I’m standing in the barn. It’s a wooden shed that’s as big as a house with high hooks hanging from the ceiling, well what’s left of the ceiling.
Lots of dry grass stacked up in high piles fill the place, which is for the horses. Call me dumb but I didn’t know horses ate grass.
On the corner is a long table pushed against the wooden wall with various tools lined up on the top.
After lunch, Storm told me to walk to the barn and wait for one of them to meet me here and give me a run-down of the program and training I’ll be doing.
The door to the barn is open and my feet are itching to just go outside. But Killer told me during lunch that the first rule about being a Prospect of The Satan Sniper’s MC is- listen to your instructors.
And I have for twenty minutes.
That’s how long I’m waiting under the hot Southern sky. The barn got half the roof missing, the part that doesn’t have grass under it, the only place I can stand.
The boisterous laughter from outside has me going to see who it is, I’ve always been a nosey body. Living with a bunch of bikers isn’t going to change that.
The man walking toward me has my insides boiling. My feet want to move, and get as far away from this man as I can, but knowing that, I still can’t look away.
He didn’t say a word to anyone about my episode earlier. In-fact he acted as if he didn’t even speak to me, and as much as I want to hate the biker, he is making it hard to.
Zero’s walking toward me with his phone in one hand. He’s darker, scarier than he was this morning. His body is encompassed in a thick dull leather pants.
The bulk I see between his legs is hard to miss, poor Falon. I divert my eyes to the two silver chains hanging off the one side of his pants while telling myself he has a girlfriend and I’m not attracted to men. I avoid them, that is what’s best.
The same black tee he wore this morning stretches around his arms and chest, loose around his waist.
He must wear a XXL in his tees. His body I know from feeling it is completely ripped. No fat is creeping its way on him anytime soon.
My eyes wander up his chiseled body and I cringe when I look at him, he’s staring right back at me, and that laugh I heard a few seconds ago is completely gone, so is the phone from his hand.
His steps approach me and this is about the time I’m supposed to get red in the cheeks or lower my gaze. Well, some girly thing like that.
And maybe if my name was Falon I would but it ain’t. So, I stare the fucker in his face, my black eyes no doubt dead.
Zero is intimidating on a good day, and he’s instilled his fear in me but he has also informed me that he wouldn’t hurt me.
I’m sure he wouldn’t physically hurt me and I don’t think about the other ways he could hurt me.
Truth is, I’m so fucked up that unless I’m dealing with my monster or my sixth sense is screaming at me to cower I ain’t doing it.
There’s danger coming off Zero but no anger, maybe disgust or wariness, but there’s nothing telling me he’s going to slaughter me, and feed me to his dogs.
It’s confusing to why I wanna hide from him, run from him, but can’t seem to keep my eyes off of him.
“Hey.”
He greets me, stopping just a few steps into the barn, a few feet closer to me.
“Hi, yourself,” I croak, ’cause my throat still hurts from the screaming
“Ah, I.. I’m… I’m just waiting for Storm.”
He arches his thick brow, his green eyes a shade lighter under the natural outside light, whilst his skin has adopted a deep golden tan.
“Storm ha,” he rubs his index finger on his scar under his eye.
“Hate to break it to you but you’ve been waiting for me, and well done.”
“What did I do?”
He drops his hand and slides it into his pocket, his features change. I’d say he’s more relaxed.
“You passed rule number one.”
Regardless of the mean big scary biker my face cracks and I’m smiling. My guess was correct, I knew this was a test but only because of Killer’s warning. I’m going to have to thank him.
“It’s the first time I’m seeing you smile so big.”
I shrug, “It’s the second time today.”
He stiffens, but I don’t pay it any mind,
“You count how many times you smile?”
“When you live on the streets you count everything, smiling is just one of the good things,” I answer him truthfully.
“I’m a beggar, I’m not an alien Zero.”
People forget that we can laugh, talk, listen, cry. Many people pass us in fancy cars on the street and most will put the window up, or drive faster.
Some think, ‘why don’t they go work, get a job.’
It’s easy to think that when you going home to a hot meal and warm bed.
Some of us just can’t. Some of us are hiding, running, living in fear. Others are searching for the easy way out, and quick buck, or a habit to support.
A few just don’t know any other way, they don’t want the change.
“It’s easy to judge when you outside looking in,” I tell him.
What it’s not easy to do is see the truth.
The people on the street all have stories, theirs are just much worse than others.
And I say this because regardless of what people think, having that extra nest of cash or a steady job makes all the difference when faced with horror.
Money is a false sense of comfort, but comfort it is.
I get a sharp nod in response, his green gaze steady as he stares right into me.
“Let’s get out of here, then we can talk about the program.”
His words send a garble of unwanted heat to my core at the thought of being close to him.
I need to get away from him, I need to get far away from Zero.
My eyes widen a fraction, it’s the one thing I still do, the small thread of my humanity,
“I didn’t know we gotta leave.”
“We ain’t gotta do anything besides what I say Beauty.”
His head tilts, like he’s hoping for me to retort, maybe even wants it.
I frown and wipe my hands on my borrowed jeans.
“Are you always so bossy. My names Beggar,” I say in a small whisper. My hands are so sweaty all of a sudden.
“Are you always so secretive? You not really expecting me to call you Beggar, now are you?”
He takes a step closer to me, and I want to step back, but I know if I’m not careful I’ll find myself backed against a corner, and I’m not a girl who wants to be cornered by a predator.
So, I do the only thing I can, I swallow, and answer truthfully,
“You more than others.”
He closes the space between us in seconds. My heart is drumming so fast even he can see the quick rise and fall of my chest. I expect him to grab me, shake me, or something involving rough contact.
Zero does neither.
My neck rises so I’m face to face with the man I fear, the man with the scar under his left eye. The one man who controls my demons with just a word, a man who has power over me. A stranger that makes me feel things I’ve never wanted to feel never thought I could. A man who’s called Zero.
He bends his head down, to my right side of my neck.
I go to take that step back. I tried not too but I see the error of my ways. I should know that lambs never wait for the wolf.
“Don’t.” His sharp demand has me staying just there.
I close my eyes and tilt my head, waiting to see what he’ll do, what he’ll take.
The intake of breath on my neck is not what I expect, nor is the knot in my stomach from the action.
I open my eyes and find he’s taken a step back, his features are hard, angry almost.
The feelings I have turn sour. He isn’t trying to capture my scent or some corny fucked up shit like that. The asshole was checking to see if I’m still smelling.
The thought hardens me, and it’s a shit thing to do but fuck it. I walk past him, sniff him and spit on the ground before I storm away.
Zero’s feet are behind me, but he isn’t speeding up, just keeping pace.
I untangle my hoody from around my waist and slip my arms into it. And I’m sure as the sun is hot, I’m going to fry, but I don’t give a dime.
I wanna hide, I just want to be invisible.