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 30
"Chibs," Joss was swamped, she'd been running back and forth between the office and the garage itself all day, when she wasn't handling customers coming in to drop off vehicles, or pick them up, and also keep answering the phones, which seemed to do nothing but ring today. The schedule had been unusually busy for a Tuesday; even Tig had to admit that, and just when he'd been counting on watching her work, too. Not that he'd ever say so, but this was kinda fun…well, it was fun yesterday, Joss's first day at Teller-Morrow, when everyone was bored, and he'd been able to show her off to all his envious co-workers and brothers once again, her looks, loyalty and trust in him lit up Tig's world, but she'd also become the darling of the garage in no time flat. There'd been enough time yesterday for the guys to quiz her on wrenches, watch her and Jax annoy each other with the airhose, and then at noon, it was so slow Tig had grabbed her and snuck over to his old dorm in the clubhouse for a horizontal lunch.
But today was quite a different contrast, but Joss was dealing with it like a pro, and Tig was so damn proud of her, despite having no time to show it. She'd likely never had a job before this between daddy's money and running the pageant circuit most of her life…well, actually, she'd had her share of "jobs" in her travels with other clubs, she'd been turned out by a lot of MC's as a lot of things from drug mule to…other things that Tig preferred not to think of, and he had been the one who personally broke the glass window of the booth and pulled her out of that coin operated peepshow in a joint called "Fantazzies" in North Beach…for a dollar a minute you could see a redhead by the name of "Sinful DeeLight" getting naked…but Tig had recognized the face…and knew she wasn't no redhead…he also knew she was just barely seventeen, which he pointed out to the owner, who threw them both out.
But one thing Joss had learned from all she'd been through from beauty pageants to peepshows, she employed working here; look hot, men didn't hang up calendars of beautiful women laying across beautiful cars for no reason, and it brought in customers. There were of course certain areas that Tig demanded she keep covered, she was his after all, but Joss was still working it. Her little outfit yesterday had been something…more than just "something," it was good enough to make Tig have to get her over to his old dorm at lunch! And today it was short shorts and the gray Teller-Morrow garage shirt that Clay had affectionately had made up for her complete with her name, tied just under her magnificent rack, showing more than enough skin to increase business around here. But even in the midst of all this "advertising," Joss always remembered a little 'shout out' to her man, buying a henna tattoo kit Monday night and stenciling T.I.G. onto her belly, in dark blue pigment, right over the splenectomy scar that she abhorred seeing every day. She may have been showing a lot, but everyone who saw it knew that it was his.
She did look amazing, but the day was so out of control it was like she didn't even have time to notice, but the male customers who suddenly needed tune ups and oil changes certainly had, as well as Tig's brothers, but they were mostly impressed by how their little darling of the garage was proving her mettle today. "Chibs!" She yelled again, walking passed the oil change station and into the tire bay, knowing the Scotsmen was in here somewhere.
"Whatja got fer me, Jossy?" Chibs finally answered cheerfully, ducking out from the undercarriage of the Cutlass that was on the lift.
She sighed. "It's not what I have for you, it's more like what I need from you," she said, the word "need" sticking in Tig's ear, making him shut the torch off, stand straight and flip the visor up on his welding helmet, even though he knew there was nothing to worry about between his Joss and Chibs, or anyone else…except maybe for Opie, but he'd taken care of that days ago, and Clay had stepped in as well, putting Opie on repos and tow service all week long. Still, whenever Tig's sweet, dark angel said the word "need" he got all tingly inside now. She looked at Chibs, no fooling around, a stack of repair orders grasped firmly in her hand. "I've got the lady who dropped off the black Chevy Tahoe on the phone," Joss said, flipping through and finding the appropriate paperwork and showing it to Chibs. "You checked 'vacuum hose' on this, so how long is that going to take?" Joss asked then sighed, shaking her head like she was so fed up. Tig couldn't help but smile…she'd really need to de-stress tonight…and he had just the thing for that. "She's got an appointment to get her upper lip waxed at 1:30 and wants to know if she needs to reschedule it."
Chibs cringed at the thought then laughed. "I do'na want to be the reason for all the hairy women in this town," he chuckled, but then looked back at the Cutlass. "But it'll be a good two hours more, this old Ciera's a bitch to get the nuts off of and back on."
"Great!" Joss sighed in pure frustration, looking back towards the office, where that mustachioed woman she'd spoken of waited still on hold.
"I'm sorry, girl." Chibs stood shaking his head, then in a surprising turn of events, looked up at Joss and voluntarily asked, "Yeh wantin' me to talk to her fer yeh?"
Alright…Chibs wasn't trying to get anywhere with Joss, but still, there was chivalry and then there was…chivalry. Tig yanked the welding helmet off, slid out of the protective heavy leather jacket and gloves and began walking over towards Joss and the 'oh so helpful' Chibs. "Joss," he said, immediately getting her attention. "Where's the Tahoe, baby? I'll do it."
To his surprise though, Joss didn't look at all happy about that offer, shaking her head and beginning to flip through the repair orders again. "No!" She said emphatically. "No way, Tig! You aren't done with that exhaust manifold, and if the guy who owns it calls about when it'll be done, I really don't wanna hear what kind of waxing appointment he's missing!"
Tig and Chibs glanced at each other and sniggered together, but Tig's attention never really left Joss. She was up to her lovely ass in alligators today, but damn, she was running this place like it was hers. "Baby, it's a vacuum hose!" He said identifying the obviousness of this situation that Joss failed to understand. "It'll take me fifteen, twenty minutes at the most, then you can call Yosemite Samantha and tell her that her piece of shit's ready."
Joss sighed, looking down at the order for the exhaust manifold that he'd been working on, but then looking back at him, beginning to smile. "Are you sure?"
"Joss, I ever do lie to you, it'll be about better stuff than a vacuum hose." Tig laughed, Chibs joining him again.
"Okay," she finally sighed, flipping back to the paperwork for the Tahoe and scratching out Chibs's initials on the repair order for the hose and replacing them with an AT. "The keys are on the office peg board, the ring has a big pink—"
"Mustache comb?" interrupted Chibs, pretending to comb through his own, cracking Tig up and even making Joss laugh a little now too. Good, she needed to relax a little, but it wasn't long lasted.
"Joss," Happy yelled from just outside the bay door, half way between the office and the garage itself where a big, brown UPS truck had just pulled up. "We gotta delivery of like eleven boxes."
She sighed in exasperation, glancing at Tig a moment, but he knew she wasn't really asking for help, only communicating how inadequate it felt not to be able to be in more than one place at a time. He smiled faintly and proudly back at her, giving her a slight nod of encouragement and praise. She smiled back at him, an "I need you" shining back at him in her tired green eyes…hmm, maybe lunch again? But she quickly turned to Happy. "I really have to track down Bobby about this…this…" she'd found the appropriate repair order, but was squinting at what Bobby had written on it and looking so lost and confused, "Tranny fluids and lube…and I'm not looking forward to the conversation!"
Once more Tig, Chibs and Happy were laughing, so were Jax and Clay, who were in a completely different section of the garage. Joss…poor, sweet, dark, frazzled, automotive parts virgin, Joss…Tig knew she didn't really think what she'd implied, but still, she was so cute when she was stressed out. Fuck, that was the third time he'd used the word "cute," and after not even thinking it for nearly fifteen God damn years! Tig stopped laughing…well, almost, and looked down at Joss and the repair order that had her so perplexed. "Joss," he said, trying to center her in this world that she knew virtually nothing about. "It's transmission fluid lubricant, you'll be okay." He smiled.
"Oh," she replied, not relieved, not surprised, just looking back at Happy and the deliveries again. "Happy, can you sign for the boxes, and then just put them in the office? Just write J T R G R and circle it, so I'll know that it was you signing for me if we need to trace it back for some reason."
Happy nodded, glad to help, but then all at once, everyone in the garage went mysteriously quiet, Happy finally speaking for all of them, pointing at Tig. "Hey! Congratulations, brother!" He smiled at him. "You bust my balls for not telling you about Lauren and you don't mention making it legal?"
What the hell was Happy talking about? But Joss's face suddenly turned even whiter than it normally looked against her black hair, red lips and Egyptian eyeliner. "Oh my God!" She nearly crumbled to the ground, her hand over her mouth as she looked up at Tig with a horrified expression, like she'd just broken some major law of being property. "I am so so so sorry!" She said to him, begging his forgiveness with her beautiful green eyes. "I didn't mean it, Tig, I swear! It's just been so busy and so rushed today…I wasn't thinking and…"
Joss was still uttering some rambling apologetic explanation, but Tig still wasn't entirely sure he understood why, but it seemed to lie in how she'd told Happy to sign her name. J T R G R…J T R G R…fuck! She'd been signing her name as "Jocelyn Trager?" Whoa! Okay, that was a major violation of being property…no woman alleged that she was something to a man that she truly was not…Joss had screwed up on that one…and put them both in an awkward situation, everyone in the garage now looking at him like they wanted to know all the details of something that had never even fucking happened! "Joss…" Tig was shaking his head; waiting for something to ignite inside him that had begun to come to life, but then just sputtered and smothered, DOA. Hmm…he wasn't angry? He wasn't about to lay into her about talking shit about him? He wasn't going to rip her a new one for lying about him? No, he wasn't. What? Why the fuck not? She'd walked right into it; no one would blame him for busting her up! But instead, he was laughing again…which was attracting a lot of attention from everyone in the garage, Jax appearing out of nowhere to stand close enough to Joss to "protect" her from whatever he thought Tig was about to deal out to her.
But Tig wasn't out for vengeance…for some more than disappointing reason. He was laughing, because the whole thing was really fucking funny. Besides, Joss knew she was wrong, that was obvious in the way she'd apologized again and again. Plus, it hadn't been something she'd done on purpose, or even realized she'd done it. If she had done it on purpose, why would she have just blurted it out in front of him and everyone like that? Nope, his beautiful, dark, little angel was having a bad day, and in her moment of turmoil with chaos bearing down on her from every direction she looked, she'd signed his last name behind hers…his name…in her time of need…she'd looked to Tig. How could he be angry about that? Despite how much part of him wanted to be. "Joss," he said again, chuckling warmly now as she stood before him looking down, beginning to sniffle. Okay, time to take charge, get this stopped here and now. Tig stepped closer to her, lifting her chin up and resting his other hand on her waist. "It's okay," he spoke quietly; the rest of the garage by now understanding that there had been no wedding after all. Joss was looking at him, but she was still a mess. "C'mon, stop, don't do all this. Behind your 'J' is not the worst place I've seen my name, baby. Trust me!" He smiled. What? What! What the fuck was he saying? What the fuck was he doing? Jesus fucking Christ, the one for real opportunity he had to smack his bitch around, and he wasn't taking it?
Jax's face was priceless, eyes wide, mouth half open as he looked from Joss to Tig and back again, but he was backing off of the two of them a little bit. Joss seemed to have taken no notice that her would-be big brother had even rushed over to stand guard, she just sighed heavily and looked back at Tig. "But, I think I might have been writing that all morning…"
"So you have an alias now." Tig laughed. "They can be handy." He laughed again, noticing everyone seemed stunned to silence, and it was beginning to get on his nerves…everyone had expected him to beat the living shit out of Joss…but he'd never do that to her, never. "Am I right?" He turned to Happy, Chibs, Jax, and Clay, who all were quick to agree with him, and then slowly returned to whatever it was that they had been working on while a smile finally bent the corners of Joss's once trembling lips.
"Um, the Tahoe," she said, getting back to what she was doing as well…God damn it she was perfect, not lingering on the mercy Tig had just displayed. "The keys have a big, pink carabiner clip on them."
"Yeah!" For a moment Tig had forgotten about the Tahoe with the vacuum hose that he'd said he'd get out of the way in order to make Joss's day a little better. She was doing marvelously, and this one little slip up with his name…it was nothing…even though it could have been. Shit! There was just no way back from this place that she'd lured him to, was there? Tig sighed and gave her a quick kiss, but he'd started to grin at something else he'd just realized. "Hey Joss," he asked as he turned to go get the Tahoe's keys in the office. God damn but they were so fucked up! "What is your last name, anyway?"