Chibs sipped his beer, staring into space. Juice punched his arm. "Come on, Chibsy, let's play a game. Your old lady will be back tomorrow. Stop brooding."
The Scot smirked. "'m not brooding. You and me don't exactly play the same games, Juicey-boy."
"Don't be such a grumpy old man," Juice mocked, smiling.
"Oh, that's it, you little fucker," Chibs growled, but his eyes were twinkling. He stood and took a long drink from his beer. "Fine. We'll play games. One game of yours, one game of mine."
Twenty minutes later, Chibs was swearing up a storm as Yoshi plunged to his doom off the side of the track. Tig, who had joined them, jabbed Chibs with his elbow, saying, "I don't think Mario Kart's your game, Chibs."
"Shut the fuck up, Tigger," Chibs grunted through gritted teeth as he tried to keep Yoshi from spinning out again, and the crow eater, Charlene, who was playing Peach stifled a giggle. A little crowd of Sons and crow eaters had gathered around the couch to watch the race and cheer on Yoshi, Peach, Mario, and Luigi.
"Ha! In your face, old man!" Juice crowed triumphantly as Mario crossed the finish line in first place again.
"Old man? I could beat your ass any day in the ring." Chibs repeated, leaning over Charlene to give Juice a menacing look, as he slapped the $20 extra hard into the intelligence officer's hand. "Fine. You won your game. Now we play one of mine."
Juice puffed out his chest. "Bring it on."
"Okay, darts then," the Scot said with an evil grin. He knew Juice sucked at darts.
After another dozen or so rounds of video games with darts and billiards interspersed, Juice and Chibs were almost dead even in victories, and the crowd had dwindled to just them, Tig, Charlene, and two more crow eaters, Sue and Bonnie. Chibs and Juice had handed the same $20 back and forth fifteen times now by Chibs' count. Chibs and Tig were lightly buzzed, and Juice was finally too trashed to continue playing. The youngest crow eater, Sue, crawled onto Juice's lap and kissed him hard. Tig had his hands under Bonnie's shirt and was whispering lewd suggestions into her ear. Chibs felt a hand moving up and inside his thigh and glanced over to find Charlene looking at him expectantly. Her hand reached for his crotch and Chibs shifted away from her. Her big blue eyes widened at the rejection. "Sorry, love, I got me an old lady. I love attention from pretty lasses like you, but this only goes so far."
On cue, Chibs' cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket, checked the number, and answered with a wide smile. "Evening, a chuisle." He motioned for Charlene to give him some space.
"Come over here," Tig said to Charlene from the other sofa. "I can handle two, baby."
With Charlene gone, Chibs stretched out on the couch, one arm behind his head, ankles crossed, and closed his eyes as Aoife told him about her day. He didn't say much, just listened to her words and cadence of her voice and wished she was there with him. "How was your day?" She finally asked.
"Eh, you know how it is, lass. Same shit, different day. Miss you."
"I miss you, too, Filip. Look, I've had a lot of time to think, and I wanted to tell you that we're good."
"We're good?" Chibs repeated hopefully.
"You know I'm not great at this talking about my feelings. What I mean is, I forgive you. I'm all in. Tá grá agam duit, Filip."
"Tá grá agam duit, Aoife." He closed the phone and slid it back in his pocket. When he fell asleep a few minutes later, the corners of his lips were turned up in a smile.
Chibs woke up still laid out on the couch. He felt a warm body on top of him and reached down to caress Aoife's soft silky curls. Instead, he felt straight, dry hair. His eyelids opened and he looked down at Charlene, naked laid out on top of him. He did a mental inventory - all his clothes were on, his fly still zipped, and he hadn't been drunk enough to do something stupid. Charlene must have crawled on top of him after she, Tig, and Bonnie were done. He shook Charlene's shoulder gently. "Hey, love, you need to get up. You shouldn't be here." As soon as Charlene's weight rolled off of Chibs, he stumbled to his feet and headed for the shower, not wanting to stick around and give Charlene opportunities to wrangle her way close to him again.
Chibs arrived at Abel's homecoming and greeted everyone. "Where is she?" he whispered in Gemma's ear.
"Kitchen. She and Luann came over together and they finished up the decorating and got the food prepared." Gemma kissed him on the cheek. "Go see her, baby."
Aoife spread the frosting on the cake in wide, sweeping strokes. Chibs waited until she put down the spatula. While she filled the piping bag with baby blue frosting, he put his right hand under her shirt and on the silky skin of her belly. Sweeping her hair to one side, he kissed her neck. She relaxed into him, leaning her head back on his shoulder and smiling. "Filip," she breathed.
"My gorgeous lass," he whispered. "Love you."
"Love you, too." She set the piping bag and spatula on the counter and turned in his arms. She kissed him passionately. "I have a surprise for you later." She winked at him. "Now get out of the kitchen. I need to finish decorating this cake." She tried to turn back to her work, but his calloused hands gripped her hips and held her fast while he pressed his lips to hers a second time, kissing her hungrily.
When they parted, breathless, he copied her wink. "Now, I'll leave you to your decorating. That kiss should hold me over for five or ten minutes, so by the time I need another one, you'll be done."
After the Winstons and Tig left, the party started to break up. Chibs again caught Aoife by surprise as she was loading the dishwasher. Holding her fast to him, he whispered in her ear. "Do I get to see my surprise now?"
"Not yet," she answered with a chuckle. "I told Gemma I'd start the dishwasher, and then Luann is giving me a ride back to her place."
He tugged her tight against his pelvis and ground his hips into her backside. "I could give you a ride," he offered with a wolfish grin.
"Mmmm." She leaned into him. "But later, Filip. My car's at Luann's. I need to get that back at the shop, and besides, that ATF chick is still hanging around. We're still keeping things quiet, remember?"
"Aye. That's my practical lass," he sighed, knowing Aoife was right.
"Come over later tonight, a chumann. I'll let you know when I'm home, and we can spend some time alone."
Jax and Chibs stared in horror while Opie cried over Donna's body. When he could finally speak, Jax ordered, "Chibs, start making calls. We need to know everyone else is safe and let them know to be on their guard."
"Aye," Chibs nodded, already dialing. His first call was to Aoife.
"Couldn't wait to talk to me again, eh?" she answered flirtatiously.
"Aoife, something bad's happened. Where are you?"
"I'm at Luann's."
"Stay there until you hear from me. Make sure everything is locked and keep your gun nearby."
"What's wrong, Filip?" Aoife asked.
His throat tightened around the words. "Someone shot Donna Winston. She's dead."
Aoife gasped. "Oh, God."
"I have to make some more calls. You tell Luann, and the two of you stay safe until we come for you."
By the time Chibs had made a call to Gemma, he had a text from Aoife. "Locked up tight. Told L. She is freaking out. Can't leave yet."
Chibs finished sipping his whiskey and texted Aoife. "How's L?"
"Still a mess. I can't leave her like this," the text reply read. He sighed, and Juice looked at him over his beer bottle.
"Chibsy?" Juice asked. It was the first thing he'd said since they'd come back to the clubhouse almost forty-five minutes ago.
"Luann is freaking out. Aoife's afraid to leave her."
"You want me to ride out there with you?" Juice offered.
Chibs shook his head. "No need. But I'm going to head out there and check on the two of them. I'll stay there if i have to." He texted Aoife, "On my way out there."
Aoife met him at Luann's door, her hair in disarray and her eyes red from crying. Locking the door behind him, Chibs engulfed Aoife in his arms and pressed kisses into her hair. When he released her, she put a finger to her lips. "I got her to drink some lemon balm tea and lie down. She finally fell asleep in the last few minutes."
He nodded his understanding and kept his voice low. "I took a walk around the house. Everything looks secure." He lead her to the couch, sitting down and pulling her onto his lap. Chibs buried his face in her chest, and Aoife kissed the top of his head. "When I saw Donna, all I could think of was that that could have been you."
Aoife held him tightly. "But it wasn't. I'm right here, Filip." She put a hand under his chin and brought his sad brown eyes to meet hers. "I'm here. I'm ok." Aoife kissed him. "I love you. I'm so sorry about what happened to Donna. But we'll get through this together."
He smiled at her through his tears. "Aye. I like the sound of that. Together." He held her tight to his body, her head buried in the crook of his neck.
a chumann - my darling, sweetheart