Disclaimer-I'm too tired to even attempt to be funny, so I don't own the Sons of Anarchy or their recognizable characters. I own this story, my original characters (I don't mind letting them out to play with other writers if it's not one of my central ones and you have permission from me), and a burning rage at being incapable of writing page breaks, which will now be seen as No Other Man Alive, because I can't figure out any other way to do it and the last 11 chapters must look like complete shite to you, and I'm SORRY. As you were.
Ace tried not to make a face at the pretty pink glass of wine that was still in front of her, but frankly it tasted like sugar and vinegar and a hangover waiting to happen. She desperately wish she could figure out a way to get a good highball of decent whiskey without offending the shit out of the uniformly wine guzzling women sharing her table and her interrogation. Having grown up a half breed outcast in her neighborhood, Ace had less than no clue how to handle the constant barrage of questions from the group. She was hyper aware that Happy called these people his family and this particular charter his home, and then the asshole had chummed the water and left her there. She was trying really hard to answer their questions as vaguely as possible, hoping that would save her from really fucking up and vomiting nerve induced overshare right into their midst.
For the seven hundred millionth time she sought him out, and to her everlasting relief, he was looking back at her this time. Every time previously he had had his back to her, drinking and smoking and eating. It was unnerving that she hadn't been able to pee alone a few days prior, but being in Tacoma put him at such ease that he wasn't even watching her. It eased her a tiny bit that she'd caught Tig watching her a few times, though, when he wasn't too busy bantering with Kozik. Happy had his back to the bar, leaning negligently on his elbows, cigarette in one hand. He wasn't just watching her, he was studying her, and Ace hoped that she could always be the focus of his scrutiny. She could feel her body responding to his attention, and it disturbed her how needy he made her feel, physically. She trusted Happy implicitly, but after finding out that the childhood sweetheart she'd thought would be her only lover had a serious prostitution problem, Ace couldn't trust herself to be enough for any man, much less one who was used to getting whomever he wanted when he wanted them.
"Earth to Ace!" Cat commanded Ace's attention, but only briefly. When Cat looked like she was about to continue, Ace quickly interrupted, figuring it was less rude than crawling under the table and screaming if anyone asked her another question.
"Won't you please excuse me?" She practically yelled, and tripped over the chair trying to stand. Face burning, Ace found Happy right where he'd been and nearly cried when he made a show of beckoning her over.
In seconds she was surrounded by him. Standing between his knees, she was protected, and his arms were strong, one tight around her waist and the other cradling her head. Ace buried her flushed face in his neck, breathing in the scent of him, letting it soothe her until the inane urge to cry had passed.
"I think I suck at girl talk. I'm sorry." She mumbled.
"Yeah, and I kinda like my Harley." He laughed at her, easily keeping his grip on her when she tried to squirm out of his hold.
"Asshole." Ace pouted, playing along, knowing that he wasn't going to let her go and very glad of it. "I'm actually a little pissed at you for leaving me like that. It would have been much more humane to just put me in front of an actual firing squad."
"Don't even joke, Ace," He pressed a glass into her hand, and she was thrilled when it turned out to be Jameson, "Cat owns a guns and ammo shop and range, and teaches gun safety courses."
"Really? Huh." Ace absorbed this, and came to the conclusion that in some weird way, it made perfect sense. Happy distracted her from this line of thinking, running a thumb over the bruise on her neck. He looked so strong, and his eyes were dark and hot, and best of all, he was hers. "What are the chances that we can sneak away?"
"Slim to none because Bowie's getting ready to talk and he's looking right at us." Happy turned her in his arms, back to his front, resting his chin on her shoulder. It was impossible for her to enjoy the casual affection when literally faced with all the curious gazes from around the room.
Bowie stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly, cutting through the din. It was immediately quiet, the Sons and their old ladies gathered loosely around their club president.
"Alright, I want to thank all of you for coming out tonight. I know that most of you were on site early this morning and you'll be there again tomorrow, but it always does me proud that this club comes together in support of their own. Happy and Tig may not wear the same bottom rocker anymore, but I think you'll all agree that these guys still belong to us."
There was a low rumble of agreement at Bowie's pronouncement, and a few guys pounded on tabletops. Ace grinned at Happy over her shoulder, it was decidedly odd for her to see him as such a part of a whole, since he'd seemed such a loner to her all these years, but it was a good kind of odd. He squeezed her hip in response.
"So," Bowie continued when the crowd quieted again, "I want to personally welcome the newest member of our family, Ace." He gestured to the pair to join him in the middle of the floor, and Ace felt a little like a deer in several dozen headlights as Happy steered her through the throng.
"I don't think any of us ever thought Happy would settle down with an old lady, so you must be one helluva woman, and you couldn't have picked a better man. I know Happy considers Tacoma a sort of home, and we all hope that you will, too. Cheers!" Bowie toasted them and the response was deafening. So was the laughter when Ace, visibly uncomfortable with all the attention, downed the whiskey in her glass neatly.
"OK before you all disappear on me, and I'm fully aware that most of us have an early start in the morning, I have one more thing on the agenda. You all know there's another national club in town on business. They've paid their toll, so I expect that none of you will start any trouble. That being said, unless you're here or at your home, I want you guys travelling in groups of no less than three patched members. Ladies, I know it's a pain in the ass, and you hate waiting around for escorts, but I've tasked Kozik with making sure you guys get to and from wherever you're going without hassle. Kozik, you pull whoever you need for that. Don't start any shit, guys, but don't take any, either. Be safe out on the road, brothers, and we'll see you all on Friday for Church." Bowie finished his spiel, and kept Happy and Ace from escaping with a raised finger.
Ace felt a little easier when the clubhouse began to clear out a little, and relaxed even further when Happy tucked her in against his right side. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, grateful when he took her weight easily.
"Here, man, just a little something from all of us, we're real happy for you." Ace opened her eyes to see Bowie handing over a yellow bank envelope, bulging suspiciously. She tried not to let her surprise show when Happy took what appeared to be an awful lot of cash and tucked it into the interior pocket of his cut without blinking an eye.
"Thanks, Bowie." The two men clasped their upright left hands together, their mutual trust and friendship evident. Bowie tugged Happy back in when he started to pull away.
"Now, I know you've said that you have no intention of coming off the road for another 5 or 10 years, but you with 2 felonies and an old lady, you need to consider coming back to us. Whenever you're ready, you'll have a seat at that table and a steady paycheck, alright brother?" Having said his piece, Bowie slapped Happy's shoulder and turned him loose. He retreated quickly, not giving Happy a chance to respond. Happy growled in frustration.
"Can we please be anywhere there aren't other people?" Ace begged him from where she'd tucked herself so far into his side that she nearly disappeared.
"Yeah, I want to bring our shit in, though. Are you coming or staying here?" He asked her, starting to disentangle himself.
"Definitely coming. You're not hanging me out to dry again." Ace shuddered, when she saw that a handful of people were still hanging around and watching her and Happy. He chuckled and grabbed her hand to tow her to the door. She was grateful that he didn't stop when his brothers congratulated him along the way, and didn't let go of her hand all the way out to retrieve their bags or on the way back.
Ace did drag Happy to stop when they reached the hallway that led to the dorm rooms. She was transfixed by the double row of mug shots lining the length of the hallway. He tried to tug her in the opposite direction, but she slipped her hand out of his, drifting from picture to picture, stopping in front of the familiar face. She looked from the mug shot back to Happy, he hadn't moved from his spot, his boots planted and his arms crossed.
"Bowie said two felonies. I remember when you were in San Quentin, but you did time here, too?" She asked, and he hated that she looked so guarded.
"Come on, Ace. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, behind a closed door." Happy jerked his head in the opposite direction. Ace trailed a finger across the glass, then returned to his side, noting that he didn't offer his hand this time.
Ace followed him to the last door, expecting another non-descript dorm room like they'd stayed in at Indian Hills, but was quick to find out that wasn't the case when Happy pulled his keys out and unlocked it.
"You have your own room here?" She asked him, feeling more and more lost by the second.
"Yeah, Bowie lets me keep it. He thinks I'll change my mind about staying Nomad." Happy grunted, pulling her inside. He pushed her back against the door, hooking his fingers through her belt loops, so that he could angle her hips into his. He kissed her roughly, shoving his tongue into her mouth. When she didn't moan or rub herself on his dick, he pulled back.
"You're really going to make me explain it all to you, huh?" Happy groaned, pounding a fist lightly against the door, then backed quickly away when Ace flinched.
"Shit."Happy retreated all the way to the bed, giving her space to get her bearings back.
"Sorry!" She groaned, sliding down the door and burying her face in her crossed arms. "I'm sorry, Hap, I don't know why I can't stop being such a spaz."
"No, that was my fault." He waited to see if she was going to get back up, but she kept perfectly still. When it was apparent that she has no intentions of coming back around, he squatted in front of her, close, but not touching.
"I swear I can do better." Ace's voice was very small, a far cry from the gutsy woman he was used to.
"You're fine. That was a bonehead move on my part, just because I'm frustrated with other shit. You're such a tough bitch that I forget sometimes everything you went through because I wasn't there. It drives me fucking insane that I can't kill him for you."
"I just want to be enough." Ace whispered, and rolled her head to one side so that he could see her face.
"What do you mean, enough? Most of the time you're way too much." Happy chuckled low and rough.
"It's not funny. I don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing here, and every single one of those people knew more about you than I do, and I know you've been with a ton of women, and I, I don't fucking know." She ended on a groan.
"Hey, you're doing fine. Every time I turn around someone else is telling me how stupid I was to wait so long with you. They're probably right. And Tacoma's my home, and I spent a lot of years here, but they all just know shit I've done. You know who I am, that's a huge difference." Happy didn't like her on the floor like this, and couldn't figure out how his night had turned from an easy homecoming to reassuring the one person who shouldn't need it. "Is this about the shit your old man pulled in Fallbrook? Because you know I'm not him."
"No, I know that. But I wasn't enough for him. And he wasn't half the man you are, so how am I going to be enough to keep a man like you? It's pretty apparent that anywhere we go you can crook a figure and get laid." Ace hid her face again, feeling like a complete ass.
"Yeah, I could. But fucking you makes me feel like I'm a goddamn teenager again, and I'm taking you with me, so why would I need to fuck anyone else? You're my old lady, and the only woman besides my ma that I've ever had in my life, you're never going to have to face a sweetbutt telling you they had me."
"I don't even know what that means." She said.
"Club girls. Not old ladies, but the ones who are here to be had by whoever wants them." He explained, shifting his weight so his knees cracked painfully. Deciding that the floor was definitely not working for him, he staggered back to his feet, groaning a little. Ace took the hand he offered and pulled herself up as well. True to form, Happy didn't give her any space, keeping her a little off balance so that she had to cling to him to keep from falling.
"It's you and me, until I kick it or get locked up. Jax told me a while ago that there's only two ways an old lady makes it, either they know everything or they know nothing. If you need it, I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Just be sure you want to know it, because you can't go back, and I'd be trusting you with knowledge that could put me away for life or get me killed." Happy was sure she could handle it if she had to, just not sure that she'd want to. It would definitely be easier for him if she did know it all.
"Can I work on you?" Ace asked, tracing some of his forearm ink. "I need something to keep me focused for this conversation."
"Yeah. Yeah, you owe me some ink anyway. And that's a decent place to start."
They went back out to the main room, where Tig and Kozik were sitting at the bar, trying to throw pretzels in each other's beer.
"Well that was quick." Kozik chimed in when he noticed them.
"That's what your mom said last time, too." Tig responded, dodging Kozik's backhand easily.
"Hey, since I'm taking Tiggy to the cleaner's after Church, you want to take a shot at Lorca? He's a big bastard." Kozik pulled a sheet of paper down off the bulletin board.
"Yeah, it's been way too long since I've had a decent brawl." Happy answered gleefully.
"Table, chair, or bar?" He asked Ace.
"Well what else am I working on besides adding another face?" She asked, doing a quick scan of his extensive sleeve work.
"Well, you can rework my serpent-" He started, and shook his head when Kozik and Tig wheezed with laughter. "Shut the fuck up. Christ. Or you can put your name on me, then you don't have to worry about any bitches not knowing who I go to bed with. Whatever you want."
Ace carefully considered the offer, watching him strip off his cut and lay it across the bar, colors up. He pulled his shirt off next, and she circled him, trying to figure out where she'd even put any original work. His tattoos covered his entire torso and both arms. There were memorials done in beautiful script, the serpent covering his stomach and chest, and of course, the summary of his life from shoulder to shoulder, 'I live, I die, I kill for my family.'
"Can I put it right here?" She asked tracing the space from collarbone to collarbone. "Americana style? And I want to touch this up, too, you let it get faded." She added, tapping the mantra.
"I told you, whatever you want." He answered, standing with his hands behind his back, letting her play.
"Will anyone care if I'm climbing all over the bar? The lighting is a thousand times better over here." Ace had already slung her kit up on the bar, ready to get to work.
"Not at all, sweetheart." Kozik answered, then jerked a chin at the Prospect still waiting around. "Disappear."
"Good call. Indian Hills had a Prospect that almost lost his fucking eyes down her shirt." Happy swung up on the bar, lying flat, using his rolled up shirt as a pillow. "There are outlets under the bars."
Ace lined everything she needed on the bar, going around to snag a roll of paper towels. She climbed up on a bar stool to open Happy's belt and jeans. Their eyes were locked, and the atmosphere grew very charged and intense. Every time he had come to her, it had been a powerful experience. Ace had spent so much of her life marking time by marking this man, and the thrill of having him under her hands, and changing his skin had only increased. It was a strange duality of still being in awe of his power and lethality like she had been as a teenager and also feeling like, for some small time, she had command over him.
Preparations complete, Ace kissed the first piece she'd ever tattooed. Happy watched his woman, remembering the girl she had been, and utterly soothed by the continuity. With the first touch of the needle, like always, Happy's mind slowed and all the shit fell away. His first club hit had lit him up, but trusting Ace with the needle, and her trusting him to guide her through it had instantaneously settled and centered him, and he'd been chasing the feeling ever since.
"You said these were a good place to start." Ace prompted him, making quick work of the black outline.
"Good a place as any. Have you figured out what they stand for?" Happy knew she had to have some idea, but wanted to gauge what she knew. He noticed when she glanced around uneasily. "The one place you don't have to ever watch what you say is here."
"So they're people you've killed, right?" Ace tried hard to look nonchalant, shooting him a dirty look when he chuckled at her efforts.
"Not exactly. I don't mark every single kill. Just club sanctioned hits." He continued to observe Ace, knowing that this was a distinction that might matter to her.
"And the others? The ones that weren't sanctioned?" She finished with the smiley face, wiping and dressing it.
"Battle casualties. Collateral damage." So far, Happy couldn't detect any unease in her, just absorbing the information. He grabbed her arm after she had moved her wells of ink up above his head.
"I don't do what I do because it's fun. But I don't regret it, either. I will do whatever it takes to protect my club, my family." He wanted to kiss her, but she was pulling her arm from his grasp, and disappointed, he let her go. She surprised him when she climbed up on the bar with him, throwing a leg over him.
"I think I should be insulted." Ace informed him drily, moving to prep the blank area across the base of his throat. Happy anchored a hand on the back of her thigh, ostensibly to steady her, but mostly to distract himself from having her at this throat.
"Yeah, why's that?" He asked, nervous as hell about the razor she had so close to his jugular. He felt eyes on him, and guessed that Kozik was measuring him. Kozik had been there the night Happy had nearly been garroted. He'd made his peace with meeting a bloody death, but the panic that came with strangulation wasn't ever going to be something he'd square with.
"You keep saying that I know you. And I put those words on you," Ace rubbed her gloved thumb across the words she'd touch up when she was done with this piece, "Yet, you keep thinking I'm going to freak out."
"Rock steady bitch, huh?" Happy squeezed her leg, grinning at the top of her head, which was all he could see.
"I mean, it's a lot. But my earliest memories are of you fighting, usually over someone insulting your mom." She paused, reassessing the canvas, planning her spacing and font size. She glared at him when he laughed, shaking her.
"I was a punk."
"No, you were a man defending your family. That's always what I've…admired about you. All I wanted was to be inside that circle, because I like that you're not some white collar pussy, you're a man that will do whatever it takes. It's hot as hell." She sat up and rolled her shoulders, then retested her rig. "Ready?"
"You cool, Hap?" Kozik appeared at his elbow, and Happy ground his teeth.
"Yeah, I'm good. Let's get it going." Happy bit out, tucking both hands back behind his head.
"Want me to stay here?" Kozik started to pull a stool up.
"Nah, man, I'm fine. Give us some space, Koz." Happy saw Kozik's surprise, but he stepped off back to the end of the bar, shoving Tig as he passed.
"They're really always like that?" Ace asked, outlining the three letters of her own name, smug because the tops of the letters would clearly be visible, even with a shirt on.
"Always." Happy closed his eyes, trying to recapture the endorphin buzz. Ace was quiet for a while, hopefully concentrating on her work.
"Bowie said you had two felony convictions?" Wrong. She'd been figuring out which of his buttons to push.
"Yeah, there's the ADW from back in Bakersfield, and since I had a semiauto on me, I got 8 years for that. You knew about that. I got arrested here for misdemeanor. I pissed in a cop's gas tank." He cracked an eye and shrugged when her head popped up. Kozik was laughing behind him.
"That was a great fucking night." Kozik howled. Happy just shook his head, not wanting to explain right now.
"Kozik can tell you some other time if you want to hear it. The other felony is from my time in Charming. Almost the entire charter got popped on a federal gun charge, but thanks to a deal Jax put together, we served short time. 14 months in Stockton. Tig was there, too."
"OK, that's not good, but why did Bowie seem so worried about it?" Happy felt his stomach drop at the question. It was the one he'd hoped she wouldn't ask.
"Three strikes. Another violent felony conviction and I face a life sentence." That time he felt her hesitate. She looked up at him again, and he read the panic in her eyes. "Stop. I'm good at what I do, I'm not going to get caught."
Ace sat back again, and Happy could tell that she knew he was lying, but instead of calling him on the line of bullshit he'd just fed her, she just wiped down her work.
"Do you want me to keep it straight black or add some color?" She asked, blinking away the unsettling thought of Happy being taken away from her.
"Do you have the cyan we used on my gremlin?" He pointed his chin to his left bicep.
"Yeah, I have a little bit left." She leaned forward, rooting in her kit above his head, left hand braced next to his face.
"Hap, you motorboatin' sonofabitch!" Kozik copped a redneck accent, and Ace looked up at him, confused, which gave Happy the exact opening he needed. He buried his face in her cleavage and blew briskly.
Ace was openmouthed in shock and the three men cracked up. Happy let out a grunt as she deliberately dropped all her weight on his gut, which made Kozik and Tig laugh even harder.
"Are you quite done, yet?" Ace sighed theatrically, trying not to smile as she literally rode the waves of Happy's laughter.
"Yeah, I'm good." Happy grinned when she leaned warily back over him to finish pouring the ink.
"So, just playing devil's advocate here." She arched a brow at him before continuing to work on her own brand. "What happens to me if you do go back inside?"
"Prison clause!" Tig and Kozik sang together.
"Shut your fucking mouths, douchebags!" Happy was legitimately pissed, and Ace had to wait for him to settle back down.
"What's prison clause?"
"The club allows old ladies the chance to have their needs met elsewhere with no consequences if their old man gets locked up. It never ends well." Happy looked dangerous, muscles coiled. Ace put the final touches on the E and put her tat gun aside. She stretched out on him, putting her chin just below her handiwork.
"Calm down, big man. You weren't my first, but you're definitely my last." He pulled her further up so he could kiss her.
"Good." He growled into her mouth. "I'd make whatever arrangements I could for you before I got locked up, and the club would handle the rest. Now get up and finish my ink so we can get to bed."
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