I Know The Rules Of The Game

While I was standing in the kitchen stuffing peeled and blanched tomatoes into mason jars, I heard a knock at the door. Fuck, I was really starting to HATE that sound. Even if I wasn't standing in my kitchen with the flesh of, I don't even know how many pounds of tomatoes on my hands, I would be annoyed by it. And if I was being honest, a little bit terrified. Nothing good came after someone was persistently knocking on our door. At least not lately.

Please don't be Eli… Please don't be Eli… I chanted in my head. As I walked towards the door, I wiped some of the grime off my hands onto my apron. When I looked down I almost startled laughing. The carnage on my apron made it look more like I had been in a butcher's shop than a gardener in their kitchen. That wouldn't be much fun to try to explain to Eli or his brothers in blue. PLEASE don't be Eli…

While I was walking through the living room, I finally called out, "Who's there?"

"Miss Andie, it's…" He really didn't have to say anything else because there was really only one person in my life who called me 'Miss Andie'. "It's Phil."

I unlocked the door and started to pull it open right away. Poor Phil. It never ceased to amaze me how timid and vulnerable the big guy could look when he was in my presence. You would think that nothing could scare or intimidate him because someone his size should be the one doing all of the intimidating. And yet more often than not, like right now, he looked like a cornered mouse waiting for the cat's claws to slice through his tender flesh.

I was just about to ask him why he looked like I was going to cut off his balls when I was interrupted by my phone ringing. Phil opened his mouth to greet me, but I cut him off by raising a hand to silence him. He watched as I pulled my cell out of one of the pockets on my apron and I swear he started to pale when he saw me read the name on the call display. THAT had me seeing red because now I had some idea about why the new Brother had been sent to 'visit' me.

"What happened now?" I said into my phone instead of my usual greeting of 'Hello' or 'Hey Grumpy' while I glared at Phil.

"Greg and Go Go are dead and we don't know where Frankie Diamonds is right now," Happy answered in a flat monotone.

"What?" I cried out as I stumbled back a couple of steps. Phil quickly caught my arm to help lead me to the couch so that I could focus on my conversation on the phone. "How…? Who…?"

Happy let out a soft sigh then replied in a much more caring tone, "The Nomads were behind the home invasions. Greg and Go Go tried to go after Unser but he put them down. Frankie's still MIA, so…"

"You sent Phil here to watch out for me. Thanks, Grumpy."

You could almost hear the smile on his face when he replied, "I meant to call sooner, but…"

"But you've been trying to get info on Frankie and dealing with a lot of shit… I get it. Has…? Has anyone told Eli?"

"I don't know. I've been calling around about Frankie so I haven't heard anything about that. But I wouldn't be surprised if Unser hasn't called him yet."

"Right… Right. SHIT! Is the Chief okay?"

"Gemma's checking on him but sounds like he took care of the Nomads before they could do anymore damage to him."

"Right. Of course. Fuck… That means they…?"

"Yes," he interrupted so I didn't have to actually ask if they had been the ones that shot Rita.

"And you guys really didn't know?"

"No. At least I had no idea. I can't speak for anyone else or their suspicions. But Princess, I…"

"Right. Of course. Phil's here, so don't worry about me. Just go find Frankie."

"That's the plan."

I hung up my phone and put it back in my pocket. Phil was seated at the opposite end of the couch from me, looking like he was trying to be as small as possible. Poor Phil. I know I can be a nightmare sometimes and everyone seemed to tiptoe around me a lot more since I was assaulted. I guess I had been a bit… A LOT more short tempered with everyone since my head injury.

Not to mention grieving the deaths of my father and brother. Everyone kept saying they didn't blame me, but I really was trying to keep from misdirecting my wrath on the wrong person.

"So, Phil?" I finally asked after a couple of uncomfortable minutes of silence.

He perked up slightly in his spot but he still looked weary when he answered, "Yes, Miss Andie?"

Poor Phil, I thought before I stood up and answered, "Have you ever canned tomatoes before?"

He shook his head replying, "No, I haven't."

"Me either before today. But it's actually pretty easy. Follow me."

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Having another pair of hands definitely made the process a heck of a lot easier. Plus, Phil's knife skills were pretty impressive. He even went out to the garden to pick more tomatoes so that we could make sure all of the jars were filled to the brim. He also came in handy when it came to storing the canned goods because he could carry more mason jars than I could. Not to mention that he could line them up on the top shelf without using a ladder.

Damn, I was really going to have to thank Happy when he got home for sending Phil my way. If I had been finishing it all on my own, I would still be stuffing mason jars. But now they were all filled, sealed and lined up in neat rows in the pantry.

While I started dinner for us, Phil was packing a box of sealed mason jars for me to take to my restaurant. Since starting my garden, I had been eager to start bringing in more home grown produce because people seemed to really love to eat locally grown produce. Not that fresh fruits and vegetables were hard to source in California but growing my own definitely helped my profit margins to look much healthier.

"The box is packed and I put it in the back of your Yukon. Is there anything else I can do for you, Miss Andie?"

I didn't take my eyes off the sauce I was stirring garlic and oregano into it as I answered, "In the pantry there's a wooden crate of wine. Could you pick out a bottle of red to open, please?"

"Sure thing."

I kept my full attention on building my homemade pasta sauce at the stove, so I most definitely jumped and let out a noise of surprise when I felt two hands encircle my waist. What the hell was Phil thinking? He should know better than to sneak up behind me like that.

I was just about to admonish him when I felt a pair of lips press against my pulse point on the underside of my right jaw. I didn't have to smell his aftershave or hear his voice to know who was standing behind me now.

"Something smells delicious, Princess."

"Thank you. Dinner should be ready in a few minutes. Why don't you go wash up?"

"Alright. Do you want me to pull out a bottle of merlot?"

"That's…"

I was quickly silenced by Phil calling out, "I have one here, Sir." Happy turned around to look at him, but Phil didn't pay anymore attention to his Brother. Instead, he carried the now opened bottle of wine to my side and placed it on the counter. "Here you go, Miss Andie. I… uhh… I should get going now that Happy's here and all."

"Go? But dinner's almost ready. Are you sure you don't want to stay for something to eat?"

Phil's eyes moved to focus on something… no SOMEONE who was now standing behind me as he answered, "That's a really tempting offer but I should get going. There's… I have some work I have to get done at the garage."

"Oh… Okay. Are you sure you don't want to take some with you? I could whip you up a to-go dish once the pasta's finished cooking."

"Uh…" He seemed to give that proposal some serious thought but then he quickly answered, "Maybe next time, Miss Andie. Have a good night."

"Alright. Good night. Thanks for hanging out with me." I couldn't hear if he replied or not. I waited until I heard the front door close before I turned to glare at Happy saying, "He did you a HUGE favor and was a really big help, dinner is the least we could do as a thank you."

"Except that it wasn't a favor…"

"Happy!" I cut in. "He isn't a Prospect anymore. He's fully patched in now and gets to vote on club business, so it was a favor."

"No. Now that he's a member, he's part of the family. Family takes care of each other without needing or expecting a reward. He was doing his duty as a Brother, so we don't have to do or give him anything as a thank you."

"Fine," I replied with a dejected sigh. "But he was a HUGE help with the canning so I wanted to thank him for that."

"Okay. Did you want me to go get him? You can just call me when you're finished your candlelight dinner."

"Grumpy! It would have just been dinner, no candlelight."

"Alright. But offer still stands. If you'd rather, I could go get him."

I stared at him for a couple of breaths because I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was Happy really jealous of Phil? I thought I had made it clear that he was like a brother to me, like Jax and Opie, nothing more. I thought we were on the same page about that but… was I wrong?

"No rather, Grumpy," I finally replied. I stepped forward and crowded Happy's personal space continuing, "I'd rather be having chicken tenders and fries with you in bed, but I didn't see the harm in sharing a meal with your new Brother."

"We could have chicken tenders if you really want that."

"What?" Now I stared at him in a stunned silence because I honestly didn't know what to say. I figured that his was just a quick pit stop for Happy before my next babysitter arrived. So? Did that mean he was actually home for the night? Only one way to find out. "Wait! Does that mean you aren't just here between the changing of the guards?"

Happy simply shook his head while he picked up a spoon to stir the pasta in the pot. "You…? You have the night off?"

He nodded again, but this time he said, "Jax and Tara are doing a weekend retreat at the cabin so he told us to have fun tonight and we'll meet tomorrow to talk strategy."

"What about Frankie Diamonds?"

"Nothing we can do until we get word that he's crawled out from under his rock."

"Seriously? I get you all to myself?"

"Yes, Princess, you do. So, let's eat dinner and fuel up."

I didn't say anything else. No, I just surged forward and placed a fairly painful kiss on Happy's lips. I didn't mean to almost draw blood, but I couldn't help that my excitement got the better of me. I felt like a lifetime since we had the promise of more than just a couple of hours alone together and I wasn't afraid to show him how much I missed him.

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"Princess," Happy quietly instructed as he stilled my hands. "Those can wait until the morning."

My eyes followed his hands as he took the plate I was holding and let it fall into the soapy dishwater. He then picked up my right hand to guide it up to his lips where he placed a few soft embraces against my knuckles.

But… But you hate having a mess," I finally said in a faraway, almost dazed voice.

"Tonight, we leave it so we can have more time together," he countered with a playful glint in his eyes.

He started taking a few steps backwards while he spoke. I watched him and was forced to take a couple of steps forward if I wanted to maintain physical contact with him. He could see that I was having some difficulties processing everything, but all it seemed to do was make him want to laugh.

As we made our way towards the bedroom, our bedroom, our lips quickly found their way to each other's. I don't know if I sped up my pace to kiss him or if he stopped and waited for me to close enough to lay claim to my lips. All I knew was that I was so lost in the sensation of his lips against mine that I didn't pay attention to anything else. I barely felt him work my yoga pants off my legs, but I did let out a soft noise of protest when he detached his lips from mine so that he could pull my t-shirt and then his own over our heads.

He huffed out a laugh at my reaction, so I silenced him with my own hot embrace. I felt another huffed chuckle against my lips, but I swallowed any sound that he might have made. Not that either of us were getting enough air in our lungs to vocalize any other thoughts or emotions.

I worked at peeling my bra and panties off as he moved his hands to pull off his jeans and boxers. Our feet stopped moving when we started stripping out of our clothes so we were now standing in the living room kissing and getting naked.

When he felt me press my naked chest against his torso, he took control once again. He moved his right arm under my buttocks so that he could easily pick me up off the floor. I would never stop being amazed by Happy's strength. There were times that I felt like a ragdoll in his arms because he never seemed to strain himself at all when he lifted me up into his arms.

Once my legs were wrapped around his waist, my focus remained solely on keeping pace with his lips. I should have been able to dominate our embraces by now, but I have to admit that it really turned me on when Happy took complete control. He was an expert in manipulating my body any which way to bring us to our climaxes. He knew he was my king and I was willing to follow any order he gave, but he was smart enough not to do that. Sure, I COULD follow orders, but at the same time I resented anyone who thought they were so superior that hey could get away with doing that to me.

My lips only slowed down when I felt Happy sit down. I had expected him to carry me to the bed which would have resulted in him laying me down and blanketing my body with his own. But now he was sitting down. And so soon? What was happening?

My lips nearly came to a complete halt as my confusion mounted. Happy noticed right away and pulled back so that he could see my face. I knew I was scowling and it deepened when Happy huffed out a laugh at whatever expression was on my face.

"The bedroom's too far. I want to be with you now."

Now that made me smile and huff out a laugh as I eased myself up onto on my knees. He watched with a searing heat in his eyes as I gripped him tightly in my left hand so that I could position him to mount him.

I moved my lips to his as I lowered myself onto his length as I quietly praised, "I like the way you think Grumpy."

"Good to hear."

He wrapped an arm around my waist while his other hand moved to the spot between my shoulder blades. He rubbed soft circles over my tattoo while he helped to keep me anchored as he thrust his hips up off the couch cushions. As always, we found our rhythm quickly and in no time, I felt the most exquisite pressure building in my lower abdomen. Happy's lips moved to my neck while I let out a wordless, breathless scream when my orgasm overtook me.

His pace slowed down so that he could prolong my pleasure. My forehead fell to his shoulder while he worked himself in and out of me at a slow, steady pace. I tried to kiss his should and neck, but that took too much energy. Energy that was seeping out of my body with every stroke and deep thrust from Happy.

He continued the calm, steady pace until he felt my walls start to flutter around him again. He ceased all movement once he was deep within me as I let out another silent scream against the side of his neck. He stroked the back of my head when he felt my graze against his flesh. I took his silent direction and pressed my pearly whites deeper into his skin. I felt him shudder slightly when I finally started to break through his skin. Happy enjoyed a little pain with his pleasure and I was trying my best to accommodate him. I wasn't comfortable with everything Happy wanted me to do to him, well at least not the amount of damage he wished I would inflict on his body, but I was trying my best to push my limits. So far, this had been our happy medium.

I tried to hold his flesh between my teeth but I honestly didn't have the energy to continue. It was all I could do to keep my head from falling to his shoulder. He seemed to notice my efforts because he tapped the spot between my shoulder blades to let me know that I could pull back. That I could let my head fall to his shoulder like I really wanted to do.

His hand that had tapped my back was not stroking it lovingly. I pressed a soft kiss to the spot where my teeth marks were on prominent display on the side of his neck.

"That… was… amazing. But you… you didn't finish."

"That's because we're just getting started."

I didn't get a chance to question him before he hugged me into his chest and stood up off the couch. I tried to tighten my hold on his torso to try to make it easier for him to carry me. But he didn't need my help. He was strong enough that he could have just tossed me over his shoulder to take me to bed. Actually, thinking of him doing just that and overpowering me to have his way with me excited me to no end. My heartbeat quickened at the mental images of him taking me. It even gave me enough to lift my head off his shoulder to claim his lips while he carried me to our room.

While I practically attacked his lips, Happy lowered me to the mattress. I felt my legs hanging over the foot of the bed while Happy kissed his way down my torso. When he made it to my waist, he gently nipped my right hipbone a couple of times with the threat of biting it to mark my skin without actually doing it. My hands fell to the back of his head as he moved it to give my left hipbone the same treatment before he backed off my body completely.

I gazed up at him while he just stared at me laying boneless on our bed. God, he was an amazing lover. He could cause my body to tighten in excitement with only the hungry look in his eyes. And I was more than willing to let him devour me wholly and completely.

Somehow my heart started to beat impossibly faster while we stared at each other. Fuck, how this man could affect me. And what I wouldn't do to make him feel as consumed as he made me feel.

I pushed myself up off the bed with every intention of turning myself over to get up on all fours. I froze in my spot when I felt Happy grip my shoulders tightly. I know I gave him a perplexed, almost scared look but he didn't say anything to ease my mind. Instead, he just eased me down again and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

"Happy?" I called out when he stood up again because I thought he was going to walk away from the bed.

He shushed me into silence before he gripped my waist tightly. All I could do was watch him as he pulled my body to the edge of the bed saying, "Just lay back and enjoy, Princess."

I almost huffed out a laugh, but it was silenced by him reentering my body. I gripped the edge of the mattress to try to anchor myself because I could feel my torso moving up the mattress with every forward thrust. His strokes were deep and hard, so he had to pull me down by my waist sot that he could set his desired pace. Since there wasn't much else for me to do, I tried to just relax in my spot so that he could use my body to reach his own climax.

As his thrusts quickened, they got deeper and deeper. I hadn't expected to have another orgasm, but as I listed to his excited grunts and felt his bruising grip on my waist, I felt another one building. He must have been able to tell because he huffed out a sound that could sound like a laugh.

He continued his punishing thrusts until he pushed me over the edge again. As my body contracted around him, he suddenly paused. I watched as he closed his eyes and savored the feeling of my climax working its way through my body.

Just as I started to find completion, Happy's eyes snapped open. A satisfied smirk spread across his lips as he pulled my hips down until it felt like he was going to pull me all the way off the bed. Once my buttocks was hanging over the edge of the mattress, he thrust forward on last time and spilled his completion into my awaiting body.

His whole body shook as his climax started to come to an end. I closed my eyes and waited with open arms for Happy to collapse on me. He let out a soft gasp and released my hips from his vise like grip. I opened my eyes to check on what he was doing because I hadn't felt his welcomed weight on my chest.

He smiled down at me, but before either of us could say anything, he disappeared from my view. It almost looked like someone had swept his legs out from under him because he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes being dumped.

I tried to sit up as I shrieked out, "HAPPY!" I couldn't find the strength to push myself into a seated position, so I just rolled over until I fell off the bed while I continued to call out, "Happy? Happy!? Are you okay?"

He chuckled as he pulled me into his lap. He was now seated with his back against the foot of the bed. Once he had me in his lap, he gave me a couple of lazy kisses on my lips.

"I'm better than good, Princess."