. Kale effortlessly picked me up off the ground while I was still wrapped around him and carried me inside of the house. He couldn’t stand one more minute of waiting; he wanted me as much as I wanted him. He set me down on the cool marble counter, knocking all the items onto the floor. Kissing him heavily, my body begged for more. I ran my fingers through his blonde hair, gripping handfuls when the pleasure got too intense.
 

“I have to stop,” he protested as he pulled away from me. He looked down at me and slowly ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back into place.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Don’t you want this? Because I do,” I said, not giving him a chance to respond to the first question.

“I do too… so much more than you can possibly imagine…but…” His voice was strained.

“But what? Kale, I have never felt this way about anyone in my entire life.” I pulled him back to me and kissed him once more, but as I looked at him, I could tell this conversation was over, and I had lost.

He tenderly pulled the strap of my bathing suit up onto my shoulder and led me to the couch. He laid down, and I stretched out beside him, laying my head against his chest. His breathing was deep, and my body followed with his movement. This wasn’t what I had planned–but to be honest, it was just as good. Lying here with him was almost perfect.

“I got you something,” he said.

“What?” I questioned as I turned my head to look up at him.

He smiled as he held out a small box that he removed from his pocket. “It
is
your birthday.”

I sat up and took it removed it from his hand. Flipping open the tiny jewelry box, I stared in wonder. It was a perfectly cut sapphire bracelet. “It’s so beautiful.”

I removed the bracelet from its case, handed it to him, and held out my arm so he could put it on me. I curled up on his chest. Even though in the back of my mind I had been disappointed about how things turned out. However, now I was completely content.
 

Chapter 4

Stalker

T
he next few days back home was brutal as I readjusted to my normal schedule. I wished that I were still at the beach house with Kale. He was all I could think about. I felt I was in a constant dream-state-of-mind.
 

I sat at the kitchen table across from Kale. Relaxed, he sat looking at me.

“What?” I said grinning.

“Want to go for a walk?” he asked.

“Now? Sure,” I said, not really caring what I did as long as he was with me.

Kale and I walked down the LA streets on the sunniest day imaginable. Kale held one hand while I held a small flower that he had picked on the way in the other. A daisy…, my favorite.

We were close to Darris Park when a little boy came running up to us, and it appeared as though he had been playing baseball.

“Hey Mister!” he said, tugging on Kale’s shirt.

Kale smiled and kneeled down. “What’s going on, Little Man?”

“Are you a superhero?” the kid asked while looking at Kale wide eyed. The boy hardly reached Kale’s waist in height. His huge brown eyes sparkled, and the baseball cap he wore looked like it had been through quite a few hand-me-downs.

The little boy was so cute with his thick lisp, and with every word he spoke, spit went flying. “Can you fly?”

I looked down at Kale and laughed, waiting for his response.

 
“I see your playing baseball.” Kale pointed to the other kids.

“Yeah, I’m pretty good. Want to play? The bigger kids say me and my friends are too little, and won’t let us play with them.”

“I see,” Kale answered, “I’ll make you a deal…. If you promise to go home and practice there for the next couple of days, then me and my friend, Az, will meet you back here Saturday to play a game.”

“Okay Mister, I promise.” The little boy tugged at his hat and then ran off to reunite with his friends.

I looked at Kale, thinking about how the little boy asked if he was a superhero. “Wow, kids are really imaginative, huh?” I guess I understood. Kale was exceptionally tall and towered over most men.

“He was cute,” I went on, “but I'm really not good at sports so when we do come back, you may want him on your team instead of me.”
 

“No need,” Kale said as he changed the subject and went back to holding my hand.

“What do you mean? We can’t disappoint him. You just promised him,” I sputtered.

Kale looked at me sweetly. “Don’t worry. He won’t be disappointed.” Even though I didn’t know how he could be so sure, I trusted that Kale knew what he was talking about.

The next day, I went to work. It was a normal day of running my butt off. We were serving breakfast, which was always the busiest time of the day. Tannah served the best breakfast on this side of LA and probably the west coast. I wouldn’t know. I rarely ate in the mornings, but it sure did smell good.

I had just set my tray on the counter when I felt the floor began quivering. The motion came harder and faster; glasses fell to the ground shattering into tiny bits. “Earthquake!” I shouted, motioning everyone in the diner to take refuge under nearby tables. Living in California, I was accustomed to earthquakes, and most everyone knew the drill.
 

When the tremor was over, Tannah took route around the diner, checking on all the customers who were hesitantly emerging from beneath the tables. “Is everyone okay?” she asked as most people sat back down to finish their meals, but you could always recognize the out-of-towners who were still huddled under their tables long after the incident was over.

I went about my day, taking orders. I listened to all the different people talk about the earthquake that had happened earlier in the day. They were discussing details of what they were doing, where they were, and whom they were with. It was the day’s gossip.
 

As I brought out an order, I overheard a lady talking to her lunch date. She appeared to be in her mid-fifties and was covered from head-to-toe with jewelry that she had obviously collected over the years. Her gray hair was worn cropped close to her head with an abundance of tight curls. “I was at home when it happened,” she said, talking to her neighbor. “I was walking my dog, Charlie; poor little thing couldn’t even pee afterwards.”

“And did you hear about the old baseball field up the street?” she asked as she sipped her coffee.

“No, what happened?” her busybody friend asked.

“What baseball field?” I interrupted.

“The one at Darris Park, Dear,” she said, looking up at me extremely excited to share her gossip with anyone who was willing to listen. “Apparently, they were doing construction nearby and some of the heavy machinery fell over onto it…, ripped down the fencing, and tore up the field. Thank goodness no kids were hurt,” she added.

“Poor kids won’t have anywhere to play at all now. It will probably take months to get it cleaned up,” her friend spoke up, still in awe at the whole thing.

Goose bumps bubbled up on my arms as I thought of our uncanny meeting with the little boy at the ball field.
If Kale hadn’t told him to practice at home yesterday, he and his friends might have been there. It was as if he knew it was going to happen.

That’s absurd; no one can predict an earthquake.
I tried to shake off the eerie.

“Az… Azaleigh,” Tannah hollered, bringing me back to reality.

“Yeah, Tannah?” I replied.

“Order’s up,” she said in a way to let me know I was out of time for any more discussions.

Later when I was locking up, my mind wandered through the earlier conversations of the day. I thought about the earthquake and the little old ladies at the diner. The park occurrence was odd, but there was something more that was bothering me.

Kale’s behavior was bizarre. He seemed like he was fighting a constant battle inside himself. He would only get so close to me before backing away. This had become a pattern for him, and the more I thought about it, the more it weighed heavy on my mind. I didn’t think he was seeing someone else, but I couldn’t sure.
What was it that he was hiding?
Something was holding him back, and I decided that I was going to get to the bottom of it, one way or another.

The next day, I told Kale I was working the night shift, and that it would be late when I got off, and I would be too tired for any company. Surprisingly enough, he believed me. Talk about feeling bad; I hated lying to Kale, but I had to figure out what was going on. When my shift ended at four o’clock, I headed out the door and straight to my apartment.