On The Edge Of Falling

A Stray Dog

            "Well, hey, there good looking." Zak smiled, as he pulled his fancy car up to the curb. I was sitting on the sidewalk, melting in the summer sun beaming down on me. Zak had looked even better now than he did on the plane. I couldn't seem to move, or speak. I just looked up at him with a wide eyed, in awe expression. "You going to get in, or what?"
            "My mother always taught me not to get into cars with strangers." I smirked, as I stood, strapping my purse around my shoulder.
            "Aw come on, we got candy."
            "What kind of candy?"
            "Wanna lick my lollipop?" Zak said, while revealing those pearly white teeth. The man in the passenger seat, chuckled and shook his head. I cocked my head and tried to keep from laughing. "I could turn around."
            "Okay, fine, but I'm not interested in your lollipop." I said, as I walked towards the car. Zak stepped out and lifted his seat forward, allowing me to climb in the back, but before I could, Zak blocked the way with his muscular arm.
             "Wipe your feet."
             "Excuse me?"
             "I don't want twigs and leaves and shit in my car, so please, wipe your feet." I rolled my eyes, as I scrapped any excess debris off the bottom of my shoe, on the pavement.
            "Is that good enough for you?" I asked with a shrug. Zak gave me a slight nod, and gestured my way to the back seat. Zak climbed into the drivers seat, and revved the engine a few times. I didn't know if he was doing it to impress me, or for his own amusement. The vibration sent tickles through my body, but all I kept thinking was how the hell I ended up in this strangers car. I must have been out of my mind. That really was one golden rule my mama always taught me.
            "Hi, I'm Billy." The man in the passenger seat said, as he turned his body to face me. He reached his hand out and I gave it a firm grip.
            "Addilyn, but I go by Addy."
            "So, where do you need to go?" Zak asked, as he glanced at me through the rear view mirror.
            "I don't know."
            "What do you mean you don't know?"
            "I told you, my cousin was arrested. That's where I was going to stay. I'm from St. Louis. Never been here before." Zak and Billy glanced at each other, showing great concern over what they were going to do with a lost girl. It was like finding a child on the street. Do they drop me off at the police department or a fire station? Zak remained quiet, trying to think of the best possible solution. He wanted to dump me back on the street. He had a very busy life and the last thing he needed was to be my babysitter, but as he looked into my saddened eyes in the mirror, he didn't want to leave me alone.
            "You hungry?"
            Zak, Billy, and I sat at a local restaurant. His car was parked out front and my eyes couldn't leave it. How in the world can this man afford a car like that? This was Vegas, maybe, he was a professional gambler? Or he could be a model? He was very easy on the eyes.
            I couldn't eat much. My nerves had gotten the best of me and anytime I was stressed, I found it very hard to have a decent meal, but Zak insisted I eat something, so I had a small Caesar salad waiting to be torn into. "Are you going to eat?" Zak said, having no problem shoveling the food in.
            "I'm sorry, I'm just not feeling well."
            "Well, I can imagine after what you've been through today." Billy said, after I informed him of my experience.
            "Yeah, well that's only half of it. I broke up with my boyfriend of three years. Found him fucking a blonde bimbo in my bed."
            "Shit, that's rough." Billy sighed.
            "That's why I'm single." Zak smirked.
            "Yeah, he was a piece of shit anyways. But then I got fired from my job and everything just fell apart. I can't find another job. I don't know how I'm going to pay for my apartment, so a vacation should've been the last thing on my mind. That's why I was staying with my cousin, I didn't have a lot of extra money for a hotel. I just had to get away."
             "What do you do, or did you do I should say." Billy asked, seeming more concerned with me than Zak was. Zak was steady winking at the young attractive waitress helping the next table.
            "I'm a photographer."
            "Every girl that shoots a camera thinks she's a photographer." Zak joked.
            "Excuse me, I happen to be very passionate about what I do and damn good at it." I said, defensively, as Zak sipped his water.
            "Then why were you fired?"
            "Because I was too dark and morbid for my boss." I replied, with a curled brow. I finally had taken a bite of my salad, but once again, my appetite was gone due to his snobby remark, and the way he was looking at the women made me want to vomit. Zak finally gave me a genuine smile.
            "Dark and morbid? My kind of girl."
            "Oh, yeah, because I thought she was your kind of girl." I said, as I pointed to the ditzy waitress, who had happened to be walking by. She stopped and stared at me, as Zak's cheeks turned a nice shade of pink. The waitress shook it off and continued to her customers. I glanced at Billy, who was trying to cover his mouth to hold back laughter.
            "Damn, you have quite the mouth on you. Do you always talk that way to nice men who saved your ass?"
            "I wouldn't know, you're the only man to ever save me."
            "Lucky you."
            "Mhmm." I smirked, as Billy widened his eyes at the obvious tension between Zak and I.
             "So, Addy, you're from St. Louis, you're a photographer, you're single..." Billy said, as he gave Zak a quick wink. I laughed, as he didn't even try to hide it from me. "...Anything else we should know about you?"
            "I'm more interested in you guys, actually. What do you do to afford a car like that?" I asked, as I took another bite of my overly dressed salad.
            "I'm a paranormal investigator." Zak replied. I nearly choked on the crouton I was trying to chew. I quickly covered my mouth, keeping from spitting it out on the table. "Is there something funny about that?"
            "No, of course not. It's just...different I guess. I didn't know ghost hunters got paid that much."
            "Paranormal investigator." Zak corrected. "We have a television show on the travel channel. Ghost Adventures. I'm guessing you've never heard of it."
            "No, I'm sorry, I don't watch a lot of tv."
            The awkward silence grew stronger amongst us, and Billy decided to again break the tension. "So, you got a last name?" I curled my brow at the strange question, but answered anyway. Hell, we had nothing else to talk about.
            "It's Reilly. Addilyn Rose Reilly."
            "Pretty name." Billy smiled. I watched as Zak rolled his eyes, and stood from his chair.
            "Alright, Addilyn Rose Reilly, would you like me to call you a cab?" Zak asked. Billy looked up at him, completely taken by the question.
            "Um...I..."
            "I'm sure you want to go home."
            "Uh, will you give me one second alone with him?" Billy asked, as he pulled Zak aside. "Bro, what is wrong with you?"
            "What are you talking about?"
            "This girl is obviously lonely, we can't just drop her at the airport like a fucking stray dog."
            "No, Billy, a stray dog, I would help, but this girl has a serious attitude problem. I'm not going to fucking take care of her."
            "Bro, just..."
            "Billy, stop, I gave her a ride, bought her lunch, that's all she's getting. I'm taking her to the airport and that's the end of it." Zak turned back to the table, as Billy sighed. My chair was empty. "Where the hell did she go?"
            Zak and Billy walked outside to find me leaning, gently of course, on the back bumper of his car. "Hey, don't do that!" Zak yelled, as he approached me. I removed myself from his precious car and wore an aggravated scowl.
            "Don't worry, I didn't harm your car."
            "Not that! You ran out of there, I thought you were kidnapped or something!" Billy couldn't keep the smile off his face, as he watched Zak get all hot and bothered over me.
            "Sorry, my mom called me. I just needed air."
            "You okay?" Billy asked.
            "I just...can't go back home. If you could kindly drive me to a hotel, something cheap preferably, I'd really appreciate it."
            "Perfect." Zak sighed, as he walked towards his car door.
            "Fuck that, you can stay with me." Billy said. I looked at him, completely shocked that he would even offer. Zak turned and looked at him, as if he was out of his mind.
            "Are you....are you serious? You hardly know me. You'd let me stay at your house?"
            "You seem quite harmless." Billy laughed. I smiled, knowing that he was also one who could be trusted. Zak was the only one I worried about. "You don't have to, but the offer is on the table. Your choice. You never know, there could be a lot of great job opportunities here in Vegas."
            My heart raced, as if I was tripping on drugs. My mind told me to not be stupid, to say hell no and go straight to the airport, but my heart was speaking louder, telling me to do it. For once in my life, do something spontaneous. Trust someone. "Okay, I'll take your offer, Billy."
            We pulled into the drive at Billy's house. Billy even was nice enough to let me ride shot gun. As I stepped out, and lifted the car seat for Billy to climb out, I noticed Zak stepping out as well. Billy walked to unlock his front door, and as I began to follow, Zak stepped in front of me. "So, are we going on that date?"
            "You have got to be kidding me."
            "What?"
            "You have been nothing but rude to me."
            "Okay, the last I checked giving a complete stranger a ride and feeding her was a pretty nice thing to do."
            "Yeah, and you couldn't wait to drop me off at the airport."
            "Hey, you have an attitude."
            "Yeah, so do you." I crossed my arms over my chest, and we stared at each other. Like we were playing a game of who was going to blink first.
            "You're feisty and I love feisty women."
            "Well, I'm sure you can find many other feisty women to date because this one isn't going anywhere with you. Goodnight, Zak." I walked to the door and followed Billy inside. Zak bit his bottom lip and made his way back to his car.
            "Don't worry, sweetheart, you'll come around."