Disclaimer-I don't own the Sons, but I do own my OCs, No Other Man Alive, and all of my OCs. I also own a very lonely Harley.
Warning-This chapter contains dark and violent themes, particularly against women. This is not representative of the author's views, just part of the building story. Please discontinue reading NOW if you are not of an appropriate age to read this fic. If you are uncomfortable with this story's nature, I will be happy to inform you via PM when if it safe to resume reading.
Ace kicked back in the tattoo chair, eating the salad her old man had brought over from the local deli. Happy was currently feeding his beast in her swivel chair, flipping through her book.
"If you get sauce all over that, I might kill you." She said, glaring at him playfully.
"You've been getting a lot of work here." Happy just commented, closing the book.
"It's fairly steady. How are things over at T-M?"
"Hot and stupid." He complained, shoving the last bite of his sub into his mouth.
"So come work over here, Jax isn't going to tell you no." Ace pointed out, and cleared away the lunch things. She stood in between his legs and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Just think, we could be together all the time, sneak off when it's quiet…"
"And if you want to keep doing what you do, it's safer for everyone if I stay away. I'd murder every single guy who came in here eyefucking you." He pushed her shirt up to survey his handiwork from the week before. "How's it healing? No irritation?"
"It's fine. If I've been bending over for a long time it gets a little sore from rubbing on my jeans, but not terrible. I think you've made your point with it." Ace quirked an eyebrow, and smiled when Happy just grinned, unperturbed.
"I'd say so, coming or going, anyone will know you're locked down." He said, tracing the script. "No Other Man Alive. Kinda makes me hard every time I see it."
You're a possessive bastard, Happy." She laughed, and let him pull her down onto his lap. He clamped a hand over the juncture of her thighs, pressing down on her with the heel of his hand.
"You're goddamn right. How long until your next appointment?"
"Uh, right now." Jenna peered around the edge of the cubicle, cheeks burning. "Sorry."
"You're fine, Jenna." Ace apologized, and pushed Happy's arm off of her so she could stand up.
"I gotta get back anyway. Chibs been treating you two alright?" Happy asked, kissing the top of Ace's head.
"Oh, aye, we're getting on grandly." Ace mimicked the Scot's brogue uncannily.
"Don't do that, it's fucking creepy."
No Other Man Alive
Happy leaned against the paneled wall of Redwood's chapel. Jax sat at the head of the incredible table, smoking nervously. Tig had returned to the seat Jax had given him when he'd assumed the Presidency, mostly out of habit.
"You can sit down, man." Jax coaxed, unnerved that Happy wouldn't sit as equals.
"I'm good here." Happy didn't move, and Jax drummed his fingers on the table before sitting straight up and flipping open the file in front of him.
"Alright. Romeo gave us the location and identity of the witness." He paused, looking from Tig to Happy and back again.
"What? What's the issue?" Tig asked.
"It's one of Bobby's ex-wives." He flipped the file around, sliding it down for Tig to view.
"This feels like history repeating itself." Happy commented, a little heavy on the sarcasm.
"I know. But it's different from this seat. Listen, this deal we got with the Cartel is protected. But in order to keep it going, I can't have RICO calling. I need this witness gone."
"I can do it." Happy shrugged. His commitment to the club had always been absolute, and he had no compunction killing anyone who endangered it.
"Alright good-" Jax started to get to his feet.
"I want Chibs." Happy broke in, pushing off from the wall. "Watching Ace for me."
"Man, we got Prospects for that. Or she can stay here at the clubhouse."
"No. Chibs. You know there have been threats against her, I'm not leaving her safety to some Prospect."
"Let me get this straight." Jax sat back in the chair, steepling his fingers. "You went all vigilante on some punk, didn't clean up your mess, and that means I take a full patch off of my charter's business to babysit your old lady?"
"Oh don't get all self-righteous now, Prez. You'd do the same thing. If you want me to go back and clean up my mess, I'll wipe out the entire gang. But if you want me to go clean up your mess, then you'll put Chibs on her." Happy stood his ground, even though he was beginning to recognize how completely he'd fucked the situation in Fallbrook.
"Only at night. She works in one of our businesses, a patch will be there anyway, and Chibs can babysit her overnight. Unless you want him to move in with her? Yeah I didn't think so." Jax stood to leave, and paused at the door. "You explain this to Chibs, I don't want any part of it."
Tig waited until Jax was gone before he spoke, both palms flat on the table.
"Why don't you just take Chibs with you, and I'll stay here with your old lady. We'll figure out how to handle this shit when you get back." He offered, though obviously reluctant.
"Ain't how it works, brother. Chibs'll be fine with her." Happy said firmly, trying to convince himself as much as Tig.
"A'ight. Looks like this is just a few hours away. Let's roll now and get a handle on what the situation looks like, see if there's a weak spot." Tig suggested, flipping through the file at all the information. "On the outside we'll be back in a few days."
"Nah, we'll head out in the morning. I need the time." Happy shook his head, trying to predict how Ace was going to react to being left in Chibs' care.
"Listen, brother, I know you're worried about her with what that fat Mexican said, I get it, I really do, but the guys are starting to worry about your priorities." Tig warned, pushing back from the table.
"It ain't like that. My priorities are straight. We leave in the morning." Happy insisted, and Tig just nodded, and backed out of the Chapel.
No Other Man Alive
"Hey, Ace, do you have a minute?" Jenna popped around the corner of the divider. Ace looked up from her book, and slid her chair back to make room.
"Yeah of course, what's up?" She asked, concerned because Jenna had an odd look on her face.
"It's probably nothing, but some girl came by last night after you left. She said she was a friend of yours."
"Uh, Jenna, I hate to break this to you, but I'm pretty sure you're my only friend. Are you sure it wasn't some croweater just wanting to kick my ass for nailing down Hap?" The two girls laughed, since that was an all too real possibility.
"Maybe, she definitely looked the type. God, they were terrible after Juice and I got together, I swear not one of them really looked at him until he had an old lady and then it was like open season on the Puerto Rican."
The bell over the door sounded and Jenna leaned back far enough to see who it was. She grinned and winked at Ace, and headed back to the front counter.
"Hey, Happy!" She chirped on the way, giving Ace the heads up.
"Hey baby." He kissed her and then sprawled out in her chair. Ace looked at him sharply as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Hey. What's going on? You look pissed." She abandoned any pretense of trying to do any work, and crawled up to straddle him.
"Nah,I just gotta take off in the morning. Can you leave now?" He asked, running his hands over her ass, and squeezing.
"Mmmm," She leaned in and nipped his lip. "I think we could manage that. Just let me check in with Jenna."
"I'll meet you out front." Happy put her off of him and set her on her feet, and headed out, already putting his sunglasses on. Ace packed up her book and finished tidying her work space, reflecting that being able to leave her kit in one place instead of hauling it around was a pleasant novelty, even if it wasn't going to last.
"Headed out?" Jenna asked, peering up at Ace over her reading glasses.
"Yeah, if that's ok with you? Shouldn't you be going, too?" Ace asked, checking the time.
"I'll leave in a little bit. I have to work on the CaraCara books." Jenna rolled her eyes. "Never thought I'd be using my fancy accounting degree to keep books for a mini porn empire."
"Life takes us to weird places, huh?" Ace reached over the counter and squeezed her friend's hand. "See you tomorrow."
No Other Man Alive
Happy stroked Ace's naked skin with one hand, smoking a post coital cigarette with the other. She tucked her face into his neck, and he knew that she was hiding her face.
"Why you hiding from me?" He finally asked, even though he knew it was because she didn't want him to see her upset over him leaving. She gave in, though, and rolled her head back onto his shoulder so that he could read her face.
"Is this going to be like last time? You were only supposed to be gone a couple weeks and it ended up being almost a month. It's fine if you are, I just want to know."
"Nah, baby, it's a short run. Nothing like the last one. Tig and I should be back in a few days." He assured her, rubbing the pad of his thumb across her cheek. "Then we'll see what Quinn's got for me and get outta this fucking place."
"Ok. It's a little bit like living in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents here, isn't it? The 50s happened and everything stopped."
"Yeah. Listen, Chibs is going to be hanging around, making sure you're safe. Don't give him a hard time, ok?" He knew she was suspicious when she rolled back onto her stomach and looked at him straight on.
"Why do I need someone watching out for me? Did something happen?" She asked, a deep furrow between her brows.
"No, just to be safe. It's all good, Ace." He lied to her, and was relieved when she nodded and yawned, letting it go. "Get some sleep."
No Other Man Alive
Happy left the next morning with much less fanfare than his previous departure. Ace accepted her Glock when he pressed it into her hand, and it felt ritualistic. She leaned against the doorframe and watched him go, not even fazed when he didn't look back. She started to close the door when she heard pipes, and opened it up again to see Chibs pulling into her little parking lot.
"Heard you're my babysitter for the duration." She said when he cut his engine and pulled his helmet off.
"Oh, aye." Chibs pointed to the gun still in her hand. "Rough morning?"
No Other Man Alive
It took Tig and Happy three days to find the opening they needed. It was just after dark and Tig was able to take out the rookie tasked to watch the house easily. Happy felt like he could think for the first time since he'd taken the job. The noise in his head was deafening, and he wasn't used to second guessing himself. He kept returning to that night in Fallbrook, and every time he ran the scenario, it made more sense to kill the fucker. It was a tie whether he was more pissed at himself for being so goddamn arrogant and giving a two bit gangbanger a roadmap to fuck up his life, or at Kozik for having a fucking baby conscience.
Happy finished his count and headed for the back door. He expected to have to run down Bobby's ex-wife, but was shocked when she was sitting at the kitchen table with a bottle of gin. She didn't even look surprised when he and Tig converged on her.
"I've been waiting for you." She said, and tossed the last of her drink down neatly. She turned her chair to face them and took a deep breath, letting it out on a sigh. Happy looked at Tig, then stepped up and placed the barrel of his SIG to her forehead.
"You got anything else you want to say?" He asked, his throat tight. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, smiling peacefully, and for the first time in his career as an assassin he felt a chill shoot up his spine.
"Tell Bobby that I didn't mean to hurt him." She said, and closed her eyes again. Happy found himself completely frozen, caught up between the bone deep loyalty to his club and the sudden image of Ace sitting in front of some guy like him. He swallowed hard and blinked. Before he could recover his equilibrium, Tig stepped up and fired once into her temple. Happy put his piece away, then turned and walked out without even meeting Tig's eyes.
Happy smoked aggressively walking the 8 blocks to where they'd stashed their Harleys. He felt Tig following him, but couldn't make himself slow down and face his right hand man.
"Fuck!" Happy finally yelled and punched a chain link fence, but found it completely unsatisfying. "I have to go back to Fallbrook. I'm losing my fucking mind."
"Hey." Tig grabbed his face. "Let's get back to Charming and check in with Quinn. You wanna go to Fallbrook, we'll fucking go. I'll even call the great blonde douchebag to come along and we'll clean house on those bastards."
"Yeah. Yeah. You're right, man." Happy rubbed the scruff on his face, and mounted up. "Let's fucking ride, brother."
No Other Man Alive
It was 2:00 in the morning, and Ace sat up in bed, frustrated because she knew that if she didn't fall asleep in the next five minutes, she may as well just fucking give up for the night. She was exhausted, but her mind hadn't stopped racing since Happy had left. He'd been running so hot and cold in Charming, and she was glad they'd be leaving soon. Being in Charming felt a lot like falling into the Twilight Zone.
Ace gave up on sleeping and got up, stretching. All her muscles were sore from the sleepless nights, and she made a mental note to ask Jenna if Juice might know how she could get her hands on some sleeping pills. She knew Happy would be pissed if he caught her in this condition. She went to the bathroom and began brushing her teeth, but the whine of the draw fan was making her head hurt, so she turned the light off. In the sudden silence and dark, the hair on the back of Ace's neck stood up, and she dove blindly for the nightstand, and her gun.
"Looking for this?" Happy asked, and his voice in the dark made all of Ace's muscles turn to jelly. He put her piece back on the nightstand and crooked his finger.
"You scared the shit out of me, Hap." Ace sighed, pressing one hand to her chest, trying to contain her racing heart.
"Ace." Happy looked at her pointedly, and Ace got to her feet and went to him, running her hands up his arms.
"Everything go smoothly?" She asked, studying his face.
"Yeah, everything is fine." Happy rubbed his thumbs across her cheeks, noting the dark circles. "You ain't been sleeping."
"I'll be fine, big man." She kissed his left hand, noting the broken skin on his knuckles, but not asking. She knew he'd only tell her what he wanted her to know, whether she asked or not. Glad as she was to see him, it was clear that something wasn't right.
"Come here." Happy lifted her off of her feet and tumbled her back onto the bed, coming down on her hard. His hands were rough, pushing up the sports bra she wore to bed, and groping her breasts. Ace was torn between responding to him, her body halfway there, and the ugly feeling that something was very wrong.
"Hap…" She tried to get him to refocus on her, but he was dragging her tiny shorts down her legs with one hand and opening his belt with the other.
"You gonna tell me no, Ace?" He growled, pausing, and his eyes were intense in the dark room.
"No, I just-" But Happy cut her off, kissing her so hard that she tasted blood.
"Good girl." He said, and finished the job of pulling her shorts off. He rubbed his fingers up her pussy, finding her wet, but not as soaked as he was used to. He pushed into her anyway, feeling her gasp against his mouth. He held the back of her neck, forcing her to trust her weight to him. She moaned, and started to really move against him.
"I need-" She begged against his lips, and he snaked his hand between them, right to where she needed it. He came right after she did, biting down on her shoulder harder than he'd meant to. The room was very quiet as he tried to hold her, not able to say any of the shit in his head. He almost laughed when his prepay started ringing, because he knew that no good could come of that. He kissed her forehead and tucked himself back into his jeans and answered his phone.
"Yeah?" He answered, and wasn't surprised when Jax demanded his presence in the Chapel and hung up without waiting for a response. He tossed the prepay across the room, wishing he could shatter the thing, but not willing to answer for that, too.
"You have to go, don't you?" Ace asked, pulling the sheet up over her breasts.
"Yeah. I gotta go back to the clubhouse."
"Do you want me to come with?" Ace asked hopefully.
"Nah, stay put. Get some fucking sleep."
No Other Man Alive
"Your old lady keeps getting in the fucking way of this club's business!" Jax raged at him, pacing the width of the Chapel. This time Happy did sit, pulling up one of the extra chairs, still refusing to sit at Redwood's table for anything.
"The job got done. My old lady has nothing to do with it." Happy was working hard to keep his shit in check, knowing that if he blew up at the mother charter's president now it would only solidify Jax's suspicions.
"Bullshit, brother. You're so blinded by pussy you can't see straight. Let me tell you from experience, man, getting that hung up on one bitch is a fucking mistake." Jax paused at the door. "Get your goddamn head on straight."
Too pissed to even consider going back to Ace now, Happy walked behind the bar and pulled down a bottle of Jack. He didn't bother with a glass, just drank right from the neck.
"Listen, man, I'm sorry. I didn't know Clay was going to go to Jax with this or I wouldn't have said anything." Tig parked himself at Happy's right hand, willing to wait out the killer's storm.
Happy smoked and drank hard, and instead of numbing him out, the booze only made him angrier. It was a slap in the ass that at every turn his club was questioning the one thing he'd done for himself ever in his history with the Sons. He replayed the night in Fallbrook obsessively, watching Ace sucking him in with every single tentative touch and her big, goddamn trusting eyes. He thought that maybe fucking her had been a mistake, but knew that he wouldn't be able to go back now.
Happy looked up to see Chibs shoving a croweater out into the hallway. She was tall and blonde and absolutely nothing like Ace. He was off of his barstool and in front of her before he knew what he was doing.
"You done with her?" He asked, one hand wrapping around the slut's bicep.
"All yours, brother." Chibs gave him a strange look, but Happy didn't even notice it.
"You looking for some fun, big guy?" The girl asked him, fluttering her fake eyelashes at him.
"Shut up, bitch. There's only one thing I want your mouth for." Happy didn't even bother with finding an empty room, just leaned back against the hallway wall, not even concealed by shadows. He pushed the girl to her knees and pulled out his dick. She took him into her mouth willingly, and tried to look up at him, but he let his head fall back, trying hard not to think of how hot it was when Ace locked eyes with him, her mouth full of his cock.
No Other Man Alive
Ace looked blearily around the room, trying to figure out what woke her up, when the phone rang again. She fumbled on the nightstand, but then realized that it wasn't her phone. A jolt of alarm had her out of bed, crawling across the floor trying to follow the ringtone to wherever Happy had tossed the prepay.
"Hello?" She answered breathlessly, afraid she might have missed the call.
"Yes, hello, may I please speak with a Mr. Hector Perez?" A chirpy female voice inquired and Ace was immediately wary.
"He isn't available right now, may I ask what this is concerning?" Ace replied, starting to get worried.
"I'm calling from Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. Are you a member of the Perez family?" Ace's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.
"Yes, I'm Ashley Perez, Hector's wife." She choked out, already turning on the light and hunting for her jeans.
"Mrs. Perez, I'm so sorry to inform you…"
No Other Man Alive
Ace jogged the half mile or so to Teller-Morrow, hand tucked into her bag, gripping her Glock. The parking lot was deserted, so she cut across to the clubhouse door, pushing it open abruptly. All conversation stopped when she entered, and it felt like every single Son was looking at her. She was relieved when Tig moved away from the bar toward her.
"Hey Tig, do you know where-" Ace stopped, her mind racing to makes sense of her man standing in the hallway beyond, his dick in a croweater's mouth. She dodged around Tig, realizing that he'd been trying to head her off so that she wouldn't notice Happy. Tig tried to grab her, only managing to get a handful of her shirt, but it prevented her from crossing the rest of the way.
"I hope you like the taste of my pussy, you stupid slut!" She yelled, and pulled her shirt from Tig's grasp, headed back to the door. She could hear the scramble behind her, and couldn't bring herself to care. Her only goal was to get the hell out of there before she embarrassed herself by crying. She only made it three steps into the lot before Happy caught up to her, catching her hand and spinning her to a stop.
"I told you to stay put." He shouted at her, and Ace just stared at him in complete disbelief that after she'd caught him with his dick out, he was yelling at her in front of all his brothers, who had followed the two of them out.
"You're a fucking bastard, Hector Perez." She growled back at him, her voice dripping with disdain. She'd been about to turn and walk back to the motel when the backhand caught her across the left cheek, sending her stumbling. The taste of copper in her mouth nearly had her gagging.
"Shit, Ace, I didn't-" Happy started toward her, but Ace drew herself up and held her hand up to hold him off. She spat the blood from her mouth onto his boots and launched his prepay right at his chest.
"While you were here getting your dick sucked, Bakersfield Memorial called. Your mom had a heart attack."
Ace turned her back on him, mentally screaming at herself to keep walking and not to fucking cry. This time when Happy grabbed her, she pulled the G39 and pressed it right into his sternum.
"Don't you fucking touch me."
"Or what?" He asked calmly, putting both hands up in surrender, but taking a step closer. "You gonna shoot me, Ace?"
It was a tense moment, both of them glaring at each other, not moving. Finally Ace pulled her gun away, backing away slowly.
"Just leave me alone, Hap." She begged, her voice cracking, desperate to get away. Happy didn't answer her, just headed in the direction of his Harley. She saw Tig start to come after her, but Clay snagged him by the back of his cut.
"That fucking gash just pulled a piece on your brother, you fucking better be watching his back and not hers. Let Happy decide what he wants done with her when he gets back."
No Other Man Alive
Ace was a fucking mess by the time she got back to the motel. She couldn't catch her breath and could barely see through the tears streaming down her face. No amount of mental berating slowed the flow one iota.
"Ace, you ok?" She went to pull her gun, but her hand was shaking too hard to get it out of her bag. She gave up when she identified the voice as Shark's.
"Shit. I'm fine." Ace fumbled the keycard, dropping it on the concrete. She swiped a forearm across her face and accepted the keycard when Shark held it out to her. "You need to get out of here. He'll kill us both if he finds you here. Or maybe he won't give a shit, I don't know.
"Hey. I'm not trying to make shit worse for you. Let me get you some ice for that, and then I'll take off, ok?"
Ace stared at him a long moment, trying to judge his motives. Finally she nodded, and let herself into her room without another word. She flipped the security bolt, keeping the door propped open and dropped her bag on the dresser on the way to the bathroom.
Ace studied herself in the dingy mirror, trying to figure out exactly where everything had gone to shit. The only conclusion she could arrive at was that it had happened sometime around when she had been born. Shaking her head at herself, she probed the swelling on her cheekbone and the beginnings of a fat lip. She turned the cold water on full blast and splashed her face repeatedly, trying to erase as much evidence of the night's events as possible. Gasping, she stood back up and groped blindly for the towel, and wiped the water from her eyes. She barely had time to register the face behind hers in the mirror before her forehead slammed into the cheap mirror, shattering it.
Reeling, she managed a lucky elbow to her assailant's gut, and got out of the bathroom. She tripped and went down hard, but still tried to lunge for her bag.
"Shark!" She screamed desperately in the moment before Carlos Rivera, half brother to the head of the Bastardos got an arm around her neck, cutting off her breath. He pulled her to her feet, and she felt the muzzle of a gun against her back. Shark came barreling through the door and tackled Carlos to the ground, taking her with them.
"Run, Ace!" He grunted, and Ace tried to get to her feet, balance dangerously absent from her head wound. She looked back over her shoulder just in time to see Carlos get his gun up to Shark's temple, pulling the trigger. Screaming incoherently now, Ace burst toward the door. She didn't even see the pistol whip coming, just felt her left cheekbone explode in pain before she blacked out entirely.
No Other Man Alive
Happy and Tig ripped down the I-5 at speeds approaching triple digits. Happy considered turning back around to retrieve his old lady, but kept landing on the way she'd looked at him, holding him at gunpoint. He figured it was better to give them both plenty of time and opportunity to cool down before trying to find out where she wanted to go from here. He wanted to believe that he could be man enough to let her go if she asked him to, but knew that he'd likely fail at that, too. Right now, about all he could be sure of doing was getting to his ma. Ace would be there when he got back.
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