Disclaimer-I don't own the Sons of Anarchy. I do own this story, my original characters, and a brand spanking new set of rain gear for Rolling Thunder tomorrow.
Happy came out of the little bathroom, jeans slung low on his hips, belt and top button undone. His back was still wet from the shower he'd just taken, washing 5 days of road dust down the drain. He stared down at Ace, curled in on herself, still asleep on the floor. Happy sighed, remembering the panic when they'd almost hit the bed earlier. Well fuck all that, he decided, and scooped her up, then settled her on the bed. Without opening her eyes, Ace picked her head up off the pillow and pouted her lips at him. He froze, studying her, waiting to see if she had something to say. After a long, uncomfortable moment, he realized that he was supposed to kiss her, this she was used to that constant affection. It seemed foreign to him, the only times he'd ever kissed a bitch, excepting his ma, was on the way to fucking. Happy just stooped and turned off the lamp.
"Get some sleep, Ace." He ordered, and headed out the door, shrugging his cut on over his bare shoulders.
In the hallway, Happy took note of Shark snoring in the open doorway of the guest room, and the Bastardo passed out cold in a corner. Kozik was nowhere apparent in the house, but the front door was ajar, and the faintest whiff of cigarette smoke lingered. Happy followed the trail, planting his ass on the top of the concrete steps that led up to Ace's door. He located Kozik by the gleam of his cigarette, in the shadows, leaning on the ugly Buick. Happy pull the prepay out of his pocket and dialed up Quinn, the Nomad President.
"Shark filled Quinn in earlier. Not that he isn't still going to need to hear from you." Kozik informed him, not making any move to join Happy on the stairs.
"Happy, you crazy son of a bitch, what the fuck happened to you out on the road?" Quinn's voice rang in his ear, and Happy sighed, not even sure what he needed to say.
"Hey Quinn. Shark gave you the basics, then?" was the only reply he had for his longtime brother.
"Yeah, he did. I mean, you grew up with Ace, right? I never really thought I'd see you with an old lady, but I can see why she'd make sense. You've been chasing her down for years."
"Kinda. My ma watched her after school when she was little. And I never meant to have an old lady, but Ace isn't the kind of woman that you fuck and duck. Shit, as of this moment I'm the only motherfucker alive whose touched her, you don't just walk out on that. You gotta pay the price if you want the ride. Besides, my ma would fucking murder me." Happy explained, and added a call to his mother to the growing list of shit to take care of in his head.
"No shit?" Quinn asked, the shock in his voice clear.
"Yep. Now, I think I'm gonna need some time off of runs to get some shit settled. I gotta head up to Indian Hills and Tacoma, hit Church at both places, maybe go see my ma, too. After that I'll come see you, man, and get back to work." Hap laid out what little he had figured out so far.
"Yeah, brother, you know you can take as much time as you need. But are you really planning on taking your old lady on the road with you? I mean, you could have a seat at any table on the West Coast." Quinn's voice was uncharacteristically serious. "I'll release you for this, brother."
"Fuck you, Quinn. I've sat at Tacoma and Redwood, and there's too much bullshit. All I want is the road."
"Well, what about staying on with me, but dropping your girl within reach of a charter? What you do, well, there's a good reason Nomads don't typically have old ladies." Quinn reasoned.
"No. You think, after I just told you that the only other man that's fucked her is dead, that I'm going to leave her under the protection of some charter? I'm not going to let her get raped like Gemma, or kidnapped like Tara, or fucking beat to death like LuAnn! I can keep her safe just fine on the road, and I want her the hell off the grid for a while until these Bastardos forget she ever existed." Happy's speech was uncharacteristically long, something that Quinn noted uneasily.
"Your old lady, your call, Happy. Check in with me when you leave Fallbrook." Quinn ended the call quickly, not wanting to rile up his brother any more.
"Fuck." Happy cursed as he shoved the phone back into his jeans and pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
"You need a Valium, Killah?" Kozik asked, pushing off from the Buick and moving to stand in front of his brother. "I got a few left after knocking the baby gangster out on them, earlier. He won't wake up until we're rolling out in two days."
Happy just shook his head and smoked. He didn't feel the need to fill a silence the way Kozik did, and wanted to hold his peace for as long as he could, because he knew Kozik was offended as hell at being left out of the loop. And just like that, Kozik opened the can.
"We shared a table for years, brother, and been brothers for 15. Why the fuck is it that everyone else knew about this chick before I did?" he demanded.
"It ain't been like that, Koz. It's not like I've been waiting around for her to leave her old man, I could've probably gotten her to do that years ago if I wanted to. But, truth, we've got a lot of history." Happy pulled his cut open, laying his ink on display and pointed to the first smiley face he'd ever gotten, "That right there? First club hit and she inked it at 14 years old. I never let her retouch it, which I'm pretty sure pisses her off. My ma used to watch her after school when she was a kid. And I just fucked her 4 months after her old man kicked it. I don't really see as I've got any choice but to take her on."
"I mean, I kinda get it, man, she's obviously smoking hot and from the sounds she was making, enjoyed every second of the pipe you were laying, but why'd you do her? You could've just relocated her anywhere in the country and kept the setup you've had all these years."Kozik reasoned out.
"A woman like that is going to land in someone's bed, Koz." Happy explained patiently. "And fuck if it was going to be anyone else's. Any civilian and I'd beat him down, and if she fell into bed with a club man, I'd probably kill him. Safer for everyone if she's with me."
"Alright, man. I don't really get it, but I'm happy for you. And listen, I found a Harley shop an hour away and ordered you a bitch seat, it'll be here before noon, so you'll be good to go. Plus, Chibs got ordained on the internet for Jax and Tara's wedding, so he can officiate for you."
"Thanks brother." Happy stubbed out the remains of his smoke and stood, hugging Kozik and allowing him to rub his bald head. "I didn't even fucking think of that. Fuck, man, it's all about to change."
Kozik laughed easily, "Go get some sleep brother, I'll stay out here and wait for the Charming boys, shouldn't be more'n an hour."
With a nod, Happy went back inside to Ace. He found her lying face down on top of the black comforter; she'd gotten up and slipped on a pair of shorts so tiny that most of her asscheeks were hanging out. Happy definitely approved. The room was dark, but he could make out all the ink spread across her back and down her legs. When she didn't move, Hap dropped his jeans on the floor and folded his cut on the dresser, then slid onto the bed beside her. The obvious masterpiece was a row of book spines across her lower back. He leaned in and read a few of the titles, "The Art of War", "Ready Player One", "1984", and the local yearbook from the year she'd graduated. He moved on, noting the colorful patch of fireworks high on her right side. Continuing down, he scowled at the jaunty pink bows just below her ass that topped a line running straight down the back of each leg, a clear nod to the pin-up culture in tattooing. He hoped he never found out who had inked those for her.
Happy lay back, tucking on hand behind his head and the other inside those little shorts, cupping one full asscheek, and slept.
No Other Man Alive
Ace awoke to the sound of large males snoring. Cracking an eye open, she judged the time to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 in the morning. She was amused to find that Happy's hand had a pretty firm grip on her behind, even as he contributed his own snoring to the symphony. She slid carefully out from under his hand, watching to make sure she didn't wake him in the process. Sitting at the foot of the bed, Ace rubbed her hands over her face, trying desperately to catch her brain up to the facts.
"What's doing, Ace?" his voice was even rougher first thing in the morning, and Ace glanced over her shoulder to see his slitted eyes on her.
"Just trying to wrap my brain around it all, Happy." She smiled at him, a little sadly. "I was waiting to see if I'd feel different. I mean, up 'til now…" She gestured vaguely at all her nakedness, "I guess I feel kind of guilty. Is that stupid?"
"Yeah, it really is." Happy laughed, and she giggled, too. She crossed her arms across her chest as she turned to him. He wasn't wild about her covering up, but didn't mind the way it pushed her tits up, either. "We got a lot of shit to get done, today, Ace. How about you come up here and start it off right, since you woke me up so damn early?" His easy grin and heavy lidded eyes promised all kinds of nasty goodness, and he palmed his own dick, clearly hard under his boxers. Ace felt her body flush straight down to her core, and crawled back up the bed, prepared to give him a very good morning, and to hell with Tony, she had a man right here.
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