"Why was Hale trying to snoop around here?" Tig asked as well, when Roxanne rejoined the party scene.
"No reason, just checking on routine," she replied, looking around to see if there were any refills or anything else that needed to be done, but everyone seemed to be well supplied.
"By the way, Juice brought tequila and all the equipment, he's already setting up," Tig said, pointing to a table where Juice was busily filling up shot cups. Piney sat next to him, slicing lemons. "You in?"
"Sure!" Though she disliked this stuff but who liked it anyway?

In addition to the four of them, Clay, Opie, Donna, and Chibs were also at the table, and when Bobby, still or again lightly wrapped in a cloud of grass, tried to squeeze in, Juice protested.
"Hey, it's participation stop now, otherwise it's not even worth to start. Sorry!" he added, but Bobby just wavered.
"No problem, I'll just have another joint then. Maxwell, my friend!" Bobby rushed off toward the yellow T-shirt, Maxwell really stood out with it, and Juice shoved or passed a drink to everyone.
"Cheers!"
"Whoa, slow down!" Roxanne said after the third round, when Juice, as soon as they set the tumblers down, refilled and Piney hardly kept up with the lemon slicing. He'd already quit after the second round, he didn`t want to cut off one of his fingers, he said.

"Are you flagging already?" Tig stroked her back and she shifted a little closer to him.
"Not yet, but if this continues at this rate, I'll have to quit in the round after next at the latest. How many bottles do you have left?" She turned to Juice, who just grinned meaningfully. "Enough! Still some left."

Since they didn't want it to escalate into a real drinking battle, they talked about this and that for a while, and Roxanne sensed a warm feeling spreading inside her. This was definitely not only due to the tequila, but just to the vibe and the society itself. She liked the guys and girls, the latter at least with a few exceptions, as far as she knew them, and Tig didn't seem to have the least problem with her getting so close to him in public, on the contrary.

More than once he had his hand on her thigh, and now as she was leaning against him laughing as Clay shared a funny anecdote, he took her in his arms and pulled her a little closer.
"Who's more clingy now?" she teasingly asked, and he laughed.
"You are! But speaking of that," he continued more quietly so that only she could hear. "What about later?"
"The gentleman wants to stay overnight?" she asked, playing surprised and pretending to have to think about it. " Could be possible. I should probably grab a little somethin to eat, though, that way the booze won't hit me so hard."
"Not only for this, you're gonna need the energy!"

Roxanne made it inside the house after all, still feeling Tig's ambiguous gaze and hoping there was still some coffee left somewhere.
Donna, meanwhile, was in the process of brewing a new pot.
"Oh, you're a darling!" Roxanne rejoiced, dropping into the nearest chair. "Didn't even realize you were gone."
"Yeah, I'll bet you didn't," Donna grinned, putting the can of coffee grounds back in the cupboard. "The things I've noticed between you two today ... that's not just sex anymore, that's something more, ain't it?"
Roxanne pondered, but came to no concrete conclusion. As before, she didn't.
"I don't know what it is," she replied thoughtfully as Donna now placed a steaming coffee mug in front of her and smiled pensively. "But it's nice!"

After the coffee and a snack, Roxanne was ready for a few more shots of tequila.
"Are we gonna continue?" she asked as she and Donna returned to the table.
"Yeah, we're just waiting for you two," Opie replied as his wife sat down next to him. "If you can keep up again."
"We can," Roxanne assured them, but wanted to get out just before the end.
"Come on, one more round and we'll be out of this stuff anyway!" she had Juice persuade her, then pushed the cup far away from her.
"Stop, over and out! If you wanna start something with me later, I really should quit now," she turned to Tig and he eyed her meaningfully.
"It might be an advantage, though, if you're still at least a little drunk by then."
"Are there still increases possible?" Roxanne asked with a grin, and he nodded.
"You bet!"

The next morning, Tig was up first and busy brewing coffee when Roxanne came into the kitchen.
"Hey, it's about time," he said with a smile.
"Morning," Roxanne merely mumbled while tying her hair into a ponytail, and as her short top slid up a bit above her black yoga pants, Tig's gaze fell on the approximately fifteen-inch-long pale red scar that ran horizontally along Roxanne's lower right ribcage. Even after several nights spent together by now, for whatever reason, he had not yet managed to bring it up to her.
"Tell me," he asked now, after they had hugged and kissed each other before he let go of her, stroking the scar lightly with his thumb. "How did that happen, anyway?"
"Oh ...", Roxanne broke away from him shaking her head and waved it off. "Just a ... a stupid kitchen accident. I'm a little clumsy with knives sometimes."
It didn't slip Tig's mind that she was definitely getting nervous; her erratic movements and put-on smile said it all.
"I'll go finish getting dressed." Almost hastily, she disappeared into the bedroom, and that confirmed it again.
"What are you hiding?" Tig murmured, looking after her pensively and a little concerned as well.

Roxanne was worried he would ask her again about her strange behavior just now and maybe ask more insistently, but Tig acted as if he either didn't care or didn't even notice.
Although he would really like to know but if she wanted to talk about it at any time, she would do it.
"About earlier," she finally brought up the subject again herself. "It was really a kitchen accident."
Tig raised his brows in honest amazement. "Why shouldn't I believe you?"
He figured there had to be more to it but as said, it was basically none of his business either.
"Well, because ..." She cut off and shook her head. "Forget it!"

One by one, the party crowd from the neighborhood trickled in again, either to retrieve the plates and bowls they had brought with them, if they hadn't already taken them outright, and almost everyone helped clean up a bit, as well.
"So much for 'white trash' then," Roxanne noted pleased, and Tig grinned.
"But you can't deny the fact that we've opened up a new weed dealer with super dope in the very midst of your neighbors."
"True," she laughed, " Something's gotta be up with that cliché."
"I gotta go, by the way," he said after glancing at his wristwatch. "We have another club meeting."
"Go for it, we've got things covered here," Roxanne replied. "Jax is going to have the grill picked up in the next few days, he said. And the kiddie pool."
"I really don't need that back so soon, just leave it here. I'm sure we'll figure out a new purpose for it!"

That evening, after all the party debris had been completely cleared away and Roxanne had made herself comfortable on the sofa, her thoughts wandered back to Tig, when he had asked about her scar. Sure, he'd noticed it at some point the first time they'd sort of been all over each other, and he'd also gently traced it with his fingers from time to time but never said anything until now.
And it had been a kitchen accident, after all, just – it wan't the full truth.
If Roxanne had gone into more detail, she would have had to tell everything, really everything, and she was still not ready to do that. On the one hand, because she herself still couldn't and didn't want to talk about it, and on the other hand, she didn't know how much she could and wanted to trust Tig. Sure, physically in sexual terms they were getting along perfectly, but otherwise ...?

They hadn't even had a really profound conversation yet, basically it was all, if you ignore more or less ambiguous flirting and banter, just trivial and superficial. Really trusting someone and opening up emotionally ... Roxanne doubted, despite positive prognoses by her therapists, she would ever be able to do that again someday.

"No, we can't do that either," Clay declined the umpteenth suggestion from the Sons about how this weekend's operation should go. "No matter how we spin it, we're one short! And if we cannot pull off this deal ..." He left the sentence hanging in the air but it was obvious to everyone how it was meant. If the Redwood Original Chapter didn't hold its end of the deal, disaster would be inevitable.
They needed a driver, that was a fact but from the outside they couldn't and wouldn't bring anyone in and of the mechanics, either none had time or didn't have a truck driver's license.
"What about Roxy?" Juice now dared to ask. "Maybe she could ...?"
"Forget about that!" Clay immediately brushed off the suggestion. "For one thing, she's a woman, and for another, I just don't want her to know anything about our illegal operations." He glanced at his sergeant-at-arms. "You haven't told her anything, have you?"
"I doubt they talk much," Chibs interjected dryly before Tig could reply.
"She doesn't know anything," the latter turned to Clay, ignoring his club brother. "But Juice is right, she'd probably be our only option."
Clay was thinking for a while. He didn't really like it at all, for a number of reasons, however ...
"Alright, let's put it to a vote. All in favor of Roxy driving the truck? For her to have little to no further involvement in all of this, we'll have to figure something out."