Chapter 3
Waking up the next morning, I am laying on my side and Tig on his back and my head on his chest. I get up and he starts to stir. I head to the kitchen to make coffee while he's in the shower. When he walks out a few minutes later, I hand him his coffee. "You okay?" he asks me. I look up at him and say "Yeah." He looks at me for a minute and says "You can retract it if you aren't comfortable with this." he tells me and I shake my head no. "I'm not doing that. Tig, you're a good man. You have such a big heart. If the role had been reversed, would you have done the same thing?" I ask. "Yeah. We all would. You're one of us sweetheart." he tells me and I look down at my coffee. "What?" he asks. I laugh a little. "I've never been a part of anything before. I never had a family but you guys treat me like I actually mean something to you guys. That means a lot." I say. "Doll, you do mean something to us. And you stepping up like this? Just means you see us as family as much as we see you." he tells me before pulling me into his chest. I wrap my arms around him and we just stand there. "Thank you." he whispers. I look up at him and see something. I just nod slightly and say "We better go." He nods and we head out the door. Both of us on his bike since my car was still at the lot.
Pulling up to the lot, we see a police car following us. As we get off the bike, I lean close to his ear and say "Cop car followed us." He nods as he gets off the bike and looks towards the cop car and then reaches for my hand and laces his fingers with mine before we walk into the clubhouse. As soon as we walk in, Gemma sees us and we let go of each other's hands. "Morning baby." she says. "Morning Gemma." I say. She looks at me and asks "You good?" I nod and say "Yeah." She looks at me concerned and asks "You having second thoughts?" I shake my head and say "No." I say softly and she gives me that knowing look that all moms have. Putting her arm around my shoulder she says "Well, you took the right step getting there." I look at her and she smirks at me as I blush a little. "Church." Clay calls and he looks at me and says "You too sweetheart." I nod and follow him and the guys inside.
Once we are all inside, I am standing by the door, looking down at my feet, not sure where I am supposed to go or if I am expected to stay at the door when Tig says "Come here Doll." I look at him and he pulls a chair from the corner for me to sit between him and Clay. I walk over and take the seat he offers. Once I sit down, Clay says "Yesterday Hale came by asking for Tig. Talking about someone reported someone matching his description leaving the house of a missing person that was reported. When Hale asked where Tig was a few nights ago, our girl here, gave him an alibi." Clay says and I look down at my hands that were in my lap. "What did you tell them?" Bobby asks softly. I look up but don't meet his eyes and say "He asked where Tig was and I said he was with me all night." I say and they all start smirking and I blush a little more. "You gave your statement. What did you tell him?" Clay asks. I finally look at Clay, who's been the closest thing to a father that I've had since I've been here and say "Hale asked if I would come to the station and make a statement and I agreed. I had Tig take me. Thought it would look more believable if he was the one to take me. I told Hale that he was in bed with me all night. He asked if Tig could have slipped out while I was sleeping and I told him that we weren't sleeping but that he was a good lay." I say and they all start laughing. "Hale told me that I seemed like a nice girl and that guys like Tig only see women as an easy lay." I say and Kozik asks "What did you tell him?" I smirk and say "I asked him how did he know I wasn't using Tig to work through some daddy issues." I say and they all laugh harder. "That's our girl." I hear Jax say and I blush a little more. "She had me stay the night last night because Hale followed us to her house and camped out a few doors down." Tig says. "That makes sense. Harder to say that she's covering for you." Bobby says. "What are we going to do though?" Juice asks. We all look at him. "She gave him an alibi but they can't keep up the show forever. It's not fair to her or him." he says. I look down at my hands again. I know he's right. Tig reaches over and takes my hand and says "Look, we'll figure out a way to get out of this and you still be protected." Tig says and I look at him. "Can I get a minute with Tig please?" I ask and Clay nods before they all leave us alone for a minute.
When the door closes, I don't look at him but he says "I appreciate you doing this for me but we'll find a way to get you out of this." he tells me. "Tig, I told you why I did it but there's more to it." I say but don't look up. "What's that Doll?" he asks. "I kind of have a thing for you so I figured that if I showed you that I had your back, you'd magically see me as more than the kid that works in the office." I tell him. Tilting my head up, he says "I do see you as more. Let's just take it a day at a time but let's get past this first." he tells me and I nod. The guys come back in and Clay tells me that they will figure this out. "Just tell me what you need from me." I say and Clay smiles. I look at him and then the rest of the guys and say "You're the closest thing to a family that I've ever had. You guys have had my back since I first got here. I have yours." I say and go to turn but Tig's hand on my wrist stops me. I look at him and he kisses my forehead and says "Go to Gemma. We'll talk after this." I nod and do what he says.
