16

Once I was dried off, the old woman came back in and sat on the bed with my while she reapplied the ointments to my bruises, gave me some pills and helped me get dressed. Marcus was exiting the bathroom in a towel. The old woman saw him and scowled and started saying something fast and angry. Marcus sounded annoyed, but didn't raise his voice to her any. He looked at me and I just looked down and away, my eyes hiding the pure relief I felt. Marcus dried off and got dressed and left with the old woman.

I slid the dress on back over me and decided to take the time to look out the window that was in the back of the room. I could see a parking lot with me on motorcycles talking. I looked out into the distance to see a city far off in the distance. I thought about what happened in the bathroom between Marcus and I. I had never been so perplexed by what happened. The light was at least able to shine in so I could feel some of the sun. I sighed wishing I could just walk right out, but I wouldn't get far. The gang wouldn't let me go and who knows if AJ Weston is alive and looking for me.

You'd think my mind would be at ease knowing SAMCRO was out looking for me. But they what help were they when I needed them most? I shook my head telling myself that it's not entirely their fault, that no one expected I would be attacked. But maybe I just felt bitterness in this entire situation. I was somewhat just brought into the club and they've had nothing to show for it. I wrapped my arms around myself and just sighed. My joints felt a better, but I was still not out of the woods yet. After an hour of pure boredom, I decided I was done being stuck inside. I moved over to the door and opened it. There were two large men standing there and they slowly looked down at me.

Have they been standing there this entire time? I cleared my throat trying to be cool.

"If one of you aren't busy, can you find Marcus Alvarez for me?" I asked.

"Boss is out on business. Close the door." one of them said with intimidation and I just sighed and did as I was told. The old woman came to check on me from time to time, bringing me different dishes of food and I ate them without question. I figured one more day stuck in here wouldn't be bad, if I was truly leaving tomorrow.

Normal POV

The day ran together for Happy. The club had a plan to go to Oakland and get Meera back by whatever means necessary. He had killed a lot of Zobelle's men in the last week for her, and he still managed to have the last fucking laugh. Happy offered to watch Meera 24/7 until this threat was eliminated.

He stared at her ceiling as he lied naked in her bed. He couldn't sleep, at all. It was easy to break into her house by picking the lock on her back door. He was welcome here and he needed the aura of her around him to give him strength to kill even more tomorrow. He turned over to stare at the two white envelopes on her dresser. It was both their test results from the hospital. He didn't even want to open his until they were both here. He ran his hands over his face thinking he could sleep quicker if he killed something. The pleasure killing some asshole in this situation would help.

He closed his eyes trying to think of Meera and what she was doing, but his emotions got the better of him. What if Alvarez was hurting her, raping her, and torturing her. He winced, his anger boiling over. He was coming for her, that much he knew. He didn't even remember falling asleep until the sun was already brightening the room. His eyes opened, dark orbs staring angrily at the ceiling.

Back in Oakland, Alvarez and two of his men were in their car watching the hospital from the parking lot. Two bodies were being wheeled out and he frowned heavily as it was his men. A woman walked over, dressed in scrubs. She was brown skinned, hair pinned up in a bun. Alvarez got out and met with her around the front of the car.

"They find Zobelle's guy?" he asked the woman who shook her head.

"No. He slit their throats and snuck out of the building. I saw his body personally while he was knocked out… any guy with the words "I kill niggers" was going to have to cover up in order to escape successfully. Probably took some scrubs from the supply closet and left." she informed. "I also spoke to our informant from Charming. The reason this guy and that girl are here, was because he planned to off her here in and frame the club so SAMCRO would come after us and the white devils could move in on the territory while the club is at war."

Alvarez frowned heavily as he exhaled, shaking his head slowly.

"Those fuckers messed with the wrong fucking club." he stated. It was time to wipe those pieces of shit off the face of the earth.

Meera's POV

The next morning, the woman came in and changed my bandages one last time. She even helped me get into the clothes brought to me. It was a pair of jeans, a grey tank and purple shirt. Luckily the pants fit but the shirt was a little too big. She then placed her hands on my cheeks smiling and speaking once more. Luckily, Marcus had come and was standing in the door way as if waiting.

"She says it was a pleasure helping you get better." he said and the woman patted my hands and left the room. If anything, she brought me a large sense of comfort here.

"Thank you." I called out to her before looking at Marcus as he entered the room. His face was callous, and serious. I didn't like this and I looked him over some.

"Something wrong?" I asked and he stood over me now. His eyes were deep and dangerous.

"It seems you were brought here to Oakland for a reason." he replied. I tilted my head confused.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"It seemed Zobelle's man was planning to bring you here to kill you and blame us for it so Clay Morrow would declare a turf war." he said. I blinked rapidly looking down some.

"What? Why would he do that? Risk killing someone who isn't an important member of the club?" I asked. He shrugged.

"My resources say it was to move in on his territory." he said. I turned away slowly wrapping my arms around myself for a moment. My brain itched trying to rethink my past.

"Where have I heard this before?" I muttered to myself before looking back up at Marcus.

"Does this mean he is alive, Weston?" I asked. He nodded and I winced.

"I had him held at the hospital. But he escaped, killed two of my men." he said angrily. I wanted to be angry that he didn't tell me Weston was alive, but I was in no position to say anything about that.

"So what will you do?" I asked.

"I'll do what's needed for the club. I'll bring you some food before we go." was all he said before leaving. What did that mean? Would there be a war anyways? I ran my fingers over my head in thought. Time seemed to go by slowly today. I had no idea when we were leaving to meet Clay and the others.

My stomach tightened at the thought of seeing Happy again. I hope he was okay and well. Hell, I hope he was alive. Who knows what he's doing right now?

Finally, Marcus returned and motioned for me to come with him. I followed him from the room and my heart was pounding from nervousness. It was time. I could feel it. Plus all the men in leather standing at the bottom, giving Marcus their attention told me as well.

"Vamos." He commanded and placed his hand on my back to nudge me forward. We all moved outside and I saw a bunch of cars waiting and a black van waiting as well. It felt good to feel the warmth of the sun on my body. I took een breaths as Marcus pulled me towards the van and the back door slid open. I looked up at Marcus as he brought out some handcuffs. I raised my hands and he cuffed them together moving behind me and placing his hands on my hips to help me inside the van. I sat down on the other side and the van filled with men. I was tense at all the large, frowning men sitting around me. Marcus just stared at me as one of his men closed the door.

I just leaned back into the wall and waited. The van didn't move for a little while and I could hear men speaking outside. I just looked down at my hands. They've never been cuffed before. It was real just seeing them like this. The van finally moved and the force caused me to fall a bit. But I pressed my legs into the floor and it stopped me from pushing against the large bald-headed man on my right. His head is covered in tattoos and words were over the space his eye brows should be. There were no windows and I couldn't see anything. I just kept my eyes forward and just prayed nothing happened.

As the car jumped a bit from pot holes, I could only assume, I thought about my life months before meeting Happy. There was no excitement or real adventure in my life. Just work and home work and home. Then I start hanging out with Tara and she unknowingly introduces me to the world of anarchy. But it was no one's fault but my own. I should have just fucked him and left and never saw him again.

But it wasn't even that simple. After seeing Tara again, I needed to reconnect with the human world again and she and the club were my connection. I failed at trying to just be casual with Happy… I got attached. Had I been stronger then I could have kept my distance. Maybe. Happy's possessiveness would never allow me to be distant or casual with him and I let that possessiveness devour me. the van had stopped now and I looked up wondering what was going on.

"Alright Alvarez, we're here. Show me the girl." My eyes widened at the voice. Clay. They're here.

The door slid back open and the men surrounding me got out. I didn't move until I saw Marcus and he motioned with his hands for me to come to him.

I slowly moved over to him and he helped me out of car. I looked out to see we were at a large storage facility. Rows upon rows of storage units were on either side of us. Across from us was Clay and the club and past them, on what seemed like a hill, was a small park. I looked at all the men and saw they were mildly relieved to see me. Finally, my eyes found Happy and he looked pissed. Eyes hard and focused as Marcus took hold of my wrists and led me toward Clay.

Clay did the same with Happy, Chibs, and Tig following. The others stayed where they were. My heart pounded hard making my entire body hurt I was so nervous and finally the two gangs stopped two storage units apart and I just looked at Happy to see him staring at me, eyes calmer from how they were a few seconds ago. Everyone was glaring at each other.

"Alright. So down to business-" Clay began but Marcus just raised my hands and began to uncuff them. I looked at him confused as was the rest of SAMCRO. Marcus just looked down at me and motioned me toward Clay.

"Go." he said coolly. Clay's eyes widened and Tig and Chibs were just as confused as I was. I looked Marcus over curiously before he motioned for me to go again. I looked at Clay and then Marcus again before looking at Happy and moving over to him. His arms spread out and wrapped around me. It was tight and it hurt but I didn't care. I needed to feel his embrace, to feel he was real. We pulled back and he placed his hands on my head pulling our foreheads together.

"You good?" he asked and I nodded quickly.

"Yeah." I whimpered and he nodded.

"Say the word and I'll put a bullet in his head." he replied and I just laughed lightly and kissed him hard and he returned it.

"What the hell is this?" Clay asked and Marcus shrugged casually looking at Clay with emotionless eyes.

"You caught me in a very good mood today. Take her and go." he said. Happy had his arm around my neck when I looked at him stunned. He was just letting me go? No payment what so ever? I looked at Clay who looked back at us and Chibs nodded.

"We should take this chance to go." he said and Clay looked back at Marcus who just nodded his head at me getting my attention.

"You stay out of trouble teacher lady." he replied before turning and moving back with his men. I just stared at him wondering why he did what he did. It couldn't have anything to do with what happened yesterday could it. Clay just turned and moved over to me placing his hand on the side of my cheek.

"You alright?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, you should see my car." I replied and he smirked and looked at the rest of us.

"Let's get the hell out of here." he said and we all began to turn and walk back to Jax and the others. Once I was close to them they smiled and patted my shoulders welcoming me back. I smiled at all of them, happy they were all here and safe before looking back toward the Mayan gang I was now leaving. Marcus opened the door of his car and gave me a long stare before getting back into his car.

Happy moved me toward a large black truck where we got in. Tig drove, Happy was in the middle, and I sat in the passenger's side just happy he was beside me. He pulled me into his shoulder and I just leaned on him, nuzzling his shoulder as we took off. I was going home. And it was too easy.

After we got back to Charming, I told Clay what I had found out about Weston being alive and his plan to frame the Mayans for my murder. I told him that Marcus didn't hurt me, just kept me in a room while I stayed there. I can imagine Clay had the same question rattling in his brain that Happy and I'm sure all of the others had. Why was it so easy?

Happy led me into the hospital's waiting room. After being checked in, we waited for a few minutes before we saw Tara coming into view. She saw me and her mouth dropped in surprise. I smiled, tears falling down my face as I got up and move over to her hugging her quickly. I cried against her and she saw me a few minutes later. Happy and I were in a room of our own and I was sitting on the medical table as he was staring at me. I could see it in his eyes, he was thinking hard. I knew what he was thinking too. 'Why would a man like Marcus Alvarez, who is an enemy of the club just let her go?' What did I do to convince him to let me go? I knew we'd talk about it later.

Instead he just moved from his chair and stood in front of me before kissing me once more, although this time it was different. It was with passion and need.

"I thought I lost you." he said against my lips and I shook my head.

"Death doesn't have the balls to take me from you." I replied and he laughed some. "And I think I am ready for a tattoo now." He just smiled more and kissed me again.

"I'm going to be around a lot more with you until Zobelle and Weston are dead." he said. I nodded in reply. I didn't want to be alone anyways since I always found myself in trouble anyways when I was alone.

Tara came back in and informed me that I had no internal bleeding or broken bones or anything life threatening. I would just be sore for a while. She prescribed me pain medicine and that was it. That night, I called my supervisor and told her I was in a car wreck and that my phone had been completely destroyed. I apologized for not finding a way to contact her sooner, but she just told me to take some time off and get better. After I had showered and washed my hair, I was in the kitchen cooking some pasta. Happy just stared at me in the doorway for a moment, eyes calm, but flickering as if battling with himself.

"Meera, we gotta talk." he said lowly carefully. I just looked up at him and nodded.

"Okay." I replied turning to him and crossing my arms lightly. He moved over to me and stared down at me.

"Don't get me wrong, I am beyond thrilled that you are okay and safe. But even you have to admit that that was too easy of a deal. I mean, Alvarez didn't want anything at all? To the club that's not a good sign," he said and I looked away for a second and his head leaned into me a bit. "Hey. Clay thinks it's not a good sign." I nodded.

"It's not like I gave him any information on the club, because the basics I know, Marcus knows." I replied. He leaned back some, frowning.

"Marcus?" he asked. I gave him a look.

"That's his name isn't it?" I asked. Oh lord, I know what it is now. They're all enemies, they aren't formal with each other. Hell how was I supposed to know that. Happy frowned more looking me over some.

"So what happened?" he said and I frowned now backing away.

"You're looking at me like I'm the enemy Happy is that who I am now?" I asked and he shook his head stepping closer to me.

"No, baby. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around all of this." he said. Gang members are always paranoid. They have no choice but to be with all the illegal things they do. One act of suspicion can lead to many acts of horrors and things we cannot take back. I turned back towards the past and took it off the stove before moving to rest my palms on the counter.

"Look none of this is your fault. If you had to do whatever you had to do to get back to the club, to me, then I understand." he said. I shook my head and looked back at him.

"Ask me what you really want to ask me, Happy. Did I fuck him?" I asked. His jaw clenched immediately but he just nodded slowly. I looked down at the floor gazing at it now.

"Last night, Alvarez," I corrected, "Indeed wanted to fuck me and still injured and unable to fight, I knew I couldn't physically stop him if I wanted to." Happy just moved closer to me now, eyes soft as I looked at his chest unable to look him in the face.

"He was touching me and doing things to me… At that moment, I was ready to do anything to be back in your arms again, to show the club my loyalty was unwavering." I slowly looked up at him, thinking I was going to start crying, but I bit my lip hard to stop all of that. "I was ready to dig deep into my cannibalistic mind to give me strength to bite as much of his face off to get him to let me go, to wound him enough to get away from him, even though that meant probably dying right then and there."

Happy stared at me for a moment, the rage completely gone from his face. I shook a bit and looked away now.

"I was about to go into a dark place that almost took me once before and become a monster no one should have to ever meet in their life time… But I used his family against him." I replied. Finally, a tear streamed down my face and I knew giving this information away would put an innocent life in danger. "He has a niece who's one of my students at the school. And I told him that if he did this then he would be killing a part of her childhood and she just wouldn't know it and every time he looked in her face, he would see what he had done to me and he stopped." I sniffled some and shook my head.

"So no. I didn't fuck him but lord knows I was sure prepared to eat him for the club!" I stated and before I knew it, Happy pulled me into his arms and held me tight against him, his hand stroking my head. He then pulled back at me and stared at me deeply.

"You ain't never gonna have to go to that dark place again. And if somehow, you're forced to do it… I'll be right there ready to get rid of the body." he pledged. I was stunned at his words, stunned that that was his reply but I was happy he believed me, because hell, I'm happy Marcus decided not to take advantage of me and just let me go today. It was this moment in this kitchen, after admitting to almost turning back down my past road of cannibalism, that I knew I was in love with Happy Lowman.