"I've got to head home. Can I trust you to lock up and drop the cash drawers in the safe?" I asked Serenity with my bag on my shoulder. She took one look at me and nodded quickly.
"I've got you, Jaden. Esai is on his way over, why don't you take Rat with you? No offense but you don't look like you can make it all the way to Lodi." She said, squeezing my arm lightly. As hesitant as I was to hire her in the beginning, I was glad I did. She was a good person and pretty smart to.
"Yeah, probably should. I'll make this up to you." I said with a little smile. She laughed and shook her head.
"I won't let you. Be careful." She pecked me on the cheek and stepped back into the dressing room. I felt confident leaving the club in her hands for the rest of the night, which was a relief. I didn't need anything else to worry about.
"Rat, come with me, please. I need to get home." I said softly. He gave me a quick look over and nodded, rising to his feet and motioning towards the door. I appreciated Rat. He never asked too many questions and was always willing to help. I waited for his bike to start before backing my car out of my normal spot and pulling out onto the main road.
I took a deep breath and called Happy with my car's blue-tooth. Normally, I hated using it but I didn't trust myself to drive with one hand. Rat's headlight was shining into my car, letting me know he was there. It made me feel safer, but not completely.
"Jaden, what's going on?" Happy asked, his voice tense. I should have known Rat would have sent him a message that we were headed back early.
"I can't get into it on the phone while I'm driving, Hap. I need you. Are you home or at the clubhouse?" I asked, turning onto the highway.
"Clubhouse. Just come here, Jaden. I'll drive us home after you tell me what's going on." He said. I didn't necessarily want to be around everyone else, but the clubhouse was at least thirty minutes closer.
"Okay, Hap." I said before ending the call. In less than ten more minutes, we were pulling onto the lot to find Happy sitting on top of a picnic table waiting for us. He gave Rat a nod as I backed my car into the spot next to Barbie's car that I didn't expect to see there.
"Here, what's going on?" Happy asked, handing me a lit joint. I took a decent hit and let it burn in my lungs for a minute before blowing it out and then diving into everything that had happened. Happy went from calm, to angry, to pissed as I told him about Roosevelt and then the message from my mother. "She didn't say when she'd be here or anything?"
"No, this is it." I said, handing my phone over. He nodded and stood up, pointing towards the clubhouse. When we walked inside, I found Barbie sitting at the bar with Juice and Tig. I gave he a weak smile, which she tried to return as she held up her beer.
"Juice, need your help with something." Happy said, nodding towards the computer set up by the chapel. Juice nodded and gave Barbie's hand a little squeeze before leading the way over. "I need you to trace this message and do what you can to find out where the phone is now, but it's probably a prepaid. Run everything you can to see where Stella Conner is."
"Conner?" He asked, glancing up at me before closing his mouth and nodding. "I'll do what I do best. You mind talking to Barbie, Jaden? She refuses to go back to the hospital to see Anya."
"She's dealing with enough shi-" Happy started before I shook my head and put my hand on his arm.
"No, please, Hap. I need a distraction and she's my best friend." He didn't look pleased, but nodded anyways. "Thanks for your help, Juice."
I left Happy and Juice to their research-well, Juice to his research and Happy to watching over his shoulder, and joined Barbie at the bar. She glanced over at me and gave me a slight nod. I didn't even know where to start. Trying to keep her hopes up when they were both in the hospital, a couple rooms away from one another was hard enough.
"You can save it, Jaden. Until they tell me I can pick her up or pick out her casket, I'm not going to the hospital." Barbie said, not even sounding like her self. I gaped at her, shocked that she had even said that. She looked over at me and I saw tears in her eyes. I didn't know what to say, so I did the only thing I could do and dragged her off the stool and into my arms. "I don't want her to die, Jaden."
"I know you don't, doll. None of us do." I said, feeling her tears soaking through my shirt and wetting my shoulder. I smoothed her hair and held her tightly as she sobbed heavily. Juice looked back over his shoulder from the computer and I gave him a little nod. "I was going to go see her tomorrow. Why don't you go with me?"
"I can't, Jaden. She's so tiny and helpless. It's my fault she's in there." She said with a sniffle. I ground my teeth together to try and keep myself from getting angry. I didn't know what she was going through. I'd never be in her shoes.
"No, it's not your fault, Barbie. You did everything for her to be healthy. Remember all those nasty greenish brown smoothies you drank and how you avoided junk food? From the first day you knew you were pregnant, you've done everything right. Just because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time doesn't mean what happened is your fault. If you want to go there then it's my fault for fighting with Happy and letting you in my room that night. So there, it's my fault, not yours." I spoke quickly and she looked at me like a deer in headlights.
"Jaden, it's not." She said, shaking her head. I nodded and ran my hand through my hair to get it out of my face.
"It is more than yours, so go see Anya." I said as Happy and Juice walked over. Happy had some papers in his hands and he didn't look happy at all.
"Do you think it's too late to go tonight?" Barbie asked quietly. Juice smile his megawatt smile and shook his head before wrapping her into his arms.
"No way, we've got someone on the inside, remember?" He asked, causing her to laugh a little. I forced a smile and watched them walk out of the clubhouse before turning to Happy.
"She rented a car earlier. I don't know how the fuck she's got all this money available but Juice said she's got about fifteen grand in the bank. She got a hotel about an hour ago." He said, handing me the papers. I looked through a couple of them before starting to feel sick.
"She's already near Denver? So she could be here in what, a day? Two days?" I asked. My chest was tightening and my vision tunneling. My animosity about my mother being the reason I was panicking only made things worse.
"Jaden, look at me." Happy said, pulling my chin up. I was breathing rapidly as I looked into his eyes. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, okay? Say the word and I'll green light her right now. She'll never make it into California."
"That's not funny." I said, actually considering his offer. He shook his head and rubbed my cheek with his thumb.
"I wasn't kidding. We know she's coming here, baby. You gotta decide what you want to do. Whatever it is, we'll make happen." He said, kissing my forehead. I shuttered and pressed my head into his chest. "This a bad time to tell you that I found a place?"
"No, not at all. I need good news in my life right now. Can we go look at it in the morning?" I asked, hoping to move closer to Charming as soon as possible. He nodded and nodded towards the door. I nodded in agreement and led him out of the clubhouse with my hand in his. We both seemed more than ready to get home.
"I'm glad I don't dance anymore." I groaned as I got out of bed. Happy grunted with his head still on the pillow. "You make me too damn sore to even think about doing any pole work. I do need to start working with some weights though. I feel flabby."
"Jaden, the flabbiest thing about you is that mouth of yours that won't let me sleep." Happy grumbled. I scoffed and threw a pillow at him, hitting him right in the back with a thud. "Your fucking pillows are too heavy."
"Shut up and get out of bed. We're meeting with the realtor in an hour." I said, stepping into a pair of black shorts. He groaned again and tossed the sheets and blanket off.
"We're taking my bike, so wear jeans." He grumbled as he passed by me to go to the bathroom. Millie growled playfully and I couldn't help but laugh at her mimicking him.
"See, even she knows you're grumpy." I called out to him, scratching her behind the ears. She almost came up to my hips as she stood on four paws and I wondered if she was ever going to stop growing. Happy gently grabbed her cheeks and played with her as I changed into jeans and a lace shirt.
"Juice is monitoring her credit cards so we can get an idea of when she'll get here." Happy said as he laced his boots. I had avoided the topic as much as I could and just nodded to let him know I heard him. I knew there would come a time when I couldn't ignore it anymore, but I at least wanted to see the house and enjoy that without her tainting that experience. "Oh and there's going to be ten from Tacoma for the wedding."
"Okay, thanks." I said, marking it down in my planner. He nodded and shrugged his kutte on. I scooped out some food for Millie and we were on our way to Charming to see the place Happy had found and we would hopefully be moving into.
We pulled up to a smaller gray home with a bright yellow door and white shudders. The driveway led into a garage and the lawn was nicely landscaped with a fence extending out from one side of the house, no doubt fencing off the back yard. I smiled, already liking it. The realtor shook both our hands and turned us loose to explore the house and come back to her with any questions we had.
"This room would be great for your Ma if she wanted to visit." I said, walking into a spacious room that had a eastern facing bay window. He nodded and walked into the attached bathroom. "Oh! She'd love that shower."
"That's weird, J. Don't mention Ma and showers together like that." I rolled my eyes at him and continued exploring the house. It had a large master suite on the opposite side of the house with a nice walk in closet. The living room was a little smaller than our previous house but bigger than what I had now. "Kitchen's been updated."
"Yeah, I like the granite. Oh, look at the back yard!" I slid the glass door open and stepped out onto the large wooden porch overlooking an even larger back yard with a nice shade tree towards the back. Happy nodded and lifted the lid to the grill of the outdoor kitchen. "Is this place expensive?"
"Nah, it's less than what we got from insurance for the first place, J. Do you like it or do you want to keep looking? We can change the color of the front door." He suggested, raising a brow at my appalled expression.
"We'll do no such thing! It's a happy and welcoming looking front door. I like it, Hap. It's close to the clubhouse and a hell of a lot closer to BJ's than my apartment." I said, looping my arm through his. He nodded and we headed back out to see the realtor. Three hours later, we had a closing date set up for the end of September.
"Buying a house and getting married all in just over a month? I need to get busy with packing and finishing the planning." I said with a smile as we walked out of the realty office. Happy was reading a message on his phone and didn't seem to hear me. I saw the serious look on his face as we got to the Dyna. "What did the message say?"
"Juice said her card was just used to get gas on the California border. It's kind of now or never, J. What do you want me to do?" He asked sitting on his bike and looking at me. I sighed and bit my bottom lip before nodding.
"I'm not letting her win, Happy. She wants to come see me? Fine, it's time she pays for abandoning me." I said, taking my helmet off the handlebar. He nodded and started the bike. We headed back to Lodi so I could get my car and Millie before we returned to the clubhouse for the Friday night party. The last thing I wanted to do was sit around waiting for her to show up.
"Look how precious she is!" Barbie said, showing me the fifteenth picture of Anya. In this one she was sucking her thumb and had one foot up in the air. I giggled and smiled brightly.
"She's adorable. She got lucky and got your nose." I said with a wink. Juice shot me a bird and Happy laughed, nodding in agreement with me. "You sure you're okay with me letting Serenity manage the club for a few nights a week?"
"Hell yeah, J. We're going to need a manager unless we want to work ourselves to death. She's smart and I trust her." She said, ordering us both another round. I smiled and nodded to Happy who said he and Juice were going to go see what was up with Jax. He'd just stormed out of the clubhouse a few minutes ago without a word to anyone.
"I feel like there's a fucking time bomb around my neck." I grumbled once Happy was out of earshot. Barbie frowned.
"You should have told me about your mother, J. Juice told me about it this afternoon. I feel like kicking some ass so I'll tag team with you, tiny dancer." It took me a minute to realize she was using Tig's nickname for me. We both started laughing loudly once she saw my reaction.
A/N: Look at that! Two in one day! It's a way to say sorry about my slow posts recently and also building anticipation for the next chapter! Hope to have it up tomorrow or Sunday, may be late at night (eastern US time). Thanks for reading as always.
