"We're not supposed to be telling him the chopper is for him, you know that
right?" Paul told his sons.
"Yeah, pop. I told him it was a WWE theme bike, I just got his input on it though simply to see what where his head was at."
"Well, how's it going?"
"Pop, that is one dark god son you have there. He's into blood, flames and ravens."
Paul looked at him from over his shades; "He's into what?"
"Yeah pop." Mike said, "This bike is going to be the darkest one O.C.C. has done yet."
"Well that's good, you know me I'm always looking to do something different." Paul said. "As long as you guys can pull off what he's asking for."
"Well it's kind of hard to do some of the signature fabrication with him here." Pauly spoke up.
"Well today I'm going to take him to get a tattoo, he's dying for one." Paul told them.
"Really?" Mike asked.
"Of course this means that Mark is going to kill me."
"But this does give you guys time to put some touches on it while he's not in the shop, right?"
"Yeah, good idea pop." Pauly said.
"You know I really didn't think tattoos would be his thing, especially since he's so quiet." Mikey said.
"He is quiet pop. But he works his ass off in here."
Paul smiled, "Well there's a change. He's a good kid. Sure he's a little soft spoken but he's a good kid. Plus, he's a pretty boy." Paul told them, the two boys laughed, "Which is why I'm taking him to get this tattoo he wants so badly."
"But, he does know more about bikes than we had anticipated." Pauly smiled slyly.
"Well I should've known better being Mark's kid he would know about bikes. He told me the whole reason for this gift is because he has such a hard time keeping Ray off his bikes." Mikey said.
Pauly smiled, "Sounds like one of Mark's kids."
"Yeah, I should've known when Mark said he can't keep him off his bikes." Paul told him.
"Yeah, but Ray is a good kid." Pauly said.
"Yeah, he's a good kid, but all that damn hair is just plain ridiculous, but he knows more about bikes than I thought." Vinnie said joining the conversation.
The guys chuckled; Ray did have a lot of hair for a boy. It was thick and full like a woman's hair.
"Where is he now?" Mikey asked.
"Changing clothes." Paul told him.
"Here I am." Ray said from the doorway. She leaned against the doorframe dressed in Shane's green lantern tee, a pair of jeans, her baseball cap turned backwards, her hair braided down her spine.
"I hear you're going to get a tattoo." Mikey said.
Ray shrugged.
"You know they hurt." Pauly teased.
"This is my second one," Ray told him, "I think I can handle it."
"Good, then lets go get this tattoo." Paul said.
"Whoa," Mikey said, "big man."
Ray smiled at her god brother, "Come on Big Paul let's get this show on the road."
"That's one odd little boy right there." Pauly said to Mikey as the resumed working on the chopper.
"How do you mean?"
"Well it isn't a bad thing," Pauly told him, "it's just that he's a little different than I'm used to."
"I know what you mean." Vinnie said, "He's so quiet. Even more quiet than Cody when he first started here."
"But, I'll give him this, he's one hell of a worker, he finished the fabrication of that tank in like a day and a half, by himself."
"I know." Vinnie said, "He's awesome."
"He's going to be so psyched when he finds out the bike is for him and not for the super stars."
"Yeah," Vinnie said, "I heard him talking about how psyched Big Vince was going to be when we unveiled the bike."
"Mark's a good man to be getting this boy a chopper." Pauly said, "I hope he comes up here to get him, I miss him."
"Me too." Mikey confessed.
"Give him a call Mikey," Pauly told him, "We'll surprise Ray by his father being here to unveil his bike."
"That's a good idea Pauly," Vinnie told him. "I'll go get Campo to help finish the wheels, black and red huh, this boy is morbid."
Pauly laughed a little, "Yeah, definitely a little different."
When Vinnie returned with Campo they commenced talking about Ray.
"You know he's lucky to be in there with all those women." Pauly said.
"Yeah, especially that new one they have, what's her name?" Campo asked.
"Which one dude?" Vinnie asked.
"The tall, crazy one, that wears all the black. She was on the cover of the Raw magazine this month."
Pauly pointed and nodded knowingly, "The Slayer chick, right?"
"Yeah that's her, what is her name?" Campo tried to think.
Pauly snapped his fingers rhythmically, "Torrid!"
"Yeah, that's it. Now that chick is hot. She's a little creepy," Campo said, "but I would definitely do her."
"Yeah?" Pauly said, "Maybe we can get Ray to hook you up with her, I hear she lives in Boston, you know that isn't too far from here."
"Yeah?" Campo asked, "You think she might like me?"
"Let's wait until Ray comes back and he'll tell us. I'll bet he's good friends with her, they are about on the same wavelength."
"Yeah, you know she's real exotic looking, she's got chinky eyes and everything."
"Did you see those pictures she took?" Campo shook his head as he drilled the holes for the handlebars; "I was like damn!"
"Yeah I know. If she wasn't so crazy looking, I would date her too." Pauly confessed, "But I know how you like your women Campo, so I'll definitely talk to Ray, see what he can get together."
Campo nodded his head in Pauly's direction, "Thanks Pauly."
**************************************************************************** **********
Paul watched as his god son told the tattoo artist what he wanted. He cringed when he said where.
"I want two bite marks in my neck, I want the blood flowing down from it. Basically I want it to look like a vampire bit me."
"You got it." He said getting his needles ready.
"Are you sure you want to do this kid?"
"Oh yeah, I'm sure Unc, don't worry, I got it."
"Tilt your head," the guy told her, "good, this shouldn't take long at all."
Paul watched nearly sick to his stomach, Ray hadn't so much as flinched, in fact he smiled through the whole thing. Maybe my boys were right; this kid is down right strange.
The whole process took approximately fifteen minutes. Ray held a mirror up to her neck; oh that is hot.
"That's nice." She told the tattoo artist as she paid him. "You do nice work."
"Thank you. You were a great customer for a first timer."
Ray started to correct him, but why? There was no point.
"Ready to get out of here?" Paul asked her as she finished going over care procedures with the artist.
"Whenever you are." She rubbed her neck a little bit.
"You hungry?"
"Thought you might never ask."
"Let's go get something to eat then. We need to get some meat on those bones."
Ray rolled her eyes, "You sound like dad."
"Well we've been friends a long time. That's why I had no problem when he said my new god son needed a place to chill out and relax."
"Yes and I'm eternally grateful. I really like hanging with my new god brothers."
"They love you too." Paul smiled.
"The boys should be about finishing the fabrications of the bike." He told her as they returned to O.C.C.
"Vince is going to be so pleased with it, I'm just glad I was apart of it."
Paul smiled over at her, "Yeah, I agree."
Wait until he finds out the bike is for him and not for the WWE superstars. He is going to go nuts.
Wait until he finds out I'm god daughter and not a god son he is going to have a fit.
**************************************************************************** **********
"How is Ray doing?" Mark asked Mikey.
"He is doing great." Mikey told him.
They still think that Ray is a boy. Oh his daughter was having too much fun with the fact that she could pull off both sexes and fool people completely.
"Good."
"Actually we were wondering if you could come out and be here for the unveiling. We think that Ray would really enjoy that."
"You mind if I bring Ray's best friend with me? I think he should be there with me."
Mikey shrugged, "I don't see the harm in that. We want it to be special for him."
"Me too. So see you in say, a couple of days."
"Yeah, we'll keep you posted if we run into any unexpected problems."
"Such as?"
"Such as Pauly running into his times when he just slows up and stops."
"Oh no he won't," Mark chuckled, "Not with my kid's bike he won't. You tell him to get it done on schedule or he won't have to worry about Paul breaking him in half, I'll beat him to it."
"Will do. See you in a few days."
"Yep." He hung up the phone.
"How's she doing?" Shane asked tentatively. Since being in New York she hadn't called any of them too often, and he guessed that was the point so she could throw herself into this chopper.
"Mikey says that Ray is doing great, of course they think she's a boy."
Shane rolled his eyes, "Not again."
Mark chuckled a bit, "Well it's kind of my fault, I didn't correct Paul when he assumed that Ray was a boy. Besides I doubt that he would allow a woman to work in his shop, Paul is a big ole protective bear at times."
Shane shook his head, he could just picture his Beautiful up there in New York working with the big boys and having balls about as big as theirs if not bigger.
John poked his head in the locker room, "Hear from Ray yet?"
"She hasn't called you?" Mark asked.
John shook his head no, "Nope. Not since she's been up there."
"Don't feel bad dude," Shane confessed, "none of has really heard from her exactly."
"I just talked to her god brother, he says he's doing fine."
"Whoa wait, he?" It took John a second to catch on, "Oh no, she's doing the boy thing again, isn't she?"
"Well you know darlin'," Mark told him, "anytime she can manage it."
John shook his head, "What is this big gift anyway?"
Mark looked at Shane. No one bothered to tell John what it was for obvious reasons.
"It's a motorcycle." Mark told him, "An Orange County Chopper to be exact."
"No shit." John was shocked that Mark would be that careless as to put that girl on a motorcycle. "Mark."
"John, you know darlin' loves motorcycles. Hell when she comes to visit me I can't keep her off mine."
"I know, I just don't want her on those things." John shook his head.
"I don't think she much cares. You know darlin', she's going to do what she wants to do."
Shane nodded his head in agreement but he could tell that this was really getting under John's skin.
"Dude, she knows how to ride, she has her license to do so, and of course no one is going to let her within fifty feet of that thing without safety gear."
"Yeah," Mark backed Shane.
"I know that. But those things are for,"
"Men?" Shane asked. He guessed Mark was right, now that beautiful was starting to get back to her normal self he was back on the prowl.
"Well yeah, come on Mark think about it. I've watched O.C.C., the only woman I ever see on that show is the secretary."
"Your point?"
"If Paul knew Ray was a girl, do you think he would let her work on that chopper much less ride it?"
"It's not up to Paul," Mark told the younger man calmly, "it's not up to you or me for that matter and I'm her father. It's up to darlin', and I know she wants this chopper, so you are going to have to deal with it."
John nodded his head, "Yeah, you're right."
Even though John was agreeing Shane could see in his eyes that he was not going to let this go. He was going to go to Beautiful with it, knowing she was vulnerable and would listen to anything that even remotely resembled a violation of her safety. See that's another thing he hated, she was so careful now where at one time she was reckless and really didn't care.
"He's getting ready to start up again." Mark said as the other boy walked out of the room.
All Shane could do was nod. There was no getting through to him. He didn't want a girlie Ray; he wanted the Bettie Bad Ass he came to fall in love with.
"And nowadays, I think darlin' might go along with it."
Shane nodded his agreement again; he was thinking the exact same thing.
"Well that's not my daughter."
"Or my best friend."
"And I'm not going to put up with it."
Shane nodded again; he was dead in space. He missed Ray like hell and couldn't wait until that damn chopper was done already.
**************************************************************************** **********
"Let's see this tattoo." Mikey said as she walked into the Tuetel house.
Ray gingerly pulled away the bandage from her collarbone. It was still coated with a little dried blood.
"Vampire bite?" Pauly asked.
"Yep." She smiled triumphantly.
"Weirdo." He said walking back into the kitchen.
"You should've seen him." Paul reported, "That guy got to work and he didn't so much as flinch."
"Where's your other one?" Mikey asked.
"On my back."
"Can we see that one?"
Ray shook her head, "Maybe another time. I'm tired." She yawned and besides, "I'd better go clean this one."
Paul nodded, "Good idear," he always said 'idea' like it had an 'r' at the end. It was amusing to her. "See you in the morning."
"Yep."
Ray was all too aware that her real name was tattooed at the base of her back. She checked the tattoo once she got in the mirror. The cuts around it had healed fine. You couldn't even tell that someone had taken a carving knife to it.
"And now for this one," she winced slightly as she touched that tattoo with the wash cloth. It was nice, but she remembered all too well that these things were addictive. That's why daddy has so many.
Over the next few days she worked nonstop on the WWE chopper bike. When the parts came back from Justin, she saw how much of an artist he truly was. The fabrication was hot. But she did notice that a lot of her own influence adorned the bike, but she guessed this is what Vince wanted. She just hoped that the rest of the WWE locker room could appreciate her morbid dark designs.
"Let's get to work gentlemen," Pauly called out, "Ray."
"I'm coming, damn it's hot in here."
"Take off that big ass jump suit." Mikey suggested smiling.
"Well first, you need to braid your hair." Vinnie said shaking his head. "Have you ever thought about cutting it?"
"Not once." That was the one girlie thing about her, no one could cut her hair, not ever.
Ray decide however, that sometime or another they had to find out that she was a girl, and what better time than when they were getting ready to reassemble the chopper.
"Okay, I think I will." She said unzipping the jumpsuit. Underneath she wore a pair of nylon sweats and a sports bra. She took her hat off and braided her hair back.
"Whoa!" Mikey said.
"Wait a minute, what the hell is going on here?" Pauly said.
"Whoa!" Mikey repeated himself.
"You're a girl?" Vinnie said. Suddenly the entire shop went silently, Campo made his way around the bike from where he was preparing to mount the fender.
Ray looked down at herself and back up at him, "Looks that way."
"Whoa!"
"Mikey, we got that part." Pauly snapped a little agitated.
"Torrid?" Campo asked.
"That would be me."
Mikey shook his head, "Whoa!"
"Mikey!" Pauly shouted trying to get his wits about him.
Suddenly the door swung open and Big Paul stood in the doorway.
"Why don't I hear tools down here?"
No one answered him, they all stared at the dark haired girl that stood before them that at one time they believed to be a dark haired boy.
"And who's this?" Paul asked staring at Ray's back. "And why is she in my shop half naked? Damn I can't leave you guys down here for ten seconds. Where's Ray?"
"Right here." Ray said not turning around.
Paul began looking around for the source of his godson's voice.
"Right here where?"
"I'm here Unc," Ray turned around to face him.
Paul looked at her from over his shades, "Wait a minute here."
"My real name is Ravyn, everyone calls me Ray." She explained. She fully expected him to explode at any minute but all he did was stare.
"I'm at a total loss for words." Paul said finally.
"That's a first." Pauly mumbled.
"I just can't believe you're a girl."
"Well I am."
"And all this time we've been calling you he, and letting you work on this chopper."
Ray nodded.
"You know if I'd known you were a girl I would've never,"
"Which is why I never bothered to correct any of you."
Paul nodded his respect, "Okay, point taken."
"You're not mad?"
Paul smiled, "No of course not. But I am going to go get your father, he never corrected me either." He smiled as he looked at Ray and walked back upstairs but not before barking, "Get back to work, all of ya's."
"I can't believe you're a girl," Pauly said again.
"That would explain all that damn hair." Vinnie said.
"And the tattoo you didn't want to show us." Pauly said.
Ray turned around to show everybody the raven tattooed on her back.
"Well there it is."
"Oh, it has your name, oh that explains a lot."
"And the love of ravens." Vinnie said.
"And what really baffles me is how you hid it from all of us," Pauly went on noticing that Ray's eyes on the floor. She thought they were angry with her but in reality they were just shocked, "I mean I don't mind having a god sister, but damn, you had us totally fooled."
Ray smiled. They truly did look dumbfounded, Vinnie had even sat down on a nearby bench and took off his hat, he looked most confused of all.
"Torrid?" Campo asked again.
Ray nodded. Pauly told her about Campo's crush on Torrid. She was flattered and he was definitely her type, dark and eerie and he could design the hell out of a bike.
"Whoa!"
"Mikey!" everybody yelled.
"Yeah, pop. I told him it was a WWE theme bike, I just got his input on it though simply to see what where his head was at."
"Well, how's it going?"
"Pop, that is one dark god son you have there. He's into blood, flames and ravens."
Paul looked at him from over his shades; "He's into what?"
"Yeah pop." Mike said, "This bike is going to be the darkest one O.C.C. has done yet."
"Well that's good, you know me I'm always looking to do something different." Paul said. "As long as you guys can pull off what he's asking for."
"Well it's kind of hard to do some of the signature fabrication with him here." Pauly spoke up.
"Well today I'm going to take him to get a tattoo, he's dying for one." Paul told them.
"Really?" Mike asked.
"Of course this means that Mark is going to kill me."
"But this does give you guys time to put some touches on it while he's not in the shop, right?"
"Yeah, good idea pop." Pauly said.
"You know I really didn't think tattoos would be his thing, especially since he's so quiet." Mikey said.
"He is quiet pop. But he works his ass off in here."
Paul smiled, "Well there's a change. He's a good kid. Sure he's a little soft spoken but he's a good kid. Plus, he's a pretty boy." Paul told them, the two boys laughed, "Which is why I'm taking him to get this tattoo he wants so badly."
"But, he does know more about bikes than we had anticipated." Pauly smiled slyly.
"Well I should've known better being Mark's kid he would know about bikes. He told me the whole reason for this gift is because he has such a hard time keeping Ray off his bikes." Mikey said.
Pauly smiled, "Sounds like one of Mark's kids."
"Yeah, I should've known when Mark said he can't keep him off his bikes." Paul told him.
"Yeah, but Ray is a good kid." Pauly said.
"Yeah, he's a good kid, but all that damn hair is just plain ridiculous, but he knows more about bikes than I thought." Vinnie said joining the conversation.
The guys chuckled; Ray did have a lot of hair for a boy. It was thick and full like a woman's hair.
"Where is he now?" Mikey asked.
"Changing clothes." Paul told him.
"Here I am." Ray said from the doorway. She leaned against the doorframe dressed in Shane's green lantern tee, a pair of jeans, her baseball cap turned backwards, her hair braided down her spine.
"I hear you're going to get a tattoo." Mikey said.
Ray shrugged.
"You know they hurt." Pauly teased.
"This is my second one," Ray told him, "I think I can handle it."
"Good, then lets go get this tattoo." Paul said.
"Whoa," Mikey said, "big man."
Ray smiled at her god brother, "Come on Big Paul let's get this show on the road."
"That's one odd little boy right there." Pauly said to Mikey as the resumed working on the chopper.
"How do you mean?"
"Well it isn't a bad thing," Pauly told him, "it's just that he's a little different than I'm used to."
"I know what you mean." Vinnie said, "He's so quiet. Even more quiet than Cody when he first started here."
"But, I'll give him this, he's one hell of a worker, he finished the fabrication of that tank in like a day and a half, by himself."
"I know." Vinnie said, "He's awesome."
"He's going to be so psyched when he finds out the bike is for him and not for the super stars."
"Yeah," Vinnie said, "I heard him talking about how psyched Big Vince was going to be when we unveiled the bike."
"Mark's a good man to be getting this boy a chopper." Pauly said, "I hope he comes up here to get him, I miss him."
"Me too." Mikey confessed.
"Give him a call Mikey," Pauly told him, "We'll surprise Ray by his father being here to unveil his bike."
"That's a good idea Pauly," Vinnie told him. "I'll go get Campo to help finish the wheels, black and red huh, this boy is morbid."
Pauly laughed a little, "Yeah, definitely a little different."
When Vinnie returned with Campo they commenced talking about Ray.
"You know he's lucky to be in there with all those women." Pauly said.
"Yeah, especially that new one they have, what's her name?" Campo asked.
"Which one dude?" Vinnie asked.
"The tall, crazy one, that wears all the black. She was on the cover of the Raw magazine this month."
Pauly pointed and nodded knowingly, "The Slayer chick, right?"
"Yeah that's her, what is her name?" Campo tried to think.
Pauly snapped his fingers rhythmically, "Torrid!"
"Yeah, that's it. Now that chick is hot. She's a little creepy," Campo said, "but I would definitely do her."
"Yeah?" Pauly said, "Maybe we can get Ray to hook you up with her, I hear she lives in Boston, you know that isn't too far from here."
"Yeah?" Campo asked, "You think she might like me?"
"Let's wait until Ray comes back and he'll tell us. I'll bet he's good friends with her, they are about on the same wavelength."
"Yeah, you know she's real exotic looking, she's got chinky eyes and everything."
"Did you see those pictures she took?" Campo shook his head as he drilled the holes for the handlebars; "I was like damn!"
"Yeah I know. If she wasn't so crazy looking, I would date her too." Pauly confessed, "But I know how you like your women Campo, so I'll definitely talk to Ray, see what he can get together."
Campo nodded his head in Pauly's direction, "Thanks Pauly."
**************************************************************************** **********
Paul watched as his god son told the tattoo artist what he wanted. He cringed when he said where.
"I want two bite marks in my neck, I want the blood flowing down from it. Basically I want it to look like a vampire bit me."
"You got it." He said getting his needles ready.
"Are you sure you want to do this kid?"
"Oh yeah, I'm sure Unc, don't worry, I got it."
"Tilt your head," the guy told her, "good, this shouldn't take long at all."
Paul watched nearly sick to his stomach, Ray hadn't so much as flinched, in fact he smiled through the whole thing. Maybe my boys were right; this kid is down right strange.
The whole process took approximately fifteen minutes. Ray held a mirror up to her neck; oh that is hot.
"That's nice." She told the tattoo artist as she paid him. "You do nice work."
"Thank you. You were a great customer for a first timer."
Ray started to correct him, but why? There was no point.
"Ready to get out of here?" Paul asked her as she finished going over care procedures with the artist.
"Whenever you are." She rubbed her neck a little bit.
"You hungry?"
"Thought you might never ask."
"Let's go get something to eat then. We need to get some meat on those bones."
Ray rolled her eyes, "You sound like dad."
"Well we've been friends a long time. That's why I had no problem when he said my new god son needed a place to chill out and relax."
"Yes and I'm eternally grateful. I really like hanging with my new god brothers."
"They love you too." Paul smiled.
"The boys should be about finishing the fabrications of the bike." He told her as they returned to O.C.C.
"Vince is going to be so pleased with it, I'm just glad I was apart of it."
Paul smiled over at her, "Yeah, I agree."
Wait until he finds out the bike is for him and not for the WWE superstars. He is going to go nuts.
Wait until he finds out I'm god daughter and not a god son he is going to have a fit.
**************************************************************************** **********
"How is Ray doing?" Mark asked Mikey.
"He is doing great." Mikey told him.
They still think that Ray is a boy. Oh his daughter was having too much fun with the fact that she could pull off both sexes and fool people completely.
"Good."
"Actually we were wondering if you could come out and be here for the unveiling. We think that Ray would really enjoy that."
"You mind if I bring Ray's best friend with me? I think he should be there with me."
Mikey shrugged, "I don't see the harm in that. We want it to be special for him."
"Me too. So see you in say, a couple of days."
"Yeah, we'll keep you posted if we run into any unexpected problems."
"Such as?"
"Such as Pauly running into his times when he just slows up and stops."
"Oh no he won't," Mark chuckled, "Not with my kid's bike he won't. You tell him to get it done on schedule or he won't have to worry about Paul breaking him in half, I'll beat him to it."
"Will do. See you in a few days."
"Yep." He hung up the phone.
"How's she doing?" Shane asked tentatively. Since being in New York she hadn't called any of them too often, and he guessed that was the point so she could throw herself into this chopper.
"Mikey says that Ray is doing great, of course they think she's a boy."
Shane rolled his eyes, "Not again."
Mark chuckled a bit, "Well it's kind of my fault, I didn't correct Paul when he assumed that Ray was a boy. Besides I doubt that he would allow a woman to work in his shop, Paul is a big ole protective bear at times."
Shane shook his head, he could just picture his Beautiful up there in New York working with the big boys and having balls about as big as theirs if not bigger.
John poked his head in the locker room, "Hear from Ray yet?"
"She hasn't called you?" Mark asked.
John shook his head no, "Nope. Not since she's been up there."
"Don't feel bad dude," Shane confessed, "none of has really heard from her exactly."
"I just talked to her god brother, he says he's doing fine."
"Whoa wait, he?" It took John a second to catch on, "Oh no, she's doing the boy thing again, isn't she?"
"Well you know darlin'," Mark told him, "anytime she can manage it."
John shook his head, "What is this big gift anyway?"
Mark looked at Shane. No one bothered to tell John what it was for obvious reasons.
"It's a motorcycle." Mark told him, "An Orange County Chopper to be exact."
"No shit." John was shocked that Mark would be that careless as to put that girl on a motorcycle. "Mark."
"John, you know darlin' loves motorcycles. Hell when she comes to visit me I can't keep her off mine."
"I know, I just don't want her on those things." John shook his head.
"I don't think she much cares. You know darlin', she's going to do what she wants to do."
Shane nodded his head in agreement but he could tell that this was really getting under John's skin.
"Dude, she knows how to ride, she has her license to do so, and of course no one is going to let her within fifty feet of that thing without safety gear."
"Yeah," Mark backed Shane.
"I know that. But those things are for,"
"Men?" Shane asked. He guessed Mark was right, now that beautiful was starting to get back to her normal self he was back on the prowl.
"Well yeah, come on Mark think about it. I've watched O.C.C., the only woman I ever see on that show is the secretary."
"Your point?"
"If Paul knew Ray was a girl, do you think he would let her work on that chopper much less ride it?"
"It's not up to Paul," Mark told the younger man calmly, "it's not up to you or me for that matter and I'm her father. It's up to darlin', and I know she wants this chopper, so you are going to have to deal with it."
John nodded his head, "Yeah, you're right."
Even though John was agreeing Shane could see in his eyes that he was not going to let this go. He was going to go to Beautiful with it, knowing she was vulnerable and would listen to anything that even remotely resembled a violation of her safety. See that's another thing he hated, she was so careful now where at one time she was reckless and really didn't care.
"He's getting ready to start up again." Mark said as the other boy walked out of the room.
All Shane could do was nod. There was no getting through to him. He didn't want a girlie Ray; he wanted the Bettie Bad Ass he came to fall in love with.
"And nowadays, I think darlin' might go along with it."
Shane nodded his agreement again; he was thinking the exact same thing.
"Well that's not my daughter."
"Or my best friend."
"And I'm not going to put up with it."
Shane nodded again; he was dead in space. He missed Ray like hell and couldn't wait until that damn chopper was done already.
**************************************************************************** **********
"Let's see this tattoo." Mikey said as she walked into the Tuetel house.
Ray gingerly pulled away the bandage from her collarbone. It was still coated with a little dried blood.
"Vampire bite?" Pauly asked.
"Yep." She smiled triumphantly.
"Weirdo." He said walking back into the kitchen.
"You should've seen him." Paul reported, "That guy got to work and he didn't so much as flinch."
"Where's your other one?" Mikey asked.
"On my back."
"Can we see that one?"
Ray shook her head, "Maybe another time. I'm tired." She yawned and besides, "I'd better go clean this one."
Paul nodded, "Good idear," he always said 'idea' like it had an 'r' at the end. It was amusing to her. "See you in the morning."
"Yep."
Ray was all too aware that her real name was tattooed at the base of her back. She checked the tattoo once she got in the mirror. The cuts around it had healed fine. You couldn't even tell that someone had taken a carving knife to it.
"And now for this one," she winced slightly as she touched that tattoo with the wash cloth. It was nice, but she remembered all too well that these things were addictive. That's why daddy has so many.
Over the next few days she worked nonstop on the WWE chopper bike. When the parts came back from Justin, she saw how much of an artist he truly was. The fabrication was hot. But she did notice that a lot of her own influence adorned the bike, but she guessed this is what Vince wanted. She just hoped that the rest of the WWE locker room could appreciate her morbid dark designs.
"Let's get to work gentlemen," Pauly called out, "Ray."
"I'm coming, damn it's hot in here."
"Take off that big ass jump suit." Mikey suggested smiling.
"Well first, you need to braid your hair." Vinnie said shaking his head. "Have you ever thought about cutting it?"
"Not once." That was the one girlie thing about her, no one could cut her hair, not ever.
Ray decide however, that sometime or another they had to find out that she was a girl, and what better time than when they were getting ready to reassemble the chopper.
"Okay, I think I will." She said unzipping the jumpsuit. Underneath she wore a pair of nylon sweats and a sports bra. She took her hat off and braided her hair back.
"Whoa!" Mikey said.
"Wait a minute, what the hell is going on here?" Pauly said.
"Whoa!" Mikey repeated himself.
"You're a girl?" Vinnie said. Suddenly the entire shop went silently, Campo made his way around the bike from where he was preparing to mount the fender.
Ray looked down at herself and back up at him, "Looks that way."
"Whoa!"
"Mikey, we got that part." Pauly snapped a little agitated.
"Torrid?" Campo asked.
"That would be me."
Mikey shook his head, "Whoa!"
"Mikey!" Pauly shouted trying to get his wits about him.
Suddenly the door swung open and Big Paul stood in the doorway.
"Why don't I hear tools down here?"
No one answered him, they all stared at the dark haired girl that stood before them that at one time they believed to be a dark haired boy.
"And who's this?" Paul asked staring at Ray's back. "And why is she in my shop half naked? Damn I can't leave you guys down here for ten seconds. Where's Ray?"
"Right here." Ray said not turning around.
Paul began looking around for the source of his godson's voice.
"Right here where?"
"I'm here Unc," Ray turned around to face him.
Paul looked at her from over his shades, "Wait a minute here."
"My real name is Ravyn, everyone calls me Ray." She explained. She fully expected him to explode at any minute but all he did was stare.
"I'm at a total loss for words." Paul said finally.
"That's a first." Pauly mumbled.
"I just can't believe you're a girl."
"Well I am."
"And all this time we've been calling you he, and letting you work on this chopper."
Ray nodded.
"You know if I'd known you were a girl I would've never,"
"Which is why I never bothered to correct any of you."
Paul nodded his respect, "Okay, point taken."
"You're not mad?"
Paul smiled, "No of course not. But I am going to go get your father, he never corrected me either." He smiled as he looked at Ray and walked back upstairs but not before barking, "Get back to work, all of ya's."
"I can't believe you're a girl," Pauly said again.
"That would explain all that damn hair." Vinnie said.
"And the tattoo you didn't want to show us." Pauly said.
Ray turned around to show everybody the raven tattooed on her back.
"Well there it is."
"Oh, it has your name, oh that explains a lot."
"And the love of ravens." Vinnie said.
"And what really baffles me is how you hid it from all of us," Pauly went on noticing that Ray's eyes on the floor. She thought they were angry with her but in reality they were just shocked, "I mean I don't mind having a god sister, but damn, you had us totally fooled."
Ray smiled. They truly did look dumbfounded, Vinnie had even sat down on a nearby bench and took off his hat, he looked most confused of all.
"Torrid?" Campo asked again.
Ray nodded. Pauly told her about Campo's crush on Torrid. She was flattered and he was definitely her type, dark and eerie and he could design the hell out of a bike.
"Whoa!"
"Mikey!" everybody yelled.