Chapter 9

"If you've ever fallen down and lost your spark, get back up as the whole damn fire."

~ Theresa Thomas

It took me a second to realize that she was stalking straight towards to us. She was wearing a one-piece summer jumper, that was bubble gum pink and it made her look like she was 15 years old. However, the whore had on far too much make up to be mistaken for someone underage. I thought she looked like a teenage boy's wet dream.

"What the fuck is she doing here?" Ima hissed as she looked at Juice's hand intertwined with mine. "You going to raise that bastard child, she's carrying Juicy?" She made a pouty face at him but not before casting a glare in my direction.

Did she really just say that? I thought as a quiet flame of rage began to burning within me. "Shut the fuck up you, stupid whore," I spit back at her as I let go of Juice's hand. I could feel my blood begin to boil, just seeing her made me angry. It brought back everything that had happened before I had left for Belfast. Juice tried to grab my hand again, to pull me back to him but I shrugged him off. I wanted nothing more than to pound her pretty face into the pavement. I wanted to take out all the pent up anger I had in me, out on her. But I didn't; I held onto the anger within my tightly clinched fists.

Ima placed her hand on her hip and stared daggers at me, "Honey, if you remember the last time you were here, I was the one who ended up on top. Literally! That night Juice fucked me in at least 20 different positions. We went all night."

I took a deep breath and turned around to leave; I just wanted to get away from Ima and her foul being. I knew nothing good would have come if I continued standing there; we were already drawing the attention of the other Sons. I heard Gemma mumble something as I started to walk away.

"I'm not done with you yet, you, stupid bitch. Do you think you can come back here and steal my man?" Ima grabbed my shoulder.

How dare she touch me! I whipped around and before she could react to me, I punched her in her pretty little face. I felt some joy as Ima fell backwards onto her ass and sat there with her face in her hands. "First of all don't ever touch me with your nasty hands again. Second, if he was your man then why did he come to Belfast for me?" I watched the blood stream through her hands which were holding her nose. "Have fun trying to suck cock with a broken nose, you foul skag." I stormed passed her and into the club house to get ice for my hand, her face was surprisingly hard.

"Hey." One of the prospects said to me as I walked in and made my way to the bar.

"Can you get me some ice for my hand and a shot of something strong?" I rubbed my knuckles gently.

"Um…" He looked past me at someone, who must have been Juice. He had clearly followed me inside, hoping he could do damage control. "Yeah, no problem." The prospect said as he poured me something that was clear and handed me a bag of ice for my hand. I sat on the stool at the bar and took the shot. It burned as it went down.

Juice sat next to me and turned my stool towards him so I was facing him. "I'm sorry she was here." He said quietly. I couldn't help but feel betrayed by him; he conveniently left out the fact that he had been with Ima after I left. Or maybe she had said that to me to piss me off.

"Well I am glad someone finally put her in her place. She walks around here like she owns the place." I heard Donna saying as she walked in with Opie and Jax. Donna walked up to me and gave me a hug. "Glad you back. How are you?"

I wasn't sure if she knew about the baby or what had happened so I looked at Opie and asked, "Does she know?"

"Jax called Tara yesterday after everything happened and we knew that you were coming back with us." Opie said.

I was grateful I wouldn't have to retell her what happened. "I am okay. I just want to go home. No offense to anyone here; I am just done with today. Too much has happened in the past few days. But I am happy to see you." I looked at her, she looked like home to me. I hadn't realized to it until that point but I had really missed Donna.

"Oh, Ky, it is understandable." She pulled me into another hug and then whispered in my ear, "I am so glad you punched her." I gave her a small smile as we parted.

I turned to Juice, "I know you have a meeting but can you get a prospect to take me home?" I asked, I didn't want to be at the club house any longer than I needed to be. I just wanted to go home and soak in the tub and then snuggle into bed.

"I'll take you home." Tara appeared with a smile on her face. Oh, thank god another friendly face. I hated to start out my time back on the wrong foot. I didn't know who had seen what had happened but I knew Juice and Gemma would tell them the truth. Was I actually feeling bad about punching Ima? Ugh, I needed sleep.

Juice gently grabbed my wrist as I got up and started to walk away. "I'll come over after we finish here."

I just nodded as he kissed my hand and released it as I said, "I'll leave the door unlocked."

Tara and I were walking out of the clubhouse as Clay walked by us. He was a big man with silver hair, blue eyes and a defining brow. He stopped me…shit I thought.

"Nice job, sweetheart. One less piece of gutter trash hanging around. I am glad you didn't let her treat you like she was Juice's old lady. We all know he's been pussy whipped by you since day one." He smiled at me. "Glad your back." He hugged me and said quietly, "sorry about the baby."

"Thanks." I looked up at him thankful he wasn't pissed off about the whole situation with Ima. I was their family and she wasn't. When Tara and I got outside, I noticed that Ima was still hanging around. She was crying at Happy, who was messing with his bike and trying to ignore her.

"She just punched me out of nowhere Happy. She is a crazy bitch, do you really think Juice should be with someone like that?" I heard her say. Happy smiled at me; Ima saw I was coming out of the building and clung to Happy like I was gunning for her. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. If I was going to hurt her, I would have done it while she was down.

"I would love to see her punch your pretty little face again. I heard what you said to her and if I were her I would have done a lot worse. Actually you are lucky she only broke your nose, she should have done worse." He pushed her away from him and towards Tara and me. She let out a yelp and ran to her car. She had blood down the front of her, I hoped that it ruined that ugly jumper. Happy walked passed us and touched me lightly on the shoulder. I smiled weakly at him.

The drive to my brother's house…wait, my house was short and Tara didn't say much. I was sure that she knew I just needed silence; it was so nice and it didn't feel forced or awkward. It was the peaceful sort of silence I needed. We pulled into the driveway and I noticed a large sign on my garage, it said:

WELCOME HOME KYLEE!

It warmed my weary soul to see that they cared so much. A broad smile crossed my face as looked over at Tara who was smiling too.

"I am glad you're back. I've missed you." She exclaimed merrily.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked her, she looked at me. "I've been having some pretty severe pains in my side for the last few days. Is there any way I could have you take a peek at my side?"

"Of course." Tara said as we made our way into the house. "Surprise!" She said with excitement pouring from her every pore. I looked around the house and it looked completely different. The walls were painted a lovely shade of light blue and there was new carpet and furniture in it. I started to tear up, the giving and caring nature of these people was far beyond anything I had ever experienced in my life.

"I love it but it's too much." I wiped the tears from eyes.

"I can't take all the credit; it was Juice's idea." Tara wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "Now let's take a look at your side."

I took a deep breath and lifted up my shirt. Ashamed of the bruises my body held. "It hurts right here." I touched the right side of my body which was still a deep purple color. "The doctor never told me if anything was broken even though I am sure I have at least one broke rib. I am sure that Liam just paid him off. He sent me home with some pain meds that I only had for a few days before they disappeared. Probably Liam's way to make me remember…to punish me." As I thought about it further, no one ever asked me what happened. I wish I would have known the story that Liam had told the doctors. It was too late; I would never find out.

Tara started out by lightly pushing softly on my left side, "Does this hurt?" She asked me. I shook my head; it wasn't uncomfortable in the least. Then she moved to my right side using the same amount of pressure, I winced in pain immediately. "I think you have a few broken ribs but we can't be sure unless we do an x-ray. Are you up for going over to the hospital now?"

"Do I have much choice?" I asked her. Knowing that I really should just get it done and over with.

"We can wait until tomorrow but if we go now, I will be able to prescribe some pain medication for you."

"Alright let's go." I started towards the door. "Can you call Jax and have him tell Juice what is going on?"

"Of course." She grabbed her cell phone and called Jax. "Hey baby, I know you guys are in your meeting but when you get this message will you let Juice know I brought Kylee to the hospital for some x-rays. And I will have her back home in no time. Love you."

At the hospital Tara and I were waiting for the x-rays to be developed, it seemed like it was taking forever but of course it really wasn't that long. She looked at my hand too while we were there. It had started to bruise slightly from where it came into contact with Ima's nose. Thankfully my hand didn't hurt, well in comparison to what I had been through. The nurse walked out of the back room with three radiographs.

"Here you go Dr. Knowles." She handed Tara the radiographs and smiled politely at me. I returned her smile.

"Thanks Jane. Let's go to my office, we can look at them in there." We went to her office where she hung the films up one by one on the viewer. I wasn't a doctor but I knew what broken bones looked like. I had three broken ribs one of was broken in several places. "Do you have any shortness of breath?"

"No, I have just been in pain. Breathing just fine."

"Well you are lucky then, there are no other injuries to the organs around these ribs. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do to fix them but I can give you pain meds so that will help out a lot. Also I recommend no strenuous activity for the next 3 to 4 weeks while your ribs heal."

I laughed. "You want to write me a note so I can give it to Juice." Tara laughed she jotted something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. It said Kylee is out of commission for 3 to 4 weeks pending another x-ray. DOCTOR Tara Knowles. "Thanks." I giggled. How was he going to take that? I knew I would have a hard time keeping my hands off of him and I was the one who was in pain. Tara wrote me a prescription for pain medications before we left the hospital.

When I got back to my house, Juice still wasn't there. I decided to draw a bath for myself. I pulled out my bath stuff I had brought with from Ireland. I was looking forward to just relaxing. I went into the kitchen as the tub was filling and looked in the refrigerator, they had fully stocked it…including wine. I looked into my cabinets and they were filled as well. I pulled a wine glass out and filled it with the Riesling that was in the fridge. Then went back into the bathroom and climbed into the bathtub with my glass of wine. Bubbles brimmed over the edge of the tub. That is when I heard his Harley pull up to the house; I didn't bother getting out of the bath tub. Juice was a big boy and he would find me. The front door opened and closed, I heard him out in the kitchen; he was probably taking off his cut and gun.

"Ky?" Juice said quietly in the hallway.

"I'm in here." I responded. He opened the door and stood in the doorway. He looked tired, he had, had a long day as well. "Care to join me?" I asked him.

He nodded as he took off his shirt. "How did the hospital go?" I basked in his shirtless wonder.

"I have three broken ribs. Tara wrote you a note…" I nod over towards my pants that were lying in the middle of the floor. He pulled the note out of my pants. He laughed.

"Okay, so no sex for a month huh?" He said as he started to take off his pants.

"Are you okay with that?" I looked up at him as he dropped his underwear on the floor behind him and motioned for me to move forward so he could get in behind me.

"For you, I am." He said as he gently pulled me close to him. I was happy my house had a tub large enough for the both of us. I laid back on him, I just felt so right with him; my whole being just relaxed. Juice played with my wet hair and then embraced me.

"How was your meeting?" I asked.

"We have to take a run to Tacoma in a week. They have some business up there that we need to help them straighten out." Leaving already? I thought, at least we had a week to spend together. "The guys were really impressed with how you handled Ima today. Most of them caught you trying to walk away and her grab you. She deserved you hitting her." Ugh, why was he ruining our wonderful bath by bringing her up?

I swallowed hard, "Was what she said true?"

"About having sex with her?" I stared at the water dripping into the tub from the facet as I waited for his answer. "Yes."

I felt the tears drip down my face and on to my chest. I started to sob, I didn't know if I was actually upset that Ima was telling the truth or if I was upset because I had a horrible afternoon and I was exhausted. I started to get out of the bath tub and just to collect myself. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around my body. "I just need a second." I sobbed as I walked out of the bathroom. I heard Juice get out of the bathtub right after me. I walked into the master bedroom which was outfitted with a new king bed which I threw myself down on and just cried. He came into the room just as I sat up and wiped my face. He was dressed from the bottom down. He kneeled by the bed and took my hands into his but not before wiping a stray tear from my face.

"Kylee, I am sorry. I should have told you and I would have, but I didn't think it would have come up that quickly. I didn't think she would have thrown it at you like that." He had regret in his eyes. He really had no clue what sort of person Ima was, not like I did.

"Really? Juice she is horrible person and I hate her. I want to rip to pieces. What sort of person would throw that at another?" I questioned. What made Ima become such an awful person? She was like one of those girls I disliked so much in school? The bitches who thought they ran the whole school when the truth was they were disliked by everyone even the guys they fucked around with. "I am not happy that you guys fucked especially after we had sex earlier that day. Not after you told me you loved me. But right now I can't process anything. I just need to take some pain meds and go to bed." I sighed deeply.

"Do you want me to leave?" Juice searched my face for an answer. I hadn't even considered the fact that he would be leaving. Because the truth was I wanted him to stay.

"No." I replied. "But would you please leave the room while I change." He nodded and walked out of the room. I changed into my yoga pants and my favorite oversize t-shirt and walked out into the living room where Juice was sitting on the couch texting someone. He looked up at me as I passed him on my way to the kitchen where I had left my prescription. There were flowers on the table that were not there when I got home. I smiled as I took my meds and walked out into the living room after turning out the lights in the kitchen. "You bought me tulips." I gave Juice a small smile.

"I thought you needed something good to happen today." He replied as he stood up and walked over to me.

"Thank you." I said to him as he hugged me to him.

He tilted my chin up to so I was looking at him and he kissed me softly on the lips. "You're welcome."

I was looking forward to climbing into my new bed, in my own house, in my new city with my boyfriend, who had fucked up but I loved him. For some reason I felt like everything was going to work out and life would be fine in the morning after a good night sleep. Juice kissed me goodnight and that is all I remember, once my head hit the pillow I was sound asleep. I didn't wake up even when Juice got out of bed in the morning. I got up around noon. There was a bag with a bagel in it on the table and coffee which was now cold in the coffee pot. There was a note from Juice on the counter,

Call me when you get up. I didn't want to wake you, however I am sure that I wouldn't have by the way you were snoring. You obviously needed to sleep. I have left one of my prepaid cell phones for you. Xoxo J.

I picked up the phone, it was an old flip phone, seriously this club needs to get into the 21st century I thought. Juice had programed his number into the phone for me which was very sweet. It rang a few times and Juice answered.

"Hey." He said

"Hi. I am finally awake." I replied

"Good, have you eaten yet?"

"No, I was just about to dig into this bagel you left me."

"Don't, we'll go get some food at the café. I'll be over in 15."

"Alright, I will get changed and see if I can do something about my hair." I shouldn't have went to bed with it wet. I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror, where was that carefree girl that was here the last time? There was so much that had happened since I was here last, I needed to find her. My hair was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, I just pulled it back into a messy bun, brushed my teeth and put on some mascara. I was dressed and ready to go by the time Juice walked through the front door.

"Hi" He kissed me. "You look nice."

I looked down at myself, I was wearing a pair of jeans and a tight black shirt. "Thanks. So I really need to go buy a phone today." I told him.

"Okay, we can do that." I handed him the prepaid phone. "Keep it."

"This is a fossil, you know that right?" I joked as I put it on the table that sat by my front door. "I thought you were the technology guy in the club."

"I am." He said in his own defense.

"Then why do all of you guys have flip phones still? There are these wonderful phones out that that you do not need to flip to answer. They are fabulous." I pushed.

"Ha. Ha. Let's go before you make more fun of my club."

"Not making fun of the club, I am making fun of the lack of technology. You guys can keep your flip phones since they seem to have some nostalgic meaning to you all. I will be purchasing one of those new-fangled phones that have cameras. Wow is it a camera or is it a phone? Ooh its two in one." I laughed as he pushed me out the door.

Lunch at the local café was delicious. I went to go take some money out of my bank account but looked at my balance first and it was much larger than it should have been. There had to be a mistake. I had all of the money that Kip left me in another account. I stood there looking at the slip of paper with my account information.

"Can I use your phone?" I asked Juice.

"This old thing?" He held it out so I couldn't grab it. He then saw the confused look on my face. I handed him my bank statement. "Holy shit."

"There has to be a mistake." I said I as grabbed his phone and dialed my banks number, I was happy that my bank was based in the US. "Hello, my name is Kylee Epps and I am calling because I think there is a mistake with my bank account. There is more money in it than should be. " I rattled off my account information to the person on the other line.

"Alright Miss Epps, if you wouldn't mind giving me a second so I can look into this." I could hear typing, "Oh I see what happened. It looks like the large amount of money was transferred to your account this morning from another account in Northern Ireland. We do ask that you do not withdraw any large sums until we have transferred all of the funds."

"Okay well thank you." I said as I hung up. I leaned back against the wall that I was standing by. Juice just stared at me. I dialed Seamus' number.

"Hello?"

"What the fuck?" I asked

"I knew you would be calling. I see you got my gift."

"Your gift?" It was more than just some fucking gift. I had never seen numbers like that in my whole life.

"Yes, it was what Liam had in his account. He left everything he had to me. However, that money by all means is yours. I don't need it, I have plenty of my own." He said nonchalantly as if he did that every day. I knew Seamus was a good guy but the amount of money that he gave me was far beyond just being a nice.

I knew that arguing with him was useless and a waste of time. "Alright. Thank you by the way, and not for the money."

"You're welcome. Now go live your life to the fullest! I love you, Ky. Let me know if you ever feel like coming for a visit." Seamus said quietly.

"I love you too, Shay. And if I ever want to visit there again it will be a long time. You can always come stateside you know." I would miss him deeply; he was one of the only people I could trust in Northern Ireland. He had become my family as much as Trinity and Kerry had.

"Aye, I know. I will speak to you soon love." Seamus replied.

"Bye." I handed Juice his phone and stood there trying to take it in. I was the recipient of all of Liam's money. He had far more money than I thought and with the exchange rate I had even more. I had more than enough money to buy all of the members of SAMCRO new cellphones.

"What did he say?" Juice questioned me.

I laughed, "It was all Liam's money and Seamus said it was now mine." I was overwhelmed with the money but I knew what I was going to do with some of it. First thing I was going to do after buying a phone was payback Tara and anyone else who helped set up my house for me.

"Shit." Was all Juice had as a response.

"I know, right?!" I replied. I would be eternally grateful to Seamus for all his kindness he showed me throughout the years of my relationship with his brother. When I thought about it, he loved me more than he loved his own brother. He killed his brother for what he did to me and our unborn child. I would forever be in his debt but he wouldn't ever call me on it either. That is what I loved about Seamus his giving spirit and his commitment to those he loved.