Chapter 10
Morgan woke up as they pulled up at Teller-Morrow. She had gone to sleep after they had filled up on gas and got something to eat. With the way Happy drove the car and speeds that they traveled at it was the best course for her.
"Juice called while you were sleeping and said to bring you here instead of the house." Happy told her when he noticed she was awake.
"Okay." She replied, as she sat up stretching. "Sorry for crashing on you in the car."
"You sleeping was better than you hitting stomping on a brake pedal that did not exist on your side of the car." Happy told her with a laugh as he backed the car into a parking space.
"Whatever." Morgan laughed, getting out the car. She stood up and looked around the lot. She noticed that Gemma's car was still there, and that most of the bikes were parked. She made her way across the lot, her high heels clicking on the pavement.
Walking into the Clubhouse she felt the solemnness that hung in the air. Chibs, Bobby, and Juice were sitting at the bar. Juice jumped up off the stool the moment he saw her and both of them almost ran to each other across the room.
She was in his arms in an instant. He hugged her so hard that it almost took her breath away. Morgan looked up at him, seeing the tension, worry, and stress in his normally smiling face. She wished with all of her that she could take it all from him, so that she could have her goofy, smiling biker at that moment.
"I missed you." Morgan told him, then kissing him.
"I love you, Mor." Juice told her softly, burying his head against her neck.
They stood there holding each other for a few minutes, needing that moment between them. They only pulled back some from each other when Tig walked in the room from the Chapel.
Morgan saw instantly that there was something really wrong with Tig. He had a look of desperation in his eyes that both pulled at her heart and scared her at the same time.
"Clay needs you." Tig told Juice as he walked past them, and then out the Clubhouse.
"Are we staying here tonight?" Morgan asked Juice.
"Yeah. I have some business I need to handle and I want you here." Juice told her, kissing her forehead.
"I will just get my bag from the car." Morgan told him.
"No, I don't want you even outside alone." Juice said shaking his head. "I will get it in a minute, after I see Clay."
Morgan just nodded and smiled at him, before she walked over to the bar to greet Chibs and Bobby. Happy, Mayday, and Wizard came inside and were at the bar.
"Hey lass." Chibs said with a weal version of his normal self. She hugged him and Bobby.
"Sit here." Bobby told her pulling out a bar stool next to him for her.
Morgan perched on the stool and leaned against Bobby. Sack came from the stock room behind the bar and asked. "You want a drink?"
"Vodka and cranberry, please." Morgan smiled at him. She could see that he too had red rimmed eyes.
"How was the drive?" Bobby asked her after Sack gave her the drink.
"The miles just flew past." Morgan said, with a look at Happy. "I slept almost the entire way."
"Hap drove." Bobby said with a knowing look.
"Tacoma and Vegas will be here in the morning. Stockton and the other charters will be here in the afternoon." Gemma said walking in the room, from the dorm rooms.
"Hey Momma." Morgan greeted her with, as Gemma walked over and hugged her. "Is there anything I can do?"
"No baby, you being home is what we needed." Gemma told her with a smile. Morgan could see that there was something more than Donna's death on the other woman's mind but she knew that Gemma would never admit it, especially in front of her "boys". "Mary is here taking care of the kids."
Morgan nodded, and when she felt her eyes start to fill with tears she quickly blinked them back. She would not cry right now, these men in the room with her needed her to be strong. She could cry later. Morgan picked her drink up and drained the glass. When she placed it back on the bar she shook her head to let Sack know that she did not want another one.
"Can I talk to you in private?" Gemma asked her quietly.
"Sure." Morgan said. "I was just getting ready to head to the room."
Gemma nodded, she followed Morgan out the main room, down the hallway, and into the room that Juice use to stay at all the time.
Morgan sat down on the bed and watched the older woman come in the room and close the door softly behind the both of them. Gemma leaned against the dresser and looked at Morgan for a minute before speaking.
"The club needs help." Gemma told her. "They need to come up with a large amount of cash quickly."
Morgan did not hesitate, "I have what's left from selling the house and the remainder of the life insurance policy in the bank, $62,000.00. I was saving it for renovations for the house, but if it's needed here then it's needed here."
"How soon could you get it together?" Gemma asked, from the widening of her eyes Morgan knew that she had not expected that much.
"It's in the bank I use here in Charming. I can withdraw it tomorrow." Morgan told her.
"The club will pay you back when we get past this hill." Gemma said, walking over and sitting on the bed next to Morgan. "This is just a bad spot we are in."
"SAMCRO was here for me when I was in a bad spot, and I know that the money will come back to me." Morgan smiled at Gemma. "Why didn't Juice just ask me and I would have wired the money earlier?"
Gemma looked away for a moment before she turned back to Morgan. "He does not know that I came to you."
Seeing Morgan's confused expression. Gemma explained further. "He is so worried that this life is going to interfere with the career that you have built for yourself."
"My work life has nothing to do with my personal life." Morgan told her, shaking her head at the woman's words. "Juice knows that I separate the two."
"Honey, this life will become your only life." Gemma told her with a wise look. "At some point the lines you are drawing will become blurred between the two."
"Juice supports the fact that I have worked so hard to get where I am in my career, he is proud of that." Morgan said, shaking her head.
"I love you Morgan, as if you were my own. The advice that I am giving you is straight from my heart and my experience. You man loves you, and you love him. But you being gone the way you have been with this new job is going to take a toll." The other woman said her voice filled with warmth but there was a warning in it also. "The men in this club and life need their Old Ladies when they need them."
"Juice has not…" Morgan started to say to defend her man. She knew that he loved her and would never violate their relationship.
Gemma held her hands up to stop Morgan. "Juice loves you, you love him. I see what is between you two, but this is only the beginning. I saw how he was last night, I was here. He NEEDED to be able to feel like he was protecting you. He NEEDED to be able to give himself some sort of peace of mind that he able to take care of you. And yes he got thru it this time, with being able to count on Happy and the Nomads to do that for him. Honey there is going to be a time when he needs to find comfort and that peace of mind that he can only find in your arms. If you are not here he is going to find what he needs somewhere else, ALL men do that."
Morgan wanted to argue that Juice would never do that to her, to what they had. But Gemma's words rang with the truth that she could not ignore or dismiss. There had been times in the past few months that she had forced that same thought or fear out of her mind. Times when she had been on the road at a location and there was a party or event and she wondered if Juice would not take up a Crow Eaters offer of a good time.
"Baby, you have a good man in him, don't lose that." Gemma told her, standing up.
Morgan nodded and smiled at the other woman. "Don't say anything about me giving you the money until it is already in the club's hand." Morgan said.
Gemma nodded and gave Morgan a look of approval. Sometimes the good of the whole club had to come before anything else. Gemma started to leave the room walking over to the door.
"Have you talked to Tara?" Morgan asked, stopping her. "I have not been able to get her on the phone."
"She and Jax, are each dealing with Donna's death their own ways." Gemma said simply and then opening the door and leaving.
Morgan kicked her shoes off on the floor and got off the bed. Her thoughts a turmoil from both Gemma's warning, and the unspoken words about Tara and Jax. Something was going on with Jax and Tara, something that Gemma knew but was not sharing.
Morgan walked over to the dresser and searched the drawers. She found a pair of her underclothes, shorts, and one of Juice's shirts. With the cloths in her hand she went into the bathroom. She washed the make-up off her face, and changed from her work clothes into the ones she had gotten out of the dresser. She took her hair out of the French twist it was in, running the brush thru the long hair.
Walking back in the bedroom, Morgan noticed that her stuff had been brought inside for her.
She pulled out her laptop and turned it on. She sat down on the bed while she waited for it to boot up. Once it was up she connected to the wi-fi and sent her resume to St. Thomas to the HR department. Tara had told her about a position that was opening there, it was not the same level that she was on and the pay was not what she made. But she knew that it would have her home every night, and not traveling. It was step backwards in the corporate ladder, it was more than a couple of steps backwards. Even with the money she was loaning the club, she was good on her bills.
Once she was done, she turned the computer off. Returning it back to her bag, she opened her suitcase and dug out a pair of clean socks and put them on.
She tried not to dwell on Gemma's warning, Donna's death, and whatever was going on with Tara. She left the room and walked down the hallway, into the clubhouse. She noticed the Chapel doors still closed, but now all the Men must be on there because the club house was empty. Morgan walked around the bar, fixed herself a very large strong drink, and placed the Vodka bottle on top of the bar. She then went back around the bar and sat down on a stool. Morgan propped her feet on top of the stool beside her.
"If you are not here he is going to find what he needs somewhere else, ALL men do." Those words spoken by Gemma kept repeating over and over in her mind. Thinking about how much she loved Juice, the need for him inside her. The way he loved her in a way that she had never experienced ever in her life was everything that she needed. If it ever came down to her career or him, Juice would be the choice she made every time. He would be the choice that she made when it came to everything else, always.
Morgan drank half her drink, and then refilled the cup with Vodka. She nodded a greeting to Kozik when he entered the clubhouse. He smiled at her and made his way straight into the Chapel, closing the door behind him. In the brief moment the door had been open she heard Clay's voice but not the words he spoke.
When the door to the clubhouse opened again, she turned her head and saw Tara enter.
"Jax isn't here, is he?" Tara asked, the look on her face reflecting stress and worry.
"He has not been here since I got here a little over an hour ago." Morgan told her.
"He has not been home and his phone is going straight to voicemail." Tara stated, coming to sit on the bar stool that Morgan moved her feet off of. "I have not seen him since we got the call about Donna last night."
Morgan looked at Tara before she could speak the Chapel doors opened and Chibs, Mayday, Wizard, Kozik, Happy, Clay, and Juice came out.
Juice came over to her, and stood between her legs, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head.
"Clay, can I talk to you?" Tara asked the older man, getting off her stool.
Clay nodded and motioned for Tara to follow him outside, with Chibs and the Nomads.
"Sack and Bobby went to turn your rental in." Juice told Morgan, but his eyes watched the group that went outside. "I have to go out with Kozik for a while."
Morgan looked up at his face, she wanted to tell him to stay with her. But she knew that she could not, she would not put him in the place. "Alright, I love you."
Juice looked down at her, his eyes meeting hers. "It will be late, don't wait up for me."
Morgan leaned up and kissed him. She wanted the kiss to express love, support, and understanding that she felt for him. The response she got was so intense from him the kiss fierce and hard. His mouth pushing against hers, his tongue forcing her lips to part. She felt his hand mover up and pull her hair, making her head tip farther upwards and her back to arch pressing the front of her body against his own. She could taste him, her body trembling from that taste. Her hands found their way under his short and pressed against the smooth feel of his skin and hard muscles of his abdomen.
"JUICEY BOY!" Chibs voice called out from the doorway, breaking the connection of the kiss between the two of them.
"Shit..." Juice swore softly, pulling his mouth from hers.
"Go." Morgan told him. "I will be right here for you."
"Mor, I love you." Juice told her, his voice soft but filled with intensity that filled her with pleasure.
He pulled back from her, turned and left the clubhouse with Kozik.
Morgan watched him leave and sat in the now silent clubhouse. She had never heard it so quiet in her before, not even the stereo was playing.