The usual lock down party was in full swing by the time the sun had gone down. Everyone was still nervous about the Horsemen making another move, but it didn't stop them from partying. While everyone was staying close to the clubhouse, Ophelia had stayed in the garage to work on her Harley. Nothing really needed done on it, but she couldn't stand partying when she was trying to out the meet with the Horsemen.
Working on her bike had always helped her think. She would start at one end of the bike and work towards the other. It had always helped her whenever she got stuck on a job. Now was no different, except that it was the fate of her friends and family at stake.
Money would be the obvious choice in most cases when it came to making someone do what she wanted, but it would probably take most of the cash that she had. Weapons would be her next choice, but seeing as the Horsemen have their own access to all the guns they could need, it wouldn't be worth it. She could offer up her services as mercenary, but she didn't like doing jobs without getting paid. The only for sure thing she could think of that would make the Horsemen leave the Sons alone would be to give them SMACRO's territory, but that would not go over well with the club. For the first time in a very long time, she didn't know what to do.
She had been thinking so hard that as she tightened the bolt her hand slipped causing her to split her knuckles open. "Goddamn it," she cursed, bringing her hand to her chest. "Motherfuckin' son of a bitch."
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
She looked up to see Chibs leaning against the garage door watching her. "My mother is a junkie whore who hopefully died in her own puke long ago," she said through her teeth.
Chibs sighed and pushed off the wall. "Here, let me see it, love." Before she could object, he took her hand in his. "Jesus," he muttered as he ran his thumb gently across the back of her hand. He almost couldn't tell where she had just split it open. All of her knuckles were busted up and scabbed over. Before he could get a really good look at them, she pulled her hand away from him.
"I'm fine," she said. "Bloody knuckles are the worst of my problems." She started putting her tools away because working on her bike clearly wasn't helping her think.
"You want to tell me why yer out here all by yourself?" Chibs asked as she moved around the garage.
She stopped in front of him as she held a rag to her bleeding hand. "I'm just working on my bike."
Chibs made a snorting noise. "If you're anything like your father, I can almost guarantee that your bike runs better than all of the other ones in the lot."
She rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that."
"There you are, Leela," Jax said as he strode into the garage. "I want to buy my best friend a drink."
"When was the last time you actually bought a drink, Jackson?" she said crossing her arms.
He brought his hand up to his heart. "You wound me," he said feigning hurt. "Come on, Leela. We haven't partied together since we were stupid teenagers. Let's have some fun for old time's sake."
She glanced to Chibs who seemed very interested with the old Toyota that was sitting in the shop. She let out a sigh. "Fine, but you have to get me the best whisky you have." It wasn't like she was getting anywhere with coming up with a plan for the Horsemen.
Jax grinned in victory. "Oh, I know just the stuff." He slung his arm over her shoulders. "You coming, Chibs?" he called to his VP.
"I'll catch up to ya later, Jackie Boy."
Ophelia tried to catch Chibs' eye but Jax led her out into the lot towards the clubhouse. They had just lit the fires in the old oil drums. The clubhouse was packed with people. Everyone had drinks in their hands. Music flooded the air. It was like she was thrown back twenty years. Sure, she had been to a lot of parties over the years, but no one threw a party like SAMCRO.
She waited at the bar as Jax went behind to get the whisky. She took the chance to look around the room. A blonde sitting on the other side of the room caught her eye. She was glaring at Ophelia like there was no tomorrow.
Jax popped up next to her with a shit eating grin on his face and a bottle in his hands. "Do we need glasses?" he asked her.
Ophelia snorted. "I would like to stay upright tonight."
"Yeah, right," he laughed, but grabbed two glasses anyways. "Roof?" She nodded. They started to the roof, but Jax was stopped by Tig.
"Hey, brother," Tig said, eyes going to the bottle in Jax's hand and then to Ophelia. "Tara's looking for you."
Jax looked at Leela almost as if he was asking for permission. "Go ahead. Take care of your old lady," she said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Tig will keep me company."
Tig draped his arm over her shoulders. "Yeah, I'll make sure she doesn't kill anybody."
"Okay," Jax nodded. He held up the bottle to Ophelia. "We'll finish this later." She nodded and then disappeared down the hallway.
She looked up to Tig and patted him on the chest. "Come on, Tiggy. Buy me a drink."
He grinned. "You got it, doll."
An hour later, Ophelia found herself sitting at one of the picnic tables surrounded by Tig, Happy, Bobby, Opie, and Juice. They had been telling old stories and some new stories. It had been some of the times she'd had since coming back to Charming.
"Did you hear about Killer dressing up as a churro vendor?" Tig asked her as he giggled.
"What?" She looked wide eyed at Happy. She couldn't believe it. "Why the hell were you selling churros? Do you know how to make churros and have been holding out on me?"
Hap rolled her eyes and flipped her off.
"Speaking of tasty treats," Ophelia said, looking to Bobby. "You still makin' those amazing muffins and banana bread?"
Bobby chuckled. "Of course, darlin'. I'll make you some the next chance I get."
"Awesome," she grinned. Beside her, Juice lit up a joint and passed it to her. She gladly accepted it. She definitely needed to relax at the moment. "Oh, that's some good shit." She passed it to Opie.
"Thanks," Juice grinned. "I'm part owner in a weed shop."
Ophelia laughed to herself as she listened to Juice brag. "That's cool. I've helped out a couple of the legal grows up in Washington."
"Woah, that's cool," Juice said in awe.
Ophelia finished off her beer and stood up. "Anyone else need another?" She rolled her eyes as all of the men before her raised their hands.
Opie stood up. "I'll help you with those," he offered.
They went inside to the bar. They quietly stood together as they waited for the bartender to come their way.
"I haven't seen Donna," she said suddenly.
Opie looked down at her. "As soon as I heard about you getting jumped, I sent her and the kids up to Tacoma," he explained.
"She make it okay?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "I couldn't let her stay here." He rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip. "You think we can settle this without bloodshed?"
She chewed on her cheek as she thought about her answer. It was better if she didn't hold anything else back from Opie. "I'm going to try to make sure no one gets hurts on our side, but I honestly don't think it will be smooth."
He sighed. "We've been through bad shit before."
"And you'll make it through this," she promised.
Opie forced a smile. "Of course we will. We got you on our side."
Finally, the bartender came to take their order. Once they placed their order, the bartender ducked behind the bar to get all the beers. While they waited, Ophelia felt someone come up on the other side of her.
"Jax is mine."
Ophelia slowly turned to the girl. Of course it was the blonde that was eyeing her earlier. She looked up at Opie who was trying to suppress a smirk.
"I thought Jax was married to someone who wasn't you," Ophelia said to the blonde. Not that it mattered he was married. Jax fucked whoever he wanted.
"It doesn't matter. Stay away from him. He's mine."
Ophelia resisted rolling her eyes. "Honey, I had Jax long before you had tits." She looked the girl over and lowered her voice. "But if you really want a good time, I know how to make you shake all night long."
The girl's mouth dropped open in shock and then stormed away.
"I don't think I've ever seen Ima speechless," Opie spoke up. "What did you say to her?"
Ophelia couldn't hide the big smirk on her face. "That I could fuck her better than Jax."
Opie choked and started coughing. "So you're in to pussy now?"
"I've always been into pussy, Ope."
"But… but you were always with guys?"
"Really? You sure about that?" she asked raising her eyebrows. "You don't remember when we were growing up when suddenly a girl went from following you and Jax around to only being interested in me."
Opie chuckled. "I guess you're right."
Finally, the beers were sat in front of them. They took them back out to the other guys.
"You're just in time, doll," Tig grinned as he took a beer from her. "I'm gonna be fighting the killer."
Ophelia looked to Happy in question. He had taken some hard hits the night before. She didn't think it was a good idea for him to fight, but Happy could never back down from a fight.
After she handed Juice his beer, she stood in front of Happy and gave him his beer. "What you fighting for?" she asked quietly. He looked at her but all she saw was the dark look in his eyes. "Hap?" she pushed.
The muscle in his jaw twitched. "Tig was running his mouth."
"Tig's always running his mouth." She didn't get what the big deal was.
He glared at the back of Tig's head. "He was saying shit about you."
She furrowed her brows. What kind of stuff did Tig have to say about her to make Happy that pissed off? Unless… "You're fighting for my honor," she said, a teasing smile on her lips. "Tig said he wanted to fuck me, didn't he?"
He muttered something under his breath and chugged his whole beer.
"Where's the tape?" she asked.
He jumped to his feet. "You're not fighting." Anyone else would've been terrified by the look he was giving her.
"Don't get your panties in a twist," she said, teasingly. "I'm gonna tape up your hands so you won't bust up your knuckles for defending my honor for whatever reason."
He tossed her the roll of tape from the table next to him. He sat down in front of her and held out his hands to her. She started wrapping the tape around his hands. She didn't even have to think about what she was doing. She had done it so many times that it was routine.
Happy's eyes never left her as she taped him up. Something had changed when she came to Charming. He hated the other guys looking at her. He hated how close she and Jax were. He hated that she wasn't his secret anymore.
"You know, we're gonna have to talk about why you feel the need to defend my honor," she said as she finished up. Hap only grunted in response. "Don't give Tig any reason to let his ego grow."
The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile. "You got it, Love." He handed her his kutte before cimbing into the ring.
Ophelia stood back away from the crowd forming around the ring. The scene took her back to her childhood when she would have to entertain herself at parties like this because her dad had become entangled with his current flavor of the week. She had never blamed Isaiah for not giving her the attention a young girl needed or thought he was a bad father for letting her grow up in that kind of environment. She couldn't imagine growing up normal; a life without the club.
If she hadn't grown up in the club, she certainly wouldn't be worrying about what kind of leverage she needed against the Horsemen. What she would have to do in order to show them their place. As time went on though, she was starting to think that anything short of destroying every Devil's Horsemen charter wasn't going to work.
"Earth to Ophelia," someone said, snapping their fingers in front of her. "Anyone home?"
She looked to the owner of the fingers and was met by one of the biggest smiles she'd ever seen. "Koz," she smiled, throwing herself into his arms. "What are you doing here?"
"Heard there was a hot mercenary in town. Figured I'd come see for myself," he said.
Ophelia pretended to look around. "Hot mercenary? Point me in the right direction because I need that in my life." Both of them laughed. "You here to help with the lockdown?"
"Mostly," he shrugged. "I was curious about what brought you back here finally."
"Happy asked me to come," she said simply.
A big grin spread across his face. "You two finally bumping uglies?"
"Jesus," she said rolling her eyes. "Is everyone want Hap and I to fuck?"
"Because you two are cut from the same cloth. Not to mention you desperately need to get laid."
"I don't need to get laid."
"That's bullshit and you know it," he laughed. "How long has it been? You sure there's not cobwebs up in there?"
She rolled her eyes but knew he was right. It had been a long time since she had gotten laid. "Do you have anyone in particular that you want me to take to bed?" she asked. "Besides Happy?"
"I would be available anytime for you," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
She playfully shoved him away. "In your dreams, Kozik."
He flashed his teeth. "I dream of it every night, baby."
This caused her to laugh. She had always gotten along well with Kozik. "I'm glad you're here. One more person who doesn't hate me."
"I'm sure not everyone hates you."
She snorted. She looked to the crowd surrounding the boxing ring. Hap and Tig were fighting, and by the amount of blood on Tig's face, it looked like Hap was winning.
"All they see when they look at me is someone who turned their back on them."
He chewed on his lip for a moment. He then shrugged off his backpack. "You're probably going to be pissed at me and be tempted to kill me." He reached inside and pulled out…
She narrowed her eyes at him. "My father's journals," she said, recognizing the stack of black books immediately.
"I didn't read them," he promised quickly. "I know whatever reason you've stayed away from Charming is in these." He held them out for her to take. "With these, you have the power to change the club."
She took the journals. The familiar pages between her fingers. Ophelia knew every word written. Every secret written.
"For someone who hasn't read them, you seem to know what's in them," she said with a small smile.
He gave her a sad smile. "Isaiah confided in me his suspicions before he died." He looked around to see if anyone was near enough to overhear him. He stepped closer to her and lowered his voice. "Clay really did kill John Teller, didn't he?"
Ophelia looked down at the journals. They were one of the few things she had left of her father. "According to Isaiah, he did."
Kozik slowly nodded his head. "I trusted your father with my life. He helped me get clean. He gave me a family. You have done a lot for me since he died. I have your back no matter what happens." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Go get laid before you explode." He started to walk away.
"Koz," she called after him. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Thank you."
He flashed her his signature smile. "Anytime, babe." He disappeared into the crowd.
Ophelia sighed and looked down at her hands. In one hand, she held her father's journals. Everything he thought and felt towards the club. Secrets that had been long forgotten. In the other hand, she held Happy's kutte; the reaper staring up at her.
She came here to help save the club. To help end a war. Now, she hadn't even finished the first war and she was considering turning their world upside down. It wasn't the right time to cause distrust between the club, but something had to be done.
She hid the journals in one of her saddlebags on her Harley before anyone could question her about them. She went back to the party to see that Happy had indeed won the fight. He had a croweater holding ice to his cheek while he talked with Tig. At least they seemed to be on better terms now.
"Did you kick his ass?" she asked as she handed him his kutte.
"Of course I did," he grumbled as he slid on his colors.
"I let you win!" Tig yelled.
Ophelia laughed and stuffed her hands in her pockets. Her mind was still back on the journals.
"Where were you at?" Hap asked.
"Oh, I ran into Kozik," she explained.
"What did that asshole want?" Tig asked.
Ophelia rolled her eyes. She swore that these guys could hold grudges better than high school girls. "Well, that's none of your business, Trager."
"Hey, Prez," Hap nodded to Jax as he walked towards them.
"There you are," Jax said, coming up next to Ophelia.
"Took you long enough," she smiled. "You take care of your old lady?"
"I always do." He looked towards Tig and Happy."They work some shit out?"
"I think so," she said.
He nodded. "You still up for that drink?"
"Of course."
"Do you remember when we used to come up here and pretend to have our own church while the club had their own?" They sat together, looking out over the TM lot and the Charming city lights. Even after twenty years, Charming hadn't changed that much.
"Of course I remember," she smiled. "We would discuss very important issues."
He laughed. "Like who was going to play on the swing first."
"And then as we got older, it got a little more interesting." She took a drink. "Stealing booze from the bar and playing never have I ever." She passed the whisky back to him.
"We should play," he smiked. The bottle sitting on his lips. "It would give me a chance to get to know your secrets."
"Okay." Her mind instantly going to the journals hidden away. "There isn't much I haven't done though."
"All the more reason to get you drunk and spilling your secrets."
"Whatever you say, boss," she said, shaking her head. "Do you want to go first or should I?"
He grinned. "Never have I ever killed someone for money."
She rolled her eyes and drank. "That was an easy one." He shrugged and laughed. "Um, I've never done prison time."
Jax narrowed his eyes at her. "You serious?" It was hard to believe that a mercenary has never done time.
"As a heart attack." She held the bottle out to him. She watched him drink it. "I believe it's your turn."
"I've never fucked a guy."
"Really? Are you even trying?" She snatched the bottle from him and drank. "I've never almost fucked my sister."
"How the hell do you know about that?"
"You know, the thing about bikers is that they have really big mouths."
"I didn't know she was my sister!"
"I'm sure that's what they all say."
"Fuck you," he said before drinking.
She laughed. "Have I hit a tender spot?"
"At least I've never disappeared from my family."
She sighed and leaned back. "You have every right to be pissed at me. I would be pissed at me. But once I tell you why I left, it will change everything."
"You also said that after our first time together," he said pointedly.
"It did change because you needed to fuck constantly."
He laughed. "Well, we were each other's firsts."
She flinched. "Jax there's something I need to tell you." He looked to her expectantly. "You weren't my first."
"What?" he said in disbelief.
"You were more like my third."
He was silent as he thought it over. "That explains so much." A grin spread across his face. "You're such a slut."
She laughed. "I know, right?" Both of them laughed together. "But I'm not the only one who is a slut," she said giving him a pointed look. "I had a run in with one of your conquests earlier."
He looked at her confused. "Who?"
"A lovely lady by the name of Ima," she teased.
"Jesus," he said, rolling his eyes. "Ima is anything but lovely." He shook his head. "What did she say to you?"
" 'Jax is mine. Stay away from him," she said, imitating Ima's voice. "You sure do know how to attract the the crazy."
"She was a mistake," Jax sighed. "I was trying to push Tara away."
"I see that worked well," she said dryly. "Tara doesn't know about our history together."
"No," he said looking down at his hands.
She chewed on her lip as she thought about Tara asking her how she got away from the club. "Have you given any thought about sending the boys and Tara up to Tacoma until this shit dies down?"
"I did when Opie sent Donna up there."
"But there's a part of you that doesn't trust her," she guessed.
He took the bottle from her and took a long drink. "Even after all this time, you still know me better than anyone else," he said. "I'm glad your back, Leela."
A/N: Thank you so so much to all the people who left reviews on the last chapter. I'm so happy you're liking it! I can't wait to hear what you think.