7. Riker

Riker had truly fucked up.

 After successfully getting Skylar to leave the cafe, and ditch his stupid babysitter, they'd ran off into the alleyways, his fingers going over the familiar buttons of his phone to call for another yakuza lackey who'd owed him a favor.

 Besides, Riker had been given a job, and a job complete was how he made his money.

 The lackey named Sorren had driven up, and at the sight of Skylar, had scolded Riker for it.

 "We've been over this, dumbass. If you spend less time with Kira, you're going to get punished by the ones above us." Sorren said in Japanese, making sure that Skylar hadn't understood.

 "I promised to take her out on a date. Besides, my assignment is going to be at that club too. There's nothing wrong with killing two birds with one stone." Riker had replied, only earning an annoyed glance from Sorren.

 Riker has pressed the button to lower his window down, then chucked his phone out of it, as far as he could reach.

 It landed very far, and when he turned, Skylar had been looking at him with big eyes, her mouth parted.

 "What was that for?" she asked, looking shocked.

 "Nick tracks me down with that, and I want more time alone with you on our date." he grins, and he notices how Skylar's hand is reaching for the door handle. But unlucky for her, Riker had already thought of that. "Oh, and the doors have their child safety lock set on, so you can't leave even if you wanted to. Which I don't want you to."

 Skylar looks deflated when she settles back down, the book clasped in her hands.

 What a cute dork. But she's my dork, Riker thinks to himself.

 "So... where are we going now?" she asks.

 "Dancing." Riker replied, giving her another grin, especially when he sees the panic in her eyes. It makes him want to see just how far he can scare her.

 "I don't-" she's about to say that she doesn't dance. Which isn't a problem at all for Riker because he can dance.

 "Relax. It's a fun club, the lights will be off, and the alcohol will be free-for you, only though." Riker replies instead, and though it's meant to comfort her, he can still see the anxiety dancing in her eyes.

 Riker looks over at her, and he can see that she's lost in thought. He wonders if she's thinking of him. If so, what about?

 "Aw, whatcha thinking ladybug? Afraid I won't be able to protect you?" he asks impatiently, as he impulsively cupped her face, and traced the bottom of her lip. Riker can feel the desire in his body build up. She's so pretty and soft, and he wants to sink his teeth into her. But he also doesn't want to scare her. "That's something you don't need to worry about at all."

 "Why do you keep calling me that?" Skylar asked instead, and Riker let's her go then, smiling to her.

 "You used to like ladybugs." He replies, and he can't say anymore on the subject as his mind wanders off to better times. When they were both younger, and their friendship was something that Riker believed to be the strongest thing to exist.

 Until it wasn't.

 With a confused look, Skylar looks out her own window, book clasped in both of her hands.

The club is in a strange part of Houston, obscured by tall buildings. The club has no name on it, yet Riker knows it as Club Night, and it does have the classic LED lights strewn up on the outside of the building to indicate that it is indeed opened, and there are of course lots of booze around. 

 As the car slows, Riker bolts out of his seat, and opens the door for Skylar, her eyes glancing at him warily. He's impatient, and he tosses her book to the back of the car pulling her out.

 Sorren tells Riker everything he needs to hear about his target, from how he looks like, to what room he's trying to hide at in the club. The target is being offed for not only smuggling money from the big boss but because he had taken product for his own gain and flaunted it in front of others as if he was hot shit.

 They made their way to the entrance, and not even inside, Riker could hear the bass of the music vibrating the door.

 "What club is this?" Skylar asks.

 "An exclusive one." Riker replies, opening the door.

 Music blares out, and it's so loud that Riker can't tell what beat it is to dance to. He motions for her to step in, and she does, Skylar shading her eyes from the lights. There are people dancing, and raving to the music, clinging to each other.

 Riker eyes the crowd, until he sees someone stalk off to the corner of the club, opening the door, and then shutting it promptly. Riker caught a good look at what was behind the door, and he already has it planned out on what he's going to do.

 But first, he wants to make sure Skylar is safe.

 "Go to the bar and wait for me there. I have to take care of something first. Use my name as the tab." Riker says, and before Skylar can object to what he says, he disappears.

 The crowd smells of a strange combination of perfume, cologne, and something chemically, but Riker focuses on one thing and one thing only: his job.

 He slips inside the door, closing it quietly. It's darker here than it is out in the rest of the club, and he uses the flashlight from his phone to help him see.

 Once he finds the door with the only light on underneath, he goes into silent mode, moving quiet as a mouse, his steps feather weight.

 The door didn't even creak as he pushed it open, and then, the familiar chase of adrenaline was coursing through his body. His senses felt heightened as he peered around, ears perked when he heard a harsh sniffing, and then exhaling.

 The motherfucker was-

 "Bern? Is that you? Did that stupid lackey leave yet? I was trying to smooth talk-" his words cut off as he stepped back into the living room of where Riker was standing at.

 The man was all doughy; short with greasy black and white hair, he had jowls. Beady gray eyes peered at Riker with fear, his pupils fully blown.

 Riker could tell that what was pumping through his target's veins, it was the product stolen from his boss.

 "Juno sends his regards." Riker said, as he pulled out his knife that he kept tucked into the waist of his pants.

 The man tried to back away, then proceeded to beg for his life. But Riker had heard it all before, and with quick slashings, the man could utter no more words.

 Carefully using his knife to cut off the man's finger as proof, Riker stuck it in a plastic baggie he fished out from his back pocket, and then placed the baggie into his inner jacket pocket.

 This had taken longer than it was supposed to, and Riker dragged the corpse by the ankles, and dumped it into the bathtub. It'd take some time for people to find him, and Riker was thorough, cleaning off his prints from all and every surface. 

 When he was done, he'd stalk back out of the room, cleaning off the doorknob, and whistled a happy tune.

 Another job well done.

 Once out from there, he looked around for Skylar, scanning through the crowd. A commotion caught his attention, and he looked up to see Skylar fending herself off from a strange guy with piercings all over his face trying to make advances to her.

 Riker could feel anger and jealousy intermingle in his body, and he casually thought how adding another body today wouldn't make a difference.

 As he bolted to Skylar's aid, he froze when he saw her take a swing at him, and her fist connecting perfectly on the creep's jaw. The guy fell on his ass, calling Skylar insults as he called her every name in the book.

 "I told you not to touch me!" she had screamed at him, drunkenly, and as she had tried to run, she ran into Riker.

 "That was the fucking hottest thing I'd ever seen." Riker said, and Skylar looked at him like she didn't believe him.

 If she wanted proof, all she had to do was touch the front of his pants where Riker's appendage was very much awake to the scene he'd witnessed before him.

 With ease, Riker had dragged the guy away, beaten him to a pulp, and gone back to Skylar. He hadn't even bothered to kill the doofus, too focused on taking Skylar from here and taking care of her.

 He helped her down the steps, the music still loud and pounding, but Skylar still managed to make herself heard as she shouted at him, and called him a horrible date.

 He'd faltered, feeling bad.

 "Let me make it up to you." he had said, as he helped her into the car.

 "Just take me home." was her reply, and he gave the directions to her apartment (because she lived in the same ones as his stupid babysitter), and the driver went off.

 Skylar had fallen asleep, head lolled to the side as she snoozed on.

 "Was the job complete?" the driver asked in Japanese, and Riker nodded.

 Appeased, the gates opened to Skylar's apartment, and she woke up, getting ready to get out. The driver stood up, and opened the door for her, and as she struggled to find her balance, Riker stood with her, carrying her in his arms.

 He dismissed the driver, and Skylar scolded him, telling him that she hadn't invited him to sleep over.

 But Riker ignored her, concerned for her being in this drunken state.

 He went back to the familiar path to her apartment, waiting for her to unlock the door, and to his surprise and greatest pleasure, she did unlock it, inviting him in.

 When he set Skylar down, the cutest cat in the world bounded to him, and began to rub against him.

 "That's weird, he usually hates people." Skylar commented, as she headed to the bathroom.

 This pleased Riker, and he continued to pet the cat, hearing the sink run in the restroom.

 Riker, now free to roam and look at all her things, went from her bookshelf, and then slipped into her room.

 A king-sized bed with many layers of blankets and pillows was in the middle of it, a tiny flat screen mounted on the wall. Dark colored dressers were placed in the far side of the room, and then on her walls, he saw that she had placed plant vines that extended from one side of the room to the next.

 The room looked so cozy, the bed calling out his name, and before he could think it through, he was slipping off his clothes, and folding them neatly on the dresser. Without another word, he slipped under the covers, telling himself that he was waiting for Skylar.

 The bed smelled like her though, the strong scent of lavender and berries making Riker take a deep breath.

 He hadn't realized that he was asleep until Skylar yanked the blankets off of him, letting out a strange squeak. And as if to test that he was sleeping, she waved her hand over his face.

 There was no threat from her though, so Riker stayed relaxed, and she felt as she reached for a pillow and a blanket, probably heading to sleep on the couch.

 Riker didn't want that to happen though, so he reached forward, and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into his arms.

 Her soft, warm body lulled him back to sleep.