Perfect Life chapter 9
Chapter title: Lie to me
A/N:
Hey everyone! here's the next chapter enjoy.
She just stared at them all before the anger settled in "holy shit! And you didn't think to tell me this over the phone?!" she turned on Clay
"after Chibs, we didn't think you needed anymore on your plate" the president explained, she just scoffed at them all
"don't even try it Clay, you just didn't want me distracted so I could do your dirty work for you on the outside. You know what? I thought you guys knew me by now. No matter the goddamn circumstances, no matter what I was going through, I would do anything for you! And you fucking hide shit like that from me!" the girl grabbed her kutte and stormed out
"Where the hell are you going?" the president asked
"Where the fuck do you think? To St. Thomas! Might as well just fucking live there these days!" she slammed the door on the way out and the room shook a bit from the force.
Gemma and Tara jumped as the club house door slammed shut, they were still standing outside and watched as the Chase straddled her Harley, her back to them "Chase, what's going on?" they could tell that by the way her shoulders sat that she was pissed off, they knew to tread carefully when the girl was like this
"Juice is at St. Thomas. I gotta go" the girl didn't shout at them or say it with a cold tone, she just sounded defeated. Gemma and Tara looked at each other with worry for the hacker but their eyes were pulled forwards as Chase started her bike and drove out of the lot towards the hospital. They really felt for the Son, two of the people she cared about most were sitting in hospital beds with serious injuries, poor girl was had a lot to deal with right now, and it was probably a hell of a lot worse since they were guessing the guy's didn't tell her about Juice until just then.
The ride to the hospital did very little to calm her mood, her emotions were just everywhere lately and she couldn't afford that, she constantly felt like she had to prove herself to the guys because she was an exception, a one off, she was the girl and she couldn't afford to look weak. She knows that they love her but she's still terrified that one day they would turn around and drop her from the club with some lame excuse that they thought she'd be safer or better off without them and the life. The thought of that alone was enough to raise her blood pressure, the club was all she had, it's not like she could go and get a job after all the shit she's done, no office would let her near a computer.
Well after those cheery thoughts she finally arrived at the hospital, she went to jog inside but a jolt of pain shot up her leg and stopped her in her tracks, she grabbed the wall to keep herself upright "Fuck" she took a breath before moving to walk again, her limp back in place, wow today couldn't get any better.
She reached the reception and the woman behind the desk looked up at her, she saw the cut and already started to judge her, but then she saw the woman's face which just look defeated and decided to take pity on her "How can I help you?" Chase saw the pity and had to restrain from saying anything, there was nothing she hated more
"I'm here to see Juice Ortiz" when the woman gave her a weird look she corrected herself "sorry, Juan Carlos Ortiz" the receptionist nodded and typed the name into her computer
"Mr Ortiz was just transferred in. May I ask your name and relation?"
"Cassandra Crosby and we're just friends, I think I might be one of his emergency contacts though" the woman nodded, Chibs was his main one she was sure, that's probably why she hadn't been contacted, they must've made a mistake and thought Chibs wasn't in the same goddamn hospital and tried to contact him first.
"Yep, there you are, okay room 13 Miss Crosby" she thanks the woman and heads off to see her brother.
As she reached the door she couldn't will herself to walk straight in, she just stood there staring at the grey thing as if it were an unmovable barrier, godsake Chase, get your shit together. The voice in her head wasn't her own but her fathers, it always popped up when her emotions started to get to her. She shook the voice out of her head and took a deep breath before opening the door handle.
"Chase? Hey what you doing here?" the man brightened up a bit when she walked in, he didn't like being alone very much, it was hard. He preferred having the distraction of his family.
"I came down as soon as I found out, guys decided not to tell me." He could tell she was pissed, but there was something else there too, in fact there was a lot more there. She continued to stand by the closed door, unmoving.
"you wanna talk about it?" she looked up at Juice after his random question, he was giving her that knowing look, he could read her like a damn book. He gestured to the chair by his bed and she made her way over
"I don't really know what to say. Shit's just been piling up I guess" her vision went cloudy again
"your anger getting to you again?" she nods at him, she's been here a few times, Juice was one of the few people who knew about it. When shit in her life gets bad and her anger continues to build, It consumes her. It was one of her weaknesses, it was a rarity to get her this bad but when it happened she broke down. She'd never been good with her anger, as a kid she was well behaved so she never had an outlet to rid herself of it, she never threw things, broke stuff, she just kept it all bottled up until it was too much. Her dad never gave a shit so he didn't teach her how to handle it and that was why this was the only way for her to handle it now, even in her adult life, this method was familiar.
She was pulled from her thoughts when Juice grunted slightly from pain, she looked up at him as he shifted on his bed "Shit, sorry how are you feeling?" he chuckled and waved her off
"don't worry about me. I'm fine, hurt like a bitch when it happened though."
"I bet… You want anything?" he gave her a soft smile.
"Yeah, I want you to let go. Your bottling everything up again and I don't want you to break in a situation that's gonna leave you vulnerable. Your safe here Chase, you don't have to put on a brave face. I'm not gonna judge you and I'm not gonna tell the guys anything you don't want me to." She gave a sigh of defeat and dropped her head into her hands
"God, I don't think I've ever gotten this bad so quickly, it didn't even take much. I don't know, between what happened to Chibs, the Aryans', Gemma, the others lying to me, a few other things and now you, it's just like everything is falling apart." Her vision clouded again
"Why didn't you talk to someone this sooner?"
"Because… Because… ugh I'm scared I'll look weak. I'm constantly feeling like I have to prove myself, four years down the line and I'm still scared that I'm gonna get dropped for not being strong enough, or just good enough in general, I mean what do the Sons really need me for, they've got you for the computer shit, I'm just an extra head to count."
"You seriously think all that? You think that we would drop you for looking weak?"
"Think it? Juice I'm terrified." Tears started to roll down her face as she hiccupped, the man sighed
"Come here" he shifted again and did his best to bite back a groan so he wouldn't worry her even more, he held his arms out for her. She just looked up at him before getting out of her seat and sitting on the edge of his bed, she wrapped her arms around his neck and just started sobbing, this was it, this was the end of this episode finally, she could go back to normal.
Juice wrapped his arms around her and rubbed a hand up and down her back and she cried into him, he could tell that even during her break down she was being sure not to hold him too tight because of his injuries. He smiled internally at the thought, the girl was far too caring. He still couldn't believe that she thought all of that, they all knew she was far from weak, girl or not, and she was just as important to the club as any of them were. He shook his head slightly before continuing to comfort her as best he could, he hated seeing anyone in his family like this.
It was a good twenty minutes before Chase calmed down "you good?" Juice asked her as he held her shoulders, she chuckled whilst wiping her eyes
"Yeah, thanks. I'm so sorry about that. I-"
"Hey, don't apologise. You needed that" she just nodded and took her glasses off to clean the tear marks from them.
"Anyway, enough about me. You sure you're alright?"
"yeah yeah, I'm good. Bit saw but what else did I expect?" he laughed
"Oh, I picked something up for you on the way here." She got up off of the hospital bed and went for her rucksack "it's about time I return the favour for my bike crash" she handed him his favourite chocolate bar and he just laughed again
"You know me too well, think I have to wait a while to eat it though, medication and all" she nodded "listen, you've had a long day, we both have. You should head home for a decent sleep and stop worrying about me and Chibs, we'll be fine." He smiled at her
"It's in my nature to worry" she grabbed her bag "I'll leave you to it, but I'm coming back to check on you both tomorrow, sleep in fear my friend" he laughed at her antics before she finally reached the door "Night, Juicy"
"Night"
PERFECT LIFE…
She felt bad for shouting at the guys last night, it's not like she gave them a hundred and one chances to tell her but they knew that the pair were practically best friends, they still should've told her.
She pulled into the Teller-Morrow lot and took a deep breath as she parked her bike, as she looked at the others she noticed only a few of the guys were here, it was probably better this way, not too much attention at once.
As she opened the door, Happy, Tig and Bobby looked up at her. "Hey" she said to them with a small smile as she swapped her glasses over and placed her sunglasses into her top cut pocket.
"listen girl, we're sorry for not telling you." Bobby apologised to her and she could tell that the other two were thinking the same thing. She waved them off
"it's alright, I over reacted a bit. Stuff's just been getting heavy lately, but I've sorted my girl shit out now. I'm back to normal" she smirked at them and they laughed, Tig came around to throw his arm over her shoulder and pull her too him in a brotherly hug where he almost crushed her, she just laughed and fought her way out of the hold.
They joked around for a while until they heard another bike pull up and Half Sack walked in "Hey kid! Sorry I didn't catch you before. How'd the operation go?" Chase says to the prospect from her seat at the bar. The kid fired into his explanation of how it went and how he was feeling after it, Tig just looks at him
"Is it gay that I want to see it?"
"gay curious." Bobby replied to the man, Happy and Chase just looked at each other before looking back at their freak of a brother, Tig.
"Come on. Drop 'em" Tig tells the prospect who accepts the challenge and undoes his zipper, Chase raised an eyebrow as the boy whipped it out.
"Showtime" Bobby said in a singsong voice as he waited for the kid to finally undo his trousers. Sack pulled his boxers down to show them and Chase cringed away, as did Bobby, Happy just continued to look at it with a face of confusion and slight disgust
"Is it supposed to be that swollen?" the nomad asked
"Think so"
"They look uneven" Tig stated to them all, Chase just decided not to comment on the whole situation it was weird enough as it is, but she had to agree with Tig on that. She was still confused as to why the hell she was even looking. God she spent way too much time with these nutcases.
"One nut's always bigger than the other one. It's like—" The kid tried to reason but Tig was having none of it and decided to try and boost his own ego
"Really?" The man shoved his hands down his trousers as if to test the kid's theory "Well, I think mine are equally huge, man." Chase scoffs at the sergeant just as Opie walks in, they were so caught up with Sack's new nut that they didn't even hear the guy pull in. Opie groans as he walks in
"I shouldn't have to see that." The four sitting at the bar just laugh at the guy.
After Ope congratulates the prospect on his completion, Bobby moves them all over to the sofas in hopes of a serious chat "We need to take a look at this thing with Clay and Jax."
"Heard they got into it at county" Chase says and Happy just looks at her with his normal, intimidating expression, which was no longer intimidating to her.
"It was brutal, man." They all talk about the two men, trying to figure out what their beef was about. Bobby decides that they need to take action before their issues start to hurt the club, they use Opie to find out what Jax's deal is, while they use Tig to do some digging into Clay.
Just as Bobby was talking about bringing the problem to the table their vice president walks in, he looks at them all lounging around "Hey…" no one answered him "What?
"Nothing, we're just downloading to the prospect"
"And his swollen nut." Happy adds with a teasing tone. Sack just looks at the future president before pointing to his dick and giving a thumbs up.
"Yeah, welcome back shithead" Sack just smirks at the man before he goes all serious on them "Chinese just called. They want a sit-down. I gotta head out to Caracara… Where's Clay?" they all shrug at Jax, no one had seen him all morning.
After Jax leaves, Chase gets up herself "Alright children, I'm off to check on the two we got in hospital, gimme a call once you finish with the Chinese. I'll meet you wherever your headed to next"
"Will do. Tell the guys we love 'em" Bobby shouts at the girl
"Yeah yeah, bunch of softies the lot of you" they all laugh as Chase leaves.
PERFECT LIFE…
She rides into the hospital car park and spots Tara's Catlass, if she was quick then maybe she could have a chat with the girl before she left.
She walked past reception and straight to Chibs's room, when she walked in, she spotted some random woman sitting in the chair that occupied the corner of the Scot's room. The unknown woman stood up as Chase entered and looked her up and down. "And you are?"
"Think I should be asking you that. Never seen you around these parts before."
"Fiona Larkin." The woman never moved from her standing spot, but Chase refused to be intimidated by her, especially as she might be a threat to her brother.
"Chase Crosby" she snapped back. "So, why are you here?"
"Think I should be asking you that" the woman replied smartly, with her Irish accent and a bitchy smirk.
"Came to check on Chibs."
"You the Chase who left those for him?" The woman gestured to the flowers on the table next to the Scot.
"Yeah, why? Got a problem with it?" the woman didn't say anything "Now why are you here?"
"Shouldn't a woman be able to visit her injured husband?"
"… Holy shit. Your that Fiona" Chibs had mentioned her a couple of times when he talked about Kerrianne.
"Aye." The woman walked around the bed, obviously pleased with Chase's reaction to her affiliation with Chibs, and came to a standstill in front of the son. "I see you wear a kutte, playing with the big boys are ya, darlin'?" oh how Chase wanted to slap that bitches smirk right off her face, but just as she was going to speak, the door opened again and Gemma walked in. She watched as the woman's face dropped slightly
"You're a long way from home, sweetheart." Gemma put a hand on Chase's shoulder to make sure the girl stood down. The awkward confrontation lasted until Tara walked in and Gemma made the introductions for the girl, Chase couldn't believe this, what the hell was Fiona doing here? She was meant to be off with Jimmy O playing happy families… Unless, now that she thought about it, the Irish did mention something about Jimmy coming stateside- oh shit!
Everything suddenly clicked for Chase, Jimmy O was here or was at least on his way. That's the only explanation for Fiona being here. Shit this was going to hit Chibs hard. Fiona being here wasn't good, not in the slightest.
Gemma decided it was all in their best interests to leave the room, the older woman placed a hand on Chase's back and went to move her but Chase broke away to place a kiss to Chibs's forehead, mindful of his bandages "Be back soon brother, don't worry." She whispered to the man. She could feel Fiona's eyes burning into the back of her, hah, if the woman wanted to think that she and Chibs were in a relationship then let the bitch worry. Maybe that'll drive her off, although, she had a feeling that this woman wasn't so easily deterred, so a stupid lie like that wouldn't get rid of her.
Tara, Gemma and Chase all left the hospital room and Gemma wrapped an arm around the young and tall Son, "Don't worry darlin'. She won't stick around for long, she never does." Chase just leant into the hug and continued to walk down the hallways with the two women. "Oh, don't forget! Family dinner at mine tonight." Chased laughed
"Wouldn't miss it for the world Gem" Chase's phone started to ring. It was most likely Bobby calling to tell her about where to meet him and the others, guess she'll have to see Juice later. "I gotta go. See you two tonight" Chase walked away from them and flipped open her phone.
Bobby tells her to meet him, Jax and Ope at Laroy's so she heads off to find them. She walks whilst looking down at her phone and runs into someone. Physics being the bitch that it is meant that she went to fall backwards on her arse, but someone caught her. She looked up to see Luca smiling down at her "You alright?"
"uh, i—yeah I'm fine. Sorry about that. Got distracted" his smiled never faltered, even with her stuttering start. It suddenly became very apparent to her that his hands were on her hips from where he caught her, and her hands sat on his shoulders. It also became apparent that they were in the middle of the hospital hallway and they were getting a lot of interesting looks from people. And to top it all off, Gemma and Tara were at the end of one of the halls smiling at her. She cleared her throat and moved to stand up properly. "Sorry, I'm heading off somewhere. I'll make sure I start to look where I'm going" the girl informed him with a nervous laugh
"see you around, Chase" she just nodded at him before walking past him and out of the hospital doors.
The nurse turned and started walking in Tara and Gemma's direction. Gemma being the meddler that she is, caught the man's attention. "Hi, Luca right?"
"Yes. Oh hi Tara" the man says to the doctor on Gemma's left. "Can I help you with something ma'am?" he said with his signature charming smile
"Actually yes. I'm having a family dinner at mine tonight and I can see that you and Chase have something going on. If you want a chance to get to know her when she isn't running around for the club, then feel free to join us." The man looked a little shocked at the offer.
"Thank you very much, but I couldn't intrude. Also, I don't know many people from your family."
"believe me, it's no intrusion. Besides, Tara's going. And so is Chase." The man looked a little more convinced, but not much "Well the offer is there sweetheart, you can come with Tara if you want. I'm sure Chase would love to see you again." Tara internally sighed at Gemma, the woman couldn't leave anything alone.
"Yeah, we can leave after our shifts if you want." The doctor offered
"is it alright if I, uh, think about it?" Gemma nodded
"If you wanna come then come find me whenever you can" Tara replied to the nurse, who nodded and said his farewells to the women. "Chase is probably going to kill you" Gemma just chuckled
"I'd like to see the girl try."
PERFECT LIFE…
Chase pulls up outside of Laroy's joint and spots her brothers by their bikes and the van, hey was that Chucky?
She walks up to them and they all just nodded at her before making a move to head inside. The woman cleaning up behind the bar just looks at them with utter boredom "What do you want?"
"Laroy. Won't mind us dropping by." Jax tells her as they continued walking straight through to the back of the bar, they leave Chucky behind.
They walk into the back room of the place and Jax stops dead still causing the other three to pause behind the man "Oh shit. New owners." They Mayans were sitting at a bunch of tables as the Sons walked in, the moment they saw them they were up and out of their seats.
"We better go." Chase tells them and they all turn around to leave the bar before someone gets hurt, and right now that was most likely going to be them. They power-walk towards the exit, but of course there is a Mayan with an AK standing in their way, they back up as more of the Mexicans flood the hallway. Great, no escape.
One of the men hit Opie in the gut with the butt of his gun, causing the man to fall to the ground with a groan, they kick him a few times and use their foot on his back to hold him in place. Next they take down Bobby by shoving him against the wall with a gun to the back of his head. They then spot Chase's knee support and kick her in the back of it, sending her to the floor with a shout of pain, she then got shoved backwards into the wall by someone's leg, they then decided to shove an AK in her face to keep her there. And finally they throw Jax, backwards, into the wall and stick a pistol to his temple. Seems like the Mayans wanted a little chat.
The four Sons and Chucky sat in a room with trigger happy Mayans, waiting for Alvarez to show himself. After a while the man emerges, he and Jax start to talk but the VP tries to get smart with the man and ends up with a punch to the face, all of the Sons stand up at this and ready themselves for a fight before the Mayans point their guns at them again and force them to sit down.
Alvarez had Jax by his cut "you tell Clay that bullshit truce we had is off the table. Every state, every charter—Mayans are no friends of." He throws Jax back into his chair and looks around at his men "Get 'em outta here. And take their cuts." Jax just shakes his head at the Mexican
"That ain't gonna happen." Alvarez pauses his retreat and turns around to look back at Jax, the man pulls his gun out.
"You will lay it at my feet, cabron." He places the gun to Jax's forehead, his face completely unreadable.
"Pull the trigger, man. That's the only way this leather's coming off my back." Chase had to admit that she was scared for her VP in that moment, Alvarez was known for being unpredictable, she could easily see him pulling that trigger. Not one of Jax's best gambles in her opinion. But Bobby was there as the voice of reason as always, pointing out the consequences to the Mayan president. We all just look at Jax until Alvarez finally lowers the gun. The man warns them all about what will happen the next time he catches a Son in his territory, and he finishes his threat by spitting onto Jax's kutte.
PERFECT LIFE…
After their little run in with the Mayans, the four of them head over to Gemma's for her family dinner. She threw them every once in a while, the woman loved being the hostess.
They all line up to park their bikes and dismount them, as they do so they spot Lyla storming from the house. Opie stops her "Lyla, where you goin'?"
"Home! I am tired of taking abuse, Ope. That doctor's an arrogant bitch." Bobby chuckles as he, Jax and Chase walk over. Lyla looks at the blonde man "sorry."
"Thanks brother" Opie says to Jax who just shrugs his shoulders. The three who weren't caught up with their lady, started to walk inside when Lyla shouted after Chase
"Oh Chase, by the way, Gemma invited that nurse guy you've been talking to." The girl's jaw dropped as all three of her brothers looked at her with interest
"Luca? Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me" she ran a hand over her face, suddenly conscious of her appearance.
"Ooo, who's this Luca?" Bobby says in a girly and mocking voice. "you gotta introduce us, Chasey" a shit eating grin sat on the man's face.
"I swear to God you guys, I already have Gem to deal with. Don't make me give you hell too. Just leave the guy alone. Please." They all finish their walk towards the house, oh this should be an interesting evening alright.
They all split off, Jax goes to Tara, Bobby to the bar and Chase to Luca. "Hey, what the hell you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too" he smirked at her. He looked pretty sharp, he was wearing dark jeans and a light grey shirt with a couple of buttons undone.
"Sorry, you know what I meant. Did Gemma force you into this?"
"Nah, she just invited me, said it'd be nice for us to chat when you're not running around for the club."
"ugh, I'm gonna kill that woman." He just chuckled and handed her a drink "Thanks. So, you alright? Bored?"
"Bored? No, there's been drama to see. But, a little nervous I guess. I hardly know anyone. Plus you and your guys have a bit of a reputation." She just rubbed the side of his arm in a supportive gesture
"didn't stop you from talking to me though, did it?" they continue to chat before Bobby waltzed over and Chase was forced to make introductions. Bobby joked, Chase cringed and Luca laughed. It seems the Elvis impersonator didn't mind the nurse, which took some weight off of her shoulders. Finally, Gemma called them all over, thankfully saving Chase anymore embarrassment at the hands of Bobby.
As they were standing around the table, Clay and the others walked in. "where the hell were you?"
"What are you talking about?" Jax asks his step-father
"I got two guys laying up in hospital beds and the rest of you decide not to pick up your goddamn phones?" Chase moved away from Luca, keeping him behind her, and inched closer to her crew. Shit was about to blow up.
"We were neck deep in our own pile of shit." Bobby explained but Tig was backing his president and started on the man.
"Well, we almost got killed trying to take back our guns, man."
"Club business. Not here, asshole" seconds after the insult Tig shoved Bobby and the others, including Chase, rushed forward to break them up.
"Hey, they were helping me, Clay." Opie shouts at the man and Jax explains.
"We had some payback to deliver at Caracara."
"Well, hopefully it went a little better than the Trammel task." Tig looked at Chase and Opie.
"Aw, blow me, shithead." Chase shot at Tig whilst having a stare down with the man.
Their little family discussion was interrupted by Hale walking in through the back door.
"Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt." He walked over to them all "I figured I should tell you this in person. We just found Luann Delaney off County 18. Beaten to death… There's no other details right now… I'm sorry." He looked around at them all with sympathy in his eyes.
Hale left after breaking the news to them all. Clay looked straight at Jax, no humour in his eyes, his face was passive "Did you cause this?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Payback… at Caracara?"
"This is on me Clay." Opie cut in, as did Bobby
"And me too."
"Same here." Chase admitted as she braced her arms on the table and dropped her head to take a breath
"What did you idiots do?"
"I'm not talking to you, asshole" Bobby snapped at the man, Tig just glared at him before jumping at him again and forcing the others to get in between them again.
As she's trying to keep the secretary and the sergeant apart, she barely notices Clay and Jax going at it. They all stop however, when Gemma smashes the giant platter she was holding, onto the table. The noise caught everyone's attention. The fight broke apart immediately and they all looked around the table at the guests and family that they had ruined the evening for.
After a while, everyone moved away from the table, most people left after the commotion. Chase went outside for some much needed fresh air, there was too much damn testosterone in that room. As she sits on the wall Indian style, someone taps her shoulder and jumps up next to her. Luca is at her side, she just sighed "I am so sorry about that. That was some stupid club shit, that shouldn't have happened. You didn't need to see or hear any of that."
"It's alright, really. Maybe I should've taken you out on a few dates before meeting your… 'family'."
"Or maybe you shouldn't have taken me out at all." He gave her a confused look
"What?"
"Come on, you've known me two days and look at what's already happened. You witnessed an argument with the club. Someone the club is partners with, and cares about, has just died. Things are moving pretty fast and i—" she was cut off, but he didn't interrupt her. Nope he went straight in and kissed the woman to silence her. After a while he pulled back and looked at her.
"Chase, this is new territory for the both of us. But, these past couple of days, I haven't been able to get you out of my head. You won't scare me off so easily, plus I like the idea of the challenge that comes with you. So if you want to give things a try then I'm more than ready for it" she was completely shocked, a few days ago she would've laughed if someone told her that all of that was going to happen. She just gave him a shocked smile and nodded her head
"i- uh, yeah. I'd like that." Besides, it was damn hard to say no to that smile and accent. She went back in for another kiss, hoping to let the tension of the evening melt away.
A/N: Thanks for reading guys. I haven't had much feedback on this story so i'm not too sure what you guys are thinking of it. Please let me know if you have the time to review. Anyway enjoy the rest of your day.