Chapter Seventeen: Repeat After Me, Burn Baby Burn

A grumble of deep satisfaction moved through Tig's chest as he picked her up and arranged her in his arms as though she was already his bride and ready to cross the threshold. "Let's go get married," he growled and forced an involuntary, girlish squeal from Rosamund as he carried her to the front room of the criminal safe house.

Gemma opened the door to the criminal safe house to the ordained minister from an allied MC. The older man had a wicked scar that bisected his face but left his lips untouched. The man smiled at Gemma and easily offered his hand.

"Sebastian."

"Gemma, and this is Juice," Gemma said before gesturing towards the entering couple. "Our bride Rose and groom Alexander."

The quintet all introduced themselves and engaged in casual small talk, coffee, beer, and bourbon was offered all around. Sebastian chose water, tepid and from the tap.

Gemma tugged on Rosamund's elbow, "excuse us all for a minute," Gemma murmured and led Rosamund from the room.

"I know this isn't how you imagined getting married, but I promise you that everything is going to be okay," Gemma murmured in a hushed tone as she guided Rosamund to sit in one of the table's mismatched chairs.

Rosamund couldn't help but smirk as Gemma continued to make promises and offer platitudes.

"I'm sorry," Rosamund started as she rubbed at her temples before continuing in a defeated melody. "I've heard so many promises over the years."

"Then it isn't a promise," Gemma stated firmly and reached for Rosamund's hand, rhythmically squeezing as she continued. "It's a vow, you'll be safe in your new family, with Tig."

Rosamund met Gemma's eyes, trying to weigh the veracity of her words.

"You have to eventually learn to trust," Rosamund told herself and returned Gemma's smile.

"And you're accepting the house as a wedding gift," Gemma added sternly, not needing to state how thankful she and all the Club were that she was arranging disposal of the van load of bullet-riddled bodies.

Rosamund chuckled, "as long as you promise to visit a lot."

Gemma stood and held out her hand towards Rosamund, "let's not keep the groom waiting any longer," she murmured as she led Rosamund from the kitchen.

Hours away as Chibs navigated the van full of Salazar's fallen compatriots to the address Leo DiAmmini had directed, back in the criminal safehouse, the allied MC member and ordained minister instructed Tig and Rosamund to repeat after him.

"From this day onward, I choose you to be my husband, Alexander.

"From this day onward, I choose you to be my wife, Rosamund.

As Rosamund and Tig continued to exchange vows, hours away at the crematorium, Chibs was met by an angry man with the flushed, reddened face of an alcoholic.

Chibs watched as the man began to yank out the gold and silver dental fillings of the dead before shoving them into a German-made cremation chamber.

As each body was reduced to ashes and small chunks of bone as the temperature soared up to nearly two-thousand degrees, back at the criminal safehouse, Rosamund's heart began to pound in her throat as she continued her vows.

"To love together and laugh together."

"To work by your side and dream in your arms."

"And to fill your heart and feed your soul."

Tig reached for Rosamund's hands as back at the nondescript crematorium, Chibs wanted away from the scowling man who had remained wordless as he roughly checked the pockets of each fallen rider after he played Nazi doctor.

As Chibs began to unload the remaining bodies and dump them on squeaky, metal gurneys with troughs along the sides to catch spilled body fluids, several hours away at the impromptu wedding venue in the less than desirable criminal condo, Tig squeezed Rosamund's hands as he echoed the allied MC minister.

"To always seek out the best in you."

"To play with you whenever I can as we grow old."

"Always loving you with all my heart, until the end of our forever."

Hours away bodies continued to be incinerated at one location, while elsewhere, Clay was on a morphine drip as his gunshot wounds were irrigated and closed as neatly as possible with the jagged, uneven edges.

As Clay was doped enough to hum a classic animated tune of whistling while on the job, Bobby scrolled through the messages on Salazar's phone that Hale had provided.

Bobby chuckled as he began to text Hale as though he was Salazar, alive and well.

Bobby tapped out a long message boasting about being the victor in the battle against SAMCRO and holding Clay's heart in his hand. Back in the safehouse with the door acting as an arbor, Rosamund felt a blush fill her face as she spoke.

"I promise to love you. To protect and care for you."

"Be patient and understanding, to support you."

"To always be faithful to you."

As Tig took a breath, trying to speak in a steady voice, back in the modified surgical suite, Clay had begun to snore, a thick string of saliva spilled from the corner of his lips as his head rolled to the side. Bobby composed another message to Hale stating that he had the microchip.

As Bobby waited for Hale to reply, he leaned back and crossed his arms as he hoped to find some of the sleep Clay was managing, back at the small wedding where the bride wore sweatpants, Tig and Rosamund finished taking a turn reciting their vows, the last syllable sealing them together.

"I will be your friend and companion."

"I will share my life with you, through good times and bad times."

"For as long as we both shall live."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Alexander, you may kiss your bride."

Tig didn't need to be told the first time as he wrapped Rosamund up in his arms and crushed his lips against hers, stealing her breath with the urgency of his embrace.

The minister smiled at the just married couple, he'd bless unions for many years to come until a devastating stroke ended his life, never having been married in a cruel twist to the happiness he witnessed.

Tig shook the minister's hand and the five enjoyed an easy lunch thrown together by Gemma before four of them toasted with bourbon as the minister had another glass of water.

After small talk about the political and actual climate, they all moved away from the table and said their collective goodbyes and gratitude to the minister before their number was reduced to four.

Gemma pulled her coat from where she'd tossed it over the sofa as she spoke to Juice. "Let's get out of here for a while and pick up some groceries, give the newlyweds some space."

Gemma hugged Rosamund, "welcome to the family baby," she murmured and gave her an extra squeeze before hugging Tig.

"Will a few hours give you enough time Tiggy?" Gemma whispered against his ear.

Tig chuckled in response and locked the door after Juice and Gemma left. He turned towards Rose when the van started and backed out of the driveway.

"How do you feel?" Tig asked her as he closed the small distance between them, reaching to cup her jaw and trace the rough pad of his thumb across her lower lip.

"I feel like I might be safe again, that I can sleep through the night without fear," Rosamund murmured as she allowed Tig to pull her into his strong arms.

"You are and you can," Tig agreed as he pressed his lips to the side of her neck.

A shiver moved from the base of Rosamund's spine to the crown of her head. "Can we go upstairs where it's warmer?" she asked, not truly caring much about the temperature but not confident enough to outright ask for his affection.

Tig replied with a wordless, primal growl and deep groan as he fought the urge to spin her around, bend her over the sofa and fuck her.

As Rosamund and Tig made their way to the bedroom upstairs, back at Clay's heavily medicated bedside, Salazar's phone chimed from Bobby's pocket. He rubbed at his eyes before he read the incoming slew of messages from Hale.

Bobby could practically hear Hale's heavy rings knock metallically as he rubbed his moist, small hands together.

All Hale cared about was the microchip and when to expect Salazar back in Charming.

Bobby waited a five long minutes which put Hale's teeth on edge before ignoring the question and instead implying that he might also have Rose, alive.

Back in Charming, Hale narrowed his eyes at the incoming message from presumably Salazar that his niece was alive.

Hale thought he could make Rose useful for a little longer with some extortion fun, cash in on some of the promised favors from senators and gubernatorial candidates, sealed with a handshake.

As Bobby continued to exchange messages with Hale, back at the criminal hidey-hole condo, Tig reached out for Rosamund's upper arm and brought her to a sudden stop.

"What?" she asked, startled at his rough grasp.

Tig quickly scooped her up and carried her across the bedroom's threshold as husband and wife. "I promise to treat you as good as my leather and ride you as much as my Harley," he growled as he tossed her to land easily on the sagging mattress.

Rosamund watched as Tig began to pull off his clothes in exquisite slowness. She detected the slightest pause as he kicked off his boots and glanced at the bedside table.

Rosamund followed Tig's gaze to find it on the rectangular packet of generically prescribed birth control.

"Was that your idea?" he asked.

"No, but it's a good idea and it slipped my mind somehow. Is it a problem?" she added.

"No, do you ever want children?"

Rosamund slowly shook her head, not able to admit how broken and incomplete she felt. "I don't have anything left to give; my uncle took everything."

"That's not true," Tig quickly rebutted in the space of time before he could join her on the bed and wrap her up his arms, hungry for nothing preventing his hands from finding her bare flesh. "You give me everything," Tig rasped heavily as he began to get distracted by his rising lust to strip her of her clothes.

Tig would never tell her that he was relieved she didn't want children as he unzipped her cotton hoodie from a chain athleisure wear store. He was resolute that he didn't want to share her with anyone as he tugged her sweatpants free until his eyes could find her naked thighs and panty covered pussy.

Tig rolled to his side and danced his fingertips up the inside of her thigh until he could tease at her panties, sliding down in the bed until his exhale was hot against the thin layer of cotton that separated his tongue from finding and fucking her wet center.

He felt like he could die of shame in front of her beauty as he tugged her panties completely to the side until he could dip his face against the apex of her thighs and trace his tongue in agonizingly long strokes through the silken, pink folds of her slit.

Rosamund arched her back as Tig made her breath completely leave her body as he bobbed his tongue into her tight opening in quick pokes, tasting her as he made wetness rush to her soft pussy lips.

Tig forced Rosamund to gasp as he pushed her thighs further apart as he moved up in the bed, stroking his painfully hard cock as he held her paralyzed in his gaze.

Tig couldn't sink his cock into her fast enough, grunting in the language of primitive ancestors as he was stopped when their intimate flesh kissed. Rosamund gave a moan just shy of painful as the sensitive head of his cock bumped her cervix, his thick shaft forced her body to stretch to accommodate him as he began plunging into her wetness with rhythmic enthusiasm.

Tig found himself swiftly close to embarrassing himself when he knew he wouldn't be able to stop from climaxing early in the race. He dropped his head to the curve of her neck, his raggedly, whispered breath near-scalding against her skin.

"She's now mine in every way," Tig thought as his throbbing rigidity spasmed a few times as he thrust himself inside her before coating her intimate center in his stickiness.

Tig collapsed on top of Rosamund, groaning with utter contentment as she reached up and ran her fingers through his dark, glossy hair. "In every way," Tig thought as he rolled back to lay alongside her, pulling the bedspread up and over them.