Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from "Sons of Anarchy." They are the property of Kurt Sutter and Fox Network. No money is changing hands in the writing, reading or distribution of this story.
Chapter 17
Tig never held her hand, but he did now as they walked towards the clubhouse. This was different though, this was showing ownership, showing possession of her, it was spelled out on her back that she belonged to him, but he was making it known in a physical sense as well. Joss tried hard not to smile, but damn it made her feel good!
She hadn't been thinking "goth" when concocting her new look, but once Tig had said it, she could instantly see it, and she'd found herself trying to steal glances of not just herself in any reflective surface there was around her, but also at Tig and the way she looked standing beside him. She loved how she looked, and she loved how looking this way made her feel, there weren't many girls in Charming with the style she now had, but she hadn't gone too far had she? She looked like she belonged with him, right? He wore the blue button down shirt that was her very favorite on him, his spectacular blue eyes were so dreamy when he wore that shirt, and he'd rolled up the sleeves, the demon queen inked on his forearm visible, the leather wrist cuffs giving an illusion of some kind of great power restrained within his bare arms. The rest of him was dark denim and black, the knife strapped to his thigh with the silver conchos on the sheath that always tinged his overall look with the flavor of some Desperado from out of the old west. His cut completed it all, and Joss wished she could somehow see both of them from behind, rocker to rocker and reaper to reaper! There was an old windshield laying up against the fence as they walked towards the clubhouse, and Tig stopped there, looking ahead, but it afforded Joss the chance to check out their reflection in better detail. There they were, he was tall, tanned, dangerous dominance, and she was dulcet darkness, eerily beautiful and completely under his command.
There were bikes everywhere, so many that a decent amount had to be parked on the street and around the garage as overflow. She'd never been to a SAMCRO party before, but Tig's semi-annoyed reaction told her that this was not normal. "Shit!" He half groaned, looking at all the bikes and all the bikers and scantily clad women that crowded around the entrance to the clubhouse. He sounded like he now expected a tedious night to be ahead of him, or maybe he was even having second thoughts about going into that throng. "What is this? Fucking Sturgis?"
Joss looked up to him, more than only paying attention to his words, but awaiting his instruction, ready to comply with whatever he put to her tonight, for she had to be on her very best behavior this evening, do whatever Tig said, stay either with him, or where he put her, if she needed or wanted anything, ask him, and above all else, don't look like any of it was unnatural. "Maybe the beer is really good tonight?" She smiled pushing away the growing "side show attraction" kind of feeling that the size of the massive crowd seemed to project.
"Yeah," Tig looked ahead still at all the bikes and bikers, shaking his head like he was a little pissed. "I'm sure that's why they all decided to come, tonight." He let go of her hand and took a few steps towards an old FXR Superglide with the name "Blade" painted in scrawling letters on the fuel tank. "You see this?" He asked with increasing provocation, "This bastard only goes on one run a year with the club, and all the rest of these other motherfuckers would shit their pants if I showed up at their front door! But fuck, they're all here now!" He looked out at all the bikes, hands clenched into fists with the obvious disrespect he was feeling. "You know, that's one thing the fucking Pagans did right, they stay small, everyone knows everyone else's name and shit…I don't even know some of these assholes," he said looking at her for a second, then back at the mass of bikes. "But they know me, God Damn it! And they're all here to see what's mine!"
To be honest Joss was a little surprised to see the turnout at this party too, but she wasn't worried, she'd been to meets about this size, or larger, where she was usually traded from club to club, or brother to brother, never knowing where she'd end up next. It was the knowledge that she was safe from all of that tonight which pushed away any nervousness. She walked over to Tig, he was facing away from her, and she softly placed her hand on his back. He turned his head and looked down at her, wondering why she'd touched him without him asking her to do so, but there was no malice in his expression, only an odd wounded look in his eyes that Joss understood. Having a woman in his life obviously had changed how people thought of him. He was the Reaper of the reaper crew, if any one of the owners of all these bikes fucked up, Tig took care of it, permanently. But now that word had gotten out about this property patch, it meant two things: he was not totally the unfeeling, coldhearted, maniacal sociopath that had made his name what it was in the world of MC's, and not just SAMCRO, but it also meant that he'd been "taken down" by someone who got to him enough to earn his patch, and everyone wanted to know who and what could do that!
But Joss smiled, looking at him with sweet, understanding, coal lined eyes. "Tig, I got this!" She said confidently. "I've been forced into evening gowns and swimsuits and memorized stock, bubble-headed answers to questions like 'what would you do to end world hunger?' since I was four years old! This isn't any different, baby." She smiled again though Tig looked unmoved, unconvinced still. "Yeah, I mean the crowd is obviously not the same, but it's the same shit. I got this!" All of a sudden it had occurred to her how much she sounded like him, but that was good, because she needed to tonight.
Tig sighed, but the heaviness in his eyes lightened. "Little girl," he said, looking levelly at her, wanting her to make no mistake in understanding what he said to her. "We go in there tonight, and it's going to be like that old AC/DC song, 'the claim is on you, the sights are on me.'" He paused, stroking his fingers through her midnight hair, then bringing his hand to her face and lightly cupping her cheek, his eyes imploring her to please be able to do what she'd just promised. Every eye would be on her, and also on him, everyone would be waiting for a show.
Joss couldn't help but close her eyes when his hand held her cheek, and she leaned into his touch. She nodded, because it was all she could do at the moment. But Tig's hand was soon gone, dropping this time to intertwine his arm around hers as he took her hand, locking her fingers in between his, her white forearm pressed to his tattoo. He looked at the crowd one more time, sneered, then shook it off and looked back at her, about to take a step forward. "You good?"
Joss smiled; her answer simple. "I'm with you."
Chapter 17; Part 2
Messing around with someone's old lady was punishable by death. And if anyone so much as stared at Joss for too long, they were dead right then and there! Jesus Christ, what was he doing walking such a beautiful girl through this mass of half drunken trash? Yeah, they were all wearing reaper cuts; they were all his brothers, but if any one of them touched Joss…
"There they are!" Tig suddenly heard Clay's voice above the all the music and talking and occasional sound of a small caliber weapon being fired. It had taken forever to get into the clubhouse, back into the inner sanctum by the bar where he knew his immediate brotherhood would be. Fuck, he'd never heard his name being called or said so many times in one night than he did just trying to get back here, holding Joss's hand so tightly that his fingers were whiter than hers were. He sometimes recognized a face or two, but the name was nowhere in his memory, guys he'd maybe met once or twice, or even not at all, were all swarming around him and Joss, complimenting him on her, asking questions about where he'd gotten her and was she legal, the individual voices lost against the constant barrage of cheers and cat calls that emanated as soon as anyone got a good look at Joss's face, or hourglass shape…Jesus Christ, he wanted them all dead, and just pushed through the crowd, ignoring them all and finally picking Joss up in his arms and carrying her the rest of the way into the clubhouse in fear that he couldn't protect her any other way. To her credit, she'd remained quiet the entire time, her eyes on the ground, looking at no one, just following along behind him in silence no matter what she heard being said about her. She'd always been too beautiful to be around this shit, and tonight Tig might as well have been walking his dark little angel through a prison yard full of men who hadn't seen a woman in years.
"Hey!" Clay smiled and sort of growled as Tig put Joss down, because it was safe now, he knew everyone here. In no time he was greeted with Clay's one armed hug, and a beer bottle was pushed into hand. "Didn't think you'd get here," Clay smiled, holding his own beer.
"Yeah, me either," Tig answered, the irritation over it all still in his voice, but fading. "What the hell is this, man?" But suddenly the tail end of a conversation between Juice and Bobby caught his attention, and Tig laughed.
"I'm telling you, dude!" Juice was saying convincingly to Bobby. "The last party, I got too fucking wasted to do anything about it, but there was this skinny chick, standing on her head in the corner, and she wanted me man, she stared at me all night!"
Bobby clenched a cigar in his mouth, squinting and nodding like he knew something Juice didn't, and Tig couldn't help but tell Juice what it was. "That's because she was a mop!"
Everyone, except for Juice, burst out laughing, Joss with them, her laugh obviously lighter and higher pitched than that of the men, who noticed immediately that there was a female present, and were suddenly silent as their eyes fell upon her, stunned expressions taking over their once jovial, wisecracking faces.
All except for Clay that was, who sniggered lowly at the rest of his crew then turned to Joss, his every tooth exposed. "You," Clay said to her, stepping back and taking her in. "Look at that, you got two legs after all!"
Joss laughed, but then she looked to Tig, waiting for some kind of sign from him that meant it was okay to speak to Clay. Whoa! Joss already knew Clay. This girl had lived in Clay's house for over a month, ate dinner with him and Gemma at their dining room table every night, laughed until she'd cried playing video games with him, and still Joss was being letter perfect in how she was to conduct herself as "PROPERTY OF TIG!" Damn! She did have this! Tig couldn't hide the proud grin on his face, and gave her a subtle nod.
"Yeah, it feels so great to have the casts off!" She said to Clay, then gave him a hug and kissed his cheek. "And it's even better to see you again! I miss hanging out with you, Clay!"
"Oh me too, babe, me too! I just gotta send that SAA of mine on more runs is all," Clay smiled back, releasing her from his bear hug, "and I love the new look; that's one lucky son of a bitch standing beside you!" He chuckled, shooting Tig an expectant glance. "So, I'd say she's got everyone's attention, you going to make the introductions?"
Shit, why hadn't he done that to start with? Well, because Tig had been standing there watching the fond interaction between his old lady and his president, and feeling too satisfied to even speak. But when he looked up, the rest of his brothers were waiting eagerly, mesmerized by his Joss, but not staring at her like she was twisting around a stripper poll. He smiled, he'd been looking forward to doing this for so long now. He slipped his arm around Joss's shoulders and without even thinking about it, planted a kiss on the top of her head when he felt her melt into him and become totally his even in this minimal amount of contact. "Joss, these are some of the guys that helped build your house," he smiled, pulling her even closer. "That ugly, bald motherfucker back there is Happy, he helped with the drywall," Tig paused as he and Happy took turns flipping each other off over what Tig had said, but both of them laughed. He looked back down at Joss again. "Don't trust him if you're alone with him!" He smirked at her.
"Don't believe what Trager tells you, either" Happy immediately replied, raising his beer bottle to Joss. "I'm a gentleman! Been alone with your old man there several times, and never once laid a hand on him!"
Joss laughed, but again said nothing until a stroke of Tig's hand on the back of her neck let her know it was okay. "You must be a gentleman, cuz he's hard to resist!" She'd started off looking at Happy when she spoke, but now her eyes and smile were on Tig…who again couldn't believe how incredible she was; waiting to speak until he gave her the "go" sign, and now even turning what she said into a compliment to him. Damn that girl! She was so good at moving so many feelings to action inside him!
There was a chorus of ball-busting "aww's" before Tig could move along, the smile just plastered to his face now. "That's Bobby, he rides that piece of shit outside with those big ape hangers."
"Hey, you know what they say about a guy with long arms!" Bobby countered, but in no time after had reached out and taken Joss's hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it. "Enchanté!" He smiled at her, and Tig felt Joss jolt forward a little like she really wished to speak, but again, she did nothing until he pushed her button.
"You're who did the tiles?" She smiled excitedly. "Thank you! They are so beautifully done! That had to be a lot of work, crawling around on your hands and knees!"
But Bobby waived off her thanks as he took a swig of his beer. "Na, it's thanks enough to know your lovely feet walk upon them." He said smiling, then winked at Joss, making her laugh and Tig shake his head.
"'Upon?'" Tig said to Bobby, how ridiculously gallant did Bobby have to get? "Really?" A debate was likely on the rise, but just then Half-Sack appeared from the back, carrying two cases of beer. Tig quickly pointed to him, leaning down to Joss. "And you know that red stairwell?" he asked her, and she nodded, "that's the guy to thank for that!"
At the mention of his name, Half-Sack immediately looked up, nearly dropping the cases of beer onto the bar, scowling until his eyes found Joss, and then he did drop the cases of beer. "Oh my God, she is smoking hot, Tig! Congratulations!" There was a collective groan all around him, but it was like Sack hadn't noticed, just staring bug eyed at Joss, who didn't move, not sure what she should do, and waiting on Tig to react before she did. "Man, you ever need anything painted over there again, you can call me! I don't care what it is!"
Again Tig shook his head, gently pushing Joss behind him and stepping in front of her. "Now, why'd you have to go and do that?" He asked, the rest of the crew nodding their heads. "You wanna get clipped again for running your mouth?"
"No…" Sack stuttered, rocked nervously from one foot to the other and looked like he wished the floor beneath him would cave in. "I'm sorry, man. I meant that in a good way, nothing disrespectful, I swear! I'm sorry, Tig!"
Tig nodded, but it wasn't over. He reached back and took Joss's hand again, pulling her forward until she stood beside him once more, but kept hold of her hand. "Apologize to the lady. I didn't bring her here tonight to have that kinda shit said to her."
"Oh, yeah!" Sack groaned, not able to look at Joss for a few seconds because he was too busy looking like he couldn't believe he'd started out this introduction by screwing up, and then just continued the streak. Finally, he steadied himself with a deep breath and looked at Joss, in the eye, which impressed Tig, but he stood there unmoved and waited for Sack's words. "Ma'am, I am so sorry! I really do have manners, but I just forget them sometimes. I hope you can forgive me."
Tig felt Joss move beside him, her head cocked in Half-Sack's direction; she wanted to speak to him. He knew her nature, she wanted to say she did forgive him; that he should forget about it, and in so doing, remove any awkwardness between Sack and her, but this time, Tig gave her no indication that she was allowed to speak, not even to nod. And Joss didn't. Another test passed!
"Dismissed!" Clay finally said as Sack continued to stand there, wavering on his feet, but as soon as he was gone, all the guys began laughing again, Tig pulling Joss closer than before and looked down at her, giving her a smile that no one else saw, just for her, that he hoped told her how amazing she was tonight. And she was, wildly beautiful and astoundingly attentive, no slip ups so far; no one had an old lady like her, no one! But, there were still more introductions to be made…fuck, how much longer was this party going to last…he lived for this recreational chaos, but all he wanted to do right now was get Joss home and give her a few other commands. But Tig looked up again, continuing.
"Mop Jockey over there," he smirked, "is Juice. He can hack anything with a password, but he's kind of like an infant…raised in the wild…by other infants."
"Aww, man, c'mon!" Juice groaned, but he also laughed then extended his hand out to Joss, who gave Tig a quick glance, he nodded, and then she extended her own out to Juice. "Welcome to SAMCRO, it's good to have you in the family!" He said warmly, and though Tig never really cared about the words people chose on a friendly basis, he was pleased to hear someone saying that to Joss.
She smiled. "Thank you, I'm really happy to be in the family!" Once more she'd been looking at whom she spoke to in the beginning, but by the end of her sentence, her eyes were on Tig. He smiled again.
"Over there," Tig began next, turning Joss briefly away from the guys at the bar and pointing to the few of his brothers who were over near the couch. "The guy with the salt and pepper hair, that's Chibs, the Scotsman, you'll know that as soon as he talks to you." He kinda smiled then pointed to the next member. "The older fella is Piney, he's a founding member, and next to him is…" but Opie, who had been standing over there a few minutes ago was now gone. Maybe he left? He'd always been a flake at parties. If he did, then it was probably just as well, it would have been an odd introduction, even though Joss knew nothing about what stood between he and Opie. "Anyway, Piney's son, Opie was there, he's who wired the house, and over there on the couch, I think you know Jax and Tara." Yeah, Joss knew Jax…and Tara. But it didn't really bother Tig that Joss liked Tara, the girl needed friends, but Jax…well…it was no fucking surprise to see the club split like this, Jax, Opie, Piney and Chibs on one side of the room and Clay, Bobby, Happy and him on the other side. Some things would never change. The moment Tig had gone to Clay and Gemma about taking Joss in, he knew it inevitably meant she'd be seeing Jax, and talking to him, she was living with his mother and staying in his old room, after all. And a friendship between Joss and Jax had developed, sort of. It was more like Jax had appointed himself her big brother or something, and while Tig didn't like it, there wasn't much he could do about it, particularly when it was yet to cause him any tangible problems. But it would, Tig just knew it would. He turned back towards the bar again, looking at his brothers now. "And this is Joss." He smiled, and pulled her against him again…beginning to realize he'd done it a lot tonight, in front of fucking everyone! Damn!
The guys nodded, the usual "nice to meet you's" and so on being spoken, except for Bobby who removed the cigar from his mouth and looked confused. "Joss?" He asked, as if he wasn't sure he'd heard her name right.
Joss was quiet, expecting that Tig would be who talked about her, but he nudged her the tiniest bit forward, wanting that liberty to be hers, she'd more than earned it. She smiled first at Tig, then at Bobby. "Well, it was Jocelyn," she said to Bobby, but then turned her head and looked back up at Tig again with those glittering green eyes. "But Tig changed it when we met." She smiled up at him, and Tig felt the most unwelcomed bliss shoot straight through his heart, leaving him standing there bleeding to death from happiness. Jesus Christ! It didn't get better than this! She'd just acknowledged that not only had he changed her name, but that she'd accepted the identity he'd assigned her. Joss couldn't have conveyed more clearly to his brothers that in every aspect she was 100% Tig's, completely devoted to him, totally in love with him, and everything that he wanted her to be! Fuck! Any control he came in the door with evaporated, if she turned to him right now and threw her arms around him, laid her head on his chest and snuggled in deep, he'd have had no strength to do anything but reciprocate in front of every fucking chapter of SOA that had turned out tonight. Damn that damn girl!
"Well okay," Bobby smiled then looked over towards the bar. "Someone get Joss a beer."
But this time Tig spoke before Joss could even let him know she wanted to. "No, man. She doesn't drink." He said, trying hard not to look at her right now, for fear that he'd never stop. "She doesn't smoke either."
Bobby looked confused, and a little disappointed. He looked at Joss. "You don't drink and you don't smoke?" He asked, and she nodded once, Tig allowed it. "Hmmm," Bobby mused, sticking his cigar back in the corner of his mouth. "Sounds like we have to find you a bad habit!"
Joss giggled a bit then looked at Tig, who did nothing to stop her from speaking. She wrapped both her arms around one of her man's. "I've got one." She assured them, and all of the guys laughed, even Tig, who barely noticed the comment Happy immediately made about there not being a "'quit the habit' gum for that one."
Shit! All of a sudden it occurred to Tig that there was nothing for Joss to drink at this party. "Hey, maybe we should send the prospect out for some Coke or something," he suggested to Clay, but before Clay could answer, a bottle of water from the mini fridge suddenly appeared on the bar in front of Joss.
"I think I can hook you up," said Opie, standing tall behind the bar, across from Joss, looking directly at her and speaking directly to her…without having been formally introduced. What the fuck was that? Sack hadn't even been that disrespectful, what he'd said had been thoughtless, but this was just out and out rudeness. You didn't just walk up and start speaking to another brother's property like that, it was like taking his bike for a spin without permission.
Tig felt all the muscles in his arms flinch as his hands became fists one more time tonight, but this time, it wasn't out of ordinary frustration. Just what was Opie doing? Where the fuck had he even come from? It was obvious he'd been listening in on the conversation. For a moment, Tig had forgotten Joss was even beside him, realizing it again when he saw her looking at him with questions and concerns in her eyes. She had no idea what his history was with Opie, but she could tell something was up. No, now was not the time or the place, Tig forced himself to take a deep breath and walk away from this one…for now. He reached forward and shoved the bottle of water back at Opie. "She's good." He said flatly, stepping in front of Joss one more time, but this time, it wasn't just for show. "Thanks."
There was dead silence at the bar, Clay had leaned forward some off of the stool, at the ready to jump into the middle of whatever may start and pull them apart, but Tig and Opie just continued to stare at each other. Tig felt Joss's hand slide into his, breaking him out of this enough to realize that she needed him beside her more than she needed him to kick one of his immediate brother's asses over a bottle of water. By that time, Opie was backing down, maybe realizing his abruptness and the mistake he'd made.
"I'm sorry, man." He said to Tig, shaking his head and relaxing his posture, Tig doing the same, but not as quickly, still eyeing him suspiciously. "It's just such a surprise, all this," he continued, indicating Tig and Joss being together. "I just wanted her to feel welcome, that's all."