Anissa's POV
I didn't know what made me angrier: the fact that Gemma left me in company with tweedle dumb and jackass or fact that they look like they just woke up and came out the house and now trying to prep food for Thanksgiving for tomorrow. One of the girls shrieked with horror as the turkey neck fell out, almost dropping the turkey on the floor. The other one was attempting… Let me say this again for the imaginary audience in the back of my mind, ATTEMPTING to make Baked Macaroni with Kraft.
I finally jumped up when the one handling the turkey reached for the seasoning before even cleaning and prepping it. "Okay, everyone out of the kitchen. Please, go watch Nyla. She needs someone on her level to play with." I said, taking the turkey out of the pan and placing it in the sink. I grabbed the kid mac and tossed it down the garbage disposal. The girls shuffled out of the kitchen with a relief, happily calling for Nyla.
It didn't take long before I had the three turkeys cleaned, seasoned, sealed and put in the wall oven at a low roast. I looked up to see Kip peeking his head in from the backyard. "Kip, perfect timing! You got some time that you can spare?" I asked, drying my hands.
Kip nodded, looking wide eyed at the organized mess that I had going on. "Yeah, what can I do for you? Gemma sent me over to help the girls." Kip explained, looking around for them.
I rolled my eyes as I pulled out a list for him. "Can you run to market and grab these items for me? Pretty please!" I fluttered my eyes with a sweet smile to match.
Kip's cheeks blushed as he looked down at the list, hands shaking. I held my giggle as he read over it.
"Ummm, what is collard greens?" Kip asked curiously, but I gasped as pulled back in shock.
"Kip, please tell me you had greens before?!" I asked in seriousness.
He shook his head with a nervous 'no' I sighed in heartbreak. "You will find collard greens in the produce section, usually near the spinach." I explained, ripping open the elbow macaroni as I saw the stock pot was boiling. I sprinkled the salt and dumped the two boxes of the pasta.
"Okay… what is salt pork?" Kip asked.
"You tortured soul." I mumbled.
"There's some hoes in the house! There's some hoes in the house!" Kim, Sadie (The girls from earlier) and I sang. I gave them the duties to chop the vegetables for the dressing. Under my direction, Kip made the potato salad as I finished prepping the Baked Macaroni N Cheese. Once I started dropping it like it was hot, which it was, Kip skittered off to the backyard to start up the charcoal grill.
"He got a beard, well, I'm tryna wet it
I let him taste it, now he diabetic
I don't wanna spit, I wanna gulp
I wanna gag, I wanna choke
I want you to touch that lil' dangly thing that swing in the back of my throat
My head game is fire, punani Dasani
It's goin' in dry and it's comin' out soggy
I ride on that thing like the cops is behind me (Yeah, ah)
I spit on his mic and now he tryna sign me, woo!"
I turned around to grab the scrubber pad and almost peed my pants to find the SOA boys piled in the kitchen with a varying of smirks on their faces. "Alexa, pause." I coughed awkwardly as I smoothed my hair back, avoiding Chibs amused eyes.
"Having fun?" He asked, leaning over kissing my cheek.
"So tell me more about wetting beards?" Tig said, leaning against the back off the chair. He wiggled his eyebrows, causing me to break my stoic expression to laugh. Sleazy bastard. Tig is the type of personality to grow on you like mold.
"Nah, I heard you were a bottom feeder." I teased back, but smacked Jax's hand that was reaching for a pot behind me.
Tig just hunched his shoulders in a not so caring fashion. "Don't knock it until you try it." He mocked, flicking his tongue between his two fingers.
I couldn't even retort as Bobby, Happy, and Jax tried to close in on the oven to see what was on. "Damn Nissa, it smells fucking good in here." Happy said, taking a sniff.
"Back up, heathens! I got a wooden spoon and I'm not afraid to use it." I wielded the spoon threatening, but apparently it had the opposite effect as Bobby pinched my cheeks.
"She is cute, trying to act tough." Bobby mocked his glasses on the tip of nose as he looked up at me.
"Since y'all so nosey-" I grabbed a potato peeler and slicer. "You guys can peel and slice the sweet potato." I gave the peeler to Bobby and the slicer to Happy. "You look like you know your way around sharp objects." I teased Happy, patting his shoulder. He smirked, plucking the slicer from my hand.
Seeing Jax trying to escape, I turned in his direction. "Prince Charming." I called plucking the beer bottle out of his hand and replacing it with a box of Jiffy Cornbread. "Make the cornbread. Substitute the oil and water for milk and butter." I bopped his nose with my finger, moving onto Tig, who was trying to feel up Sadie as she giggled childishly. "Alexander Tig Trager, you can wash the few dishes to make space for me to make these Sweet Potato pies." I ordered, tossing the scrubber pad at him.
"Sweet potato pie? Is it good?" Tig asked, causing Happy, Bobby and I to stop and look at him, blinking a few times.
"Are you serious? Are you pulling my leg?" I asked, questioning with my arms folded.
"What's the big deal? I've never had sweet potato pie either." Jax said, washing his hands.
"Me either, lass." Chibs said, before sipping his beer. I turned to Chibs with an empathetic smile. "Oh baby, I can't believe I'm claiming you out in these streets and you've never had sweet potato pie. But don't you worry, I'm going to make a pie just for you. Just remember, melt a little butter on it with a side of vanilla ice cream." I patted his chest, before sipping on the beer that I took from Jax. "At least I have two cultured men in the kitchen to not cause complete disappointment. Anyways Mr. Telford, you will be straining my cranberries for the cranberry sauce." I grabbed the strainer and wooden masher, leading Chibs over to the sink. He washed his hands before I set up strainer over the bowl. "Chibs, place that stock pot in the sink, so you can use the hand strainer to fish out the cranberries. Chibs did as I asked, twisting his body so as to not burn me.
"Okay babe, you are going to have to show me." Chibs said, leaned against the sink.
"You want to put the cranberries in a strainer as well as the orange peels, because I want to get as much as my citrus undertones." I said, placing some boiled cranberries in the strainer with orange slices. I mashed the cranberries with the wooden masher, watching the residuals coming of the strainer into the bowl. I felt Chibs come up behind me, encircling his arms around me, placing his hands on the sink.
"You know, I find this extremely sexy." Chibs whispered, his nose brushing the shell of my nose. My lips quivered as I tried to hold in my cheesy smile. It's been about three months since Chibs and I started… whatever you wanted to call this. I had to spend a lot of time down in Charming, working with Jax to get Nyla comfortable with his presence. And in between the time, Chibs would take late night rides when he had the chance. It didn't always end with sex, don't even get me started on that. It was a nice change of pace for once… very different from what I was used to. I was used to men complimenting me, but when Chibs… Filip did it, it came from a place of genuity.
"Hey, don't be over there dry humping over my food." Tig said, blowing bubbles at Happy's head, who scowled
"You just admitted to eating ass, not even ten minutes ago." Chibs argued back, taking over the cranberries.
"Right, your damn mouth is the health hazard, so don't be talking over my food." Happy griped, causing the men to laugh. I chuckled, looking up to see Kip.
He wiped his forehead on his sleeve. "The hams are smoking right now. Did you need any help with anything else?" Kip asked.
I went to respond, but Tig butted in. "Yeah, come finish these dishes." Tig ordered. I put my hand out to stop Kip from going to the sink.
"No, Kip has been my helper since eight this morning, so you can finish the dishes. Kip, grab yourself a beer and go have a break." I said, handing him a small bowl of greens with a little bit of salt pork with a wink.
"Thank you, AJ." Kip said, before disappearing back outside. The boys were bickering among themselves, so I ignored them to say, "Alexa, play Big Ole' Freak by Megan Thee Stallion.'
"Cali, has Toni been through the club?" I asked one of my old contacts from up in LA, standing outside of Gemma's house, finish up an hour ago.
There was loud music being blasted in the background as I tried to hear Cali. "Nope AJ. I haven't seen her come through Euphoria. Trust me, Angel would have been talking about it if that was true." Cali said, but I could hear her get distracted by someone. "Look, I got to get back to the floor, but I'll keep my ears to the ground for ya." Cali said.
"Thanks Boo." I hung up with a sigh, sliding my phone in my back pocket. I looked back when I heard the screen door opening to see Chibs standing on the top of the stairs, looking down at me.
"You good?" Chibs asked, patting the step next to him. I walked to sit next to him, leaning against my knees. I looked up at the stars.
"I know you probably are tired of me talking about this but, I think something else is going on with Toni. I've called all of our old friends up in LA and she hasn't been seen by any of them. I found it hard to believe that Toni would give up her hotspots." I said.
"No, I am not tired talking about this, because this is important. Only you know Toni truly, so if you say something is not right, then I believe you. I'll give Juice a call tonight and see what he can do with his tech." Chibs reassured, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
"Okay." I yawned, laying my head on his shoulder.
"Were you staying the night? It's pretty late for that hour drive." Chibs asked with no ulterior motive other than to make sure I was safe.. Another thing, I wasn't used to, but came to like very much.
"I barely hold my head up, so that's a yes." I mumbled, another yawn creeping up. Both of our heads popped up when we heard Gemma scream "Tig, you better not be in there touching those damn pies." I laughed, looking at Chibs.
"What are the chances you make it out of there with your personal pie?" I asked, getting up with the help of Chibs.
"I had Kip hide mines out back by the propane tank." Chibs smiled, but it dropped instantly when we heard "One of the pies missing, Gemma." Tig snitched.
"Fucking hell." Chibs said, causing me to chuckle
I snapped out of my sleep, grasping at my knife under my pillow that wasn't there. Through blurry eyes, Chibs was sliding on his cut. "Ugh, what time is it?" I said, pushing my satin cap out of my face.
"Too early for you to be up. I got an emergency club meeting I need to head." Chibs kissed my head, then pulled my cover back over my shoulders. "Go back to sleep, I'll be back before you wake up." He clicked the light off before walking out, pulling the door up.
My eyes were wide seeing so many motorcycles lined the block, then to see a sea of leather on Gemma's front lawn. Luckily for me, there was space left open in the driveway. 'Favorite' by Nicki Minaj was cut off when I turned my truck off. I hopped out, closing the door behind me. I wore my turquoise Champion set that Chibs bought for me with a rainbow wig to set it off. I scurried off to the back when I saw men leering that happened to be standing in front of the door. I slowed down seeing Piney smoking with his oxygen tank next to him. "Piney, what do you think you're doing? Do you know you can blow yourself up?" I said, picking up his makeshift ashtray so he could put the cigarette down.
"Not when I have such a beautiful angel looking out for me." Piney flirted, causing a smile to break across my face as I placed the cannula back into his nose.
"Flattery will get everywhere, old flirt. Is everyone in the house?" I asked, standing back up.
Piney pulled out a flask out of his cut, nodding his head 'yes' to my question. "Okay Piney, I'll catch you later." I said with a pat to the shoulder, before walking off. I spotted my silver fox off in the distance when I rounded the corner, talking to Juice. I took off in a sprint, hoping to catch him off his guard. Just when I jumped, he turned around and caught me. "AGH!"Chibs groaned from the impact, but he remained on his feet.
"How did you know I was coming?" I questioned, encircling my arms around his neck as he put me down on my feet.
"The boys suddenly got quiet. You have that effect." Chibs said, giving me a quick peck on the lips.
"And what happened to you returning before I woke up this morning, Mr. Telford?" I asked with sass.
"Sorry lass, I got caught up with the boys and the meeting. We are heading to Nevada by nightfall, so we have a few hours." Chibs explained. Being with Chibs these last few months I learned not to ask questions. The first time around when I asked about certain things, I would get vague answers. Though that was better than getting threatened with a knife at my throat. I knew if anything crossed my boundaries, we would have discussion. "Ah Juice!" Chibs said, catching the young man's attention. "Do you think you could do a search for a friend of Anissa?" Chibs asked.
Juice nodded, a goofy smile on his face as looked between the two of us. "Yeah, no problem. What's the name and DOB? And phone number?" Juice asked.
"Toni Campbell and January 1, 1989. Her current cell is 000-555-1111." I gave the information that he needed. "Thanks, Juice. This means a lot." I said.
"No problem. I'll see you guys in there." Juice said, before heading to the house.
I secretly fixed Kip a plate, knowing damn well the boys about to go in on everything. "Here, now this is the perfect time to go disappear while everyone is occupied." I said, passing the plate over to him.
"I got to help Gemma with passing the plates." Kip said, looking longingly at the plate of food.
"I got it, Kip. Happy Food's Day!" I said, taking the apron off his shoulder.
"Thanks Anissa!" Kip said, before moving his way through the crowd. I walked off to the kitchen, seeing Gemma handing off four plates to Opie and Donna.
"Hey Ope and Donna! Happy Food's Day! Where are the kids?" I asked, nudging past Op to get to the otherside.
"Hey, I hear them screaming, so I'm assuming they are okay." Ope said jokingly as Donna swatted his shoulder.
"Donna, you look really nice. Love the earrings!" I said with a smile. Donna was one of the cooler, laid back women of the group. It was definitely a plus that she wasn't one of Gemma's scared sheeps.
She smiled, touching her ears. "Thank you. That turquoise color looks really good on you. Also, thanks for cooking this year. Everything looks amazing." Donna said.
"Thanks. We got to chit chat at dinner." I said, watching the bikers start to line. "I want to see y'all washing your hands before anyone reaches for anything." I waved at Donna as she and Ope walked off. It was about twenty five people altogether. Tig popped into the line, a big smile on his face. "Hands are washed, so I hurry up with my plate." Tig said, practically vibrating at the seams.
I shook my head with sass as I set his plate up. "Look Tig, I'm not your dick. I don't come on command." I sassed, slapping a piece of ham on top of the dressing.
Tig smirked "My dick also doesn't talk back. Hey, don't skimp me on the mac!" He protested. I rolled my eyes as I gave him an extra scoop. "Thanks Dollface." He said, plucking the plate out of my hands.
Jax approached with Nyla in his arms. She dressed down in her reds and browns with a cute turkey styled headband that I bought last week. She lit up when she saw me, immediately trying to get out of Jax's grasp. "Hey baby! You look soo cute, but I can't hold you right now, sweetie. Happy Food's Day, Jax. What do you want on your plate?" I asked, fishing out another tray.
"You as well. Just a little bit of everything." He said as he fussed with Anissa as she threw a fit. She yanked at Jax's cap, pulling it over his eyes.
I laughed as I hand off the plate to Jax, causing Nyla to sober up and her eyes landing on the plate. "Definitely her aunt's niece." I laughed, kissing her cheek. Nyla wasting no time swiped at the potato salad to, coating her little fingers and stuffing them in her mouth.
"Hey, slow down!" Jax said, walking off.
"What are you doing over there?" Chibs asked, walking over to me with two plates in his hand.
"Just helping to make plates. Save me a seat, babe." I said, getting ready to make another.
"Drop the spoon, lass. You cooked all yesterday, there's couple of girls hanging around that can handle that. Come on." Chibs said, herding me out of the kitchen.
"Okay, fine." All the main guys laid claim to the dining area, so Chibs and I sat in the middle between Piney on Chibs left and Happy on my right.
"Sup Happy. Food good?" I said, giving him a little dap.
"If I ever wanted a wife, it would be you." Happy chuckled.
Nope, let's switch seats." Chibs jokes, pulling my chair out for me.
"She's no safer over here than she is over there." Piney winked at me. I winked back with a smile, sitting down.
"Ope, you better get your Dad before you have a new step mama."I said, causing Piney to laugh out loud
"Don't encourage the old man, AJ." Ope said, stroking his beard.
"God, this hits the spot." Tig said, eating away at the collard greens
"Well, enjoy it, because that's the last time I cook for you linebackers." I said, taking a bite of turkey. I 'mmm' enjoying the piece of meat. "Ok AJ it's the outdoing myself for meee!"
"Don't worry guys, I bribed her with a pair of sneakers, so she can be bought." Jax said, spilling the tea. As if Nyla was agreeing, she 'mmm', kicking her legs in excitement with a little bit of potato salad on her mouth.
I was laying across Chibs bed with the itis, watching him pack an overnight bag for his trip. "So, when are you expected to be back?" I asked, rubbing my belly hoping to relieve the tension, but also waiting impatiently for Chibs to head out, so I can use the bathroom. Double standards and all that.
"By Saturday night. Going to miss me?" He said, crawling over me, snuggling his face in my neck.
I giggled, cupping the back of his head. "How can you even move? I'm dead." I said as my hands slithered down to his backside. We didn't get too far into our tryst when his cell started to ring.
Chibs huffed, peeking his head back up. "Fucking christ!" He mumbled, sliding off the bed to get the phone off the dresser. "Clay, I'm on my way. Just locking up." He said. He remained silent before saying 'Bye'. "Okay, lass. No play time for us. I have a spare in the night table whenever you get ready to leave." Chibs explained as I forced myself up off the bed, grabbing the cut off the door.
I handed it over, watching him slide it on. I smoothed it down, my fingers brushing the SOA patch. "Come back with all your hair on your head. I don't want to have to beat nobody's ass." I kissed him quickly, before pulling back. That wasn't enough as Chibs chased my lips, capturing them again. He pressed me against him, a light grip on my hair. I couldn't even be mad as he dipped me a little, his tongue melting against mine. Was kisses always supposed to be like this? Feel like this? I didn't even realize Chibs had pulled away, looking down at me with crystalline green eyes.
"I'll be back before you know it. Try to get some sleep." Chibs said, pulling away. He grabbed his bag off the floor. He patted at his back, securing the 9 that I was aware that he carried, even though he was felon. I followed him to the door, watching him mount his bike. He gave a wave before riding off into the night.
When I no longer heard him, I locked up the house. I stripped down to my underwear, grabbing my satin cap out of the night stand. I was just heading to the bathroom, but stopped when I heard my phone swoosh. I picked it up from the bed, clicking the text from a recognizable number.
I heard youwere asking around for Toni. You know what you have to do if you want info -Michael
Irritation filled me, ruining my night. I picked up my phone to type back. I hit 'send', thinking to myself 'Toni, what in the hell did you get yourself in?'