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She stepped out into the cool night air and took a deep breath. The smoke in the bar had made it difficult to breathe, not to mention that there were more people packed in there than the fire code would allow. She began walking down the street when she noticed a man leaning against the building, watching her walk past. She instinctively quickened her pace and hurried toward her car, which was parked on the street.
As she pulled her keys out of her purse she felt a hand on her arm. She was roughly turned around and found herself facing the man who had been leaning up against the building. She tried to scream but the man clamped his hand over her mouth, making it impossible to scream and difficult to breathe. She had never been one who was afraid to fight but she found herself pinned against her own car, unable to fight back.
"Where you going?" asked the man. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. His hand was still over her mouth and she tried to respond, hoping he'd remove his hand. She took a deep breath when he did. She let out a loud scream that was cut short by a punch in the stomach. He shoved her back against the car and she felt him groping her. Tears stung her eyes and she prayed that this wasn't happening and that it was all just a horrible dream. She bit the man's hand and he punched her in the face and continued to grope her.
She felt herself growing more and more desperate to get away when suddenly the man was yanked away from her. She immediately pulled what was left of her shirt tightly closed and gaped, wide-eyed at the man who had come to her rescue. He held her attacker by the hair and glared down at him. She was sure he would kill her attacker but didn't. A moment later the police arrived and her attacker was arrested. While the police cuffed him and put him in the car, her rescuer came over to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She recognized him from the bar. He was an intimidating man with long black hair and brown eyes and she felt she almost recognized him from somewhere else, but she didn't know where.
"Yes. Thank you," she said, her voice shaking a bit. He removed his heavy leather jacket and put it on her shoulders. She smiled and pulled it around her.
"My name is Kelsey," she said.
"I'm Gene," he said with a smile.
"Thank you for helping me Gene. I hate to think what would have happened if..." she stopped.
Now that she was safe her body began to shake uncontrollably. Gene put his arm around her and she began to cry. Kelsey cursed herself for breaking down like that, but she couldn't help it. She also couldn't understand how she could trust this man she hardly knew. If she had seen him on the street she would have taken him for a motorcycle gang member. He had a heavy leather jacket, faded jeans and boots. She was sure he probably had a tattoo somewhere. But somehow she felt comfortable enough to cry against his chest. Or maybe it was just that she had been so scared and now she was so relieved. She didn't know. All she knew is that she couldn't control her crying.
Gene didn't say anything. He just held her against his chest and patiently waited for her to get herself under control. After a few minutes, Kelsey pulled away from him and wiped the tears from her face.
"I'm so sorry about that. I don't know what came over me," she said feeling more than a little foolish.
"Don't worry about it. You okay now?" he asked with a smile. Kelsey nodded.
One of the police officers came up to Kelsey and Gene. He had a note pad in his hand. "Miss, we're going to need you to come down to the station to fill out a report," he said.
Before Kelsey had a chance to say anything else to Gene, she was ushered to a police cruiser and helped in. The car sped off toward the police station and Kelsey turned to look back at Gene, her knight in shining armor.
When they arrived at the station, Kelsey was led into the office of the Sergeant and was seated. She waited for what seemed like an hour until the Sergeant finally came in.
"Sorry to make you wait. I need to get some information from you," he said.
Kelsey gave him all the information she could on the man who attacked her and then was told she would have to come back to pick him out of a lineup.
"Even though you caught him there?" she asked incredulously.
"We didn't actually see him. Your friend had a hold of him when we got there. However, we did receive a call from someone that a woman was being attacked. But we need you to pick him out so we can prosecute him," said the Sergeant.
"If it wasn't for Gene, who knows what would have happened," she said. She just wanted this night to end and now she would have to come back and pick her attacker out of a lineup.
"I'm sorry. If you want him punished, you're going to have to do the lineup," he said.  Kelsey sighed.
"Okay," she said finally. She signed the report the Sergeant had filled out after reading it over and then agreed to come back the next day for the lineup.
"We'll call a cab for you to take you back to your car," he said. Kelsey smiled and thanked him and then left his office.
The cab ride was quick and she didn't relax even a bit until she was in her car with the doors locked. She started her car and headed for home. The clock in the dashboard said it was 1:00AM. She groaned. It was too late to call Tina and find out why she hadn't shown up. All Kelsey wanted to do was go to sleep.
She slowly trudged up the steps to her apartment and unlocked the door. She tossed her purse on the table and it was then that she realized that she still had Gene's jacket.
"Crap," she said. She didn't know his last name, where he was from, anything! She felt in the pockets and was surprised to find a wallet. She pulled it out and hesitantly opened it. She hated invading someone else's privacy, but she had no other choice if she was to return the jacket. She jotted the address on his license down on a piece of paper and started to put the wallet back in the pocket when she looked at the name on the license. "Chaim Witz," she read. The name was interesting, very foreign, but he didn't appear to have an accent of any kind. She was tempted to look through it but decided against it.
She hung the jacket up and then undressed for bed. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get to sleep because of everything that had happened, but she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
*********
The next morning she woke and dragged herself out of bed to do laundry. She hated it, but knew it had to get done. She saw Gene's jacket and smiled to herself. Once she was done with her laundry she would take his jacket to him. From the address on his license, he lived in a fairly nice part of town.
She finished folding her laundry and then grabbed Gene's jacket and hopped in her car. She drove around for a bit until she found the right house, parked her car and went to the front door. There was a 1961 Corvette parked in the driveway and Kelsey admired it as she walked up the front steps. It was black with chrome wheels and wide tires in the back. From what she could see, it had gray leather seats.
She turned her attention away from the car and back to the door in front of her. She knocked and waited. She could hear music inside, so she knew someone was home, but no one was answering the door so she knocked again, harder this time. The door suddenly opened and a man, also with long black hair and brown eyes, stood there staring down at her, obviously wondering why she was there. Kelsey looked back at the address written on the piece of paper and then back to the address over the door.
"Can I help you?" he asked. His tone wasn't very friendly and Kelsey was beginning to think that maybe Gene was part of a motorcycle gang.
"Is Gene here?" she asked. "I wanted to return his jacket," she added, hoping he wouldn't just take the jacket and shut the door in her face. She wanted to thank him again.
"Yeah, come on in," he said with a smile, his manner changing. "I'll go get him," he said and disappeared through a door. The music from the other room stopped for a moment and she heard footsteps.
Gene came through the door and immediately smiled. "Thanks Paul," he said to the man who had answered the door. "I was wondering if I'd ever see that again," he said with a smile.
"Well, I couldn't just keep it. I had to go into your wallet to get your address. I hope you don't mind," she said sheepishly.
"No. I appreciate you taking the time to bring it to me," he said taking the jacket from her.
"I appreciate you helping me last night. Returning your jacket was the LEAST I could do for you," she said.
"If the cops hadn't shown up when they did, I couldn't guarantee that he would have lived," said Gene, his eyes darkening. Kelsey looked at him for a moment. "I can't stand seeing someone mess with a woman," he said.
Kelsey smiled. "Too bad there aren't more men like you in the world," she replied. Gene laughed and Kelsey looked bewildered.
"Don't let Paul hear you say that," he said grinning.
"Why not?" she asked. Gene shook his head.
"It's a long story," he said.
Paul opened the door and Gene turned to look at him. "We're waiting on you," he said.
Gene turned back to Kelsey and smiled. "I have to go. Thank you so much for bringing my jacket back," he said.
"No problem at all," she answered. She followed him to the door and he opened it for her.
"Hey, would you be interested in going to dinner tomorrow night?" he asked as she started to walk away.
"Sure," she said with a smile.
"I'll pick you up at 6:00," he said.
"Okay. Should I dress formal or informal?" she asked.
"Informal," he said. She nodded and waved and started to walk away.
"I need to get your address," he said.
Kelsey felt her face flush as she walked back towards the open door. "Oops. I guess that would help, wouldn't it," she said sheepishly. She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and wrote her address and phone number down for him. She handed the paper to Gene and he read it and then smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow at 6:00," he said. She smiled and walked down the sidewalk to her car. She hoped that the Corvette was Gene's car and not Paul's. She had always been a muscle car enthusiast, but had never had an opportunity to ride in anything as nice as a '61 Corvette.
As she drove she thought about Gene and what it was about him that made her feel so comfortable around him. If it had been anyone else, she might not have even returned the jacket, or she would have mailed it. But Gene was different. At first sight, he looked like he might be a murderer or something. Maybe murderer was too harsh. He certainly didn't look like he would be as nice as he was.
When she walked in the door of her apartment, the phone was ringing. She ran and quickly picked it up and was surprised to hear Tina on the other end.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Tina.
"I just walked in the door. What happened to you last night?" asked Kelsey, still upset that her friend had stood her up.
"Oh, well, John called and wanted to make up, so I ended up going to his place," she said. Tina had originally invited Kelsey to go to the bar with her because she and John had had a fight.
Kelsey rolled her eyes. "He always wants to make up," said Kelsey.
"Tell me you didn't go to the bar," said Tina.
"Yes, I sat there for 2 hours waiting for you," said Kelsey.
"I'm so sorry," cried Tina. "And to top it all off, as I was leaving, I got attacked by some drunk," she said.
Tina gasped. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah. This guy named Gene saved me. He's really nice. We're going out to dinner tomorrow night," Kelsey said.
"You're going out with some guy you don't even know?" asked Tina.
"Oh, don't tell me you've never done anything like that," rebuked Kelsey.
"So, what's he like?" she asked. "What does he look like? What does he do for a living?"
"Well, he's tall with long black hair and brown eyes. Kinda looks like he could be a member of the Hell's Angels," said Kelsey. "Wait, you're going to go out with a guy with long hair??" asked Tina incredulously.
"What's wrong with that?" asked Kelsey indignantly.
"Nothing. I just thought you didn't date guys with long hair, only clean-cut, well-dressed gentlemen," she said.
"He is a gentleman," said Kelsey. Tina sighed and Kelsey rolled her eyes.
"You don't want me to start talking about your past boyfriends, do you?" threatened Kelsey.
"No. I don't," she said.
"So what made you decide to make up with John?" asked Kelsey.
"I don't know. Hey, speaking of make-up, did you hear KISS is coming to town next week? They're touring to promote their new album Dynasty," said Tina.
Kelsey had heard of the group and even liked some of their music, but she had never wanted to spend the money to go see them in concert. "No I hadn't heard. You going?" she asked.
"It's sold out, but I'm going to try to win tickets from the radio," said Tina.
"Good luck," said Kelsey.
"If I win will you go with me?" she asked.
"Of course. I like their music," she said. She and Tina talked for a while longer and then Kelsey hung up to start getting dinner ready. She ate alone most of the time except when Tina came over.
****************
The next day dragged by like a slow-moving train and Kelsey wondered if 6:00 would ever get here. When it finally did, there was a knock on her apartment door. She calmed herself and slowly walked to the door to open it. She didn't want Gene to think she was standing there waiting for him.
"You ready to go?" he asked with a smile.
"Yeah, let me grab my purse," she said.
He stood in the doorway as she dashed back in and grabbed her purse. She locked the door behind them and they went down the three flights of stairs to the front door. Kelsey looked for the '61 Corvette, but didn't see it and she was a bit disappointed. That's when she noticed that he was walking toward a motorcycle. She smirked to herself and wondered if she had been right about him the first time. It was a Harley Davidson Softail. The gas tank was black with a silver dragon painted on it. Kelsey admired it for a moment as Gene climbed on.
"Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle before?" he asked as he put the key in the ignition.
"No, I haven't," she said. He pulled out the kick-starter and with one strong 'kick', started it right up.
"Just hold on and lean with the bike. It's really simple," he said.
Kelsey climbed on and situated herself behind Gene. He handed her a black helmet and she took it and looked at it for a moment. "I make all my passengers wear one," he said. Kelsey could tell the helmet was not optional so she put it on. They pulled away from the curb and Kelsey instinctively put her arms around Gene's waist. The noise from the engine made it difficult to talk so they rode in relative silence.
When they reached the restaurant, he pulled into a parking space next to another Harley and put the kick-stand down. Gene climbed off the bike and then helped her off. She took the helmet off and he locked it on the bike.
They went inside and Gene appeared to be looking for someone. Kelsey recognized Paul at the same time Gene saw him and they headed over toward the table Paul and a beautiful woman were sitting at. Kelsey felt self-conscious because she had never considered herself beautiful and she felt ugly compared to Paul's date.
"You remember Paul, right?" he asked as they reached the table.
"Yeah, but we were never formally introduced," she said.
"Paul, this is Kelsey. Kelsey, this is Paul and this is Shannon," said Gene. Kelsey shook Paul and Shannon's hands and then sat down. Shannon said something to Paul and he shook his head. Kelsey wondered if they were talking about her and then cursed herself for being so paranoid. The waiter came and took their orders and they sat there talking and getting to know one another. "What do you do for a living?" asked Paul.
Kelsey cringed internally. Her job was anything but exciting and she always hated telling people what she did. She had always hoped she would have something more exciting to tell people. "I'm an administrative assistant for a telecommunications company," she said. "It's not the most exciting job but it pays the bills," she added. "What about you Paul? What do you do?" she asked.
He smiled and looked at Gene. "Gene and I are sort of in the music business," he said.
"Sort of?" asked Kelsey.
"We're studio musicians," said Paul. "I play guitar and sing and Gene plays bass guitar," he said.
"Have you met anyone famous?" she asked, knowing it was probably a stupid question.
"A few," said Gene with a smile.
"Really? Who?" she asked. She knew she was probably being foolish, but she had always liked hearing stories from other people about encounters with famous people. Paul rattled off a bunch of names like Led Zepplin, the Rolling Stones, and similar bands who were huge successes. Kelsey was thrilled to hear some of the stories they had to tell of encounters with other musicians.
After a while, Kelsey stopped feeling so self-conscious. Paul, Gene and Shannon were all very easy-going people and she found she fit right in with them. The food came and the conversation died down a bit while everyone made short work of their dinner. Kelsey talked a little bit more about her job and also talked about her horse. She told them that her true passion would be to train horses full-time.
"Why don't you do it?" asked Gene.
"I don't own my own stable, plus I don't have the money to start the business. Some day I'll do it," she said. Kelsey had convinced herself that, even though it was something she really wanted to do, she would probably never be able to.
"Just because you don't have the money right now doesn't mean you won't be able to do it. If you really want to do it, you will find a way," said Gene.
Kelsey smiled and nodded but inside she was sad. She knew what Gene was saying was true, but she doubted whether she had the determination to actually see it through.
They sat in the restaurant talking about everything from politics to philosophy until they realized that the busboys were cleaning up and the restaurant was closing. Gene paid the bill and they left. Paul's motorcycle was the one they had parked next to and she took a moment to admire it.
"You want to go for a ride?" asked Gene. Kelsey nodded and put the helmet on and climbed on behind him.
"I have to take Shannon home so I won't be going," said Paul with a smile.
Gene nodded as he started the motorcycle. Kelsey held on as they pulled away, waving to Paul and Shannon as they left.
They cruised along the freeway, the cool night air feeling cold as they sped along. They exited the freeway near the beach and pulled up at a stoplight. The car next to them had the stereo turned up loud and Kelsey recognized the song "I Was Made For Loving You".
Gene jammed a bit to the music and Kelsey smiled. "They are coming to town next week to kick off their new tour," she said in his ear.
"Yeah, I heard. You going?" he asked.
Kelsey shook her head. "It's sold out. My friend is trying to win tickets from the radio station, but I don't know how much luck she's going to have," she said.
"I hope she does win. They're a great group and from what I've heard, their stage show is pretty impressive," said Gene as the light changed to green.
They rode along the beach for a while and then stopped. Kelsey kicked her shoes off and walked down into the cool water getting chased by the waves while Gene stood on the sand watching. A patrol car pulled into the parking lot and the two officers got out of their car and walked down onto the beach. Kelsey turned to see the two officers walk up to Gene and she could tell he wasn't happy they were there. From what she could see in the darkness, they had asked for identification from him and they seemed to be asking him a lot of questions, gesturing toward her.
Kelsey walked up to the three men and stopped. "Is there a problem officers?" she asked.
One of the officers shined his flashlight in her face, momentarily blinding her. "Can I see some identification?" asked the officer. Kelsey handed him her driver's license. "This beach is closed after dark," he said eyeing Gene again.
"I'm sorry. We didn't realize that. We'll be going now," she said.
The officer handed her license back to her and she took Gene's hand and led him toward the motorcycle. They climbed on the bike and hurried away before the two cops decided to follow.
"What were they asking you?" she asked in his ear.
"They wanted to know what I was doing here and then they wanted to know if you were over 18," he said. Kelsey couldn't miss the disgust in Gene's voice.
"They must be bored. I've been to this beach at night before with my friends and never had a problem," she said.
"Your friends don't look like me though," he said. Kelsey felt her anger growing.
"I wish people wouldn't judge others by their looks," she said.
"I should be used to it by now," he said. The rode on in silence and Kelsey wondered how often Gene ran into that type of prejudice. It was probably because he had long hair and rode a motorcycle. She couldn't tell for sure how old he was, but she figured he was in his late twenties, maybe thirty. He seemed like such a nice guy but she could tell by the look in his eyes when he was talking to the cops that he was not the kind of guy you wanted mad at you.
When he finally dropped Kelsey off at her apartment, she was freezing. Not only did she not have a jacket but she had also left her shoes at the beach. He looked down at her bare feet.
"Where are your shoes?" he asked. "Um, still at the beach. I didn't put them on after I saw the cops bothering you," she said sheepishly.
"I'm sorry. If I had known that I would have gone back for them," he said.
"No big deal. I never really liked those shoes anyway," she said with a laugh.
They stood at the door to her apartment, awkwardly trying to decide what to do next. Kelsey decided that if he wanted to kiss her, she would let him. She looked up at him and she could tell he wasn't sure what to do so she stood on her toes and kissed him. He seemed surprised for a moment but then returned the kiss. After a few moments, she pulled away and smiled. "Good night Gene," she said unlocking her apartment door.
"Good night Kelsey," he replied. She shut the door and set her purse down on the table before turning on the light. It had been a wonderful evening and she hoped he would call her again.