Wild Riders

Perfect timing

9 years ago...

My hands were on my knees, my t-shirt drenched in sweat, and my head hanging low whilst I was trying to catch my breath. "Waste of f*****g time," I heard my father curse, followed by a loud thud. He smashed another hole into the thin grayish wall making up the makeshift gym. "Get yourself together!" his voice was loud and rough, and I knew, that if I didn't pull myself together right that moment, I'd have a bruise on my ribs for the next week or so. Standing up straight, I got back into my fighting stance, blowing a stray piece of hair, which escaped my ponytail, from my forehead. Every bone and every muscle in my body hurt from the intense training that I'd endured with my father for the past two days, but he didn't show any mercy. We would stop at perfection and he wouldn't settle for anything less.

...

"I know about the little problem you have,” and as I said, his head jerked up in alert, his eyebrows scrunching together, more in anger than worry. He quickly collected his bearings though, his lips forming a smile, before laughter broke from his chest, "You know of my problems? Well, damn, now I'm intrigued," he was full of himself. I knew he didn't want me in his office. He was probably furious about a young little thing taking on his security and now trying to wager a deal. Honestly, if I was in his shoes, I'd probably feel the same way.

“About the drug shipment, you want to stop.” I was collected, I had to be prepared in case he decided I, for some reason, knew too much. “I see… so you’ve been in this world for some time then, huh?” he meant the world of MCs. Of always being on the road, of getting into fights, and then, at some point, settling down and trying to build some kind of legacy, while fighting to gain the most power out of the MCs around - which was exactly what Willy was trying to do. “Yes,” I cleared my throat before explaining further: “Anyway if you want to stop it, I can help you.”

“I don’t even know when it’s going down. Those bustards barricaded themselves up.” He ran his hand through his hair in obvious frustration. “Yeah, your people may not be able to get in. Me, on the other hand? Easily,” confidence was spilling, really pouring out of me and he could see it. It amused him. He doesn’t trust me.

“As I’ve said, I’m well-trained, I know my way with weapons, and I’m a mean pickpocket, which is a dying, yet useful craft,” I pursed my lips, expecting an answer. “I still don’t think you’d get anywhere with them. Don’t think you can get information from them. On the other hand, if you show me some more of your combat moves, I could use a replacement for the new guy who tried to hold you at gunpoint … and failed,” the last part of the sentence was said with an eye roll, the action almost making me laugh out loud. “Sure, as long as that means you’ll make me a member of the club.” I sat back down in my chair, leaning back, taping my forefinger on the gun's handle. “Take one of my men to the ground, and you’ll be in,” his face showed amusement again, but it seemed it wasn’t directed at me. The bastard just wanted to see one of the guys get taken down by a girl. “And who should I fight?” my voice sounded almost bored. And to be honest, after all the years of vigorous training with my father, which almost always ended with me covered in bruises, or spitting out blood, I was bored. No one-on-one fight was anything exciting to me anymore. It didn’t make me feel anything anymore. I knew everything that could happen to me in a fight like that because it already did. I experienced all of it during the training hours with my father.

The training was borderline abusive with all the injuries he inflicted on me, yet the knowledge I got from it has saved my ass in so many situations. “Well, there is plen-,” before Willy could finish the sentence he started, the door swung open, a tall man barging in. He stopped in his tracks as he looked first at his boss, who was now standing at his table, and then his eyes stopped on me. He stepped into the room, followed by two buff guys that I hadn't seen before. He stood maybe two feet away from me, his arms crossed over his chest and his legs in a broad stance, oozing authority. The gun that I was firmly holding in my hand was now pointing at his head. "Well, if it ain't my handyman neighbor," he said in a low voice, and a smile plastered on his dumb, unfortunately, handsome face. "For f***s sake, you're everywhere, aren't you?" I said with a roll of my eyes. He let out a low chuckle and then turned his head towards William. "I want everyone out of the office, except for you, Axel." one of the burly men behind Axel opened the door with a frown and left the room, whilst the other looked at me with distaste and then back at his boss. "Get the f**k out," he said. He took one final glance at Axel, a smirk on his lips before leaving the room. Finally, the door closed and we were alone. "Empty your pockets, gun holders, knife holders, or whatever else you got on you," I commanded, my gun still pointing at his head. "You've got to be crazy Little dove, you don't control me," he smirked. "Willy, I think I have a problem here, looks like b***h-boy won't cooperate." God, was I annoyed by this man's presence! "Put your weapons on the table, Axel." He seemed confused by what was going on, yet he did as he was told anyway. He sighed, walked towards the table where Wild Willy was, and started putting his weapons on it. Once he turned back around and stepped towards the window, I looked him over. "I think it's pretty warm in here, no need for a jacket, don't you think?" he furrowed his eyebrows, but I knew the sneaky tactics that people used to hide weaponry. He huffed and carelessly shrugged the leather jacket off of his shoulders, revealing a black, skin-tight t-shirt that showed off his body perfectly. And he certainly had something to show off, so much so, that I had to remind myself not to get distracted from the task at hand. "What a good boy," I smirked, amused at how he almost growled at my words. b***h-boy doesn’t like to be dominated, huh? I walked to the door, locking it before I put my gun down in the corner of the room. I stepped back to the center of the room and looked at Willy, who didn't seem at all bothered by tonight's events. "Go on then," he said with a glint in his eyes. I could see Axel raising an eyebrow at his words, clearly confused as to what was going on, but I didn't care. I stepped towards Axel, his suspicion of me visibly rising. "Just wanna make sure you didn't hide any weapons on you. You don't mind, do you?" his scrawl deepened before he pushed his arms up to his head, as if he was at airport security. I started patting him down, looking for weapons. "Found anything?" I didn’t, but I thoroughly enjoyed the annoyance in his voice. I still had to check his legs for any hidden knives, guns, or other s**t, and Willy thought that was a great opportunity to explain what was going on. “You barged in at the perfect time, Axel. I was just thinking about a fight candidate when you came in,” he sounded excited, understandably so. Axel was a big man. Tall and all muscle, he would be a hard opponent, but he wouldn’t be unbeatable either. “Fighting candidate?” Axel shook his head, confused. I stopped searching him, since he didn’t have anything on him, and returned to my original position in front of him: “I have to take you down to get into the club.” His booming laugh filled the small office space. “Alright, I’m in,” he said, a bit too fast, with the biggest smile on his face. It made me cringe. His ignorance is his biggest weakness. Willy clapped his hands together: “Great! Can’t see what you’ve got little girl!” He plopped himself back down on his chair, getting ready to watch the show. “Whenever you’re ready Little dove,” just as those words left Axel's mouth, I launched at him, jumping on him, my arms grabbing onto his shoulders, pushing him down, while I wrapped my legs around the back of his knees, applying pressure. His reflexes didn’t kick in fast enough, and he lost his footing, stumbling back, his heel hitting the metal foot of the couch, making him fall backward. Right before we hit the floor, I let my feet fall to my side so that they wouldn’t be trapped underneath him, and also because such a hit to my knees and his back could cause some serious damage.

I was sitting on his legs now, squeezing my thighs, so his legs were immobilized. Well, this is a s**t position, even if I grabbed his hands, I wouldn’t be strong enough to hold him down. Just as I thought about my possibilities, he grabbed my hand, twisting it to my back, making my body go with the movement. Fucker. Before I knew it, our positions were reversed. He was above me, holding me down on my forearms, his legs in-between mine, making it impossible for me to kick him. “As much as I enjoyed having you on top of me, I have to admit, I like the feeling of you underneath me a lot better,” he smiled. A toe-curling, heart-stopping beautiful smile. Fucker! I was pissed. Pissed at myself.

His dirty blond hair was falling onto his face, his ocean blue eyes peeking from underneath the strands and his perfect smile were all messing with my head. I had to get my s**t together and fast. “Oh please, that’s the most basic line ever. Be more creative.” He leaned his head down, making me feel his hot breath on my cheek. He was staring right into my eyes: “You always have a comeback, don’t you Dove?” He was distracted, and I took the opportunity. I pushed my upper body up as fast and with as much power as I could with the little bit of mobility I had, but in the end, it was enough. The top of my head collided with his lower lip and chin, making him jerk up, and lessening the hold on my hands, which allowed me to slide up and away from him. My forehead hurt like a b***h, and I'd wake up with a bruise for sure, but it was worth it.

Axel's hand was on his jaw, massaging it. There was blood on his lip, so I obviously did some damage. “You’re good Dove,” was all he said before he got up and left the room so quickly he almost ran, while I was left sitting on the floor, confused.

What the f**k was that?

I didn’t even realize I was still looking at the door until Willy cleared his throat. I swiftly stood up, readjusted my clothes, and stepped towards his desk. The air in the room seemed suffocatingly thick. "Did he just f*****g run away??" I couldn't comprehend what had just happened. A grown man had just ran out on a fight with me after being all confident and cocky. We weren't f*****g done yet. “I know his reaction seems strange to you,” I looked at Willy expectantly, hoping for more information. He cleared his throat again: “Let’s just say we all have our demons,” and oh how true that was.

“Anyway,” his voice was suddenly more upbeat than before. He stood up from his desk, adjusting the collar of his shirt: “You still brought him down, and a deal is a deal,” he stretched a hand out over his desk. I looked at him for a moment, before letting my hand fall into his, shaking it. “Welcome, uh ...” He needed a name. "It's Arabelle." He smiled at me.

"Welcome to the Wild Riders, Arabelle."