Cherries & Cuts

Chapter 10

Beth glanced at her phone as she climbed into her car and put it on the passenger's seat along with her bag. She and Daryl had been talking almost nonstop since he'd left, it was the best they could do. Every night when they talked he tried to get out of her what had happened after he'd left, but she wasn't going to tell him about Zach. Since that had happened and she'd agreed to his terms he'd backed off. He hadn't asked for anything else and hadn't told her daddy anything. As far as Beth was concerned she'd bought his silence.

She quickly answered Daryl's text before starting the car and backing out. She needed to restock the clubhouse today; they were running low on a few things. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before she turned up the radio. In all honest, all she wanted to do was jump on the interstate and drive to Charming. She wanted to see Daryl, wanted to be with him, rules be damned.

There was a loud pop and Beth's car jerked. She carefully pulled it over to the side of the road and climbed out. "Son of a bitch," she swore when she saw the back tire. She'd run over a broken bottle in the middle of the road and popped her tire. She huffed and reached back into her car and pulled out her phone. Her daddy was going to send Zach to get her but unless she wanted to hitchhike to the clubhouse, she didn't have much of a choice.

Once she'd called her daddy she looked through her text messages. Daryl had asked her what she had planned for the day. She replied and told him that she didn't have anything planned now because her car had a flat and it was going to take a while for the prospects to put a new one on once they got back to the shop. Someone really should do something about all of the littering in Valley Springs, it was a little ridiculous.

Beth looked up when she heard Zach nearing on his bike. She grabbed her purse and keys from the car when he pulled up beside her. He handed her a spare helmet. "Hop on."

"What about my car?" she asked. She really didn't want to leave it there.

"Jimmy is going to come for it later, just lock it up and get on." Beth sighed and locked her car, taking the helmet from Zach. She pulled it on and climbed onto the back of his bike. As she wrapped her arms around his back and he took off she couldn't help but wish that it was Daryl instead of Zach. She tried to ignore that when she heard fire truck sirens. "Son of a bitch."

Beth stared in horror at the clubhouse. The whole place was on fire, three trucks were there and the firefighters were trying to put the blaze out. Zach almost crashed the bike when something inside exploded. He quickly stopped and Beth jumped off, running over to the police. "Ma'am you have to stay back."

"My daddy, is he in there?" She stood there, staring up at the officer as Zach came to stand beside her. "Where is he?"

The officer shook his head. "Everyone inside got trapped…"

Beth's heart broke, she couldn't processes it. Sobs shook her body and she hit her knees, staring up in horror at the burning clubhouse. They were gone, everyone was gone. A whole charter. She looked up when she heard the roar of motorcycle engines and saw the Mayan cuts driving away. "Those bastards!" she screamed and tore off after them. Zach grabbed her around the waist and held onto her. "Let me go!"

Zach pulled her back to his bike. "Beth stop, we can't do anything." He sighed and looked back at the clubhouse. They were both feeling the pain of losing their family. "Get back on the bike."

"Why?" She wiped her eyes, trying to calm herself down. Her daddy was gone.

"I'm taking you home, you'll pack a bag and then we'll go to Charming. Jax needs to know what's going on." Beth nodded her head and shakily got back on his bike. Zach pulled away from the burning clubhouse and drove her back home. He dropped her off and sighed. "I'll be back after I pack up a few things at my place."

Beth went inside and climbed the stairs to her room. She was numb of everything. She'd always known she would lose her daddy one day, but not like this. With tears falling from her eyes she packed up what she could, before looking around her room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She sat on her bed and stared down at her phone. Did she call ahead and tell them they were coming? She didn't know what to do. All she knew, and the only thing that made her feel better, was that Jax would seek retaliation. He would make the Mayans pay for what they'd done.

…

Daryl sighed as he worked on the car in front of him, trying to make somewhat of an honest living. It had been a week since he'd seen Beth and he was slowly going crazy from it. Sure he talked to her every day and called her every night, but his hands were itching to touch her again. Chibs was the only one who knew what was wrong with him but he wasn't saying anything.

Everyone looked up and walked outside when the heard the Harley engine. Everyone was at the clubhouse, so they didn't know who it could be. A few different emotions shot through Daryl when he saw Zach pull up with Beth on the back of his bike. They were all replaced with worry when he saw her red puffy eyes. She looked over at him as she climbed off the back of Zach's bike and just shook her head. They all followed her inside where Jax was smoking a cigarette and talking with Tara.

"Beth? What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

She cleared her throat and looked a little more than intimidated. "You need to call church, Jax, right now." The look on her face left no room for argument and Jax nodded his head, looking over at Bobby who walked out to get everyone else.

Jax led Beth into the room and looked at her. "This is a onetime deal, understand?"

"I know how it works."

Jax nodded his head and took his seat at the head of the table while Beth stood beside him. Daryl took his seat even though all he wanted to do was go to her, find out what was wrong and make it better. Once everyone was seated and the doors were closed Jax looked at Beth. "What's going on?"

Beth licked her lips, biting her bottom lip and looked at all of them. "The Mayans retaliated last night…they uh," she sniffled, wiping her eyes as tears formed. She choked on a sob and tried to regain control over herself. Daryl was going to kill someone. "They blew up the clubhouse…daddy…everyone," she choked again and covered her mouth. Jax quickly stood and pulled her into him. "They're all dead."

Every Son at the table growled and swore. Daryl was glad he didn't have anything in his hand because he would have broken it. Jax stroked Beth's hair and looked down at her. "C'mon." He led her to the door and opened it. Zach and Tara were both waiting. "Tara, look after her for me?"

"Course." Tara took Beth and led her to the bar while Jax closed the door again.

He looked at his men sitting around the table. "We do not let this go unanswered. They killed a whole charter." He slowly sat back down and looked at them. "I'm going to need time to come up with a retaliation plan. Until then I don't want a single one of you to so much as look at a Mayan, understand?" Daryl didn't like it, no one did, but they all agreed. Jax would do the Valley Springs charter right, they all knew that. "Good, now as far as Zach and Beth are concerned. I suggest we let Zach prospect here."

"What about Beth?" Tig asked. Daryl didn't want Tig anywhere near her, not with that look on his face.

"If she wants to stay, she can." Jax called a vote and no one disagreed. They walked out of the room and Jax regarded the two from Valley Springs. "Zach, if you want to prospect for Charming you can, however much time you had left is all you'll have. I'm not going to make you start over." He turned and looked at Beth. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you want. You're family, and I take care of family."

"Thank you," Beth whispered, wiping her eyes.

Jax smiled a bit and put a hand on her shoulder. "We're going to get them back for this. That I promise you."

Beth nodded her head. "I know." Daryl walked over once Jax had left and looked at her. She didn't say anything; she just wrapped her arms around him. "I don't know what to do."

He held her close and kissed her head, not giving a shit who saw. "You don't have to do anything baby." He cupped her face and looked down at her. "You're not going to stay here; you're going to come home with me." She nodded her head. "Good." He helped her up and led her out. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. What he did know was that he was going to make sure her daddy got avenged.