Your reviews make me smile! Keep me smiling! (Also, have you SEEN the episode tonight? OMG, major depression kicking into high gear around here.) That being said, enjoy this LONG ASS CHAPTER. Leave reviews, as always, and if you have any questions, feel free to inbox me.
:)
The mornings in Novato were cool and crisp lately allowing Frost to comfortably walk around his house in a flannel robe. The open windows allowed the scents of oranges and roses to permeate through the home. Depsite the ruthless exterior, one of Frost's beloved past times was gardening. Not manly, he realized, but it served his purpose as a distraction to his otherwise unorthodox lifestyle. Plus, gardening gave him time to think. As he listened to the bullshit excuse Omen gave concerning the events of the previous night, he noticed one of his rose bushes browning-clearly in dire need of water. Normally, people would assess and treat, but this site through Frost off completely. Almost like it was a mocking reflection of the night prior-a glitch in his perfectly manicured world. He had a plan, his people knew the plan, and when these plans fell through, Frost saw it as an insult-and things like this needed to be removed.
"How could he fuck that up?" Jersey Frost shouted at Omen over the phone as he paced his California ranch style home. He stopped in his kitchen to refill his glass, framed by the light drifting in from the sky light above. "We had this planned, we had the fake cut, the bitch is supposed to be dead, and now you're telling me Trager showed up and killed the fucker with his own knife?"
"Listen, Frost, I know he-he fucked up but I didn't know Trager was gonna show up."
"You don't say," Frost took a swig of his whiskey placing the shooter on the spotless counter top.
"I'm gonna fix it, Frost, you have my word." Omen was stumbling on his words. Omen had been afraid of no one, save for Frost and when Frost was mad at you, you ended up dead. Though Omen felt a part of him untouchable seeing as he had done so much for the club, he still knew that Frost could easily change his mind and have him killed. He knew he had to think fast, and told Frost he'd fix it to buy time, but even he was unsure as to how he would do that.
Frost, however, wasn't stupid. Like his garden, he had meticulously worked to grow his MC into the higher ranks of a club to be feared and respected. Last thing he needed was to have some two bit piece of shit like Omen fuck it up. Drawing attention to his MC now would halt any chance they had pushing meth into Charming. Frost knew if he wanted to make money, he'd do it in Meth and if he wanted to push meth, he had to demolish all competition and rule the area. To do that, he needed to disassemble ranks in all the major clubs. Club number one-Sons of Anarchy-and Frost was going to stop at nothing to crush that MC into yester-year.
That was where Omen came in.
"Listen you stupid fucking kike, you better fix this or so help me God, I will fuck you up so bad your great grandchildren will feel my wrath-we're talking holocaustal-you got that?" The Omen could hear the growl in Frost's threat and knew he meant every word of it. Nodding as if Frost could see him, the Omen tried his best to soothe his president. Even though Frost didn't act much in club business, that didn't mean he wasn't capable of swift justice by his own hand. He'd heard the stories, and knew the kinds of fucked up shit Frost had done to others who'd double crossed him or, as he put it, "didn't play the game."
"Trust me, Frost. The girl is as good as dead, and then the MC will be so vulnerable, we can take 'em down easily. You have to trust me."
"Don't make this difficult, Omen. I'm counting on you to clean this up. Take it off the burner, man." And Frost hung up the phone. Picking up the shooter from the counter top, Frost turned his gaze back to the afflicted rose bush outside. He could felt blind rage overpower him and he immediately smashed it against the wall, leaving a brown stain on the pristine plaster. Throwing open the screen, Frost marched to the shed and grabbed the axe hanging off the adjacent wall. He couldn't remember what exactly happened next, but when he finally came to, he had been panting heavily. Dropping the axe to the ground, he stared at the remains of the demolished rose bush in front of him.
The Omen stared at the phone when the dial tone interrupted his speech.
As the doors to the clubhouse flew open, Clay marched to the chapel, the remainder of the guys in tow. Bobby, who was now carrying Mina, waited for the prospects to create a make-shift table from all their smaller ones. Tara, who'd pulled up with Abel, handed the child off to Gemma and ran into the clubhouse to look over the damages Mina had suffered.
"Damien, Church, now!" Clay told Omen, and the biker closed his phone. "Right," the biker whispered to himself before joining the rest of his crew in the chapel.
….
As the guys argued, Clay slammed the gavel on the table bringing all chatter to a halt.
"Alright, we gotta plan a move now-these Outlander fucks are going after civilians. Tig, what the fuck happened?"
"Clay, when I showed up, I saw the kid stab her-well, I thought he stabbed her. She must've moved her head because he was saying some awful things to her and, I just grabbed his knife and stabbed him. I don't know what happened before that, but we was wearing a Sons cut."
"Mina let him in based on that?"
"Nah, Mina left the door open," Tig said.
"What?" Jax looked confused.
"What were you doing there, Tig?" Bobby finally asked. Tig, taking offense, looked to Bobby.
"I was going to get a tattoo! Ask Juice, I had him print out the picture." The group looked to Juice, who nodded. "I called her up and asked her for a tattoo. She said yeah and told me she'd leave the door open for me. When I showed up, I hear her scream and I thought I was too late. The mother fucker was laying on top of her talking about ripping her tits off with his teeth, Clay, I just-" Tig saw Bobby hide his face and clench his fists in anger. "I had to kill him, Clay, otherwise he was gonna kill her."
"Where'd he get the cut from?" Clay asked.
"We're thinking we're under surveillance." Jax chimed in. Clay sighed and smoothed his forehead with his damaged hands. "How long," Clay asked thinking maybe someone had the answer.
"Dunno, but there's more. Bobby talked to Otto," Jax turned to Bobby who looked up from his lap. Clay and the group looked at him intently as Bobby inhaled sharply.
"The Outlanders don't want the guns, they wanna push drugs. Meth, to be specific," there was a collective of groans and sighs from the group as Bobby continued. "They took the guns as a diversion. They're trying to do it under our noses."
"They got a cooker?" Chibs asked. Damien moved uncomfortably in his seat, remembering the words Jersey Frost had said to him over the phone. He had to think fast if he wanted to keep the Sons off the trail. He continued to listen.
"They have to, but we don't know if the cooker is within their club, or an outsider. All I know, is that's their intent." Clay smacked the table with his hand, shooting pain up into his shoulder. His face winced with pain.
"How the fuck could they bring that SHIT into Charming?" Clay asked and, almost as if a light bulb had been turned on, Damien thought of it.
"What about the girl?" Damien spoke out of turn; not a good idea all things considered, but he'd rather get verbally beat down by these guys then burned alive by Frost. The idea had not gone over well with the Sons, particularly Tig and Bobby. The two looked as if they wanted to cut Damien's tongue out. Through clenched teeth, Bobby asked, "What?"
"I'm sorry, but think about it-we had no trouble until what-a week or so ago? And that's when this girl shows up-"
"That's also when you got patched in, doll face, what's your point?" Tig was furious and looked to Bobby. He, too, looked like he was going to jump over the table at Damien.
"My point is that, maybe this girl is smuggling stuff and this, 'hit,' was a drug deal gone wrong." With that, Bobby jumped out of his seat at Damien, who stood and backed away as far as he could. Tig was over quick as lightning holding Bobby as Bobby shouted, "You take that back you son of a bitch. You fucking take that shit back. Mina would NEVER do that kind of shit, ever!"
"Be cool," Jax announced as Damien tried to make his case, "Look, I don't want it to be the girl either, but clearly something is amiss." Bobby flailed about. Tig, and now Chibs, were trying their best to keep the tubby biker at bay. Sighing in defeat, Bobby looked at Tig. Tig's heart broke as he looked down at Bobby, who was now pleading and broken. "Tig, you know Mina, you know she's not like this. You can't let that son of a bitch talk to her like that."
"Everybody just, calm the fuck down. Bobby," Clay said this giving Damien a death stare, "No one suspects Mina of smuggling meth for the Outlanders. Everybody be cool. We gotta keep our eyes out, and we gotta figure out a way to shut this pussy MC club down and out of fucking existence. Until then, NO ONE, I repeat, NO ONE retaliate until we have a solid fucking plan that's voted unanimously. Under no circumstance is anyone to seek out an Outlander-you see 'em, you call, got it? Adjourned." Tig and Chibs talked to Bobby quietly and let him go as soon as Damien left the room. As the rest of the group followed suit, Tig was last to leave when he was stopped by Clay.
"Tig, I want you to find out if the girl's got meth." Tig looked at Clay like this was a joke, but judging by the look on Clay's face, Tig recanted his smile. Before Tig could get a word in edgewise, Clay continued, "Look, I know, she's a good kid and Bobby's real fond of her, but we can't take any chances. This ain't nothin against her, we just gotta make sure all our little ducks are in a row, got it?" Tig nodded as Clay patted him on the shoulder.
Tig immediately made his way to the table where Mina was passed out. Tara, who had been sewing her leg, said there was some muscle damage, but it wasn't too serious. The spots on the chin and chest turned out to be minor scratches, as Mina had said. She'd need to keep it elevated and stay off of it for a while, but suggested she come in for x-rays. Jax decided to have all wives, kids, and such brought to the clubhouse to be put on lockdown and Chibs remembered Mina's friend.
….
Molly was about to turn down the street of the tattoo parlor when her phone rang. The tune was "Baby Got Back," which she had picked specifically for Mina as a joke. Given the time of night, Molly, who had been out and about shopping and what not with Penelope, decided to pull over and answer the phone. Perhaps, she thought, there was some kind of emergency or maybe she needed Milk.
"Hello darlin!" Molly said cheerfully into the phone.
"I'm sure you say tha to all the boys," Chibs said back to her. Molly, pleasantly surprised, wondered what was going on.
"Chibs, did you steal Mina's phone to make a pass at me? You could've just asked me for my number instead of luring me under false pretenses."
"Molly, you and Penelope need to come to the garage. It's about Mina." When Chibs finished, Molly immediately went into panic mode.
"What's happened?"
"Mina's alive, but she's hurt. She was stabbed-"
"WHAT?" Molly shouted, causing Penelope to wake up crying, "What happened, Chibs? Who stabbed her?"
"Molly, calm down, she's alright, just please come to the garage." With that Molly hung up the phone and sped to the shop.
….
When Molly arrived, Penelope had fallen back asleep. Practically jumping out of the car, Chibs ran over and caught her in his arms.
"Let me go, Chibs, where is she?" Molly tried to push past Chibs.
"Listen, Lass, she's resting, but she's fine. She's got some stitches that's all." Molly stared up at the Scotsman as he rubbed her arms, shoulder to elbow. Trying to calm her, Chibs stared down into her eyes and whispered, "I'll tell you what I know, but it isn't much."
….
Tara finished up the stitches and stripped the gloves off. Going to her medical bag to see if there was pain relief, she walked past Tig, who stood his distance. As Tig stared at her from the doorway, he chastised himself for not coming by sooner. And why did the Outlanders come after her? Had she done something to them, or did she owe them something? All that aside, he remembered her trembling in his arms. The look of fear and shock in her eyes as she silently wept into his cut-there was no way she was involved with the Outlanders. This was to send a message.
"What's the damage, Doc," Clay approached.
"The leg's my concern. The rest were minor. I cleaned them, and bandaged them, but the leg's really bad." Tara sighed as Jax put his arms around her torso. She leaned into him welcoming his warmth, which lightened her mood a bit. "I think it's best she remain sedated until the wound heals. Otherwise, she'll be in pain constantly. It's just easier." Jax nodded in agreement as Clay furrowed his brow.
"Well, she ain't going back there," Clay had began to say, but Tig had spoken up. "She can stay in my dorm." Gemma, who approached the group with her grandson, handed the child to Tara before locking arms with her husband. "You sure, baby?" Nodding silently, Gemma looked to Clay who gave her a look that said, "well, there you go." "Okay, well, I'll look into extra blankets and sheets. God knows the last time your bed was changed."
….
Molly sat on the swing set and waited like Chibs instructed. Her thoughts raced and, although she trusted the biker's completely with her friend, it took every ounce of strength not to go off or break anyone in her path to see her friend. She was lost in her thoughts and the sounds of a sleepy Penelope, who was cradled in a blanket in her arms, when Chibs approached the swing set. Looking over the sleepy babe, he smiled to himself and sat on the swing next to Molly. The two soaked in the sounds of the night when Molly spoke.
"I remember when she used to be smaller than this. I could hold all of her; I could cradle her entire little body with one arm and now she's an ostrich." The two laughed as Penelope's long legs dangled from out of the blanket. Chibs used his feet to rock himself back and forth before reaching over and pulling the blanket over Penelope's legs.
"How old is she?" Chibs asked.
"3. She'll be four in a few months, if you can believe it."
"Ah, mine's 'bout," Chibs really had to think about it, causing Molly to laugh, "Tha's great. I can't remember. She's a teenager, I know that-16-17 maybe?"
"Wow."
"I know, I look like a grand-da."
"No you don't. I was laughing that you couldn't remember. And so what? I've always found older men mature, stable, and far more attractive."
"Don't toy with my emotions, woman." Chibs joked causing Molly to smile as she continued to rock Penelope.
"How is she, Chibs?"
"Mina? She's fine. Luckily Tig was there-
"Tig? The Tig?"
"You know of more than one Tig?"
"Oh, I'm sure she just loves that."
"How do you mean?" Chibs stopped rocking and leaned towards Molly. Molly, knowing that, in this realm, she needed to choose her words wisely, lest she call out her friend. She had known Mina for years, and knew the kinds of guys Mina liked.
...
Flashback to the diner few days prior-
"So, which one?" Mina looked up from her coffee at Molly who stared back with a mischievous grin. "Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I mean. Which one?" Mina rolled her eyes at Molly. "Okay, okay, don't tell me-let me guess…he's a biker?"
"Oh my God, you know me soooo well," Mina answered sarcastically as she took another bite of her hash browns. "Next you're gonna tell me that that biker…rides a motorcycle." Mina started to laugh.
"Fine, which one is the UGLIEST biker…cause that'll be the one." Mina stared wide-eyed at her friend who, herself, had a smug look of pride. "Bitch," Mina said. Molly raised her eyebrows before continuing. Mina stopped and looked at her friend. The look was indescribable to most, but Molly knew that look. There was one, but she didn't want to say. "Ah! Which one!"
"Nah, he's a jerk." Mina stared down at her eggs but Molly wouldn't have it.
"And? He's a guy, all men are jerks. What's he look like?"
"A biker."
"Mina, be serious. Knowing you, he probably has dark hair and dark eyes and giant caterpillar eyebrows!"
"You like Cat-er-piddars Auntie Mina?" Penelope chimed in and Mina rolled her eyes. Molly continued. "Ok, you're gonna have to help me here because the only one I've kinda met is Uncle Bobby and, I'm sure he has a really nice personality but I just, I don't see you with him. I'm the one with Daddy issues, remember?"
"This is true."
"Have you a picture? Is it that new guy?"
"Nah, there's something about that one. I don't know, he rubs me the wrong way."
"Like, so wrong it's right or-"
"No," Mina chastised her friend, "like, there's something not right with him."
"SO WHO IS IT?!"
Mina sighed not looking up, "His name is Tig."
"Tig? That short for something."
"Chibs called him 'Tigger?'"
"Wow. Like Winnie the Pooh?"
"Yes, but not orange, not bouncy, and not cuddly-that's for sure."
"Damn. Whenever I think of bikers, I think cuddly." Mina laughed at her friends' sarcasm and took another bite of eggs. Molly pushed her eggs around before saying, "So what is it about this guy?"
"I dunno. He's not a gentleman, that's for sure. But he's intense, and he stares…a lot."
"What, like Edward in Twilight? I don't-"
"No, oh my God, for real? No, no, no not like that but…he's twisted. I don't know, I hate him and find him incredibly sexy at the same time. It's weird."
"Ah, how Shakespearean of you."
"Oh, I know, we're a regular Beatrice and Benedick."
"So, this Tig, what's he think of you?"
"I dunno, he calls me Sugar Tits and, if he could, would probably order me around like he does the rest of the bitches in there. Problem is, I ain't a bitch and CERTAINLY am not his bitch."
"Not yet."
"Not ever?"
"Right," Molly said cutting off a piece of sausage and tried to feed it to Penelope. "Look, be careful, that's all I'm gonna say."
"Oh," Mina said as a bit of toast fell from her mouth, "don't worry. Nothing will come from it. They're not really winners in the romance department or anything. Nice guys, some of them are anyway, but Casanova's they are not."
….
Molly heard Chibs ask, "How do you mean," when she saw a group of guys exit the clubhouse. As some of them left a few patted what appeared to be her Uncle Bobby. She'd only met him briefly, but remembered it was him from his massive poof of hair. Standing next to him was a taller guy with black, curly locks. As he grabbed a smoke from his cut, Molly saw his face. They weren't too far from where she and Chibs sat.
"Who's that?" Molly asked nodding her head in the direction of the clubhouse. Chibs turned in his swing to look. "Which one," he asked turning back to face her.
"The taller one."
"Tha's Tig."
Molly saw the way he moved as he walked over to her and Chibs; saw how he carried himself. It wasn't until he stopped in front of them that she caught the hint of blue eyes. Molly knew it had to be Tig the moment she laid eyes on him but looking him over now as he stood in front of her proved her theory. He was the total embodiment of Mina's type of guy. That being said, she could see why Mina liked him and why she should stay as far away from this one as possible. Chibs stood up and hugged Tig, who looked like he was a bit spaced out.
"You're Molly, yeah?" Tig asked and Molly heard a gruff in his voice. Yeah, she could totally see why Mina had picked this one. Holding her daughter, Molly stood up to get eye level with Tig, yet she still found herself looking up at him. Tig brushed a hand through his hair as he caught eye of the child. He then looked at Molly with an exhausted look on his face. "Look, uh, Mina is gonna be alright. She's asleep right now, Doc put her on some knock out drugs before she stitched her. Um, there's word out to bring in families so we gotta ask you two to stay here." Molly nodded and asked if she could see her. Tig nodded and motioned them to follow.
They had placed Mina where Tig usually slept when he hung around the clubhouse. Molly stared at the topless pin up taped to the outside of the door. Tig, placing his large hand over the pinup's upper half, used his other hadn to welcome the girls in. As Mina slept on the bed, the group could see her leg wrapped and elevated. Molly watched Tig leave the room for a moment and come back in with some water and a pain bottle. He placed it next to her on the night stand and returned to their group. Her and Mina had been close, so she knew a bit about her uncle and his club, but not much. She wondered if their clubhouse looked like this, with it's wood paneling and dark brown carpeting. There was a faint smell of febreeze in the air-he must've sprayed it to cover up the overwhelming stench of the place. Slowly but surely, Tig impressed Molly as he tended to her friend. "Um, you and the kid can sleep in here too if you want. That couch over there folds out into, uh, into a bed a-and you two can sleep on there." Tig had walked over to the couch and began to pull off cushions.
Molly inhaled sharply, "Have you any sheets to cover it with?"
"Right here, " Gemma said as she entered the room. She also had some extra blankets, pillows, and some clothes. "Ain't much, doll, but here. Welcome home. I'm Gemma, you must be the tattoo artist's friend, Holly?"
"Molly."
"Right. Who's the kid?"
"This is my daughter, Penelope."
"Well, she's gorgeous."
"Like her ma, " Molly heard Chibs say from behind Gemma. Gemma smiled, as did Molly. Gemma nodded and placed a hand on Molly's shoulder before leaving the room. She kissed Chibs on the cheek and went to Tig.
"You gonna be alright?" Gemma had asked Tig quietly as he stared at Mina's sleeping body. Tig nodded.
Chibs set up the fold out bed for Molly and Penelope-even adding the sheets over the exposed couch. When he finished, Molly placed Penelope on the bed and turned to Chibs. She saw him writing something on a piece of paper before handing it to her. "What's this," she asked him.
"My number. If you need anythin, you can call me."
"Thanks," Molly said in her best Mae West voice, and she watched Chibs nod and turn to leave. Chibs stopped at Tig, placed a hand on his shoulder, gave a gentle squeeze, and left the room. Tig didn't move, he continued to stare at Mina. "You want a chair or something," Molly asked Tig.
"No, I'll leave you alone. I-I'm gonna sit outside the door."
Molly nodded as Tig left and she saw him slump outside the door. As she crawled into bed next to her kid, Molly thought she heard the sound of quiet sobbing. Whatever happened, it was bad and she needed to know, but all things in time. Until then, the one thing she was sure of, besides the fact that the Scotsman definitely wanted to jump her bones, was that these two liked each other more than they let on. Mina was right, Casanova's they were not, but they were the best bodyguards a girl could have.