Fair Exchange: Pilot

Armed and tatted men are great in movies, but not sitting on Julia’s couch first thing in the morning. She cups her mouth to stop from screaming after locking eyes with the tatted sandy brown Orc sitting in her living room with a gun pointed directly at her.
“Good, you’re up. I could really use breakfast,” The Orc says, tucking the gun in his chest holster and putting the remote on the dining room table. There were a million things Julia wants to say, but all of them end with her shot in her apartment. She instead tucks them to the back of her mind and walks with faux confidence to the small kitchen. Julia wants to squeak when he gets up and makes the already tiny home feel like a cardboard box with a tiger in it.
“Is an omelet okay?” Julia says, rustling through the pots and pans until she finds a skillet worthy of the task.
“That will be great,” The Orc says taking a seat at her small round dining room table. He leans back in the seat and crosses his leg over his knee. Resting his hand on his cheek, his tatted hand shows vibrant colors and stunning art. Mostly of skulls, but stunning art nonetheless.
“Just the omelet or do you want something to go with it?” Julia asks, her heart drumming in her chest.
“What do you have?” His voice is like smoke, dark and dangerous.
“Anything that will not get me shot.” She says still maintaining some semblance of composure. The Orc cracks a grin.
“The diamond and ruby pinky ring you pocketed from the wrong guy will suffice for that. The breakfast is for making me come down here in the first place.”
“So sausage and biscuits?” Julia responds with a nervous smile.
“I’ll take bacon if you have it, but if not that will do.” She gives him a node then scours through the fridge for the other ingredients.
She collects all that she needs and places the bacon on a sheet tray and sets the oven. Placing the bacon in the oven she repeats the process with a couple of biscuits and then retrieves a bowl for the eggs. Every spare second she can, she glances over at The Orc and see his grin and stays relieved that at least it’s not a scowl. Adding seasoning to her eggs she finds some oil and preheats the pan.
While the pan heats up, she grabs the utensils she’ll need for cooking and eating and place them on the counter behind her. Any moment she could, she glances over, and every time she did, his eyes were only on here. Did he think she was dangerous? Did he think she would try to run or anything else stupid? If he did, he didn’t know that Julia’s fight or flight system works well.
Pouring the egg into the pan, she adds cheese and watches it cook. When her eyes drift to him this time, she has a new suspicion why he was looking at her. Could he find her attractive? She laughs at the thought. There was no way her messy bed head, gamer t-shirt, and sweats with holes in them made her turn heads. She couldn’t deny though every time she looks his way, his eyes are never near hers. They are always on her hips, and on some occasions when she faced him, her chest.
The eggs are done, she folds it and gives it a second to make sure that all the cheese is melted. With a sprinkle of cheese on top as garnish, she takes the omelet off the heat and plates it. The smell of the bacon lets her know that it’s done and if it’s done the biscuits won’t be too far behind. Grabbing an oven mitt, she opens the oven and pulls out the rack of bacon and pours off the grease, and places the bacon on a pillow of paper towel to drain.
Grabbing a butter knife and jam, she places it on the table in front of The Orc and fights a blush when she notices his eyes watching her. A quick glance back catches him eyeing her ass sway to the kitchen. She didn’t know why a chubby Drow bartender was attractive to an Orc gangster, but who was she to complain.
In the time it takes her to get butter, jam, salt, and pepper to the table, the biscuits are done and she removes them and starts to plate them next to the omelet. With all three things complete, she places the silverware on the plate and brings it over for him.
“Could I get you anything else?” She says smiling at him.
“Bring me the ring and make yourself a plate.” He says facing the plate and taking his fork and knife.
“I’m not hungry, something about guns ruin my appetite. I’ll just have coffee.” There is a soft laugh from him.
“In that case, I’ll take a cup of coffee, whatever creamer you have, no sugar.” She gives him a node then throws on a pot of coffee. With the pot running, she goes into her room and grabs the ring from her nightstand. That is where she keeps all of her spoils from rich assholes at the bar. The big Orc at her dining room table would make her revenge swiping halt for a while, but she wouldn’t apologize for doing so.
The Talon she palmed this from was a rude piece of shit. If forced to go before him, she would give her greatest performance of ‘I’m sorry mister’ she could muster, but again, that’s just her fight or flight system being a pristine as it needs to be.
Making her way back into the room, she catches sight of The Orc slicing into the omelet. His mouth was full yet he moves to stuff more. Did he enjoy her food that much, or was he just hungry? Either way, she sets the ring on the table and goes back to the kitchen, and grabs two coffee mugs. She pulls her chocolate caramel flavored creamer out and adds sugar to hers and just cream to his. Sitting his cup down by his plate, she goes to drink her cup in the kitchen.
“Have a seat,” The Orc commands, covering his mouth as he spoke with food in his mouth. There is some sense of manners to the handsome Orc. Julia couldn’t help but fight her bratty tendencies, but it helps to see the gun hanging from his holster, right next to a broad, muscular, and no doubt tatted chest. She takes her seat and hides her blush and her nervousness behind a sip of her coffee.
Taking the mug into his hand, he points to the painted ponies on the cup. Julia shrugs and just admits how much she likes ponies. The Orc shakes his head and takes a sip. The frown on his face makes Julia sit back sharply.
“Is something wrong?” Her already fast heartbeat races.
“This coffee is ass,” The Orc says, then swallows as much as he can. There is some relief in the fact that he’s still drinking and eating. Setting the cup down he goes back to eating the last of the bacon and biscuit, the omelet was the first thing to go.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect anyone to come over today. I only buy what I can afford.”
“Making off with rich guys jewelry should allow you to buy something better than this mud.” The Orc pops the last of the biscuit in his mouth and sucks the butter off his fingers. Taking a long look at the mug, he tilts it up and downs the last of it.
“I only do that to guys who are dicks. I don’t even pawn them.” That causes an eyebrow to raise.
“No shit?”
“No… sir,” Julia says, blowing on her coffee a little more to cool it a little more. The Orc chuckles and takes the ring and puts it in his pocket.
“Wait till the boss hears this, I’m sure he’ll laugh when he finds out that he wasn’t had by some cunning little thief, but just a cute little bratty Drow.” Julia takes another sip to keep from blushing at him calling her cute. The Orc gets up and takes his plate and mug to the kitchen. Julie reaches out to stop him, but when he shoots her a look, she decides to stay seated.
He starts the water and places the dishes in the sink. She Watches as he finds her sponge and soap and starts to do the dishes. He even rinses and dries them before finding the cabinet to put them away. She’s not shocked that he can find them, her cheap little apartment only had so many places they could go.
The Orc comes back into the dining room and finally, his eyes meet hers. She’s never seen eyes as granite as his before and they were captivating. Every inch of his face screamed dangerous and attractive. The piercing in his right eyebrow, the stubble of a goatee, the scar right above his nose, the buzz-cut hair that he wore.
Julie could feel her losing her battle with not staring at him. Her eyes may have traveled down his rust color shirt, wine color slacks, with black suspenders, but that was only fair. She caught his eyes on her lips and her breath hitches.
“So we’re square. Just a few rules before I go,” Julie wasn’t expecting his cologne to be so intoxicating, but with him so close, she had no choice but to melt. “If you see anyone with this tattoo,” He shows a weird arcane symbol on his hand then cup her face with that same hand. She nearly tips the table over trying to rise to his hand. “You do not steal from them. You understand?” Julia nods and is pretty sure she also bites her lip. “Good girl.” He lets her go and she is stuck in the position that he left her. He turns to get his blazer off her key rack by the front door. A quick few seconds later, he is gone.
In his absence, he left a pool of warmth in Julia’s core, shortness of breath, and erect nipples. It would take her some time to compose herself. Lucky for her, she didn’t have to be to work for a couple of hours.
Fuck that Orc was hot.