DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sons of Anarchy or any of its characters or ideas, sadly they belong to the brilliant mind of Kurt Sutter, but I wouldn't mind sharing ;) I only own my original character Rayne and anything that seems out of place. Reviews are appreciated, but I will warn you that I don't take kindly to being attacked, I will be a bitch. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope you like it.
Thank you to SarahDixon1215, NickiNightmare, contentchaos, sorryitsalex, Abbygirl97, RainBowAmbie and bookworm4life0812 for choosing to follow and favorite this story!
Also thank you to meyou744, docsangel, MissTeller-Ortiz-Dixon, beth626, hward524 and SOAxLover01 for the reviews of chapter 51!
I do apologize for the long time in between chapters, I have been swamped at work and I have a little one that started school.
Please send me a review, it gives me the will to go on :)
The next morning Rayne woke up to find herself wrapped in Happy's arms, she smiled as she saw him sleeping peacefully next to her. He was turned towards her, his hand resting protectively on her hip as he slept. She looked down at the ring that sat on her finger watching it glinting in the sunlight. Laying there beside Happy she wondered if she had made the right decision by accepting Juice's proposal.
She loved Juice, but she just couldn't seem to make the words come out lately, and her mother had always told her, "if you can't say the words, that means they have no meaning."
She again looked over to her companion, she'd never had a problem saying those words to Happy, because she meant them. She'd had feelings for him since she was younger, but knowing his reputation she hadn't allowed herself to admit it. But over the last couple of months, Happy was slowly changing her mind about where she stood. He was her rock through the hard times, her light in the dark, her protector and the only one to make her smile through the pain.
Juice had become distant with her, pulling away and subsequently pushing her closer to Happy. She knew Happy was a forever bachelor, not the marrying type, but no matter what they were, at least he was always there.
Happy grumbled as he rolled onto his back, his hand sliding from her hip as his eyes slowly opened. He gave her a tight lipped smile as he saw her blue eyes gazing at him.
"Everything okay?" He said, his voice even raspier first thing in the morning.
"Fine. I was just thinking."
"About what?" He asked pushing himself up into a sitting position against the headboard, pulling a cigarette out of his pack and lighting it.
"The engagement." She admitted looking down at her ring.
"Having second thoughts?" He questioned taking a drag.
"Kind of. I just don't know if I did it for me, or the club. I care about Juice, but, I'm not sure if I love him like I did before. I can't seem to say it now, and you know what my mama always said."
"If you can't say the words, that means they have no meaning." Happy said with a smile. "Take your time, Belle. You don't have to make a decision right now. To hell with the club and what they think. This is your life, your future. You control who you're with."
"Thanks, Hap." Rayne said with a smile.
"Anytime."
Rayne got out of bed, leaning over she kissed Happy's cheek. "I'll make breakfast, then we'll head out." She grinned as the comforter slipped off of Happy's waist revealing his naked body. It was nothing she hadn't seen already and truthfully it was a nice sight. She shook her head as she smiled, "You are way too comfortable around me."
Happy grinned, "It's all yours, Belle, just say when." He watched her roll her eyes as she walked to the door, his voice made her pause. "Hey Belle, no matter what, I'll always love you."
At the clubhouse Jax walks into the garage where Chibs is standing in the bay, Juice is leaning up against the lift post staring down at the ground.
"What's going on?"
"I need your advice, brother." Chibs says looking over at his former Prospect, he tugs down the collar of Juice's cut so that Jax can see the darkening bruise.
"What about it? Thought you caught it on a security chain at Oswald's." Looking between Juice and Chibs it immediately dawned on Jax what the young biker had attempted. "Oh, shit, Juice."
"I don't know what happened, man. I guess… doing the time. The Russians. Then, Miles, and…"
"I'm not sure how you handle this." Chibs tells Jax.
"It was a mistake. I know that." Juice tells them, tears slipping from his eyes.
"Does Rayne know?" Jax questioned. Seeing Juice shake his head Jax groaned, this was going to be a shit storm. "All right, give us a minute." Juice walks out and Jax turns to Chibs. "Jesus Christ."
"Found him at Oswald's. Trying to hide the evidence."
"Sons don't kill themselves. Club's gonna vote him out. No one's gonna trust him."
"I know."
"But you do?"
"My first kill for the Irish- young Constable in Omagh. My age. Me and him could have been classmates. I put two bullets in the back of that boy's head. Never even seen it coming. Shit broke me, Jackie. Came close to swinging from that tree myself."
"Big difference between thinking about it and actually doing it."
"Aye. Let me… let me watch him for a while, figure him out, find out where he's really at. And we got to get Clay to take him off this cartel shit."
"Yeah, okay." Jax nodded, he was more concerned with what Rayne was going to do when she found out, and chances were, he was going to be the one to tell her.
While Jax and Clay headed out in the tow truck to meet up with Luis and Romeo, the rest of the Sons muddled around the clubhouse and garage.
Rayne and Happy rode up, parking their bikes in the line next to Jax's. She smiled at Juice who was standing in the garage with Chibs, he gave her a small nod and looked away. Shaking her head with a scoff she headed into the clubhouse, she was getting real sick of Juice's attitude and she was about to be done with him for good. Pulling out her phone she dialed Piney, she was in desperate need of some weed to ease her nerves and the old man always had the best.
She frowned when he didn't answer, the phone ringing until his voicemail picked up. "Hey old man, it's Rayne. Where you at? Call me, please, Pine."
She turned to the rest of the clubhouse, "Hey, has anybody seen or heard from Piney?" Even as she asked, she felt a pit of dread settle into her gut.
Riding through this world All alone God takes your soul You're on your own The crow flies straight A perfect line On the devil's bed Until you die Gotta look this life In the eye
Rayne and Happy headed out to Clay's house with Bobby, Tig and Opie, meeting up with Jax and Clay there. Like usual Gemma had cooked them all breakfast.
"Thanks, Mom." Jax said as she poured him a cup of coffee.
"Did you talk to your dad today?" She asked Opie, she had tried to get ahold of Piney as well with no luck.
"Nope."
"Baby." Clay said indicating it was time for her to leave, which she did after a moment. "Where's Juice?"
"Sheriffs are clearing out of TM, so I put him at the clubhouse, sweeping for bugs, checking the hard drives." Jax tells him.
"Good."
"You really think Laroy's stepping on us? Hooked up with Lobo?" Opie questions.
"It all points that way." Jax nods.
"So what happens now?" Happy asks from his seat beside Rayne.
"Yeah, what happens when we find out Lobos are working with the Salvadorans or the Armenians? What, we gonna take on everybody?" Bobby questions, this was getting more dangerous by the day.
"This ain't us leading the charge. It's Romeo and Luis. It's their fight." Clay tells him exasperatedly.
"Look, if the Niners are working with the Lobo, we'll get them to arrange a meet." Jax tells them all. "Galindo can take it from there. Send this beef back to the border."
Bobby drops his fork, it clatters on the plate. "Yeah, 'cause all our plans with these guys have worked out just perfectly."
"Enough! We voted it in! We play it out. You can't get behind that, turn in your goddamn patch." Jax snaps, surprising everyone with his anger and words.
Chibs walks in at that moment holding his phone out to Clay, "Irish. O'Shay and Rourke."
"Gaalan. Appreciate the call." Clay says as he takes the phone and leaves the room to speak.
Juice is at the clubhouse working like Jax asked him too, he's heading towards the front doors when the Sheriff rolls up and gets out of his truck. "Your guys already left. Crime scene's down."
"Oh, it was just a follow-up. You have got to pick up the phone when I call you, Juice." He sets a bag of phones into the box Juice is carrying. "Now, there's six disposable burners in there, and I know you're responsible for the club's communication."
Juice picks up the bag and drops it onto the ground. "I'm done. I can't do this anymore."
The Sheriff sees the bruise on Juice's neck, "Jesus Christ. What did you do?"
"Tell them I want out."
After breakfast the group heads out to a warehouse in Oaktown to meet up with Laroy and see where he stands on the drug business.
"It's been a minute, gentlemen." Laroy says as he hugs Jax and Clay. "Seems like our state facility treated y'all well. So why are we meeting down here in the middle of the dead zone? Y'all got some new merchandise y'all need to shoot off?"
"Nah. We just like the peace and quiet." Clay tells him.
"Yo, where the guns at?" One of Laroy men mouths off, clearly he has no manners.
"Get 'em." Clay orders, Tig and Chibs heading out to get the merchandise.
"How's business?" Jax asks Laroy.
"Can't complain."
"You, uh, rolling a little deep for a pickup." Clay says noticing how many guys Laroy has with him.
"So are you."
"I hear you're moving out of H." Jax says. "You got a new product."
"Carousel of progress."
"Cocaine carousel?" Rayne asks with a smirk.
"Not your business, Babygirl. You sell the guns, I'll sell the drugs."
Jax sighs as he steps up to Laroy, "Look, man, it's all our business. We made a deal with Galindo. You buying from Lobo puts us at odds. We can't have that."
"I don't give a shit who you're dealing with. You don't tell me how to make my goddamn money."
"I ain't gonna tell you anything, but I have a feeling these guys might want to weigh in." Jax tells him as the doors open and Alvarez walks in with the Mayans and Galindo's men, all armed with AK's.
"What is this? You set me up." Laroy shakes his head before he spits into Luis' face.
Before Luis can attack Laroy, Jax jumps in, "Don't!" He punches Laroy in the face knocking him back away from Luis. "These assholes will cut off your goddamn head. Be cool, and I will try to get you out of here alive."
Laroy nods, Jax lets him go and allows him to stand up, he faces Luis and explains how they started selling for Lobo. "Lobo approached us last month, before you guys even got out. We didn't know about Galindo."
"What'd they offer?" Clay questions.
"Manpower, protection, a piece of anyone else we brought in to buy. They want to grow."
"Call them." Luis tells Laroy. "Tell them you have a big buyer with an urgent need." Laroy seems to refuse which sets Luis' rage burning. "I'm gonna line up your men, I'm gonna gun them down, and I'm gonna drop their bodies on their mother's doorstep."
"Let us talk to him." Jax says before leading Laroy off to the side with the rest of the Sons. "Come on."
"I turn on Lobo, they'll crucify us."
Clay nods back over his shoulder, "You see what we got behind us here? You don't get on board, there won't be anything left to crucify."
Jax sighs, "Bro, we cannot get in the middle of a cartel beef. Got to roll with Galindo. We'll talk to Alvarez, figure out a way to cut in the Niners."
"Laroy sighs, he knows he has no choice in the matter, "All right."
Back in Charming it turned out that Rayne's gut feeling about someone dying had been right, as Gemma found Piney murdered in his cabin, a shotgun wound to the abdomen.
"Oh, Jesus. I told you. Goddamn it, I told you! You s… stupid old man! Jesus."
She calls up Unser and the man shows up not more than ten minutes later, "How did this happen, Wayne? This had to be Clay. He lied to me last night. Told me he was at the clubhouse. We burned those letters. There was no proof. Why would he have to do this?"
"Clay read the letters. The ones you saw burning were copies. He thinks Tara and Piney have the originals."
"You son of a bitch."
"I thought I could prevent this."
"That's why you've been hovering over Tara."
"Clay is like a wounded animal, Gemma. He's gonna rip apart anything that comes too close. Including Tara. I can't protect your old man anymore. I'm calling this in to the Sheriff's. Have 'em pick up Clay."
"No."
"The next corpse you're gonna be standing over is the mother of your grandchild. Are you ready for that? Clay cannot be saved."
"You're right. He's a wounded animal. And he needs us, Wayne, more than ever. What kind of wife would I be if I… if I turn on him now?"
"One that wanted to survive."
"I love him. And we are all responsible for this. Our hands are just as bloody as Clay's."
"Did you lie to me, too? Did you know the real reason why Clay wanted JT dead? Him ending guns?"
"I supported Clay's decision. I knew it was the best thing for the town and the club and my family. I never knew the details."
"I'm gonna choose to believe that."
Gemma makes a bold move to get Wayne to help her as she kisses him deeply. "We have to find those letters, Wayne. I can prove to Clay that there's no threat. I know I can bring him close again, I know I can. Please, Wayne?"
"It, uh, looks like Clay made an attempt to point this at the cartel shit. I can help with that. And make sure it doesn't blow back on him or the club."
"Thank you."
"You should get out of here. I-I can handle this."
Back with the Sons Rayne and the others are waiting outside of the warehouse, while Laroy brings in the Lobo's to be taken care of. As soon as Laroy gives them the signal, the group rushes in guns up, Rayne taking out two of the men before they knew what hit them. One shot to the head, one to the heart, dead before they could hit the floor.
The warehouse was an echo of gunfire as both sides laid down fire, Luis ordering his men out the back to flank the Lobos and take them out. Rayne fires off two more shots that hit air, cussing she aims once more, her eyes instantly widening as she sees one of the Lobos aiming what looks to be a grenade launcher directly at her.
"Oh shit!" Rayne hits the floor face down as the projectile hits the column above her head, pieces of concrete and debris raining down over her. She winces as a particularly large piece of cement glances off the side of her head. Unfurling from her ball, now with venomous anger running through her veins, she pushes herself to her feet. But before she can fire again, she sees two more Lobos brandishing the same gun, instantly her flight sense kicks in and she grabs for her boys shoving them towards the back door.
"Get the fuck out of here! Now!"
But the Lobos self preservation instinct kicked in, instead of pursuing the Sons they blow out the side of the building with the guns and race out, getting into their cars and peeling out of the parking lot.
Rayne runs over to the hole in the wall, her anger radiating off of her in waves, screaming she grabs the edge of a shelf and yanks it over, the metal crashing on the floor. "Goddamn it! What the fuck was that?!"
"Guess the threat was bigger than you thought, huh?" Clay snarks looking over at Luis.
Happy tries to check on Rayne's forehead, she slaps his hand away growling, "Not now, Hap!"
"Line 'em up." Luis snaps as he walks over to Laroy and his men who are still left around the warehouse. "Hurry!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?!" Jax yells as Luis' men surround Laroy and his men and drop them to their knees in a line.
"Sending a message." Luis replies coolly.
"Clay!" Jax snaps.
"You can't let them do this. I did what you asked! Clay." Laroy pleads, but it seems to fall on deaf ears as Clay doesn't even look at him.
"You can't do this." Jax tells Luis.
"This is not your business."
"It's all our business!" Jax yells, trying to get Luis to understand that this wasn't their way to do things. "This isn't Mexico. We're not kings here, man. We got to work with other crews. You start gunning people down, no one is gonna trust us. You want to move your product, we need relationships."
"Not this relationship." Luis growls pointing to Laroy.
"Laroy made a bad choice." Jax says defending what he considered to be a friend. "Better message is that he changed his mind, decided to roll with Galindo. You kill this guy, you're killing everything."
Luis thinks it over for a minute, before he looks at Laroy. "One more bad decision and I'm gonna wipe 19th Street from the map. You got a minute?" He says motioning Clay over to the side for a talk.
The Sons help Laroy and his men to their feet, the man giving Jax his sincere gratitude for defending him and his crew.
Over on the side Luis informs Clay of a private matter they have been dealing with. "Romeo wanted me to let you know he has a solution to your doctor problem." He hands Clay a prepaid phone, "There's only one number on the speed dial, so call it when you have a time and a place. But he's an independent contractor, so once it's set in motion, it can't be stopped."
"Yeah, okay. This can't blow back on me or my club. It has to look like something from the outside."
Luis chuckles, "Well, considering our current state of affairs, that doesn't seem to be a problem. Let's go."
The group gets back to the clubhouse and parks their bikes, Jax heads into the office to speak to his mother having seen Tara come out of their prior to his return. By now Rayne's anger had dissipated, an effect of taking a ride on her bike usually resulted in. She allowed Happy to lead her into the clubhouse, jumping up and taking a seat on the bar while Happy grabbed a first aid kit and tending to her head wound.
After cleaning it up and putting a couple butterfly bandages over the top, he handed her a glass of whiskey and together they toasted another day of surviving.
She smiles as Chibs comes up and kisses her cheek, "Mo angel, you seen Juice?"
"Nope." She says popping the "p" for emphasis and shaking her head. "Haven't heard from him either, and frankly Chibby, I don't give a fuck anymore." She smirks as she downs the rest of her whiskey and nodding to Happy as he refilled her glass.
As it turned out, Juice was currently down at the police station being lead into a private room by Sheriff Roosevelt, a man in a brown leather jacket coming over to speak to him.
"Hello, Juan Carlos. Lincoln Potter. I'm a big fan."
"What the hell is this?" Juice asks.
"I'm so glad you asked." Potter leads him to another private room locked with a keypad, when the door opens he motions for Juice to enter first. "After you, sir."
Inside Juice saw the walls covered with his club's photos as well as the Galindo cartel, "Oh, shit."
"Have you ever seen the inside of a RICO operation?"
With a guttural cry Juice tackles Roosevelt to the ground and wails punches at the man's face, before deputies pull him off of the police officer. Like a true diva Potter jumps up onto the table top to avoid being the next target of Juice's wrath.
Back at the clubhouse Bobby walks outside, finding Jax sitting at the picnic table having a smoke. "You were great today. Talking the cartel down, saving Laroy and all those other guys. It was impressive. This club needs that. Can't lose you."
Jax looks up at Bobby curiously, not understanding how he found out that he was leaving.
Bobby nods, "Yeah, I know you're jumping out with Clay."
"Who told you?" Jax says with a sigh.
"It was Clay talking to me about handing me the gavel after he steps down. You are supposed to be the next president, not me. It's your path."
"It isn't."
"You ain't gonna make it anyplace else."
"I'm gonna try."
"Like you tried with Ima. Your solution to a problem will always be a club solution. It's the way you're wired."
"I can change."
"Yeah. Well, maybe."
Jax heads inside to the chapel to speak with Clay, he had promised that President position to Opie and Clay had agreed. Or so Jax thought. Clay was sitting at the reaper table going over some paperwork as Jax sat down in his chair.
"You told Bobby I was getting out? Promised him that seat?"
"I'm sorry. Opie can't lead this club. It's just not who he is. I'm only trying to protect what we worked so hard to build."
"At this rate, ain't gonna be much left of that building. The cartel was a mistake."
"You almost took Bobby's head off this morning for barking that same gripe."
"I'm not just griping about it. We need an exit strategy. I'm gonna come up with one, and then I'm out."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're gonna make this deal with the Irish, get Romeo his WMDs, and then, we're gonna sit down and plan a way to get this club free of Galindo. See an end date. And then I'm gone. I'm taking Tara and my boys, and we're getting clear of this."
"You promised me, you would finish this out."
"And you promised me the cartel would be good for the club. I guess we both lied." Jax finishes as he gets up and heads for the door.
"Doctor pussy's clouding who you are, son."
Jax turns around, anger written on his face as he stares down Clay. "If you ever talk that way about Tara again, I will pound those half-dead hands so hard into this table, you won't ever be able to hold that gavel again."
Back at the police station Juice sits in one of the rooms, his hands cuffed behind his back, he smirks down at the blood on his white t-shirt from Roosevelt. Potter comes in to try and make Juice understand that going along with the RICO case is his only option at this time.
"We've been on this RICO operation for almost two years. Started with the Russians, and it's ending with Sons of Anarchy. We're turning Otto Delaney. He'll give us past criminal activities. That coupled with the MC's ongoing relationship with the cartel will give us our historical pattern of organized crime. I have enough to shut down every charter from here to Belfast."
"No. You don't. Or you wouldn't be standing here." Juice tells him defiantly, he knew they didn't have shit, or else he wouldn't be in this position.
"I want the Real IRA. I can collect you and the Mexicans without issue, but the clandestine Irish, even with the help of Scotland Yard and Interpol, will be impossible to hurt at home. They will slither back into their secret snake holes, and the source of all my woes will still be at large."
"I don't know where they are. Never met them."
"MI-5 intelligence has confirmed the Irish Kings are planning a trip stateside. Most likely to accompany a shipment. But I know it's about a face-to-face with the cartel. Old-school protocol. You're going to find out when and where that handshake happens."
Juice chuckles, "That's above my pay grade."
"Well, then, I suggest you apply yourself. If you give me the information on the cartel-Irish sit-down, I will extract the Sons from the RICO equation."
"You're gonna just let us walk?"
"No. But I won't use Federal law to shut down your entire organization."
"What happens to my club?"
"Some members of SAMCRO will have to pay for their involvement, but the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club will survive. And you and your beautiful fiancée can live happily ever after. Hmm. Maybe saving the reaper will be just the karmic balm your psychic neck wound needs."
