Amari King

Alert. Travis felt the hair on the back of his neck stand, breath halted in his chest in silent horror. He couldn’t control the expression that flickered on his face, a dead give away, despite trying to school into into indifference later. 

“If you like information that much then you must know it’s all PR.” He forced a shrug. “He isn’t the leverage you think he is.”

Joaquin did as directed and sat next to her, his hands settling in his lap. He had to keep himself from playing with his fingers, a nervous habit he had never quite gotten over. He felt his face heat up at the compliment, a grin crossing his face. “Yes…. It was– you didn’t have to send a car, but thank you.” He cleared his throat and met her eyes for a moment. “You are beautiful as ever, miss.”

Travis bristled, jaw twitching with annoyance as his eyes danced between Amari and the door behind her. 

“You can’t do that.” He bit back, hissing past closed teeth. “I’m not going to do that again. It was supposed to be one time only. I’m done. No more. I don’t want anything to do with the Syndicate.”

It was strange to be simply picked up like this. As a man who walked and took transit whenever he needed to get somewhere– he couldn’t help but feel slightly out of place at the car that had been sent to fetch him that evening. He’d spent far too much time settling on an outfit for the evening before finally settling on something he thought was casual enough but also sharper than he normally dressed himself. Arriving, Joaquin had brushed a hand through his hair, nervously trying to fix it though he knew it wasn’t going to change much. He settled slightly when he got sight of Amari, a smile pulling the sides of his lips up just a little. “Miss… Good evening.”

He had his headphones on, music blasting to help Travis relax. They’d done the glove check some minutes ago and let him have the rest of the time before the match to focus. He was wired with energy, it had been tempting not to ask for Remy to stay with him before the fight, but his coach wouldn’t have approved of the distraction anyway. 

The door opened and Travis plucked the headphones off his ears, brows low over his eyes in confusion. Dread. “What’s this? You’re not allowed to be here.”

Her guards pushed their way into the makeshift locker room, dismissing everyone that wasn’t Travis. Amari trailed just behind them, heels clicking on the tiled floors. “Well, well, darling. Don’t you look in fine form.”

Joaquin allowed a smile to grow on his face, though it was much larger and clearer now. “I’m not sure about handsome, but thank you, miss.” He nodded his head before running a hand across the back of his neck. The next question was harder to answer, but if she did enough digging she could figure it out. “Yeah… taking care of something I have to.” He told her, vague, but he also didn’t feel like outing the fact that his father had been in such severe debt to the syndicate it had followed his son. At least not now. “It was just a quick thing though… I’m done now.”

Amari’s lips curled into a smirk as his smile grew.  It occurred to her then that it had been much too long since she’d attended to her needs. Being the head of the organization helped with her dominant needs but didn’t satisfy them completely. That could only be done 1x1. She nodded, not digging any further. “Well, if you are done with your business then you should join me for coffee. I’d offer drinks but I need to be clear headed this evening.” 

Joaquin couldn’t help the smile that pulled across his face as the woman greeted him. It was soft and easy to miss if someone wasn’t paying attention. He enjoyed their last conversation, he couldn’t deny that. He lifted his head up, allowing himself to meet her eyes.

“Sorry… you just looked…” He thought over what to say before settling on something, “Busy.” He looked to the guards as they drifted back before looking at her. “Didn’t want to interrupt if you had things you had to attend too.” And of course she would, a woman like that probably had countless things to attend to.

“I am busy. But I can spare a moment for a handsome man. Especially one as polite as you,” she teased, cocking her head to the side in amusement. “What brings you around these parts, hmm? Attending to business of your own?” It wasn’t often she felt curious about someone. There was that whole saying about curiosity killing the cat. But she still had at least 8 of her nine lives left, so she allowed herself this.

Realization || Amari & Joaquin

–Really, Joaquin should have been paying better attention in the first place. He could blame it on the dimmer lights at the bar and the way she had struck up a conversation with him so well. It wasn’t until he was there to drop off his monthly payment that he realized exactly who she was. Flanked by guards and looking just about in charge as he would have expected. He had stepped out onto the straight, searching his pockets for his cigarettes when she had stepped out of the vehicle.

Unable to stop himself, he had stared– that was, he had stared until one of her guards shot him with a stare that had the submissive suddenly turn his gaze to the ground. Joaquin cleared his throat awkwardly and continued to pat down his pockets in search for the thing he needed to calm his nerves.

When she got close enough he thought maybe she could hear him, he spoke loud enough that she could catch his words. “Good afternoon, miss.” But still, his eyes kept to the ground.

@amari-king​​

Amari was lost in thought. Too much had happened in the last month. The blackout was still unsolved. Despite having the best resources at her disposal, neither Artemy or Kit had been able to dig up the entity responsible for the explosion, though it was clear it was neither Syndicate or city government. She was in desperate need of good news or a distraction whatever came first. 

The greeting pulled her from her thoughts, a crook of her head acknowledging the submissive she was nearing. Closer now, she recognized a familiar, handsome face. She gestured for her guards to stand back. “Well, hello, darling,” she greeted. “Lovely to see you again. Though it’d be nice to see your face.”

Artemy: A different enemy altogether.

Artemy: Things must be about to get interesting.

Amari: That's one way to put it.

Artemy: What I know you will know.

Artemy: But this doesn't have the smell of him on it.

Artemy: This is chaos, and he's not daring enough.

Artemy: He's not. At least not from what I can tell.

Artemy: He's just as flummoxed as you.

Amari: Fuck. It would have been so much easier to deal with it was him.

Kit: Yes, Miss.

Kit: I'm on my way.