I have four glorious new chapters for ya! They are a rough cut. I edited once but be warned, they are not as perfected as I normally like before posting. I'm going to post a new story later today. . . I hope. Let me know what you guys think. As always, thank you for reading!
We lie there tangled up in each other and the sheets; both of us beyond exhausted. I let my eyes flutter closed and I hear his voice. "Marry me Bree."
My eyes fly open as I twist under him to look at his face. His eyes are closed and a perfect smile plays across his lips. "Excuse me?"
"Yer not deaf." He mumbles against the pillow.
I watch him, waiting for signs that he's sleeping or delusional. He opens one eye to look at me after a few moments. "I carried around your babies for 9 months, went through an unbelievable amount of physical pain, put up with your crazy ex-wife and all the club drama and you're gonna half-ass it like that?"
He pulls me closer to him, tickling my neck with his beard. I giggle as he gives me a sloppy kiss. "Coulda asked while I was buried inside ya but thought this might be more romantic. Ya gonna marry me or not?"
"I'm not doin shit till you ask me like you mean it." I push him away playfully. "I'm a fuckin lady."
"Christ woman!" He growls at me. "I'm gonna get ya ta say yes."
"I look forward to it." I kiss him. "I'll even act surprised."
"Yer a pain in my arse." He lets his eyes close again.
"I'll marry you Filip. Of course, I will." I place my ear to his chest.
His fingers lazily trace a pattern along my arm. "I don't deserve ya." He whispers. "Ya're so much better than all this."
"Don't." I peek up at him. "This is our life; our family. This is us and I wouldn't trade one moment of it." I push myself up to kiss him. "I'm not going anywhere without you."
He breathes deeply, closing his eyes. An obnoxious knock on the door breaks our sense of peace.
"Clay's lookin for you Chibs." Phil calls through the door.
"Aye!" Filip calls back, his body tenses under me. "Be there in a minute." He leans down and kisses the top of my head. "Don't leave this bed. I'm gonna go take care of this and I'll be back."
"Whatever you say Mr. Telford." I toss him a lazy smile. He pulls his jeans on and leans over me.
The feel of his lips against my neck send a thrill down my spine. "I love you Mrs. Telford."
"I love you." I turn to kiss him before he slides his head through his shirt and grabs his cut on the way out the door.
Filip doesn't return the rest of the night. I barely sleep, worried about where he disappeared to. Sometime in the middle of the night, I creep out of the room and down the hall. My brother is hunched over an almost empty glass. The rest of the bar is empty.
"What are you doing up?" He mumbles incoherently.
"Filip never came back. I got worried." I pull up a seat next to him. He doesn't look up. "What's going on?"
Opie sighs, leaning back in his chair. He swallows the last of his whiskey, hissing as it flowed down his throat. "There's another vote." My heart races.
"Do I wanna know?" I struggle to keep my hands under control.
"Bobby wants the gavel." He finally looks at me, barely recognizable with his bloodshot eyes and tear-streaked face.
We don't talk. I slide my chair next to him and lean against his shoulder. His shaky breath is oddly relaxing. Another few minutes pass before I ask the question.
"You're gonna vote for this right?" I look at him. "Please."
"I have to." He runs his hand over his face with a groan. "I can't lose anyone else."
The relief washes over me. Just like that I'm 10 years old again, filled with the hope that Opie would make sure I was safe. "So Filip?"
"He took off. Said he needed to find Juice." I study my hands as he talks. "He's ok."
"I know." I shake my head as the tears start to fall. I cover my mouth with my hand as Opie tosses his arm around my shoulder pulling me to his chest. "I can't lose him, Op."
"Don't." He tries to comfort me. "He's not goin anywhere." The only sound that fills the room are the sobs that break through my chest. My crying starts to fade away
"You can't promise that Op. You know you can't." My voice breaks. "I'm not panicking and I'm not leaving; I'm just really scared."
"Yeah." It's all he gets out.
I wipe my eyes along the back of my hand. "I'm going back to bed. If he comes back, send him my way." I push myself up from the table and make my way back to my room.
The next morning I make my way outside. A few random people mill around the bar. The fresh air does nothing to revive me, my eyes dry and burning. Tara lounges at a picnic table, her face a mix of pain and fear.
"Morning." I lower myself to the seat across from her. "Thank you for taking the babies."
"You needed it. Jax said we could head home today if we stay together and take someone with us." She takes a deep drag off her joint.
"Why aren't you at work?" I suddenly realize what time it is.
"Margaret heard about the threats, I'm not allowed to work right now." She drops her feet to the ground and leans forward. "I can't give him what he wants."
"Jax?" My head snaps up.
"I can't stay." She doesn't look up at me. I stare at her, my mouth hanging open. "Say something."
"When you left, it wasn't just him." I let the anger seep into my voice. "We were sisters. You broke my heart, Donna's too."
"I know. . ." She starts but I don't need to hear the rest.
"This is ridiculous. I'm fucking out of here." I jump up.
"Take someone." She insists.
"Fuck you Tara." I don't give her another moment before turning away.
Dad didn't speak a word to me as we sat. He didn't ask me why I was waiting for him when he got back to the cabin. I couldn't find the words. Tears stopped streaming hours ago and all I wanted was to hear from Filip. My phone sat silent on the table; taunting me.
"You need to get home baby girl." Dad finally croaks. "I'm sure he's busy with the police."
I don't respond, staring at the same spot on the rug that my eyes focused on sometime after I lost my sanity. The moment he told me about the gunfire, I'd gone numb. My dad's right. Hiding did me no good. Tara had a right to be scared. She'd never understood this world. I envied her and Donna when we were kids. They didn't know the fights, the loss. For me, it was normal and if you didn't come from it, it tore you apart.
A knock at the door startles me out of my daze. Dad hobbles for the door with an irritated groan. He leans into the doorway and I hear his muffled words. The door creaks open and the sound of heavy boots meet my ears.
"I thought ya'd left me love." Filip smiles half-heartedly. The darkened shadows that haunted his eyes mirrored my own. I stood up, falling into his arms. My legs went dead under me as the blood finally rushed through them again. He caught me, holding me against him.
"Never." I promise. My dad stares at me.
"Let's go home, yeah?" He kisses my forehead. I nod, heading back to the bedroom for the kids.
The faint whispers of the tense conversation between dad and Filip float down the hall and I catch the words my dad refused to say all day. "Worried about her, about my grandbabies. You promised you'd take care of them. This is how we do that Filip. Clay has to go."
I don't wait for Filip's response. "Are you voting for this Filip?" My dad stares at me, the anger flashing in his eyes at my intrusion. I can hear every word he spat at my mom about her place during my childhood. "Don't bother dad. Opie told me." He closes his mouth, dropping his argument. "I'm not fucking Gemma or even Tara. Clay took Donna from me too. I have the right to know."
"Baby. . ." Filip starts, clearly uncomfortable.
"You're voting Clay out Filip. You have to." I don't back down. "He's going to kill our family."
He hangs his head, nodding lazily. "Yer right." He rubs his hand over his beard and my dad's hand clamps on his shoulder. "I know."