Sophie sighed as she threw the last of the cleaning supplies in the bucket under the sink in the break room; she was so grateful that Penny had stayed behind to help her tidy the salon through. It was a routine of hers, everyday she'd make sure the salon was sparkling before she left work. She checked the watch on her tunic and was startled to see it was 8 at night, having to arrange some clients after the normal closing time so there weren't any complaints. She quickly stepped in her office at the back of the salon and made a not to pay Penny double overtime for all the extra work she put into the salon.
She locked up the salon, making sure the high-end security alarms were all set and active before watching as Penny made it to her car safely, before turning to head to Teller-Morrow garage. She wondered what the son's would want to meet with her for.
Normally, she'd walk the short cut home, staying along the main road which cut the journey to 15minutes, however the walk she did in the morning was a longer hour walk that took an hour, going through the town. She sighed, knowing it was going to take her longer to get home if she went to the garage.
She reached the garage and couldn't muster the smallest amount of surprise at the party that she was interrupting. Half naked women strutted around trying desperately to catch the attention of anyone wearing a cut. She looked around helplessly trying to figure out where she was meant to go. A shrill whistle drew her attention to the picnic tables where she saw all the sons gathered round. Jax beckoned her and she made her way over, trying not to brush up on anyone.
She recognised most of the Son's from Fran and Anna's descriptions; she smiled gently at the group of Sons, waiting for one of them to speak.
"So you're Sophie Maize?" The one with the president patch asked, Sophie recognised him as Clay, the King of Charming, Sophie just nodded yes to his question.
"You own tranquillity?" He continued, once again getting a nod of agreement. Clay sighed, studding the girl for a minute. She was exactly as Jo described her, shy and quiet.
"I knew your Pop's ya know, Joseph Richards" Sophie looked up and met his eyes; she knew he was telling the truth. He'd told her that if she was ever in trouble to go to Clay Morrow. No questions asked.
"I know, he told me if I was ever in trouble to go straight to you before he passed." Clay couldn't help but smile, her voice was soft and sweet, everything about the girl was soft and she acted like it would be impossible to raise her voice.
"He was a good man" Sophie just nodded; she still took it hard, even now, thinking about her grandparents. They were the only people who truly cared for her and she'd lost them so close together.
"Anyway, if you haven't noticed someone's trying to buy up the street where your shop is, have you had anyone ask you to sell?" He questioned, looking at her intently as he got straight to his point.
"No, but one of the estate agents contacted me and told me there was some interest in the shop, wouldn't tell me who though, tried get me agree saying it was a really good price" Sophie shrugged, she didn't understand the big deal, her shop was always getting interest. Her Pop's had the place completely re-done, bullet proof glass, high end security alarms and camera's, the whole place fire-proofed and the alarms and cameras on the front entrance and back entrance were monitored 24/7 by one of the security companies her Grandparents had owned and left to her. It was safe to say that a lot of her business was based on the feeling of security the building offered.
"You notice anything strange? Anybody who doesn't normally go there or any cars parked outside..?" Clay asked, Sophie tried to think of anything out of the normal but nothing was coming to mind, but suddenly, she remembered an incident just before the estate agent called.
"There was one thing, I was locking up a few days before the estate agent called, Jacob Hale was outside, said he was walking past. Just asked me about my business, told me it must be tight on money having to run my own business and said he could make it easier for me. Then he started asking about the shop and security features, didn't tell him anything though." Sophie replied, watching as the Son's shared a look.
"Hale's trying buy up the street, wants to upgrade Charming, but you see we don't want that happen." Clay explained "Your salon just happens to be smack-bang in the middle of his plans, which means if he can't get rid of your salon, he can't build. He's trying buy out Lumpy's gym too, but Lumpy's keeping up to date with payments and refuses to move. However it seems buying out Lumpy out is more of a dig at us since Lumpy's an old friend of ours. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that when he realised you're not selling, he may try to make it so you don't have any choice but to" He continues.
"Meaning he'll trash the place." Jax added on.
"I'm not selling" She frowned. "And if it came down to trashing it he'd have a hard time considering my Pops made sure that I'd be safe in there, the walls are steel coated. You can't knock it down; according to the guy who built it even a bomb would have a hard time trying to destroy the building. It has to be taken apart piece by piece. I'm pretty sure someone would notice. Plus everything is on insurance, so if anything gets destroyed it'll be fixed within a few weeks." Sophie explained, when her Pop's explained it to her she thought it was a bit over the top but now she was thankful he went to extreme lengths to ensure she'd be safe.
She smiled slightly when she saw the impressed looks on some of the Son's faces. Clay nodded, here came the question he really didn't want ask.
"We'll still have some patches checking up on things. But now we know your salon is safe – for now, Lumpy's gym is our main concern. Unfortunately, he doesn't own the place, the government does." Sophie knew exactly where he was going with this. "This leaves the gym vulnerable, Hales a powerful guy, eventually he'll find the right people and be able to buy the place out from under Lumpy. The only way around this is to …."
"Buy the place before Hale can" Sophie sighed, she knew something like this was coming, and so did her Pop's. She was starting to think that man could see the future.
"We don't have the money to buy it. We need to lend some from you" Clay sighed, waiting for her reaction.
"No." Sophie said simply. "Pop's knew something like this would come up, he left you an account with a bit of money in. He told me not to give it to you until you asked for some money" She added before they could register her negative response.
Clay couldn't help but chuckle, "You sure your Pop's wasn't some sort of psychic?" He questioned, "He prepared for everything didn't he?"
Sophie just grinned. Yes, her Pops made sure every possibility was taken care off.
"When can you get the account details for us?" He asked after sending a silent thank you up to his departed friend.
"I have them all at home, so whenever you want them." She explained, noting the fact that they'd been talking for half an hour and the half dressed women seemed to be getting more desperate, she tried her hardest to ignore the glares that they sent her way and focus on the conversation at hand.
"Tonight good?" He asked, when she nodded he turned to two men the crow eaters were desperately trying to gain the attention off "Tig, Happy, go with her and get the paperwork, check out the house too, make sure it's safe." Clay ordered. "Where did you park?" He asked, realising he didn't see a car anywhere.
"I walked" She smiled. Clay nodded, not really surprised, the girl worked for everything she had despite the face she had access to enough money she could never have to lift a finger again, putting a car, insurance and petrol in the mix would just make money tighter.
"You okay about riding on the back of a bike?" He asked, normally he wouldn't care, but he liked the young girl, she was independent and didn't rely on others to take care of her.
"I've never ridden on one before" She told him, attempting to keep the nerves out of her voice but judging by the smirk present on everyone's face she knew she had failed. She'd never even thought about riding on a bike before but she was willing give it a go.
She got handed a spare helmet and Jax helped her climb on the back of Happy's bike, he showed her where to put her feet and told her to hold onto Happy.
"You ready?" Happy asked her, his voice was gravely.
"Yeah" She breathed, as soon as the word was out of her mouth he revved the bike and took off. She squeaked slightly and heard laughter behind her as they rode off, but she didn't care, she tightened her grip on the man in front of her and felt his chest rumble as he laughed. She buried her face in his back and tried not to focus on the fact they were speeding through the streets of Charming.
She relaxed slightly on the road, realising that the man she was clinging too obviously had great control over his bike, but she was still relieved when they reached her house. She climbed off the bike, grabbing Tig's offered hand to steady herself before trying to undo the clip on the helmet. After a minute of fighting with it she got it undone and handed it to Happy with a proud smile. She ignored the amused look on Tig's face and walked up the steps on her porch while reaching in her bag for her keys.
She knew that the two men she was with were dangerous, she'd heard all about them from Fran and Anna however she knew they tended to exaggerate a lot, Fran and Anna had also explained to her that they were the top two sort after members in the club, every croweater wanted to be the one to 'tame' them and get them to settle down with them as an old lady, however at the present moment in time she imagined that Clay must have told them to play nice with her judging by the uncharacteristically nice gestures like Tig offering his hand to help her down from the bike.
She unlocked the front door and slipped inside, kicking her shoes off by the door before turning to her companions.
"If you come in will you take your shoes off?" She asked softly, walking to drop her keys in the bowl on the side table by the door.
She flicked the kettle on before running upstairs to find the documents she was looking for, she pulled them out of the safe she kept all her important documents in and re-read them to make sure it was everything they would need. She changed quickly before grabbing the documents again.
She took the documents downstairs and spotted the men sitting on the sofa, looking slightly uncomfortable. She giggled softly and stepped over to them, handing the documents to Tig when he reached out for them. She headed over to the kitchen area to make herself a cup of hot chocolate.
"Do you want a drink or anything?" she asked the two men, turning to look at them.
"Nah, just need check the place out" Tig told her, standing up. The two men separated, checking every window and the doors to make sure everything was locked, she saw Happy jog upstairs and heard him trying the windows.
She finished making her drink and put it next to her favourite chair. She knelt down in front of the fire; the house had a chill in the air so she decided to light one so it would be comfortably warm when she finally went to bed. She removed the grate and started stacking the wood like Pop's taught her.
"That an open fire?" Tig asked, peering over her shoulder.
"Yeah" she smiled.
"Nice, don't see many of them around now-a-days." He commented, offering her his lighter when her's wouldn't light. She got the fire roaring, already feeling the heat of it. She put the grate around it and curled up on her chair. This was what she'd normally do at night times, just curl up in front until she decided to go bed, it was lonely but she was used to it.
She felt the hairs on the back of her neck and looked up to see Happy staring at her; she just gave him a soft smile before turning back to the fire.
"Where's your phone?" Tig asked, she pointed to the island separating the kitchen from the living room. Happy grabbed it and started punching numbers in from a piece of paper. "He's putting the Son's numbers in, you have any trouble ring us and we'll come check it out." He explained, putting her number in his and Happy's pre-paid phones.
Sophie just nodded, it was weird having a stranger take care of you, the last person to take care of her was her Pop's but that was over two years ago now, she'd almost forgotten what it felt like.
Tig handed her phone back to her, "So this is how you normally spend your evenings?" he asked sceptically, looking around the small house with a raised eyebrow, taking note of the book on the table next to her drink.
"Pretty much" Sophie replied, unknowingly letting her voice take a sad tone, she did get lonely but unfortunately, she had no friends in Charming, she wouldn't count her work colleges as she was the boss and couldn't let them think she'd go easy on them if they were friends.
Tig and Happy shared a look, as daft as it sounds it made them grateful to have all their brothers, the road could get lonely if you had nobody to share it with. At least with the club, even if you weren't the most social person you knew there would always be someone there you could just talk to if you wanted to. She didn't have that.
"We gotta get these papers to the club" Tig told her, "Remember, if anything happens, keep calling until someone answers, okay?" Sophie nodded, walking them to the door, smiling softly as she watched them put their boots back on.
"Lock the door behind us" Happy told her, his voice sending shivers down her spine. She fought the blush from her face and agreed.
"Be careful" was the last thing she said before shutting and locking the door, Happy and Tig shared a look before climbing on their bikes and taking off towards the clubhouse.