Aaron was right on the money and punctual when he picked Kelly up at the diner. Aaron’s car was an amped up pickup truck with huge wheels. It somehow fit his tough guy exterior and she found that she was actually kind of turned on by the huge machine. There was something primal about it and a man who could tame such a wild beast. It was sexual and raw. Or maybe she was just crazy. It had been months since she had been with a man.

Even though he had his truck, they decided to just walk the three blocks to the bar. It was a sports bar she had never really heard of, but they were supposed to have amazing wings and great prices on drinks. After the day she had she could use a steady supply of both. She was running on pure adrenaline at this point and a lot of that was the jolt of excitement she had received after Aaron had asked her out.

The night was beautiful. Mid- winter in Phoenix, Arizona, was much like late spring in most of the country. The days were sunny with highs edging into the low eighties and nights hovering around the upper fifties or lower sixties. And the rain was not to be seen. You woke up each morning to a beautiful warm sun shining on your face. It was the time of year she lived for around here; the calm before the upcoming storm of the brutal Arizona summer that was on its way. But for now, she just laid back and enjoyed the comfort.

As they walked they didn’t talk that much. Aaron seemed to be enjoying the peaceful night as much as she was. A slight breeze blew in at them from the west and ruffled up through her shirt, cupping her breast in its gentle grip. She found the experience a bit erotic and her thoughts turned to Aaron’s hands and how she wished they were cupping her large breasts right then.

They got to the bar and were happy to find that the crowd was minimal, but again it was Wednesday. Luckily there weren’t any sporting events going on, otherwise Aaron said the place would have been packed with all sorts of drink specials and cheap wings.

They found a corner booth and settled in. Kelly was happy to be out of the way of wandering eyes who were wondering what she was doing with a stud like Aaron. She wasn’t sure if she should be intimidated or proud. It was one of those fine line situations. She may have just been imagining that people were staring at her or wondering how she had landed a date with someone like Aaron, or it could have been real. She wasn’t sure how much she cared. The guy seemed to like her, so she was happy.

“So, are you from here originally?” Aaron asked.

“No, I moved here to go to school. I’m in my third year, now,” Kelly replied.

“That’s great. What are you studying?”

“’I’m a Political Science major.”

“Wow, you going to end up being a lawyer?”

“That is the plan, but it’s a long time coming.”

“I know. That is a lot of schooling, but if it’s what you want to do then you got to grind it out.”

“Yep, that’s all there is to it. But I actually love it, so it’s fine.”

“I respect that,” Aaron said.

“How did you get into MMA?” Kelly asked.

The waitress sat their drinks down in front of them along with a basket of boneless wings. They both grabbed a fork and dug in. Aaron was right; these wings were amazing.

“I’ve always been into it. I started wrestling when I was ten and fell in love with that, but then I also started doing Tae Kwon Do when I was twelve. After I received my black belt in Tae I got into Brazilian Jujitsu when I was about seventeen. I've entered combats and competitions since I was a kid and I always seem to do pretty well.”

“Wow, you sound like a pretty lethal guy,” Kelly joked.

Aaron smiled. “I guess, but anyone can be lethal. An untrained person is even more so because they will hurt you much worse than they intended too.”

Kelly thought about this as she sipped her Long Island Iced Tea. It was perfectly mixed and she definitely tasted the strength of it.

“I know, they make the drinks strong here,” Aaron said reading her expression.

“That they do. I like it,” Kelly said.

The conversation between the two of them flowed very easily and she was finding herself feeling closer and closer to him. He had this easy going confident nature about him that wasn’t remotely cocky or arrogant. He was proud of who he was and you could take it or leave it. Kelly loved the lack of insecurity she felt rising off of him. It was the perfect complement to her total lack of confidence.

After finishing off the wings and her second Long Island, Kelly excused herself to go the ladies room. She checked her makeup and her hair, which she had styled as much as she could in the ladies room at work on her last break. It had held itself together fairly well and she was satisfied with what she saw.

Walking back from the ladies room Kelly saw that Aaron was no longer alone. In fact he was standing up, face to face with another large man. This man was dressed in typical biker fashion, with a striking leather vest, no shirt underneath, ripped jeans, his wallet hanging from a chain and thick leather boots to top the whole image off. His muscles were toned and sleek, enhanced by a multitude of tattoos that were somehow beautifully designed, with an array of vibrant colors.

The man pushed Aaron hard against the wall. Aaron’s demeanor was changing and she could tell that he was ready to let this guy have it. She was afraid for Aaron because this guy was both menacing and tough looking, but then again she knew that Aaron was a trained fighter. He could have wiped the floor with the guy, but he was restraining himself.

Aaron’s eyes glanced over at her for a second and she saw his attitude change for a second. He did not want her to see an ugly side of him she realized. Kelly’s heart was beating wildly in her chest. She hated violence and witnessing real violence in an uncontrolled environment was even scarier than watching sanctioned fights on television.

The biker stepped forward and pushed Aaron again, but this time Aaron grabbed the man’s hands and flipped him around, pinning him to the wall. The man tried to struggle and break the hold, but Aaron applied more pressure and the man grunted in pain.

Just then Kelly saw a bartender and a manager jump onto the scene and break it up. The bartender had to hold the biker back, while the manager stood between Aaron and them. Aaron raised his hands in compliance as he backed off. Aaron placed some money on the table under a salt shaker and walked over to Kelly.

“What was that about? Are you ok?” Kelly asked. The nerves were subsiding a bit, but Kelly’s legs were still moving a mile a minute to hustle out of the sports bar. She felt better instantly when she walked out the door into the warm Arizona night.

“It was just some bullshit. That guy is the brother of a guy who I beat in a fight a few months ago. He swears his brother didn’t tap out, but the referee and everyone else clearly saw it. I had him in an arm bar, and it was locked in. If he hadn’t tapped his arm would have been broken. No shame in it. I was the better fighter that day, but this moron doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Wow, that’s crazy. That was pretty hairy back there,” Kelly said.

Aaron draped his arm around her and pulled her close to him. His body felt good against hers.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. It kind of came out of nowhere. He walked in just as you left to go to the ladies room. I was hoping he wouldn’t see me because I didn’t want to deal with it, but he zoned in on me like a tractor beam.”

“Well, hopefully you never have to deal with him again.”

“Maybe. I don’t care. If he comes at me again I’ll just have to lay him out. I hate to fight out of the ring and I can actually get my license to fight revoked, but if it comes down to it, I will.”

They walked through the park, admiring the dim glow of the streetlights that lit up the park, covering it with an orange glow that somehow reminded Kelly of walking on a sunset. It was like everything turned a neon color this time of night in the city. She really loved it here and night time was by far her favorite.

They didn’t talk a great deal during this walk; it was mostly just being together, holding hands and knowing that they didn’t have to talk. It was enough to just experience the moments together.

Occasionally one of them would ask the other a question about themselves. Kelly found that Aaron’s responses to her were generally very interesting; with enough detail that kept her interested, but at the same time she felt he was still holding pieces of himself back. He possessed a quiet restraint that she found very mysterious and attractive, while at the same time he encouraged her to talk more about herself. She was not especially fond of talking about herself, but she found with Aaron she was really able to open up. She could talk freely without fear of saying the wrong thing or feeling like she was being overexposed. It was a nice change of pace.

Aaron had grown up poor on the west side of Phoenix, which was a rough area. He had figured out very quickly that he had to learn to defend himself. This led him into wrestling at a young age and later on to martial arts. His wrestling skills had earned him a scholarship to Arizona State, where he had majored in philosophy. Kelly suspected that was why he had such a deep and spiritual side to him.

When Aaron walked Kelly back to her car, she was not ready for the evening to end, but it was pushing past midnight and she had a busy day the next day. She thanked Aaron for a wonderful evening and no sooner did the words leave her mouth then he was kissing her. The kiss had taken her so by surprise it was a few seconds before she remembered that she needed to kiss back.

As their lips parted they both smiled sweetly at each other. Under the full moon and the beautiful starry sky Kelly knew that she had never been happier. Aaron took her number and they agreed to go out again soon.

Driving down the 303 to her house just outside of Mesa, Kelly was feeling better than she had in months. She cranked the radio up on her favorite XM station and sang along. Avril Lavigne was singing about a “Skater boy” and Kelly was feeling the groove. She belted out the words along with the radio and ignored her tuneless and off key voice. She was feeling too good right now to care about anything.

She eased her foot off the pedal gently, realizing that she was speeding by about ten miles over. She quickly dropped it back down to her normal five miles over. That was the sweet spot she had discovered and had prevented her from being pulled over in the years since she had been out here. She didn’t think she would ever leave. It was so beautiful in the desert city.

She was about a mile from her exit when she felt the tire blow out. The car suddenly lurched to the left and then to the right, practically jerking the wheel from her grasp as she struggled to steer the car and straighten it out. Luckily there was not much traffic at that time of night, or she surely would have hit someone as the car swerved from the right lane to the left.

Stepping on the brake she felt the car jerk once more, but slowly start to wind down as she steered it off the road, where it eventually came to a skidding stop.

She sat there for a few moments wondering what had just happened. She had never had a tire actually blow out before, just a few routine flats. It was definitely one of the scariest feelings in the world. Suddenly the car had a mind of its own. It reminded her slightly of sliding on Ice when she had vacationed with some friends up in Flagstaff in December.

She got out of the car to inspect the damage and immediately saw the huge hole in her driver side front tire. It was a wreck and she was stranded on the side of the road. She had a spare tire, but she had not the faintest clue how to change a tire. She was debating pulling up a YouTube video, but the thought of trying to change a tire by herself for the first time on the side of the road, was not something she was at all eager to try out.

She wished she had AAA, but being a poor college student who had to pinch every penny she had for ramen noodles, she could not afford this slight little luxury. She was stuck. Aaron! She would call Aaron. She doubted if any of her girlfriends would know how to take care of this situation. She didn’t really have any guy friends.

As she pulled her phone out of her pocket to look up his number that he had just given her she noticed some lights pulling up behind her. It was a motorcycle. The driver was a tall, slender man with tightly toned muscles that her eyes immediately locked on. The biker looked familiar, and at first she could not place him in the dark, but as he stepped closer and his face came into view of the orange glow of a distant streetlamp she recognized where she had seen him before; it was the biker who had picked a fight with Aaron.

As the man came closer, he wore a somber expression with a slight grin. He was actually a very handsome guy, with a strong jaw, and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. He moved slowly towards her. Kelly supposed she should have been frightened, but there was something about his way that held her curiosity. The man stood in front of her and looked her up and down briefly before squatting down to glance at the hole in the tire.

“Damn, that’s a big hole,” the man said. His voice was gruff and strong.

“Yeah. I don’t know what happened. It just blew out and almost made me crash,” Kelly said.

“You got a spare?”

“Yea, it’s under the trunk, I think.”

“You got a jack?”

“Yes. It’s in the trunk. If you could fix this for me I’d be so grateful,” Kelly said rushing to the trunk. Unlocking it and locating the jack, which was located in a little section that snapped into the side of the trunk. It also held instructions for how to change a tire. Imagine that.

“Sure,” the man said taking the jack from her. She noticed his hands were strong and calloused. His hand brushed hers slightly as the jack passed from her hand to his.

The man placed the jack on the car and began jacking the car up. When the jack was fully extended he climbed under the back of the car, and began working on removing the spare.

“So, you dating that fighter?” The man asked.

“Excuse me?” Kelly replied.

“That fighter—I saw you with him tonight at the bar, right?”

“Yea. It was our first date,” Kelly said. She wasn’t sure why she was telling him this, but she found him surprisingly easy to talk to.

“Did he tell you why we almost got into it?”

“Yea, he told me a bit of what happened, but I don’t know much.” Kelly wanted to drop this conversation.

“Well, he thinks he beat my brother fair and square in the ring, but anyone could see that my brother never tapped. He was almost out of the hold. You can even watch the fight online and see it for yourself.”

“I may do that sometime. I’m Kelly by the way,” she said not sure why she suddenly felt compelled to give him her name.

“I’m John,” the man said rolling out from under the car. He pulled her spare down and set it aside. Then he grabbed the lug wrench and began to remove her damaged tire.

“It’s nice to meet you John. Thanks again for helping me out here.”

“No problem. I love rescuing beautiful women, like yourself,” John smiled slightly at her and shot her a glance. His eyes were somehow magnetic and they looked right through her. She felt her knees weaken slightly. She was aware of just how sexy John was and he had just flirted with her. Had he? Maybe he was just a flirty person.

“So what do you do Kelly?” John asked. He pulled the tire off the car and rolled it back to the trunk, lifted it up and placed it inside. Then he grabbed the spare and wheeled it back to the front of the car.

“I’m a student at Arizona State, and I work part time in a diner. How about you, John?”

“I’m self-employed. I run my own motorcycle repair business,” John said.

“Wow, that’s pretty interesting. I’ve never actually ridden a motorcycle.”

John looked at her and gave her a sexy wink as he snapped the spare tire on.

“We will definitely have to change that.”

Kelly found herself blushing. Was he actually coming on to her? How in the world did it happen that two sexy guys were hitting on her in the same day? This was a whole new feeling for her, and she was liking it.

“That sounds like fun,” Kelly said. She was surprising herself that she was actually flirting back a bit, but her confidence was surging higher than ever thanks to this amazing day. She was starting to become very glad that her tire had blown out and she had almost wrecked her car and got killed.

John finished securing the tire, slowly released the jack, and put it back in the trunk with the lug wrench. He dusted his hands off and smiled in satisfaction taking a moment of pride in a job well done.

“Wow, that’s awesome. I can’t thank you enough,” Kelly said.

“It’s nothing. Now, about that bike ride—how about tomorrow?”

“Well, I have classes in the morning and work after that.”

“Blow off your classes then,” John said.

“What? I dunno… I have midterms coming up. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea,” Kelly said, but truthfully she had already made up her mind to do it. She never took any risks in her life and she was going to do this.

“Come on, you are smart enough. Too much class is a waste of your time. You don’t want to make the rest of us look stupid, do you?” John said smiling. He had a dry sense of humor that she was really enjoying. He was a tough as nails, no nonsense guy, but she could see a sweetness in him that was very appealing underneath all those layers. He was a mystery and she found herself wanting to crack it a bit.

“Ok, you talked me into it.”

Kelly gave John her address and her number, typing it into his flip phone. She almost laughed that the man still had a flip phone, but it really didn’t surprise her. He was a bare minimalist type of guy and she liked that. She also liked watching his tight ass in his jeans as he walked away.

Kelly hopped behind the wheel and drove home feeling even higher than she had before.

Tomorrow was a new day of this exciting new chapter.