Dedicated to Mags_73 for the awesome cover! Go stalk her profile and check out her stories!
Warning: Strong Language and Sexual References!
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Chapter One: A Safe Job
Ary ran down the alleyway at a dead sprint. She could hear the footsteps of the two men chasing after her. She hadn't expected anyone to be home, and clearly the two other intruders hadn't expected anyone else to be there either. She was lucky that the two imbeciles were about as quiet as elderly women at a salon. She'd heard them coming even before they stepped inside the house.
It was supposed to be a simple job. Just a little breaking and entering into an empty house to recover some family heirlooms that a pissed off ex-wife was holding hostage. She didn't know why the other men had been there. They could have just been looking to score some loot. It was a relatively big house in an upper-middle class neighborhood.
After almost ten minutes of running in and out of alleyways, Ary was sure that she had lost the two men, but just to be sure she slowed down her pace and turned her head to see if anyone was behind her.
She couldn't have been looking away for more than a few seconds when her klutzy nature took over and she collided with a couple of trashcans, successfully flipping over them, and falling backwards against a large, green dumpster that was sitting nearby.
For a moment everything went black and then slowly colors started to swirl in front of her eyes as she fought to remain conscious. She focused her gaze on the overturned trashcans, glaring at them, and blaming them for everything that went wrong in her life.
The last two months hadn't exactly been the easiest for her. Despite the fact that Luke had admitted to being involved with the Bloodbaths and the incident that led to his and Ary's kidnapping, her family blamed her for everything that happened. Her aunt wouldn't even look at her anymore.
If stopping a psychopathic murderer and putting a vicious gang leader behind bars for life wasn't worth redemption in her family's eyes, then she was at a total loss. It was becoming clear to Ary that, even if she brought peace to the entire world and ended hunger across the globe, her family would still think that she was a messed up kid that wasn't going anywhere in life.
Ary drove back to Rave's place, trying to ignore the dull throbbing at the base of her skull. Who needed to worry about strange men with guns when a dumpster could knock a person out with one hit? She was starting to agree with Rave when he said that it was a miracle that she was still alive.
It was embarrassing to have tripped over a pile of garbage and then dive head first into the side of a dumpster. She'd have to tell people that she hit her head during a barroom brawl, just to save face.
The grand opening for Rave's club was tonight and the normally abandoned streets around the warehouse were packed with cars. She could already hear the sound of a booming bass and she was still five blocks away. The hobos that lived two warehouses over were not going to like this.
She parked the Jeep at the back of the warehouse, which was now used as employee parking. She was trying not to draw any attention to herself. If someone saw her sneaking upstairs to the loft, covered in dirt and grime, they'd surely report it to Rave and then she'd be in a whole mess of trouble. That's what happened when over half of the employees were former gangbangers that still feared the White Raven.
She made it safely to the loft, stripping her dirty clothes off and tossing them into the washer as soon as she stepped inside. Then she quickly ran upstairs and jumped into the shower to wash away any evidence that she had been doing anything other than sitting in the Jeep and taking pictures of a cheating spouse.
After a soothing ten minutes under a spray of hot water, Ary stepped out of the shower and went over to the mirror, pulling her wet hair up into a messy bun so she could survey the damage left by her smack down with the dumpster. There was an obvious bruise forming at the base of her neck, but it would be easy enough to hide if she kept her hair down.
She gingerly ran her fingers over it, instantly flinching at the sudden contact. There was a good sized bump there already and it hurt like a bitch, but she didn't think it was anything life threatening. She hadn't been dizzy after hitting her head, just extremely pissed off that a dumpster in a dirty alleyway had almost taken her down.
While Rave was busy with getting his night club going, she had decided to also find herself a job. The only thing she was really qualified to do was work at a fast food joint, and that definitely wasn't going to happen, so she decided to get back into the P.I. business.
So far it had been just a couple simple jobs here and there, like taking pictures of cheating spouses or following someone's teenage kid around. It wasn't anything dangerous, which is exactly how she wanted it.
Now she had to worry about hiding her injury from Rave. After the whole Michael/Christian ordeal he was pretty wary of her going out and getting into more trouble. After what happened tonight she couldn't really blame him.
She quickly dried her hair and ran a brush through it a few times before she went out into the bedroom and started sifting through the laundry basket for clean clothes to wear. She had mastered the fine art of using the washer and dryer, but she was still lacking when it came to folding and putting her clothes away.
The last time she had gone to a club was on her birthday, more than three months ago. That was also the first time that she and Rave had had sex. Thinking about it brought a warm blush to her cheeks. She had thought about slutting it up a bit, as Layla loved to refer to it as, but she didn't feel like drawing any unwanted attention to herself tonight.
She settled for a pair of jean shorts that went to about mid-thigh and a dark blue, v-neck t-shirt that was actually in her size. It wasn't anything flashy, but it would still be enough to get a reaction from the drunken men that were clubbing it up downstairs.
"Hey, you almost missed the grand opening!" Luke greeted her as she walked down the back staircase to the storeroom of the club.
"You're out of the hospital for a week and your first thought is to go clubbing?" she asked, giving her cousin a curious look.
"I wanted to see how you were doing," Luke replied, glaring at her. "No one had seen you around in weeks and I was worried about you."
"You mean, you were worried that Rave might have killed me off and then disposed of me in a river somewhere," she corrected him.
The blush creeping onto his cheeks told her that she was right about her assumption. It should have made her feel better that at least one person in her family was worried about her well-being, but after everything that had happened at the beginning of the summer, she hoped that Luke would trust her more.
"Might I remind you that you're the one that almost got us both killed," she pointed out, putting her hands on her hips and giving him a stern look.
"I said I was sorry! How many times do I have to say it before you'll forgive me?" he demanded, giving her a desperate look.
"I'll forgive you when you start trusting me to make my own decisions! Contrary to what everyone in our family thinks, I do know what I'm doing!" she snapped at him.
This was the same conversation that she'd had thousands of times, with various members of her family. The only difference now is that she could give Luke solid proof for why she was actually a pretty responsible person and not a drug addict that was with an abusive boyfriend.
"I know you think Colt has changed, Bella, but he hasn't! Someone like that can't-" Luke didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before the double doors to the storeroom opened and in walked Rave.
He was looking more dashing than dangerous tonight. He'd shaved so that there was only the slightest hint of a five o'clock shadow on his jaw. Instead of his usual attire of a t-shirt and leather jacket, he was wearing a crisp, black button down shirt and dark wash jeans that didn't have any rips in them.
"Someone like me can't what?" Rave asked, walking farther into the room. He came to stand next to Ary, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her against his side.
"You know, you should be thanking me," Luke said, challenging Rave.
"Oh really?" Rave snorted, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah! I could have reported to the police that you were the White Raven!" Luke shouted at him.
"If you two are going to fight, then I'm going upstairs to bed," Ary sighed, disentangling herself from Rave and making a move to head back upstairs.
"Great. I'll join you," Rave shot Luke a devilish smirk as he started to follow Ary.
"Hey!" Ary stopped in her tracks and turned around to glare at her boyfriend. "If you two want to hurt each other, then fine, I don't care anymore, but don't use me as one of your weapons. I will backfire on you and kick your ass," she spoke directly to Rave, daring him to challenge her.
Luke just watched in amusement as Rave lowered his head, a guilty expression on his face. He had to admit that it seemed like Ary held most of the power in the relationship, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that Rave was going to hurt her. Luke knew just how low Rave was willing to stoop to get what he wanted.
"I should probably get going, anyways," Luke sighed, playing the bigger man.
"Oh, that's too bad," Rave said, fighting back a smile.
Ary ignored him as she came back down the stairs and went over to her cousin. "What are you going to report back to my parents?" she inquired.
"You know, if you just moved back home I wouldn't have to report anything," he told her, frowning.
"Luke, do you honestly expect me to live in a place where people blame me for Scar's marriage falling apart and for you getting shot?" she gave her cousin a flat look.
"I'll set everyone straight," he promised her.
"You've already tried and it hasn't helped." She let out a heavy sigh as she gave Luke a quick hug. "I'm fine, really," she assured him.
"I know," he agreed, giving her a tight squeeze before releasing her. "I'm sorry," he apologized before he walked back to the main part of the club, but not before shooting a seething look at Rave from over his shoulder.
"Do you always have to give Luke such a hard time?" Ary immediately turned on Rave as soon as Luke was out of sight.
"I don't like him," Rave shrugged, indifferent.
"I don't care," Ary snapped, angrily. "He is the only person in my family that I can tolerate to be around, so either you suck it up and pretend to like him, or I'll find a guy who can."
Ary didn't even get the chance to take a full breath before Rave had her pinned against the wall, his mouth covering hers. She could tell that he was pissed off by the rashness and power of the kiss. He was somehow trying to mark her as his.
She knew he hated it when she challenged him, but she felt like she had to fight to keep her equal footing in their relationship. Rave was the domineering and over-protective type. If he had things his way, she'd never leave his side. He demanded to know where she was going and how long she'd be gone every time she left.
Contrary to popular belief, that didn't make Ary feel loved and protected, it made her feel controlled and suffocated. She didn't care how much she pissed him off; she wasn't going to give into his demanding ways, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the fierce passion it enticed in him.
She was too caught up in the heated kiss to notice when Rave's hands left her hips and moved to her neck so that he could tilt her head back for a better angle. She did, however, notice the pain that shot down her spine when Rave's rough fingers brushed over the bruise on her neck.
"Ssss!" She hissed out a breath of pain and shoved Rave away from her.
"What is this?" Rave demanded, moving to lift the hair from her neck.
"It's nothing," she quickly replied, slapping his hands away.
"Damn it, Ary," Rave growled. His hands were clenched into fists and he was almost shaking from the restraint it took to control his temper.
"Rave." Ary took his hands in hers. His steel blue eyes swept up to hers and she could see concern in them. "I'm fine. It's just a little bump," she assured him.
"How'd it happen?" he asked, his voice rough with the anger he was feeling.
"That doesn't matter," she shrugged, coolly. Rave's eyes narrowed. She felt her face heat up, not because of the way Rave was staring at her, but because of the embarrassment she felt at telling him the truth.
"Ary, if you think I'm gonna-" Rave started into another one of his rants about her going out and getting hurt, but before he could fully get into it, she interrupted him.
"I tripped and fell against a dumpster!" she blurted out, quickly becoming even more embarrassed.
Just as quickly as Rave's anger had come, it left just as swiftly as he fought back the laughter. Ary just kept her head down, ashamed at herself for being such a klutz. It surely wouldn't be a bad guy that ended her life, it would be her tripping over a crack in the sidewalk and diving head first into oncoming traffic.
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I'm pissed, so here's the first chapter of Dark Angel! Don't bother voting since votes mean nothing here on Wattpad! Tempted to flip over some tables! Grr!
Anyways, here, do whatever you want. Regardless of whether or not you people like it, I'm gonna keep writing it because it's my story and I feel like we need to have stronger female role models and not let these little girls give into domination just because a hot guy kidnapped them!
Anger rant over. Peace! P.S. External link is for the first book in the series, White Raven.