Disclaimer-Do we really have to do this FIFTEEN chapters in? We do? OK then, Kurt Sutter is still the creator of Sons of Anarchy. But in the land of NOMA, I am Goddess. Please don't steal my characters, themes, or this exact story, because I promise you I'm a real person who worked hard to create them.
Happy opened his right eye to find Ace studying him, head tilted to one side.
"Oh good, you're awake now. Can I please go get some ice for that? I've been watching it get worse by the hour." She was already out of bed and halfway across the room before he registered anything she said.
"Pants." He grunted at her, rolling to keep her in view, since his left eye was swollen shut. His lip cracked painfully when he rubbed a hand over his face. He groaned, and Ace appeared above him again. A painful glance reassured him that she had, in fact, put pants on.
"You look like shit, big man."
He lifted a hand long enough to flip her off. She laughed and kissed him very lightly on the mouth.
"I'll be right back with ice."
When the door shut behind her, Happy concentrated on getting himself upright before she got back. It took him a long minute to decide that getting up really was a decent plan. He could tell when he stood that Lorca had succeeded in cracking at least one rib, which was exactly what Lorca had promised him before they'd gotten in the ring. Happy didn't think it was cracked badly enough to keep him from fucking his old lady, which had been Lorca's stated intention.
"Fuck." He ground out, catching a glimpse of his face in the bathroom mirror. The one heavy shot Lorca had landed had completely split his eyebrow, leaving the lid so swollen that he couldn't begin to open the eye. His jaw was tender, but not bruised, although he didn't think he'd test his luck by shaving today. Moving downward, his shoulders were sore from the exertions, but nothing that worried him. His left side was black where his rib was cracked, and based on the bruise on his back, he'd likely be pissing blood for a day or two. After finding out that he was right, he opened the door to find Ace back on the bed, pantsless.
"Well if your goal was to completely destroy the work I did on him, you managed swimmingly." She looked like she wanted to be pissed, but ended up grinning at him.
"Yeah? Does he look bad?" Happy grinned crookedly back at her, trying not to split his lip further.
"Someone called Donut to come back and tape him up. You're actually next up, after we see what this ice can do." She scooted back far enough that he could lay his head in her lap.
With the ice on his face, Happy closed his other eye. Ace was stroking his jaw with light fingers, and the quiet room was peaceful in a way he hadn't ever expected to feel. He'd thought that all the noise only stopped when he was on the other end of her needle, but that strong, settled feeling he'd kept coming back to her for was somehow right there. Despite having gotten bloody mere hours before, Happy felt strong enough to go to war for her.
After an indeterminate time, Ace removed the ice pack, setting it aside. Happy blinked up at her, able to at least peel his left lid back a little. She leaned over him, smiling softly, her hair falling around them. Ace kissed him again, very softly.
"I'm proud of you." She murmured against his lips, and not giving a damn about his split lip, he picked his head up off of her lap so that he could kiss her harder. When that proved not to be enough for him, Happy flipped over, and crawled up Ace's body, pulling her legs around his waist. Ace brought both her hands to the back of his head, trying to bring him closer to her. He resisted, though, taking a long look at her, licking his lip hungrily before he let her pull him down. He kissed her thoroughly, loving the way her tight body squirmed underneath the weight of his.
"Did the swelling come down at all on that-Shit! Sorry!" Donut retreated, slamming the door shut. Happy pulled back to look at Ace, dumbfounded.
"You didn't lock the goddamn door?" He should have been angry by the oversight, but couldn't manage it with Ace working so hard to stifle her laughter.
"All I saw was Happy's ass, I swear!" Donut called through the door.
"Would you please put some fucking pants on?" Happy threw them at her, then grabbed his own jeans. He left the belt undone, so they hung low on his hips, which didn't make Ace want to put anything on at all. She managed to be virtuously dressed when Happy opened the door for his brother, though.
"Try knocking next time." Happy told Donut, pulling him for one of those handshake bro hugs that Ace didn't understand.
"Try locking your door."
Happy shot Ace a dirty look when she snorted, which made her laugh all over again.
"How's the eye?" Donut asked, steering Happy toward a chair.
"Not bad. How's Lorca's face?" Happy snickered, laying his head back so that Donut could get a better look.
"I think it's safe to say that you made your point." Donut pulled on gloves and set to work prodding the cut. "I'm taping this, too, but it'll still scar."
"Gonna ruin my good looks, doc?" Happy asked as Donut finished with the cut.
"On your feet, brother, let's get a look at that rib."
Happy stood with his left arm stretched behind his head, gritting his teeth every time he had to take a breath. Donut wasn't exactly gentle, either, he was getting pretty tired of patching up his brothers when they beat on each other.
"Come watch, baby. You're going to want to know how to do this." Happy ignored her raised eyebrow. He also ignored her making ridiculous faces at him while he was holding his breath to get his ribs taped. He nodded at her to grab his prepay off the nightstand when it rang.
"It says 'Jax'." She said, handing it over to him.
"Yeah." Happy answered gruffly, knowing where this was going and not liking it.
"Check out who went got hitched. Congrats, man."
Happy didn't answer, just nodded to Donut and shook his hand before closing the door behind him, locking it pointedly. Ace hugged Happy, propping her chin on his chest to watch his face. It was clear that he wasn't terribly interested in talking to this Jax.
"So here's the thing, man. Redwood is pretty light these days, we're down to seven at the table since Tig decided to take off. Now, I could call in some transfers, but you and Tig are both Redwood. We've got controlling interest in an ink shop, so you and your old lady could both earn straight, and we need the weight you and Tig pull on this Cartel deal."
Jax finally quit talking, and Happy still didn't respond, just ran his hand through his old lady's hair, wishing that his day could've just stalled in that moment before Donut had walked in on them.
"Come on, Happy, you know it's a good play. You can't be serious about taking an old lady on the road, it makes more sense to jump to a charter, safety in numbers."
"Charming ain't exactly been a safe haven for its old ladies, Jax." Happy pointed out, shaking his head at Ace's questioning look.
"It's been dead quiet lately. Think about it, a'ight?" Jax hung up before Happy could tell him what he thought of that idea.
"Fuck. I think I need a new phone." Happy tossed the prepay I the general direction of the nightstand, not really caring if he missed or not. He buried both his hands in Ace's hair, and backed her toward the bed, keeping her eyes on his.
"Are you sure you're up to this, big man?" Ace asked, climbing up and biting her lip while she looked him up and down, eager to get her hands on his skin. She slid out of her pants for the second time that morning.
"No." He admitted, easing himself back. "But I bet you can be real gentle with me." He smirked, cockily.
"Mmm, I think I could." Ace purred, straddling him carefully. Happy pulled his shirt off of her before picking up where they'd left off. Her hair was a physical barrier, insulating them from the rest of the world. She had both of her hands braced next to his head, which allowed him unfettered access to all her perfect skin. Happy let her lead, content for the moment with the leisurely pace.
"C'mon, Ace." He finally cut in, hands pushing her hips to where he wanted her. Ace smiled up at him, and then lined herself up. Her eyes closed as she slid onto his dick, and she hummed happily. He had expected her to come down on all fours again, but instead she leaned back, bracing one hand on his thigh. Happy groaned when her other hand went to work on herself.
"You like watching, don't you, big man?" Ace asked, voice husky. She kept her eyes on his as she rode his hard cock in a steady pace. He could feel her walls tensing around him, and he was utterly speechless, held in her thrall. Every line of her was perfection, and the gratitude caught him by surprise.
"C'mere, Ace." And he pulled her down on him, not caring if his rib exploded, so long as he could feel her weight. Unable to stand it any longer, he rolled her, ignoring the stab in his side. She wrapped her legs around his hips, heels digging into the backs of his thighs. His forearms framed her face, and when faced with the choice to stop kissing her or suffocate, he buried his face in her neck, breathing in the scent of her skin, and hearing her harsh panting right next to his ear.
"Hap…" She pleaded, and he felt his chest tightening. "Hap, I-"
He cut her off, lifting his head to kiss her again so that she couldn't finish whatever she'd been about to say. Ace came hard on a gasp, head thrown back into the messy sheets. Happy finished moments later, the orgasm equal parts relief and pain. He rested his weight on Ace, trying to concentrate on breathing shallowly.
"Hap?" Ace asked, voice weak, and Happy couldn't ignore her. He pushed himself back to his elbows, and held her face between his large hands.
"Shh." He ordered her, shaking his head. He rubbed a thumb across her cheekbone and then her lips. Her eyes were huge, and he could read everything she wanted to say in them.
"I know, baby." He murmured, and kissed her again. He slid back onto the bed, pulling her tight against him, arms locked around her.
No Other Man Alive
"Well, look who finally made it out of bed." Tig left his perch at the bar to intercept them when they finally made it out.
"Tig, your face." Ace reached out a hand, but to Tig's obvious relief she stopped before actually touching the impressive mask of bruising.
"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, sweetheart." Tig sneered back, which made Ace grin. "Here, Donut left some drugs for you. I tested them for safety."
"Good looking out, brother." Happy laughed, pocketing the baggie of pills. "Jax called."
"I told you he would. Did that shithead you've been dragging around for years with you patch into my charter?" Tig asked.
"Didn't ask." Happy shrugged it off, not concerned with where Shark ended up. "How long 'til you're good to ride?"
"How long until you're good to ride?" Ace snorted. "You've only got one working eye."
"Hap. Tell me you let her keep her tongue because she gives a better rim job than the trannys in Tijuana."
"Tig." Happy warned, narrowing his one good eye at Ace, too. Nonplussed, Ace slid back the few inches that would keep Happy from seeing her stick the offending tongue out at Tig.
"I've never been up to Quinn's place. How far is the ride?" Tig ignored her.
"It's about 500 miles, we could probably make it in 7 if we push." Happy looked questioningly at Ace as she pulled away.
"I don't really want to know how long it's going to take, and I'm tired, so I'm going to go sit while you two decide what you want to do." She answered, then headed for a tucked away corner.
Ace curled up in one of the large, studded club chairs, breathing in the smell of the leather. She watched the Tacoma Sons as they filtered in and out of the clubhouse. Many of them looked to be nursing hangovers from the bash the night before. They sat in groups, playing cards or watching baseball on one of the flat screens scattered around the room. A few were already at the bar, including Lorca, she noted as Happy approached him.
Ace pushed herself up to a slightly more dignified sitting position when she saw Bowie and Cat emerge from the dorm hallway. It amazed her that Cat managed to look completely polished, even when doing a walk of shame in last night's clothes. They stopped at the bar, too, joining Happy, Tig, and Lorca. Ace watched as Cat put a hand on Happy's face to get a better look at his eye, and she tried to figure out why it bothered her. It suited her just fine that Happy only tolerated the contact for a moment before pushing her hand away. Her temper riled again when Happy looked over to her before answering something Cat had asked him, Ace didn't exactly love knowing that she was being discussed across the clubhouse.
Ultimately, it was Lorca and Happy that ended up crossing the floor. Ace imagined that with appropriate theme music , they'd look like villains from a blockbuster.
"Hey, Lorca wants to talk to you." Happy pulled her up to stand in front of him, hands heavy on her shoulders. She gazed up at the large man who was grinning like a boy who'd been caught, but knew he wasn't in trouble. The easy rapport between the man behind her and the one in front of her was a staggering contrast to the way they'd brutalized each other the night before.
"Ace, I just wanted to apologize for putting you in a bad position. I knew you were an easy target, so it really wasn't fair of me to use you. In my defense, I really didn't know your old man was going to react that badly. Anyway, sorry." Lorca smiled at her, then turned his attention back to Happy. "We good, brother?"
"Yeah, we're cool." Happy released Ace to shake his brother's hand. She flopped back into the chair.
"She's exactly what you need, brother. I haven't seen you lose your shit like that, ever, it was completely worth the beatdown." Lorca hugged Happy a last time and returned to the bar.
"Where am I going to sit?" Happy complained, looking down to where Ace curled in on herself. She smiled at him, then sat all the way back in the chair, patting the space between her legs. "Perfect." He grunted and sat, pinning her against the back of the chair while she laughed.
"Hap!" Ace squealed breathlessly, not really protesting. The grin he shot her before relenting and sitting forward, arms slung easily around her knees, made her stomach flip delightfully. She slid her hands into the armholes of his cut, and up onto his bare shoulders, gently massaging. It didn't matter to her that he didn't seem to be paying attention, talking with his brothers and playing quarters across the coffee table. When her hands got tired, Ace wrapped her arms around his waist and rested a cheek against his colors, closing her eyes. The way he smelled like the road, and feeling the vibrations of his speech and laughter, it all made sense to her. She figured that good days, days like today, had to be the payoff for finding out that she'd wasted her entire adult life to this point.
"You better not've drooled on my cut." Happy rubbed her leg briskly, laughing when she rushed to check.
"What time is it?" Ace stretched, and assessed the clubhouse. There were more guys at the bar, and a few club girls, and old ladies.
"A little after 6. I told Bowie and Cat that we'd come out to their place for dinner around 7:30." Happy stood, holding his side while he stretched and rolled his shoulders. "I didn't know what girly shit you needed to do."
"My hero." Ace found her feet and batted her eyelashes at him.
No Other Man Alive
"You didn't tell me that we were having dinner with Martha Stewart." Ace hissed, pulling her leather on and taking the helmet Happy held out to her.
"Who's Martha?" He asked, confused, looking back at Bowie's house.
"Nevermind." She sighed, mounting up behind him. Happy waited while she settled herself, hands wrapped in his cut. When she stilled, he revved hard, nodding to Bowie, still standing on the generous front porch.
The ride from suburbia to the Tacoma clubhouse was reasonably short, but his mind was racing the whole way. Bowie had put a hard push on him to come back to Tacoma, and his points were all completely valid, making it hard for him to defend his reasons for sticking to the road. He knew that Bowie and his old lady had purposely orchestrated the entire night to show Ace all the best things about Charter life, hoping that having Ace on their side would change how he felt. He didn't know yet what Ace thought, but for him it had only underlined all the reasons he couldn't face it. The steady legit money and constant companionship simply couldn't compete with the freedom and quiet of the road.
Making a split second decision, Happy swung off course and pulled into a gas station not far from the warehouse. He was off the Harley before Ace knew what was happening. He pulled a SIG and handed it to her.
"You need to start carrying all the time. Stay here for a sec, shoot anyone who talks to you." He was already most of the way inside, pulling his wallet out by the chain.
Ace leaned back against the backrest, yawning. She wondered if this unscheduled pit stop in what certainly looked like the projects had anything to do with Bowie and Cat pressing Happy about patching back into Tacoma. She'd felt Happy growing more tense and distant the longer the pair had extolled the virtues of charter life. Ace could see why it could be a smart move, but any plan that made Happy stop talking, and keep his hands to himself didn't seem like such a great idea to her.
Wordlessly, she handed his weapon back when he came back. He nodded and filled his tank.
"Out of curiosity, why don't you just pay at the pump?" She finally asked him, watching as he pulled a cigarette out and stuck it behind his ear, presumably so he could smoke it as soon as they got wherever they were headed next.
"Nomads live almost entirely off the grid. Credit cards are an incredibly stupid way to get tracked down and killed."
Anything else she might have wanted to say was cut off by the growl of his engine. Rolling her neck to work out the kinks she'd acquired napping on Happy's back earlier, she wrapped her hands around him, careful not to mess with the taped up rib.
It was a relief that they'd simply gone straight back to the clubhouse. What made her nervous was that Happy didn't let her off to park, just backed it up a little further from the rest of the Harleys lined up. He hung his helmet on the handlebars, then lit his smoke. He slumped back against her, and Ace slid her arms around his shoulders, taking his weight without complaint.
"If you got anything you want to say, now's the time." Happy all but barked at her, smoking aggressively, cigarette pinched between his left thumb and forefinger.
"I like Tacoma." Ace said, and tightened her grip when he started to shrug her off. "But I'm not interested in staying. Let's go."
"Yeah? Bowie's right, it makes more sense for you. There're a million shops in Tacoma that you could ink in."
"Fuck what Bowie thinks. The only thing I want is to be with you. The rest is just noise."
Happy flicked the cigarette off into the darkness, and pulled her off the Harley with him. They stood face to face in the lot, and he held her face between his hands, watching her eyes. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but she never looked away from him, just held his gaze calmly. He finally kissed her, feeling her hands slide under his shirt.
"Fuck. I'm glad I tracked down that rat when I did. Let's go sober Tig up, I want to leave by five."
"Wait…five a.m.?" Ace asked incredulously as Happy took off toward the clubhouse with determined strides.
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