Aubrey

"I'm sorry," I apologized to the person that I had rammed into. They turned and looked down at me. It was a tall man in a white t-shirt with a black leather jacket over it. "I didn't see you."

"You didn't see me?" He asked, sounding slightly amused but more annoyed.

"No, sorry, I wasn't paying attention." I looked him over. He towered over me making it almost hard to see his face with the sun behind him. His wide shoulders gave the impression that there were muscles under that jacket, and the way his shirt tightly stretched over his chest confirmed this. I noticed dark, red-brown splashes on the t-shirt he was wearing. "Um, did you know that there's blood on your shirt?" He looked down and saw what I saw, but didn't seemed shocked or bothered by this discovery. He just shrugged.

"It's not my blood. It's from the last person that ran into me." I nodded ignoring the not so discreet threat. I shrugged.

"As long as you aren't hurt." He looked slightly confused but it didn't last long. "Anyway, sorry again for running into you."

"Don't let it happen again." I chuckled.

"Yes sir." I mocked before walking to the shop where I now worked.

I had just moved here recently and got a job working for an old couple who owned a bookstore/coffee shop. I loved it here so far! It was the small town feel I had been looking for when I decided to move.

As I walked inside, I noticed Mrs. West looking like she was about to pass out. Her eyes wide and her hand over her heart.

"Are you okay?" I rushed to her, worried.

"My dear, are you okay?" Why wouldn't I be?

"Yes?" I answered confused.

"Do you know who that was?" She asked, pointing outside to where I was before.

"The guy?" She nodded. "No, why, should I?"

"Honey, someone should have warned you. He is a terrible man who has committed more sins than the devil." I thought she was being pretty dramatic. I pierced my lips together to keep from laughing. "He's the head of the motorcycle gang that terrorizes the people here. All of them are just awful, but he...he is the worst."

"Why is he so horrible?" I asked, playing along, not wanting to be rude. And since when did this town get a motorcycle gang?

"His parents' death is said to be the cause of another motorcycle group near here, the Night Riders. No one is quite sure who's responsible, but Xavier seems sure it was them."

"Then shouldn't those be considered the 'bad ones'? If that's who killed his parents, I mean."

"Oh no...well at the time yes but, you see, the cops could never find proof and that is why the man you ran into, Xavier, is so set on terrorizing this town. They have never caught him with anything, so it is like a game to him now. When he was younger he just had this anger in him... it was just little crimes then, a couple of vandalized cars or broken windows...we should have known then he'd be a problem." She muttered before continuing "When he left for school it was peaceful, we were sure all the trouble was over. But one day he was back along with the rest of them. He had rebuilt the club so quick it seemed to happen over night. But it was different, he was different, darker, almost emotionless. It was worst then anyone could have predicted." She paused, shaking her head. "It was like it wasn't about revenge anymore for him, he was just too far gone to stop, I guess."

"That is really sad, does he not have anyone? Like any other family?" I asked.

"His club, I guess. But his power and control creates such an uncomfortable amount of fear that most of his real family stays away. He has an aunt, his dad's sister, she never left but she is terrified of him too." I frowned, that was sad. How could someone live like that, have that much darkness that even his family fled from him? I moved to wash my hands before helping with the cupcakes that she was icing.

Not long after I finished my first cupcake, I heard the roar of, what sounded like, dozens of motorcycles.

"There they go." Mrs. West muttered, nodding towards the window.

"So, do they mess with the actual town a lot?" I asked, reaching for another cupcake.

"Usually, yes, but sometimes we get a couple of weeks when we don't see any sign of them."

"What do they do?" She sighed.

"It depends, sometimes we get lucky and they just vandalize a few things, but there have been times when people would be found dead." I looked up from the cupcake I was icing.

"Dead? How is he not in jail then?"

She gave me a look. "I told you, never any proof."

"So, no one can be sure it's him then." I pointed out.

"We are sure." I didn't disagree further because honestly, I didn't know anything about him. She looked back at me. "Just keep away from him, okay? I have never seen him let someone walk away from him like that. Count your blessing, love." She said walking by and patting my cheek.

Mrs. West seemed very tired so I told her I could close with her husband and she could go home if she wanted. After convincing her that I really didn't mind, she left. We had one minute till closing when the doors flew open, knocking over a book display. I looked up to see eleven guys walk in. All the guys had on black leather jackets that said 'Young Guns M.C.' on the back with a picture of a skull with two guns pointed opposite ways. One came over leaning against the counter. I walked over there ready to take his order.

"Can I help you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Well, what are you going to give me?" He said looking over me slowly. A couple of them laughed as I ignored him. He caught my reaction and chuckled while watching me log into the register.

"You must be new. You see, you do not take my order. You give me what I want." I looked at Mr. West. He nodded with a frown on his face. This must be the group that Mrs. West was telling me about.

"Okay, so tell me then, what do you want?" I asked, half heartedly knowing that was costing Mr. West money. He looked over the bakery display.

"Hmm," He turned. "What do y'all want?" He yelled, which was unnecessary because they were the only ones here.

"All of it." I glanced up to see the man I had ran into staring at me. His dark eyes studied me like he was waiting to see what I would do. I could see his face clearly now and he was beautiful but his dark, black eyes didn't look as emotionless as Mrs. West said. He looked ready for a fight, reminding me of the men on TV before a boxing match.

"We will take it all." The one leaning on the counter said. I nodded and started taking out the food from the bakery window.

"Don't worry about putting it on plates." Mr. West whispered. I nodded once. I took two trays of cupcakes and then the rest of the cheesecake to the table before going back to the kitchen.

"I hate to ask you this but would you please help me start cooking tonight? I don't want to stress Annie." Mr.West asked, looking stressed.

"I don't mind at all." I smiled at him. "I'm going to start picking up that display."

"You are an angel." I smiled and went to clean the mess on the floor. Half of the books were on the shelf when they got knocked off again. I jumped out of the way to keep from getting hit. I looked up to see the one from this morning, Xavier. He glared down at me.

"My bad, didn't see it there." His voice was low and chilling. I ignored it and smiled slightly at him making his point.

"As long as it doesn't happen again." He looked shocked before pushing me up against the wall. He looked over my face intensely and he held a tight grip on my arms.

"Or what?" He said in a cold voice. I looked into his eyes that were dark and intimidating. The coldness in them matches his voice. He looked like he could kill and not think twice about it. I knew I should be scared but all I could think about was what Mrs. West told me about his parents. "What could you possibly do to me?"

"Nothing, I guess." I said, still looking into his eyes not really paying much attention to his words. He let go of my arms and put his hands up against the wall, still blocking me in.

"Exactly, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. You need to make sure you remember that. I am not always as nice as I was this morning." He sneered. I nodded. He looked back into my eyes frustrated before pushing off the wall and going back to the table with the others. I felt eyes on me and looked to see Mr. West looking terrified. I smiled at him to reassure him and started getting the books up again. About an hour later, they were done. The table and floor had crumbs and icing all over it. They left their trash behind and went to leave.

"Sorry about the mess." He said sarcastically. I ignored it and smiled up at him.

"It's okay, we had to clean up anyways." I said sincerely. He glared at me before leaving with the others following. I locked the door and turned to Mr. West. "Why don't you go home to Mrs. West. I can take care of all this."

"No, honey, its too much."

"It's fine I promise. Plus, I'm younger than you I can stay up all night." I said messing with him to show him I really didn't mind. He smiled. I didn't want him to stay. They had obviously come here because of me, I got the message and I felt guilty that it affected their business.

"You are the best."

I left around two in the morning. The place was spotless and the pastries and desserts were all replaced. I was scheduled to come in at eight the next morning so I hurried home and got as much sleep as I could before it was time to get up again.

The next morning, my bed decided to feel even more comfortable than normal, like it was trying to tell me to stay in all day. I groaned rolling out of bed and getting into the shower before getting dressed and going to work. When I got there, they were really busy.

"Hey, I'm sorry I would have come sooner if I had known." I told Mrs. West.

"Honey, no! You helped out so much yesterday." I nodded. I still felt bad. Around ten o'clock, things calmed down a bit and Mrs. West and I took the chance to bake some more pastries. "How are you after last night?" She asked as she slowly frosted the cherry chocolate cake.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Xavier throwing you against the wall!" She exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, I'm fine it wasn't all that dramatic." She looked at me funny.

"Honey, something is wrong with your brain if he doesn't scare you." I frowned.

"I just feel sorry for him, I guess." She frowned a little.

"Wait till he doesn't stop bothering you."

"Maybe,"

"If he does something like he did last night, don't feel like you have to work late. It wasn't your fault."

"Actually, last night was. He was getting me back for running into him on the street, I think." I admitted.

"Well, that is no excuse for the way he acts!"