Never Again!

[deb]

Name of Thread: Never Again!
Characters Involved in Thread: Jess Nichols - Raylan Shephard
IC Month Thread Occured: June
Brief Description of Thread: Raylan comes to check on Jess at the shop, they got for lunch, Clay calls, they kiss.

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With the banging and thudding coming from the garage, Jess almost hadn’t heard the bell over the door when it sounded off. Looking out and not seeing anyone she grabbed the shot gun from beside the doorway before she stepped out though she lowered it almost instantly, a slight blush coming over her features. It wasn’t as if she could be blamed however given everything that had gone on and the fact that deep down she wasn’t going to admit this, but the Mayan’s frightened her. She had already buried her husband thanks to them and she’d be damned if they came back and tried to do something to her, furrowing her brow as she set the gun back down beside the door she brushed her hair out of her face. “Sorry about that.”

Moving back into the garage she went back to the car that she had been working on, a little more embarrassed than what she should have been considering the current events that were taking place. Eyeing the engine in front of her she was really tempted to smash it to piece, this was the third time in less than a month the same car had been brought into her shop and the guy was a pain in her ass to have to deal with . They didn’t get along but she was the only one that was going to put up with his shit, of course she charged him extra and he didn’t seem to notice that this was going on at all.

“So what brings you out here,” she asked from underneath the hood as she reached behind herself to grab a screw driver, “your bike sounded fine the other day so I can’t imagine that it needs to be worked on.” Truthfully he made her nervous, not because of his size or the fact she knew he had a Glock tucked into the waist band of his pants if it was like the first time she had met him. No he made her nervous for other reasons and reason that she really didn’t want to start talking about in front of the guys either, as she highly doubted they would understand. Then again there was that problem of she had sworn she was never going to attempt that sort of thing with another biker and honest she planned to stick to it. Her resolve to stick to that issue was another thing completely, muttering something silently to herself Jess set the screw driver down before she turned around.

Leaning back against the dust covered Buick she lifted an eyebrow as she wiped her hands off on the rag beside her. “There’s water in the fridge,” she finally offered, see he made her nervous and she didn’t like being nervous. At twenty-six she hadn’t been nervous in ten years, and Jess wasn’t sure if it was a welcomed feeling or not. Falling silent she looked around before she looked back toward Raylan still trying to figure out what he was doing there in the first place.

[evolution]

Approaching the garage, Rain could hear quite a bit of destruction or the likes thereof going on within. He was sure he also heard some F-bomb's dropped in there for good measure, but it was rather loud so there was no telling. Pressing his finger to the buzzer near the door triggered the pounding and banging to stop moments later. Within a matter of seconds Raylan was greet by a shotgun barrel, only to have it removed as fast as he saw it. Regardless he was still startled and raised his hands to display that he wasn't there to cause trouble.

"I'm sorry too. So is this how you greet everybody or is this uniquely for me?" Raylan asked with a brief, worried chuckle. Letting his hands fall to his sides again, he watching how Jess returned to her work, staring down the engine as if it were her nemesis - from the sounds coming from the garage early that just might be the case. Taking several steps into the garage, Rain couldn't help but look around. It reminded him of Teller-Morrow, though it was a little older and a little more "used". When Jess asked what he was doing there, he nearly forgot because he was still reliving the shotgun in his face. Taking a fraction of a second to collect his thoughts, he replied, "Yeah, my bikes fine, but I heard you were tryin' to sell one yourself. Thought I'd come and check it out." He was telling the truth, but really didn't have interest in buying the bike. In actuality he was simply using it as a reason to continue their conversation from earlier that day.

In the corner of the garage Raylan took notice of what appeared to be a motorcycle under a piece of canvas. His eyes quickly shifted to Jess, who he honestly had more interest in. She had the look and attire of a mechanic, grease on her hands and arm, a small smudge along her cheek. "I imagine you get this a lot, but I never would have taken you for a mechanic. I mean, hanging out at a biker club, I would think... school teacher?" He paused for a moment, taking several steps closer to her. "A pediatrician? Point guard for the WNBA? But mechanic, never would have saw that coming." His sarcasm was blatantly obvious and to further it he even flashed a smile. As a way to make him feel more comfortable, or a way to make herself feel it, she offered a bottle of water. Jess had given him one earlier to which he gladly accepted at the time. However he wasn't feeling thirsty and declined the offer.

"I'm good, thanks. But, I'm beginning to wonder if you think I'm a camel." he joked. Refraining from taking his eyes off her, he finally had an opportunity to admire her looks when she wasn't half hidden behind a bar. Doing his best to not look obvious, Rain looked away, back towards the bike that he noted in the corner moments before. Avoiding any awkwardness, Rain took several steps towards the covered motorcycle, asking as he approached, "So is this it?". Little did he know that was underneath that dusty old canvas was a motorcycle collectors dream.

[deb]

Looking back at the shot gun with a faint blush, Jess cleared her throat she really did feel bad about that though not as bad as she would have felt if she had just shot him. “One of the guys dropped that off this morning, I work here by myself and I supposed their worried the place might get shot up or hit by the Mayan’s or something like that,” she explained. “So no it’s not just special to you, but the bright side to this is I didn’t shoot you and we can always say it’s an IOU,” she joked. “Though if you intend on paying me back let’s not point a gun at me,” she added. It was her attempt at a joke and sometimes she wasn’t all that good at those no matter how hard she tried to be.

“It’s a 52 Vincent Black Shadow,” Jess replied as she looked toward the tarp. She loathed that bike with a passion and the only reason it was at the shop was because she refused to bring it to the house. Now yes the logical part of her mind told her that it was a simply a motorcycle and it wasn’t it’s fault that the events that transpired took place. The illogical part of her mind however didn’t see it that way, all it saw where flashes of a body, badly beaten, shot, and draped over the damn thing and she wanted no part of that what so ever. “The bike belonged to one of the Tribe member’s, I did a little work on it after they passed away, told them I would try and sell it for them.” That was the truth in part, she had done work on the bike, she had put it for sell, and the owner was in fact dead but that didn’t mean she was going to go giving her life story to some guy she didn’t know all that well either. “Run’s pretty good most of the time.”

She was thinking about what he had said about her not looking like a mechanic and Raylan was right, it wasn’t the first time she had heard that although it was the first time she had heard point guard or school teacher. In a way she supposed she really could have done anything at all that she wanted too, but this was what she had loved the most. Her brother had been trying hard to get her to move recently though, wanting her to leave the shop behind and come down to Charming with him where he felt it was safer, so far it had gotten them no where but hanging up on each other and a few heated words exchanged. Pushing herself off the car she moved over to the covered bike and pulled the trap off before she draped it over a near by chair.

She looked at the bike for a few moments before sure shrugged indifferent to it, before she dropped down into the chair crossing one leg over the other as she pulled the tee-shirt she had on off and straightened her tank top. The AC in the shop was broken and so far the guy that was supposed to fix it hadn’t shown up yet, which meant by the middle of the day it was more than a little warm in there. Either that or it was where she was flustered and she was simply blaming it on the broken air conditioning, it was difficult to tell which and she really wasn’t concerned with finding out the answer. Though she had to laugh when he told her he was starting to think she might have been a camel, but it was one of those things she couldn’t help. She had always been taught that you were supposed to be a good host, and yeah then again a lot of the thing she had been taught had gone out the window along the way.

“I’ve heard that before about the not being a mechanic, though you are the first person to suggest point guard.” Looking around she reached over and pulled a photograph off the wall before she handed it to Raylan. “My Dad started this shop when he first married my Mom. He would fix the cars and she would work out at the desk, then they had my brother and he was alright with fixing things but he didn’t really have a drive for it,” she explained before she looked down at the photo and laughed. “I on the other hand my Dad said had a natural talent, from the time I was little I loved to come here and work on cars with him and get covered in dirt and grease.” She let out a small sigh before she looked up. “He died of a heart attack when I was thirteen, Mom kept the shop up and running till she moved down to Charming with my brother. Then I took it over, my Dad was a smart thinker, it might be a small shop but it’s right off the interstate and a lot of times it’s about as far as your car or whatever can make it.”

“What about you, I can’t really say my first guess would have been that you were in with the Sons. Maybe a police officer, sergeant in the military, secret service.” She looked over taking the time that he seem to be distracted to actually look at him, he was attractive, handsome in a rugged kind of way and she had noticed he had the kind of body that she was certain made women take another look but that wasn’t what had gotten her attention. No that had been his eyes, there was something in them that she hadn’t seen in a long time. Most of the guys she knew were weathered, they were hardened by the things they had seen and done and you could tell that. His eyes didn’t show that though, there was something that looked warm and inviting maybe even comforting and it was enough to make her turn away and start playing with the water bottle that she was holding in her hands.

[evolution]

"I owed him buckshot to the face, that's what you'll tell everyone when they find me without a head?" Rain asked, then added with sarcasm and a slight nod. "Yeah. That's a good plan, stick with that." A thinly revealed smile appeared on his face as he looked at Jess out of the corner of his eye. He enjoyed the banter she helped to provide as it distracted him from the realities they were both facing at the moment and simply let him unwind - in his search to find a way to unwind and clear his head Shephard may have inadvertently found it in Jess Nichols. Rain's eye grew a little wider as she explained that it was a Vincent Black Shadow and that it once belonged to a Tribe member since passed away.

Unable to hold back his shock, Rain then exclaimed as she removed the tarp from the bike. "You do realize what you have here right? There was only like seventeen hundred of these made, and there's maybe a handful of them in drivable condition! You're sitting on a hundred grand sister!" He had a pretty good knowledge of motorcycles as well as a pretty good knowledge of his finances and added with disappointment implicated in his voice, "And I certainly don't have a hundred K. Teller-Morrow pays well, but not that well." The surprise was still written on his face as he looked the bike over. He still had no intentions of buying the thing, and was still there to be around Jess, but with a relic such as a Vincent Black Shadow sitting in the corner, it had become its own conversation piece.

As the sensual young woman began to remove her t-shirt, Raylan removed all attention from the motorcycle they were speaking of moments before and had diverted his eyes only after he felt it was wrong to keep looking. She was toned and curved in all the right places and in that moment, even Rain was beginning to notice that it was a little warm in the garage. "Is it warm in here?" he asked, almost rhetorically. Cupping his hands up to his face, Rain rubbed his eyes before looking at Jess once more as she affirmed what he already suggested, but the point-guard suggestions was new. The corner of Raylan's mouth curled up into a smirk and he simply shrugged. "You're right, you're too short to be a point-guard. Forget I suggested such an outlandish thing!" He fought back his smile, but it was useless to try. He even chuckled a bit but became serious once more as she handed him a dusty photograph. He blew off a thin layer of dust from the photo, better revealing the people in the photo that he assumed were her family. As she explained the humble beginnings of the garage that they were standing in, Rain simply stood there in silence, learning more and more about this woman. When she mentioned that ever since she was a child she liked to work on cars with her father and get covered in dirt and grease, Rain interjected, saying humanely "I noticed." and within the same breath reached over gently and running his thumb across her cheek, removing the grease he noticed earlier.

He was stuck in that moment for the briefest of seconds, and only after snapping out of it had he took his hand away a little faster than he had brought it to her face, trying to mask his embarrassment for being so brash - or at least so he thought. Trying to avoid the awkwardness that he probably conjured up in his "smooth" gesture, Rain tried to get the conversation back on track by giving his condolences for the lose of her father. "I'm sorry - about your father I mean." It wasn't the smoothest move by any stretch, but he wasn't regretting it, at least not until she went for that shotgun by the door again. Jess then began to ask about him, saying that she never would have taken him to a biker and would be better suited as a military man or a police officer. If it wasn't for that mission in Iraq and his subsequent dishonorable discharge from the Navy she would have been closer to the truth. Laughing at her last guess, Rain replied in a faux British accent:

"Secret Service huh? The names, Shephard - Raylan Shephard." Returning his voice to normal he added, "Yeah I know, James Bond was British intelligence, but it's all spy shit right?" He found himself smiling again, which he seemed to be doing a lot of around Jess but then the reality of her question sat in and he thought about his past and how much he hated it, how much of his life was wasted on it. He looked away from her for a second, trying to search for the words to explain, but all that he could come up with was, "Maybe another time Jess. I promise." His tone wasn't bullish as if to say 'I'm not telling you shit lady' but more hesitant as if he wasn't ready to divulge his past because of it's sensitive nature. He felt a twinge of guilt in not telling her his story because she was so open to telling him her side, but it simply couldn't bring himself to do so - not yet anyway.

[deb]

"Or I tell them nothing and simply bury the body in the desert," Jess replied before she smirked to show she was in fact only teasing him about that. She couldn't say she was as relaxed as what Raylan was, he made her nervous and she didn't trust herself around him. After all she had sworn no more bikers and yet what was she sitting there thinking about at that exact moment and time, well things that went completely against everything else that she had floating around in her mind. Yet at the same time as much as she was trying to fight it it would have been so easy for her to slip into a calm comfort, and that frightened her more than anything. Though when she saw his excitement over the bike she had to smile a little, it reminded her of a kid walking into a candy store and seeing something they really wanted.

She smirked as she cleared her throat, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. "Well lucky for you I'm not selling it for that much then isn't," she offered in reply, "I'm selling it for seven hundred." That was how much Jess wanted the thing gone, out of her shop, out of her sight, and away from her. The bike was like a wedding ring in a sense, except she couldn't take it off and put it in her dresser drawer like the small silver ring. No this thing was an eye sore and a constant reminder. Actually the bike bothered her mother than what the ring had, maybe because Isaac had loved it so much and been so proud when he had gotten it. "Well for you since I did level a shotgun at you I might be willing to go down a little lower if you wanted it."

Anything she was going to say had gone out the window the moment she felt his thumb running over her cheek and at little bit of that resolve she had seemed to chip away too, it was there it just wasn't screaming so loudly into the back of her mind anymore. For a second she was almost disappointed when he moved his hand though she tried not to show it, and instead cleared her throat and smiled as she hung the photograph back up. "I miss him sometimes but Dad had this really wicked sense of humor, he could always make you laugh when the worst possible things were going on. Kind of miss that sometimes," explained Jess as she chuckled. "Just from what I've seen I think you would have liked him, well once he teased you until the breaking point just to see what you were made of."

As hard as she tried not to when he did the faux accent she had to laugh, tilting her head to the side which caused her hair to spill down over her shoulder before she shook her head. "Yeah James Bond did all the spy shit, but he made it look so easy and so much fun," she added nodding her head. She wasn't one of those people that would force you into talking if you didn't want too, and she wasn't one to take offense to it either. Hell it wasn't as if she had sat down and explained her life story to the man in front of her. "So I was getting ready to clean up and go grab some lunch, do you want to come with me. There's a place not to far from here and the food isn't that bad." She wasn't sure why she had made the offer about lunch but she was kind of hoping he would accept it, since she had found more and more she liked talking to Raylan and she was finding her enjoying spending time around him.

"My treat."

[evolution]

"Touché" he commended. She could just bury him in the desert and Rain returned the witty Jess' smirk with one of his own. She was a smart girl and kept up with his conversational pace and without admitting it, she had impressed him. In addition, she was an attractive woman which only gave Shephard more incentive to stick around with her that much longer. Raylan allowed his muscular shoulder to rest against a nearby support beam in the garage and he took the moment of silence to admire the piece of motorcycle history sitting before him. The original bike was completely hand assembled, from it's 'Stressed Frame' design to it's sprung rear sub-frame. The reason for its name "Black" Shadow was that the entire bike including the engine was colored black including baked enamel on crank-case and covers. Some claim that the black color was for looks, others claim that it had something to do with heat transfer and dissipation. Whatever the original reason behind the painting of the engine, it was very different from anything else during it's time. For Raylan, it was like he traveled back in time and when he heard Jess clear her throat and explain that she had much lower expectations when it came to the cycles asking price, he felt light-headed.

"Seven-HUNDRED?! Are you serious? Forget the shotgun, all is forgive, but Jess-" his excitement was quickly stifled as disappointment blanketed his face and he shook his head. "I can't- no. I won't do that to you. This thing is worth a fortune and you could use that money, maybe fix up the shop or get a new A.C." The latter part of his sentence was a joke, but a honest one. "I know a guy, big collector, he'd gladly take it off your hands for a sum much heftier than seven hundred dollars! I'll make a call, fair enough?" The reason he asked to certify his possible involvement; he wasn't going to simply take on the task if she didn't want him to. If she was willing to just dump a hundred thousand dollar bike in someones lap for seven hundred dollars, maybe she had no need for his help and simply wanted to be rid of the beast - which guided Raylan to think that maybe there was more to his bike then she was revealing. But that wasn't why he was there, so he stored his questions away for another time.

"You're father raised a good woman." he replied modestly when Jessica spoke about her father and his traits. "From what you've told me about him, he'd be very proud of what you've managed to accomplish here - and might I add, that wicked sense of humor is a shared trait between you two." She spoke so openly about her father and even an idiot could see the love in her tone and it made Raylan think about his parents, or what little he knew of them and how some times he wished he could have such a relationship.

Rain joined in with Jess' laughter as it pertained to his faux James Bond impression. Smiling and nodding in agreement as Jess described how easy James Bond made it look, Rain added "I know right? Even as a kid I wanted to drink vodka martini's and save the world and more importantly, get the girl." Raylan had locked eyes with the stunning brunette as he finished his sentence, unintentionally foreshadowing what he may have been feeling without knowing he was feeling anything. Her invitation to lunch had snapped him back to reality and with everything that had transpired thus far, he figured why stop now. "Well since you're trying to buy my forgiveness for the attempted exfoliation of my face with a shotgun round, how could I not accept?" he asked teasingly. Sure he was holding it over her head, but it was simply in good spirits.

[deb]

She gave a small shrug of her shoulders before she looked over at Raylan for a moment. "If you know someone that will take it than their more than welcome to come out and look at it," she explained before she put her hands on her hips and then laughed. "I do just fine though, the only reason the AC is broken right now is because this guy pisses me off and a threw a wrench at him when he brought his car back in," she offered in reply. Yeah this was why she hated that mad so much he dove her to the brink of insanity and the brink of violence in one swift motion. Pointing to the Buick she smirked. "It's why sometimes while working on it I think about doing horrible things to that car or on that car, either way it involves things that I'm almost certain would make the owners eyebrows curl up and fall off."

Truthfully she really hadn't heard all of wqhat he was saying about her father because she was lost thinking about something else entirely. Sure she had sworn never again, not another biker and certainly not a time like this when almost anything could take place but in the back of her mind. Well in the back of her mind she was imagining what it would be like if he just pushed her up against the old Buick behind them and didn things that she hadn't done in almost a year and half, something he said brought her back to the present and her rather sultry fantasy was lost for another place and time.

"He does always get the girl doesn't he, and still looks good in the suit while doing it," Jess took a step back and put her hands on her hips as she eyed Raylan looking him up and down. "You know you might not look bad in a suit and a tie," it was meant to be a joke though there was something about the way he had said get the girl that sent a shiver down her spine and she was trying to cover up that moment of hesitation with a quick joke. "That's right how could you not except, I mean I've already leveled the gun at you once if you didn't accept it might cause me to do it a second time and well you have no idea how good a shot I actually am." The grin on her face was geniune, and probably the first of it's kind she had given in a very long time and the kind that were only reserved for people that the brunette liked.

Grabbing the worn leather backpack that she used as a purse Jess stepped out into the main office of the garage before she looked out the window. She had her bike around back and the car that she drove sometimes when she didn't feel like riding but really she didn't see the point in taking two different rides, unless he planned on leaving after they had lunch in which case it would make more sense. Hushing herself mentally when she realized she was over analyzing the situation she looked back at Raylan before she smiled at him. "Unless your planning on leaving after lunch we can always take my car and then I can drop you off back here, or if you'd rather ride I have my bike around back." Maybe subconciously she wanted a reason to be that close to him because in the back of her mind she was kind of hiping he suggested just riding together. Turning so that she was facing him now Jess looked over before she lifted an eyebrow in question, hoping the slight flush to her cheeks wasn't as noticable as what she felt that it was.

[evolution]

So she signed off on the idea of him bringing someone else out to look at the bike and take it off her hands for the hundred grand that she'd likely be able to get for it; that was a step in the right direction. She deserved way more than her asking price and Rain found himself lucky that he found her and this relic before some conniving bastard took advantage of the situation and made himself a huge profit. "I suppose once all this Mayan heat dies down, I'll have him come out take it off your hands - for more for seven hundred Jess." The latter of his sentence sounded like a parent trying to lecture his child on refraining from doing stupid things again, but his smirk made him incapable of being serious. As Jess began to explain her hate for this archaic Buick sitting in her garage and how she wanted to do unkind things to and on it - 'Did she just say ON it?' Raylan asked himself as he arched a brow inquisitively. If only he had the time to pursue that train of thought. Seconds later, he was mentally scolding himself for even considering such a thing; from what he had discovered, she was for all intents and purposes, a matriarchal figure within the Devil's Tribe.

When Jessica suggested that Rain himself might look good in a suit and tie, Rain simple laughed, looking down at what he was wearing at that moment. "I think those days are long behind me sweetheart." However the reality of it was, all he could think about when she mentioned it was his uniform that he wore for the Navy. Though a seasonal thing (white in the summer, blue in the winter) the Naval dress uniform was something that carried with it a certain status. He could remember all the times that he had to wear it, from funerals to gala events held by the military. The worst time was when he had to stand before a Naval board and receive his punishment for his actions. His punishment still did not reflect his actions in the field, but in the end there was nothing he could truly do to overrule the outcome without proceeding into a full legal battle. Raylan's self-commiseration was interrupted as Jess playfully suggested that she'd have to point her shotgun at him a second time had he not accepted her invitation to lunch. "Nor would I like to find out your level of accuracy - besides I think lunch is an easy compromise." he replied.

"Unless your planning on leaving after lunch we can always take my car and then I can drop you off back here, or if you'd rather ride I have my bike around back."

"I'm here until Clay tells me otherwise. Besides I still have to scout the area for any Mayan activity and report in - I'm not going anywhere." His tone was matter-of-factly, but he almost sounded happy that he was sticking around. "And you can ride with me if you want. Either way I'll see ya out front in a few?" On the surface, and even in the back of his mind he didn't think much of his suggestion for her to ride with him - he did it with the crow-eater's all the time, but for some reason this time it was completely different and he almost felt - nervous? He swept the nagging feeling away and made his way out of the garage, eying the shotgun by the door as he passed through the threshold and out to his motorcycle. He approached the vehicle and swung a leg over it to sit down upon it. As he did he could feel the suspension give slightly under his weight. Rain removed his helmet from its resting place upon his handle bar and set it on the gas tank. Bringing the cycle to life, Rain throttled the gas several times, letting the engine rev gently. While waiting for Jess to come from the building, Rain put on his sunglasses that were tucked in his vest, but left his helmet on the gas tank in case she needed it.

[deb]

When he didn't seem to apt to wear a suit and tie it didn't really bother her though it had lead her to a whole other line of thought concerning what he might look like without clothes on. There was a faint smirk across her lips and well she was glad he had already gone outside because the images in her head where enough to make a nun blush and probably involved things they had never done before. It was difficult to keep the images out of her head no matter how many warning bells were going off telling her that she needed to be cautious, but then again what harm ever came from riding on the back of a bike she'd done it with Aiden countless times when his mood was good enough or she needed a ride somewhere. So why then did this make that knot in her stomach appear and her heart skip a beat, more than likely because somewhere during the course of the day she had turned into a teenager again and in that moment Jess scolded herself for.

Exiting through the shop door she paused for a moment trying to decide which was better, and really she couldn't stop herself from actually taking the ride. Looking the door behind herself, though she was really tempted to leave it open just in case someone wanted to steal the damn Buick. However now she was having other ideas of things that could be done on it that would make the old make quiver in fear. Checking to make sure she had her helmet, Jess put it on her head strapping the chin strap before she looked over. He had a nice bike, a very nice bike, which ofcourse only added to that feeling in the pit of her stomach. Mumbling something to herself as she pulled her backpack over her shoulders and adjusted the straps, she shifted climbing onto the back of the bike behind Raylan.

"It's not really far from here, the diner," she explained as she shifted until she was in a more comfortable position, though this left her with an interesting problem. There was no where to put her arms but around him to keep from falling off and there was a moment of hesitation where she almost dismounted the bike and got her own. Almost but she didn't, instead she scooted slightly closer and let her arms wrap around his waist. The hesitation that was there had lessened being that close and before she thought about it she had chin resting against shoulder so she could see and talk if she felt the need too. It did occur to her that she needed to pull back, make up an excuse something that she had just remembered that she needed to do but she couldn't think of anything at that moment and time. "Ready whenever you."

[evolution]

As Jess exited the building, he could see that she brought her own helmet and so in doing so he was capable of using his - strapping it on as she approached. She had the look of a woman that's been around bikes, knew how to ride them and knew how to ride with someone; Part of Raylan was even subtly turned on by that fact. As she straddled the back and got into position, Rain nodded as she explained that the diner wasn't very far from where they were. As her slender arms reached around and held onto his waist, he couldn't help but smile to himself. His curiosity got the better of him as he began to imagine what else those hands could do and he was very thankful that all she could see was the back of his head. That was until she rested her chin upon his shoulder and with that his smile vanished. The last thing he wanted was to look like a school boy finally taking the cheerleader out on a date. Why was he even feeling this way, it was strange, he was attracted to her, but he could say that about plenty of women. However with this one, things felt different, like they were on the same level intellectually; like he had met a woman that wasn't simply eye candy looking to feel like a part of something ala 'crow eaters'.

Feeling the slightest hint of her breath on his ear as she exclaimed 'ready whenever you are.', Rain tilted his head away just subtly as the sensation made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "You got it boss." he told her as he revved the engine once more, before clicking the engine into gear and slowly releasing the clutch. The bike lurched forward and once he released the clutch fully, the engine took hold and they were off. The distance wasn't really far, only about four miles down the road, which on a motorcycle gets eaten up in about five minutes. It was in that time however, feelings Jessica's arms wrapped around him that Raylan felt they had been riding forever. It wasn't something he wanted to give up easily, but before he knew it, they had arrived.

It wasn't much, a small diner along the side of the road. Dot's Diner it was called. With it's tin exterior and red accents it at least looked to be in good condition, almost like something out of the 50's. Most of these kinds of places just tended to fall by the wayside, so for Rain to be brought to such a place was kind of a treat. As they pulled up, Shephard simply parked it out front facing towards the small building and pressed out the kickstand with his foot. He felt a ting of reluctance to end the ride as it meant that Jess would remove her arms from him, but what was done was done and the sensation was gone. Removing his helmet, he glanced back over his shoulder at the elegant brunette and smiled. "Front door service. I just hope the service inside is on par as well." he exclaimed.

[deb]

The ride hadn't lasted long enough for Jess and she was already thinking of ways to make the return trip a bit longer, the perk of being your own boss. There was no one to yell at you when you decided to take the afternoon off and play tour guide or indulge yourself in the fantasies that were playing through your mind, and really it wasn't like anyone could get upset with her for it either. In the darkest part of her mind as she dismoutned the bike and pulled her helmet off, shaking her hair out, Jess thought about simply pushing him up against the wall and simply kissing him though she didn't. No that little voice in the back of her mind that stopped her from doing things like that was telling her it was a bad idea and that chances were he was only being nice to her because of the situation.

Now this wasn't grounds for her to stop thinking however as she was enjoying that, and something told her maybe she was wrong. Just the way he looked at her, like he saw something no one else had seen in a long time including her late husband. Jess kept having to remind herself that she was really reading way more into this than what she needed too and reeling herself in was becoming somewhat bitter sweet in a way. He was attractive, he was polite, he had a sense of humor and chances were back home there was a woman waiting for him that thought the same things as she herself did. Or he didn't and that meant a little harmless flirting wasn't going to hurt in one at all, though bringing that up was one of those things she had to stop and think about how to go about it as it lead into the question of her own status.

She shook her head before she looked over hanging her helmet on the handle bars of the bike, it was out of habit as it's where she put her own on her bike. "The food is fine, I just hope your hungry, Flo likes new people," Jess explained before she grinned. The aging woman that worked inside the dinner kind of reminded her of one of the Golden Girls or something, but she was a sweet lady. "She'll stuff you full of food and then tell you that you still look to thin,"she joked before moving over to the door and pulling it open so she could go inside. Finding a set near the winodw Jess dropped down before she picked up one of the menu's, she had been hungry before but now with the scent of fresh baked cherry pie in the air she was starving. "So you said you were here till Clay called you back, aren't you worried that your girlfriend is going to miss you if your gone that long?" Lifting an eyebrow as she looked over she flashed him a smile before she went back to looking at the menu in front of her.

[evolution]

"The food is fine, I just hope your hungry, Flo likes new people,"

"This should be interesting." Rain said more to himself than Jess, still taking in the sight of the diner. It was nothing to look at, just a little building on the side of the road, and while it may have not seemed like much, it was those types that were always the best. The food was wholesome and made like they actually gave a shit, not just premade junk you'd find in most city establishments. Listening to Jess' warning that Flo would likely feed him too much food in attempts to fatten him up, Rain conjured a vision of the cannibalistic witch from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretal. With that image in his head, the biker couldn't help but repeat his earlier observation. "Should be interesting indeed." Following Jessica into the diner, his senses were immediately bombarded with rich and palatable aroma's. If Shephard had his parents growing up, he imagined this was what their kitchen would smell like on weekends or holidays.

Planting himself across from Jess in the booth, Rain lightheartedly plucked the menu from the lovely brunette's grasp and turned it around in his fingers so that he was now the one scanning through it. "What girlfriend?" he retorted, gazing over the top of the menu at Jess, eyebrow slightly elevated. She was slick in her inquiry, masking it behind the club business that he was handling, but Raylan could see where she was going. "Besides, the last actually girlfriend I had was fiery to say the least. You took the good with the bad with that one, but there was more bad than good, ya know? In the end she skipped town to hunt down her deadbeat brother and left me with to pick up the pieces. That was awhile ago now, and we've since come to realize it's easier to be friends. Elevates a lot of the drama." He wasn't looking for sympathy though it may have appeared that way, but he figured in telling his story, Jess might want to share her story as well - you didn't look as good as she did and not have an explanation.

"And what's your story?" he asked simply. He could have gone on to say that he thought that a girl like her didn't just jump on the back of a Sons' bike to go out for lunch. She had to have a man to answer to and even if she didn't have one, a single, good-looking woman like her didn't stay single for long. The playful banter they were going through, dancing around one another trying to find that next interesting tidbit about the other, it made Rain almost forget what he was there for in the first place. It went without saying that if Clay found out that he was down in the Hills with a woman and not doing what he was supposed to he'd have his balls in a vice. However, he did have an out in that he was talking to the woman that Jury had handling things for him while he was away, so in the regard he was still doing as told.

Gazing around the diner, he observed small framed photo's all over the walls. They ranged in photo's of the diner in it's heyday to customers that passed through. Rain thought he saw a picture of Clay and Gemma but it was too far away to really make out. He also caught sight of a picture that looked like Jess but much younger - he'd have to grill her on that one later. Along with the photo's were random road signs and other trinkets from the highways, from hubcaps to a Harley gas tank albeit slightly dented and worn. The place had charm there was no mistaking that.

[deb]

She had been thinking about what he had been saying about elevating the drama and she could understand that, it was her whole reasoning behind not dating another biker again, ever, maybe. Jess fell silent when he asked her about herself, she had forgotten that being a possiblity in things and now she was stuck at that cross roads. The one that came in between telling him her story and seeing that deep look of sympathy in his eyes and being treated like she was five years old or not telling the whole story and knowing that sooner or later it was going to have to come out. Finally she settled on a middle ground that could always be considered later as maybe she should have been clearer in what she said if i came down to it later on.

"My old man left one night and didn't come back, never saw him again." That was the truth, the casket had been closed at the funeral and Seth had come down from Charming to identify the body so she had never actually seen it. "So you know how it is you pick up the peices, you move on with your life and you just go on with things. I haven't dated since then and honestly it's hard to date around here. Most of the guys look at you like your a little brother and the younger ones see you as the mother figure despite the fact you aren't much older than them." She added before she looked up at the waitress, actually grateful for the interruption.

The waitress was newer and not as chatty though she seemed to be having a good time eyeing Raylan as she was standing there, which mentally made Jess's eye twitch. Giving her order as simply as it was Jess leaned back in the seat once she finished running her finger over the top of the glass of water that had been brought out. This was the point in conversation when she normally faultered talking to people, either because she ran out of things to say or because she wasn't sure as to what to say next. The hesitation though wasn't there with Raylan and she was finding it much easier to talk to him than she woud have anyone else, including someone that she had known all her life.

Smiling when she caught where he was looking she nodded her head. "I was fifteen when they took that one, the guy in the picture is my brother Seth." She explained before she sighed softly, that had been before he had become over bearing and pompous, he was the entire reason she didn't like cops as well in Jess's mind she kind of clumped them all together and assumed they all acted the same no matter what. Looking back at the picture she had to smile she could see the similarities but that seemed like a lifetime ago in it's own right and sometimes even now she felt like a completely different person all together.

Realizing she had fallen silent Jess cleared her throat before she looked over at Raylan and then smiled at him. "So how bad is it being in the Indian Hills, you didn't seem to care too much for the ride up here?" she asked. "I always like being out on my bike, longer the ride the better, gives you time to think, clear your head."

[evolution]

"I'm sorry to hear that - sorta." he commented, a smile slowly permeating. His lose was Shephards gain, that is of course if things went any further than down home cooking and playful repartee. Which made Rain think 'where is this going?'. He hardly knew the woman and yet he was acting very aberrant and thinking things he wouldn't normally given the situation. His attempts at subtle flirting, while commendable were rather obvious and it didn't take much to see where the two of them were heading. As she spoke of picking up the pieces and how dating within Nevada and/or the Tribe was unfeasible, Rain quipped, "I know whatcha mean. Most of the younger ones see me as a mother figure too." The waitress arrived just then and Rain glanced at the menu one last time just to be sure his order was truly what he wanted.

"Hey sweetheart, I think I'll have the Cuban sandwich and if you could, have a piece of that cherry pie on stand by." he said with a quick wink. Jotting down his stomach's desires, the woman sauntered off, but not before looking over his shoulder back at the outlaw biker. Rain cleared his throat, realizing his wink may have been misunderstood and in turn probably didn't sit well with his present company.

Relieved that Jessica caught his wandering eyes taking in the surroundings and not the waitresses eyes taking in Rain, he smiled softly as she explained the time of the picture. Then Rain looked a little harder at the young man in the picture and back at Jessica. "Seth? Not Charming P.D. Seth?" he asked, his eyebrow raised inquisitively. "That guy is such a douche-" Rain commented under his breath, more to himself but he was sure she probably heard him. Raylan did his best to cover it up his insult with a guilty smile. The Sons used the guy some times when Unsur or Vic weren't available and in every case, it was at a very limited capacity. He was a cocky bastard that pretty much everyone wanted to beat the shit out of, but his badge kept him safe as it currently stood.

Shifting the subject to something else, Rain listened to his company field a question about his disdain for being in Indian Hills. "It's not so bad being in Indian Hills anymore." His tone was sly, yet matter-of-factly and he took the glass of water he was given as well and took a drink from it as he leaned back in the booth. The water was more to occupy his mouth because it seemed like it was possessed by something that spewed flirtatious hints every few minutes. He certainly wasn't embarrassed, on the contrary, he wanted to make his interest in her known, but for whatever reason he couldn't take it down a notch. "And while I hate the ride up here, its only because I'm either riding alone, riding in the middle of the night, riding up here for club business, or as it stands now, all of the above. But like I said, its not bad being in Indian Hills anymore." The corner of his mouth lifted up to display another subtle smirk and Rain caught himself staring at her like he did back at the garage.

Where this was going, he didn't know. But if the current situation was any indication of things to come, then Raylan was looking forward to finding out.

[deb]

Had he just ... For a minute Jess had to think about what he said and let it fully sink in before she started laughing and once she started it took a few moments before she could catch her breath enough to speak. "Oh well then you know how hard it is with some of these younger guys, they expect Mommy to take care of them and don't realize that isn't the way it works," she offered before she flashed a wink in Raylan's direction. "Next thing you know your going to tell me your up on a stripper pole dancing around to make a little extra cash and your stage name is Sugar Lumps or something like that." She smirked at him to show she was only teasing, before she gave him a little wink.

"Oh I take it you know my pompus, self centered, egotisitcal, douche nossle of a brother," Jess offered as she continued to look at the picture. Two ex wives and a current divorce under way hadn't done much to imporve her brother's mood but she supposed in the end he meant well. "Yes," she held up her hands in playful surrender, "and please don't hold the fact Seth Desmond is my brother against me, most of the time I dislike him more than other people do." She added before she dropped her head back for a few seconds.

She was listening to him and she really couldn't stop herself as much as she wanted too, in fact she told herself to stop talking at that moment and find something to do with her time that didn't involve using her mouth and that wasn't working. "Oh not so bad anymore huh, is that because you have discovered the rugged beauty of the Hills or is it just my award winning company." Thinking for a few seconds she almost stopped herself and kept what came out of her mouth from coming out but at the last minute it slipped through her lips with an ease that was almost frightening. "Maybe the next time you can ride with someone in the middle of the night, and it be for a more personal reason."

The corners of her lips lifted into a devious smirk as she sat there thinking, and she didn't mind the idea rolling through her mind either. The two of them on the back of his bike, riding, maybe stopping somewhere in the middle fo the desert in one of those places where you got sand where it didn't belong and yet you really honestly didn't mind. However right then and there not in the distant future or simply in the back of her mind as some dirty fantasy involving sweaty naked bodies pressed together, no right then and there where they were sitting she was really wondering what would happen if she leaned across that table and kissed him.

It made Jess stop and think for a moment or two as to when the last time she had had any kind of contact with another human being like that had been. Almost two years now she supposed and there she was, with a guy she didn't know, and things she hadn't thought about in two years were starting come back to her like there. Hell she didn't even know where this was going or what was going to end up happening, where was it going exactly, witty banter, flirting, dirty thoughts. The warning bells in her head told her to weary of the entire thing because she was more than likely just a fling in the desert while shit was going down, but the other part of her mind told her that if you didn't go out on a limb every now and then and see you would end up spending your time wishing you had.

In the end she had to ask herself, did she want him. The answer was yes she did, but the hardest thing to answer was the why and that she couldn't figure out and honestly Jess wasn't sure that she wanted too either. For now she was just enjoying seeing where it went.