Happy woke up and found himself alone in bed. He ran his hand over the spot where Kelly slept and felt that the sheets were still warm. He listened closely and heard her moving around in the kitchen. He heard the mixer going and wondered what she was up to.
"Girl, what are you doing?" The kitchen was half in boxes and half scattered around on the counter. Kelly had flour up her arms and a swipe of it on her forehead.
"Baking. I couldn't decide if I wanted blueberry or orange and cranberry muffins. I made both." She shrugged and Happy took a deep breath. This was her tell, the way he could always tell that was something was bothering her. He grabbed one of the blueberry muffins and took a bite.
"What's bothering you, angel? You don't bake like this for the hell of it." Happy said after swallowing down the muffin. He always loved her baking.
"I'm worried about Phil. I know what you're probably planning and it bothers me. Do you think you could talk to him first, without beating him?" She was nervous to ask him, thinking he may get the wrong impression. He certainly wasn't happy to hear her bring it up or question him, but he hated to see her worry.
"Talk to him about what, Kelly? About how you sleep with one arm around your waist and the other stretched out unless I'm with you? No. He crossed too many lines." Happy said, shaking his head. Kelly frowned and turned back to the oven. Happy ran his hand across the back of her neck and kissed the side of her head. "I'll try to come by for your lunch break."
"Okay. Just, just be careful, Happy." Kelly opened the oven and pulled her last batch of muffins out of the oven as Happy walked out of the house. She felt guilty for telling Happy about what happened. She tried to tell herself it was the right thing to do, considering how much worse the situation could have been, but she still felt like she had signed his fate.
Happy sat outside the clubhouse on one of the three picnic tables, waiting for Jax to show up. He had a cigarette between his lips and the card that had been used to break into his bedroom in the other. Just the thought of someone watching Kelly sleep made his skin crawl. That was his woman and his late brother's sister, beyond that she was a good person that didn't deserve to be treated like that. Happy didn't have to look up to know that it was Jax's bike that was pulling onto the lot, he recognized the exhaust notes of most of the bikes, each one unique.
"Morning." Jax said, nodding to Happy as he took his helmet off. Happy stood up, sliding the card back in his cut pocket. Jax raised his brow. "Something up?"
"Yeah. Let's talk inside." Happy said, not comfortable discussing the situation outside where anyone could hear. Jax didn't hesitate to lead Happy into the chapel, closing the doors behind him. Happy sat down in his seat, trying to gather some sort of calm. "Filthy Phil broke into my bedroom while Kelly was asleep."
"What? Is she okay?" Jax was back up to his feet, wide awake and no longer needing coffee. He could see Happy's neck muscles tensing as his fists clenched.
"Yeah, she's alright. Didn't touch her that she knows of. Bastard probably stood there watching her and…" Happy slammed his fist into the table and pushed away, knocking his chair down as he sprang to his feet. "He's dead, Jax."
"Alright, hold on, Hap. I gotta believe he had a reason to go in there. We can't jump to the worst." Jax knew that he was putting himself in the line of fire for trying to give the prospect the benefit of the doubt. "She sure she locked the door? I'm not saying she'd lying. She works a lot of overtime, she could have been tired and thought she closed and locked it."
"She locked the door. She don't sleep in anything but my shirts when I'm gone." Happy didn't like sharing personal details with anyone, but it was the main reason she locked the door. Jax nodded and started pacing the room, racking his brain for an explanation.
There was a knock on the door and Jax stopped pacing, eyeing Happy like he was a ticking time bomb. He approached the door slowly, hoping like hell that it wasn't Phil on the other side of the door. Luckily, it was Rat. Jax breathed a sigh of relief and wondered if the young man had any insight on what happened.
"Come in here, Rat." Jax closed the door after the prospect took a few steps inside. Rat looked over to see a rapturous looking Happy and swallowed hard. "You were with Kelly before Phil got there last night, right?"
"Uh, yeah, I got there about an hour before she got off work. Is she okay?" Rat asked, hoping nothing had happened while he was gone. He was kicking himself for leaving early, the sloppy sex wasn't even that good.
"Was she asleep when Phil relieved you?" Jax asked, ignoring Rat's question. Happy was fuming, sitting back in his seat to try and resist strangling someone.
"Well, I don't really know. She was awake when I left." Rat knew there was no use hiding what he'd done, especially if it could help Kelly. "I left an hour before Phil was supposed to be there."
"Why?" Happy growled, narrowing his eyes at the prospect. Jax was pissed to. Prospects were given tasks and knew to clear any change to schedules with whoever gave them that task. In this case, it was Happy.
"I had a date. I ran it by Kelly, she said she wasn't going anywhere and let me borrow her car. I left an hour early. What happened? Is she okay?" Rat asked again, now panicking that something had happened. Phil hadn't mentioned anything but he had been pretty tired when he got in last night. Rat pressed his back against the wall as Happy advanced on him.
"You ran it by Kelly? You prospecting for her or this club?" Happy growled, shoving the man into the wall. Rat swallowed hard, wishing he'd just skipped the damn date or shown up late.
"The club. Look, I'm sorry man! Is she okay or not?" Happy heard Rat's voice crack and dropped his forearm from the prospect's chest.
"She's okay. Go on." Happy said, stepping away from him. Jax was surprised to see Rat get at least a temporary pardon. He realized that Happy was out for blood, but not just anyone's.
"Alright, this has got to go to the table, brother. You're sure it was Phil?" Jax asked, feeling deflated. He'd had hopes for the prospect. Happy took the grocery card out of his pocket and dropped it on the table.
"Who the hell else pops door with grocery cards." Happy growled, wondering if it would make a good shiv. He liked the poetic justice in the tool of the crime being the weapon that killed the man. Jax picked the card up and turned it over in his hands. Happy noticed a strange expression on Jax's face. "What?"
"This isn't a store in the Bay Area, Hap. Phil's lived within twenty miles of Charming his whole life." Jax said, pushing the card back over to Happy. Happy picked the card up and took another look at it. Jax was right. That particular store was a small chain. A chain he'd never seen outside of Tacoma. "Where are you going?"
Happy had bolted out of the chapel without a word, hyper focused on getting to Kelly. Jax was on his heels and Rat dropped his mug in the sink and rushed out after them. Happy had to get to Kelly. She should be at the hospital by now and she normally texted him when she got there. He felt like there was an elephant sitting on his chest.
"Hey!" TIg yelled as the three bikes tore out of the lot, nearly causing him to lay his own bike over. He restarted it and hurried after them, knowing something serious was going on.
Happy slid his bike to a stop and hurried into the hospital, relieved to see her car there but not yet relaxing until he laid eyes on her. He shoved past a security guard who was asking them all to stop. Tig shoved by him also, bringing up the rear behind Jax and Rat. Happy was throwing hospital room doors open, looking in every one for Kelly.
"Can I help you?" Happy recognized Dr. Cooke and walked over to him, causing the younger man to take a defensive step back.
"Where's Kelly?" Happy asked, scanning the halls for her. The doctor swallowed hard and looked from Happy to the other three men that had come into the hospital with him.
"I don't know. She hasn't come in yet. She's normally on time. We were just about to call her." Happy threw a fist into the wall beside Dr. Cooke's head angrily. He knew why she wasn't there, he just didn't know why he couldn't have figured it out in time.
"It wasn't Phil in our house yesterday." Happy explained as he stormed back out to the parking lot. Jax was practically jogging to keep up with him. "It was her fucking ex-husband."
Jax stood by as Happy smashed the window out of Kelly's Audi, ignoring the blaring alarm. He leaned into the car, bracing himself with a hand on the steering wheel. He grabbed her phone and bag from the passenger seat before pulling his hand back to see blood all over it. The steering wheel was covered in what he could only assume was Kelly's blood. He felt sick.
"Tig, call Juice and have him start running a trace on the bastard's credit cards. Rat, go inside and see if anyone saw anything this morning." Jax said, shifting into President mode immediately. Happy opened Kelly's phone and started going through the messages and calls, looking for anything that may give him a clue as to where she could be. He hoped that she would have told him if she knew Tom was in town.
"My house." Happy said quickly before slamming the car door, sending glass crashing into the seat and out onto the ground. Jax jogged over to his bike, Tig a few paces behind him, yelling into his phone. Happy had a gut feeling that the son of a bitch would take her there to add insult to injury. He had Kelly's phone in his pocket, just hoping he wasn't too late. He was hitting seventy in the straightaways and dragging his foot pegs in the turns. Jax and Tig were right behind him.
Happy locked up his back brake and skidded to a stop, barely taking the time to kick the stand down. There was a black Honda Civic in his driveway with Washington plates. Jax and Tig both drew their guns as they followed Happy through the front door. Happy headed straight for their bedroom.
"Get off her, now!" Happy dove at the man that was positioned over Kelly she was turning blue from the choke hold Tom had on her. She gasped for air as Happy wrestled with Tom on the ground. She didn't bother caring that she was almost naked with Tig and Jax in the room. She reached down between the mattress and the wall and pulled a Glock that Happy kept there.
Everyone's ears started ringing as Kelly fired one shot after another, emptying the clip. Happy let loose of Tom's shirt and he crumpled down into the floor, riddled with bullet holes. Kelly dropped the gun and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her as she fell in front of the toilet. Happy grimaced at the noises coming from the bathroom as his hearing returned to normal.
"Hey, I'll take care of this. You go take care of your girl." Tig said, motioning towards the bathroom. Happy looked at the body at his feet and nodded.
"Kelly." Happy choked as he found her in the floor of the shower, shaking and covered in blood. She was sobbing into her hands and making herself as small as possible. "Come on, angel. It's just me."
"Happy." She sobbed and the blood seemed to pour from the cut in her head even faster. He frowned and stepped into the shower with her. Had the water been on, he was sure she would have drowned by then.
"We've got to get the bleeding stopped, baby. Jax is calling Tara." Happy couldn't bring himself to ask her how far the corpse in the next room had gotten with her. She was naked except the lace panties that she'd always worn for him. He felt bile rising up in his throat and closed his eyes, pulling her against his chest carefully.
There was a soft knock at the bathroom door and Happy slowly left Kelly's side. She held a rag against her head and was now wearing Happy's blood soaked t-shirt. Tara walked in quietly, her bottom lip quivering a little. Happy closed the door behind her after taking a look at the progress of clean up. The body was gone and Phil and Rat were scrubbing the hardwood floor with rags and what smelled like a bleach mixer.
"Let's get you stitched up and then we can check you out, okay?" Tara asked, squeezing Kelly's hand. She nodded and stepped out of the shower. Tara led her over to the commode and closed the lid so Kelly could take a seat. Happy could see her legs shaking and wished he could kill the bastard all over again. Kelly wouldn't make eye contact with Happy, fearing that he'd see the truth in her eyes. "Happy, would you mind going out to my car and grabbing the red bag in my front seat. I thought I had needles in this one."
"Yeah." Happy needed to get out of the bathroom to clear his head. He hated himself for not protecting her like he should have. He should have paid more attention, been more alert. He let himself get comfortable in their new life and let his guard down. He felt like he failed Kelly, something he promised he'd never do again.
"Here." Happy said, handing the bag off to Tara before closing the door again. Clean up was well on the way but he still didn't want anyone to see Kelly or for her to see what mess was left. He leaned against the wall and watched as Tara carefully sewed Kelly's forehead up.
"Happy." Kelly choked out, looking at Tara for some moral support. They'd gotten a chance to talk while Happy got the bag out of the car and Kelly knew what she had to do. She felt tears start rolling down her cheeks even faster. Happy nodded and pulled her cellphone out of his pocket.
"I already know, angel." Happy said softly. Their eyes met briefly before Kelly started crying harder. Happy took a deep breath, unsure of the right words to say. He pushed away from the wall and squatted down in front of her. "Look at me. It's going to be okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not losing you again."
"This wasn't your fault, Happy." Kelly could hear the guilt in his voice and it nearly broke her heart. She could get over what had happened, both physically and emotionally but she needed him by her side. She needed him to be her rock that he always had been.
"I should have noticed it or been around more." Happy looked up into her blue eyes and saw the concern. He knew that look wasn't about what she'd just gone through, but for him. He kissed her lips gently. "How far along are you?"
"Just about four weeks." Kelly said, feeling her cheeks turn pink. Happy nodded and kissed her again. "I didn't want to say anything until I knew I wasn't going to lose it."
"Kelly, you don't have to keep stuff from me, okay? Whatever happens, I'm right here." Happy brushed her hair out of her eyes carefully and kissed her deeply, neither of them seeming to remember that Tara was there for a moment. "Did he?"
"No. Almost but no." Kelly said, running her palm over his cheek. He nodded and stood up slowly.
"Let Tara finish stitching you up, girl. I'm going to make sure these idiots know how to clean." Happy said, kissing the top of her head. Kelly nodded, knowing that he needed some time alone to process everything that had happened. She gave Tara a small smile.
"I guess we're going to try and have a baby then." Kelly didn't understand how she could smile after everything that had happened in the last few hours, but she did. Killing someone hadn't exactly sunk in yet, she knew that but she wasn't going to deny herself a little happiness before it did.
This is shorter than I usually like to post, but it was a stopping point that made sense before the next chapter. Expect that within the week. Let me know what you think. :) Thank you again for all the new reviews, follows and favs, please don't stop :)