Dark Rider

“I’ll see you guys in the morning,” Kassie inwardly wanted to add in the words she thought, which happened to be If I make it through to the morning because she figured eight hours would pass and her father would find her by then. But fortunately for her, when she woke the next morning, bright and early by the shaking of her bed, she was still alive and kicking, literally. She woke to the bed shaking, like a earthquake had hit and instantly began flailing around like a wounded animal, she caught a couple things with her waving limbs until someone snatched them up.

“Stop—kicking—me—in—the—coconuts,” Rider’s smooth yet deadly warning woke her up just enough to push the hair that obscured her vision away from her face to look up into the narrowed eyes of her guardian, she noticed right then that he had shaved his face and manscaped his thick eyebrows, she smiled at the thought before she frowned again as reality set in.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized instantly as she pulled her legs back and pushed them off the side of the bed, she glanced over to her other side and smiled at the sight of A.J. sleeping so soundly he was slobbering out the side of his mouth like a Saint Bernard puppy. “I’m sorry for acting like a baby yesterday, Rider.”

“Actually,” his mood changed to a brighter, lightened version of the one prior as he walked across the floor to pick up a small bag that they hadn’t brought with them. “I don’t blame you a bit, if I were you yesterday I would have crawled into a ball and cried my eyes out for a good three or four days. I’m proud of you for being such a trooper; now if you don’t mind go put this on.”

“Where did you get these?” holding up the summer dress and white wool button up half jacket that Rider had thrown at her, Kassie glanced up at him from her seat on the bedside. “I don’t remember ever seeing a dress, I’m not really a dress kind of girl—“

“Exactly, go put it on. We’re going somewhere,” he explained as he walked over to A.J. and threw a pair of plaid knee length shorts and a blue polo shirt on his head, jerking up from his slumber, A.J. grumbled a few words of confusion before pulling off the clothing covering his head.

“What is this?” A.J. asked groggily as he looked through fuzzy half opened eyes at Rider’s towering figure.

“You’re clothes; get them on so we can go. We have an appointment,” he explained as Kassie came out of the bathroom, she had left right after Rider’s throwing fit that landed A.J. a pair of shorts upside his head. Kassie glanced from A.J. to Rider who wore something she had never seen him wear before, granted she hadn’t seen him wear a bunch of things but his outfit that he was donning now she never would have guessed he would be caught in. Aside from the pastel pink polo shirt that he wore, collar popped and everything, he wore a pair of faded light blue jean pants that hung low on his hips.

“I am not wearing polo, I’m sorry but—hell will freeze,” A.J. announced as he climbed from the bed in his normal nightwear of a white tank and blue boxers.

“Hell’s not real, the abyss is, remember?” Kassie explained as she folded her hands together in front of her stomach, watching with interest and genuine happiness as they argued over clothing choices. “A.J. just listen to Rider this once, we have to go somewhere important.”

“Where is this important place that we have to go? Some party for the rich and famous, because I will not step foot out of this room in that if not,” he demanded as he crossed his arms staring at Rider and Kassie both.

“Well,” Kassie cleared her throat and let her hands fall to her sides. “I’m not sure where we are going but Rider said we have an appointment for it, so it must be important. And since Rider scheduled it for us, I think since he’s protecting our butts from being killed by my maniac father and your insane uncle, we should be doing whatever he says. If he were to say jump, don’t think I won’t say how high because he’s keeping us alive and well. So be respectful you little shit and get the clothes he gave you, walk your tiny butt into the bathroom and change.”

Not ten minutes later, Rider, Kassie and A.J. walked out from the hotel room, all decked out in outfits to uncomfortable to move in but to important to take off for the sake of relaxation. Kassie smiled as Rider nudged her with his elbow. “I love how you handled that.”

“Thank you, I had to get a stern hand in on it. If you’re doing all of this for us, we might as well be good enough to not put up a fight,” she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as they traveled down the stairs to the parking lot, where Rider stopped them beside a new looking Mercedes Benz. “You didn’t.”

“I had to, where do you think your clothes came from? I went shopping really early this morning,” he smiled as he walked to the passenger side and let Kassie inside, shutting the door he nodded A.J. to get in on his own before he walked around and climbed inside the driver’s seat.

“Whose was it?” Kassie asked nervously as she touched the interior which seemed so smooth and new that she was afraid to touch it to much. “And how much trouble will we be in if we get caught?”

“It was someone’s from L.A. so they are out of towners who are now stuck in Reno without a car,” Rider smiled childishly as he started the car and backed out of the parking spot. “And I would guess a couple years for grand theft auto.”

“Oh God,” she murmured as she scooted down in her seat, gripping at the door handle out of panic. “We’re going to get caught and thrown in jail.”

“That’s the least of our problems, pumpkin,” Rider chuckled lowly as he turned left down a one-way street. “Here we are.”

“What are we doing here?” Kassie decided to ask once she had shut the door and walked up on the curb just outside the shops door, she glanced at the sign displaying the shops name and furrowed her eyebrows. “Hannah’s Hair Salon?”

“Come on,” he instructed them inside as he held the door open, they followed him inside with looks of wonder flushing they’re faces over until he walked up to the front desk and smiled at the redheaded woman wearing a black apron. “Mrs. Andy I brought my wife and her cousin in for their new looks, they are so excited to have it done by the best.”

“Oh dear,” she touched her chest with a flush settling on her cheeks, she was embarrassed by his flirty yet sweet compliment. “Thank you, bring one on over, I’ll go get everything ready.”

“Will do,” he winked and turned around, smiling brightly at Kassie and A.J. who both switched from wondrous questioning looks to looks of outrage and fury. “When I say jump, you say?”

“Screw you,” Kassie said plainly as she placed her hands on her hips, glaring fully at him now.

“It will be like a game, I spy. You remember that book, Where’s Waldo. You’re easily spotted with your natural hair color and clothing, now that we’ve changed the outfit the look is next to go, so,” he paused and pointed to both Kassie and A.J. at the same time and then pitched his thumbs over his shoulder. “Let’s get the show on the road, we need to hurry up and get you guys all decked out in different looks.”

“Have you lost your mind, Francis? I’m not dying my hair or anything,” Kassie exasperated as she stepped closer and while holding her finger to his face, whispered lowly and deadly to him. “She touches my hair; I’ll stab her with her own pointy fingernails.”

“It’s either the hair or a wig, and wigs are extremely uncomfortable,” he threatened just as she did but only stepped in closer to her, they were neck to neck now they were at each other throats like wild animals. Neither seemed to show signs of backing down until A.J. stepped in to put out the raging fire that seemed to grow like gasoline was thrown into the match and the flames burned higher and higher.

“I’ll go blond,” he expressed with a frown, he would do it but he obviously didn’t find it something he would do on a regular basis. The only reason he was doing it was to make Rider and Kassie happy and keep them all safe as could be possible. “Kassie, just do it. For me?”

“I hate your guilt trips,” Kassie sneered as she turned away from A.J. to Rider who was smiling in satisfaction, one down and one to go seemed to go through his mind as he stared into Kassie’s baby blue eyes. The speckles that were so randomly spread out in her eyes, little gold glitters caught him off guard. He knew she had bright blue eyes, they were noticeable even to the partially blind but he had no clue she had gold in them.

“I know, but remember what you said. We have to respect Rider’s wishes; he is protecting us from Uncle Lester’s crazy ass. So please, he said jump, ask him oh dear cousin, how high?” A.J. pushed past Kassie and Rider to sit at the beauticians chair, she placed a black cloth around his neck and took him to get his hair washed.

“I hope you know, I was in a good mood until you shot it down like a sniper,” Kassie grimaced as she walked over to the empty seat that was beside A.J.’s empty but waiting seat. “I’ll go blond look.”

“Natural or white, sweetie?” the woman asked as she placed a black cloth over her chest and hooked it around her neck. She smiled at Kassie as she pushed her up slightly and took her to the seat beside A.J. where he was getting his hair rinsed before his cut and color.

“White blond,” Kassie said in the silence and then went back to her cheek biting that kept her occupied and not trying to escape the evil clutches of the hair stylist.

“Don’t worry,” Rider called out from his seat, he was on one of the blue plastic seats that doctors offices usually had in the waiting room. He picked up a copy of some out of date hair styling magazine and began to flip through the pages, not bothering to read anything but merely glance at the pictures. “It will go by in a flash.”

“Flash my—“ Kassie was silence by the beautician when she pulled her roots back, making a sharp pain radiate through her scalp. “Ow, lady, watch it would you?”

“I’m sorry,” the woman expressed her apologizes by pausing in her rinsing, she continued and finally covered Kassie’s wet head with a single hand towel. Knowing it was the usual routine that always went on; Kassie excused it as she walked to the cutting chair and sat down with water dripping down her back. She hated the feel of wet clothing on her skin but she put up with it the whole time the woman, who she later found out to be named Vera coated her head in hair coloring and then after washing it again to rid all the chemicals. Glancing in the large mirror in front of her with the finishing work staring back at her, Kassie frowned at the sight. She liked it, if it was on someone else but she missed her old hair already. Seeing herself in a shocking shoulder length hair style kind of sent her into a shock of some kind, she hadn’t ever put chemicals in her hair so it was different but going from natural red to blond was just too extravagant even for someone so go-with-the-flow like her. But she promised herself not to complain because she would be fed the same lines she fed to A.J. for she knew then that she would be paying for it, if she had known then what she knew now, she wouldn’t have even tried to argue a better point.

“I hate you right now,” Kassie explained to Rider as if she was saying it was raining outside, he didn’t seem hurt by her mean explanation of emotions that she was expressing, he seemed serene as he walked out of the salon with a platinum blond A.J. and a white haired Kassie. “I mean I don’t hate many people but your one of them. My hair, the only thing that wasn’t changed all these years and you make me color it blond!”

“It suits you,” he winked at Kassie as he walked back towards the Mercedes, but right before he opened the door he pulled Kassie back and pretended to point and admire. “Pretend you are looking at the pretty car.”