Ash n' Leather

Familiar Ground

Ashley's P.O.V

I park my 1964 cherry red mustang in front of the old bar. It looks as dusty and dirty as ever, bikes parked haphazardly in the lot, their riders bustling inside. Stepping out I feel a rush of adrenaline. I haven't dressed this way in years. Tight black leather jacket, lacey red tank top, jeans so tight they're practically a second skin, and my tallest black stiletto. Since I likely won't recognize anyone, this is the only way I knew they'd let me past the threshold. 

I stride up to the door and throw it open, all the commotion goes silent with the creak of the hinges. Every pair of eyes lock onto me. I look around. As expected I don't see anyone that knows me, or the person I need. I snap my leg out to the side and wait for someone to speak up.

One of the men finally speaks up, "Excuse me ma'am, can we help you somehow?"

"Actually yes, I'm here to talk to someone... a certain Jackson Matthews." Saying his name out loud makes my heart clench. It's been so long since I've seen him.

The man seems surprised, he looks me up and down, and responds with, "He is currently in a meeting with the other seniors of the club. Would you be willing to wait till the light above the door turns green over there?" I recognize he's referring to the light by the office door.

"Not to seem rude but I know how the light works. This is a matter of urgency so I will wait until the light goes yellow. This is urgent, and I don't think he would appreciate me being kept waiting."

"I understand, please feel free to wait at the bar. You are welcome here unless you show you are a danger or hazard to the club." He nods his head at me and sits back down, causing the rest of the people to begin chatting and going about their business once again.

I walk over to the bar and sit down. The bartender walks over to me with a towel over his shoulder. "Can I get anything for you miss?"

"I'll just take a water, I might have a long drive ahead of me."

He turns around and while he's filling up the glass he says, "Y'know, I don't know what it is, but you seem quite familiar."

"Well once Jack is informed that I'm here I'm sure your memory will be jogged." He places the water in front of me, giving me a wary glance. "Don't worry, I didn't mean that in a threatening way, I would never hurt this club. I'm a good guy," I add as I laugh. Just then a noise is heard, like a quiet ring. My head snaps to the light above the office, my heartbeat picking up, my face dropping into a serious look. I turn my head towards the man from before as he gets up and walks over to me.

"Before I go in I need to know your name so I can inform Matthews."

"Just let him know that there's Ash in the air."

The bartenders head whips towards me. "Holy shit,  I never would have guessed. James get your ass in there and tell Jack she's here," he snaps and the man runs into the back where the door for the office is. "What the hell are you doing here?" 

"I'm here about family matters Reap," I look at him with a sad smile. The bartenders name is Reaper, and seems to be the only person in the room that I recognize. He and I never talked much but it was enough that we trust each other, and he knows Jack well. "Why aren't you in the back with the seniors?"

"Well I-," he's cut off by voices yelling. 

"WHAT?!" "Dude you should've ignored the light." "Ash is here?!"

I look over at the frosted glass window of the office and see a shadow jump over the desk. I hear the office door slam open before he's running out of the back, scanning the room. When his eyes land on me, I gasp. It's hard not to. After all, I hadn't see him for 3 years. 

He slowly walks over to me, like he doesn't believe I'm actually here. When he reaches me he moves his hand to cup my cheek, "What on earth are you doing here Ash?"

I laugh, my voice cracks a bit, and suddenly I'm getting choked up. My reaction is giving off a totally different persona than when I first walked into the bar today. "Jack I need to talk to you. It's important." He seems to understand, running his hand down my arm before intertwining our fingers and beginning to lead me to the back so we can talk in private. But before we can get to the hall, a hand shoots out and is placed on Jack's chest.

Jackson growls and turns to who the hand is connected to. At this point the other seniors are out of the office looking at me with surprise and looking at the man with the hand in amusement. "Roberts, what do you think you're doing," Jackson asks the man with a pissed off expression painting his face.

"Don't you think you should be more careful Matthews? Even if you do know this girl it seems like you haven't seen her in a while, shouldn't she be screened like everyone else?," The smartass man with a hand seems to have enough brains to speak but not to recognize his poor actions.

"I don't think-," I cut Jackson off. "Jack, let me." He looks at me before nodding. 

At this point everyone is quiet, looking at us, waiting to see what will happen next. I step in front of Jack, facing the Roberts guy,  and put my hand on his chest. Jack growls and Roberts looks a bit taken aback. "Roberts is it? I suggest you treat your vice-president with more respect." At that a lot of the men look surprised, probably because of the fact that I knew Jack was the vice-president. Continuing I say, "Either use his name politely, use his club name, or call him vice. And another thing, when it comes to me, don't ever get in his way." While saying this I had run my hand down his arm and when I finished my spieI I grabbed it and twisted it behind his back. Everyone in the club, except the seniors, jumped, worried I'm dangerous. Once Jack began to laugh they all relaxed. I shoved Roberts away from me and he turned around to glare at me, rubbing his shoulder.

"That's the Ash I remember." Jack turns towards the crowd and addresses everyone, "You'd do best to remember what the lady said. It applies to all of you." He smirked before pulling me into the office, I waved to all the seniors as we passed by them, they all looked at me smiling their asses off, like a group of proud parents.

"I'll come say hi when we're done talking." They nod and the door is closed behind us. It's just me and Jackson.