Chapter 29:

Several weeks later …

"Hey Doll. Whatchya doin' here?" Tig asked from the bar as Hailey entered Red Woody.

"I was looking for Hap. He's not answering his cell." Hailey answered.

"Think he's out back Doll." Tig answered looking incredibly heavy hearted. "Just so you know things are kinda rough at the moment."

"Yeah I figured." She answered heading out the back of Red Woody toward the dock to find Happy sitting on the ground leaned up against the wall.

"Hailey? Why you here?" He asked a little snappily but mostly distracted.

"You're not answering your cell. Your mom called me worried about it."

He sighed. "Thanks Princess. Take a seat." He said motioning to the concrete next to him. "I'm just not really up for talking right now."

They sat in silence for a time before Hailey broke it.

"What's up Hap?"

"I can't tell you what's going on just yet Princess." He said with a heavy sigh. "But after today things will never be the same."

"What does that mean Hap?"

"It means I can't tell you anymore Princess."

"Okay but you'll tell me when you can?"

"Yeah. Listen, Princess you should go. This is no place for you to be right now."

"Hap you're kinda scaring me. Are you okay?"

"Not really baby." He said pulling her close. "There's just some heavy shit going on around here." He placed a kiss on her forehead before continuing. "Head home okay baby? I'll call you when it's clear to come back."

"Okay Hap." She trailed a hand down the side of his cheek. "Stay safe."

"You have my word Princess." He said as she turned away to leave.

She returned inside to find Jax and Lyla talking quietly in the center of the room. Lyla looked confused even a little sad.

As she approached Jax turned and saw her. "Hey Hailey. You leavin'?"

"Yeah. I just stopped past to see Hap."

"C'mon I'll walk ya out." He said placing his arm around her shoulders. She saw the sad drawn look on Tig's face cast her way as Jax led her out.

"What's going on Jax? Why is everyone so sad?" She asked trusting the man she thought of as her brother to tell her what the others wouldn't.

"The past is just catching up with us all Hailey. That's all."

"Happy said he'd call me later when it's clear to come back. Is something big going down today?"

"Kinda. But you know we'll handle it."

"Yeah I guess I do." She said as they reached her car.

"I reckon Ope would be real proud of you Darlin'."

Hailey smiled a sad smile. "What makes you say that all of a sudden?"

"You're better cut out for this life than he ever realized. You've seen some horrible shit and you're bound to see a lot more but you just take it in your stride and move on."

Hailey smiled again. "I think it kinda helps that I shacked up with the Tacoma Killer. That has me feeling pretty safe around here."

"We all love you Hailey. I love you."

"I love you too Jax." She answered slightly taken aback.

"I mean it Hailey. You've been like a sister to me."

"I've always counted you as close a brother to me as Opie was Jax. You know that."

"Yeah I do Kiddo. You take care driving home now okay?"

"Sure Jax. Is everything okay?"

"It will be Hailey. It will be."


Hailey had just stepped out of the shower later that afternoon when she heard her phone ringing from where she'd left it on the bed. She crossed over to it wrapped just in a towel to pick it up.

"Hey Hap." She answered.

"Hey Princess. You wanna come back out to Red Woody now?"

"Sure babe. Is everything okay?" She asked hearing the heavy tone of his voice.

"We'll fill you in when you get here."

"Okay. I'll be out there soon."

She had only just pulled her clothes on when her phone rang again. She looked at the caller display as she picked it up.

"Cass. What's up?" She answered.

"Hey. I wondered if you knew what the guys are up to today. I can't get a hold of Tig."

"I'm not too sure but I was out at Red Woody this morning and I know things are a pretty rough. Hap just called me and asked me to go back out there."

"Okay. Well if Tig's there can you have him call me?"

"Sure Cass. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I was hoping he could have Nate while I head into the salon for a while but I guess I'll have to take him with me."

"Is he playing up again?"

"A little. He just misses Tig is all. We've seen so little of him lately."

"Yeah Hap's been real busy too. He wasn't answering his cell this morning either."

"It worries me when they do that."

"I know. Me too. That's why I headed out there today. I'll let Tig know to call you okay?"

"Thanks Hailey. I gotta go. I'll talk to you soon."

"No worries Cass. Bye." She said disconnecting the call and heading to the bathroom to blow dry her hair before heading back to Red Woody hoping that whatever crisis had had everyone so worked up that morning had been averted.


Hailey pulled her truck to a stop out the front of Red Woody and panned her eyes across the line of bikes to its side. All of them there. She sighed hoping that was a good sign but the mood as soon as she entered was still heavy. She looked around as she entered surprised to find it empty of everyone but the guys. It was no longer the hive of activity it had been earlier that day.

She looked across to the bar where they all sat around it and immediately saw the blood stained bandage on Happy's arm.

"My god Hap. What happened?" She said as she quickened her pace to be at his side.

"Relax Princess. I'm fine." He said as she took his wrist delicately in her hand to look it over.

"It's a bullet hole Hap. What the hell?"

"I knew it was coming Princess." He assured her as she looked around her at the somber faces of the men she'd grown up with. It took but a second to note Jax's absence once she turned her attention from Happy. Her eyes went wide as she noted the President patch sitting on the bar in front of Chibs, his VP patch in front of Tig.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" She asked. "And where's Jax?"

It was Happy who answered her. "Jax is gone Princess."

"Gone? What do you mean gone? He's not … oh my god."

"Everythin' went to shit not long after Cass was shot Lovey. You know that. Samcro was in a bigger shit storm than any of us had ever seen. Shit happened that none of us saw coming including Jax killing Jury White."

"Jury's dead too?" Hailey asked remembering the kindness he'd shown her when she'd sat at his bar drinking herself into oblivion after Opie had died.

"Yeah. It was a few weeks ago."

"The other charters determined it had to go to a Mayhem vote, Doll."

"And you all voted it?"

"We had to Doll. It had to be unanimous. Jax knew it."

"So what? You guys killed him?"

"No. He knew we could never do that and he never had the intention of putting that on us. We set it to look like a struggle hence Happy's arm. He wanted to go out on his own terms."

"So … you know he's dead? He didn't just get out of town?"

"He's gone Princess."

"We had word from Jarry not long before Hap called you. He rode into the path of a freighter out past J.T.'s memorial marker."

"But his bike is still outside."

"He was riding J.T.'s."

"Shit." Hailey said. "And you knew all this was going down this morning when I was here?" She addressed Happy.

"We hadn't voted then Princess but yeah. We knew what was to come."

"You got any tequila behind that bar?" She asked and watched as Tig grabbed a bottle of patron and a shot glass, filled it and pushed it toward her. She downed it and pushed it back to him for more. It wasn't her drink of choice, but the poison her brother and her father had both favored proved to have more mind numbing effects on her than any other spirit.

She thought back to her conversation with Jax that morning. He had been saying goodbye to her and she hadn't even realized. She blinked back the tears that clouded her eyes.

"So where do we go from here?" Hailey asked as she sat still shell shocked.

"We rebuild this club from the ground up, Lovey." Chibs answered her. "Jax took measures before all this to steer us away from all the bad stuff. We start fresh."

Hailey pushed her empty glass back toward Tig. "So who's gonna look after the boys?"

"He sent them with Gemma and Nero up to Nero's farm. Wendy went too."

"He really thought of everything didn't he? Has anyone told Gemma yet?" She asked.

"Nah. Not yet. That's not gonna be an easy conversation." Tig answered her as she pushed her shot glass back toward him. "Hit me again Tiggy." She said watching him fill her glass with the clear bitter liquid.

"Slow down Princess. You and tequila don't mix so well." Happy warned her.

"Relax Hap. Everyone I used to get myself into trouble with around here is dead." She said drily then quickly added, "Wait sorry I didn't mean that to sound so shallow."

"It's okay Princess. It's the truth." Happy reassured her, a glum look on his face.

"You're handling this well Doll. A lot better than I thought you would."

"She's made of tough stuff brother." Happy informed Tig as he slid his arm around her shoulders.

"And she's proved that time and time again, bein' around this place." Chibs said from beside Tig.

Hailey gave the two men a small smile before turning her attention to Tig. "Cass called me just before I came out here. She's been trying to get hold of you."

"Thanks Doll. I guess I should head home and fill her in." He sighed. Hailey knew the only reason that he hadn't called Cass out here was because of Nate. She refused to have him step foot inside Red Woody and Hailey could understand why.

"We should head home too Princess. And you're riding with me. No way you're driving after four shots of tequila."