His distinct muscular and manly form was there to greet her as she stepped out into the early morning light. She gazed out at the familiar form leaning against his ride arms crossed over his chiseled chest. She noted as she crossed the lot towards him that his shoulders lacked the aggressive set they used to hold whenever she'd looked across to find him watching or tailing her. She was sure also that behind his dark sunglasses his eyes lacked the menace that usually beheld them.
"Wasn't expecting you again Hap." She greeted him.
"Get used to it Princess." He said placing a hand on her cheek. "For now and until the foreseeable future I'll be your tail."
She smirked at his inability to make that sound like a problem to him. "Can't say I really mind you watching my ass these days, Hap." She flirted.
"I'd noticed." He said as he lowered his hand to squeeze it pulling her close to him.
"What is this Hap? What's going on between us?" She murmured against his ear as she felt his breath hot against her neck.
"Will you stop askin' me that and just go with it?" He growled into her ear.
He felt her hips quiver beneath his hands as he pulled her towards him. "Oh fuck Hap," she murmured. "You're making me wet."
"I know." He said nipping at her ear before crushing his lips against hers.
"Oh, hell Happy." She said pulling her lips away.
"Seems we have an audience Princess." He said, his eyes looking over her shoulder.
Hailey followed his gaze and saw that Ava was standing on the steps of St Thomas looking in their direction. She began to blush at being caught out in the arms of a biker especially one as badass looking as Happy Lowman. He saw the pink of her blush spread across her cheeks and chipped her chin back towards him for one last kiss before steering her toward her car.
"Oh I nearly forgot." She said as she opened the door. "Tara said Jax needs his brothers."
He nodded. "I'll tail you back and let Clay know."
He watched her climb into her car still having no idea what it was about the girl that had begun to make his dick so hard for her but he knew he had to nail her and soon.
It was several days later when Hailey sat in the clubhouse with Opie, Chibs and Jax as they brought her up to speed on the whereabouts of Abel. Happy was perched on a backwards facing chair near enough to be involved in their conversation and Tig and Kozik were embroiled in a rather heated discussion with Clay, each blaming the other for something that had gone wrong earlier that day. Hailey had no desire to know what.
Three new prospects had been voted in and Happy had been patched in as a redwood original. He hadn't failed to catch the gleam of lust in Hailey's eyes when she'd seen his 'Nomad' patch replaced with the 'Redwood Original' patch. He knew it wouldn't be long before his intentions with her became crystal clear to the rest of his brothers so he was done with trying to keep too much distance from her. Besides he'd been appointed her tail and he took that very seriously.
"Belfast?" Hailey asked incredulously.
"Yeah. Gemma had a call from a woman called Maureen Ashby telling her that Abel was there. We hadn't told her he was even missing." Jax filled her in.
"Shit. So that's why she wound up in the hospital?"
"Yeah. Her heart couldn't take the shock of it all." Jax sighed.
"So you're all going to Ireland to find Abel? When do you leave?" Hailey asked.
"We head out tomorrow morning."
"I wanna come with you." She said.
"NO!" Opie and Happy both growled simultaneously. The two men eyeballed each other. Opie wondering why the Tacoma Killer was suddenly so invested in the welfare of his sister, and Happy realizing he'd just made it very clear that something was going on between them. He hadn't wanted it to come out like this.
"With Gemma in the hospital and on her way to prison in a couple of days you're gonna need a female presence there for Abel." Hailey tried to explain her case and also hoped her words would cut the tension that had erupted between her brother and Happy.
"No Hailey. I'm not letting you go." Opie said still looking at Happy waiting for his brother to explain himself.
"And I don't wanna be held responsible for you gettin' your ass in trouble or killed over there." The suddenly glowering man growled. Hailey could see through his belligerence to the relief that he'd held their cover for now and Opie seemed satisfied with his answer.
"Jax," Hailey started to plead.
"No Hailey. Opie and Hap are right. I can't let you go. You'll stay behind with Kozik." Jax said firmly.
Hailey sighed as she looked across to the blonde haired biker still in a heated discussion with Tig. She didn't mind Kozik but she couldn't understand why he and Tig didn't get along. As far as she knew it had something to do with a dog. I mean seriously a dog was the reasoning behind two grown men at such odds with each other?
"Alright." She sighed, "But only if I don't have to settle any teenage squabbles between those two."
Jax gave a small guffaw. "Tiggy is coming with us."
"Thank heavens for that." Hailey answered casting a furtive glance across to Happy who was rising from his seat.
"I'm gonna head out to Bakersfield later, check in on Ma before we leave."
"Sure Hap." Jax said as the sound of a squad car siren penetrated the walls of the clubhouse quickly followed by the door being pushed in unceremoniously. "Everybody down."
Hailey barely had time to register what was going on before she felt the pressure of a body pushing her to the ground and laying against her, a large muscular body that she was growing rather fond of. She looked around into those dark as sin eyes feeling an unexpected heat in her belly at their closeness.
"What's going on?" She asked quietly.
"Police raid, Princess." He rasped.
"What for?"
"The less you know the better."
She glanced around to be sure none of his brothers could see her before giving him her best devilish grin. "Not complaining about where you are right now."
"You're gonna get me into trouble Princess."
"But I guarantee it'll be worth it." She said as she felt his arms tightening around her.
"What am I gonna do with you, Princess?"
"Whatever you want to Killer." She flirted shamelessly.
"When this is over I'm headed to Bakersfield. I'll deal with you when I get back."
"I look forward to it." She smirked.
Later on that night Hailey found herself sitting at the bar anxiously awaiting Happy's return. So much had been going on around the club that the closest they had been since their encounter the day Abel went missing had been during the raid when Happy had pinned her to the ground. He'd escorted her to and from her shifts at the hospital and she had continued to flirt shamelessly with him. The sexual tension between them had elevated to the point that just looking at him made her burn between her legs.
When he finally came through the door he walked straight past her without a sideways glance and headed straight to his dorm room. She knew something was up and should probably have known better than to follow him. "Hap?" She called through his door after she'd knocked.
"Not now Princess." Came his belligerent reply.
"You're gonna have to let me in Hap or they're all gonna hear me."
"For fuck's sake Hailz." She heard the door unlock before it swung open. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her into his room before slamming it shut and pinning her against it. He glowered at her in a way that he hadn't for weeks. "Hailey I know why you're here and it's not gonna happen."
She shuddered at his use of her name rather than his nickname for her and at the menacing glare in his eyes but couldn't bring herself to look away. "But Hap what happened? I mean earlier today you said …"
"That was earlier. If we do this now Princess I'm gonna hurt you and I don't wanna do that." She was relieved at the softening of his tone and the use of his nickname for her. It meant his anger although still seething was no longer directed at her. "Okay," she said as she placed her hands against his muscular chest that she wanted so badly to devour. She gently pushed him away from her and placed her hand on the door to open it. "I'll leave you be then." She said opening the door enough to be able to edge through it.
"Princess, wait."
She turned back towards him.
"Ma's not doing so good and it makes me so damn angry coz she doesn't deserve it." She placed her hand on his arm as he continued. "I didn't mean to scare you. We okay?"
"Yeah Hap. We're okay." She raised herself onto her tiptoes and risked placing a kiss against his lips.
"I just wanna do this right." He said.
"I know Hap. You tailing my ass to work in the morning?"
"Wouldn't be anywhere else Princess."
She trailed her hand down his arm and let it linger momentarily before giving him a sad yet understanding smile and turning down the hallway back to her own dorm. He knew that smile spoke volumes for both what she had been through and for understanding of what he was facing.
Happy Lowman was a private man. He didn't like other people knowing his business and as a result he often came across as intimidating to others. His brothers knew him well enough to know when to leave him to stew and he knew they always had his back. He had never let a woman into his life in the way he'd begun to let Hailey in. He had every intention of fucking her to oblivion but it was more than that. He found himself actually caring for her. He could have fucked her tonight and it would have been a great fuck for him anyway, but he knew that when he was this angry he would be rough, way rougher than usual anyhow. Hell he'd never cared about hurting a chick during sex before but this was different. This was Hailey. She was no croweater that he could tell to fuck off when he was done. She was Opie's sister. Opie's sister. Hell he'd been tasked to watch her not take her to his bed and fuck her brains out. He knew Opie would be livid when he found out about this but at some point over the last year of keeping tabs on her for her brother he had begun to develop some form of affection for the girl. He had seen how her shithead boyfriend treated her and he hadn't been lying when he answered her question about wondering what it was like for her behind closed doors. He had to give it to the asshole. He was good at hitting her in places where the bruises weren't visible. Knowing what he knew about him now and the bruises and scars he'd left on Hailey, he could safely say the shithead wouldn't be walking away if he turned up in Charming again.
He had grown to care about her in a way that he'd never thought possible. He meant to protect her and part of that meant protecting her from himself.
He lay down on his bed and thought over the day out visiting with his mother. She wasn't doing so well and had taken a turn for the worst. Her current treatments weren't working and she was growing weaker by the day. As stubborn as she was she refused to return to the hospice that she had checked herself out of several weeks earlier. Growing up in staunch protection of his mother had made Happy into the hardened man he was today. He would go to any length to protect her, his first smiley tattoo in honor of that fact.
He hated seeing her suffer and he suspected that was part of the reason he was growing closer to Hailey. She saw through his hardened surface to what was beneath in a way that no one else ever had.
A/N: So a kinda short update this time but finally we're inside Happy's head a little more. Thanks for all the follows/favs/reviews. I love reading your thoughts.