A/N: I made a HUGE boo boo and posted chapter 11 as chapter 10. Blame it on the Nyquil I've been taking for the cold that will not go away. So I'm reposting in the proper order. HUGE apologies to everyone. I can't believe that I did that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Eve didn't look well. Madeline frowned with concern as she made the woman a cup of tea like she had every morning since the woman had moved in. It had been almost a week since they'd brought her home with them. "Are you feeling okay?" She questioned.
"I'm feeling as good as I can." Eve replied. "How about you?"
"I'm fine Ma, I'm great." Madeline set the tea down. "Do you want something special for breakfast?" Happy had left before dawn, something with the club. She wasn't sure what but if it was important he would tell her.
"Just some toast. You should eat something too." The woman pointed out. "You're too skinny."
"I'll have some toast too." Honestly Madeline wasn't even hungry enough to eat the toast but she'd do it to keep Eve from worrying. "I've got to meet with the lawyer again this morning."
It was almost a daily occurrence. Della Edmond was ready to strangle her, she was sure of it. They'd met to discuss the upcoming wedding, the presence of the police at her house the night of the impromptu engagement party and to discuss the best course of action for proving that Justin Ray was a liar.
"Who's coming over to watch me?" Eve rolled her dark eyes.
"Gemma." Madeline replied. The woman might not have made up her mind to like her but she loved Eve. "She's got more wedding magazines."
"She told Happy he has to wear a suit."
Madeline nearly dropped the mugs of tea that she was carrying to the table. "And what did he say?"
"He told her that he'll get on his bike and take you to Vegas or Reno if anyone mentions the word suit to him again." Eve's smile was proud. "He'll be wearing his cut."
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
"I hope that I get to see it."
"You will, it's only three weeks until the wedding."
"I'm not sure that I will." Eve grabbed Madeline's arm as she went to move to pop slices of bread into the toaster. "When I'm gone, he's going to be yours to take care of. It's not going to be pretty."
"Ma, please don't talk like that."
"Girl, I'm dying. Look at me. Truth is, I'm not sad about it. I'm tired. Tired of hurting, tired of having to have a god damn babysitter like a child. It's going to happen and when it does I need to know that you're going to be able to take care of him."
"I'm going to do my best."
"Going to have to do better than that. No matter what happens you can not let him push you away and he's going to try despite that ink and that ring. He'll be mean and hurtful because he's going to be hurting." Eve spoke in a strong voice that defied her fragile appearance. "After his sperm donor father left we just had one another. It was like that for a long time. Sometimes I think not having a man around when he was younger is why he is the way that he is, why he does what he does." Eve kept her grip on Madeline's arm. "Tell me that you're not going to leave him, no matter what."
"I love him Ma. I'm not going anywhere. I promise. And quit talking about you dying, I'm not in denial but you've got time still." But as Madeline looked down at the woman she realized it might not be outside the scope of possibility that she wouldn't make it to the wedding. "Speaking of the wedding, how far have you and Gemma got with the plans?"
"Everything is pretty much set. The reservation is reserved, Gemma says brothers from all charters are going to come down."
"Do you really think that you aren't going to make it the three weeks to the wedding?"
Eve sat up straighter and seemed to appreciate Madeline's blunt question. "No. I don't."
In that instant Madeline made her decision. "Tell Gemma to move everything up. Anything that can't be rescheduled, we don't need."
"I want you to have the wedding you want."
"I want you at our wedding. We both know my family isn't coming Ma. You and Happy are my family now. Tell Gemma to make the changes or we'll just go to City Hall." Madeline felt tears sting the back of her eyes. "Please."
"Oh baby girl, come here." Eve pulled her close. "I know that it's scary but you're a strong bitch. If you ever doubt that you just put your hand on your back, my son wouldn't have given that ink to just anyone." She pressed a kiss to Madeline's forehead. "Now get your shit together and go to that meeting."
"Yes Ma." Madeline sniffled and wiped at her face. "Did I ruin my makeup?"
"Nope." Eve replied. She kept a smile on her face for her daughter's benefit, that was truly how she thought of Madeline despite the short amount of time they'd known one another. She'd known well before Happy brought her to Bakersfield the first time that there was someone in his life. Never in a million years had she imagined that it was the right girl, this girl standing in front of her. "Now get out of here."
"I've got my phone, call me if you need anything and I mean anything!" Madeline insisted as she gathered her keys and purse.
"Of course." Eve waited until the other woman had left before slumping down in the chair. It was a lot of effort to sit up straight but she wasn't about to face Gemma Teller-Morrow lying down, not when she was about to undo all the woman's hard work.
11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
"Where is Justin Ray?" Della Edmond wasted no time in asking the question as soon as the door shut behind Madeline. "Before you say anything, I need to know everything because this is turning into a cluster fuck of epic proportions."
"What are you talking about? What do you mean where is Justin Ray?" Madeline took a seat across from her lawyer. "Isn't he supposed to be here with his attorney?"
"His attorney called, seems that the Rays' went to wake their son up for this important meeting and found his room empty. There was a note but they both swear that he wouldn't have just up and taken off on his own. So, I repeat where is Justin Ray?"
"I have no idea."
"What about your Old Man?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do you prefer fiance, biker lover or some other term of endearment? God damn it, you're supposed to be a smart woman!"
"I am a smart woman." Madeline said as she felt the flames of her temper coming to life inside of her. "And my Old Man has nothing to do with this." Even if he had left well before dawn without much explanation. No, there was no way that Happy had a hand in this. "If he took off that just proves that he's got something to hide; like the fact that he's lying through his teeth!"
"I'm not sure that him disappearing is going to win you any favor points," Della explained. "Being he made no mention of taking off to anyone that we know of, it seems more like he disappeared with help. If you combine that with your associations..." the woman didn't have to say anything else.
"I had nothing to do with this. Happy had nothing to do with this. The Club had nothing to do with this." Madeline growled the words through clenched teeth. "Start acting like a lawyer and do whatever it is that you do to make his leaving an advantage for us," she suggested. "Now, I've got more important things to do than sit here and listen to you make baseless accusations."
"The way things look right now you're going to have a lot of free time on your hands," Della advised. "I can act like a lawyer all I want but we both know that gossip fuels the small town of Charming and it's going to get to the school board that you're engaged to a Son and that Justin Ray went missing. Shit! Do you know how bad this looks?"
"I don't really care because neither of us had a damn thing to do with it." Madeline got up from her chair. "Do your job." She left the office because she actually feared that she was going to hit the smug woman straight in the face. Maybe Happy was rubbing off on her and if that was the case, she was glad.
For too long she'd kept her mouth shut and her head down and she was done with it. Madeline couldn't be sure what had flipped that switch inside of her but it was flipped and there was no going back.
11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
Happy brought the tow truck to a stop and poked Kozik. "Get up."
"We left Charming at the ass crack of dawn to come here?" The blonde man rubbed his eyes and looked out the window at the junk yard in front of them. "We out here so that you can whack me or something?"
"Nah, got to see a man about a car. You coming with me or what?" Without waiting for a response Happy got out of the truck and lit a cigarette. He approached the rusted metal gates of the yard and they opened slowly. "Hey Hector."
"Hey Happy, good to see you Man. I got what you're looking for. Sorry it took me so long." The younger man motioned for him to come him. "What's up?" He nodded at Kozik.
"Right over here, brand new with only like five hundred miles on it. Right now it's black with dark gray interior but you could always change the color. Got all the bells and whistles, everything that your girl could want."
"What do I owe ya?"
"Nothing man, as many times as you saved my ass back in the day I won't take your money. Tell your mom that I miss her cooking. Miss having her around."
"I'll tell her," Happy said gruffly. "And thanks man, appreciate it."
Kozik had walked over to look at the truck, the Dodge Durango was definitely a step up from the death trap Mazda that Madeline was driving. When Happy walked over, he couldn't resist grinning. "She's got you whipped Killa."
Happy grunted in response because he couldn't say that his Brother was wrong. Madeline did have him whipped. Fuck, he loved her. "Shut the fuck up." He added when Kozik chuckled. "Help me get this shit hooked up, want to have it at the house when she gets back from seeing the lawyer."
"Let's do this."
11 11 11 11 11
Gemma eyed Madeline as she lit a cigarette and exhaled a stream of smoke. "I'm not a fucking miracle worker, you know."
"That's not what I've heard." Madeline wished she had a beer instead of Diet Coke but took a sip anyway. "Were you able to switch everything?"
"Nearly everything," Gemma admitted. "I was dead set to be pissed at you but then I realized what you're doing." She eyed Madeline for a moment. "Can't say I ever really understood what Happy saw in you or that I even liked you before today but I realize what you're doing for Eve."
"Gee, thanks Gemma." Madeline got up and walked over to the freezer. She took out chicken breasts to make for dinner and left them on the counter to defrost.
"What? It's the truth. You want me to lie to you Sweetheart?"
"No. I knew you couldn't stand me, never understood why." She looked over at the woman and waited for an answer as to why. It was Gemma so she should have known better than to expect one.
"You can put that chicken back. Neeta's making some stuff so you don't have to worry about cooking, she'll bring over the stuff that I made too. After all, you've got a ton of shit to do before Friday. Don't worry about your hair and stuff, Tara and I will take you to the place we go to."
Suddenly it hit Madeline, today was Monday so in four days she would be getting married to the man that she loved more than anything in the world. "Thank you Gemma, for everything."
"You're welcome Baby." Gemma stubbed out her cigarette. "The hell is that noise?"
"It sounds like the tow truck." Madeline started for the living room. "What the hell?" She couldn't understand why Kozik was hooking the Mazda up to the tow truck. "There's nothing wrong with my car. Kozik! What the hell are you doing?" She was shouting even before she got the door open.
Happy hid his grin as Madeline stopped dead in her tracks on the porch. Her eyes met his where he stood next to the Durango. "I told him to tow that shit, finally going to put it out of its misery."
"Hap?" Confusion was obvious on her face as she started down off the porch. "I..."
"Catch." He tossed the keys at her and out of reflex she caught them. "What are these for?"
"For a teacher, she's pretty slow Hap." Gemma lit another cigarette from her position on the porch.
"She'll get it." He knew that she would. His girl was smart but she never expected anything from him. That made it easier to give things to her because she always reacted honestly, was always surprised that he would think of her. "C'mon Mad, don't make me a liar."
"It's for me? Are you shitting me?" Madeline let out a high pitched scream and launched herself at Happy. At that moment she didn't give a damn about his preferences when it came to public displays of affection, he'd brought her a truck. A beautiful brand new truck! She'd never had a brand new car before.
Madeline pressed her lips to Happy's and her arms went around his neck. He lifted her as if it were the most natural thing in the world, because with her it was. "You like it?"
"I love it and I love you. I love you so much."
"That's good since we're getting hitched next Friday."
"Oh yeah, about that. It's this Friday."
"What?" His brows knit together.
"I decided that I didn't want to wait. I'd marry you right now if we could get away with it without Gemma and Eve killing us." Madeline loved it when he held her like this. She was just at the perfect level to kiss him again.
"Alright." He wasn't going to argue with her, not with that look in her eye. There was something that she wasn't telling him but he'd get it out of her. "You ready to go for your first ride?"
"It's not my first ride." She grinned and shifted her body ever so slightly so that they were pressed perfectly against one another.
"I was talking about the truck Mad."
11 11 11
Della Edmond sighed as she opened the bottom drawer of her desk. She took out the bottle of Scotch she kept there and poured a healthy amount into her coffee mug. If she had a time machine right then she'd have gone back to the moment she agreed to take the Walker case and kept her big mouth shut. It was supposed to have been an easy win, something to impress the powers that be because she'd done good for their biggest client, instead it was turning out to be a cluster fuck of epic proportions.
Justin Ray's body had been found in his car just outside the Charming border in Lodi. The Lodi medical examiner was tentatively calling it a drug overdose but there was heavy doubt due to the fact that Justin Ray had only recently passed a drug test for the high school football team.
Theoretically the dead teenager should mean the end of the case and the win that she so craved; nothing was ever that easy for her. She'd immediately put in a call to the school board once she'd heard from her source at Lodi PD and extended her and Madeline Walker's sympathies for the boys tragic passing. They'd informed her that they'd made their final decision, Madeline Walker was no longer employed by Charming Board of Education and they welcomed her to try and sue them.
Della tossed back the Scotch and poured another. It was going to be a long ass night.
11 11 11
They drove halfway to Bakersfield because Madeline turned around to head back to Charming. "I can't believe that you did this Hap. You know that I was fine with the Mazda right?"
"I wasn't fine with the Mazda, shit was always breaking down." He smirked at the thought of the car being destroyed. He wanted to see that. "You really like it?"
"Yes, a million times yes. This started out a really shitty day and ended up so amazing."
"Why shitty?" Happy demanded. "What happened at the lawyer?"
"Justin Ray is missing. She thinks that we had something to do with."
"And you? You think I had a hand in it?"
"No." Madeline replied without hesitation. "You said that you wouldn't and I know that you wouldn't lie to me. But if he doesn't show up and recant, how in the world do I defend myself against a missing kid? Shit. You know how bad it looks." For the first time she was starting to suspect that she was really going to lose her job. The funny thing about that was it didn't fill her with the panic that she expected.
Happy nodded, he knew just how bad it looked. If they were already judging her for the company she kept than this was just going to be another nail in her career coffin. "I'm sorry Mad."
"Don't be. There's nothing either of us could have done to stop this. I don't know why he lied, maybe we'll never know, and there's nothing we can do about that either." She sighed. "If I get fired, I'll figure something out."
"You could help Gemma out at the garage. She's always bitching that Chucky rhymes when he speaks or speaks in French, drives her bat shit." He looked over at her. "Or you can just stay home, do whatever it is that people do when they stay home all day?"
"Eat yummy snacks and watch daytime television? That could be fun for a while."
"Not too many snacks, don't want your ass getting fat." He warned her.
"You'd love my ass even if it was fat."
Happy just grinned, she was probably right about that. He'd never expected to feel this way for her but now that he did he wouldn't change it for anything in the world. "You want to tell me why you moved up the wedding?"
Madeline tightened her grip on the wheel. She'd known that he would see through her just simply not wanting to wait any longer than she had to. "Ma isn't feeling so well, wanted to give her something to get excited about."
Happy read between the lines. "Are you saying that you don't think she's going to make it until next week?" His hands tightened into fists and his voice was deeper than usual.
"I don't know," Madeline admitted. "I don't think that she thinks she's going to make it. I'm so sorry Baby." She reached over and squeezed his arm. Her other hand moved on the wheel to pull the truck over to the side of the road to give him her full attention.
"What are you stopping for?" He growled the words. "Keep fucking driving."
"Alright." She squeezed his arm tighter. "I love you Hap."
"I know." He unclenched one hand and placed it over hers. "Let's just get back to Ma."
It took another thirty minutes to get to Charming and that was with Madeline keeping her foot on the gas the entire time. They rode in silence the whole way and when they got to the house he was out of the truck before it was in park. She watched him go, knew that he was going to need a moment alone with his mother.
She remained in the car that he'd brought her and let the tears that she'd been holding back flow. She hadn't wanted to cry in front of him, didn't need him to see her lose it. After several moments she managed to pull it together, dried her tears and got out of the car. She'd barely made it onto the porch when she saw the Sheriff's cruiser pull up at the curb. "What fucking now?" She grumbled to herself as Sheriff Roosevelt got out of the car. "Can I help you?" She called loud enough for her voice to carry to him.
"I need to talk to you Ms. Walker. It's about a young man named Justin Ray, you're familiar with him right?"
"What about him?"
"I'd much rather discuss this at the station. Is Mr. Lowman here? I've got some questions for him too."
"He's with his mother." Madeline looked over at the man. "Can't you just talk to us here?"
"I can do that." The man seemed to soften some at the mention of Eve. "To be clear, you're inviting me into your home?"
"Yes, Sheriff Roosevelt," she sighed. "Come on, I'll make a pot of coffee." Madeline figured that he was there because of Justin disappearing and wanted to just get the questions over with.
"That's very kind of you." The man followed her in. "Justin Ray was found dead in Lodi late this afternoon, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"
Happy answered for her as he came down the stairs. "No, she wouldn't."
"Lowman." Roosevelt nodded at him. "Care to let Ms. Walker answer for herself?"
"I don't know anything about his death or disappearance Sheriff Roosevelt, quite honestly it sort of sucks for me." Madeline spoke bluntly because she realized this was the worst possible outcome of his vanishing. "Because now he can't recant and tell the school board he was lying about me and he was lying. I am not the type of person to threaten a teenager."
"You can see why people would think that either you or Mr. Lowman had incentive to want Justin Ray dead and gone, can't you?"
"Didn't you just hear me?" Madeline snapped. "This makes my life harder, not better and I've got enough shit on my plate right now. I had nothing to do with this. Happy had nothing to do with this. We both have people who can verify where we were the entire day. Now, I can give you that information but if you want more you can call our lawyers."
Happy watched the change in her with a grin he didn't bother to conceal. He couldn't believe how she kept surprising him, how he could feel so much pride that she wasn't exactly the mild mannered woman he'd met. Being with him had changed her as much as it had changed him, it was good to know that he wasn't alone. "You heard my Old Lady Roosevelt, what's it going to be?"
"I'll need those alibis." The Sheriff looked between them both. "And if they don't check out you're going to need those lawyers that you mentioned.
