Piney had gotten to the clubhouse a little after six. He was in need of coffee and Bobby made better coffee than he did. Plus, he wasn't sure his coffee maker even worked anymore.
After getting his cup of coffee and adding the requisite shot of tequila, he sat down to read the paper before the others started coming down to ruin his peace and quiet.
He could hear the door to the dorms start to open and he figured it was Tig or Happy, the two former military men. Juice usually went home at night, Chibs would wander down around seven, and they would be lucky if they saw Jax before seven-thirty.
So, he was a little surprised to see a traffic stopping beauty step through the door. Particularly one in a pair of baggy sweat pants and a SAMCRO t-shirt. He was almost certain she wasn't a sweetbutt or someone's pick-up of the night. This was someone who mattered.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and then the girl gave him a familiar grin. "You must be Piney." Her alto voice was a little husky and tinged with a Midwestern accent.
He put down the newspaper and really looked at her. She probably stood around six feet tall in her bare feet, and while lean, he could see it was all muscle underneath, this wasn't a soft girl. Her hair was a mass of black curls that went past her tits. She had vivid blue eyes that reminded him of...that wasn't possible.
He frowned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a Trager kid, but Tig doesn't have any kids your age." Then chuckled. "Unless you just came out of the woodwork."
She eyed him with a slight smirk. "For you guys, yeah, I'm fresh out of the woodwork. For Tig, he's known since I was eight. So that would be seventeen years." Then walked towards the table he was at. "I'm Jules by the way."
He put out his hand, as he stood up. "Piney Winston. But you already knew that didn't ya darlin'?"
She shook her head as she waved at him to sit down. "Nah, I guessed. Tig said you were one of the first nine and a crotchety old fuck." She grinned and goddamn if it wasn't Tig's grin. "You seemed to fit the bill."
He chuckled. "That I do darlin'."
She eyed his coffee mug. "Is there more of that in the kitchen?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Bobby ran off to the store muttering something about pancakes."
She groaned as she got up to go get coffee. "I told him not to put himself out..." She continued to mutter to herself as she went into the kitchen and was still muttering when she came back out. "...spoiled fucking rotten already..."
He chuckled. "You're really complainin' about Bobby wantin' to spoil ya a little?"
She shook her head. "Not me. Sophie. My almost three-year-old. She's still sleeping." Then noticing the look on his face. "Jax is with her." She gave him a rueful smile. "They've bonded."
Well, that was interesting, especially with Tara back. But didn't tell him shit about how a kid of Tig's that none of them knew about was now in their clubhouse. And it must have showed on his face because the girl sighed.
"I'm gonna give you the Reader's Digest version okay?" He chuckled as he nodded. The girl heaved another sigh. "I was raised by Jake Lyons, President of the Satan's Sons, Chicago Charter. But Rip Jones was my legal guardian. Rip, Tig, and my Mom had all known each other since they were little kids. Tig and my Mom were sweethearts through high school and all that. When my Mom got pregnant, she had already seen the changes the military had made in her Alex, so she didn't tell him. When Rip got out of the Marines and became a Straight Satan, my Mom and Jake hooked up. I was like two. When she died, she made Rip my guardian because she was afraid if she made Jake my guardian, Tig would try and take me. Fast forward to five years ago, Rip's kid gets his kutte taken because he's a fuckin' meth dealing Nazi and banished from Chicago, and disowned by his father. Rip dies four months ago leaving everything to me and Sophie, including a key to a safe deposit box here. Well, three days ago, Dougie, Rip's kid, decides he wants what's in the box so he goes to my apartment in Chicago where Sophie was with her Dad. Dougie kills Ray and the cat in front of my daughter, waits for me to get home, makes me leave my purse, my phone, my glasses, made me take off my tennis shoes and put on flip-flops, and then strip out of my thermal and sweater so I'm only in my tanks, gets the two of us into my car and starts fucking driving. Last night we were at a diner about fifteen minutes from here when Jax, Chibs and Happy pull up. Too bad it was after I'd mouthed off enough Dougie felt the need to take a shot at me. Of course, the idiot misses and catches Sophie. She's now got four stitches in her face and Dougie is sitting somewhere waiting for Pop and the others to get here so they can chat with him before he gets handed over to the cops."
He sat back, that explained Rip's visit six months earlier. "That's quite the story darlin'. So, you say Tig's known about you for a long time. How long have you known about him?"
She shook her head. "It's a little complicated. I've known that Alex Trager is my Dad since I was ten or eleven. But I had no idea that Alex Trager was a Son named Tig. Now I totally get why I've never been allowed to be around the Satan's clubhouse when any Son is. Jake and Rip wouldn't have wanted me to know that Tig was in an MC, he would have been too easy for me to find. I'm amazed Jake let me come to Stanford the year I was there."
He nearly choked on his coffee. "Stanford? Are ya like a genius or something?"
She laughed. "Or something. Tennis scholarship. Although, I am pretty smart. But that's not a shock. Both my parents were kind of brainiacs."
He started to laugh hard. "Tig a brainiac? You must still be sleep deprived darlin'."
She smirked at him. "Or he's a really good actor. Knew all about me for seventeen years and none of you had a fucking clue. Ponder that. Not to mention the more than likely staggering amounts of drugs and alcohol have probably shaved a few IQ points."
He was getting ready to reply when Bobby came into the clubhouse with grocery bags. The girl jumped up and took a bag. "I thought I told you not to put yourself out."
Bobby chuckled. "Good morning to you too, darlin'. We were low on a few things, I wouldn't have even been able to do bacon and eggs for her this morning." The man laughed a little harder. "Considering she'd go through hers, yours and Jax's."
The girl laughed. "True that. She does love her bacon."
Bobby looked at the girl seriously. "How'd she do last night?"
The girl shrugged. "Woke up about two. Had a bad dream and her cheek hurt."
Bobby smiled a little. "So... did ya make Jax get up?" He was sure there was another story there. Bobby turned to him. "Boy gave the kid candy at ten last night; Missy here told him if she woke up, so was he. Hope you kept your word." Bobby chuckled.
So did he. He loved the boy, but he had been a little spoiled his whole life. The little prince of SAMCRO. Luckily, he was JT's son and still turned into a good man.
The girl grinned. "Damn straight." Then her smile became softer and she looked far less like Tig and more beautiful than when she had walked in. "She wanted Jax." She shook her head full of curls. "I've never seen her act that way with anyone who wasn't family."
Bobby smiled. Before he could say anything, the door to the dorms opened and Tig came through. He stopped when he saw his daughter. "Morning, doll. Your leg still buggin' ya?" Both he and Bobby looked at each other confused.
The girl shook her head. "Stiff and sore and it will be that way for a while. Just couldn't sleep any longer." Then the girl seemed to remember something. "Hey, did any one shake Dougie down?"
Both Tig and Bobby shrugged, Tig answering. "Other than his phone and making sure he didn't have any weapons; I don't think so honey. Why?"
The girl got a nasty look in her eye. "Because he took my necklace and I want it back."
Tig frowned a little. "Is it valuable?"
"It is to me. I suppose the chain is, it's platinum. But the rest of it is sentimental. It's got the crucifix that my Grandma gave my Mom on her first communion. Which Jake gave to me on mine. Then a bunch of dog tags. One I got from my Mom, and then the others are Jake's, Red's, and Butch's from BUD/S training."
You didn't need to be a brain surgeon to know whose she got from her Mom. The look on Tig's face said it all.
Tig reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "We'll get it back for ya doll."
She nodded vigorously. "Yeah, because I'm gonna tell Red he took it." Then she noticed the hurt look on Tig's face. She reached over and patted Tig's arm. "Dougie is scared to death of Red." There was a tone that implied that Dougie had good reasons to be scared of Jake Lyons' oldest son and VP.
He looked at her. "What did Red do to him?"
She grimaced. "It's more like what did Dougie do to deserve what Red did to him." The girl shook her head. "When I was thirteen, Red was home on leave from the Marines. There was a big party at the clubhouse for him. Dougie was eighteen and had just started his Prospect year. He said there was something he wanted to show me, so I went with him. He was Dougie. He wasn't a piece of shit at the time, he was like a cousin. I trusted him. Well, long story short, he tried to feel me up. I went and told Red. Dougie ended up with a broken hand with four broken fingers, a broken nose, and a warning." The girl grinned and once again, there was Tig all over her face. "So Red is already gonna be out for blood, this will just be the icing on the shit cake that Red will make that little fucker eat."
He chuckled. "You seem pretty confident about that sweetheart. Didn't you say something about the piece of shit being handed over to the cops? He can't be all beat to hell darlin'."
She snorted. "He can if the lead detective's son is Butch's best friend since elementary school and my boyfriend through high school. Mikey's an orthopedic surgical resident at John Hopkins in Maryland. Big Mike isn't gonna give two thoughts about what shape Dougie's in as long as he doesn't need medical attention." She laughed. "In fact, if they come here first, Big Mike may take his own shots at Dougie after he sees Sophie's cheek." She laughed again. "Another person under Sophie's spell."
Both Bobby and Tig started to laugh. Tig wrapped an arm around his kid's shoulder. "As he should be."
She rolled her eyes in amusement. "Yeah." Then looked over to her new-found father. "Hey, do you have a cigarette? I forgot to ask Jax and I didn't want to wake him back up and run the risk of waking Miss Thing. Far as I can tell, she hasn't woken at all since he put her back down."
Tig grinned and fished a smoke for her out of his cut. "Here ya go, honey." Then walked off to get a cup of coffee.
Bobby wandered off behind Tig with the groceries he'd gotten, leaving him alone with Jules again.
He looked at her carefully. "You're not uncomfortable here."
She shook her head as she lit the smoke Tig had given her. "An MC clubhouse? Not at all. Although this is a lot smaller than ours in Chicago."
He shook his head. "No, I mean with Tig."
She smiled. "Been waiting a long time to meet him. I won't get what I want if I'm uncomfortable."
That made him nervous, she had an agenda. "And what do you want?"
She grinned. "Relax, old man. Not looking for money. Got more than enough of my own. I'd just like to get to know someone who I share DNA with. My only other living relative is in prison in France where he's been serving a life sentence since 1982." She took a drag of the smoke and exhaled. "Jake is my Pop. Red, Dennis, and Butch are my brothers. But it would just kind of be nice to know..."
He nodded. "I getcha darlin'." He relaxed. She just wanted more family. Family she could see herself in. He could understand that.
The two of them sat there drinking their coffee.