not that they knew what to make of it at the time.
All they really saw, as far as they were concerned,
was a sweetbutt freaking out on Trager,
who was not only shooting, but running like hell.
Automatically, the four brothers are moving to respond
when a shot hits home, blowing off half of the poor
girls head, so they hang back and wait for Tig,
who s still booking it across the parking lot.
PCP? Juice asked, sounding freaked.
Opie and Bobby shrugged, both touching their long beards unconsciously, as if for reassurance, and this was the
only response Ortiz received.
Really, there was no telling.
Tig burst through the door a moment after shooting the
girl like the hounds of hell were after him, breathing hard, slamming (and locking) the door behind himself before
bolting to the bar, and the first bottle he came across,
which was a Jameson.
What the fuck, brother?
This was Bobby, moving towards him, proceeded,
as always, by his belly.
She was dead, Tig gasped out.
She was dead, and I killed her.
This is punctuated by another swig and met with a moment
of dead (pardon the pun) silence-they may have seemed calm,
but it was shock.
Slow down, Chibs finally tells him, taking the bottle,
and holding it out of his reach with exaggerated movements
like one would do to a small child.
Wha . Happened?
He s hoping if he deliberately says this in a calm voice,
stays relaxed, it will affect the general mood.
I fucked her and then she died.
Well, yeah, Opie chimes in,
You kinda shot her.
No. Before that.
The brothers all glance at each other warily-what was going on?
Was Trager finally losing it?
Was he suffering from a bad trip?
Either way they were all in some deep shit.
I must have checked her pulse a dozen times, but she was dead.
Definitely dead. Was gonna take her out to the desert and dump her, you know?
Outside of Charming? Juice wonders, and Tig looks affronted.
Of course outside of Charming! And then, before I could, she just came back.
Tig stares at the faces of his brothers, heartbreakingly, and begs them to believe him without speaking a word.
No one says anything for a long moment, and the silence stretches on, elastic, as they stare at the bar,
the hardwood floor, the mess left over from last nights
party anywhere but at their acting SAA.
It s Chibs who finally breaks the silence with a long sigh-
Juice, go wake up Happy. Bobby, call Clay. Opie, you call Jax
Tig and I will be waitin' in Church.
No one questions the Scots orders, not the secretary,
especially not Juice or Opie, they just quickly disperse,
glad to have something useful to do.
As Chibs takes his brothers arm,
holding onto the whiskey with his free hand,
and hustles him into the chapel,
Bobby Munson can t help but think
that Tig Trager being meekly led around like that was one of the most heartbreaking things he had ever seen.