Disclaimer-I don't own the Sons of Anarchy, but I am the sole owner of my original characters, this story, and a mountain of laundry that needs to be folded. I'm gonna write instead.
"Why aren't you eating?" Ace asked, grabbing a french fry off of Happy's plate and popping it in her mouth.
"Doing fine for both of us." He pushed the plate across the table, and sat back, putting a boot on the seat next to Ace. She looked at him sharply, studying his face.
"You didn't tell your mother about me, did you?" She accused, and threw a French fry at him.
"Haven't had time to call her." He admitted, and tossed the food back onto the plate.
"Big man, it's about a 2 minute conversation. 'Hey Ma, it's me.'" She mimicked his rough growl. "'Hooked up with Ashley in Fallbrook. Her husband's dead. We got married. Yup, love you, too. Bye.'"
"Nice." Happy rolled his eyes at her, and nudged her with his boot. "You want me to call my ma?"
"Sure. At least warn her I'm coming." Ace replied, calling his bluff. He grinned and pulled out his phone, and dialed the familiar number.
"Hey Ma. Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Listen Ma, I'm about 60 miles away, I'm gonna come and see you." He waited while Delia exclaimed over the news, and smiled mischievously at Ace and broke back into the conversation. "Yeah here's the thing, Ma, I got hitched a couple weeks back and I'm bringing her to see you."
"HECTOR ALONZO PEREZ-" Ace could hear Delia loud and clear across the table as Happy pulled the phone away from his ear, laughing. He hit end and put the phone down on the table, where it immediately started ringing.
"She's going to murder you." Ace stared at him in awe.
"I'm banking on you distracting her." He laughed, pulling her out of the diner booth. "Come on; let's go shock the shit out of my ma."
No Other Man Alive
The slow ride through the old neighborhood was very strange for Ace. She hadn't come back even once since her parents had died, and everything pretty much looked the same as it had over a decade before. Happy's arrival drew lots of attention, lots of people waved from porches and lawn chairs, and Ace knew that the gossip about who the woman on Happy's bitch seat was would reach a fever pitch before they even made it to Delia's. She wasn't sure if the revelation that it was her would calm the storm or make it worse. Turning her attention forward, she could see Delia standing on her own front porch, arms crossed.
"Shit, she looks pissed." Ace cringed.
Happy parked his Harley, careful to keep himself between his mother and his wife, not ready to give up the game. Ae was shaking her head at him, perfectly aware of what he was up to.
"Hector, you had better start explaining yourself!" Delia was already coming down the porch stairs, leaning heavily on the rail. Ace was shocked at the difference 11 years had made, Delia looked almost frail, which was worlds away from the iron handed woman who had been more a parent to her than her own cokehead mom and dad. Happy met her at the bottom, deliberately cutting off her view again. Sighing, Ace pulled her helmet and leather off, letting Happy have his fun for the moment. It made her chest tight to watch him bend so carefully to hug his mother, even while she was still hissing at him in Spanish.
"You see, Ma, there was this girl I went to go see, and one thing led to another…" Happy turned his mother, an arm around her shoulder, to see Ace standing awkwardly a few feet away. Delia gasped and covered her mouth, then turned and socked her son right in the stomach.
"Ashley Duanes, let me get a look at you, child!" Delia held her arms out and Ace stepped into the embrace.
"Perez." Happy corrected quietly, but he wasn't noted, as Ace burst very dramatically into tears as soon as Delia hugged her.
Delia shot her son a sharp look over Ace's shoulder, and he nodded, silently promising a full explanation later.
"Shhh, it's alright, honey, you're home now. Let's get inside before the neighbors start gossiping." Delia murmured, turning back to the stairs. Ace sniffed, swiping under her eyes, trying to pull her shit together.
"I think it's too late for that, Miss Delia." She said wryly. "Most of the neighborhood came out when they heard Hap's Harley."
"You ok?" Happy asked her, brows low.
"I'm fine, big man." She waved him off. "Seriously, please ignore the eye juice."
"Eye juice? Really, Ace?" He pulled her in under his arm and kissed the top of her head. Ace shrugged, letting him pull her up the stairs and into the little house.
"Jesus, Hap, it all looks exactly the same." Ace whispered, looking around with a huge grin on her face.
No Other Man Alive
"And so you married her?" Delia asked, suspiciously. The she in question was curled up asleep, her head in Happy's lap. He was running his fingers through her hair to distract himself from his mother's inquisition.
"I, uh, figured you wouldn't appreciate it if I didn't." Happy risked a look at his mother, but her attention was still riveted on him. It was clear that she didn't trust the tidbits of the story he was feeding her.
"Don't you dare mess with her, Hector." Delia finally warned. "She's been through too much to take any shit from you."
"I'm not messing around with her, Ma." He tucked a strand of Ace's hair back behind her ear. "I've done a lot of stupid shit, Ma, but she ain't one of them."
"Isn't." His mother corrected him absentmindedly. "Well I'm relieved you didn't knock up a hooker somewhere at least."
Delia continued to watch her brave, ruthless, sometimes reckless son stroke his wife's hair while she slept. She wasn't under any illusions as to who her son was, and this tender side of the man she'd raised didn't surprise her, but she was relieved that she'd lived long enough to see it. The silly romantic in her had been disappointed that when Ashley's parents had died, she'd gone away with that boyfriend of hers, instead of sticking around so that her son could have gotten around to noticing her. It probably made more sense for them to be together now, though, they were both a little older and Hector wasn't as wild as he'd once been.
"She's still not sleeping right, is she?" Delia asked, getting up to retrieve an ashtray. She placed it on the arm of the couch where her son could reach it. He nodded his thanks, and lit up.
"No, it drives me batshit. Has she always been like this?" Happy complained, because she'd been up the night before, again.
"As long as I've known her. It gets worse when she's stressed." Delia said pointedly.
"I hear you, Ma. I'm gonna take care of her, I promise. Jeez, you remember that I'm actually your kid, right?" He teased her, chuffing Ace's shoulder to wake her up.
"You can take care of yourself, mi hijo."
"Yeah, I can. Ace, come on, baby girl, wake up. I'm too old to carry you upstairs." Happy waited while Ace came fully awake, and identified where she was.
"Crap, I fell asleep." She looked dismayed. "I wanted to stay up and visit."
Happy pulled her up, so she was straddling him. He rubbed the circles under her eyes with his thumbs, and then kissed her, drawing her bottom lip in between his. He was aware that his ma had paused on her ascent to watch them, but wasn't bothered by her witnessing them together. It certainly told her more than he ever could.
"You're not getting enough sleep." He told Ace, and kissed her again, liking slow pace they almost never found.
"I'm fine, Hap." She breathed against his mouth, and she slid her hand up his arm and twined them around his neck. "You know what I've been thinking about since you told me we were coming here?" She asked him, biting down gently on his lip before letting it go. He groaned, and waited until he heard his ma's door close.
"What's that?" He asked, running his hands up her ribcage to cup her breasts, pushing them up further.
"Fucking you in your bed here." She let her head fall back, granting him easy access to her chest. Happy accepted the invitation, licking his way across the tops of her full tits, only half listening, until her next, husky words stopped him short. "In high school, I used to sneak in your room and fantasize about what it would be like with you."
He slid a hand up to the back of her neck, forcing her to sit all the way up and look at him.
"Do you mean you…" Happy asked her, not sure he wanted to even ask the question, but helpless to resist her siren call.
"Lay on your bed and fingered myself while thinking about you?" She finished helpfully, biting her bottom lip, smiling a little sheepishly. Happy stared at her, mouth open, completely dumbfounded.
"You dirty little bitch." He finally marveled, leaning back and pulling her with him. He pushed her hips down hard, rubbing his cock against her. "That's incredibly fucking hot." He closed his eyes, picturing her there on his bed; hand buried in her greedy little pussy.
"Take me to bed, Hap." Ace smiled, secure in the knowledge that he wouldn't deny her. It was a safe bet, because Happy had just reached the conclusion that he couldn't, even if he wanted to.
No Other Man Alive
'I'm outside. Sorry.' Happy read, then put the sketchbook back down on Ace's pillow and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. A glance at the clock showed him what the thin light in the room already had, it was too fucking early. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, probing the sore spot on his side from the fight with Lorca. It probably would heal faster if he didn't keep throwing his old lady around in the sack, but it seemed that there wasn't a damn thing he could do about that, so he'd live with the pain until he left her in Phoenix.
Pulling his jeans on, Happy left the room to go find his old lady. Coming down the narrow stairs, he could see her though the window, sitting on the porch. He lit a cigarette as he came through the door, and Ace smiled up at him. She had on an old pair of his basketball shorts, about half a shirt, and her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy knot. He surprised her by kissing her before dropping into the chair next to her. From there he could see that her Glock sat within reach of her right hand on the table.
"Good girl." His voice was painfully hoarse, and he accepted the mug of coffee that she passed to him. He noticed that it wasn't anything close to hot anymore. "How long have you been up?"
"I've been out here about an hour." She answered noncommittally.
"That's not exactly an answer, Ace." He pointed out, handing her the mug back.
"I used to come over here in the mornings because your mom always had coffee." Ace said, smiling. "My parents always ran out of everything before payday."
"Your parents were the next thing to useless from what I saw."
"It could have been a lot worse." Ace shrugged, and was surprised again when Happy laced his fingers through hers and brought the back of her hand to his mouth. "I wish we could stay longer."
"I guess you could, if you want. I know Ma would like the company." Happy frowned, not loving the idea of having her 600 miles away from him.
"No, I'd rather go to Arizona with you. I'm just being a baby about you heading out without me." She leaned over so she could put her head on his shoulder. They watched as the block began to quietly come alive, neither acknowledging the curious gazes. "Do you think they've figured out who I am, yet?"
"If they haven't, Ma will have it all over the block before we make it to the highway. She's a little excited." His voice was muffled from his face being buried in her hair, literally breathing her in. Ace tilted her face up to his, and he kissed her again before resting his head on hers, temple to temple. "I gotta get moving on this, baby. I have to get back to work."
"I know." Was all the reply she had for him before pulling away and standing. She wrinkled her nose as she looked down at him. "You look weird without your cut."
"Come on, it's a long ride to Phoenix, and I want to get you settled somewhere before dark."
No Other Man Alive
Ace dropped her bag on the bed of the exceptionally tiny motel room. Looking around, she decided that first thing after Happy left she'd find a place to work so she wouldn't have to stare at these walls for however long he'd be gone. Happy lounged against the open doorframe, smoking his second cigarette in the ten minutes they'd been there. He was tense to the point of hardness, and it was starting to make Ace nervous. She turned her back to him, trying to ignore the cool atmosphere, and wishing that their last minutes together could have been different.
When the door swung shut, she spun, afraid that he'd just left, but he had crossed the postage stamp of open floor in a stride right up to her. Ace stared up at him, confused, but he pulled her mouth roughly up to his, hand hard on the back on her neck. Reeling from his sudden attack, she felt his other hand tugging at her fly. Ace recovered quickly, she ripped open his belt, then stepped away to kick off her jeans when Happy succeeded in opening them. He didn't even bother taking his jeans all the way off, just pulled them down far enough to free his hard on.
He took her down to the bed hard, his left hand gripped the back of her knee, pinning it to shitty mattress. Unable to help himself, he entered her roughly, and only dimly heard her cry out. She was wet, though, and getting wetter by the second. They fucked aggressively, and Happy hoped that any man hanging around the motel heard her crying out his name when she came. He didn't let up on her, though, pushing her thighs even wider, his sac slapping against her ass. She met every thrust though, and hard as he tried to grit his teeth against the orgasm, knowing that this was borrowed time already, he came hard into her with a wordless yell. He collapsed on top of her, breathing hard, his arms rock hard around her.
"Are you ok?" Happy finally asked her, not lifting his face from the mess of her hair.
"I'm fine, big man." She whispered.
"I have to go." He still didn't move.
"I know." Ace sighed, then started to push him off of her. "Tig's going to be pissed that you're late."
Happy didn't answer, just got up and pulled his jeans back on. He watched as Ace did the same, noting that she kept her head high. He went to the bag that had spilled out on the floor, and pulled out the G39 that he'd snagged from Quinn's stockpile. He pressed it into her hand, holding her gaze.
"You shoot anyone who touches you, understand?" Ace nodded wordlessly. "Then you call me. If you can't get me, call Tig. And if you can't get either one of us, call Quinn, he'll know who is closest and send someone for you. You don't open the fucking door for anyone, not even if they're in a cut. Make them show you some ink, that can't be faked, and every Son out there has a reaper somewhere."
"I'll be fine, big man. Go." Ace's voice was small, but firm. Happy looked like he was going to say something else, but just shook his head once, then kissed her hard, both hands on her face. He looked at her for another long moment, then gently kissed her forehead, and turned abruptly, walking stiffly away.
Ace tucked the heavier Glock into the back of her waistband, and trailed after him, but only as far as the door. She leaned against the frame, watching her man making his final preparations to leave. The sound of his pipes when he turned the engine over was like a punch to the gut, but Ace wouldn't let it show on her face, in case he looked back to her. He didn't.
She stayed motionless while he disappeared from sight, and even after the echo of his Harley had faded. Ace watched the sun set, and the rowdier patrons of the motel began to come out. She didn't answer any of the greetings or catcalls, just continued to stare off in the direction of Tucson. Finally shaking herself out of her stupor, Ace turned back to her room and kicked the door closed behind her. She was careful to slide the bolt shut.
It took less than five minutes for her to put away her few belongings, all her stuff didn't even take up a whole drawer. She flipped idly through her sketchbook for a while, feeling the burn to work waking more with each page she flipped. Finally, she pulled her phone from her pocket, and set Siri to the task of finding tattoo shops within walking distance.
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