First, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, followed, and read this story. The response has been overwhelming and I really appreciate everyone of you.
Second, this chapter was extremely difficult to write as I struggled to get out how Happy feels about Tia, so I hope you all enjoy.
Happy wipes the blood off his gloved hands before throwing the towel down with the bodies. It hadn't been hard to track down the men who robbed the nursing home. In Bakersfield there were only two groups that dealt and only one had white members. Finding the hideout hadn't taken more than a few persuasive questions under a nearby overpass. It's only been 90 minutes since he left Tia crying and bruised on the floor of her bedroom and he's already killed two men and rigged the building to blow. He takes one last look around to make sure he's not forgetting anything, grabs the envelope of money from the home, and walks out. He makes sure he's clear before he sets off the explosives, silently thanking Op for teaching him a trick or two before going MIA months before.
The set up is timed and when the first loud bang echoes down the street Hap is already two stop lights closer to Tia's town home. He hadn't planned to go back when he'd left but the whole time he was dealing with the Aryan brothers who beat her up he hadn't been able to get her tear stained face out of his mind. He's never left her without getting his dick wet and he doesn't plan to start now. Or at least, that's what he keeps telling himself.
The second blast goes off as the light turns green and he smiles. There won't even be parts of bodies left for the crime lab. It's just going to be another explosive meth lab. He's literally making the turn that would take him back to the upscale part of town where Tia lives when his prepay vibrates in his kutte. He ignores it the first time but when it starts to buzz a second time he pulls the bike to a stop and fishes it out.
"Hello?"
"Killa." Tig's voice is gravelly through the cheap speaker and Happy runs a hand down his face.
"What's up Tig?" He doesn't really want to know.
"We need you in Charming. I know you're with your mom but Jax asked if I would call. We've got a drop." To his credit Tig does sound apologetic and Happy lets out a deep breath.
"Be there in four. Is that fast enough?" He's already checking oncoming traffic to make the uturn.
"Make it three and a half brother." Tig hangs up before Happy can and he shoves the phone back into his pocket.
He glances at the traffic one more time and then down at his watch, trying to decide if he has time to make it to Tia, fuck her and then get to Charming. Maybe if he keeps the bike around a hundred the whole time back. It'd be too close though and the club comes first so with one more glance he turns the bike towards Charming.
Happy hits the I5 and tries to figure out what it is about Tia's innocent act that gets him going. The problem is he's well aware it's not an act. She really is that good. It was the one thing he can never really get his mind around. She's beautiful, intelligent, and completely pulled together but when he'd broken into her apartment that first night and she'd only looked shocked for a second before offering to make him a cup of tea he'd been floored. She'd humored him then. Settling on the couch she'd kept up her prim little director act, ankles crossed, while he drilled her about the nursing home and his mother's future care.
He feels so out of place in Tia's world and it's more than unnerving. Happy is a man who is never out of place because if he doesn't fit in somewhere he just breaks shit until he does. Be it glassware or faces, he doesn't care. He can't do that in Tia's world though, there is nothing that will ever make him acceptable in her shiny apartment. He will never look right next to her tight, suit clad body. He will never make sense beside her diplomas, flowers, or clean life.
It hadn't mattered that first night though because all she'd had to do was take off her blazer and he was hard. He'd felt like some Victorian fop from one of Ma's books; a sliver of ankle and he was ready to go. It had been embarrassing until he'd realized it didn't matter that he would never fit into her life. He fit between her thighs.
So he'd fucked her. She'd been playing up her comforting director shit and they'd been sitting close enough that their knees were touching. It hadn't taken much to press his lips to hers and while she'd stiffened for a moment she'd sunk into it eventually and he'd been right. He fit perfectly between those sweet legs and the way she'd looked up at him from the couch that first time, eyes wide, her lips struggling to explain that she wasn't experienced. It had been the end. He'd made sure she enjoyed herself to guarantee a repeat performance and then he'd left.
He'd kept her super on payroll after that. It was money Happy honestly didn't have to waste but it had been worth it to receive a new key in the mail every month. He loved the look on her face when she'd come home and found him on her sofa no sign of a break in. It may be fucked up but he really did like playing with her world. It made him feel better about how out of place in it he really was.
This new mess with her brother is something Happy hadn't anticipated and he hates it in a way that has rage coiling deep in his stomach. The kills had helped but he can still feel the monster roaring. Over the last year Tia had become Happy's bright spot. In all the shit that was going down with the club and everything with Ma, Tia's clean little apartment and her big liquid eyes had become his escape. He would run to her when things got too dark, when he felt the final silent curve sneaking up, and for once a world where he didn't fit made sense. When he was in that white bedroom, surrounded by the girl's clean scent he could pretend that things were right.
Happy didn't own much, he didn't need much, but he owned Tia Connery; plain and simple. He may not be the best man for her and he certainly didn't treat her right but that didn't mean anyone else got to come in and treat her worse. She was pure and he liked her that way, he was the only one who got to make her dirty and that was only in bed. God, he loved making her dirty in bed. The look on her face the first time he'd intentionally unloaded onto her toned stomach had been spectacular. This shit with her brother was unacceptable and he couldn't decide if he was mad with her for not telling him about or with himself for never giving her the chance. Either way, anything that threatened what was his deserved to die.
So he'd cleaned up and made his position very clear to Tia. She was his and she better remember it. Innocent or not he expects her to take care of herself. She won't use the gun, of that he's sure, the terrified look on her face when he'd pulled it out had been enough to confirm that. He's usually careful to come to her place unarmed. Tia's not the type to be comfortable with a piece lying around her house, not that she'd say anything about it. She's too controlled.
Tia's refusal to enter into any kind of conflict is the best and worst thing about her. Happy doesn't think he's ever heard the bitch utter the word no. But sometimes he can see it, lingering in her dark eyes, trapped just behind those pouty lips. He's seen her lose control in bed and he doesn't ever want to see her lose it in life. Those moments of unrestrained passion are for him alone, there's not a man alive with the right to see what he knows is bubbling beneath her surface. It's why he hates leaving her with the gun, despite the necessity. The way she'd looked, so vulnerable and confused had made him feel better but he still didn't like the way it shone metallic in her hand. He didn't need another hard woman in his life.
The welcome to Charming sign is a blur and Hap slows his bike, pushing Tia to the back of his mind. It's time for business. He's running late but he doesn't plan on attracting the attention of the Sheriffs. Things may have calmed down over the last few months but Lieutenant Roosevelt would still take any opportunity he could to cause trouble. Happy doesn't stop in town, just passes through, hitting the throttle once he's on the county road that leads out to the club's most recent warehouse space.
He pulls the bike to a stop in the dirt lot. Tig and Juice are leaning against their own dynas and there are several armed Cartel men scattered against SUVs. Hap can see Jax, Chibs, and Bobby's bikes abandoned in the lot and figures they must be inside handling the deal. It's been like this for months and no one likes it. The way Jax insists on catering to the Cartel as privately as possible. Keeping some brothers out while others are let in; it's starting to grate on everybody's nerves.
"You're late." Tig snaps out the words and Happy just shrugs. He knows the ex-sergeant at arms is just pissy about being out of the inner circle.
"I got here when I could. There's some shit going down in Bakersfield I had to handle." He ignores the question in Tig's eyes as he climbs off his bike. He really doesn't want the other killer anywhere near Tia. "What are we doing here anyways?"
"They're finishing the deal inside. Romeo brought the drugs but Jax, Chibs and Bobby have to go to a second location to pick up the guns. We're supposed to stay here and guard the warehouse." Juice is eyeing the armed men scattered around the lot as he talks and Happy let's this new information sink in.
"Shifts?" He didn't sign on to Charming to end up a guard dog.
"Yea, I think so." Tig is nodding even as the large doors of the barn slide open and Jax emerges first, talking with Romeo. Happy watches as they shake hands and then the Cartel and all his men are packing up and heading out.
"Killa!" Chibs' loud voice rings over the space as the Scot bounds forward. Happy takes his outstretched hand.
"How'd it go?" Tig speaks up.
"Everything's golden brother. Less coke than last time and more guns just like we agreed." Happy nods at this report from Bobby.
"We have to go pick up the guns in the van. You three can take shifts on the warehouse. I want someone here at all times though." Jax is already mounting his bike as he talks and Happy just nods. The younger man had settled into the president's patch with force. Hap has no doubt it helps that his newly badass old lady is standing behind him. The three men depart and Happy shares a glance with Tig.
"Not it." He and Tig speak at the same time and Juice lets out a groan.
"Seriously? You want me to take first watch while you two go cause trouble at the Jelly Bean?" The younger man looks annoyed but he's already pulling his gun and heading for the door. "Don't be late for the switch."
"Pussy or booze?" Tig is straddling his bike as he asks the question and Happy shrugs. "Both it is then." Tig's bike roars to life and Happy lets the other man peel out before looking over at Juice.
"Your cousin ain't got shit handled down there. You told me he could keep an eye on things." Juice goes wide-eyed and Happy feels his temper rising. He hadn't told the young biker exactly why he wanted his cousin to apply at the nursing home but it had been an easy way to keep tabs on Tia for the last year. He may not want the club near her but he's not stupid enough to fuck her regularly and then leave her without some protection.
"What's he done? He's a bit short in the brains Hap, I'm sure he thinks he's got it covered." Juice is bouncing from foot to foot and Happy knows he's got the boy nervous.
"You call him and you tell him if I find out someone threatens what's mine again he won't make it to the next day and why the fuck is he using your name?" Juice just shrugs and Happy stares at him hard to make it clear he wants an answer.
"Only the first, we had to kind mess with his papers to get rid of some charges. Otherwise he wouldn't have passed the background check." Happy snorts at that and cranks up his bike. He bets the hacker thought it was a big lark to sit around making up new aliases.
"Whatever. Tell him what I said brother, and make it clear I'm serious. He's to protect my Ma at all costs, the director too. Ma's taken a liking to the bitch and I don't want to explain why her favorite reader took one in the head." Juice is nodding enthusiastically and Happy knows he can trust the kid to pass on the message. Boy may be a bit of a fuck up but he always comes through in the end. With that parting message he hits the throttle and follows Tig towards the newest distraction.
Tia stares down into the empty shoebox. It once held two thousand dollars but all that's left now is a crumpled piece of paper with Ernie's messy writing scrawled across it. 'I love you,' that's all her twin had to say about his late night escape and robbery. Tia has no idea how she'd slept through the noise he must have made but she had and when she woke this morning it'd been to an empty apartment. The bathroom door was swinging half of its hinges and he brother was gone, along with her back up stash of cash.
He'll be back. Two thousand is a lot but it's not near enough to keep him in drugs forever and she's his only source of money. She'll have to get more creative about where she hides her cash. Tia shoves the lid back on the box and pushes it under the bed. For a moment she thinks about calling Happy on the prepay but her brother disappearing into the night isn't all that shocking and she doubts the biker will want to hear about her worries. He hadn't been overly concerned for Ernie's well being the night before.
She pulls herself to her feet just in time to hear the mail slot clatter and she tugs her robe tighter as she heads for the front door. It's still too early for normal delivery but sometimes packages come at this time of day. Stepping gingerly over the still shattered lamp in the main room she heads for the front door. There's no deliveryman waiting on the welcome mat but the flag is up on the wall-mounted mailbox so she lifts the metal top and peers inside. There's a standard padded envelope tucked in the space and she pulls it out before heading towards the kitchen. She's already late for work and she's going to need lots of coffee to make it through the day.
Tia leans against the counter while the coffee brews and examines the package. No return address and no postage stamp, her name is written in neat script across the front. Must have been dropped off by courier. She rips at the seal, getting the top open and freezes at the familiar smell of blood. Panic rises in her chest and she can feel her heart as she upends the envelope over the counter. What rolls out is terrifying and for a moment Tia stares at it in shock, her mind in overdrive. She barely makes it to the sink before she retches up everything in her stomach.
Still bent over the metal basin, Tia cuts her gaze at the body part still lying on her neat white counter tops. The human eye when removed from the body retains all its shape and glory and Tia knows the dark iris that's staring at her from outside it's usual face. She gags over the sink again as her body rejects the recognition. She sinks on shaking legs to the tile floor, her head falling into her hands. Apparently two thousand dollars hadn't been enough to keep Ernie out of trouble for more than a few hours. His name in her mind causes her to gag again but there's nothing left to come up and she just ends up curled around herself on the cold tile. She has no idea what to do.
So I hope you all liked that. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. The real action is coming soon.
