Everything SOA related belongs to Kurt Sutter and FX. I only claim the ownership of Ashley and everything else that you haven't seen/ heard on TV.
'It's going to be your move' was ringing in her ears. Was he messing with her? Had all those flashes of hot and cold been his ploy to get into her pants? Well two could play that game.
A smile crossed her face, partly because she was actually really going to enjoy her next move and partly because she wanted to teach him a lesson. She was not some stupid bimbo who'd drop everything because of a guy, when he starts to show some interest. Yes, she was attracted to him, but she was nobody's fool, and if Hap wanted her, he needed to drop the badass act and say so.
"Good" Ash put a hand on his chest and slightly tilted her head sideways. As Happy stood still, waiting for her next move, she raised her hand to his cheek and gently crossed her lips with his. Right when Happy started to deepen the kiss, pressing up against her, and demanding access to her tongue, she pulled away. "That was my first and last move, can now cross it off my to-do list… Kiss a guy you don't like. Check!"
Those words seemed to have a sobering effect on Hap. He looked furious. Guess girls didn't usually turn him down. The signs of disbelief on his face were soon hidden away by the return of his famous smirk. "So you don't like me? Apparently you're as bad at lying as you are at shooting," he said turning away from her to climb into the passengers seat.
Neither of them said a word on their way back to Teller-Morrow.
As they entered the parking lot they were greeted by Jax, Juice and some dark haired women. Ashley shutting the car door behind her turned to Jax "He's pretty much out of it, don't know what pills he took, but he couldn't even walk straight, also I patched him up as good as I could, but he's bleeding bad and I'm pretty sure the bullet's still somewhere under his skin. But it's okay by me, if you leave the bullet inside and take that awful personality out instead, that way it would be beneficial for everyone"
"Tara will take care of him" Jax said giving her a small laugh and then pointing with his head at the mentioned women next to him. Tara's eyes were scanning her. Ashley decided to be civil so she held out her hand "Hi, I'm Ashley, nice to meet you". Tara smiled, shook her hand and then looked at Jax saying "You guys help Happy inside, I'll be right there".
Jax looked a bit confused about what Tara was up to, but let it slide. As Jax and Juice walked Happy inside, Tara turned to her "Are you okay?" That wasn't something Ashley had expected. "Oh yeah, those Mayans never really got to me.. I'm good"
"Great, but I meant that you had to kill someone and then shot Happy, I was thinking that you probably don't know that many people around here, so if you want to talk about it, I'm here."
Ashley didn't really feel like explaining that killing people was part of her day-job, as comfortable as Tara was with taking bullets out, she was with putting them in, so there was nothing that came across as being freaked out about things like that anymore. So she just returned her smile "Thanks, but I'm really okay". With a smile Tara left her standing there and went to follow Jax, Juice and Happy to the club house to put the wounded victim back together. Ashley didn't know what to make of that little conversation. Was she really worried about her mental health or was it her way of trying to pry into her thoughts. Ash might have been a bit paranoid, but there was no reason to blindly trust someone she just met.
She went inside and saw Tara working on Happy who was lying on the plastic covered pool table. He looked at her for a second with a serious face.
As Ashley wondered where Clay was she saw an older women enter the club house. She stopped mid-step when she noticed Ash. "Ashley" she practically whispered. By the look on her face and the way her eyes started to water up, Ash was pretty sure she was about to meet her mother.
Gemma moved closer to her but stopped to ask "Can I hug you?"
Swallowing back her resentment she reminded herself why she was here, what Clay had asked her to do. So she just nodded, not being able to say it out loud. Gemma gave her a strong hug and Ashley just stood still waiting for the moment to be over. A few tears and a hug wouldn't cover the fact that she had ignored her existence for all those years. But she also wasn't here to start a fight, so she sucked it all up.
"Happy birthday, sweetheart," Gemma said releasing her. Oh no, that sentence caught the attention of everyone around them.
"We're going to have a birthday bash? Awesome, glad you were born on this day, doll" Tig shouted.
"Aye, happy birthday, lass," the Scotsman named Chibs joined in.
Ashley looked at Gemma "I don't want to talk about our past, is that clear?"
That was the only way she could play nice with them. No mentioning the fact that 'family' here, other than Clay, had never reached out to her or why they hadn't, or else she would probably lose her self-control.
"Yeah okay, as long as you're not ready to talk about that, but when you are.."
"I'm tired and in need of a hot shower," Ash cut her off.
"Okay, we're going to start with the party preparations" Gemma gave her a shy smile.
"No need for that, where's Clay?" Ashley asked.
"He's still dealing with retaliation for todays attack on you and Hap."
"I see," she said more to herself and started moving towards her room.
Just as she was ready to hop into the shower there was a knock on her door. "I'm coming" she yelled out and wrapped a towel around her. When she opened the door she found Juice standing there. As much as he tried, he couldn't really avoid checking her out before saying "Clay asked me to give you this. He held out a box.
"What is it?" Ash wondered with raised eyebrows.
"It's your new phone. I took the liberty of adding some numbers in there" Juice said with a sincere smile. Ash took the box, then looked him in the eyes "Thanks, Juice".
"My pleasure" he said quickly dropping his gaze once again on her barely covered body.
Closing the door Ash had to smother a small laughter, Juice looked like a sweet little lost puppy dog, but he was also quite handsome and maybe even useful to her someday.
Happy was now lying on the coach, Tara had just finished sewing him together and another round of pain meds, now laced with whiskey topping, was starting to kick in. Closing his eyes he thought about Ashley. That short lived kiss hadn't been enough, he wanted more, a whole lot more from her. But then again she was giving him a serious headache, there was just no way of predicting her next move, but one thing was sure, whatever it was, it was going to make him angry. That he knew. What the hell was he even doing pining over some piece of ass, even if it was a nice piece. That was sure simply by looking at her in those shorts she was wearing. But still, it was not worth it, if that beautiful body came with a mind that was stubborn and short-fused. He just needed to get off with some crow eater and forget that he even thought about her that way.
Happy sat up and looked around, there was a black haired girl talking to a blonde by the bar. As the black haired one, whose name was Sara.. Sandra, well it was something that started with 'S', looked his way he waved her over, not even bothering to smile. She sat down next to him smiling, "Hi, Happy".
"Just keep your mouth shut," he replied sliding his hand up and down her thigh.
As Ashley returned to the lounge area her eyes spotted Happy with some skank right away. That sight made her snort out loud. Well, if he wanted to play it that way, fine by her. She moved to sit next to Tig and Chibs.
"Can you teach me how to shoot, I tend to miss the mark I aim," Ash started, "and the next time I fire at Happy, and by the way that he is always annoying me it's bound to happen, I think I should finish the job right, otherwise there's just no way of saving my reputation."
Chibs laughed.
"For you, beautiful, anything," Tig grinned "and can I get a birthday kiss?"
"Birthday kiss? Shouldn't the birthday girl get those, not her quests?" Ash looked at Tig, squinting her eyes.
"Well yeah, and you will, it's my gift to you, how many would you like?" Tig said putting his arm around her shoulder.
" Let's start with one on the cheek, after all I'm a good girl… and I'll be right back," Ash rose up spotting Jax come in. She needed to speak with him. When he had first tried to talk to her, she wanted nothing to do with him, but now that she was on a 'bonding mission', she needed to ease up on him.
"Jax, can I have a minute?" she caught up with him.
"Yeah, sure."
"So I wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday, I just don't want to talk about our history, I'd like to move on from where we are now," she rambled.
"If that's true, then alright, but I kind of have a feeling you're not telling me everything," Jax said with suspicion.
"There's nothing more to tell," Ash replied with poker face.
"Good," Jax gave her a slight smile.
As Ash made her way back to where Tig was emptying a bottle of Jack, she had to wonder why it had been so easy, Jax and everything.. He obviously couldn't really just trust her, he knew she was on Clay's side and he was by definition not. It was almost like he knew something she didn't.
In the meantime party was already picking up when Clay arrived. Ashley watched as he headed straight to Happy, who pushed the girl giving him a lap dance away. They had a short conversation and then Clay moved to the chapel door, waving her over.
"Come in. I think there's not much time. Something is going down, Mayan president was killed and it was not my call," Clay slammed his fist to the table. "The destination we believed him to be at turned out to be bogus, and Jax never showed up, I was planning on working things out with Alvarez without an actual war, but now all eyes are looking at SAMCRO."
"Oh shit, you think Jax had something to do with it?" Ash asked looking at his half-brother through the window.
"Might have, but that's not the big issue right now, he's been trying to undermine me for a long time, I'll handle him. The big picture is that were about to have Charmings very own civil war."
"Whatever it is, I'll be on your side," Ash put her hand on top of his.
"I'm so glad you're here, honey, I need .. " Clay's words were shushed out by the noise of police raid. Chapels' door burst open and a black sheriff walked in, "Clarence Morrow, you're under arrest for the murder of Marcus Alvarez".
