"You… piece… of… garbage!"
That was the tamest of Rey's comments as the old blue Ford station wagon into which she had packed all of her things sputtered to a halt at the side of the highway. She was in no particular rush to be anywhere or to meet up with anyone in the town of Orderly Falls – she had a meeting at the hospital, Saint Luke's Medical Center, scheduled for the next day, but other than that, there was no reason for her to feel particularly pressured by the sudden state in which she'd found her car.
It just sucked.
She had first decided to move to Orderly Falls because it appeared the optimal place to finish her research on the use of technology – specifically her specialty, robotics – in rural hospitals. She had left the city with the highest of hopes and loftiest of ambitions once the director of Saint Luke's Medical Center had agreed to let Rey Jackson come and implement her project at the hospital.
Rey had signed the lease on a one-bedroom house in Orderly Falls with a big enough garage to serve as her workshop – but now, she was stranded without any way of reaching it. Using the elastic band around her wrist to tie her brown hair hack before stepping out of the car, she intended to either fix this heap of garbage or catch a case of heat stroke trying while out in the almost desert-like heat. However, before she could get started, the roar of engines thundering up the road as she stepped out of her car made her body go tense. She exited the car and made her way to the shoulder, off to the side of the road, just in time to see three Fatboy motorcycles thundering up over the small hill in the highway, pulling up behind her.
The man at the front of the three dismounted, while the others did not. He was a large man – not muscular, Rey noted, but rather blob-like – and discolored as though he made a habit of drinking far too much for his liver. A brief whiff of him as the wind subtly changed directions further supported Rey's assertion to this end.
"You look stuck, little lady," the man beamed, pulling off his riding glasses. "How's about you let us give you a lift somewhere, call someone to fix that cage o' yours," he said, nodding at the old stalled station wagon.
"I can fix it myself," Rey said with a slight sneer. "Might've managed already if you hadn't gotten here, honestly."
"Ouch. No need to be rude, darlin'," the large man said. He chuckled and reached out for Rey's hand, placing a condescending kiss on the back. The action, rather than evoking a gratefulness in Rey that chivalry was not dead, instead ignited a fire behind her eyes.
"Let go," she hissed, "of my hand."
But the large man grinned and held it tighter before looking over his shoulder at his two companions and nodding for them to join him. The two other men dismounted their bikes and started stalking over.
Great, Rey thought with a roll of her eyes. She hadn't even gotten into town yet and already she was about to get into a fight. Instinctively, she yanked her hand away from the large man and, in a swift and unstoppable motion, moved over and knocked his bike to the ground with a sharp kick. Knowing immediately that she'd done nothing that would win her any friends, she immediately began darting away in the opposite direction. Orderly Falls was only seven more miles away as the crow flew, if the map that had been splayed across her passenger seat was to be trusted. It couldn't be too bad.
Instead of the sound of footsteps pursuing her, however, Rey froze in her tracks when the men instead began kicking and banging stones on her station wagon, caving in the back window. She felt her hackles raised.
All of her equipment and work plans were in there.
In spite of her better judgment and sense of self-preservation, Rey doubled back and began beating on their meaty backs with her fists as they continued wreaking havoc on her poor old station wagon. Finally, after she'd managed a particularly rough clap to their leader's ear, they again focused their attention on her, with the two underlings grabbing her arms and holding her still while she continued to resist, kicking and flailing.
"You'd make a real nice ol' lady if I could manage to get a leash on ya," their leader said with a sneer of a grin. "Real nice –"
His large, grubby hands were reaching forward for her when suddenly a familiar blaring noise – a siren – burst into audibility and the pickup truck with the Orderly Falls Sheriff Department pulled up alongside them, causing the men to step back from Rey and stare at the newly arrived vehicle in disgust.
"Gentlemen," a young, darker-skinned man in a sheriff's uniform said as he stepped out of the car. Rey caught a glimpse of his badge number – 2187 – still shiny and emblazoned with the word deputy. "Something the matter here?"
"Nothin' at all. Deputy," the leader said with a derisive smirk. "Nothin' at all."
"Yeah. Thought so," the deputy said with a slight jerk of his head – Rey had to fight back a chuckle. It was clear how new the young man was, and she had yet to decide if his assistance was truly helping, but she appreciated it just the same. "How about you three head on back to the city? Orderly Falls hasn't got much to keep you interested, does it?"
"Wish we could," the leader said. "But see, this lovely lady here kicked over my bike and I'm not sure it's gonna start."
"Well," the deputy said, pausing and raising his eyebrows, tilting his head to one side. "Then you can hop on the back of your buddy's bike and call a tow truck when you get home."
"You ain't gonna do me the courtesy of callin' it in for me, Deputy?"
"Wish I could. But I might accidentally call in for backup, considering I'm pretty sure I just witnessed an assault in progress on this young lady before I got here."
The rotund men glared at the deputy, but eventually – and grudgingly – complied. The sight of two of these large men trying to get onto a single bike, and the subsequent groan of the suspension under their combined weight, again tested Rey's ability not to laugh. She held it in until the men had ridden away a distance, and allowed a smirk to cross her face.
"You need to be more careful, Miss," the deputy said seriously, his eyebrows leaping high on his face as he addressed her. "Who knows what coulda happened if I hadn't shown up."
"I could've handled myself… Deputy…"
"Finn," the young man said, holding out his hand for a hand shake. "Deputy Sheriff Finn Tate."
"Deputy Finn," Rey said, shaking his hand. She preferred his first name – it had a little more character. "Well, thank you."
"Just… doin' my job," he said with a slightly goofy chuckle that Rey was, at least in some part, able to read. He was young, and had an affinity for having his ego appealed to. Being new, it was a fair assessment to say that it probably didn't happen often, and he was happy to milk it for all it was worth. "What are you doin' all the way out here, miss…"
"Rey. Not Miss. Just Rey," she stated. "My car broke down – I'm just moving into town," she explained, unconsciously reaching up and adjusting the messy bun into which she had tied her hair. "And apparently, I'm awful at making friends," she added with a smirk.
"Well I got some tow straps in the truck, I can probably get you into town," Finn spoke up with a little more enthusiasm than likely was needed, eliciting a small chuckle from Rey – Finn caught himself in the act and cleared his throat, rolling his shoulders in feigned nonchalance. "I got a shop that we bring all our cars to when they need servicing, I'm sure they can make time for you –"
"I'm an engineer," Rey interrupted. "If you could just tow me to my house, I'll be fine on my own."
"Don't you have movin' to do?" Finn pressed on, simultaneously opening the passenger side door of the pickup truck and fishing around under the seat for the tow straps tucked into a hard plastic carrying case. "That takes time, and you're gonna want your car working. You'll need it to get around."
Rey wasn't sure why she was actually convinced by the deputy's reasoning, but some way or another, she was seated in the passenger seat within minutes and on her way to Dameron Motors. She found, also, that Deputy Sheriff Finn Tate was quite a talker.
"And that's Sweetie's Donut Shop – you're not a local unless you have a usual there," he said as they made their way down Main Street. "Bavarian cream filled is where it's at, so I'd probably suggest you start –"
Rey yelped slightly and stopped herself from hitting the airbag panel on the dashboard when suddenly, Finn hit the brakes as a group of bikers in black turned onto Main Street from a side road – he yielded for them as they merged onto the road ahead of his truck.
"These the same guys as earlier?" Rey asked, sinking down slightly to avoid being seen as a precaution. "Maybe heading into town wasn't a great idea after all.
"Different guys. You can tell by the colors," Finn said, gesturing vaguely with his free hand. Rey squinted a little to make out the text on embroidered patches on all of their black leather vests – Dark Siders, Orderly Falls Charter. Relieved, she sat up straighter and realized that their bikes were much nicer, much more meticulously-maintained, even at first glance. When the man at the front of the group raised his hand and made a gesture, signaling for the entire group of bikes to turn, Rey's gaze drifted to him – he was clearly the tallest of the group, and wore all black, even riding on a black bike. "Club prez," Finn spoke up, following the direction of Rey's gaze. "Name's Kylo. His grandpa was probably the best president the club ever had in the eighties, right after Vietnam – they brought a ton of money into the town. Probably paid for half of the buildings in this town to get built in the first place," Finn said with a thrilled laugh that admittedly confused Rey a bit. This deputy sheriff obviously loved his job – obviously wanted to be excellent at it. Why was he so giddy to talk about a local gang of bikers?
"The Dark Siders have changed a lot since then, though. Taken a different direction," Finn continued. "Still bring in money, but don't do a good job cleaning up the things they do to make it."
"What do you mean, the things they do to make it?"
"Trust me," Finn said, glancing over at Rey with his eyebrows raised again. "Spend a little while in Orderly Falls and you'll know."
Rey was tempted to press him a little harder for information now that her curiosity was peaked, and she was confident that she couldn't have gotten it had they not just pulled through the gates to a fairly large auto shop with a large, orange and white sign that read Dameron Motors.
Fiinn brought the truck to a halt and got out – immediately, from inside the front office, a man in grey coveralls with dark orange elbow and knee patches came out and beamed in greeting. "Finnie!" the man with wavy dark hair and grease-coated hands said, throwing one arm out wide in greeting while reaching for a rag in his back pocket with the other. He wiped off his hands before glancing at Rey as she got out of the car, offering his hand to shake. "You bring me a customer to make up for making me pay that speeding ticket?"
"Just doing my job, man," Finn lauhed bashfully, scratching the back of his neck. "Tryin' not to get fired –"
"Relax," the mechanic laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "I know you're on the straight and narrow now. Grown up job and everythin'," he laughed, gently socking his friend in the shoulder. Then, he turned to Rey. "Poe Dameron. Best mechanic in town. What can I do for you?"
"Rey Jackson. See that piece of garbage back there?" Rey said, squinting slightly against the high, bright sun and gesturing back at the blue station wagon hitched onto the back of the pickup truck. "It's all I've got, and it gave up on me about seven miles outside of town. Can you fix it?"
"Sweetheart," Poe said, chuckling as though in disbelief that it was a question his new acquaintance even needed to ask. "I can fix anything."
A/N
I couldn't help myself! I have a few chapters of this one written, but probably will be updating much less frequently than 'A Most Coveted Burden', as this one is going to be much less serious. But just a disclaimer that in this story, I'm assuming that Rey and Ben/Kylo are not related, and this will in fact be eventual Reylo. I just haven't decided when, because what's life without a little game of cat and mouse once in a while?
Kylo will make his first extensive appearance in the next chapter, and Rey's going to get settled into her new life in Orderly Falls. This whole story is a little random, because it's one of my less planned-out works, but since I miss Sons of Anarchy and am also trying to get back in the zone with some of my stories in that fandom, this felt like a good compromise.
If you have any suggestions for events you want to see happen, I'm open to suggestions!
Also, thank you to my Tumblr team, who have now dubbed themselves "Team Positive Vibes". Thanks for responding to my posts on Tumblr and coming on here to leave positive messages for the people who are experiencing trolling and harassment right now. Hashtag squad goals! (Did I actually just say that?)
Anyway, until the next update, cheers!