Chapter 5

Kate gasped as the ride came to a close. Her stomach was located somewhere near her throat and her toes at the same time. "Well hell, girl, we gotta go on that ride again!"

Elena peeked at her friend through the fingers now crazy glued to her eyes. "And you call ME the crazy one." She'd lost her urge to eat three dips back and seriously doubted she'd eat again for days. "Hell yeah…we can do that again. Noooo problemo." When her stomach returned to its rightful place…like never.

She flipped her hair back, "C'mon, you wanted adventure! What's better than that as the first thing we do tonight?" Kate rolled her shoulders. "I feel all loose and hungry," she said with a big smile, then spotted the wannabes heading out beside them. "Well, I did feel loose until just now," she groused as they passed by.

Her eyes followed the tall dark guy as he walked by, "Goddamn look at that ass, Katydid. Now that makes me feel something other than tight for sure." She smiled before turning her attentions back to her friend. "So food or another ride?"

Kate looked over then back at her friend with an arched brow. "The tall one doesn't have an ass, Sugar.” Shrugging she let her head fall back against the plastic seat, waiting for the ticket boy to unlock their section. “Food, I guess. I could go for a beer and some fried dough."

"You looking at the same guy I am my friend?" She watched Kate a moment and caught where her eyes were following. "His is ok, but he’s no long tall drink of water either." She shivered at the thought of food, her belly still felt like it was on the roller-coaster. "A beer sounds good, let’s go."

"I wasn't looking at the other one," she said defensively.

"Liar, liar pants on fire," Elena giggled. "It’s ok to look, you know."

"Just because he has a nice ass and better hair than most of the women at this park doesn't mean he's any less of a jerk." She snapped her harness back and stood on perfectly steady legs. She was invigorated from the ride. In fact, she was feeling reckless. The last time she was reckless, she...well, she didn't want to think about it.

Elena pushed her harness away and took a deep breath before standing. She loved adventure and could be as wild as the next person, but just sometimes vertigo could really do a number on her. As she stood her knees wobbled slightly. Taking a deep breath she stepped out of the coaster car and started to walk with Kate to the fried dough stand. She inhaled sharply as they passed the "wannabes" her vertigo making the world fall away as her heel caught in a crack in the side walk. "SHIT!" she yelped as she began to fall only to be stopped inches from the ground by a set of strong arms.

"Hey steady there. You ok?" Jon’s eyes widened as he realized who he’d caught. He steadied her as she stood up then quickly removed his hands. "Watch yourself, sweetheart.”

Surprise shook her as Kate stepped forward, "You okay, honey?" She looked up at the lighter haired one of the duo. "Thank you," she said tightly. "C'mon, hon, let's sit down for a second."

"Yeah um, thanks.” She took a deep breath as the world stopped swaying. “That coulda been a nasty one," she turned to Kate and smiled. "I'm ok really, just a bit of vertigo. Let’s get that food."

"Are you sure?" Kate asked and put an arm around her.

"Are you sure she's okay?" Richie asked with a worried frown.

Kate looked over her shoulder, her eyes drifting from one man to the other. "Thanks guys, seriously. We'll be fine." She looked back to her friend. "Well I didn't see that one coming. I figured we’d be in an ER for sure. You do know it’s my night off, right?"

Elena smiled a bit shakily. "Stupid vertigo. I love the rides, just sometimes it gets me. So dough or popcorn? IF i should even ask."

Reading her friend's embarrassment, she locked her arm through hers. "Well, fried dough for me. My ass loooves it, Sugar, you know that." She couldn't stop herself from looking over her shoulder one last time. She really hadn't expected the over processed boy to be so quick on the draw.

Jon caught her glance and gave her a my pleasure ma'am style wink. Thank God he still had a pretty good reaction time even with a beer or seven in him. He was used to partying on a tour bus giving him a leg up on the balance department. Not to mention the feisty dark haired girl was saved a bit of pain so all was good. He grinned over at Richie, "Wow, you still look worried over that girl."

"She didn't look to steady on those stilts she was wearing," he said absently. He was still watching her. The painted on jeans and ridiculous shoes not withstanding she suddenly seemed a little fragile.

Jon cocked a brow upwards, “Ah, you know how girls are about their heels. She probably just didn’t eat or somethin’. Glad I managed to catch her though, she's got a cute face, would’ve been a shame to get it all banged up."

"A damn shame," he agreed. He shifted his gaze to the curvier one. "The other one's not bad, but a little too much mouth for me. The little one, she's sweeter…softer I think."

“The redhead had a mouth, bro, but that dark haired one had some sass. I wouldn’t count her out yet.”

Elena snagged a piece of fried dough right off Kate's plate. The scent of sugar had pushed the best of the nausea away. "Mmmmm , not bad girl, not bad at all." She grinned as she tilted the beer to her lips. Her eyes shifted around the eating area, sparkling when she caught those pretty brown eyes watching. "Shhhh. Don’t look now but I think we're being watched."

Kate tried to sneak a peek at the guys, but didn't want to be obvious about it. The dark one was pretty obviously watching them. The shorter one was ribbing him if she didn't miss her guess. "Well, don't give them any ammunition to come over here. It won't take but a smile."

Elena tilted her head, a rueful look turning her normally lively brown eyes murky, "You really dislike the shaggy one, huh?"

"He's an ass, but I can't be mean to him because he played knight in shining armor. So don't make me be mean to the hero. Aww shit, Lains...did you have to?" She blew out a breath as her friend couldn't help but flash her pearly whites at the tall, dark stranger.

"Whaaaaat? He’s cute, dammit." Elena blushed slightly, "It’s in my nature to flirt with the purty ones."

"Aww crap! What did I tell you? Here they come. I really hate you sometimes," Kate muttered and put her game face on.

"I’m sorry." Elena offered up, but the grin in her eyes said very clearly that nope, she wasn't sorry. Not one damned bit.

"Right," she muttered. She forced a smile as the two of them got closer. "It's sweet of you guys to worry, but she's all back to normal. You guys can go off to your next victims." Shoot. She wanted to drag that one back, but it was too late. Now she just sounded like a crabby bitch. She was way out of practice on the while dealing with men thing.

Elena grinned, "Or you could sit and share a beer with us, although maybe the hero should have a coke or something." She winked up at the tall one who had called himself Richie.

Nearly choking on a piece of dough Kate jumped when the shorter one patted her back. "I'm fine, I'm fine." she shrugged off his touch, her system suddenly super sensitive to him beside her. She rounded the table and sat next to Elena. "Sure sit," she said without a trace of welcome.

Elena's eyes flickered with a bit of disappointment, she had almost looked forward to seeing just how warm that hot dark guy felt, but forced the thought away and smiled. "So what brings you two fellas out here tonight?"

Richie didn't bother to pretend he wasn't interested. He hooked a booted foot through the picnic style table and sat down. "We've got some time off from our...jobs," he said trying not to smirk. "Thought we’d cruise our old haunts."

Elena's eyes shifted down to the boot, damn he had some long feet, before traveling back up to finally realize he had the darkest chocolate sin eyes she'd ever seen. "Old haunts, huh? You’re what? All of 22? What’s so old about them?"

Richie snorted, "More like 27, darlin'. We grew up around here. Well a far bit farther north from here, but we all came down to the shore when we were kids. I didn't know this fool then," he jerked a thumb toward Jon. "We met a little later. Normally he's a good guy," He said and tried to give Jon a few bonus points.

Elena quietly watched him talk, a smile playing about her lips. "Good reflexes at least."

Richie's eyes drifted down to the slash of red lips that kept bending into a smile and felt his jeans tighten a little. Her tongue kept flicking at the corner of her mouth as if she knew he was staring. He forced his gaze to lift and meet her golden brown eyes. The smile played there, lighting them and made him want to keep that smile going. "He has his moments. We like him enough to keep him around."

"Don't know why," Kate muttered.

With a self deprecating smile, Jon grinned, "It's simple when you sign the paychecks. Besides, I can actually be kinda fun to be around, most of the time." He turned his azure eyes onto Kate, his voice husky and soft, "If a person were to give it a chance to find out that is."

Kate crossed her arms under her chest and then dropped them when his eyes went from sweet to hot in a second. Damn, she was so sick of every man staring at her like she was meat. It was just a body. Wishing for a pair of dumpy scrubs she tried to get into the conversation. "I only give those who deserve it a second chance," she said tightly.

Jon tilted his head slightly wanting to remind her of who had saved her friend, but remained silent. His blue eyes calmly staring her down with a gaze full of heat and promise and a bit of mischievousness.

Kate lifted her chin and met his gaze. "So he can keep his mouth shut? Amazing."

Jon grinned and bared his throat then pointed to the jugular. "It’s right there sweetheart. Go for it again if it makes ya happy."

"You'd like it too much," she said sweetly and swung her legs out from under the table. "I need a drink. Want?" she asked Elena, but just rolled her eyes when she was far too intent on Rick? Rich? Richie? Yeah, that was his name, Richie. "I'll be back," she said. She needed to get away from him. The one she didn't know the name of. She just needed a second to breathe.

"I'll take a Corona if you don’t mind!" Jon called out after her, "Just one."

"You get a cold soda, I might like you better sober," she said over her shoulder and stalked off.