A/N - THANK YOU to all my readers and especially the 11 of you that reviewed the last chapter - it made me so happy :)
I just wanted to say a quick reminder that if you're in the market for another good Opie story, check out Dr. Feelgood by AFspouse, or Crushes and Conspiracy by our joint account Kristinmw AFspouse.
ALSO - we got a SONS OF ANARCHY category added at The Writer's Coffee Shop and Crushes and Conspiracy has been posted over there as well. We might start posting all of our work in both places (TWCS and FF), just in case FF decides to take it down for MA content. TWCS has an NC-17 option.
And one of my reviewers requested Tara come back to Charming ... I'm toying with the idea but it just depends how long the story goes. I have plans to keep the story as close to canon as I can with all of the stuff that we know of that happened before season 1, which means Wendy will be making an appearance pretty soon, but Tara might come back, it'll just be much much later as this story is still about 2-3 years before the start of season 1.
I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please please review and let me know if you did and what your thoughts are!
Stacey had almost made it to Charming when her cell phone started ringing. She knew right away that it would be Brad calling to find out where she was. She'd had to head down to Charming in such a hurry and he was out on a construction job, so she hadn't been able to tell him she was leaving.
"Where are you?" he asked as soon as she picked up.
"Hey, I left you a voicemail, you weren't answering your phone," she said, "Clay called, says my mom is sick and won't be able to work in the office for a few days. He needs me to come down to Charming and help out. I'll probably be down here for a few days." There was silence on the other end of the phone as Stacey waited for his response.
"You're what?" he finally said. Stacey sighed.
"On my way to Charming," she repeated.
"Absolutely not. No. No way. Turn around right now, Clay can manage without you," Brad demanded.
"Excuse me? Clay has never asked for my help before. He must really be in a bind if he's asking for it now," Stacey retorted.
"No, Stacey, I don't trust you down there, I don't trust Opie when you're down there. No way. I'm putting my foot down – you need to come back right now," Brad said, sounding like he was on the verge of a panic attack. Stacey frowned.
"You're 'putting your foot down'?" Stacey scoffed, "You can't keep doing this; they're my family,"
"Then your parents and your brother can come here!" he shouted, "But only them, and only if I'm here, too. I don't trust any of them." Stacey didn't respond for a second, so shocked by his pronouncement. They'd gotten into fights before, but she'd never seen this side of him before, and she definitely didn't like it. Her anger eventually overcame her shock as she started shouting at him.
"If you forgive me, you forgive me!" she yelled into the phone, "You can't keep holding what happened with Opie over my head, and you certainly can't forbid me to go visit my family."
"Yes, I can! That place is toxic to this relationship. We were fine before we came back here and you let all of that biker trash back into your life!" he shouted back. Stacey narrowed her eyes. Nobody called her family biker trash.
"I ever hear you call them that again, and it'll be the last conversation we ever have," Stacey said, her voice a low growl, "I can't keep doing this with you, I can't keep choosing you over my family. You keep giving me ultimatums like that, and it's going to end up being them." Brad was silent for almost a full minute, breathing heavy as if he was trying to control his rage. When he finally spoke again, it was in the tender and sweet voice Stacey had gotten used to when they first met in Ireland.
"I'm sorry, Stacey. I just know they don't like me and I'm just terrified of losing you," he said. Stacey heaved a sigh, pulling the phone away from her ear and rubbing her temple.
"I need some time to think," Stacey said, putting the phone back up to her ear.
"Think about what?" he asked, his voice rising again.
"Think about us, Brad! Think about if I really want a boyfriend who I'll have to fight with every time I want to see my family!" she yelled. She got control of her temper and finished with, "I'll talk to you tomorrow." She was about to hang up the phone when she heard him call her name. She put the phone back up to her ear.
"What?" she said shortly.
"I love you," he whispered into the phone, "Just come back here and we can talk about this." She paused before answering, wondering for the first time if he really meant it or if he was just saying it because he wanted her to come back.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," she reiterated as she hung up the phone and immediately turned it off. She didn't want to be bothered by any more calls from him. After that phone call, she really needed to think hard about their relationship. She hadn't even realized it happening, but it wasn't her family rocking the boat with her relationship with Brad, it was her relationship with Brad rocking the boat between her and her family, and she was incredibly angry, with herself and with him, for letting him do that to her.
SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA
"Baby girl!" Clay called as Stacey pulled into the TM lot and stepped out of the car. She grinned at him as he walked up, giving her a hug, "Thanks so much for coming down so quickly."
"Of course," Stacey said, "I don't start school until next week, so I've got some time on my hands." Clay beamed at her, walking her to the office.
"How's mom?" Stacey asked as she took a seat at the desk.
"She'll be fine," Clay said dismissively, "Just came down with a pretty bad cold this morning. She's at the doctor now." She was actually out shopping with Neeta at the moment, perfectly healthy, but had agreed to the ruse to get Stacey back from Sacramento. Gemma agreed that there was something off about Brad, and was willing to do whatever it took to get Stacey away from him until they knew more about who he was, and hiding out pretending to be sick for a couple of days was a small price to pay.
"So you'll be able to stay for a couple of days?" Clay asked. Stacey nodded.
"Yeah, of course," she responded.
"Great. We're really getting behind in here," he said as Stacey glanced at the mountain of paperwork on the desk and nodded.
"I can see that," she said, as she eyed the papers unenthusiastically, "Okay, well I guess I better get started." Clay nodded, leaving her alone in the office. She'd been working in the office off and on since high school, so she was well aware of what needed to be done, but that didn't mean she was all that excited about it. She sighed as she sifted through all the papers and began filing the completed ones away.
A couple of minutes before closing time, Juice walked into the office, smiling when he saw Stacey. She grinned up at him, standing to give him a hug.
"Hey, come have a drink with us in the clubhouse when you get finished," Juice told her and she nodded.
"Yeah, okay. I wanted to go check on my mom first, though," she said. Juice shook his head.
"Clay told me she's already in bed. Just needs to get a lot of rest, she'll be better in a couple of days. She got some of that cough syrup from the doctor that knocked her right out," he said, reciting the lie given to him by Clay. Stacey frowned.
"Oh, okay, then. Give me a few minutes to finish up and I'll be over there," she responded. He grinned.
"Great," he said, turning to leave the office. Stacey sat back in her chair and sighed. She'd so far avoided seeing Opie, but she knew she wasn't going to able to avoid him forever. She wasn't really angry anymore for him outing her to Brad; the truth was, she should've told him about the kiss when it happened. She subconsciously ran her fingers over her lips; they still tingled whenever she thought about Opie pressing her against the wall and kissing her like he had.
She stacked the papers she hadn't gotten to in the inbox and locked the office behind her as she made her way over to the clubhouse. Walking in, she saw a couple of hang arounds playing a game of pool while Clay sat with Tig, Chibs, and Bobby on the couches, drinking a few beers. Juice, Jax, and Opie were sitting at the bar while a couple of croweaters pulled drinks for them. Juice called her over when he saw her walk in and she made her way over to them nervously. Jax grinned when he saw her, standing up to give her a hug while Opie remained on his stool, looking up at her.
"Get the girl a beer," Jax told one of the croweaters as he stood to hug his sister.
"So you left dinner without saying good bye," Jax said as he pulled out of the hug and returned to his seat. Stacey glanced over at Opie, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her, and nodded.
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry… Brad got upset about something and I needed to leave," she explained vaguely. Jax nodded.
"Look, I know that relationship is important to you, but you're important to us. It would be nice if we weren't always coming in second," he said. Stacey looked at Jax, the guilt bubbling up inside of her once again.
"You're right," she sighed, "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking, but I may not have to worry about that anymore anyway." Opie perked his head up, looking at her intensely.
"What do you mean?" Juice asked. Stacey shrugged, shaking her head. She didn't want to tell them about her fight with Brad in front of Opie; that was a conversation they needed to have in private. She picked up the beer the croweater had pulled for her and took a sip. She glanced nervously at Opie who gave her a small smile.
"Can I talk to you?" he asked her. She gulped, glancing over at Jax and Juice before nodding at Opie. Jax narrowed his eyes as he watched Opie stand and led Stacey outside. He looked over at Juice.
"In 5 minutes go outside and get Stacey," Jax told him calmly, taking a sip of his beer. Juice raised his eyebrows, looking back over at Brad.
"There a reason you don't want her talking to Opie?" Juice asked.
"How about you just do what I ask," Jax said irritably. If it was gonna happen with Stacey and Opie, it was gonna happen, but that didn't mean he had to make it too easy on them.
Stacey followed Opie outside, her heart racing and her nerves nearly overpowering her as he sat on top of the picnic table, motioning for her to join him. The lot was completely empty apart from them and the silence was almost overwhelming as Opie took his time pulling a cigarette out of his pack and lighting it. Stacey's leg shook nervously as she waited for him to gather his thoughts. He took a drag of his cigarette, looking straight ahead of him.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry," he finally said, exhaling slowly, "for saying that shit to… him." He couldn't even bring himself to say the asshole's name. Stacey shook her head, turning to look at Opie.
"It's okay, Opie," she said, "Really. It was something I should've told him myself." Opie nodded, finally looking over at her.
"Why didn't you?" he asked. Stacey shrugged.
"Because… at the time I was trying to save our relationship," she said.
"At the time?" Opie asked. Stacey looked over at him, debating how much to tell him. She had pretty much decided that when she talked to Brad the next day like she said she would, it would be to end their relationship, but wasn't sure if she was ready for Opie to have that bit of information. Before she could speak, however, Juice stuck his head out of the door.
"Stacey, there you are!" he said, ignoring the mutinous expression on Opie's face at being interrupted, "I was trying to find you to see if you wanted to play darts." Stacey looked over at Opie once again before nodding at Juice and climbing off the picnic table.
"We'll talk again later, okay?" she said. 'Just as soon as I figure myself out' she added to herself. Opie nodded, stubbing his cigarette out and following her inside.
A couple of hours later, things were getting rowdy in the clubhouse. The music was blasting, the drinks were flowing, and croweaters were taking turns on the stripper pole trying to impress the guys. After her game of darts with Juice, Stacey had made her rounds around the clubhouse making sure she said hi to everybody. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed being around the clubhouse, around her family, and she couldn't remember the last time she'd been this happy. She knew now that this was where she belonged, and that her mother was right – if Brad couldn't accept that, he could never fully accept her. After their conversation earlier that day, she knew Brad would never accept the club. It wasn't with him that she belonged.
She was starting to get tired, but whether it was liquid courage or her head finally starting to agree with her heart, she knew she couldn't go home before she finished her conversation with Opie. She thought back to the fantasy she'd had of growing old with Brad. Getting married, having kids, opening up her vet practice. She thought that would make her happy. She thought Brad could make her happy. But she realized now the only way she could ever be happy was with her family, and with the man she loved.
He was sitting at one of the round tables with Jax, Juice, and Chibs, several croweaters trying to throw themselves at them. She walked up behind Opie and leaned over his shoulder, whispering in his ear.
"Can we talk?" she asked. He inclined his head towards her, surprised. He hadn't expected her to seek him out again; it'd been like pulling teeth to talk to her ever since she came back from Ireland. He nodded, standing up and following her to the hallway that led to the dorms. Jax's eyes followed them as they left, debating on if he should interfere again, but he was distracted by a red head throwing herself on his lap and as she started nibbling on his ear, his sister became the last thing on his mind.
Stacey leaned up against the wall of the hallway looking up at Opie.
"So we were interrupted earlier," she started. He nodded, letting her continue, "You asked me if I was still trying to save my relationship with Brad." He continued to look at her expectantly, his heart beating so rapidly he was sure she could hear it. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"Brad and I got in a fight about me coming down here," she said, her eyes searching his face, trying to gauge his reaction, "I don't think… I don't think he's the person I thought he was." Opie's eyebrows creased.
"What do you mean?" he asked quickly, wondering if she'd discovered something about him that Juice had yet to find. She sighed.
"When we first met, he was so great, treated me like a fucking princess. But ever since we've come back to California, he's become possessive and it's a constant battle with him to come down here. And I don't ever think that's going to change because… because I think he knows how I feel about you," she finished, her heart beating rapidly as she looked up at him. His eyes searched her face as he took another step towards her, closing the space between them.
"And how do you feel about me?" he asked, his voice husky and his face inches from hers. Stacey struggled to breathe as she tried to muster the courage to say the words.
"I feel like… I love you," she whispered. As soon as the words left her lips, Opie moved, his body pressed against her as he kissed her passionately. She responded just as urgently, wrapping her arms around his neck to hold him to her. After what felt like years, Stacey reluctantly parted from him to catch her breath and Opie rested his forehead against hers, smiling at her. He turned his head to look down the hall toward the clubhouse, suddenly remembering they were not alone. Opie took her hand, jerking his head the other way.
"Come to my room?" It was a question, and his eyes searched her face for the answer. She looked up at him and both her head and her heart leapt with happiness, shutting down the tiny twinge of guilt her subconscious was trying to scream at her. She nodded and he gave her hand a small squeeze before leading her to his dorm room in the back of the clubhouse. He opened the door for her and she walked in as he followed her, closing and locking the door behind him.
He turned around from the door and she walked up to him slowly. He took in every part of her, from her long, wavy hair that he wanted to run his hands through, to the shorts she wore, showing off her toned legs. She stopped in front of him, running her hands under his cut and up his chest, feeling his strong body under her fingers and sending shivers down his spine as her eyes slowly rose to meet his. She held his gaze as her hands made their way up to his shoulders, slipping his cut off and letting it fall to the floor. She dug her hand through his hair before gripping it, pulling him down to her. He kissed her gently, his hands tugging at the bottom of her shirt and she raised her arms, allowing him to take it off. He ran his hands down her bare back as he turned to sit on the edge of the bed and she stood in front of him. She unbuttoned her shorts, wriggling her hips so they fell to the floor and crawled on his lap, straddling him as she ran her hands through his hair and leaned forward to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her urgently as she ground her hips against his, feeling him harden beneath her.
Stacey reached down, pulling his t-shirt off over his head and threw it to the ground behind her. Opie gripped her ass, standing and flipping her around so she was sitting on the bed as he stood in front of her. He unsnapped her bra and she shrugged it off quickly before reaching for his belt buckle, undoing it hurriedly and his jeans fell easily to the floor, his boxers quickly following. He looked down at her, his eyes meeting hers as she slowly ran her tongue along her palm and reached for him, wrapping her fingers around his hardening cock. He groaned, resisting the urge to throw his head back, not wanting to break eye contact as she slowly pumped her fist along his length until he couldn't take it anymore.
Opie growled, crawling on top of her, forcing her on her back. He slipped his fingers in the band of her panties and tugged them down. She kicked them off and Opie took his place between her legs, looking down at her as he brushed a piece of her hair off her face. He swallowed hard, full of anticipation as her eyes filled with longing.
"You're so beautiful," he murmured, his eyes raking her face. She smiled at him, pulling him down to kiss her. She raised her knee, resting her foot on the back of his thigh and moaned as he slowly entered her. He wanted to take his time with her, feel every part of her. This was not the pounding, wham, bam that he gave to croweaters.
He continued kissing her, moving to her neck and kissing it hungrily as he began to thrust in and out. She gripped his shoulders, her expression one of pure ecstasy as she felt him fill her. She arched her back as he kissed along her collarbone and down to her breasts. As her breathing shallowed, he picked up his pace, wanting to feel her cum around him. He got his wish as she tossed her head back, screaming his name, music to his ears. Her hands gripped the sheets above her head as he felt her walls constrict and pulse around him, and a shudder ran through her body. She gasped, her eyes wide as they met Opie's and it was too much for him. He thrust into her completely as he emptied himself into her.
Opie leaned forward, kissing her, not wanting to lose the closeness he felt to her. She gripped his body, pulling him against her and kissed him back. He finally and reluctantly pulled away from her, rolling off of her and pulling her into him. She snuggled against him, the blissful feeling wearing off as guilt wrapped its ugly hand around her heart.
"What's wrong?" Opie asked worriedly, looking down at her expression. She propped herself up on her elbow, biting her lip slightly. She shook her head and sighed.
"I just feel like a cheating whore," she muttered sardonically. Opie frowned, shaking his head.
"Don't do that," he said, pulling her back against him and running his hand along her arm, "You were gonna break up with him anyway – what's the problem?"
"The problem is I haven't done it yet," she said. Opie looked down at her, at the girl he'd wanted for over a year, and fear gripped him.
"You still want to, though, right?" he asked. She looked up at him, reaching her hand up to brush his hair back, her hand lingering on his face.
"Of course I do," she murmured reassuringly.
"Then you'll tell him tomorrow, everything will be fine," he said, "Don't worry." She nodded, resting her head back on his chest, intertwining her leg with his, and fell asleep.
SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA
The next morning Stacey woke up to Opie watching her, his arm still wrapped around her, holding her close, his fingers running along the length of her body. She moaned sleepily, smiling at him.
"Good morning," she said. He smiled back at her.
"I love you," he told her and her heart rejoiced.
"I love you," she said. Her smile faltered as she thought about the day that lay ahead of her.
"We need to talk to Clay," he told her, "Today." She nodded.
"I know, I need to go and see Brad first, though," she sighed. Opie frowned.
"Just call him. Or better yet, send him a text message," he replied.
"I can't, Opes. We were together for over 6 months. I need to tell him in person. Besides, I still have stuff at his apartment that I need to pick up," she said. Opie sighed, running his hand over his face.
"I don't want you going up there alone," he said, "I'll go with you." Stacey shook her head, her eyes wide.
"No, I need to do this myself," she said, rolling off him and standing up to get dressed, "I won't be gone long, I promise." Opie sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed as he watched her dress.
"What, you're going now?" he asked. She shrugged.
"I just want to get this over with," she told him, "Besides, I need to be back in time to help Clay out in the office. I'll only be gone a couple of hours, and then when I get back we'll talk to Clay." She finished getting dressed and walked over to stand in between his legs, running her hands through his long hair. She kissed him lightly on the lips, her eyes sparkling.
"Stacey I got a bad feeling about this," Opie told her, grasping her hand, "I'll just follow you up, wait outside." Stacey shook her head.
"It's bad enough I'm dumping him for you. He doesn't need you outside the door rubbing it in," she said firmly. He looked back at her, wondering if he should push the issue. It was a little early to start a fight and he was worried he'd do exactly what Brad had done and push her away. Now that he had her, he was terrified of losing her, and as far as he knew Juice hadn't found out anything that would lead him to believe that Brad was actually dangerous.
"God you're such a stubborn bitch, you know that?" he said. She kissed him.
"Part of what you love about me," she said. His expression remained doubtful.
"It'll be fine, I promise," she said, kissing him again and looked around for her purse before realizing she left it out in the clubhouse.
"Okay, well I'll call you when I'm on my way back," she said.
"I don't hear from you in an hour, I'm coming up there," he told her. She rolled her eyes.
"It'll take me at least 40 minutes to get there," she reminded him.
"Then I guess you better hurry," he told her as she walked out the door. She turned down the hall and ran into Juice, who raised his eyebrows to see her leaving the dorm rooms.
"You didn't see me, I wasn't here," she told him, grinning, "At least not until we talk to Clay this afternoon." Juice threw his hands over his ears.
"I didn't just hear any of that," he said, wincing. She laughed and walked into the empty clubhouse, finding her purse lying on a couch and hurried outside to her car.
Juice watched her leave and sat back at his computer, checking to see if Brad's picture had gotten any hits yet. Nothing so far, so while he waited he pulled out all the sheets on the background he could find on the employees of CZ Construction. They all had little more information than Brad, but most of them at least had previous addresses and the dates of residence, as well as a smattering of bank account records, none of which told him anything. None of them had current addresses.
As he looked over the information, he thought he noticed something strange and grabbed a highlighter, highlighting all the dates of residence. He drew out a timeline on a blank sheet of paper, noticing none of the dates overlapped. It seemed when one of them disappeared, another one surfaced. Juice was willing to bet these were all aliases that Brad had used previously.
Opie walked out of the dorm just then and Juice glanced up as he saw him walk up.
"You got anything yet?" Opie asked. Juice shrugged.
"A couple things turned up, but it's all speculation," he said, telling Opie about what he had just noticed and how he suspected they were all different names for the same man. Opie ran his hand through his hair, looking worried.
"What do you think he's running from?" he asked. Juice shrugged and Opie frowned, digging his pre-pay out of his pocket to call Stacey. He didn't like the sound of someone that would go to those kinds of lengths to change their identity, over and over again.
"Shit," he grumbled as her phone went straight to voicemail, "Stacey's got her phone turned off."
"Where'd she go?" Juice asked.
"To the asshole's apartment to break up with him," Opie said through gritted teeth, half a second away from jumping on his bike and following her up there, when Juice's computer beeped.
"I got a hit," Juice said, rushing back to his computer. While the information printed out, he explained to Opie how he'd run Brad's face through their facial recognition software, hoping to get a hit off of one of the crime databases. Juice grabbed the sheet of paper feeding out of the printer and Opie stood over his shoulder as their eyes roamed over the information.
"Oh fuck," Opie muttered as they both ran outside.