Chapter Nine
The next morning, Cole took Angel and left the clubhouse. He didn’t tell her where they were going. He didn’t want to give her a chance to change her mind.
They rode for hours, down through Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, all the way to Big Sur. They stopped here and there along the way and reached Big Sur by dinnertime.
Cole pulled into a campground that also rented out small rustic cabins. He parked the bike, and they got off.
Angel watched as he took his cut off and stuffed it in his saddlebag. He pulled out a flannel shirt and pulled it on to cover his shoulder holster.
When he saw the questioning look Angel was giving him, he explained, “No reason to give ‘em an excuse not to rent to us.”
She nodded.
They walked into the office, and Cole talked to the woman behind the counter. Angel wandered over to a display of brochures. It was mid-week, and luckily they had one cabin left available.
Cole paid and got the key.
The woman gave him directions to their unit.
They got back on the bike, and Cole rolled slowly through the row of cabins until they found #9. He pulled up and parked.
It was a tiny cabin, set off at the end of the row. They were all rustic log cabins, probably built back in the fifties.
They got off and got their few things out of the saddlebags.
Cole unlocked the door, and they walked in. There was a small couch and table with two chairs on one side and a double bed on the other side.
They stowed some of their stuff and went back outside to walk around. The place was on a small river and set among huge redwood trees.
“It’s beautiful here,” Angel marveled, looking up. The sunlight filtered through the huge majestic trees.
“They make you feel small, don’t they?” Cole watched her; he’d give anything to bring a smile back to her face. But so far, she’d been quiet.
Angel nodded. “They must be so old.”
“Yeah, hundreds of years old.”
After they wandered around for a while, they headed out and found a restaurant. They ate at a rowdy roadhouse grill. The place was packed, mostly with a young crowd. They ended up talking with a group at a table next to them and had a great time. Angel finally snapped out of it and began to smile and laugh again. After the meal, they all ended up in the bar, shooting darts and drinking beer.
“Can I have some money for the jukebox?” Angel asked Cole when the music stopped.
He smiled down at her and dug in his pocket, pulling a couple of bills out. “Anything for my baby.”
She smiled, reaching up to grab the bills out of his hand and turned toward the jukebox. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back. She fell against his chest, laughing.
He smiled down at her and asked, “You gonna play me some blues, baby doll?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” she replied with a saucy smile and walked over to the jukebox. She fed the bills into the slot and browsed through the selections, punching in several choices. She turned and grinned at Cole over her shoulder.
“Stevie Ray Vaughan?”
He had his beer bottle tipped up for a drink. He swallowed and grinned at her. “Stevie Ray? Absolutely, babe.”
She continued flipping through the selections until she found another and glanced back at him again.
“Tab Benoit?”
“Oh, hell yeah.”
She strolled back to him. “Did I make my man happy?”
He pulled her between his legs, wrapping his arms around her. “What do you think?”
She cocked her head to the side, pretending to consider. “Hmm. I think I’ve got your number.”
He grinned. “Yeah, baby doll. You absolutely have my number.”
An hour later, Cole sat on a bar stool and watched Angel take her turn at the dartboard. She threw a bull’s eye, and one of the guys teased her that she was across the line. Another jumped in front of the board on her next shot, trying to throw her game off. She laughed and pretended to throw a dart at his butt. They all laughed. Cole noticed she fit in with them, better than she probably did with him.
Angel walked back over to him and picked her beer up off the bar. She took a drink and set it back down. She looked at Cole, saw him studying her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
He smiled. “Nothing.” He pulled Angel to him until she stood between his legs. “You havin’ a good time?”
“I’m having a great time.” She returned his smile.
“Good.” He bent his head to claim her mouth in a kiss.