F E M M E F A T A L E

The spider's web: She finds an innocuous corner in which to spin her web. The longer the web takes, the more fabulous its construction. She has no need to chase. She sits quietly, her patience a consummate force; she waits for her prey to come to her on their own, and then she ensnares them, injects them with venom, rendering them unable to escape. Spiders – so needed and yet so misunderstood.

[harlwdmcrtel]

@raleighxmonroe​

@harlwdmcrtel

For a dog who was extremely picky about water, Rae certainly loved mud and everything she could do with it. What had turned into a simple jumping into the puddles to get paws wet had turned into her nose diving into the puddle and quickly discovering how to cover her entire body in the clay. 

The hose outside worked well enough but the dog wasn’t anywhere being clean. Which has led Raleigh to be sitting in his bathroom his shirt and shorts soaked in water and maybe even a few mud splatters on him from her shaking. And though Rae was the best dog he’s ever had, everyone knew she had selective hearing. After about three times of jumping out of the tub when he went to get the soap in his hands, the boy gave up before finding Harlow. “Dog whisperer I need your help.”

The noise that she heard was unmistakable, no doubt the pooch Raleigh had grown so attached to was making his life more than difficult and really, all she could do was listen with very amount of amusement possible. It was only a matter of time, Rae became putty in Harlow’s hands, and between her and her own dog, Barley, it was any wonder either of them ever listened to her best friend to begin with. Tipping her head back against the arm of the couch she laughed loudly at the sight of him, “Anyone ever tell you that if you’re going to take a bath, you’re supposed to take your clothes off first? What’d you do.. fall in?” 

[harlwdmcrtel]

@connorxking​

It had never been a choice for Connor, not really. The concept of them riding off into the sunset together would never come to fruition because he knew that his own place didn’t exist by her side. He couldn’t be a partner in her leadership and she couldn’t be tethered to someone so unwilling, whether Harlow accepted that or not didn’t alter the truth of it. Eyes which had seen far too much damage caused by his own two hands nearly rolled out of the blonde’s skull as she immediately twisted genuinely kind words into something else entirely. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. I was being rhetorical, I can stand you just fine.” Calloused fingers immediately reached forward to grasp at her upper arm, forcing the brunette to keep from storming off as his features hardened. “Stop. Just stop.”

Hardened skin that the world saw would never completely cover up how utterly vulnerable Harlow could be. Years of growing up in a family that generally all led two very separate lives had made it all too easy for her to create a second skin, and the stark difference between the two was almost unbelievable, even she knew that. Weakened by even the thought of Connor every truly holding any negative feeling towards her was like another kick to the teeth. Whatever choices they could have made together; he’d chosen to make on his own, including a choice that had only ever been hers in the first place. Perhaps she hadn’t been willing to let go of her inevitable position within the MC, but she didn’t believe that this was the answer. “I know, Connor. I get it.” Short and sharp, she could shut down within seconds and refuse to let him see the cracks in her armor, but he’d always dig for it. His hand around her arm pulled her to a stop and she sighed heavily before turning back to him, refusing to look at him for the longest moment. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Connor.” She thought she had; they all thought she had, and then pieces of her safety net had been torn from beneath her. “How am I supposed to fix any of this when I don’t even.. -- what if I can’t do this?”

[harlwdmcrtel]

@mascnking

“Call it being courteous,” he grinned along with his joking words, hoping to ease whatever her mind was likely conjuring up. He needed her to trust him, just as her father had done. Whether that was because of who his brother was or because of what he’d shown he was capable of doing, Mason would stand behind it. What they were going to do, he needed to visibly see her taking action in it. The more he could add to her folder, the more likely something would stick when he finally acted. Her father was already down, and it wouldn’t take much to get her down either. Her words, along with the shift of her eyes, had his hand moving, fingers sliding under the hem of his shirt to show her the gun tucked in his waist band. “If anything goes bad, I won’t hesitate.” Allowing his shirt to fall back down, Mason followed closely behind her, making sure to keep an eye out. “Funny. I’ll have you know, I’m a very likable guy.”

“Now there’s something I haven’t seen in any of our guys for a damn long time.” Harlow felt it slip from her lips well before she thought about it, the quip of her voice held more lightly than before; a joke almost. It wasn’t as if it hadn’t crossed her mind to let up on him a little; Connor trusted him and for all it was worth, she’d usually hold whatever her ex said with the highest regard, but newcomers always unsettled her. Watching as he slipped the fabric of his shirt higher, she raised a brow slightly; unsure of whether he’d give her the same unspoken back up he’d given her dad, but it was something at least. “Who told you that? Connor?” Harlow asked, laughing quietly as they broke through into the rather expanse opening of the building. It changed every time, the Jackals well beyond using the same places for every meet and exchange. A group of men dispersed themselves around several cases and by the time she’d even crossed the room with Mason behind her, they’d already cast her several questioning looks. Women in their line of work were few and far between; even less so those calling the shots. “Check them over, would you?”

[eizagonz]

[harlwdmcrtel]

katrinaunger:

Katrina had begun their interaction bubbling with residual anger, but now she felt foolish, wallowing in her shoes in an emotion that was something of an entirely different nature. When had she lost her drive to fight back? Perhaps it had been along the same time when she realized her steps were out of line, that she had strayed almost completely away from the path that she had set out for herself. “This isn’t him trying out fucking basketball, this is different.” She wanted to wring her hands, to do something other than shift weight from one foot to the other. “There are real consequences to what they—“ The brunette corrected herself, realizing who she was with. “You do.”

She didn’t know anything about the Jackals, save for what she had skimmed over in the article. Everything had been painted in broad strokes of Bad, from importing weapons to drug trafficking, it seemed as though they were responsible for it all. Cleaning up the town, they had both said; to her, it sounded like a complete wash of shit. Harlow could tell that she was effective, Katrina glowered under the weight of her tiny smile. For the second time in twenty-four hours, she admitted bitter defeat. “I won’t tell him what to do, he’ll do what he wants.” The brunette rubbed at her cheek, knowing that it wouldn’t quell the churn that lay claim in her stomach.

Harlow slipped back into a skin that she recognized, her features softened: this was the girl that Kat remembered prancing around her closet with. This was her first fight with Lance, something that she hadn’t expected to be explosive as it was— but over something mundane, like laundry or dishwashing. “I’m worried.” It was a low phrase, caught nearly by the cool wind that blew around them. 

It was a conversation they’d all heard a thousand times before, though she supposed that was more a requirement of the trade than anything; the ability to listen to people warning you against it. “I know it’s not trying out for basketball, and believe it or not, Lance knows that too.” All of them knew what they were getting into, it was the whole point of being patched in, in the first place. There wasn’t a single member that was thrown in the deep end, and whether Kat knew it or not, he’d asked her to come back. Harlow might have been quite happy to leave Lance to his own life, free of the patch and doing whatever he’d wanted; she’s supported him the first time, why wouldn’t she otherwise? “You say that like we don’t already know exactly what consequences come from what we’re doing. We don’t need to be told, we don’t need to open our eyes, everything you could possibly throw at us in some objection to the way we do things --- we already know.” “I didn’t ask him to come back, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She offered, some semblance of fault taken from her shoulders. Perhaps she could have refused Lance, but that wasn’t what they did. The two had long since been much too close for her to argue any decision he made, so instead she stood behind all of them; regardless of what they were. Lance was plenty capable of weighing his options on his own. “He came to me, this is what he wants. You can support it, but you don’t have to. We’re not going to force it down your throat, but this is what our families do.”

It wasn’t exactly her repertoire; comforting anyone, but she could make an effort where necessary, and so when Kat noted her worry, Harlow sighed heavily. “I’m worried too, all the time. These people aren’t just..-- lackeys, they’re all I have. So if I can promise you anything at all, it’s just that nothing is ever going to happen to Lance without me doing everything I can to stop it from happening in the first place. Just as I would the rest of them.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

lylebancroft:

Whenever Lyle wanted a drink, she avoided her mother’s bar like the plague. Jen’s and Friends was always open to her, her mother reminded her of this every time she saw her, but she didn’t want to be near the place. When she drank she tended to get more honest than most people were willing to handle and she had too many unresolved feelings about her mother to drink while she was around. She was never a fan of night clubs- well, she was, but she hadn’t been clubbing since Alexis disappeared and it felt strange to go there without her- which is why she found herself at The Speakeasy. She sipped at her drink, smirking to herself in her own private celebration. She just sold several of her pieces to local boutiques and her latest collection, cherry bomb, had sold out within minutes of its online launch. She usually would go out with Alexis, but since the bitch had decided to die and leave nothing but chaos in her wake, Lyle was alone. She shifted when a person sat down beside her, offering them a slight smile. “Cheers.”

“A night out without your darling dearest Alexis? Imagine that. This must be a real first for you.” Harlow taunted as she slipped effortlessly into the seat beside Lyle. Of all things she might have held in her chest, the unyielding distaste she held for the departed had never been a quiet one, and vice versa -- there was no love lost and no grief gained by the woman’s untimely death. In her opinion? It was bound to happen anyway. While Harlow could sink claws and cover her tracks, Alexis’ life was somewhat a complete mess, and even she could have seen it coming. Of course the woman could play the game just as well as she could, though she very clearly forgot the importance of watching her own back. “A milestone, no doubt.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

cheyennemesserschmidt:

“Yeah, just put them over there,” Cheyenne told the other as she flipped though the file on her desk. She was distracting herself over something, and really wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, but at least focusing on a case would keep her mind off stuff. “Need me to look at anything else?”

“What, me? Not at all, detective.” Harlow cooed coyly from her reclined seat in one of the other officers chairs. She’d been seeing him for a little over a month now, his inability to decipher the kind of woman she really was from the one she offered him on a silver platter; too wound up by the idea of having her wrapped around his little finger when it was quite the opposite. “You’re already doing such a fine job, why not take the afternoon off.. if you’re taking suggestions.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

aainagriffin:

“My father discovered how to send gifs in iMessage,” Aaina said around a sigh, “which would be hilarious if he didn’t use this new skill for evil.” She glared hotly at her phone screen. “Whenever I ask him anything, all I get is that stupid Elmo on the potty gif or something equally as absurd and nonsensical. They don’t even… ugh. And he never answers the damn question.” It was funny the first few times, but now she was pretty sure her dad was simply trying to torture her.

“Block his number, change yours, move to another country. No good ever comes from parents learning that kind of shit.” Given that she might have done anything to get a ridiculous text like that from her own father, Harlow didn’t let it phase her enough to be noticeable. “It’s literally all downhill from here. Should have left him in the dark on the whole, technology thing.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

mascnking:

“I’m not unsure of myself,” he quipped with a scoff. No, there was so much more to it than that. He needed her hands on this instead of his own. He couldn’t very well use this in his case if it had his fingerprints all over it. “Always do,” he returned without missing a beat, following her as was expected.

His denial only made her all the more curious as to why he wanted her to take point, perhaps he doubted her; in which case he could all he liked, she wasn’t here to prove herself. Despite it, she rolled her eyes and nodded, moving past him to head towards the backroom of the building where the figure head of their rival likely waited for them. It wasn’t ideal, but a momentary documented accord between them would garner certain problems they both shared incapable, that and it’d give the Jackals an opening to bring in a new shipment. “The guys are only a block away if things go bad, don’t let them go bad.” Whatever decision she’d made to bring him as her second was..-- questionable, but he’d done all he had to to earn her trust, and her fathers. The reminder had Harlow looking to what she knew to be his own weapon beneath his clothing, wondering whether he’d offer her the same moment of unflinching loyalty he’d offered her father the night he was arrested. “They’re trigger happy, so maybe it is better you don’t take point, you’d no doubt just piss them off.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

rileyxhenderson:

“Should I call you momma? Though I don’t think that’s something people want to hear being moaned during sex. Unless you want to call me daddy, then I’m all yours, baby.” He grinned, moving to lean his upper body over the mound of sand that hid Harlow’s, “I need a better view of it. Preferably facing towards the water and me being behind you.”

“I wasn’t talking about me, dickweed,” She laughed, flicking sand up at him as she once again reached for the joint again. “You think you’d be good enough to call daddy? Oh honey.” Tilting her head backwards as he lent over her, she arched a brow to a sharp point, a poor attempt at a smoke ring and a moment later, Harlow stamped the end of it out in the sand. “You’re all kinds of predictable, you know that? Should have thought about that before you buried me.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

connorxking:

“His betrayal hurt you, the fact that he didn’t come to you before he did it… Harlow I know you.” Regardless of their relationship status or the amount of disdain she held towards him when it didn’t swing in her favor, she would remain the singular person he understood better than any other. Better than Mason. Better than even himself on occasion. “You know why I did it, too. You don’t have to agree with it, but you know.” Never would he leave without a damn good explanation, but Connor knew she never accepted it. Still a believer that her place was with him and not at the top of the food chain where she belonged. “Because I’m still one of the only people in this world who’s always going to have your back even if I can’t stand you.” Ryker had postulated on more than one occasion that Connor was whipped and only now, as the words flowed openly, did he quietly agree to some extent. “Then I believe you.” His hand should have faltered and removed itself, but as if of its own accord, the appendage remained. “So we find this A person. Like I said, your enemies aren’t going to be a walk in the park to narrow down, but it’s possible.”

Lips pursed and she fought the urge to grit her teeth, a stoic reminder of how much she could hate him for knowing her so irrevocably. It had hurt, beyond anything she knew before, and he was right; had there been little other choice she might have accepted it, but Ryker had never given her the opportunity to find another way. It left a bad taste in her mouth and only drew further question as to why she came to him when he’d so made it so clear that he’d preferred it otherwise. “I’m not here to talk about that.” She snapped lazily, hues rolling haphazardly as she lifted her own hand to pull his from her cheek. That he could so openly fight a war against what he felt and what he thought was catastrophic to her own vision of self; enough to be loved, not enough have it. It had never been his choice to decide where she belonged, and yet he had anyway. A bitter laugh slipped through her lips and slowly but surely vulnerability began to fall beneath a stone surface, “Even if you can’t stand me, that’s..--- bold of you.” Regret wasn’t often something she’d been known to feel, but like concrete it filled her throat standing before him now. “I’ll figure it out.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

connorxking:

“I think you’re questioning who in the gang you can still put faith in. Ryker obviously has his own agenda with your dad and now you’ve got this shit.” He gestured haphazardly to the empty air around her phone. “I mean, that’s why you came to me isn’t it? You wanted to see for yourself whether I’d lie about knowing what’s going on. Because you’re feeling like you can’t trust anybody who’s always had your back if they hurt you once. Including me.” Connor knew damn well he had no right, yet his left palm moved of its own volition to cup the side of features he would know blind and at the end of the world. “But you also know I’ve always been on your side, together or not. Even speaking or not. So I’m going to tell you to go with your gut: you think it’s outside the MC, then it’s outside the MC.” Now came his turn for features to harden into a glare; they wouldn’t be entertaining that talk today or ever. “None of this is going to get out. It’s time to start tying up loose ends and if I have to do that myself, I’ll do it.”

It should have shocked her more, his damn near perfect telling of what she was trying to do, but it barely startled her. Of course he’d know and be able to pick it apart for every facet that it was. “Ryker didn’t hurt me, he threw my dad in prison.” Harlow bit back the venom but only just, hurt didn’t quite cover it. If the MC was as loyal as they’d always been to each other, it was only a guess as to how the De’Martel family were between themselves. “But I know why he did it,” and in retrospect, she still didn’t understand why Connor had hurt her -- and yet she still chose to be here, rather than anywhere else. “I don’t even know why I’m trusting you with this.” The self-depreciation in her choice evident in her voice as she tugged fingertips through her hair almost settled on leaving the conversation behind completely until he reached out. It ached, almost as much as the uncertainty of everything else did. A warm palm that she could trace in the most desolate places threatened to beckon her closer until he spoke, Harlow diverting her gaze all too easily as she bit down on the inside of her cheek, “I do, it’s not one of ours.” What she hadn’t expected, was the same stoic look that she’s seen adorn features before, only in the deepest of places between them, “It won’t matter how many loose ends we tie, whoever sent these messages scared Ryker enough to rat out my dad. They know and I already know they’re willing to use it.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

connorxking:

“I meant somebody who was part of… whatever the hell this is. Are you sure you can trust every single person involved?” Loyalty had already been tested with Ryker’s most recent betrayal and the fact that Alejandro now remained imprisoned. At a particular name drop, he finally removed all distance between them and his voice fell nearly an octave; now they had a problem. “What do you mean Alexis– how the fuck did she know?” It wasn’t the time to fuel resentment which they both carried for the deceased, but venom still dripped from his tongue at her name. “You have a lot of enemies, narrowing down the sender isn’t going to be a walk in the fucking park.”

As if he’d well and truly hit the nail on the head, Harlow scoffed. Involved or not, she had no idea who the hell she was supposed to trust, the stringent truth of those she thought she could  belittled to nothing at all with Ryker’s own betrayal. Even those closest to her earned some level of apprehension from her now. “What do you think?” She cut a trying glare up at him. The distance he placed between them another insult to injury, but instead of caving to it, she barely flinched, his shift in demeanor perfectly viable, all things considered. “Clay got paranoid and the bitch pried it out of him before I knew about it.” However Ryker and Harlow had chosen to fix that mess, had only dug themselves deeper with the girls disappearance. “Why do you think I haven’t bothered to say anything before? People that have no idea about any of this are getting them too..-- Corey’s boyfriend Parker got some last week, and if he asks Corey --” While she loved Corey beyond measure, she didn’t trust or even expect him to keep his mouth shut. “If what I did gets out, I’m fucked, Connor.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

connorxking:

Not that he required being brought into a circle she deemed him unnecessary for, but simple texts threatening to produce evidence which most likely didn’t exist wasn’t quite enough to rattle him. “Do you think somebody on the inside is leaking information?” For all they knew, it was an elaborate prank or someone who joined her little escapade held second thoughts about their own part in this production. “Who else was involved?”

“Nobody on the inside knows about it.” She’d already dealt with their third counterpart losing his mind over what they’d done, but none of this was coming from inside, she already knew that much. For what they knew, the evidence they’d had and already dangled over both she and Ryker, it was near impossible for it to be someone with a patch. “Ryker and Clay. -- Alexis knew about it. I thought..--” She thought it ended with the Hawthorne’s disappearance, but clearly she was wrong. “I’m not the only one who’s gotten these, and before you ask..-- it’s not a prank.” she took her phone back, tucking it away.

[harlwdmcrtel]

mascnking:

starter for @harlwdmcrtel

“You want point on this?” He asked tentatively, shifting his gaze around the area that they now stood in. Everything had been moving fast since the arrest of Alejandro, and Mason was making a point to assure that he was available when or if Harlow needed him. There was already news circulating in the police station of what was going to happen to the head of the Jackals, and the moment that Mason heard what he needed to, he’d take Harlow down just like her father. For now, he needed to ensure that he had enough evidence to keep her away when he finally acted.

“Since you seem so unsure of yourself and I can’t bank on that, looks like it.” She might have usually let someone else take it, her new stance among the gang wasn’t as welcomed by everyone as might have been expected, but she’d earn it by running things as they’d always gone, “Try to keep up, King.”

[harlwdmcrtel]

connorxking:

It was the hesitation which forced him to throw down the rag, already oceanic hues were evaluating her like something he could fix with enough patience and time. “Not that I read most of them anyway, but no. The weirdest thing I got was a text from Maria during the festival.” Narrowing the distance between them, he continued searching familiar features for an answer which would only ever be given of her own accord. “Why? Did somebody send you a nudie?”

Only a sliver of relief crawled it’s way into her spine, though that didn’t leave much for her to work with in explaining any of this. “No.” Short and lacking it’s usual sharpness, Harlow stood a little straighter; she wasn’t sorry for what she’d done, but being in the dark and out of control as the spread of A and their texts filtrated pieces of her life like poison left her restless. “I did something a while back, thought we covered all our tracks..-- No, I know we did, but..” Pursing her lips, she shook her head and pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to him. 

[harlwdmcrtel]

connorxking:

For all intents and purposes, the garage was empty. Business had slowed to a tolerable lull and most of the other mechanics rang in sick after a particularly rowdy get together the prior night which Connor opted to avoid per usual. His only compelling case for the day happened to be a convertible with a deviated radiator hose and questionable brakes, so the blonde drug the entire project out until the afternoon came. She appeared in the garage minutes ago, but he felt no compulsion to address her until Harlow drew close and the eldest Jackal became heavily aware about his lack of shirt. “I have ten,” he confirmed whilst cleaning motor oil with one of the rags on a nearby work bench. “What happened?”

Whatever momentary pull she’d had to quip something back to his jump to predictability died on her lips. He knew her too well and for once she wasn’t sure she could damn him for it. Casting hues across the garage, she tucked dark locks behind her ear and looked back to him. What happened. As if it could be explained away in moments, the pieces picked up or swept under the rug with little more than conversation. “You haven’t.. -- nobody has sent you any weird text messages or anything, have they?”