Live Fast, Die Young - Chapter Three
It had been a month, almost to the day, since Sophia had been hired full time to work at Anarchy Automotive. A relatively quite month too, the middle of the California summer had been moving along fairly slow, it seemed that most families had left the immediate area of Charming for vacation. As far as Sophia could tell the shop wasn't hurting for money, no ones hours had been cut yet, most days after finishing the two or three jobs they did have everyone would take turns pulling their vehicles into the garage and giving them a tune up.
Sophia had been sitting in the comfort of her own garage with the door pulled up and open watching the rain fall from the sky. Sandwiched between her prized motorcycle and her less then prized clunker of a truck she used for traveling around on days like this, when a motorcycle wasn't the safest option. Her dog, Lucky, sat at her feet head resting on his paws, as annoyed with the weather as his owner was.
That was until a van pulled up outside her house. Well, not a van, the van, the garage van. The garage van that the MC used frequently when conditions forced them to.
Sophia watched from the comfort of her uncomfortable lawn chair as one by one all of the boys piled out of the van and began to make their way into her garage.
"Siéntate." Sophia lightly flicked her dogs ear to get his attention after he had rose up from his spot at her feet. Lucky turned to her, cocking his head to the side, his tongue sliding out of her mouth, giving her his best dumb dog look.
"Siéntate." Sophia said one more time, this time the dog listened firmly planting his ass on the ground.
Chibs lead the group of men into her garage and stopped just out of the rain. A wall of Sons blocking Sophia from escaping, the closed door behind her mocked her, laughing at her, oh how she wished she had left that door open.
"You know what today is, Sweetheart?" Chibs asked, a megawatt smile on his face.
Sophia grimaced, knowing the answer to his question, but stubborn enough to ignore the President that stood before her. She chewed on her lip and twirled the ring around her finger before raising her eyes up to meet the man that stood before her.
"No."
Sophia smirked before leaning too far back in her chair, effectively knocking the chair over with her in it. She quickly rolled backwards and shot up onto her feet before booking it to the door that lead into her kitchen.
Not like it mattered though, one thing she had learned in the last month of working with the Sons is that they were always faster then her, Happy in particular. He was always just one step ahead of her. His arms encircled her waist and he lifted her up off the ground, throwing her over his shoulder before turning around and making his way towards the van.
"Tacón." He rasped as Lucky, who obediently came to his side and followed them out into the rain.
Sophia cackled full heartedly from her place atop Happy's shoulder. As much as she had wanted to distance herself from this group of misfits she had found it impossible. They were like magnets to her, pulling her into their group, treating her in a way she had never even thought them capable of.
Once they had all piled into the van Sophia found herself sandwiched between Chibs and Happy, with Lucky in the backseat with Juice, Tig and Quinn. T.O. and Ratboy sat upfront, in charge of driving and navigating the van back to Chibs' house. Sophia settled in when Chibs slung his arm over her shoulders, knowing that their was no escaping them now.
"Friday night dinners are a requirement, Love, you know that. We let ya skip out on the first couple, but no more. Family means Friday night dinners. Besides ya gotta meet me girls!" Chibs pulled her into a hug before the vehicle stopped and they all began to climb out.
Chibs' house was really just a couple miles down the way from Sophia's off on the outskirts of Charming, set back in the woods a bit, about as private as they came. But thats where the similarities stopped, where Sophia's house had been small and in need of work, Chibs' was large and new. Where hers had been a cookie cutter bungalow from the 50's his was a unique masterpiece built for him and his family. His family being his wife, daughter, and all of his brothers. His brothers clad in leather kuttes that is.
Once they had pulled up into the driveway Sophia noticed the cars of all the regular mechanics thats also worked at the garage sitting in the driveway. She instantly regretted coming along, there had to be at least fifteen people inside already. Her anxiety slammed through the roof, she pulled at the sleeves of her shirt, stretching them down past her wrists and over her fists. Sophia rubbed at her arms, instantly cold despite the humid post rain temperature. Happy came up on her left, handing her his jacket before grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her into the house.
He looked to her, asking her without words if she ways okay. Sophia slung the jacket over he shoulders and gave him an affirming nod before following him into the house.
"Da!" A young girl, maybe just a few years younger then Sophia, shot out of a room off the side of the foyer and into the club president's arms. Chibs scooped the girl up into his arm, dropping a kiss on the top of her head before pulling away from her. The rest of the guys seemed to have all dispersed during this display of affection, leaving Sophia standing awkward in the entryway.
Chibs introduce Sophia and his daughter, Kerrianne, before slinking off in the direction of what Sophia assumed was the kitchen.
"Wanna go play video games in the basement? Ma said the food wont be done for another hour." In that moment Sophia decided that Kerrianne was her knew savior. Regardless of whether or not Chibs had told his daughter about Sophia's awkward social anxieties she didn't care.
Thirty minutes into a pointless shooter game Kerrianne asked Sophia if she'd like anything to drink, gesturing to the full sized bar in the corner of the room.
"Want me to make you a drink?" Sophia questioned, waving a bottle of Patron in the air.
"Oh please, my Ma gets so bitchy when I drink in front of her. I'm fucking 22 I don' understand." Kerrianne's accent was beautiful to put it simply, even when cursing it sounded like music to Sophia's ears.
"She loves you, I'm sure." Sophia mixed the drinks and handed one off to the girl before joining her back on the couch. They sat in silence for a minute, Kerrianne focusing on her drink and Sophia remembering how her mother used to berate her when she was in high school and going out every Friday night to drink with her friends in their basements.
"So, your cool with the club shit?" Sophia asked in what she hoped came out in a nonchalant manner.
"What'dya mean?" Kerrianne eyeballed her quickly before going back to the tv screen.
"Isn't your dad always doing club stuff? I know that I see him seven days a week, ten hours a day so you must not get to see him a lot."
"I spend more time with him now then I did for the first 18 years of my life, so I can't complain. 'Sides I'm tryna get Venus to teach me the books, so I can hangout with everyone at the garage." Kerrianne didn't think much of what she said, and Sophia didn't expect her to. It was near impossible to pinpoint all the weird things that would set Sophia off in on of her darker moods.
Kerrianne didn't notice the way Sophia had stopped moving, her glass suspended from her hand halfway to her mouth. She didn't notice the way Sophia's palms instantly began to sweat, how her heart rate picked up and began to drum in her ears, drowning out all the noise from the television. Sophia held her breath and counted to ten, silently exhaled from her nose and repeated the process. Placing her glass back on the table she curled her fingernails into her palms and silently prayed to whatever shitty god that was out there that this panic attack would roll through her quick.
"Girls!" Chibs hollered from the floor above, his voice washed over Sophia like a bucket of ice water, she immediately jumped up off the couch and began to make her way towards the stairs. Her heart slammed against the wall of her chest, bile rose in her throat, but Sophia ignored it. Her parents had been dead for nearly ten years and still she couldn't escape the sorrow and heartache that followed her around like a shadow.
Once everyone was seated at the table Sophia was glad to find herself seated between Kerrianne and Happy, across from Venus and Tig, intentionally or not she had been seated in a cocoon of safety. Venus was the only one Sophia had ever directly told about her problems, but Tig and Happy seemed to have picked up on them quickly without ever being informed. Kerrianne was the only outlier here, but Sophia trusted her, knowing that her most recent panic attack had nothing to do with Kerrianne and everything to do with the misplaced jealousy she had over the girl and her parents.
Conversation around the table jumped from local Charming news, to what was going on in the MC world, to planning some sort of charity ride the guys had coming up next month. Sophia stayed silent throughout the whole thing, happy to eat her food in silence surrounded by white-noise like conversation.
Which is precisely why Sophia never heard Venus addressing her, it wasn't until Happy elbowed her sharply in the ribs that Sophia looked up and noticed that the whole table, or at least their half of the table, had gone silent waiting for Sophia to answer whatever question she had been asked.
Mouth full of chicken, Sophia raises her eyebrows in question before swallowing without chewing as much as she probably should have, resulting in her near chocking and subsequent beating to death upon her back by both Happy and Kerrianne. Once the meat had been dislodged and a pint of water swallowed Venus spoke again.
"As I was saying before that," here Venus cleared her throat, a failed attempt at hiding the mirth in her features, "Sophia," Venus' unique draw never failed to draw the attention of everyone within a ten foot radius, "We should have us a girls day. Fiona and Kerri too of course."
Tig, sitting next to Venus with his arm slung across the back of her chair, sent Sophia a look saying 'say yes or I'll kill you in your sleep'. Sophia had no intentions of dying in her sleep, and liked Venus well enough that the threat was not really needed, so she shook her head furiously and stuffed more chicken into her mouth.
"We should go into San Fransisco an make a weekend of it!" Kerrianne piped up and Sophia immediately regretted ever considering possibly letting the girl be her friend.
And that was it, dinner was over, all the women left to the living room to make plans for this 'girls weekend' while the men cleared the table and began to wash the dishes. Sophia followed them into the kitchen, snatching a pack of cigarettes out of Happy's pocket before making her way outside. Thats where Venus found her, chain smoking on the front stoop, picking at her nails.
"I'm sorry, about what happened in there." Sophia threw her thumb over her shoulder pointing in the direction of the dining room. "I didn't mean to be rude, i was just-"
"Hush, Baby!" Venus joined her on the stoop and threw her arm over Sophia's smaller shoulders, pulling the younger girl into her side. "I know you aren't comfortable around that many people, and I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that. If you don't want to go, then you don't have to, you know that."
"It's not that I don't want to go, its just that, I'm not… I'm not really girly… you know?"
"Sweetheart a blind man could look at you and know that you are, in fact, not 'girly'." Venus snickered, pulling Sophia into her side once again and placing a motherly kiss on the crown of her head.
Venus stood up and took a step back, taking in Sophia's appearance. Baggy, ripped, and faded blue jeans, a pair of boots Sophia took to much pride in, making a point of polishing them after every wear, an old black t-shirt that at some point had had a logo on it but had since faded, and Happy's baggy hoodie. Short, cropped black hair that was slicked back out of her eyes and held in place with a fair bit of pomade framed sad brown eyes that sat above dark bags that were always present on the young girls face despite how much sleep she might have gotten the night before.
"Whats going on there, Suga?" Venus pointed to the black hoodie, raising her eyebrows high.
"What?" Looking around, Sophia was oblivious to what the older woman was asking.
"You got a thing, for a certain… gleeful Son?" Venus laughed at her own joke.
"What? No! I don't…" Sophia cleared her throat, stubbed out her cigarette and dropped it in the coffee can that was hidden in the bushes. "Thats ridiculous, he's an ass. An aggressive ass." Sophia lied to herself, knowing she was doomed, Venus was smart, and surely knew the truth just from looking at the girls face which had quickly changed color from its normal sun kissed California hew to a shocking cherry red.
"I could get Tiggy to do some digging, if that would please you?" Venus bit her lip, trying to suppress the laughter that was bubbling up inside of her. Everyone that worked at the garage knew that Sophia and Happy had a thing for each other, the only two that didn't it seemed were the two currently dancing around each other.
"That would not… please me. And please don't call him Tiggy in front of me." Sophia stuck her tongue out and pretended to gag before turning and making her way back into Chibs' house.
"Were leaving tomorrow at noon!" Venus called from behind her, "Meet up at the garage, Suga!"
"Your Old Lady is fucking nuts!" Sophia whispered when she passed Tig in the hallway.
"I know! Isn't she the greatest." The look of sheer love that passed over Tigs face warmed Sophia's heart in a way she didn't know possible, she quickly shook the feeling and made her way into the living room to thank Fiona before making her way home.
After apologizing profusely and thanking her hosts Sophia collected Lucky out of the backyard where he had been playing with Tig's dog and began to make her way home. Perfectly content to walk the three miles down the street.
"Tacón." Again it was Happy's raspy voice that called Lucky to heel by his side.
"What are you doing?" Sophia questioned when he followed her out the front door.
Happy ignored her, hugged Tig goodnight, and made his way down the driveway, Lucky following jovially at his heels.
"What the fuck, Happy!" Sophia called after him, jogging to meet up with him.
Happy leveled her with one raised eyebrow and a barely there smirk. "Yes?"
"The fuck are you doing?"
Sophia had finally caught up with him, one of his long strides equalling three of her smaller ones. "What the fuck Hap! Go back inside, I don't need a fucking escort back to my house."
"You sure, girl?" He snatched her by the elbow and out of the middle of the street, off onto the side of the rode. A moment later a truck shot around the bend in the road, tires squealing, riding the middle.
Sophia smacked his hand from her arm before throwing a halfhearted punch at his chest.
Before her hand could even touch his chest long fingers wrapped around her wrist yanking Sophia into his chest. "Next time you try that shit you better be prepared for the consequences, girl." Happy growled in her ear, sending a shockwave through her body.
"Promise?"
Playing with fire. Thats what Sophia was doing, playing with fire, and holy shit if it didn't have her adrenaline pumping.
"Girl." Happy growled low in her ear, pulling her into his side, swinging around so he was walking on the side closest to the street. "You been drinking?"
"Only a bit, before dinner."
And just like that the time for play with fire was over.
Womp. Well theres that. So if anyone hasn't figured out this story is going to take place in an Alternate Universe because I have elected to change some events and keep some people, who should have been dead, alive. That being said if anyone is confused and would like some clarification on things let me know and I will do my best to clear things up. That being said I would like to thank everyone that has taken the time out of their days to review this story! Without you guys I would never update this story because I'm a bum. Again thanks! Don't forget to review and ask any questions you may have.