ONE
(Prior to TakeMe As I Am Chapter 14)
KALEO
The day Kaleo Kenney met the woman he would fall in love with, he had been in Center City for all of thirty minutes.
Leaving Hawaii had been a bit of culture shock for him, the overnight flight from Hawaii's Daniel Inouye Airport to Chicago had been its own adventure when his flight had been canceled and then the airport rerouted him through Seattle to Chicago and he was actually jonesing for a cup of coffee, but he wanted to sit his ass down somewhere that wouldn't mind his big ass duffel bag.
So he'd gotten on Center City's answer to the Disney People Mover. Okay, so it was a train, but that was the only thing Kaleo had been on on the continental US that was anything close. In Hawaii they had the RAIL system, but that was... ridiculous and didn't seem to serve its purpose, at least people rode the People Mover.
Looking down at his cell phone, he looked at the map of the train stations and looked up at the electronic map up above the door connecting the cars.
Three more stops until he was going to get off at the station to get to his hotel.
The doors below the sign opened up and three guys walked in.
His first instinct was to look away from the men. They were all older than he was, but every movement said that they were tough.
Like they were likely carrying some kind of weapon on them 'tough.'
Kaleo took in a deep breath and let it out.
He didn't want to get into a fight, but he wasn't about to lose everything he had on the first day in Center City.
Well, hell, the first hour.
The men sauntered past the first few rows of seats, looking everyone over as they went.
This wasn't just curiosity about other passengers.
They were looking for something.
Probably easy pickings.
He'd seen the same kind of thing when he was a kid on the school bus.
Bigger, meaner kids looking for weaker kids to pick on.
He let out his breath in a rush through his nose and settled his shoulders.
If they were going to try and rob him, he'd do something about it.
The men stopped a few rows before him, looking at the woman sitting in the row.
She leaned away from them, her shoulder flattening against the window.
They didn't reach for her or say anything.
The guy at the front of the three snorted a laugh and moved on.
The two behind him made a gesture at her, one with his face, a sneering smile, the other with his hand that wasn't something you should do in public.
They moved on and Kaleo knew that he was next. There wasn't anyone else in the seats between them.
The man at the front got up to his side and looked down at him.
"You new in town?"
