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Authors: A. K. Hartline

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BOOK: The Rain Began to Fall
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He turned back to
Leigh, who was once again sitting on the hood of her car.

“Sounds like I’m
done already, doesn’t it?” he said, chuckling and smiling that ever-confident
smile.

“I think some of
these guys talk bigger than they are,” she responded, returning his smile,
displaying a perfect row of pearly white teeth.

“Well, one’s bit
the dust already, so I guess I’ll just have to keep proving it, won’t I?” he
said. He hooked his thumbs into his belt loops and leaned heavily back against
the front of her car. She slid down off the hood, and stood beside him, their
shoulders touching.

A moment of
silence fell between them as they watched Wade pull back down the stretch from
his successful race against the Olds. Kyle was glad, with some distance now
between the overwhelming desire he had felt a moment ago, that they had been
interrupted. What had he been thinking? Just today he had managed to check
himself and keep things on track, but tonight, he had almost blown it. He had
never wanted to kiss a girl so badly in his life; but how did he know for sure
that he couldn’t seal the deal right now? Maybe she
would
fall in love
with him. Maybe she
was
in love with him. The fact that she was even
here indicated a major willingness on her part.

“You’re taking a
chance coming out here, aren’t you?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“It’s one I wanted
to take, Kyle, or I wouldn’t be here,” she responded sincerely, then softly bit
her bottom lip. He looked quickly at her, raising his eyebrows. She stared
straight ahead, immediately regretting her response, realizing it only served
to add weight to their quasi relationship. But it had been a direct, honest
statement, spoken unexpectedly and boldly from her heart.

Wade had now
parked on the side of the road and climbed out of his car amidst a group of
guys that were clapping him on the back and congratulating him on his win.
Billy was, of course, right by his side, pumping his fist into the air. Wade
opened a cooler that sat on the tailgate of a truck and tossed beers all around
to the crowd. He popped one himself and drained it. Raised voices, laughs and
shouts blended with the sounds of hot-rod motors idling loudly.

The wind was up;
late March winds bringing in early April, as Kyle continued staring at Leigh,
weighing her heart felt comment. She could see him watching her out of the
corner of her eye, and she finally turned her head slowly into his gaze. Their
eyes met and searched each others, an unspoken communication, both conveying
that primal, ages old desire of man for woman, woman for man.
I don’t know
anything about him
, she thought.
But oh how I want to.
Over his
shoulder, she saw Wade heading toward them. He walked up, belching loudly, hat
in hand.

“Hey man, time to
draw again,” Wade announced loudly, breathing hard. “Did you see me blow that
Olds away?”  He held the hat unceremoniously out to Kyle, and the
remaining winners walked up to draw as well.

“Didn’t notice,”
Kyle answered nonchalantly, with a cocky smile that Wade wanted to wipe off his
face more than anything.

“Well, you will if
you draw me,” Wade sneered, now flanked by his faithful cohort Billy. Leigh
watched this exchange with amusement.
Male testosterone in action
, she
thought. Kyle drew, and the rest followed.

“You get Rusty!”
Billy exclaimed enthusiastically. “He’s got the Cuda. Don’t guess you’ll get to
race Wade. Too bad! Rusty’s the fastest around here, besides Wade of course!”
Wade laughed and clapped Billy on the back.

“You know it
Billy,” he said. He looked back at Kyle, pointing. “You’re up, bud.” With that,
he and the group walked away.

Kyle turned back
to her, and she was shaking her head.

“What a bunch of
goofs you guys are!” she exclaimed, laughing.

“Present company
excluded, of course,” he replied smiling. He dug his keys from his pocket.
“Guess it’s time to do it again. Stick around, beautiful, I’ll be right back.”

“Good luck Kyle,”
she replied.

“Thanks,” he
replied, “but luck has nothing to do with it. Skill and preparation wins.”

“Excuse
me
,”
she replied. “Break a leg, then!”

“That’s more like
it!” he responded, laughing.

He got into his
car, and rolled slowly to the starting line. A guy approached and leaned in his
window.

“Hey, you want to
bet on yourself man?” he asked.

“Sure,” Kyle
responded, opening his wallet and producing a Ben Franklin he’d brought for
just this occasion. “Easy money. Can you cover?”

“Done,” the
stranger replied, laughing and running over to the group surrounding Rusty. He
revved his engine in bursts, and it sounded powerful. Kyle stomped his own
pedal, and the roar was just as loud and impressive. Rusty gave thumbs up to
the guy who had placed the bet, then looked over at Kyle and turned his thumb
down. Kyle didn’t acknowledge the gesture, turning away from Rusty and training
his eyes on the guy standing between them who would start the race. He rubbed
his hand across the knob of the shifter. The Cuda would be a little harder to
beat. A guy named Tony Gress drove the same model back home, and it could fly.

Leigh was watching
all of this intently when a black Jaguar suddenly sped out of the darkness,
braking quickly and coming to a screeching halt behind her Porsche. It was
Gene, and in a blink he was out of his car, slamming the door hard, and
marching toward her in a huff. Her heart jumped in her chest.
What is he
doing here
? she thought wildly.
How did he know where I was
? She saw
the flashlight rise and come down, and heard the deafening scream of the
engines as they tore off the starting line. She braced for the confrontation as
Gene stormed up to his errant fiancé, his face flushed and red.

“What are you
doing out here, Leigh?” he hollered above the noise, stopping directly in front
of her. His hands were on his sides, and his eyes, full of confusion and anger,
were earnestly searching her face. She stared at the ground, not wanting to see
his anger, not wanting this scene at all. He stuck his hands out, palms up,
shrugging his shoulders.

“What?” he
shouted. “Why?”

But she continued
staring down, mute, in a state of shock that he had somehow found out where she
was.

“Answer me,
Leigh!” he demanded.  “What are you doing out here with these...these
hoodlums?” He swept his hand across the entire area.

Halfway down the
stretch, Kyle and Rusty were neck and neck. Kyle had already thrown into
overdrive. He had it floored, dumping all the gasoline he could to the
carburetor, but the Cuda wasn’t giving ground easily. Then, with about a
hundred yards to go, he felt the surge and he pulled a quarter - length ahead.
When they crossed the finish line he was a hundred dollars richer.  He
laughed and smacked the dashboard.

“Alright! Good job
girl! ” he hollered. ZZ Top proclaimed, "..
.I’m Bad, I’m nationwide
...”
out of his car’s speakers as he tapped the gas pedal, lurching back down the
stretch. He couldn’t wait to get back to Leigh.  She had heard Kyle and
Rusty finish their race, and the cheers that erupted. She wanted to watch, even
now as her fiancé confronted her. Finally, her paralysis broke enough to speak.

“I thought you
were working late!” she blurted out.

“I put it off to
spend some time with
you
!” he exclaimed, exasperated, “but surprise,
surprise!”

“How did you know
I was here?”

“Wasn’t that hard
to figure out,” he retorted. “I called Mindy, looking for you. She said you
were going to the races.”

“How do
you
know
about them?” she asked.


Everybody
knows about them!” he exclaimed. “It’s been going on for years!  But it’s
illegal
, Leigh! To participate
or
watch!”

She was trying to
be careful with her choice of words. She knew there was precious little she
could say right now to placate him.

“I just needed some
fresh air,” she explained.

“Couldn’t you have
gotten that somewhere else? I mean the people out here aren’t exactly part of
our scene! They’re a bunch of derelicts! It’s not our turf, Leigh.” She ignored
his sermon.

“I stay cooped up
inside all day, you know,” she responded. “Someone invited me, so I decided to
come and see.”


Who
invited
you?” he shouted, now thoroughly enraged.

“Oh, just one of
the employees at Falstead, Gene!” She was now becoming irritated as well. “It’s
no big deal, okay? I just went on a lark.”

“Will I have to
fear turning my back on you when we’re married?” he asked with consternation.
“Is that how it’s going to be?”

He fumed. He
looked hard at his wife to be, and for the first time noticed her provocative
attire.

“And what about the
way you’re dressed! Who are you trying to turn on?”

He was livid,
trying to wrap his mind around this place she had come to, and the way too
short skirt she was wearing. She had behaved questionably before, when they
were teenagers, and her occasional forays into flirtation then had caused him
some concern. She’d had a bit of a wild streak, and back then he had wondered
more than once if he could hold onto her. But all of that had ceased when her
father died. After that, she had clung tightly to him for support, their
relationship deepening through the college years and her long period of
mourning and recovery. There had been no episodes that would cause him any
pause for a long time. Until now, that is.

Leigh had endured
his angry tirade, dutifully accepting what she figured was rightfully coming to
her. But the more she was subjected to it, the more indignant she became. Maybe
he had the right to go off on her some here, and be upset that she hadn’t told
him where she was going.  But he was over the line with this outburst. She
had noticed this excessive dominance in his nature for some time, and she had
put up with it for some reason, even as it grew stronger after their
engagement. It was true that she was enamored with Kyle; but she had done
nothing wrong, other than not tell Gene where she was going. Certainly nothing
that rose to the level of justifying this verbal thrashing!

There was a time
when things were different; when another, younger Leigh, one more independent
and willful, wouldn’t have allowed him to berate her in such a way. He would
not have assumed such liberties then, would have been more respectful in his
treatment of her.

That was the girl
she was before her father had passed away, and although she wasn’t aware of it,
that version of her, like the phoenix, was slowly rising from the ashes. She
was awaking from a passive, emotional stupor, one induced by her need to lean
so heavily on someone so familiar and close to her in order to survive the
heartache of her loss.  He started to speak again, but she would hear no
more.

“Stop it, Gene!”
she said sternly. He looked at her with shock and surprise, her strong tone
entirely unexpected.  “You’re treating me like a child and I don’t
appreciate it! I don’t have to beg your permission to breathe, got it?” She was
squared in front of him, her hands on her sides. She was now furious
herself.  “I came out here, like I told you, at the invitation of a
friend. You were working late,
again
, and I was simply bored at home
waiting for you to end your
never ending workday
!” He stood wide-eyed
and speechless, his mouth hanging comically open. It had been a long time since
she had asserted herself like that.

Over Gene’s
shoulder, she saw that Kyle had returned. He got out of his car and walked over
to the guy who had approached him before the race, and she saw him put money
into Kyle’s hands.
So he won,
she thought.
Good for him
.  It
dawned on her that he might come over. There was the chance he might realize
the situation and stay away, but she gave that idea little merit. Given the
general atmosphere of the evening, she thought it more likely he was charged
enough to push the envelope, and Gene was angry enough to push back. She had to
get Gene out of there to prevent the possibility of a collision. Things could
get messy.

“I’m leaving,” she
told him abruptly. “If we’re going to continue this argument, we’re not doing
it out here.”

“Leigh, wait…” he
implored, but she quickly got into her car, started it and pulled off with a
screech. Totally perplexed, he stood still and looked around the area for a
moment, wondering who her “friend” was. Male or female? Several people were
staring at him, and he couldn’t have felt more out of place. He went quickly to
his car and gave chase.

Kyle watched as they
drove off. He had seen Leigh with a man when he drove back down, deduced it was
her fiancé, especially when he noticed the Jaguar, and stayed away. He knew she
was leaving quickly to avoid any confrontation, and he imagined her fiancé’ had
been plenty upset to discover his bride to be out here with the undesirables.

The racing was
done for the evening, as Wade had blown a head gasket, preventing the showdown
between them. They agreed to get it on as soon as his Impala was ready to roll
again, Wade hurling predictions to anyone that would listen that Kyle didn’t
stand a chance. He climbed into his car and drove away, and on the road back to
his apartment, he imagined all of the hoops her beau would jump through to hang
onto her. But what man wouldn’t? Yes, he would do everything to keep her. And,
smiling, Kyle knew he would do anything to have her.

CHAPTER 7
 

The lights were
turned down low, and music played softly on the stereo in Gene’s spacious
downtown apartment.  He was at the wet bar, preparing two glasses of Dom
Perignon champagne. He glanced over at Leigh, who was on the couch with her
knees tucked up, her arms folded around them. Her head lay back as she stared
at the ceiling, her long hair spilling over the edge, cascading down the
backside of the sofa. He stopped in mid pour into the second glass, admiring
her great beauty from his vantage point.  As he corked the bottle, his
mind wandered back to the events of the prior evening on Summerville road. He
had been so angry with her, and had really lost his cool. After a high speed
chase he had caught up with her at home, and had gotten quickly out of his car
to approach her, but she would have none of it. She had shot into the house
like a bullet, slamming the door and leaving him standing alone in the
driveway.
If that’s how you want it
! he had spitefully thought at the
time, growing angry all over again and squealing the tires as he sped away.

BOOK: The Rain Began to Fall
11.29Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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