Chapter 46: Booster (Season 4 Episode 2)

A/N: Hey guys. So sorry that it's been so long since I've updated this story. So much has been going on. I am trying to get some stories wrapped up because of all of the new ideas that keep popping into my head. This one however I know won't be wrapped up for a while. I am overwhelmed by all of the reviews that I get for this story. It amazes me that I've already been working on this story for three years and that I am just now almost to the halfway mark. Keep reading. Here's the next chapter. Thanks.

Gemma POV

Clay and I were sitting at the breakfast table talking about the bodies that had been found out near the new housing development. I handed him a piece of paper. He looked at me confused. "This fell out of one of Abel's coloring books. He must have found it somewhere in Jax's house." I told him.

"Letters?" Clay asked.

I nodded. "Maureen Ashby. Trying to turn my son against me. Bitch must have stuffed them in his bag when we left Belfast." I said.

"And you think Jax read them?" He asked.

"Had to be Jax or Tara who found them.

"Ah, this is JT wooing pussy. Probably a bunch of love letters, some half-gay poems and shit." Clay says.

"Yeah, or a stack of hate. John sharing his every woe and suspicion. I am telling you, that Irish gash is reaching across the Atlantic." I said.

"She can't hurt us. And John can't hurt us." He said.

"John trusted her. Had a goddamn family with her. There's no telling what he confided." I said, trying to make a point.

"If this was real, it'd have blown up by now. We're good. So, don't go setting fires when there's nothing to burn. You hear me?" He said.

"I don't do that." I said, pouting. "Not all the time." Clay chuckles. "I gotta go. There's oatmeal on the stove." I said, kissing him before heading out the door.

Tara POV

"Okay, so Elyda comes at noon, and your mom watches them in the morning when I'm at work. But I-I can change their schedule if you want." I tell Jax.

He shakes his head. "No, I don't want to mess with their routine." Jax says.

"It's already a big help having you around, Daddy." I say.

I hear the Tv in the background. "…Charming, California was rocked earlier this morning by a discovery of four bodies at a housing development. Details are still coming in, but we have learned that the victims were shot multiple times." The reporter said.

I turn to look at Jax. "Were you involved?" I ask him, unsure if I really wanted to know.

"How much do you want to know?" He asks.

"…suggesting associations with Russian organized…" I turned the tv off not wanting to hear any more of it and focusing on Jax.

"All of it." I say.

He nods. "It was retaliation for what happened to me in prison. Russians. We made…" Jax trails off as we hear knocking at the front door.

A minute later, the front door opens and Gemma walks in. "Ah, look at this perfect family." She says.

Bella POV

I was standing in the kitchen washing the dishes from breakfast that morning. I had been listening to the news while I cleaned up, but I couldn't take it anymore when I'd heard about the Sheriff's department finding bodies at Hale's new housing development. I was startled out my thoughts when I felt Ope's hands on my hips. Then he kissed the back of my shoulder. "Kids are at school." He said. I couldn't help but smile. "We should take advantage. It's a honeymoon day."

Sometimes he was completely insatiable. Unfortunately, we couldn't take an actual honeymoon right now because the guys had just gotten out and Ope needed to be there to help them all readjust to being out. "I have to head to TM soon. Gemma's helping out at Tara's today." I told him. I felt him nod against my shoulder. I knew that if it was up to him, we'd spend the entire day in bed. "You hear the news?" I asked him. "They said those bodies they found were all Russians."

He let go of me and moved to my side, leaning against the kitchen counter. "Really?" He said sarcastically. I knew he was lying. But why?

I stopped what I was doing and turned to look at him. "There were Russians at our wedding, Ope. Were you guys part of this?" I asked him. I didn't know why I had to ask. Ope usually volunteered the information. Especially after everything that we'd been through.

"No. We're good with the Russians. Not surprised though. Those guys are mixed up in some crazy shit." Ope said. Why was he lying to me? What good would come of that?

Jax POV

Clay had asked me to ride with him out to meet Alvarez. Said he had a new customer for us. I felt a little uneasy about it. I mean sure, Alvarez had help us when we had been inside because the Russians were gunning for us after the whole Jimmy incident, but that didn't mean that I actually trusted him. I don't even think that Clay did, but money was money. And I needed as much as I could get my hands on right now.

We pulled into the junkyard where we were meeting Alvarez and I saw Bishop. He'd been running the place for as long as I could remember. "They're waiting for you inside." He said and I nodded.

"Keep the crusher running. It may get a little noisy." Clay told him.

"I got it." Bishop said, before I pulled through.

I drove through the lot until I saw Alvarez and three other guys standing with him. I cut the truck off and we climbed out walking over. "Marcus." Clay greeted.

"Clay. Good to see you, man. Jax." Alvarez said greeting us.

"How you doing? Alright bro." I said.

Alvarez turned to introduce us to the one of the guys that were with him. "Clay, Jax…Romero Parada." Alvarez said.

"Friends call me Romeo." Parada said reaching his hand out to shake ours.

"Good to finally meet you man." Clay said.

"Yeah, thank you for coming up." I said. Clay had been talking about this guy for months.

Romeo nodded to the two guys with him. "Santos and Luis. I heard Viktor Putlova never made it home from SAMCRO's wedding." He said.

"Yeah, we, uh…we had to put 'em down…whole North Cali crew." Clay said.

"Must have been a wild party." Parada said.

"We'd like to avoid them throwing one for us." I said, chuckling slightly.

"The word has been put out: No one is to interfere with our new friendship." Parada said.

"Thank you." Clay said.

"Yeah, thank you." I said.

"Now, let's see the wares." Parada said.

"Right here." I said turning to the car that we'd stashed the guns in and towed here. I uncovered the guns. Parada let out a whistle. "Got AR-15s, SIG 551s, Aks, KG-9s, Glocks, FN-57s. Got two dozen of each local. Except the 57s. Only got 15 of them." I tell him.

"Just like we discussed. 20% off the street tag." Clay said, clipping the clips.

"What about ammo?" Santos asked.

"The Wahewa press everything we need." I said.

"These are excellent." Luis said.

"We'll take all you have in stock." Parada said shocking me.

"Let's set up a shipment for every two weeks. Three dozen of everything except the Glocks." Luis said.

"We can make that work." I said.

"There's more. I need bigger." Parada said.

"How much bigger?" Clay asked.

"RPGs, .50-caliber machine gun long-range sniper rifles." Parada said.

"Well, I'll have to make a call." Clay told him.

"Good. Let me see, if my math is correct, that's seven hundred and change for your current stock. Give me 100K in mixed ammo." Parada said.

"Hmm…" Clay mumbled.

"500K should cover half plus you transport payment." Parada said as Santos and Luis handed us bags of money.

"Well, I got a run scheduled for this weekend, bro." Clay told him.

"I'll have the coke ready for you for the run back." Parada said, and I jerked my head over to Clay. Coke? What the hell?

"Sounds good." Clay said. "You guys are welcome to keep the samples."

Parada said something to his guys in Spanish. "I'll be in town for a couple of days. Call me as soon as you hear from the Irish." Parada said. Clay nodded.

As soon as Clay and I were in the cab of the truck, I turned and glared at him. "We're trafficking blow?" I asked cold.

"Nah. We're just muling it back." Clay told me. "Mayans are chopping and distributing."

"Jesus Christ." I said.

"Part of the deal. I had no choice." Clay said.

"Who else knows?" I asked.

"Nobody. That's why you're here. I need you to understand this." Clay said.

Now I was confused. "Understand what? That you forgot to mention we'd also be running coke for the Galindo Cartel? We voted in selling them guns." I said. Clay knew how I felt about drugs. Especially after Wendy and Abel. Ope was gonna hate this.

"We'll have another vote." Clay said.

I scoffed. "You brokered this whole goddamn thing in Stockton, kept us out of the loop on purpose." I told him. I couldn't believe him.

"The Russians needed to die for what they did to you inside. The Galindo Cartel is the only player deep enough to keep the Russians off our backs." Clay growled.

"Oh, don't give me the 'I did this for you, son' bullshit." I growled back. This was definitely not about me. He was greedy and selfish. Always has been. "This ain't about me, Clay. And this ain't about the club. This is about you cashing out." I said.

Clay sighed. "These last two years…brutal. Your mom and me…no savings, no…medical, no…retirement cushion. I got, what, a year, maybe two? I've given my whole life to this club. I don't want to walk away with nothing." He said.

"You pushed a guy off a roof in Belfast for the exact same thing." I said.

Clay glared at me. "McGee was a rat." He said, sighing again.

"What do you want from me?" I asked knowing there was a catch somewhere.

"This vote splits the ranks. I want you to back me. It's the only way this thing passes." He said. There it is. Maybe I can use this to my advantage.

"If I do this…I'm out when you're out." I said.

"What the hell you talking about?" Clay asked me. "You wanted the gavel your whole life."

I shook my head. "Not anymore." I said. I had to get Tara and my boys out.

"What are you, what are you gonna…leave SAMCRO?" He asked. "What the hell else you gonna do?"

"It doesn't matter. I need your word, you'll let me walk away." I said. "No recourse." Wasn't sure if I could actually trust his word if he did give it.

"What about your mom?" He asked me.

"She's an Old Lady, Clay; she's not a member. I'm gonna need you to keep her in check." I said. And it was true…on both parts. Ma would do anything she could to keep me here in Charming.

"It ain't that simple." Clay said.

"Yeah, it is. When you hand over the club, you push for the President's patch to go to Opie. That's the deal. My out for your drugs." I said, laying it on the table for him. Ope and Bells would do this club right.

Clay looked deep in thought for a minute. "Okay." Clay finally said.

When we got back to the clubhouse, Clay immediately ushered everyone in for Church. He started telling everyone the complete truth about the deal with Galindo. I looked around the table at some of the facial expressions the guys were making. Bobby was the first to speak. "SAMCRO's never been in the drug business." He said.

"And never will." Piney added.

Opie sighed before speaking. "The last thing that we want to do is give Alvarez leverage over our business." He said. I knew there was also a hidden meaning behind his statement.

"We've been good with the Mayans for over two years now, Ope." Tig said.

"Yeah and let's not forget, if it weren't for our brown alliance, Russians would've shivved all of us." I said.

"Cartel's already committed. Word's been put out. Russians aren't going to touch us." Clay said, trying to reassure them, I'd guess.

"What about the Feds? Drugs put us on DEA's radar." Juice pointed out.

"We're gonna find a new buyer." Opie said.

"May not pay as much, but with the Niners and the Italians, we'll still earn." Bobby said.

"The IRA have an expectation of big volume. Without the Russians, that burden lands right here with us." Chibs said.

"Cartel gives us all the demand our supply can handle. We do this short-term, cash out." Clay said.

He was delusional. "It's the goddamn Cartel! There is no short-term." Piney yelled.

"I think it's worth the risk." I said, causing everyone to look at me. I reached under the table and pulled the bags of money up and sat them on the table. I began pulling the stacks of money out and lining them up on the table. "Down payment for our first order." I told them.

"We should all think about this. We'll vote when the others get back." Clay said. "Jax, go check on the ammo, and uh, take Ope with you." I nodded. I knew what he was saying. Taking Ope with me would give me time to talk to Ope about this decision. I knew that Ope would have questions. "I want this." Clay said.

"Yeah." Tig mumbled. I could see the indecision in his eyes, but I knew that when it came down to it, Tig would back Clay no matter what.

"Tell Happy that, uh, we're going to have to keep the guns at his aunt's house a couple more days. I got to lock down storage." Clay said.

"All right."

Clay dismissed Church and we all stood up. Bobby asked Clay for a minute and I looked at Clay. He nodded giving me the okay to leave.

Ope tells me that he'll meet me at his truck and heads toward the office where I know Bella is working since Ma is at my house with my boys.

Opie POV

I headed toward the office to talk to Bells real quick. When I walked in she was finishing up with a customer, so I sat on the couch and waiting for her to finish.

When the customer thanked her and walked out, she turned to look at me. "Are you okay?" She asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't really have time to talk about it right now, I gotta head out to the reservation with Jax but we'll talk about it when I get back, okay?" I said.

She nodded, "Yeah okay." She said. I stood up and gave her a kiss before heading out to my truck where Jax was waiting for me.

Heading out to the reservation, I see Jax look at me out of the corner of my eye. "Really? Nothing to say?" He asks me.

"Not quite sure who I'm talking to anymore." I say honestly.

"Wow. That's deep man." Jax says sarcastically.

"Not really."

"When you were inside, what'd you think about?" He asked me.

"Donna, the kids." I tell him.

"Yeah, me too, man. The whole time. Tara and my boys. Tara and my boys. Wondering how the hell I'm going to take care of them. Stay whole, be a decent father." He says.

"Pushing coke was your solution?" I ask.

"No. Earning big was. Look, I know running with the cartel is serious shit, but I don't want to live hand-to-mouth anymore. I want something more for my boys." He says.

"You know, Bells and I watched Tara take care of your kids. She's a strong chick, man. She really stepped up. Bells, don't get me wrong. She's strong and I love her with all my heart but I don't know if she could handle everything if I go away. She barely handled it after you guys got locked up the first time. And that was just you and her dad that she mainly worried about. Can you imagine if I'd been locked up with you guys." I tell him and it was the truth. Bells had been a wreck during that time even if she didn't physically let me see her emotions. I could sense it. "I can't do that to her. Can't do that to my kids."

"We're not going away, Ope. The cartel is protected. They got politicians and law enforcement on the payroll from Lodi to Mexico City. Nah, we're going to be fine." Jax says.

There's something about his words that sound off. "You sound like you're trying to convince yourself as much as me." I say.

Clay POV

I decided to pay Oswald a visit. I needed land and I knew that he'd be able to help me, whether he liked it or not. "You don't call. You don't write." I say as he approaches me.

"Yeah. Welcome home. You guys didn't waste any goddamn time. Four dead bodies. Jesus Christ." Elliot says.

"Now, why would you always assume that when it's bad and bloody, it's my crew?" I ask and Elliot chuckles. "Yeah, I'm guessing the hometown homicide sets back Hale Properties. Oh, yeah, and uh, Oswald Construction."

"Had to take the offer." Elliot says.

"Oh I get it. Oh, your bottom line went red as soon as Hale took all your acreage. Completely understand." I said.

"What do you want, Clay?" He asked me.

"Little understanding." I say.

"My debt's paid." Elliot said.

"I'll make you a deal. I will, uh, suffer progress, let you and Hale build your, uh, suburban paradise…in exchange for this." I say, waving my hand around the property.

Elliot looks at me confused. "This place is a dump. I store my old haulers here. Spare parts and shit." Elliot says.

"It's private gated property, completely secure, near the Wahewa." I tell him.

"More weapons." He said bitterly.

"Rosen will draw up a lease. Ducorp. As if you're, uh, renting to a complete stranger. Everybody's protected. Security deposit." I say, handing him some cash.

"Where the hell did you get this kind of cash?" Elliot asked me.

"It's a brand-new day, Elliot." I said.

"And if I say no?" He asked raising an eyebrow at me.

"We'll be, uh, moving some of our shit in here tomorrow." I say, knowing that I needed to get everything squared away before we picked up the coke.

"Clay. I took a huge hit. I need Charming Heights to happen." Elliot said.

Opie POV

When Jax and I got to the house, we walked up to the house. "Yo, Running Mouse!" Jax called.

I followed Jax into the house. We could hear noises coming from inside the house. "Jax. These guys are worse than the Irish. Wake up." I said nudging one of the guys with my foot.

Suddenly, a guy came around the corner. "Hey." He says pointing a gun at Jax and I. Couple more guys walk out. They start shooting at us, making us back out of the house.

"Lay some down. I'm gonna get in the truck. You hop in the back." Jax says. The Russians start shooting at me while Jax gets the truck. I shoot back, laying down some cover fire.

Hopping into the back of the truck, I manage to take down some of the Russians before Jax stopped the truck. "We're clear!" I shouted to Jax. We both climbed out of the truck. "You alright?" I asked him.

"Uh, yeah, think so." Jax said. "You?"

Before I could reply, we both turned around to see several Russians standing there pointing guns at us. "Don't move." They led us inside the house and threw us to the floor. "You were stupid to steal from us. Now you watch this. You tell me where the guns are, or I blow her head off." One of them said, pointing a gun to the head of a native woman.

"Okay, okay, okay." Jax said and I turned my head to look at him.

"Kill her!" The Russian said.

"Stop, no, no, I'll tell you! I can get 'em here! I just need to make a call!" Jax said.

Tig POV

We were standing around the garage. Unser had brought in an old bike that he had for us to work on. Gemma had given me a container with leftover meatloaf. It was almost as good as Bella's. I took a bite of the meatloaf. "Mhmm." I moaned.

"Is that Gemma's meatloaf?" Bobby asked me.

"Yeah. I-I missed this almost as much as I missed pussy. You alright?" I said.

Bobby shook his head. "Not really." He said.

"Look, look, look, I know. Just, just get behind Clay on this Cartel man. He wants you there." I said. I knew how dangerous this Cartel shit could be. I also knew that Jax was probably talking to Ope about it. I had a feeling that I might have to talk to Ope myself, especially if he tells Bells about it.

"No, he doesn't. He's locked me out. He's locked all of us out. Except for Jax, he's the only one on the inside and that's dangerous." Bobby said. Maybe he had a point.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He had you and me. He trusted us. We gave him balance, protected the club in the process, but that's gone." He said.

"So, you think that I'm on the outside too." I said. Bobby sighed.

Phil came walking into the garage. "Hey guys, guys, Jax is on the bar line looking for Clay. He says it's important."

Bobby and I walked out of the garage to head inside the clubhouse when I saw Clay climbing off his bike. "Clay. We got Jax on the bar phone, man." I said to him.

"Not now." Clay said.

Clay POV

"So, uh…what's the urgency?" Unser asked me.

"I just got an order this morning, requires an 18-wheel solution and somebody who knows the truck routes to Tucson - weigh stations, roads to avoid." I said.

"Thought maybe you wanted to discuss the cold war you started in Charming Heights. Pretty sure homicide is a parole violation." Unser said.

"Little late to be a good cop, ain't it?" I asked, coldly.

"Yeah, I guess it is. I'll look into the, uh, truck situation." Unser said.

"I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean…" I tried to apologize, realizing that I'd been an ass.

"No, it's all right. Forget it, forget it. Need anything else?" He asked.

"Question. Tara. While we were inside, did she ask you anything unusual?" I said.

"Like history - John and me." I said.

"No. Why would she?" He asked.

Before I could respond Tig came running out of the clubhouse. "Clay, we got trouble man."

I took off to the clubhouse. When I walked in, I grabbed the phone off the bar. "What do they want?" I said into the phone.

"I don't speak Russian, but I'm pretty sure they're pissed off about their guns." Jax said.

Then another guy was on the phone. With a Russian accent. "You bring all the guns now or I kill them." He said.

"That's going to take a few hours." I said.

"You have one." The Russian said.

Five minutes later, we were walking out of the clubhouse, heading to our bikes. Tig was on the phone with Happy. "Hurry up." He said before snapping his phone shut. "It's gonna take Happy and Kozik at least two hours to get the guns there." Tig said.

"Shit." I said.

"Yeah." Tig said.

Gemma came walking out of the office. "What's the matter?" She asked.

"Complications." I said.

Gemma looked around. "Where's Jax?" She asked. When I didn't respond, she realized that something had happened. "Oh shit."

We all turned when we heard sirens. "This is bad timing." Bobby said.

"How do you want to play this?" Tig asked.

"This prick is starting to piss me off." I said standing from my bike. I stepped closer to Gemma. "The Russians got Jax and Ope. Need for you to call up T.O. and have the Bastards head down to Wahewa backland. Just lay low and wait for my call." I told her. When I saw Roosevelt step out of his car, I decided to address him, "You're looking for fleet work, you're gonna have to make an appointment." I told him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bells pulling into the lot. "No, we just had a couple questions regarding your whereabouts last night." Roosevelt said.

I crossed my arms. "You know we never left the reservation 'cause you were out front all night. Directing traffic, right?" I said.

I see Bells climb out of her car and cross the parking lot to stand beside Gem. Then we heard a fire truck. "You smell smoke?" Roosevelt asked.

I noticed that Gem and Bells had gone into the office. Tig walked over to me. "Hey, Bastards are on a toy run. Gemma's left a message with T.O.'s old lady." He said.

"Shit." I said to him. I turned back to Roosevelt. "You made your point. Now it's time for you and the campfire girls to get the hell out." I said, as they made their way into the clubhouse.

Bella POV

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. When I'd pulled into the lot, there was cop cars and then as I crossed the lot to stand beside Gemma, a fire truck pulled in. This definitely wasn't good. I looked around and realized that Jax and Opie weren't there. I followed Gemma into the office. She made a quick phone call. As she hung up, Dad walked in. I turned to him. "What's going on? Where Ope?" I asked him.

Dad pulled me into his arms. "The Russians have Jax and Ope. We're trying to fix it. Just try and stay calm. Stick close to Gemma. Okay?" Dad said.

I nodded. "Yeah, okay." I said.

Dad looked at Gemma. "T.O's old lady said their on a toy run. Said she'd try and get a message to him." Gemma told Dad, before he ran out.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We wait. Let's go check on the others." Gemma said.

When we walked into the clubhouse, I couldn't believe the sight. Roosevelt was busting up the clubhouse. "Fire Chief found nine code violations. You got 30 days to fix it. It's a good thing there wasn't a fire, huh? I'm willing to work with you, Clay. Figure out the boundaries that keep us both happy. But you pushed me to this. And I strongly suggest you guys don't do it again." Roosevelt said before he turned to the cops and the fire chief. "Let's go boys."

Jax POV

The Russians were pissed. They had us on the floor with our hands zip-tied behind our backs. I was hoping that Clay would either send back up or get the guns here in time. "Hell of a honeymoon." I said, turning to look at Opie.

"Should have just stayed in bed with my wife…" He said.

"They're never gonna make it from Dogtown in an hour." I said.

"I know." Ope said.

We heard a car engine and then two doors shut. The head Russian guy, pulled me up off the floor and led me over to the front door. "Who is this?" He asked me.

"It's a Mexican guy and a Mexican guy." I said. He punched me in the stomach.

"Far enough." The Russian said as I noticed Romeo and Luiz standing at the back of their Jeep. "What do you want?"

"Hear you're looking for your guns." Romeo said.

"Yeah, they have your guns." I said.

"Where are they?" The Russian asked.

"Some of them are right here. You can have the rest when you let them go." Romeo said.

"That's shit." The Russian said, then shot at Romeo and Luiz. "Bring us all the guns. 30 minutes. Or I kill them."

The next thing I know, we're surrounded by Mexican's and there's a shootout happening. When the Russians were dead or scurrying around, Romeo approached me. "You boys all right?" Romeo asked.

"Yeah, thanks." I said.

Opie walked out and stood beside me. "Thank you." Opie said.

"No problem." Luiz said.

"That's what friends are for." Romeo said.

We all turned when we heard motorcycles pull up. After the engines were cut, I saw Clay get off his bike and approach us. "Already missed all the fun." I said.

"Gee. You all right, man?" Tig asked Ope as he hugged him. No doubt making sure he was okay for Bella's sake.

"Not really." I answered.

"How'd you know this was going down?" Clay asked.

"We got contacts in the ROC." Luiz said.

"We have contacts everywhere." Romeo said.

"You guys laid down some serious shit." I said.

"This relationship is very important to my organization. I'm sure this isn't the last we've heard of Putlova's crew." Romeo said.

"Maybe we should cut one of 'em loose. Let him bring this memory back to his pals." Clay said.

"The Wahewa will want retribution." Bobby said.

I pointed to one of the Russian guys. "I volunteer him." I said.

Tig walked over to the guy. "Come here, come here. Come here, bad boy." Tig said.

"Looks like you got this under control." Romeo said.

"Thank you." Clay said, shaking Romeo's hand.

"We'll be in touch." Romeo said.

Bella POV

Dad had called and said that they'd gotten everything under control and that Jax and Ope were okay and that they'd be headed back soon. Tara had joined us, so now we were just waiting for them.

We didn't have to wait long. As soon as I saw Opie I ran across the lot to him. I jumped into his arms and finally let the tears fall when I felt his arms wrap around me. "Ope?" I said. I heard him sigh. "Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I'm all right." Opie said, holding me tighter to him.

When he put me back down on the ground, I looked up at him. "What happened?" I asked.

"Misunderstanding." Ope said and I nodded.

We turned and followed everyone into the clubhouse to assess the damage. "Holy shit." I heard Jax say.

Nobody said anything for a few minutes as everybody took in the scene. It wasn't until Tara spoke up, "I have some good news." She said. She held up her left hand. "We're engaged!" She announced.

Everyone cheered. I turned to Ope. "Did you know about this?" I whispered to him.

He nodded. "Yeah."

Clay turned to the prospect that was behind the bar. "Serve 'em up." He said.

Maybe things would be okay afterall.