Chapter 1: A Better Life...

Authors Note:

Hey guys,

This is my first Saints Row fanfiction, it was a project that I had been working on for quite a while and now I have finally released it. I hope you guys enjoy reading it.

A little heads up: This is an AU fanfiction based off of the Boss' simulation in Saints Row IV where he lives in a normal world/universe, but this has a twist to it and it's set in Stilwater during the events of Saints Row 2, but again with a twist (and in the future, Steelport). The Boss isn't a boss in this story instead he's just an average guy who lives in the suburbs and doesn't like saying his name (which is why I used "He" and not his "name" in most of the chapter and will continue doing so unless the moment calls for it. If I do use his name I will be choosing the one that was given to him during the development of the first Saints Row game, Mikey, pronounced "Mickey". Any information I get is based off the Saints Row wiki or just plain ol' gameplay). He has no connection to the Third Street Saints whatsoever (yet).

I'll see you guys at the bottom of this chapter!

Anyways… Enjoy!

"Ugh.." He groaned, shuffling out of the covers and placing his feet on the hardwood floor. He rubbed his temples in circular rotations trying to relieve his headache; but to no avail. He thought long and hard about how he had gotten this massive headache only in the morning. Then, it came to him; but only in bits and flashes. "What the fuck happened?" He pondered in a small voice, he just couldn't place his finger on it.

A cold breeze came through the open window sending chills down his spine. His body trembled slightly while he watched the white curtains dancing with the coldness of the air; and that was more than enough motivation for him to go and slam the window shut.

"God..." A voice behind him seemed to stir awake, it was feminine and slurred. "Why is it so loud this early in the morning?" The soft sound of sheets sliding filled the room.

Oh no. No, no, no. He thought to himself and cursed. If this was what he thought it was... He froze in his place near the window, and looked down. Naked. It was exactly what he thought it was. But, luckily for him; his back was still on her... whoever she was. At least he didn't have to face her, yet. He looked around his room for something to cover himself up without having looking back at the person who slept on his bed behind him. To his left was a grey armchair with a small matching pillow; it would do. He turned to face her, and he began to remember. She was just as naked as he was, yet she stretched all on top of his bed. The small of her back curving along with her and for a second she had reminded him of a cat. Yet, she didn't seem to mind her nakedness whatsoever.

When her hazel eyes landed on his own eyes she cleared her throat and smiled. He smiled back in response, covering up the dread that was in reality; filling his chest. He noticed a couple bruises on her back and her arms. There were probably more below her pale waist if the sheets weren't covering her. He had left a light trail of hickies down her neck towards her ample breasts. He then noticed that she had left marks on him as well.

"Uh-"

"So-"

He pointed his left hand at her, letting her go first instead. "Go ahead."

She shrugged and flipped on her stomach. Then she held her hands up. "I'm Shaundi." Shaundi (re)introduced herself; hoping to remove some of the awkwardness around them. She shifted, and so did her dreaded locks of hair which was long and light brown in color, her fringe was a different color though, it was more of a sandy blonde. She wore a purple bandana which was tied around her hair. Her thought that it suited her; then he wondered how it didn't fall off last night.

"Sorry about the…" Again he pointed his left hand at her, but it was directed at her body this time. "Bruises."

"It was fun." Shaundi stated very nonchalant with a chuckle. She hugged her knees and stared at him for a long time. "You wanna go again…?"

He remained quiet. Around her the clock read 2:43 PM, it wasn't the morning; it was already the afternoon. "I'm okay, thank you." He tried his best not to make it sound awkward, but it came out more like he was disappointed or was waiting to run away. "I have stuff to do." He walked into his closet; still holding the pillow near him. He walked inside of his huge walk in closet, then went through his drawers looking for something to wear. From behind him he could hear her creeping closer.

"What about you?" She asked in a seductive tone in a sort of way as to drag him down to bed once more.

"Huh?" He said, slipping on a pair of shorts only beginning to look for a shirt. There was a silence, so he stopped what he was doing and looked towards the open doors. He felt daggers on him and it was obvious she had been peeking in from outside the doors. The sheets were wrapped around her front while the rest draped all over the floor. He had to admit she was kind of cute, but this was bad, and he half hated one night stands. He sighed; he knew exactly what she was asking, but he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Yeah." He nodded at her.

"Good times." The woman named Shaundi smirked and turned to walk away. She dropped the sheets on to the ground and walked off, leaving him with a view of her (very nice) ass. It only took her a couple seconds to get dressed, and next thing you know, he heard: "See ya'."Then she was gone.

He wondered how he got involved with her, and why he ended up bringing her up to his house in the suburbs. He must've been really drunk. "I fucked a hippie?" He mouthed to himself in wonder, he lifted his forearm and smelled his skin. It was a mixture of sweet perfume and weed, and strangely enough it mixed together well.

It was then that his phone rang; the caller ID reading: Viola DeWynter. A smile crept on to his lips, Viola had been a business partner along with her sister, Kiki for a couple of months now, she wasn't very honest about her feelings and he knew her very well. He picked up.

"Hello?" He answered. On the other end of the phone he could hear her clearing her throat, for a second she was trying to collect her words but it passed and she responded.

"H-Hello? We're still on for tonight, right?" Viola questioned him, eager with a hint of excitement. It wasn't until just now that he felt a wave of guilt hit him, he felt awful. A hangover, and a one-night stand with a stoner or whatever the fuck she was on the day of a —as Viola calls it— "kind-of-a-date-but-not-really" date. But, Viola never really hinted at wanting a relationship, they only did it because they wanted to, and he did it because his boss encouraged it as it "helped build relationships with sister companies" or some shit like that. A part of him said "fuck it who cares?", but the other half was certain that Viola would get extremely pissed if she knew that he fucked another woman.

"Yeah, definitely." He tried to sound positive and reassuring; dissolving trace of nervousness, disappeared. "When are you coming over?"

"Mmm.." She thought about it for awhile. "Perhaps in about an hour."

"An hour?" He practically yelled out. Shock filled his tone; then he coughed it out. "Uh, yeah, that's, uh, fine, definitely." He tried to get it together, but he was sure he sounded suspicious to her.

"Is everything okay?" Viola mused over the phone.

"Yep. Yeah. It's all good. I'll see you in an hour." He hung up and rushed back to the room, the stench of sex thick in the air. "Oh no." He worked as fast as he could to clean the bed and pick up the things that were thrown on the floor, he found a variety of things, like a trail of clothes leading down the stairs to the first floor of his house, and various decorations knocked on to the ground, and the sound of running water in one of the bathrooms. He went to turn the water off, but instead received a startled feminine scream in response to opening the door. "Jesus Christ!" He yelled back at it.

"Don't you know how to knock?" Shaundi screamed back at him continuing to shower.

"I thought you were gone already!" He retorted. "I even heard you get dressed, and normally when someone says, 'See ya', it means goodbye, I am leaving, not: 'I'm gonna go shower'".

"Well, I didn't. I figured since I was already here that I would quickly use the shower and that you wouldn't mind." Shaundi explained from the other end of the murky shower door.

"Damn it, shower a bit more quickly! And why'd you scream just then?" He asked her. "What if the neighbors call the cops? Plus, it's not like I haven't seen you naked or anything!"

"It was on instinct, and I don't think your neighbors would mind." Shaundi replied as she lathered her hair.

"Just hurry up, I have someone coming over in a few."

Shaundi ran to the door, her body soaked in water, she peeked through the crack and curiously looked into his eyes. "Is it your girlfriend?"

He tensed up. Was Viola his girlfriend? "N-No…" He just muttered.

Shaundi scoffed and hopped back into the steamy shower. "That didn't sound very convincing. I'm sure she'd be very happy to hear that."

"What would you know? You don't even know her or me!" He answered defensively.

"I wasn't the one calling out 'Viola! Oh, Viola!' during sex last night now was I?" She laughed. His jaw dropped. Did I really do that? He thought, he was too embarrassed to even think about it, but he had to ask, but she continued talking. "Plus, I'm a woman, I know when a man is pussy-whipped."

He walked into the bathroom and confronted her. "Did I really do that?" He saw her eyebrow arch up and a smirk form on her thin lips.

"Yeah, you did, pretty loudly in fact." Shaundi rinsed the soap lathered on her body and washed her face. "It was really funny, but cute at the same time. You called my name out a couple of times too, especially when you came." She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, she smelled like vanilla and flowers body wash. She must've used one of Viola's. He figured. "Let's do it again."

"You're really persistent, aren't you?"

Shaundi grabbed her purple bandana off of a shelf in the restroom as she got out of the shower; she crossed her arms. "Stop acting like you didn't like it." She said as she playfully punched him in the ribs, and defiantly looked up at his face. She got on the tip of her toes and ran a nail down his bare chest. "I know you liked it…" Shaundi whispered seductively into his ear, her hand slid down to his shorts to grab onto him but he stopped her before she could go any further.

"What do you want?" He said through gritted teeth.

"I just want to have fun with you, that's all." Shaundi bit her lower lip and inched closer to his face while still on her toes. He pulled his face centimeters away from hers.

"And if I deny?"

"I'll keep on bugging you until you do." She stated simply, poking his chest to accent her argument and planted her feet on the ground.

"And this will get you to leave right now, right?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Dunno, 'til I get tired or bored, maybe both. Normally I don't do this to just anybody, trust me, this is like winning the lottery, I've fucked a lot of guys and only one of them got this opportunity." She made it sound like she was of more value than she seemed.

"And what happened to him?" He got curious.

"He got married, had kids, you know, he got boring." Shaundi shrugged. It really didn't seem to bother her whatsoever. "His wife found out, threatened to call the cops on me."

"Ouch." He replied. He imagined himself in that position. "But, it sounds more like he moved on."

"So…?" She said with crossed arms, referring to the deal she was striking a couple seconds ago.

"Fine, but you have to tell me when you're coming." He said after, sealing the deal.

"Tch."

He raised a brow at her. "What?"

"Nothin', fine." Shaundi agreed. They shook hands.

"Now get out of here, I only have 20 minutes to get this place cleaned up." He sounded more like a grumpy old man than someone who didn't want to get caught.

"See ya." Shaundi pecked him on the lips and ran off. This time he actually saw her get dressed and walk out of the door. After he saw her leave, he rushed to clean up the rest of the mess they caused.

Lots of credit to my wonderful friend Layla (Descendant-of-Blue-Blood)for editing, and helping me write this chapter. She's the real MVP.

I'll hopefully see you in the next chapter.

Thank you for reading!

- Queen of Cellos