SOASOASOA

Juice POV

I woke up with a killer headache and a case of cottonmouth that no amount of water I chugged could ease. I sat up on the plush microfiber sofa and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I took in the furs and the whites and blacks before my eyes landed on Lo who was splayed out on the big bean bag in the middle of the room, her hair a matted mess of blonde.

I stood and pulled on my shirt as I walked towards the smell of bacon and found Bri and Happy sitting on the kitchen counter eating and talking.

"Hey guys." I croaked out.

"Water is in the fridge, smoothies too." Bri smiled. "Food is on the table."

"Thanks." I pulled open the fridge and grabbed one of the green colored smoothies and took a greedy gulp. It was ice cold and soothed my throat. "You're not yelling at me."

"I'm taking it easy." She shrugged. "I want to let it slide. Although I was pissed because you fucked up my date night."

"Stop being an idiot." Happy eyed me. "We all know you're above that shit you pulled last night."

I stared him and smirked. "I know."

"Trolls?" Bri raised an eyebrow. "You saw trolls on the officer?"

"I honestly don't know why it was trolls." I laughed and rubbed my head. "I saw dancing cherries too, and I swore I saw your truck turn into an autobot."

"Ironhide." She smiled. "I could see that. Eat though before I finish it all off."

"Take her seriously." Happy said. "She'll pack it away. Eats like a 600lb man."

"Guilty." She took a sip of her own smoothie. "Food is just so damn good, I think I could eat nonstop if I wasn't a plastic surgeon. Gotta keep up appearances."

"Is my bike really in lock up?" I looked at Happy. "I barely even got it fixed and back."

"Shouldn't have gotten arrested." He shrugged. "You can use the Jeep."

"A cage?" I frowned.

"It's not too bad." Bri said. "Rides smooth."

"Alright." I smiled as I started piling food onto a plate.

#

"Juice." Lo said as she flipped over on the bean bag and looked at me. "Morning."

"Its afternoon." I laughed. "Its almost 3."

"Serious?" She wiped her mouth on her shirt. "No wonder why my stomach is talking to me." She stood and buttoned her jeans.

"You going to be okay here?" I finished tying my boots.

"Yeah." She smiled. "You ditching me?"

"Club calls." I stood. "I can pick you up and drop you off at home when I'm done with it all."

"I'm cool, I'll call a taxi." She braided her hair to the side. "I had fun last night, even though we got kind of arrested."

"I had fun too." I hugged her. "Who called Bri?"

"I think the sherrif did because you have the skull ring." She grabbed my finger. "Be safe, I'll text you."

"Alright." I smiled. "You call if you change your mind on the ride."

"I'll be fine." She squeezed my hands. "Go, be an outlaw."

"Go be a drugged up nurse." I laughed as we parted ways at the hall. "Have a good afternoon."

"You too." She laughed as she rounded the corner into the kitchen.

I stood for a moment and smiled to myself before I left the house. I hoped club business wasn't too brutal and I hoped it didn't involve talking about Bri again.

SOASOASOA

Happy POV

"We got a plan to put in action." Jax drawled. I could feel myself growing bored with each word he spoke. "I want us to attack first."

"Aye." Chibs knocked his fist against the table. "I think we should."

"I don't." Juice said. "We have no clue what we could be walking into."

"They don't have any idea we're planning an attack, we could use the element of surprise." Bobby said. "It could work."

"Still, what if we go running in guns blazing like we did at the church thing and get put away." Juice shook his head. "We'd be going away a lot longer than fourteen months."

"He has a point." I gave him a quick nod.

"We need to move first." Jax said. "End of story. Let's take a vote. All in favor of moving in."

Yays went around the table, I just went with the group. Not feeling right about it at all.

"Good, we need guns, I'll make a call to Alvarez." Jax banged the gavel. "Any questions."

"I got one." I spoke and looked at him. "All bullshit aside, why the fuck don't you guys like Brianna?"

Everyone stared at me. "Because she's disrespectful to Gemma and Tara." Bobby said.

"That's not a fucking reason." I barked. "Give it to me man to man." I waved my hands. "I can fucking take it."

"I don't like her because I don't think we can trust her." Bobby said. "She's a Russian, she could be another Irish."

I rolled my eyes. "So you fucking looked at her and was like she's Russian and untrustworthy?"

He shrugged. "Something is just off about her."

"I like her." Tig said. "She's given me no reason not to, but at the end of the day my loyalty is to Gem and Tara, so I gotta keep them in mins."

"I like her too." Chibs stubbed out his cigarette. "She's got balls, that girl."

"So only Bobby has a reason not to trust her?" Juice asked. "That's a fucked up reason, you can't just look at someone and deem them untrustworthy. It's not right."

"I like Brianna." Jax finally spoke up. "The only thing that scares me about her is that I can't read her. She's got all this damn power and it's scary, I don't want to be on her shit list."

"So everyone fucking likes her except Bobby, but everyone likes Gemma and Tara more because of their status within the club." I scoffed. "You realize Bri would actually benefit you guys if you gave her a fair fucking chance to prove herself. She's got a mouth on her, but old ladies are supposed to be strong, they keep us levelheaded." I looked at my brothers. "Tara is the club doctor, Gemma is like our mom, and Bri could be the weird aunt who always has some goddamn story to tell. You guys have pissed me the fuck off."

"Calm down." Bobby said. "You're getting worked up about a woman."

"Shut the fuck up Bobby." I snapped. "I can't take this shit anymore. Bri has done nothing to make you not trust her, you're a goddamn idiot. You realize she saved our asses in jail. If she hadn't got us protection we'd all be in a fucking pine box. Matter of fact all of you who got a skull ring give them to me now!"

"Hap, calm down." Jax stood up. "No need to get angry."

"Nah!" I stood up. "Give me the fucking rings now, yours too pres."

"Pick Tara and Gemma over Bri, then forget about the perks that come with her." Kozik stood with me and so did Juice. "Can't have your cake and eat it too."

"We're fighting over a bitch." Bobby tossed his ring at me. "Get over it, all three of you. I'm thinking long term. She's not good for the club."

"So be it then, take a vote!" I yelled. "We vote on shit right now. If you guys want her banned from the club because Tara decided to turn into a goddamn bitch for no fuckin' reason other than she's afraid of me then let's vote. If Brianna is banned then we don't use her or the mercs, or crew, or bodies. We fight the war on our fucking own."

"Vote it." Bobby said with a smug smirk. "Tara and Gemma or Bri."

"I don't see why we can't have all three of them." Juice spoke. "No offense but Bri is a hundred times more valuable than the other two. Gem can cook and Tara can patch us up, Brianna can do both on top of giving us the shit we need to go completely legit."

"Whatever!" Bobby said.

I looked around and watched my brothers become pussies. Everyone voted for Gemma and Tara except Juice, Kozik, and myself. "There it is." I shook my head. "Remember when we go into war, Bri isn't helping us. All we have are the Bastards."

"Better this way." Bobby smiled.

"Here to fucking think, you were the smart one of the group." I stood pocketing the rings. "You guys just dug our graves."

#

I walked into my home and found Bri sitting in the kitchen eating ice cream while playing on her phone. "Here." I dropped the rings on the counter next to her.

"I don't need these back." She stared at me. "What happened?"

"I fucking snapped." I rubbed my head. "It was gnawing me in the back of my head as to why the guys wanted to ban you. So I asked."

"Uh oh." She pulled me closer by my shirt.

"Everyone likes you, but Bobby says he doesn't trust you. They like Gemma and Tara more." I sighed. "Basically they're playing fucking favorites, we took a vote, you're banned still. We aren't using you, the mercs, the crew, or the skull."

"Babe, you didn't have to do that." She kissed the top if my head.

"I needed to. I felt bad about shit, picking the club over you, but I can't do that anymore. You're having my kid, I'm all about you and the baby." I kissed her softly. "I'm putting in a request to go nomad."

"You serious?" She smiled at me. "You're really going to do that?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I know Koz and Juice will support it. They want to go nomad too. I just need another guy. I think Quinn would do it or Hopper from Vegas."

"Don't do it because of my feelings, do it because you want to." She rubbed her thumbs up and down my jawliine.

"I want this. I don't belong there, if they can't accept you and welcome you like they welcomed Tara than I can't call them family anymore." I looked into her eyes. "Tara tried to burn the club. She talked to the feds and all that shit before she backed out. She felt guilty. The club still accepts her. She was going to be a fucking stitch but because she's Jax's wife, she gets to fucking stay and gets support."

"Babe, calm down." She smiled. "Go nomad and you don't gotta worry about that shit anymore."

"Love you." I kissed her neck.

"Love you too." She whispered back.

SOASOASOA

Kozik POV

I still couldn't believe Happy had popped off in church like that. I didn't blame him, if someone banned my lady from the clubhouse but still tried using her, I'd be fucking pissed off too.

"Nomad." I said to Juice. "Think it's smart?"

"Yeah, I do." He nodded. "Obviously it's going to look like we're leaving because of Bri but the decisions they're making, it's not fucking sitting well with me anymore."

"I feel you." I looked at the ground. "The club is going to shit. Marks is going to tear us apart."

"He really is." He shook his head. "I don't want to die for a lame reason."

"Me either." I sighed. "At least if we're nomad we don't really have to deal with this shit."

"Who's our fourth guy though?" He looked at me. "Think Quinn will sign on?"

"I don't know, I know Hopper from Vegas would do it. He's been wanting to go nomad for awhile, just didn't know others." I smirked. "Let's get him to come down and talk."

"I'll call him." He smiled. "I'll meet you back at Bri's later. I gotta go run some errands."

"See ya." I waved and watched him drive off in the Jeep.

#

"Here." Bri handed me my skull ring back. "I still want you to have it. I know you're a friend."

"Thanks Banana." I smiled.

"What's wrong?" She frowned at me. "Club thing getting to you too?"

"Yeah, we're striking against Marks first." I rolled my eyes. "It's going to go bad fast."

"Shit." She muttered. "I want you, hap, and Juice safe."

"We're following an impulsive leader." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I can't do this shit. I actually have shit to live for. I can't be doing reckless shit."

"Neither can Hap or Juice." She sighed. "I want you guys in vests. I have military and police grade ones in the basement. I also have rifles. I gave Juice a custom one because he did a favor but I have two for you and Hap to use."

"What favor did Juice do for you?" I studied her face.

"It doesn't matter now." She shrugged. "The Eagle is going to destroy SAMCRO."

"We're already destroyed." I took a swig from the bottle of Jack Daniels Bri set in front of me. "Only God can help us now Bri."

"I'll pray for you guys." She smiled. "Super Catholic when needed."

"Thanks." I smiled. "I'm going to go shower and cuddle with G."

"Lock the door." She winked.

"Learn to knock." I flipped her off.

SOASOASOA

Bri POV

"Hap." I whispered as I walked into the room he had picked to be the nursery. "You alright?"

"Yeah." He stared at me. "I wanna paint a mural on this wall. Harleys and guns."

"Yeah, no guns." I laughed. "Bikes are fine though. Maybe you on a bike."

"Just bikes." He sighed. "You ok?"

"I'm fine, now that the nausea feeling left for the day." I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "You wanna go furniture shopping tomorrow? I work three hours then I'm off."

"I'm down, just don't go overboard." He reached back and rubbed my cheek. "I been saving up, the money is best used on the kid."

"I will reign in my spending. I'll let you be in charge for the trip." I kissed his back. "I'm going to get you through this Happy."

"I know." He shook his head lazily. "You get any nightmares anymore?"

"Yeah." I replied. "Not often though."

"That's good." He said. "Just know, I'd pick you over the club any day. I know you'd never ask me to choose, I just want you to fucking know I got my priorities straight, you and the kid, ma and her sis then the club."

"I know baby. I love you." I kissed his head. "You need to shave."

"Ehh." He grunted. "You do it for me."

"Really?" I asked, he'd never let me do it before.

"You ain't gonna cut me are you?" He asked.

"Nope." I shook my head against his. "I'll be careful. Make you all smooth."

"Good." He relaxed against me. "Can I get a home gym?"

"Yeah." I laughed. "We can. You worried about getting fat Mr. Zero Percent Body Fat?"

"Nah, but I think you're going to get not only pregnant but fat too." He laughed. "Koz thinks the same."

"So mean!" I smacked his chest. "I got a question." We sat down on the ground facing each other, my feet rested in his lap.

"Ask." He rubbed his hands over my calves.

"How come you hated Natalie? But you like G, Lo, Les, and Nik?" I sighed.

"Because she was a dumbass slut." He scowled. "The others, I can deal with because they're smart, you always dumbed yourself down around Natalie. It irritated me, it pissed me off but with G you guys have conversations that matter when you two aren't talking about sex or actors."

"Ahh." I smiled. "I'm glad you like G."

"I'm glad you liked Koz." He rolled his eyes. "I thought you'd hate him."

"Could never hate him. He's a good friend to us both." I smiled.

"Ma, she loves him like he's her own." He dragged me into his lap. "Gotta hold you like this before your belly gets in the way."

"Ha. If you go nomad will you lose your Sgt at arms patch?" I looked at him.

"Yeah." He whispered. "I don't care as long as I'm wearing the reaper."

"Can I wear your cut?" I raised a brow at him. "Please?"

"Nope. No fucking way." He leaned back on his elbows.

"Koz let me wear his, so did Juice." I rested against his chest.

"Idiots." He clucked his tongue. "Respect the reaper."

I rolled my eyes. "So serious."

"Always." He closed his eyes.

I looked at him and studied his face carefully. His beard was getting gray hair and I smiled. It made him look distinguished, he was one of those men who looked better with age. He was mine, all mine and he was about to make a huge sacrifice for his family.

Before you guys get upset, I wanna go on record saying Lil Happy makes it through. You'll meet the psychic nanny in a chapter coming soon lol as well as the plan is going to be set in motion due to an enemy surfacing that was mentioned a few chapters ago.