Fighting Back

Chapter 31

Happy sat up in bed, a cigarette hanging from his mouth as he watched the sleeping body next to him. Nicole was lying on her front the sheet only covering her lower legs which left all of her naked body exposed. He let his eyes roam over her curves before focusing on her new tattoo. His shook his head wondering how they managed to break every rule they had made.

Last night after they had slept together Nicole had got up to go to the bathroom and that's when he noticed the tattoo on her right butt cheek, and he felt the familiar feeling in the pit of his stomach, rage.

Flashback

Nicole flushed the toilet before walking over to the sink to wash her hands. As she looked up at herself the mirror something caught her eye. Her right hand went to her left shoulder where a red smudged finger mark rested. Nicole immediately washed the blood of her skin, she didn't want Ryan anywhere on her. Her head snapped to the door when she heard it open. She couldn't stop herself from smiling at the sight of him, even though he was now dressed in his jeans.

The last few times she had slept with him it had been quick, dirty and needed, and every bit satisfying. But last night was different, he was different. He was gentle, as if he was afraid of hurting her. He took his time, making sure he covered every inch of her body with his mouth, and the way he pleasured her took her to whole other level of ecstasy. So much that she could feel the tingle between her legs now. She didn't know or care what had made him act this way, all she knew was she liked this side of him and hoped to see it time and time again.

"Hey." He rasped.

"Hey." She replied as she took hold of the hand he was offering. She followed as Happy walked them back into the room. She noticed the equipment on the beside table. "What's that for?"

"It's time to remove him completely."

He had already known exactly what tattoo he was going do, he had been thinking about it while he was away in Belfast and finally decided on a design. The tattoo was of a rose head in full bloom, he'd added a few bits of foliage around the rose. The tattoo was done in black, the only colour on the tattoo was some white shading on the inside of the rose and a small droplet of red falling from the leaf.

He knew according to the rules of their agreement he should have let her leave, but when he'd finished the tattoo and she thanked him with a kiss that had more meaning behind it than it was supposed to, he couldn't let her go. And that's how they ended up in this position. Breaking all the rules.

He was brought out of his thoughts when her cell started ringing. He got out of bed and walked over to her jeans and dug out her phone from the back pocket. He did a quick check of the ID and when he saw it was Gemma he knew he had to wake her. He placed his hand on her shoulder gently shaking her.

Nicole started stir when she heard the blaring ring tone of her phone. Letting her eyes adjust to her surroundings she turned onto her side only to see Happy standing over her with her phone stretched out in front of him.

"Morning." She spoke horsely as she accepted her phone from him.

"Morning." Nicole smiled at him before answering her phone.

"Hello."

"Where the hell are you? You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago."

"Shit, sorry Gemma I must have overslept."

"Just get that bony ass of yours over here now." Gemma ordered before hanging up. Nicole closed her cell and looked over at Happy who was in the middle of getting dressed.

"You late?" He asked as she got out of bed and started picking up her clothes.

"Yeah was supposed to be at her house 20 minutes ago."

"She pissed?"

"What do you think?" She asked as she pulled her jeans on.

"I'll give you a lift."

"It's okay I've got my car."

"Bikes quicker."

"Okay thanks."

"What you doing?" He asked as he watched Nicole head for the door dressed in just her jeans and bra.

"Going to change my top and freshen up. It's bad enough I have to go to Gemma's smelling of you, if I turn up in yesterdays clothes she's defiantly going to know something."

"Two minutes."

"That's all I need."

Two minutes later and Happy barged into Jax's dorm, helmet already in his hand. Nicole smiled as she exited the bathroom, one thing you could say about Happy was he always kept to his word. If he said two minutes he meant two minutes.

Nicole grabbed her cropped black leather jacket and put it on over her old Bon Jovi tour t-shirt which used to belong to her Mom.

"What?" She asked as when she saw Happy shaking his head.

"Jovi?"

"Jovi rules." She told him as she took the helmet from his hands.

"Jovi are shit." Nicole looked over her shoulder at him.

"Whatever."

The two of them walked down the hallway continuing their discussion about Bon Jovi, when Nicole suddenly stopped which caused Happy to do the same thing.

"You two are up early." Bobby stated as he took a sip from his cup of coffee.

"Yeah I'm helping Gemma with the breakfast. Hap's just giving me a ride." Bobby turned to look at her.

"I'm sure his is." Nicole shook her head and walked over to him.

"Don't fill up on that Banana loaf of yours I think Gemma is catering for an army."

"Sure thing sweetheart." Nicole bent over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, before walking out the clubhouse. Happy following behind her.

"Look after that one." Bobby said before he left.

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Jax woke with Tara wrapped in his arms. Last night after picking Abel up from Gemma and Clays Tara had told him that they needed to talk.

After putting Abel to bed he went into their bedroom where Tara was waiting for him. He was expecting this, and knew that she was probably about to tell him that she wanted out of this relationship and out of his life but when Tara started speaking she completely knocked him for six.

Flashback

"Is Abel okay?"

"Yeah he settled pretty easily."

"That's because he's home where he's meant to be." Tara said as she rubbed her hands over her denim clad legs. Jax noticed this and knew this was a sign that she was nervous.

"Look I know what your gonna say so can you just say I...

"I'm pregnant." Tara blurted out cutting Jax off. She waited for him to say something but he said nothing, he just stared at her. "Say something...ple..."

This time it was Jax who cut her off. He kissed her tenderly as he cupped her face in his hands.

"So your happy?" She questioned as she pulled away from him.

"What do you think?"

That night they made love to each other for the first time in a long time. Even with the impending jail sentence hanging over him he could honestly say that he had never been happier than this moment right now. His son was home, Tara the love of his life was carrying his child, Nicole was safe and his mother was not going to be spending the rest of her life rotting away in prison. Life was good.

"Hi." He said as Tara stirred.

"Hmmm...Morning." She replied cuddling up against him.

"I love you."

"I love you to." Jax moved his hand towards her stomach. "I love you to son." Tara laughed.

"You don't know that."

"I have a feeling." Jax leant over and kissed her. "I have to go soon."

"Why?" It wasn't a real question she knew he had to go and respected that but she did want to steal a few more moments with him.

"We have a vote to get in." He told her honestly, although he did leave out the part where he had to meet Stahl. She didn't need to know that. "But I don't mind being a little bit late." He said as he moved on top of her.

#######################

Gemma was in the kitchen whisking together the mixture for her blueberry muffins when she heard the Harley pull up outside the house. Moving towards the kitchen window she looked outside to see who it was and that's when she saw Nicole climbing off Happy's bike.

She continued watching them was as they interacted with one another, and she realised something was weird between them, something was different and as she continued watching them realisation hit her.

"You've got to be shitting me." She muttered to herself. She turned away from the window when Nicole started walking towards the house.

"Sorry I'm late Gem, but I'm here now what do you want me to do?" Nicole asked as she took off her jacket and went over to the sink to wash her hands.

"Here put this into the moulds over there." Gemma instructed handing the bowl of Muffin mix to her.

"It's smells amazing in here." Gemma just nodded as she went over to the oven to pull out the bread.

As she took them out of the tins to cool she took in her nieces appearance. She was glowing and she looked happy but she also noticed that she had that just out of bed look and she smelt different, her usual Channel no5 perfume was now replaced by what could only be explained as a scent of a man. She smelt of sex.

"You look tired. Didn't get much sleep?" Gemma asked.

"Actually I slept pretty well." And that was the truth. Although she didn't get much sleep between the sex with Happy, him doing her tattoo and the early wake up call but the sleep she did manage to get was the best. Not once did the image of Salazar invade her dreams.

"Right so it must have been something else keeping you awake then?" Nicole's head snapped towards her aunt, who had a knowing look about her. Did she know her secret?

"No." Gemma shook her head as she threw the tin onto the counter making Nicole jump.

"You can't do this."

"Do what?"

"This club barley made it through the past few months and with them going inside we need them whole. They don't need anything to come between them, you understand that?"

"What are you getting at Gemma?"

"Happy. Your sleeping with him aren't you?"

"That's none of your business."

"Don't give me that bullshit. Are you sleeping with him or not?" Gemma asked again.

"We have an arrangement."

"Arrangement?"

"Yeah. It's just a bit of fun no strings."

"Jesus Christ Nicole."

"It's okay we…."

"No Nicole it's not okay. What do you think Clay and Jax are going to say when they find out."

"Their not going to find out, you can't tell them."

"This is all wrong. He's treating you like your nothing more than a god damn crow eater and the worse of it is your acting like one."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Juice."

"What?"

"Jumping from son to son." Nicole lost it and before she could stop herself the words spilled from her mouth.

"Your one to talk." Nicole knew she shouldn't have said it but she couldn't help herself.

Gemma smirked at her baldness. "Were not talking about me sweetheart, this is about you and how your actions are gonna effect this club." Gemma walked closer towards her. "What Happy is doing with you is wrong and if Clay and Jax find out there will be repercussions. They wont allow any son to treat you like this. If a son's willing to sleep with you then they better be willing to make you their Old Lady." Nicole backed away from Gemma and grabbed her jacket.

"That's bullshit. I'm 25 Gemma and who I sleep with is my decision not Jay's, not yours and defiantly not Clay's."

"It is when it involves the men of this Club." Gemma snapped as she grabbed Nicole's arm.

"That's rich." Nicole snatched her arm out of Gemma's grasp. "My whole life has been spent around these guys. God you and Clay even let them take me to and from school, Uncle John and Clay had me working in the garage with the guys as soon I was old enough to see over the bonnet of the car. What did you all think was gonna happen when I started to develop tits and an ass. If Clay is so god damn worried about my respect then he shouldn't have let a teenage girl walk around a club full of bikers."

"What are you saying?"

"I was always going to end up in a Sons bed and you knew I was."

"Are you saying that you slept with one of them when you were under age?" Nicole remained silent and to Gemma that spoke volumes. "Who was it?"

"That doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't. Look at the end of the day after my Mom, Dad and Uncle John died you and Clay pushed me into this club head first so don't you dare stand there and talk to me like I don't know or understand this life. I love this club, I would never do anything to damage it."

"So you think letting all of them get into your pants isn't going to effect the club." Nicole pulled a face.

"I wouldn't exactly say that, I've only slept with two of them, I think that puts me on par with you doesn't it."

Nicole and Gemma stared at one another neither one of them willing to back down. They stayed like that for a few moments before Gemma spoke. She knew she couldn't exactly argue with her about that.

"I think were done here."

"Gemma..." Nicole knew she had crossed the line. "I don't mind staying to help."

"No you should go. Go back to the clubhouse, take a shower, clean yourself up. If Clay's sees you like this he's gonna know. And it might be a good idea if you pack your shit up and move back in with Jax."

"Okay." Nicole shrugged on her jacket. "Gemma I didn't mean what I said about John and Clay. I know you loved Uncle John and I never meant to disrespect that."

"It's okay baby I probably shouldn't have called you a croweater." Gemma walked over and kissed her on the cheek.

"So about me and Happy..."

"I'll keep your secret for now but you need to be more careful, if I've already figured this shit out then so will Clay and Jax and i'm sorry but i won't be able to help you out of that one." Nicole went to leave when Gemma called her back."Oh and Nicole."

"Yeah."

"I now you won't tell me who it was but I will find out who the son was that screwed you when you were just 16 and no matter what you say there will some sort of retaliation for that. Who ever it was crossed a line and needs to pay for that." Nicole left. What the hell had she done. She knew it wouldn't take long for Gemma to figure this out. She needed to fix this.

#########################

"Your late." Jax stated as Stahl walked towards him at the grave yard.

"Got a bit busy. So where's O'Phellen?"

"The Irish gave Jimmy safe passage out of Belfast in exchange for my Kid." He watched her eyes widen. "He's up North with the Russians."

"Protlova?"

"Yeah but were looking into it. We've got a brother in maximum security. Lenny the Pimp."

"Lenny Janowitz, the scumbag that killed three ATF agents..."

"Allegedly." Jax butted in causing Stahl to shake her head. "Look Lenny's got direct ties to the Russians. He's a real source but he's got no visitation rights so we've gotta use Otto to reach out to him."

"No, Otto's in the hole."

"He's out today. We just need you to arrange for Lenny and Otto to get some yard time together and we might be able to get a lead on where Protlova's got Jimmy stashed."

"I'll see what I can do." She went pulled a folder out of her bag. "But in the meantime I'd like you to look through these." She said handing him the folder. Jax opened the folder and had a quick look through the contents before looking back at Stahl.

"Did you have any contact with these guy's?"

"Yeah we met with Brogan, Dooley, and Roarke but none of the others. Put it in my statement along with Jimmy and i'll sign off on it."

"Good good, and this will direct us to Jimmy?"

"Absolutely." Jax started to walk away from her when she called out to him.

"Salazar is missing." Jax turned back to look at her.

"And why would that interest me?"

"Because we have witnesses that connect him and a former son of yours together."

"Don't have a clue what you're talking about." Jax shrugged.

"I believe Ryan used to date your cousin Nicole, is that right?" Jax stormed towards her. Making Stahl take a step back.

"Nicole has nothing to do with this and if you want us to work together I suggest you leave her out of this shit."

"I was just saying."

"Well keep that shit to yourself or eslse..."

"Or else what?"

"Do you really want to push me." Stahl thought about it for a second and then realised that what he was offering to her was worth way more than going after Nicole, so she decided to just bury it. "We good here?"

"We're good."

#################################

Nicole stormed into the clubhouse to find Bobby sitting in the same place he was when she had left.

"Bobby where's Tig?"

"Well hello to you to sweetheart." Bobby remarked as he looked at her over his newspaper.

"Sorry, but do you know where he is or not?"

"Still in his dorm." Nicole stormed down the hall. "But I wouldn't..." Bobby started but stopped as soon as Nicole disappeared down the hall.

Bobby shook his head before returning to his newspaper. He was just getting into his article again when he heard the clubhouse door open again. He looked from his newspaper to see Happy walk inside. He watched as Happy subtly looked around the clubhouse, Bobby guessed he was looking for Nicole.

"She's gone to talk with Tig."

"Don't remember asking." Happy snapped as he headed towards the kitchen to get himself some coffee.

Nicole walked down the hall and stormed into Tig's room but when she opened the door she wished she hadn't. Tig and some random crow eater were in the middle of some rather kinky shit. She immediately turned away from them as her hand covered her eyes.

"What the fuck Nic."

"I'm sorry but I really need to talk to you."

"Who the hell is she?" Nicole heard the crow eater ask.

"Can't this wait?" Tig snapped.

"No I really need to talk to you NOW." Tig heaved a heavy breath before he turned to face the crow eater.

"Get your shit."

"What the hell?"

"HEY...Get your shit and fuck off...NOW." The girl scrambled out of Tigs bed and picked her clothes up off the floor.

The girl quickly pulled on her clothes before she headed for the door. Nicole turned to look at her on the way out.

"He's all yours sweetheart hope you like weird shit because this one's fucked up." She advised as she stormed out the dorm room.

Nicole watched her leave before she spun around to look at Tig. "Fuck sake Tigger." She snapped as she again covered her eyes with her hand. Tig was standing in front of her completely naked.

"You know you love it doll."

"Just put some fucking pants on." She snapped growing annoyed with him.

"Okay...Okay..." Tig grabbed his jeans and put them on. "I'm decent sweetheart you can look now.

"You've never been decent." She snapped as she looked between her fingers to check he was telling the truth. When she was satisfied that he was covered she removed her hand.

"This better be good, that bitch was about to..."

"You can't vote Koz in." She said cutting him off.

"What...your the one who told me to vote him in...Has he done something?"

"No he hasn't done anything."

"Then why."

"Gemma knows."

"What?"

"Well she doesn't know exactly but..."

"But what?" He asked as he walked over to her.

"Long story short we had an argument and I kinda let slip that something happened between me and a son when I was 16."

"Does she know it's Koz?" He asked as he closed the gap between them.

"No. That's why you can't vote him in. If he's not here she won't suspect him."

"Right okay doll we can handle this shit. I take it Clay doesn't know?" Nicole shook her head.

"But she said that when she finds out there will be repercussions. I'm worried."

He rubbed his hand down her arm as he tried to calm her."Don't be. I'll deal with this shit."

"But Gemma..."

"I can handle your Aunt. You just keep your distance from him at the breakfast and I'll deal with the rest."

"I'm so sorry." She apologised as tears welled up in her eyes.

"I know." Tig said as he pulled her into a hug. "I know."