A/N: This is a completely AU story. Something I've had on my mind for a while. It's an OC/OC pairing, so I don't think I'll hit many buttons here :P

The way I picture Gabi is a Natalie Dormer in The Tudors; fair skin, long back hair. And Colin is a Daryl Nixon (from The Walking Dead, Norman Reedus), but a little bit more on the edge.

This is a little introductory chapter. I hope you enjoy. :)

Chapter 1

Gabi rolled the pen between her fingers as she looked down to her schedule for the day. Sitting beside her, Jeff, her assistant, confidant and best friend, typed vigorously on his smartphone.

"Harry is coming with Jess," Gabi said more to herself than the boy beside her. "I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder if he made her lost all that weight."

"Not likely," Jeff replied without taking his eyes off the screen, still typing. "Harry treats that dog like a little spoiled child, she gets treats more than he gets laid. And trust me, he gets laid."

"Oh, you'd know all about that, I'm sure," Gabi glanced at her assistant and smiled suggestively.

Jeff Lindsay glanced up, his chocolate brown eyes met the Gabi's bright blue ones. Jeff was eight years younger than Gabi, and recently turned 21. But Gabi had known him since he was sixteen and she was just recently graduated from veterinary school and he was hired as a grooming assistant. It was "love at first sight" and they became best friends ever since. Gabi accompanied Jeff's acceptance of his sexuality and the terrible time his parents gave him when he came out; she aided him and kept him in her house until he was on his feet again. Now Jeff was on business school and was her personal assistant; taking care of everything at the clinic for her, from her personal schedule to bookkeeping and everything else with Gabi's partner; Alex Williams.

"Me? Whatever do you mean…?" he said ironically and Gabi snorted a laugh. She remembered how Jeff and Harry dated for a while about a year ago, until Jeff grew tired of him, as he always did.

"Yeah, right," Gabi nodded and glanced outside as Jeff resumed his texting. She frowned as she observed a black van pulling up on the sidewalk.

Right after the van pulled up a black Harley Davidson motorcycle appeared from behind it and pulled up as well. From the van a good-looking young man with a short Mohawk and tattoos on his head left the driver's seat. He opened the back door to the van and grabbed what Gabi immediately recognized as a white pit bull.

"Hey," Gabi elbowed Jeff and he followed her glance outside. "Isn't that Juice? That guy you have a crush on?"

"Oh yeah," Jeff raised his eyebrows and sighed. "He's so straight that one."

"Who's Mr. Badass?"

Jeff watched as a tall man left the Harley Davidson and shouted indistinctively to Juice. The man was wearing the same motorcycle club cut that Jeff had seen Juice wear, under the cut he wore a black short sleeve t-shirt that wrapped tightly around his muscled body, both his arms were filled with tattoos. His face features were strong and squared, and he had a scruffy beard, lighter than his hair. He was definitely good looking, if you're into the badass kind of looks, Jeff thought. His dark brown hair filled his head and fell deftly around his face, looking as if he needed a haircut soon.

"I have never seen him before," Jeff shrugged and got up as soon as the two men entered the clinic.

"… You better be right, or I'll break your fucking paws!" the taller man spoke loudly, but not exactly screaming, as he opened the door for Juice to enter with the dog in his arms.

"Hey, what happened there?" Gabi approached the two, completely ignoring the man's threat to the younger one.

"He broke his paw," Juice said almost under his breath, he sighed in relief at the sight of Gabi. "Well, actually, I didn't see him and I ran over his paw with my bike," he motioned his head outside to make sure Gabi understand he meant a motorcycle and not actually a bike.

The other man slapped the back of Juice's head as he explained the second part. And Gabi glanced at him for a second, as if scolding silently, before approaching Juice and the dog.

"Hey there, sweetie," she said with a smile as she looked at the dog.

The creature moaned in pain, even though a muzzle restrained him. She took a pair of latex gloves from her white coat and promptly put them on and touched the animal's right front paw; a bloody white cloth wrapped the exposed bone and blood. The animal whined at once.

"Oh, my love," she caressed the animal's ear. "Let's take this off, this isn't necessary—"

"He's actually quite anti-social," Juice warned as Gabi unlaced the muzzle, but stopped as soon as she handed Jeff the muzzle and continued to caress the animal behind the ear and he seemed to ease at her touch.

Jeff observed as the taller man frowned at Gabi and the dog. Juice looked up to him immediately.

"I told you she was good," he said lowly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Gabi exchanged a look with him and smiled.

"Take him inside, will you?" she glanced at Jeff who understood at once and directed Juice to a corridor to Gabi's office and the examination room.

"I take it you're the owner? What's his name?" Gabi asked as soon as the other two left, and walked towards the reception desk as she removed her gloves.

"Yes," the 'badass' one looked down at Gabi, she was at least a foot shorter than him, but then again that wasn't that difficult. "His name is Bronson."

Gabi Steiner, although of German descent, was of a very small built. She was short and her figure tiny, yet still curvy. Her skin was extremely fair and contrasted with most of the tanned people in the sunny California, including the man before her. Her bright blue eyes were always shining with life, and she wore her long black hair in long large curls around her shoulders. Her face features were delicate and almost old fashioned, she wore almost no make up with the exception of mascara that made her eyes even more attractive. She wore jeans, a dark purple V-neck t-shirt, ballerina shoes and her white coat.

Gabi was definitely a sight Colin Murray didn't have often. Most of the women he was used to have around were tall, tanned, beautifully curvaceous and lusciously dressed. Gabi was a little delicate thing compared to them, he hesitated in silence for a moment, wondering if she was as competent as Juice had sworn.

She smiled a disconcerting white smile to him as he carefully examined her. It took him a second to look from her eyes to the form she handed him.

"I need you to fill that out with as much information as you can," she said when he picked the form up. "Bronson will be fine, don't worry."

Gabi didn't wait for an answer and turned around towards the corridor to her office, but stopped short and turned back, only to find him still staring at her.

"Oh, what's your name, by the way?" she asked and continued to walk slowly backwards.

"Colin," he replied shortly, amazed by how the girl didn't treat him slightly different than he would think she'd treat anyone.

"I'm Gabi, Colin," she smiled again, still walking backwards. "Make yourself comfortable, this might take a while." he nodded and she turned around, entering a room and disappearing.

x

Colin Murray was never one for words in his job. He wasn't there to talk; he was there to hear. He took a deep breath, losing his patience and observed the man in front of him.

Amjad Rajbard moaned in pain, but resisted dutifully. He was hanging by his arms, his hands tied in above his head, his feet didn't touch the ground, and Colin had put him high up. And even though he was hanging high enough for his feet not to touch the ground, the man before him could still look him straight in the eye.

"Amjad, I'm getting bored," Colin's hoarse grave voice spoke slowly. He used the pipe he was beating the man just a second ago to lift up the man's chin; his head was hanging down, exhausted, but Colin made sure to make him look straight.

"Where are the guns?" Colin repeated the question for the millionth time that morning.

"I won't tell you a thing, Murray, you can do as you please," the man almost mumbled the words. Colin let out a cynical smile at that.

Colin threw the pipe on the floor and walked away. The warehouse was empty, with the exception of the two of them. Colin looked around and saw a furnace still burning; he walked towards it while scanning the floor around him. All manners of pipes and iron bars lied around, he chose a particularly large iron bar, took his jacket out and wrapped around one of the ends, using it as a glove, and then walked towards the furnace, heating up the other end.

Amjad heard the noise and lift his head up slightly to observe what Murray was doing, when he realized what he was about to do, a knot closed his throat and a cold filled his stomach.

"I'm glad we're at terms that I can do as I please," Colin said with a sarcastic smile that remained on his face as he approached the Iranian again, the bar on his hand, the other end sparkly red.

"This pleases me very much," he added, and pulled the man's t-shirt up, approaching the bar to his stomach.

Amjad swallowed dryly, his entire body shaking in fear. Colin didn't even look at his eyes, even though this time he had his head up, staring at the biker. When he started to feel the hot steam coming from the bar as it approached him, he let out a shriek.

"NO! STOP!" he screamed. Colin didn't oblige. Amjad's scream was piercing and terrified when the bar touched his skin and started burning. "STOP! STOP! I'LL TALK!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't understand…?" Colin kept the bar on the man's stomach and looked at him in the eyes. His green ones meeting the pain in the man's black ones with a complete lack of compassion.

"THEY'RE IN STOCKTON! AT AMIR'S BAKERY!" Amjad yelled between his screams of pain.

"Good," Colin nodded shortly and took the bar from the man's stomach.

Amjad sighed in relief, but still battled the pain. His skin twisted in yellow and red from the burn. But before he could say anything else, Colin hit him hard with the bar in the head, breaking his neck and causing his skull to crack on the side, killing him instantly. Maybe the method was brutal, but his act was merciful. When his brother, Amir, and the others realized that Amjad sold them out, they would do a lot worse.

Colin threw the bar on the ground deftly and put his cut back on, just in time when his cellphone vibrated on his right leg pocket. He took it out and talked as he untied the man.

"Yeah?"

"Colin, it's Juice. Can you talk?"

"Sure," he let the man's body fall on floor like a sack of potatoes.

"It's Bronson, but before you say anything, I know exactly where to take him."