On that Friday afternoon, instead of heading to work or hanging out with her friends, Eden was caught off guard when her mother texted her saying that they were going to the mall after she got out of school. Mother/daughter bonding shit was what the text said. Eden knew what her mother must be in a good mood. Sure they had a good relationship, which a lot better than most mother's had with their teenage daughters, but her Dad always said that dark haired beauty duo tended to butt heads because they were so similar.
They drove forty-five minutes to Sacramento in Gemma's Cadillac, where one of the biggest malls in area was located. There wasn't a mall in Charming. The Sons made sure no corporate chains were ever successful in the small town. Mom and Pop stores were important to the motorcycle club.
After an hour of shopping around, the shopping trip was going well. Gemma bought some denim jeans and a couple tops while Eden picked out a sundress and leather leggings to add to her wardrobe.
"Wanna grab something to eat?" asked Gemma, gesturing towards Harry's Bar and Grill that was to their right.
Eden shrugged "Yeah sure. I can eat. I don't have to worry about looking fat in the clothes I'm trying on now."
The older woman rolled her eyes "Must be tough being a skinny seventeen year old girl."
As they sat down and gabbed about some Charming gossip for a couple minutes, the waiter interrupted them.
"Hey guys I'm Sean and I'll be your server today." The young man greeted. Eden gave a quick glance at him. He was kinda cute. Tall, curly brown hair, boylish looks. However she knew preferred blonde boys who were goofy and rode motorcycles, no matter how cute the waiter was.
"You look familiar." the young waiter remarked, looking at Eden.
Eden furrowed her eyebrows. She's never seen this kid before. "I do? From where?"
"I go to Sac State. I thought maybe I've seen you around, like parties and stuff."
"Oh no. I don't go there, I'm still a senior in high school." Eden informed. She glanced at her mother, who was watching the two young adults intently.
"Oh sorry about that then." Sean apologuized. She could notice his ears were beginning to redden. "You just look older I guess. You should check out the school though. It's a lot of fun."
Eden said with a smile. She wasn't going to mention to the waiter that she was indeed actually thinking about applying to Sacramento State. Her mother was there and she wasn't ready to break the news to the matriarch yet about her college plans.
"Anyway. What can I guys get you to drink?"
"I'll have whatever's on tap." Gemma said, finally speaking after the prolonged silence.
"Unsweetened ice tea please." Eden said, giving the waiter a small smile.
After Sean left with their drink orders. The two Morrow women sat in silence for a couple seconds before Gemma broke the quietness between them.
"That waiter was flirting with you." she stated
Eden eyes bugged out. "What? No way? He was asking me if I went to his school. That's hardly flirting."
"He was also staring at your tits the entire time."
Eden rolled her eyes "He was not."
"Honey all men are horn dogs. Especially boys like that who have a hard-on for most of the day. Don't be shy. You have a great set of tits. You got them from me." Gemma said proudly.
"You've mentioned that before." Eden said dryly. Her mother mentioned it on a regular basis that Eden inherited her large chest from her mother. Sure it was nice having huge tits and being able to look good in lingerie and bathing suits, but a good chunk of the time, the youngest Morrow was self-conscious how disproportional they were to her 5'2 frame.
"You haven't dated much this year." Gemma said
So this is where she was trying to go with this topic. Everything Gemma Morrow said was thought out and calculated.
"I've been busy with school and work. You know that." Eden replied
Gemma rolled her eyes "Why yes. Working twenty hours a week must damper on your social life greatly."
"You make it seem like I've had all these boyfriends."
"You may have not dated much, but I'm not an idiot on what you do for fun at all those little parties you go to with your friends."
Before Kip, Eden wasn't totally naive about the opposite sex. Sure she was a virgin who hadn't made it past first base, but she had her fair share of make out sessions with multiple boys from Charming and other schools as well. She never went farther than that with them because it wasn't serious, she just wanted to have fun at those short-lived parties and making out with boys was apart of the package.
"You haven't been home that much lately either."
"Jeez Mom. What's with the third degree? Is this why you wanted to come here and shop? To find out what I've been doing with my time?
"Can't a mother want to spend time with her only daughter?" Gemma asked, feigning innocence.
"Says the women who believes that mothers should just rid of their daughters at birth to spare the drama."
"I didn't give you away now, did I?" Gemma pointed out
"I've been hanging out with my friends, that's all." Eden said, trying to end this conversation. She knew she sucked at lying, that was one of her weakest qualities. Her mother also had a bullshit detector like no other. She knew she couldn't tell the truth about her and Kip. Having Tara and Jax know was one thing, but having her overprotective, crazy mother, know she was dating an older man was something entirely different.
Gemma crossed her arms "Lie all you want sweetie. I know you're seeing someone. You're always glowing. You aren't so PMS all the time either."
"I am so not PMS all the time." Eden shot back
"So who is he?" Gemma asked, ignoring Eden's protests.
"I'm not dating anyone." Eden said slowly, getting quickly annoyed her mother wouldn't drop this.
Gemma shrugged "Fine. Be cowardly and not tell me. That's fine." she said in a passive, aggressive tone. It definitely was not fine.
"There's nothing to tell." Eden said once again. She was silently begging her mother would stop this investigative search.
"Alright then sweetie. Just so you know when people try to hide shit from me, I always find out." Gemma reminded
Before Eden could respond back, Sean, the waiter, came back with their drinks. As he set them both down on the table he looked up and smiled at the teenager once again.
"Here you ladies go. So have you decided what you're gonna order?" He asked.
Eden noticed that the entire time Sean was taking their meal orders, he was indeed, staring at her tits as if that's all he could see in his direct line of vision.
She hated it when her mother was right.
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Back in the border between Charming and Lodi, The Sons of Anarchy were meeting with an old Irish friend. The Irish were their partners in the gun running business. The Irish supplied the guns, and then Sons took them and sold them through retail for a hefty sum. This time, Half Sack came along. He was glad that today he wasn't doing scut work that the Prospects usually had to do. When the club pulled into an empty warehouse, there was no one in sight.
"I thought you said they're suppose to be here?" asked Half Sack
"Calm your horses Prospect. They'll be here. Remember to keep your mouth shut this entire time." Bobby said
Half Sack silently agreed with a nod.
Soon after a black van began to pull up and parked next to the van the Sons brought, with carried all their guns. Two men jumped out the car and walked over to them. One man was older, middle aged and look like every man he's ever seen on the street except had a glint in his eye like he was up to something. The other was young man, close to his age, maybe younger, looked a little too eager.
"Cameron." Clay was said walking over to the two Irishmen, hugging Cameron as if he was an old friend. The other members of the club soon followed.
"Clay, it's good to see you old friend." Cameron greeted back then turned back to the younger man and clapped him around the back, bringing him to closer to the conversation at hand. "You remember my boy Edmond."
"Edmond." Clay repeated, "Looking good son. Haven't seen you in quite a while."
"Thank you sir." Edmond said, shaking Clay's hand
"My boy Edmond here is helping his father with business." Cameron boasted, "You should see him Clay. The lass is smart and gonna make this deal even sweeter for the both of us."
"Is that so?" Clay questioned, "So these guns, they come in parts or assembled?"
"Assembled."
"That's not how we do business." Tig argued
"The cash flow is higher and with ATF usually on your asses it's safer than having gun parts all over this warehouse." Edmond argued back. Half Sack didn't know who this kid was. Clearly the deal was between Clay and Cameron and not him.
"Okay fine." Jax said, breaking up the would-be argument. It was often his job to be the clearheaded middleman. "What's your deal?"
"SAMCRO sells, ships, and stores. Charter to charter, I'll give you twenty percent."
The Sons looked around at each. This deal was a joke, such a little percentage of profit for all their work? Not happening.
"We do everything on our own and we get sixty percent. Just like we always have." Clay informed.
"It's a win-win Clay. I'm staying in Cali to make sure the deal runs smoothly." Edmond replied.
Clay looked over at Jax "What do you think VP?"
"I say we do it." Jax said after a long pause of thinking "ATF can trail anyone of us and find these guns and we'd be living at Stockton for a while. Twenty percent is better than nothing."
Clay nodded then turned back to the Irishmen "You got yourself a deal." he said, shaking his hand with Cameron, while Jax shaked his hand with Edmond. Even though it wasn't Half Sack's place to say anything at this moment. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew if he was in charge. He wouldn't trust these guys.
"Now that business matters are handled. How's everything on the home front Clay?" asked Cameron
"Aside from some Mayan distractions everything is going well. The old lady and kid are good."
Cameron nodded "Aye yes. I remember Gemma fondly. She is quite the pistol and your lass, Eden? How is she?"
Clay smiled, thinking about his only child by blood "Turning more into her mother every day."
Cameron chucked "Aye she's gonna make a fine old lady one day then. Eddie is the spittin' image of me when I was a boy. Gonna be very successful when he takes of the family business."
Hearing this conversation. Half Sack's blood began to boil a bit. The way Cameron talked about Eden and Edmond made it seem like he was trying to set his boy up with his girlfriend, like some arranged marriage. Which was not okay with him.
"I don't doubt that for a second." Clay said "Come on. Lets celebrate this deal with a couple of brewskis." While most of the club went off into the warehouse to drink in response to their newfound deal with the Irish, Half Sack stayed back to put the guns away.
"You SAMCRO's new Prospect?" asked Edmond, who stayed behind as well to help pack the guns.
"Yeah I am."
"So you know Edie then?" Edmond asked. His voice dripped with curiosity
"Her name is Eden." Kip replied bitterly. Why was this guy asking so many questions about his girlfriend? Did they even know each other?
"She's always been Edie to me." Edmond said with a smile that made Kip think that the Irish young man reminiscing in his mind about a past experience with Eden.
"You guys have met?" Kip asked. He tried to sound casual about the question, but he was extremely curious to what Edmond's answer would be.
"Aye yes. We use to play together when we were lads whenever I came stateside. It's been two years since I've seen her. She must be a sight for sore eyes."
Even though he hated this guy, he had to agree with him. Eden was beautiful. He just hated that the Irishmen was aware of that fact too.
"She seeing anyone? I might drop by for a visit since I'm here for a while. Last time I saw her she was getting curves in all the right place if you know what I mean." Edmond said with a mischievous smirk.
Kip wanted to kill this guy. Making comments about Eden like that made his blood boil. He knew he couldn't do shit to this kid cause it could ruin the gun running deal with the Irish and if that fell through, the Sons would take his patch and probably cut off his remaining testicle.
"She's got a boyfriend." Kip tried to say nonchalantly "Guy has a bad temper. Huge too. I would not want to mess with him. He's not one to fuck with." Sure Kip left out some details, but it was mostly the truth. When it came to Eden, no one should try to fuck with him.
Edmond smirked "I'm sure he is quite terrifying." he said sarcastically "Just let him know I plan on visiting Edie before I head back. Maybe she'll see that I got something good going on and change her mind."
That was it. Kip couldn't last any longer and this guy needed to be beaten up. Before he could charge at Edmond, he heard Chibs call his name and tell him that they were leaving. He looked back at Edmond who had a smirk on his face.
As he was leaving to head towards his bike he could've sworn that Edmond said quietly "Have a nice day No Sack."
He knew he had to be cautious while Edmond was in town. He didn't like the guy, much less trust him and didn't want him around Eden. He hope that she didn't have any fond memories of that guy like he had of her.
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Later that early evening Eden and Gemma pulled into TM after their shopping trip, awkward lunch, and then followed by a semi-awkward ride home. There was a row of motorcycles in the lot, which meant the Sons were here. Gemma went into her office to finish some work before she started to make dinner for the Sons, while Eden went inside the clubhouse to get a drink and drop all her shopping bags off.
When Eden walked into the clubhouse, she breathed in the pungent smell that made her wanna gag. Sure this was a club full of men who were a big fan of hygeine but it never smelled this bad.
"Oh my god." Eden said, outloud. The smell was god awful
Soon after her cry, Kip walked out of the bathroom with the same look on his face, as if he was trying so hard not to gag.
"Hey." Kip said, walking over to the bar and looking for something
"What the hell is that smell? I'm gonna throw up." Eden exclaimed
"Well don't throw up in the bathroom cause that's where it's coming from." Kip replied
That's so disgusting Eden thought "Did you do that?" she asked, gesturing to the gross smell of shit in the bathroom.
Kip reddened "No! It was Piney! Someone also flushed a thong down it too. I gotta call the septic guy. Where's the number?"
Eden nodded. Piney wasn't one to control his bowels. He often fucked up the bathroom on the regular, but it was never this bad. "What kind of sick fucks do you guys bring here? Flushing panties down the toliet? At least Tig and them should bring back sweet butts who wear Victoria Secret and can't afford to flush them down."
Kip chucked "I'll tell him you said that. Now can you please give me the septic guy's number?" he begged. He didn't want to deal with the smell or the entire incident at hand any longer.
"It's in my Mom's office. She'll give it to you." Eden informed
Kip nodded "Okay. I'll go do that." Before he could walk out the clubhouse, Eden grabbed his arm, stopping him
"I haven't seen you all day." she pouted
Kip softened. After what happened with the bathrooms and the Irishmen earlier, he remembered he had barely texted her all day, much less seen his girlfriend. Even though she was right in front of him, he did miss her a lot. He leaned down and gave her a nice long kiss. It was pretty risky to kiss her right in the clubhouse, but he wanted her to stop pouting.
"Better?" he asked
Eden smiled "Much. Now go get the septic number before I pass out."
When Kip walked out the clubhouse and headed towards the office. He saw Clay and Gemma talking quietly to each other, then they both look straight at him the entire time. Normally this wouldn't worry him, but now that he was dating their only daughter without their knowledge, he began to become more paranoid whenever he was around the motorcycle power couple together. Once they looked at him, Clay walked away from Gemma and towards the garage where the rest o the Sons were. Kip walked into the office and now saw Gemma looking over some paperwork. He would never tell Eden this, or anyone for that matter, but before he was dating her, Kip always thought Gemma was a straight MILF. He still thought she was good looking, but he was more focused on the younger Morrow.
"What do you want?" Gemma asked in an annoyed voice
"Eden said you had the number for the septic guy." Kip said
"Piney clogged the toilets again?" Gemma asked. She also knew that the First 9 member had few talents, clogging toilets was one of them.
"Yep."
Gemma went through her Rolodex and picked a business card out of it "Here you go. Make sure he comes tonight. I don't want to have the place fumigated cause no could clean that shit up tonight."
"Literally." Kip joked, trying to make light of the situation.
"Trying to be a comedian I see." Gemma remarked dryly
Before either one could say anything, the sound of a large truck pulling into the TM lot stopped them. Both of them looked out the window and didn't recognize the semi.
"What the...?" questioned Gemma.
Once the truck stopped. Kip could see that there were two people in the truck. The passenger door opened and out plopped a tiny little thing that looked like a midget next to the large truck. Once the door was closed, Kip could finally see who got out of the car. When he realized who it was, the Prospect's heart skipped a beat and he was pretty sure he was about to be sick.
It was Cherry.
As the semi pulled out of the TM lot and headed on its way. Multiple members of the club strode over and grabbed Cherry by the arm, very unhappy by her unexpected arrival. He could hear Tig and Cherry yelling at each other as she tried to make her way out of his gasp. He then saw Clay walked over with such a force and he could hear yelling, but he wasn't sure what they were saying. This was not good.
SAMCRO had a lot of rules. One of them being Sons could fool around on runs with whoever they wanted like sweet butts and croweaters, but when they were back home. Their old ladies were their number one priority and what happened on runs, stays there. Clearly Cherry didn't know the rules because her showing up here. Where Gemma was Queen Bee and Cherry sleeping with her husband was a huge no-no. He wouldn't be surprised if Cherry was personally taken cared of by Gemma by nighttime. He didn't want to see her. She brought back old memories of when he wasn't with Eden and thought that him and Cherry would have something real. Instead, Cherry used him for sex then got with Clay on the same weekend and he never looked back. It was a wake up call that Cherry wasn't worth it and that Eden was more right for him, despite how difficult their relationship could be.
"Who is she?" Gemma asked quietly, when they both knew that answer to that one.
"No one." Kip said shortly. He didn't want to talk about it and he didn't want to be the one to tell Gemma that she was the chick that fooled around with Clay when they were Nevada.
Gemma looked out the window again and saw Tig grabbed her by the arm and basically dragged her into the clubhouse. Her clubhouse.
"I just saw your heart skip a beat when you saw her. She must be important." Gemma pointed out.
"It's just Cherry. Some sweet butt from Nevada." He knew he couldn't withhold all details from Gemma since she scared the shit out of him, but telling her details that didn't implicate Clay couldn't hurt none.
Gemma nodded, taking all the information in then paused for a couple seconds as if she was thinking really hard. "You screwed her?"
Reluctantly, Kip nodded "Yeah. Just once. She wasn't worth it."
"Something must have happened." Gemma probed. Kip couldn't look at her in the eye, if he did, it would give all Clay's secrets away. "Clay fucked her, didn't he?"
"Uh." was all that Kip could say "The only person I know Clay is ever with is you...Ma'am. You're his old lady." This was not the kind of conversation that he wanted to be in with his girlfriend's mother right now, or anyone in general.
Kip knew Gemma didn't believe him. It was shown all over her face. He thought she was gonna hit him, then her face began to crumble and for the first time the Prospect saw that SAMCRO Queen look anything but strong. She looked like she was going to cry.
Gemma turned around and sat down in her office and chair and he knew tears would soon follow. She looked up at him and gave him an annoyed look.
"Get the hell out." She barked, in a threatening, yet quiet voice.
Kip nodded and got out of the office as soon as he could.
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Eden couldn't deal with the smell anymore. She was cleaning up the bar for tonight since she felt bad Kip usually had to do this work, but the smell was too great. She needed some air. When she walked outside. Her line of vision was focused on a huge semi truck pulling into the lot. When it stopped some tiny chick walked out. A hooker? she thought then smirked at herself Tig must be getting his lays delivered now. She knew to remind herself to make fun of him the next time she saw her godfather. Moments later Tig came charging over to her and he wasn't alone. Her brother and father soon followed
"What the hell are you doing here bitch?" Tig asked angrily
"Ow! Get off of me! I know I'm not suppose to be here, okay?" the short chick said loudly "I want to see him."
"Go fuck someone in another charter you got that sweet butt?" her father said in harsh voice, pointing at her.
Who was she? she thought. She had never seen this chick before and she didn't look much older than her. She was around the same height as Eden, but her voice sounded like she was heavy smoker and was so raspy it made Eden wanna tell the girl to clear her throat. Her Dad called her a sweet butt, so that must meant she was some how associated with the Sons, maybe from another charter.
"God it's not about you Clay! I want to talk to him for five minutes, please?" The chick begged
Eden began to wonder how she knew her father's name. This whole debacle was very confusing. Before she knew it, Tig was dragging her towards Eden and she could hear them muttering, but couldn't understand what they were saying. All of the sudden, she noticed Kip walking out of her Mom's office and he had a worried look on his face. Eden followed his line of vision and it went straight to the girl that Tig was with.
Did he know her? Eden thought. She kept looking at her boyfriend, who then saw that she was looking at him and the look on his face showed that he looked guilty. Then for Eden, it all came together. She was once confused and now she wasn't. The him that chick was referring to was her boyfriend. Something told her they weren't scrabble buddies.
"You asshole." she muttered. She was seeing red. She stalked off to behind the clubhouse, needing to be alone because if she stood there near Kip, she would probably kick the shit out if him. She hear could him running behind her, trying to catch up, but she kept moving. When she reached behind the clubhouse, she thought she was alone, but moment laters she felt a tugged on her arm.
Eden jerked back to get the hand to release from her arm. "Get the hell off of me!" she shrieked.
Kip immediately let go "Babe I can explain."
"Explain what!" she yelled, "Who the hell is that skank?"
"Just some girl from Indian Hills."
"Some girl." Eden repeated, "Some girl you fucked though. Am I right?" Eden demanded. She had to know the truth.
Kip looked at Eden for a brief moment then looked down on the ground. His guilt was enough words.
"Yes."
Eden felt her heart shatter, he cheated on her, she knew it. He was just like every guy in the club, who fooled around with croweaters whenever their old ladies weren't around. How dare he do this to do.
"I can't believe you cheated me on? You asshole!" she asked, tearfully.
Kip snapped his head up fast, with a shocked look on his face. "What? No, Eden! I haven't slept with her since we've been together! I haven't even thought about her since I've been with you. God I would never cheat on you."
"Who is she? When did you guys hook up?" Eden asked, she had a million more questions to ask. She didn't even know where to start.
"Her name is Cherry." Kip informed
Eden laughed bitterly "Something tells me Cherry hasn't had her cherry since she was twelve."
Kip chuckled then got serious "I met her and slept with her that day we were in Indian Hills, visiting your brother's friend, Jury."
"You mean the day after you drove me home when you found me walking at night?" Eden asked
"Yes. Let me explain. Please. I felt like shit Eden. I was still worried about you from the night before and I was so confused about my feelings for you and your age. I met her and she was nice, and old enough. It just happened." Kip explained, "I meant nothing."
"Sex always means something." Eden explained. Sure she was a virgin, but she knew sex always meant something. Either you cared about the person you were sleeping with you or you had a strong attraction to them, the fact that Kip felt either or for that Cherry girl made her sick to her stomach.
"You mean more to me than she ever will."
"I heard her tell my Dad and Tig that she wanted to talk to you." Eden said, ignoring Kip's sweet remark
"Yeah well I don't want to talk to her much less see her." Kip said angrily. He reached out his hands trying to grab onto Eden's waist and bring her close. He wanted to breathe her in and make her feel okay, but instead she pushed his arms away and not letting him touch her.
"I need some space." Eden said quietly
Kip's face went slack "You're breaking up with me?"
"No." Eden said quietly "I just need to be away from you right now. I'm hurt. I know we weren't together when you screwed her, but she's here and wants to see you and feel like I'm being slapped in face with her showing up in my territory."
"Nothing is gonna happen." Kip reasoned
"Kip." Eden begged, "Please, just leave me alone."
"No!" Kip yelled, "I'm not letting you walk away Eden. It's not happening. We're gonna talk about this."
"Is there anything else I don't know?" Eden asked "About her? All that happened in Indian Hills was that you met her, screwed her, and it just didn't work out like that? Nothing else?"
Kip thought long and hard. He wanted to say yes, but there was more to what happened. He knew he couldn't tell her that Cherry also slept with her father that same night and that her mother knew. He knew Eden idolized the Club President and that they were extremely close. Eden knew that Sons were allowed to fool around with sluts when they went on runs, but she always said that her Dad wasn't involved in that and her Mom was the only one he was ever with and she was proud of that. If he told her the truth, it would break her, and probably even break them up. He didn't want to lose her. He cared so much about her and he couldn't put his feelings towards her into words. He began to think of Edmond Hayes being in California for some period of time and wanting to see Eden. He didn't want Eden around the Irishmen when he wasn't there. If she broke up with him right on the spot if he told her the truth, who knows what could happen between her and Edmond. He was doing the right thing.
"Nothing else." Kip said forcefully "I promise."
Eden nodded "Okay. I know you don't like this but I need my space the rest of the day, okay? Please just give me that."
Kip slowly nodded "Fine. Just please trust me on this. Can I call you tonight?
"Okay." Eden confirmed softly.
"Can I kiss you before you go?" Kip asked. He hated how he had to ask her to kiss him. Normally he wouldn't, but didn't know where they really stood right now.
Eden gave a small smile "Yes."
Kip kissed her softly on the lips. During their kiss he promised himself that tonight he was going to take care of Cherry and by tomorrow she would be out of Charming and most importantly his life, for good.