It was crazy how history could repeat itself in such small particular moments. As Chepe walked into the basement he saw Diedra in a chair, slouched and sitting across from someone whose face was swollen from punches. Chepe smiled as the scene reminded him of when he first met Diedra. 

The painful sounds of someone being beaten and tortured filled the underground cellar. Diedra’s white shirt was practically dyed red now from the blood of the person in front of her everytime she slugged, gripped, and tortured him. It wasn’t phasing her though, it was something she was used to. She was hired hands, part of something because she had this ability to turn it all off in situations of this nature. It ran in her blood, it was in her genetics. The Lowman family traits were stoic, tortuous, and some might even use the word insane. 

“Who is that?” Chepe’s voice was intrigued as he stepped down into the cellar next to Pacho who was watching the events unfold in front of him. 

“No one you need to be concerned with.” Pacho couldn’t help the smirk on his face as he heard Chepe’s question. Both of them now staring at the woman who was in front of them beating answers out of this man. 

Diedra was no stranger to this life, it felt like her earliest memory was stained with violence and blood. If one was to look back at her life, at her family, at her journey it was pointed in this direction. This is what she was good at, what she got enjoyment out of. She knew it wasn’t normal, but nothing about her life was. 

Chepe was enthralled with her, it was rare to see women in their field of work and when he did, they definitely weren’t beating the shit out of people and from Chepe’s observation, enjoying it. 

Pacho looked over at Chepe, and it took a lot for him not to let out an obvious laugh. He was going to have to pick Chepe’s jaw up off the ground when they were finished here and poke his eyes back in his head. 

“Do me a favor and don’t get drool on the floor.” Pacho knocked Chepe’s shoulder lightly. 

“Do me a favor and tell me who she is.” Chepe was extremely serious as he spoke despite Pacho’s teasing. 

Before either of them could continue the conversation the sound of a yelp they hadn’t heard before alerted them both to look back at the tortuous scene in front of them. Somehow the man who had been tied up had gotten his left hand free and surprised Diedra with a blow to the face. The yelp was not one that she was proud of, it was rare that she’d let someone get the upper hand on her. 

Chepe instinctually took a step forward to take control of the situation when Pacho stopped him by putting his arm in front of him. He wasn’t doing it for Chepe in the way one would think. Pacho knew how the woman worked, if Chepe tried to play the knight in shining armor he’d find himself getting rocked and bound to a chair himself. 

Diedra was quick to recover from the blow and if anything she took the opportunity to have it work in her favor. Within minutes the person was giving up the information she had been digging for over the last hour. 

The woman turned around, feeling no different than before, despite accomplishing her goal. Her face was still stoic and her brows were meeting in the middle of her face. Spitting out the metallic taste in her mouth into the towel that was first draped over her backpack but now in her hands should not have been as attractive to Chepe as it was. This whole situation was. Chepe was crazy and he felt like this woman in front of him was someone who matched his passion equally, if not more.

Diedra was quick to pick up her backpack, the towel still touching up spots of blood on her face as she walked over to the two men near the exit of the cellar. 

“That guy you’re looking for is in Bogata. He lives in the square, plaza de bolivar.” Her eyes were glued to Pacho’s, not even bothering to give a morsel of attention to the other man who had joined him. She could feel his eyes on her, they were practically burning a hole into her face. Any other time, Diedra would have been quick to shut that shit down but she was looking forward to the paycheck from this job and she knew that by punching the guy who seemed to be close with the man who’d be paying her might put a wrench in that. 

“Thank you, I might have a few more jobs for you, if you’re interested.” Pacho was reaching into his back pocket to pull out an envelope. 

“Yea, I’m down.” Diedra was grabbing the envelope and placing it in her back pocket. She didn’t bother to look at it, this wasn’t her first job for Pacho, she had known him to be fair and trustworthy. 

“I’d actually like to bring you onto our team, I think you could offer more than just,” Pacho paused for a minute to look at the man who was groaning as he came to it from being passed out, “persuasion.” 

“I could.” She nodded, adjusting her backpack on her shoulder. 

“Let’s talk more tomorrow.” Pacho nodded at the girl. “Take the night to yourself, clean up, relax. I’ll have someone come by your room and bring you food.” 

Diedra nodded, at the mention of relaxing she felt the exhaustion come over her. The jet lag was catching up to her, she was covered in blood and dirt, and the pain from being punched was starting to throb and give her a headache. She was feeling happy her commute wasn’t far, Pacho had opened his home to her, one of the many unoccupied rooms in the large mansion was now where she had settled in. As she brought the towel back up to her face to spit some leftover blood into it as she made her way towards the cellar entrance. Now, she was passing Chepe, again offering no acknowledgment to his presence until he let out a sentence that boiled her blood. 

“I could help you with that.” He had lifted his hand to point at her soon to be bruised face. The first thought through Diedra’s mind was that the man was lucky that finger wasn’t pointed in her face because she’d rip them off his hand. 

Her eyes rolled as she turned, making eye contact with Pacho who was grinning and shaking his head as he looked down at the floor and then back up at her. All he did was close his eyes, shrug his shoulders, and smirk and that was all Diedra needed as a green light. It wasn’t like she needed permission, if she wanted to put this guy down she would’ve but there was something so pleasing in knowing that she could do that and not only keep future jobs but also probably get a laugh out of the guy paying her. 

“Put that finger any closer to me and I’ll rip it off and shove it down your throat.” Her voice didn’t change at all, there wasn’t any added layer of anger or frustration in her tone. Now, it did help that she tended to normally speak with a ‘don’t fuck with me’ attitude. 

It had been about two years since that instance but Diedra still found herself in the same exact scenario. She’d chalk it up to being a Lowman, to never thinking ahead more than a couple days to make any real life changing decisions, but truthfully, it was more than that. She liked it here. That was a new feeling for the girl. She had felt like an outsider in her own hometown, but then again the MC didn’t leave a lot of room for anyone but themselves in Charming. Happy and her sister did their best, and she loved them for it. But everytime she looked at Kota, how different she was from her, it really hit her how much she didn’t belong here. Kota was happy, 99% of the time. She was a Lowman for sure, didn’t take shit from anyone, scared the fuck out of her boyfriend too, which always made Diedra laugh. But ultimately, she had this spirit about her, and Diedra didn’t have that. The eldest sister knew why, the trauma she had suffered that her younger sister didn’t likely stole the spirit from her and left her with whatever this was. For a while she thought maybe it’d come back, that Charming would open up a spot for her, or at least her father would. Maybe she could help out around the club–that was wishful thinking. Women didn’t become contract killers for the MC, they had specific roles for women and she definitely didn’t fit in any of those. 

That’s why she landed here, working for a drug cartel and it was the most life made sense for her. 

She probably shouldn’t have let the reminder wander for those couple seconds because it earned her a knee to the face. This time, unlike two years ago, she didn’t yelp, a grunt did escape from her mouth but she caught the knee of the man quickly and toppled him over, bringing her knife swiftly into the muscle above joint and twisted it and asked her question one more time. 

“Now you pissed me off,” the blood was dripping from her nose, there were a couple cuts across her face likely from the chains that were wrapped around his legs, “answer me right now, or I’ll kill you over and over again.” 

“That’s not even possible.” The man still had a little fight in him. 

She twisted the knife more and smiled, blood all across her pristine white teeth. “You don’t even want to know what I can make possible.” Her words continued as she explained what she was going to do to the man, how she’d bring him to look the reaper in the eye, and bring him back like an angel, just to push him right back to the edge of death. 

The man gave up his crew in seconds. Diedra left him with her own knee to his face before she lifted her shirt up to her nose that was likely broken. 

She approached Chepe, her bag hanging from her shoulder as her eyes looked at his. 

“I got the info.” She said pinching her nose now hoping that’d stop the bleeding. 

Chepe laughed at what she said, “You know I don’t care about the info.” 

“But your business partner does.” With a swift motion she was twisting her nose so it was back in it’s normal positioning and the bleeding quickly stopped but the pain was throbbing. “Fuck.”

Chepe was moving in closer, quick to place a kiss on Diedra’s forehead and throw his hand over her shoulder. “C’mon. Let’s go home.” 

She nodded, allowing the man that she threatened in this very spot two years ago to touch her, in probably one of the more PG ways over the last year. While didn’t exactly melt into his embrace, she didn’t push it away, and she was truthfully looking forward to collapsing in bed with him when they got back to their house. She nodded, still messing around with her broken face as they began to step out. 

“I could help with that.” He brought his hand up and pointed to her face and it earned him a menacing look from Diedra. 

“Don’t push it.” 

________

Diedra felt her whole body ache as she walked up the stairs of her home. She didn’t realize until this moment that she was pretty banged up and bruised all over, beating someone up tended to have that effect. She jumped into the shower, the warm water was a mix of calming while also painful, a true representation of herself. The dirt and blood washed down the drain but the bruises were hard to erase as easily. The bruises were the reminders, they sat next to her scars, because the long term reminders weren’t enough, she needed short term ones too. 

With a new fresh tank top on and just her underwear, she stood back in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. The first aid kit was scattered across the vanity, her eye scanning over the items she needed, butterfly bandages, instant ice packs that all you did was squeeze and shake for them to go cold, ointment, instant sterilizing liquid. Diedra managed to get a stiff bandage across her nose to help keep it in the same place. She had an ice pack balanced on her shoulder, easing the ache of constantly swinging and punching the last 6 hours of the day. As the more time passed, the more the ache spread and it became harder to lift her arms above her head. 

The struggle was beginning to frustrate her as she tried to clean the cuts on her forehead and cheek but struggled to keep her arm raised for more than a couple seconds. She banged her hand against the vanity in annoyance, the entire medical kit shaking as well, some of the bandages falling into the sink. Her eyes closed in defeat, and also as the pain from the hit radiated in her body like a pinball. 

A sudden knock interrupted her moment and she was snapping her neck forward to see Chepe at the door. He didn’t say anything, just casually walked in and picked up the bandages from the sink and tossed them back into the red plastic box. 

“Wanted to let you know I made you something to eat.” He spoke as he dropped the other items back in as well. 

“Not in the mood for a shitty sandwich.” Her words were pointed because it was how she felt, projection at it’s finest. 

Chepe just smiled, still packing up the box. “I made chicharron con tostones, picked up alfajores too.” 

His lack of eye contact showed he wasn’t hurt by Diedra’s bark, he knew it well, they had been living together now for just under a year. When he mentioned the dessert cookie, her eyes widened, shocked by the fact he cooked but also that he picked up one of her favorites. Chepe actually credited alfajores for the reason he could call her his girlfriend. 

He offered her one when they were out by the pool one day at Pacho’s place, Diedra had been off in the deep end, away from everyone, sitting comfortably with her feet dangling in the crystal clear water. She had her sunglasses on so no one could see where her gaze was landing, but it was obvious it was locked in on Chepe as he slowly approached her with a plastic bag. 

“Here.” He spoke, asking the girl to take from the bag. 

“Todo bien.” Suddenly, her gaze moved from the man and back to the view she was staring at trying to ignore him. 

Chepe couldn’t help but smile at the girl, he left the bag next to her, casually tossing it so it landed close enough for her to grab but far enough none of the powdered sugar would spread on her. 

30 minutes later, the empty bag was dropped on Chepe’s tanning chair, and he was looking up at her as his own sunglasses fell down the bridge of his nose. 

“What are these.” Diedra pointed at the empty bag. Despite it being a question, the way she spoke demanded the answer. 

“He took his sunglasses off, wanting to take in this moment in it’s entirety. “Agree to go out with me and I’ll tell you.” 

By the look on the girl’s face he almost considered this an utter fail. That was Chepe’s first lesson on Diedra Lowman. She couldn’t be bribed. 

“Alright,” he raised his hands, “how about, I just drive you to where I buy them. We can go weekly, stock up your supply.” His eyes squinted now, a combination of the sun and him trying to gauge her response. 

Now that got her thinking. She’d be game for that. 

“Deal.” 

And the rest was history, those weekly trips brought them here, in whatever kind of relationship this was, it wasn’t like either of them were the type to define it. 

“Do you mind–”

She was cut off by him, “I already brought it up here, it’s on a table next to the bed.” 

Her body collapsed a little at that information, grateful she didn’t have to manage the stairs again. 

“Will you let me help you now?” Chepe was about to close the kit but this time he looked up after he spoke the words, directly at the cuts on her face. 

It took everything in Diedra to agree, and she couldn’t even say the words, she just gave a kurt nod and stood still so he could help. 

Chepe also knew better than to boast, he similarly gave a nod and shuffled through the kit to pull out what he needed before quickly moving to touch the girl’s face. Her winces were miniscule, the real pain being the aches over the cuts. She’d always take a slice over a bruise. The sting felt more thrilling than the pulsating of a blow. 

“They shouldn’t scar.” Chepe spoke up in a whisper. 

“Wouldn’t care if they did.” It was spoken as she exhaled. 

Chepe laughed. “You say that because you know you’ll still be as beautiful as ever.” 

That made Diedra smile, it took her a while to warm up to the compliments Chepe would feed her but eventually they made her smile. 

“Why don’t you come to New York with me for a couple weeks. I think you could use the break.” He was so dangerously close to her, but it felt normal, it felt comforting. His hands were lightly on her skin, bringing one side of the cut closer to the other as the butterfly bandage pressed each side together. 

“Pacho needs me for something in a couple days in Medellin.” The excuse was spoken so quickly it was like she had it prepped and loaded. 

“You know if you asked he’d say yes in a heartbeat, and if he didn’t he can’t say no to me.” 

“Because who could say no to that charming, smug face.” It was as close as a compliment that she’d say out loud, but she showed her appreciation for him in other ways, just as he did for her. 

“Just think about it.” He moved his hand to her chin and tilted her head up so she was forced to look into his eyes. Chepe wasn’t asking for confirmation, he did it so he could place an intimate kiss on her lips, one that said everything for him. 

As he pulled away his eyes fell on a cut that was on her neck. “Let me just clean this one real quick.” He was bringing the qtip up in a matter of seconds so he could wipe any stuck dirt and dried blood from it, and that’s when his eyes caught the scar not too far off. 

Diedra had a lot of scars along her body, some he was aware of, and many others he could only guess. This being one of the latter. 

“Don’t think you ever told me about this one.” He didn’t dare to touch it, with where he was looking she’d pick up on what he was talking about. 

“Don’t think I ever will.” Her eyes were on the mirror, staring at the scar in question, but what she was seeing was a flash of a memory she really tried to bury, her father coming to her rescue in a little gas station bathroom, the blood, the words she could barely get out as she explained everything to Happy.  

“Whenever you’re ready, you just give me a name, a description, and I’ll make what you did to that man earlier today look like nothing.” His eyes were on Diedra through the mirror, his arms wrapping around her body, lightly so as to not make her ache in anymore pain. 

“Easy killer.” She turned around now, the ice pack beginning to fall down her shoulder until Chepe caught it and pressed it a little harder against her skin, sending shivers down her body that didn’t make her flinch in the slightest. “Let me eat dinner first and then we can talk about wiping out all the people who’ve ever wronged me.” 

She was squeezing out of his grip and making her way to the bedroom so ready to eat the food he had prepared. 

“And then maybe we can talk about New York?” He called out down the hall, still in the bathroom so he could clean up the rest of the mess before joining her.