"Ma, It's okay!" I said into the phone as I sat at my desk in my office in the nail salon. I was going through the paperwork and resume of a potential new employee when my mom called me. She was always worrying about me since I joined the military.
"But baby, I don't think I like this new doctor." She said back. I stopped for a second and narrowed my eyes.
"Mama, I made sure that this new doctor was the best option. Don't you trust me?" I teased her.
"Well, yeah. But still... I don't have to like him." She sassed. I chuckled and shook my head.
"Mama, I have to go. I got an interview in a couple of minutes. I'll come over tonight for supper, okay?" I asked as I stood up and walked towards the door.
"Alright, baby. See you then."
I smiled as I hung up the phone, opening the door. I saw the girl sitting in the chair in front of my office. She looked nervous as she fiddled with her hands and one of her legs was bouncing up down. She was small, sitting in the chair. Long, red hair sat on her shoulders. She wore a camisole and a jean skirt with cowboy boots on her feet. She stared down the hallway, into the salon when I opened the door.
"Cherry?" I asked softly, making her jerk her head over to me before standing up.
She smiled and nodded. "Hi" her voice was a little husky as if she smoked a lot.
I smiled back. "Hi, I'm Arya.” I held my hand out for her to shake, and she gripped my hand softly. “You ready?”
"Not really, but I think I'm good." She said nervously. I smiled reassuringly at her and stepped back into the office as I let her hand go. She followed into the office, and I shut the door behind her.
I chuckled at her. "It's okay. I think you pretty much got the job anyway. Since you applied for the reception area in first place, it isn't too demanding. Also, the last chick was a bitch, so you'll be perfect." I teased her as I sat behind the desk. She sat in the chair.
She let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thanks, man. You guys are like the only legal business around here." I smirked to myself. ‘Oh, the irony.’ I thought.
"Well, you don't have to worry about legal shit here. The people I hire are good people and won’t cause you any problems” I told her as I leaned forward on the desk.
"Really?" She said with a head tilt. I nodded with a grin.
"Yeah, they either have a record or some type of conflict with authority. Also, if you have any problems with work or outside of work. You can come to me for anything. I say this to everyone that works for me." I told her with confidence. “When I say anything, I mean anything.” I nod.
She smiled widely. “Awesome. That’s perfect.”
"Good, you can start next week on Monday." I tell her with a nod. I pulled the paperwork that she needed to fill out and her schedule for the next three weeks. “Fill this out for me and bring it back when you come in. And here’s your schedule. Otherwise, you’re good to go, Hun.” I smile at her.
A bright grin lit up her face as she nodded and took the paperwork I gave her. “Thank you so much, man! I appreciate this!”
We both stood up and I walked around the desk to led her out of the office.
"You have a good day, and I'll see you next week" I told her as we stood in the hallway.
She then unexpectedly grabbed me in a hug, which surprised me a little bit. But I still hugged back with a chuckle.
She let go and went to walk out the store with a small skip. “See ya later!” she said over her shoulder.
I chuckled and waved at her back. I shook my head with a grin and turned back to my office to finish my paperwork.
After hiring Cherry, everything was fine for a couple of days. That was until one day that some people in suits came in the store looking for Cherry.
I was in the back, working on some inventory when Diana, one of my nail technicians, came in.
"Arya, some people are here looking for Cherry." Diana and Cherry had become close since they work nearly the same shift, so Diana looked more concerned.
I looked at her with frowned brows. "What they look like?" I ask as I stood up and made my way over to the doorway.
She looked at me with her hands wriggling together. "They looked like suits." I sighed. Suits was a term my workers liked to call any type of authority. Usually, they call first but whoever just came in must not have done their research.
I walk out of my office with Diana following behind me. Some of the other employees were still working but glancing up at the people that stood at the reception desk. There were five of them. Four were men that were just looking around the place, casing the place. The fifth person was a woman who stood at the desk with her forearms leaning on the counter and looking at some brochures on the countertop. She had shoulder length dirty blonde hair, and her eyes were covered by sunglasses. Her body language showed me how smug she is.
I narrowed my eyes at the woman. "Can I help you?" I asked as I came up behind the counter.
She looked up at me and made a big fake smile at me. "Hi, I was just looking for a Cherry..." She paused as she stood up straight. "You wouldn't happen to know where she’s at, would you?" She questioned.
I saw a movement from behind her, outside the store and saw Cherry out there. She was pacing back and forth with a cell phone held up to her ear. I calmly looked back at the woman.
"I can't really say anything about my employee. You know? Confidentiality and all that." I said to the woman. I crossed my arms and knocked one hip out as I moved my weight to one leg.
"Oh," She nodded and then took out a wallet and a piece of folded paper. "Well, I have a warrant here to take her into custody. I need to question her." I scoffed and smiled thinly at her before I noticed the sound of motorcycles outside.
Internally sighing, getting irritated with the attitude she had. I narrowed my eyes.
"Umm, that's not a valid warrant in here. You se-" I started off, but the lady interrupted me. Which made me narrow my eyes even more.
"Well, I work for the ATF and this warrant is valid. Unless you want to be arrested for obstructing an ongoing investigation." She said with some arrogance in her tone.
I made a sarcastic laugh and was about to say something to this bitch. "I-"
Some men walked in causing the doorbell to jingle. I looked over and saw about 5 men standing there.
The one in front was white and had some long blonde hair and blue eyes. To his right stood a behemoth of a man with a beanie and an impressive beard. Just behind him stood a man that was covered in tattoos and seemingly Latino. The one on the blonde's left and short curly black hair and piercing ice blue eyes. Behind him was a Latino with some lightning bolt tattoos on either side of a mohawk. Each of them was wearing leather vests with the SAMCRO logo on it. They were also wearing sunglasses that each of them took off as they took in the scene before them.
"Everything okay here?" The blonde in front said as I sighed and leaned my head back. Great, just what I needed.
"Well, if it isn't the Prince Charming himself. Come to save the day?" The crazy lady said sarcastically.
"Yeah, sure. If that's what you want to call it." The blonde said as he crossed his arms and spaced his legs out and planted them firmly. I looked back outside and saw Cherry was being hugged by a skinny red-haired man. I walked around the counter and stood in front of the bitch that was making my workers and customers uncomfortable.
"Look, I don't want any trouble so if all of you would just leave." I told the woman exasperated with her.
"Well, I don't think that's possible. Since I need Cherry to come into custody. And since you won't give her over, you are coming too." She spoke as she gestured for one the men to come forward with some handcuffs. He came forward as I sighed.
"Oh, honey. I don't do handcuffs on the first date." I told him. Then the next few moments were a blur as I punched handcuff man, knocking him out. The next two men were easy to handle as I kneed the first one that came at me and then slammed his head into the counter wall. The other one then tried to swing at me, but I dodged and gripped his arm and threw him into the last man, using his own momentum against him. I turned to the crazy lady and saw that she had a gun pointed at me.
I raised my eyebrows at the fact that her hands were shaking and walked towards her. Before she even had a chance to fire, I grabbed her gun and twisted it down, making her let go and then I pulled her forward with her hands and headbutted her in her nose. Blood started to flow as she screamed. I then grabbed her by the hair and dragged her ass out the door making the men that had frozen when the fighting started to make a path.
I threw her out onto the pavement. She then started to spew out more shit. "You are gonna be in deep shit girly. I'm a federal agent; you can get sent to life in prison."
I laughed at her. "First of all, if you were as smart as you act like, you would have done some research on her employer." I told her as I glared at her. I crouched down and sneered at her. "This establishment is Blacklisted; you dumb bitch." I can see the color get drained out of her face. "Anything I own is Blacklisted. If you were smarter, you would have done more research. Especially since that means that any employee that works for me, doesn't get touched by any government official. So, you can get someone to come get your lackeys and you stay the hell away from my property. That includes the restaurant I own in town too." I then stopped talking and then kicked her stomach. "Stupid ass bitch." I then walked back towards the salon and saw the men standing there with looks of awe and amazement. The customers were finishing up and then left.
The agent then stood herself up, tears going down her face as she did so. She then stumbled into the vehicle they came in and sped off.
I sighed. Cherry has some explaining to do.
I turned to Cherry as the other ATF agents picked themselves up and ran out. I crossed my arms and cocked one hip out. I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head to the side. I ignored the men for the moment as I wanted an answer from Cherry.
"Cherry?" I asked her with a tone of demand for an answer.
She walked up to me and started to nervously babble. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think they'd come into the salon. Didn't know that they would question you about me." Her face was scrunched up, begging me not to fire her.
I sighed. "You better be glad I like you and that I hired you. Otherwise, you would have been sitting in a jail cell." I softened my face as she stretched her lips in a big smile.
She then looked at me curiously. “What exactly does Blacklisted mean anyway?”
A voice came from the group of men standing in my salon. I so did not want to deal with this shit but oh well. "Yeah, I'd like to know what that means too." I turned my head and saw the blond was the one that spoke. He had a husky voice that match with his rugged looks.
"Basically, it means that I do bad shit for the military and government and that any legal authorities can't touch me or any business I own." I told them with a deadpan look on my face. I did not want to explain this stuff to anyone, but I already opened my mouth about it to Agent Bitch.
The blond raised an eyebrow and then looked at me up and down, observing me and thinking what else I could do.
"Hey, Arya." Cherry asked softly.
I looked at her with a raised brow. "Yes?"
"Does that mean I can keep my job?" She asked me nervously. I'm starting to realize how jittery she is when she is put into these types of situations. It’s anxiety.
I sighed. I don't like the way she gets the urges to run when put into a bad situation, but I like her. "Yes, but you’re working more hours."
She smiled big. "Yeah, totally. I don't mind."
I decided to close the salon for the day and then head for the restaurant. "Go ahead and go home for the day. I'm closing the salon for the day. Come back tomorrow for the regular shift." She nodded and followed the skinny redhead to a bike and left with him. I said the same thing to my other employees. Most of my customers had left in the fight in a hurry and some stayed to finish up what was left. Which all my employees finished what they were doing and then did what I told them to do and leaving for the day.
The men had moved to stand outside, discussing something. They stood outside for a good long while, while my workers left.
I never took my eye off the group of men that stood outside my salon, standing in a circle talking and each glancing into the salon at me. After my last employee left for the day, I stood at the door, leaning against the door jam.
I waited for one of them to approach me, watching them talk -whatever it was- out. I watched through narrow eyes as finally Blondie stepped away from the group and walked over to me with a confident step to his walk.
He had a look on his face that could only be described as a smolder. I almost laughed out loud at the fact that he was trying to seduce me with a look, but I kept a straight face. He stood in front of me and opened his mouth to speak.
"What the fuck do you want?" I asked him before he could ask or tell me anything I didn't want to hear.
His jaw jerked upward and closed his mouth and clenched his jaw and sighed through his nose. "Oh-kay." He paused for a second and tried to straighten his thoughts out to question me. "Can we talk inside?" He finally asked after a couple of moments of silence.
I glared at him in thought. 'Did I really want them in the salon with me being by myself?' I thought to myself before sighing and nodding. I nodded my head into the salon and then held the door open for the other men to come in.
As I closed the door, I told them as I flipped the open sign to closed. "First off, what are your names?" I turned around to the men that had scattered around the little, small waiting area. Blondie spoke as I walked over to the counter and heaved myself up onto the counter and crossed my legs.
"I'm Jax," He sighed as he waved a hand at himself. He then waved his hand over to the tall man that lean on the other end of the counter. "That's Opie." He then pointed at the black-haired, blue-eyed man who was leaning back into one of the waiting chairs with his feet planted wide in front of him with his arms on the back of both chairs on each of him. "That's Tig." Jax then pointed to Mr. Lightening. He stood at one of the work desks and was leaning against it with his arms crossed. He had a curious look in his eyes as he watched me. "That's Juice."
As he kept introducing them, my eyebrows kept frowning more and more with each name.
Jax then pointed to the Tattooed Latino, "That is Happy. And now since that is all settled. Can you explain who the hell are you?" Happy stood to side of the room, observing everything with a critical eye.
I bit the inside of my cheek. I really have a feeling that I'm gonna end up punching him in his smug face.
"Name's Arya Denali. I was born and raised in Charming first off." I stated plainly. I shrugged like it didn't matter. I studied each man, trying to take in their character from their body language. Happy seemed like an enforcer type, while Jax was the 'playboy' type. Opie was relaxed with no emotion on his face. Juice, I could tell had some type of anxiety or disorder from the way he was trying to keep his hands busy.
Tig just stared at me with an open intense look in his eye, reminding me of a lion stalking a zebra. Both Happy and Tig seemed a little trigger happy with how tense their body language was.
"Can you explain why Agent Bitch was in here?" I turned back to Jax with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't think that is any of your business." Jax said.
I looked at him with a scoff. "Like I don't know what your club does. I'm not stupid. My bosses have files on all your asses. Although I never really paid attention to detail, I just know you guys do some shit with guns." I told him.
He looked at me with a shocked look on his face. Each person was shocked and didn't know what to say or do with situation I just presented him with.
All their face held looks of shock as I kept my face completely clear of any emotion. "Now are you gonna answer my questions or not? Cause if not, I'll find out for myself, and you don't want that." I told Jax as he ran a hand over his mouth in agitation.
I didn't look at the other's faces, but I could feel the room get tense as I spoke. I'm not scared of them. I'm not intimidated by them either. I kept my eyes on Jax as his face grew tight in anger, and he started to step up to me.
I tilted my head at him. Did he think this was going to intimidate me?
He took a spot in front of me and placed his hands on either side of me, trying to trap me on the counter. He stared me hard in the eyes with anger and intent to threaten me.
I showed no emotion in neither my face nor eyes, but I could feel my anger starting to build as this boy tried to threaten me.
"Now, you listen here. Okay? I don't know how you got that information but- "I cut him off.
"But what? Huh? What you gonna do? Shoot me? Kill me? I don't think you'll want to do that. See if I don't get to you first, then my bosses will come for your asses. First off, I can tell you how this will go down. You won't have the balls to shoot me so you'll either get Happy or Tig to do it since I could tell by the way they are standing. Ready to defend you at all costs. In your little dream world, yeah that works out fine, but I've already set out two to three different ways to incapacitate all of you." I took a pause as I stared into Jax's eyes with a glare that started to make him sweat.
He opens his mouth to speak. "Ah-ah-ah. Here's how this is gonna go. I'm not gonna say anything to anybody. I'm not a rat. I'm gonna let Cherry continue working here, since I probably think she'll be safer working for me than your dildo asses. I like Cherry, I don't wanna see her hurt. Also, you won't do anything in any of my establishments again. I live here and so does my mother, and I'm not about to let some fucking smug asshole prince try to ruin that." I got down from the counter and started to poke Jax in the chest. I wasn't that much shorter than him, but I could tell by the way he gulped that he was afraid in that moment. "Now I hope I never see you again unless it's about Cherry. Get the fuck out and don't come back unless you're gonna be a gentleman." I finished my little rant with a final poke to his chest that had him up against the door. He stared at me wide eyed for a minute. "Understood?" I asked him. He nodded fast.
I backed up from the man and made my way back to the counter to lean back against it. Opie was looking into the back of the salon, stifling a grin on his lips. I turned back to Jax. "Now get out." He opened the door and made his way out as his brothers followed him. Tig and Happy were grinning to themselves while Juice couldn't figure out how to take the situation. Opie was chuckling to himself as he left behind Juice with Tig and Happy following.
Just before the door closed, I heard Tig tell Happy in a not so quiet whisper, "I think I'm in love." Tig said with a grin. Happy just shook his head and made way his bike.
I watched them leave until I couldn't see them anymore.
The next day, I get a call from the ATF Director with an apology about their employee. I was also given compensation from the possibility of losing customers. But I never lost them, they still came back like they always do anyway. The people of Charming are like that though. Cherry came in at her usually time and I set her up at the front desk.
The day went by smoothly, even after the events of the day before. I had gone to my restaurant to make sure everything was running okay with my manager and got everyone lunch. When getting back to the salon, I saw Cherry talking to an older woman. She had black hair with some blonde mixed in. She was white and had a 'give you hell' attitude. Cherry looked nervous talking to her, and I narrowed my eyes at the two women.
Walking in the door with the bags, I called for Adrian-one of the few men that worked for me- to help bring the rest of the food in. Some of my employees jokingly cheered at the thought of food after finishing up with their customer. I made my way behind the counter, bringing Cherry her lunch.
"Cherry, food." I told her as I sat down the bag with her name on it and then grabbed my bag that was bigger than the rest of the bags.
"Thanks, Arya." Cherry said with a smile as I see her visibly relax. The woman was making her uncomfortable.
I already knew who this woman was, since I did more research the night before after getting home. Gemma Teller-Morrow. Mother of Jax Teller, Mr. Prince Charming, which made her the Queen.
She looked at me suspiciously with a narrowing of her eyes, "So, you're Arya?" She asked while drumming her fingertips on the countertop with her purse sitting next to said hand.
"Yep" I told her as I took out the burger that was made to my liking and took a seat at one of the chairs behind the counter. I leaned back with the burger in my hand and my bag with fries in my other hand and set my crossed legs on the counter. "So, you're Gemma?" I teased her with the same question.
She paused. Gemma wasn't expecting me to know her name.
But she took it in stride and grinned a little.
"Yeah, I got a question." She told me as she leaned forward on the counter. "Know any good places that does nails?" She jokingly asked me.
I threw my head back and laughed. I think I'm going to like her.
The next time I saw any of the Sons of Anarchy seemed too soon for me. The next week, I was at the Diner and saw a group of men with Sons patches sitting at one of my booths. At first, I wasn't going to say anything until one of my waitresses came over with a complaint. Tig had groped her, and she was uncomfortable.
I smiled facedly at Jazz. "It's okay Jazz. I'll handle it." I told her.
As I turned my back to her, my smile fell and I sighed, aggravated, through my nose. I made my way over to the booth that sat three men from the Sons. Two of them I recognized as Tig and Happy and the other was a man that was a little bigger in size than the other two. He had longer dark hair with grey setting into the roots and he had a decent beard.
Walking up to the table with intent to do something unkindly to the idiot, I stepped with purpose. I came up to the table and stood there with my arms crossed and raised an eyebrow at Tig, ignoring the other two.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" I asked the man that sat there, staring at me in shock for a moment before shaking his head.
"Uh…" He paused and glanced at the other two, looking for an answer. Both shrugged at him. He looked back at me. "Tig?" He said as he scrunched his face as if unsure that was the answer.
I scrunched my face up. "Nah," I said sarcastically. "I didn't know that." Then I got serious. "You do not get to touch one of my workers like she's a stripper or one of your croweaters. You want to find someone to touch, go back to your clubhouse, or even better find a strip joint." I paused before looking back at Jazz who was holding in a laugh. I looked back at the table and saw the other two also holding in laughter. "Now, pay for your food and get out cause otherwise you're not gonna like the other option."
Tig's face was shocked at first and then he grew a smug smirk and leaned back into the booth with his hands behind his head. "Whatcha gonna do about it, sweets?" He asked with a cheeky smile. I narrowed my eyes.
The next thing he knew was that I grabbed him by his hair and he yelped like the pussy as I ignored his yells, dragging his ass out of the restaurant. I heard laughing from behind us from the other men that was sitting with him, but I ignored it as I threw him out onto the concrete. He sat on his ass as his brothers came out from the restaurant and went to their bikes that were in front of the building. They leaned on them as they sat there, amused at the scene in front of them.
"Now, the next time I see you, you better have a better respect for my employees. Cause, if I see you make any unwanted moves on one of my employees, you’re gonna lose a body part." I told him before putting a fake smile on my face. "Have a good day now!" I said cheerfully. Before frowning again and turning around and made my way back into the restaurant.
I didn’t even hear his friends poking fun at him as he stood up and brushed himself off. I also missed the lovesick look on his face as he watched me walk off.
I also missed the way Happy leaned back on his bike with his arms crossed, watching me leave.
