Little Mean Green Machine

The next installment of this will be a few months in the future. XD

~

The fact that Michelle took one look at the two new arrivals from the depths of winter and snarled like an angry animal was enough to make both the very short girl and the tall man reel backwards in similar fashion.

Jeremy and everyone he knew had a similar reaction when confronted by the ash haired woman pulling on a light coverup over her tankini. She'd been sunbathing on the terrace of a massive townhouse, the sound of the ocean in her ears, when a very unwelcome knock had drawn a groan from her. Amusingly, this place comes with a full staff, including a butler she'd already started calling Jeeves (much to his chagrin and slight amusement), it had been the very handsome man in the black suit that had opened the door to the pieces of her life that insisted on annoying the shit out of her.

As she wanders to the fridge, she snaps at the pair, even the butler retreats to his little room at the front of the house, “You didn't have the brains to phone first? This could have waited. I already knew she was coming.”

Tugging two bottled waters from the large stainless steel fridge, she jerks her head at the pair as they nervously take them from her. In the faint light of the kitchen, her scars were even more apparent, splashing down her neck and onto her chest. It wasn't that which made Jeremy nervous. He had figured out what really was the most intimidating thing about Michelle when they were kids. Her eyes.

Sure, she had the massive shoulders and height to intimidate anyone, and the weight she'd gained back after the loss of Visions had rounded her out again, but that wasn't it. It helped make her terrifying. Though Jeremy would never admit to his fear outside his own mind, he knew something had happened. Something years ago when she'd been gone for so long that even her father had labelled her missing.

She'd come back changed, with eyes even more like chunks of stone in her otherwise smiling face. Much of her had stayed the same, she still laughed at everyone, and made lewd jokes at odd times, but enough that it had taken both her father and Jeremy some time to get used to it.

Now, well, the tall man averts his eyes as he sheds some of the layers of clothing he'd been wearing, noting for the first time that his young charge, the blue and ash haired girl was staring at her aunt with a gaping jaw, obviously staring at her aunt with surprised eyes. Obviously the woman standing before them was definitely not what she was expecting.

The tiny woman OOFS as a large elbow pokes into her ribs, nearly shoving her off the stool she'd seated herself on to drink her water. Glaring at the large man, she licks her lips and smiles warily at the woman, who simply frowns and seats herself opposite the two.

“Um...Aunt Michelle? Mom phoned you..?”

The woman is already nodding, and waving her hand, and the water bottle in it, “Yeah, shes way more lucid than you think. She knows you come to visit and don't come into the room. She isn't a monster, shes just a woman that can't stop being sad. She thinks you're embarrassed by her.”

Even Jeremy flinches at this, and he retreats a little farther from his best friend and her niece. This wasn't his business to be prying into.

As she balances on the stool, Roxane's face is the colour of buttermilk, her eyes are swimming with tears, shaking her head quickly from side to side, anger starting to grow in her face. Her voice, however is completely missing and she simply dashes away her tears and glares at her aunt.

“You don't think I have people there looking after my own sister? Most of the people working around her work for me.” She wrinkles her nose, and stares silently at her niece, watching her struggle to control her emotions over a sensitive topic in her life.

“Speaking of your mother, I took the liberty of moving her from that rat hole in Kentucky. You can visit her whenever you want, though you'll have to drive to Florida for that. I took the liberty of buying you wheels, if you hadn't noticed the Chevette out in the lane.” Again, these words seem only to unbalance the young woman, who gapes at her aunt with a facial expression stuck between horrified crushing despair and pure joy. Michelle narrows her eyes at her, pointing at her with a single finger, “Phone your mother more, she likes hearing from you.”

Clearing her throat, Michelle straightens from her seat, stalking through the kitchen and into the living room, calling back to the girl, “I know you want to work for me as a Jockey, and that you suck.”

A splutter from the girl as she was caught trying to take a swig of water. Jeremy gurgles from his place by the window, one hand clasped over his mouth as he tries to stem the flow of water from his nose.

“Don't try to defend yourself, you won't win. I've seen your record. I've read the reports, talked to some of the farms that have hired you before.” The tall woman plonks herself on a cushy chair as Roxane, who has managed to get out all of six words, follows after her aunt with listless confusion.

“I've heard WHY you haven't ridden. If you want to ride for me, you need to drop the 'I know better than the trainer' bullshit that you like so much.” Again, Roxane's cheeks burn with anger, and she struggles to speak, “But...they were...”

“NO.”

The word rings out through the room, and even Michelle jerks at the acoustics. Her lip twitching, she turns to glare at her niece, the angry young woman glaring right back.

“THINK before you say a word. I don't give a shit what you think you know about training horses. People who have spent twenty years training thoroughbreds know better than one little girl who has five years spent on an Equicizer and track ponies. That isn't experience. So you won a single race in some back water rinky dink track. Wow...your total win money is up to a hundred and fifty dollars, I may just faint in shock.”

Michelle snarls, taking a drink from her water before vaulting herself to her feet, hands on her hips, water bottle held by its neck.

“This isn't a county fair we're talking about. This is important. This could be the Kentucky Derby, this COULD be the Breeders Cup, and I'm not going to switch out jockeys that I know can win races because my niece thinks I should be nice and do this for her. Don't think that because we're blood that'll make me take it any easier on you.” A rather disturbing smile curls onto her face as she leans in over her niece as the young woman slumps into a large cushy chair.

“Your mother told me about how you meddled with other jockeys, made changes to exercise schedules, even sabotaged other riders so that you would have a change to ride. That shit don't fly here.You screw with how things work, either here or back in Canada, and you'll be on the next flight to Argentina. Got it?”

The girl can only nod up at her aunt with stunned wariness and fear, clutching her water bottle so tightly that the lid squeals as air leaks from it. She was way way more frightening than most of the people she'd met on the tracks, or even in the sleaziest parts of town. Wide eyes flick to Jeremy, who can only smirk and hide his face behind his water. He knew what she was feeling.

Abruptly, Roxane's eyes snap back to her aunt as the woman leans back, staring at her like a hazel eyed statue.

“If you want to ride for my stable. You sign this.” The tall woman wanders to the kitchen counter, tugging a sheaf of papers from the granite.

“Read it through. Think about it.” That said, the big woman wanders over and pokes Jeremy in the guy as the tall man slings an arm around her neck, a quick quiet conversation between the two before she leaves, and Jeremy moves back to motion Roxane to leave.

“Come on, we have a hotel room. You can read it there.” Roxane, looking like she'd just been hit by a train, clutches the papers close and skitters after the tall man. Only after the two leave does Michelle start humming to herself, seating herself back on the porch with a soft sigh.

The future promised to be interesting, that was for sure.

~

Refs for car and girl from Google! :3

OH! And wood panel pattern on the side of the car is copyrighted to the lovely person who made it on DA!