SAMCRO prepares to set their worries aside for a weekend of community spirit as Gemma throws her annual 'Taste of Charming' fundraiser, but they end up getting a donation much bigger than they'd expected as an incarcerated brother comes through, ontop of uncovering a hefty debt to be repaid by a former one...
General trigger warnings for this story: Language, smut, mentions of rape, abuse, drug use/overdose, violence/death, racism/gang activity.
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CHAPTER 28: A TASTE OF CHARMING
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Otto Delaney stormed down the hallway of Stockton State Prison with two fellow inmates in tow as they raced towards the pleas coming from the bathroom, followed by the sound of knuckles hitting flesh. The three men swallowed their sighs as they rushed to poor Chucky's aid - again, pulling the asian men off of him for what they could only assume was the hundredth time, but they knew that it would be worth defending the helpless man in the end.
"I don't know, I swear!" The bald man hollered from where he'd been pinned to the ground as blood poured from his cheek.
"Lin will just get him when he gets out!" The longer haired of the two attackers yelled as a large white men pulled his arms behind his back.
"SAMCRO can't protect his ass forever!" His partner yelled from across the room where another white man shoved him against the wall as Otto stood between them, shutting him up with a punch to the jaw.
Otto shook out his hand as his fellow protectors hauled the incarcerated SAMCRO rivals out of the empty bathroom, leaving him alone with Chucky who was still lying on the floor. "You okay?" He panted as he lifted him to his feet, chuckling as he stumbled over before falling back onto a silver toilet seat.
"Yeah." The smaller man nodded. "Thanks, Otto." He rested his hands on his knees, blinking as they began to twitch. "Those guys don't give up, huh?" He tried to fight the urge, channelling the energy somewhere other than his digits.
"They never will, Chucky." Otto sighed.
"I'm out of here tomorrow..." Chucky shook his head, the worry temporarily tabling his compulsion.
"Don't worry." Otto nodded. "I'm setting it up."
Chucky breathed a sigh of relief, finally allowing his hand to slip beneath his waistband. "You're a good friend, Otto." He nodded as the pleasure began to soothe his adrenaline-filled nerves, his jaw falling slightly ajar.
Otto shut his eyes as he rubbed his forehead nervously at the uncomfortably familiar sight of the troubled man. "Yeah." He turned away. "Not that good a friend..."
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"How did you even get this thing in here?" Opie grunted as he shifted the mass of furniture that had been tightly packed into the shed, the hot July sun squeezing sweat droplets from his bare back, even at the early hour.
"By myself." Donna snorted from behind him with her hands on her hips as she watched he and Jax struggle in amusement.
"Shit." Jax blinked as the pack 'n play finally broke free, sending him tumbling backwards as a trail of toys followed. "Sorry, sorry." He laughed as he stumbled back towards his best friend's wife. "It looks great." He nodded as he examined the condition of the make-shift crib that he would've forgone altogether, had he not known that they'd needed the money. "How much?"
"Ah, forget it." Opie shook his head, carrying Kenny's hand-me-down to his truck for his friend.
Donna's face fell as the words left her husband's mouth, turning back to Jax who was handing her a roll of cash before she could say anything. "No, Jax-" She began shaking her head before he cut her off.
"Hey." He stopped her. "I'm the one getting the deal." He narrowed his eyes, squeezing her hand knowingly. "Alright." He turned back to Opie. "I'll see you at the fundraiser."
"That Taste of Charming thing?" Donna's brows knit as she followed them down the driveway.
"Yeah." Opie nodded. "I'm doing the fireworks."
"Oh really?" She raised her brows somewhat playfully.
"It's not a club thing, Donna." Opie sighed, missing the humour in her tone.
"Yeah." Jax confirmed as her face fell once again, but with guilt this time - not shame. "My mom started it years ago, it raises money for the school district." He nodded with a friendly smile.
"We'll be there." Opie nodded, not bothering to confirm with his wife until after Jax had fired up his bike and begun the drive to his house. "Come on..." He took a deep breath as he walked towards her, hoping that this wouldn't be another fight... "It'll be fun... Give me some time to hang with the kids." He pressed harder.
"Okay." Donna nodded. "We'll go for a little while." She leaned up to meet his lips where he was already leaning down for a kiss.
"Thanks." He smiled, heading back around the house to repack the shed. "How much did he give ya?" He smirked.
"None of your business." She crooned with a grin.
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"Tell everyone to leave room for the buses." Gemma ordered Luann from across the white and blue tented Sam Crow chili booth where the SAMCRO women had rallied to help Gemma set up for the fundraiser that was to take place the following day.
"Who are we bussing?" The blonde woman inquired as she crossed multiple tasks off of the hefty to-do list that she'd attached to her clipboard.
"Oakdale Assisted Living - seniors are all compulsive gamblers, it triples our raffle dollars." The Matriarch smirked as she filled a block of styrofoam with tiny American flags.
"God bless Social Security." Sydney mused, chuckling with the older women as she stacked plastic cups across the yellow cloth-covered foldout tables.
"Hey..." Gemma lowered her voice as she approached Sydney, nodding from where she stood beside her. "I, uh... Never got to thank you for the other day."
"The club protects their own." She replied with a simple nod of her own.
"You know, sayin' that won't get you a patch any sooner." Gemma smirked knowingly.
"Eh, I figure it's worth a shot." Sydney shrugged with a chuckle.
"Gemma." The two women heard a soft voice, looking up to see a dark-haired woman approaching the booth tentatively.
"Oh, hey, April." Gemma nodded to the woman that Sydney had seen helping set up for the event around the school yard. "I appreciate you comin' to help."
"Yeah..." Her smile faltered. "Can I ask you something?" Her dark eyes fell to a helpless squint.
"What?" Gemma trailed off, this couldn't be good...
"Charlie's band is playing during the fireworks tomorrow night, and he really wants his dad to come..."
"Shit…" Gemma winced. "April, I- I don't think Clay is gonna go for-"
"I know." She sighed. "I would never ask anything like this... Me and you? We understand what went down. But Charlie? He doesn't know. It breaks his heart that his dad can't come to anything around here… No baseball games, no school stuff, no-"
"Alright, alright, alright." Gemma cut off the pleas of the desperate woman who she truly felt for - a rare occurrence. "I'll bring it up to Clay, but I can't promise anything."
"Thank you." April replied sincerely before getting back to work.
"Who was she?" Sydney nodded to the petite woman.
"April Hobart." Gemma chewed her lower lip, disregarding the taste of MAC's Creme D'nude that coated her teeth as she contemplated the fellow mother and former old lady's request.
"Hobart... Hobart like Kyle Hobart?" Sydney's forehead creased, glad for the juicy piece of information that stopped her from backsliding into the same trap that had caught her the first time that she'd seen Gemma show compassion in a way that wasn't self-serving.
"Yeah, that's right..." Gemma furrowed her brows. "You know about Kyle?"
"Yeah, me and Tig saw him at the fair."
"What?" Gemma exclaimed. Now she would definitely put it up for a vote.
"I'm sure that's all you'd need to tell Clay if you don't want him to come?" Sydney raised a brow.
"I don't give a shit if he comes." She scoffed. "They do. He ruined Opie's life."
"Where does she stand on it?" Sydney nodded towards April who was hanging a banner over the chainlink fence across the field that had been packed with blue and red picnic tables.
"Divorced him, stayed in Charming - she stands with the club."
"Damn…" Sydney blinked. "Now that is an old lady." She looked to her mentor knowingly, grateful to find that the trap door appeared to have closed for good.
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"Thanks for bringing this to the club." Jax nodded to Otto gratefully from where he sat beside Clay on the opposite side of the visitor's table at Stockton. "The guys send their best."
"It's all good, man." Otto nodded.
"So who else is lookin' to meet your friend?" Clay narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms, feeling lighter without his kutte that had been left with the guards.
"He's gotta a couple of buddies in Chinatown... They'd love to find him; show him a good time." He chortled.
"If we pick him up and show him a good time first, how grateful is he?"
Otto sat back as he glanced around the room under the black beanie that had been pulled down over his scarred eye. "He'd probably bake you two honey cakes."
Jax looked over at Clay excitedly. Two honey cakes was exactly what they needed...
"You trust him?" Clay nodded to his incarcerated brother.
"Been watching his back for eighteen months... I know him pretty good." The long-haired man nodded. "I trust him."
"Alright." Clay nodded. "We'll show him around."
"Good." Otto nodded, extending his hand. "You make sure my gratitude goes to Luann?"
"Absolutely." Jax confirmed at they each shook his hand before pushing their chairs back.
"Oh..." Otto winced. "Listen... Chuck - he's got a couple of... Issues. It's a nervous tic kind of thing.
"Like tourettes?" Jax scowled.
"Yeah... Sure." Otto chortled.
"Tics, we can deal with." Clay nodded his assurance before making his way towards the exit.
"Yeah... No doubt." Otto laughed to himself once they were out of earshot.
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Gemma stood in the doorway of the garage while the guys worked tirelessly in preparation for tomorrow's short-handed day, making sure that her white button-up was showing the perfect amount of cleavage as Clay and Jax pulled back into the lot.
"Hey, baby." The President nodded as he approached his wife, a grin on his face and pep in his step telling her that she'd made the right choice in waiting to ask him after his prospective meeting with Otto. "You all set for your picnic?" He teased.
"It's a fundraiser." She corrected playfully, turning on her heels as he stalked into the garage right past her.
"Who we raisin' funds for this year?" He asked over his shoulder as he began digging in his tool box.
"Music department at the middle school."
"You are a saint." He mused.
"Don't be an asshole." She pouted as she crossed the pavement, resting her hand on his shoulder as she puffed out her chest.
Clay chuckled deep in his chest, glad that this was what she was most worried about today. "I'm serious..." He trailed off as he turned around to face her, but found him face to face with her tits, instead.
"Yeah, I can tell." She rolled her eyes as he crouched down in front of a dismantled silver Panhead. "Hey, Lowell, you replace this main shaft?"
"Yup." The eager man nodded.
"I, uh..." Gemma began as he ignored her efforts. "I was talking' to April Hobart..." She watched his cautious gaze slowly turn up towards her. "What do you think about lettin' Kyle come tomorrow?"
"I don't think about it." Clay turned back towards the bike. "Opie went to prison because of that asshole. He's excommunicated."
"It's not for Kyle... April stayed in Charming when you stripped his patch, divorced him-"
"She divorced him because he was nailing everything with two sets of lips." He cut her off. "The answer is no."
"His kid's band is playing tomorrow night, his father's never seen him play. It's for April's kids." She rattled off the list of excuses that was nearing its end.
"Jesus." Clay rolled his eyes. "First it's for April, then it's for April's kids."
"Well, I heard from Sydney that he was at the fair... But I didn't want to bother you with that." Her eyes glinted as he perked up. "Maybe if you let him come, it'll scare him into thinking that you're onto him." She shrugged.
"The fair?" He scowled. "And Tig didn't say anything?"
"Probably too distracted." She shrugged. "Oh well, I was just feeling charitable." She dropped her shoulders and pursued her lips. "Thought maybe you'd like the opportunity to do the same thing." She sighed as she made her way back to the office.
Clay grimaced as he felt himself giving in to what she knew would work. "I am very charitable!" He called after her.
"I know, darling." She nodded with mock-innocence, continuing her path.
Clay threw his wrench back into his toolbox. "You know what? I'll put it up for a vote, but it's not gonna pass!"
Gemma smirked as she turned back to face him. "I love you." She winked.
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"Chuck's been cookin' the books for the asian mob, skimmed $400k off of Henry Lin's crew. Otto was keepin' him safe up at Stockton, but he gets out tomorrow. So; we protect him, we pick up the cash, we get him outta Cali." Clay relayed the plan that he and Jax had devised, to the full table.
"We're gonna split the pot with Chucky Boy. Fifty to him, twenty-five to us, and Otto wants his twenty-five to go to Luann." Jax added.
Everybody at the table nodded their understanding, grateful for the timing of this breakthrough when they were so deeplyin need of cash, and now had the feds breathing down their necks.
"Ain't gonna be a cakewalk." Bobby shook his head. "Lin's a dangerous cat, sneaky little bastard..."
"That's why we're gonna work three-man shifts." Clay nodded. "We keep this place locked down. Chuck never leaves the clubhouse, and the garage is open for pickups only."
"Skim is hidden in one of the restaurants that Lin uses as a front. We're gonna keep Chucky here until Sunday, then go pick up the money when the place is closed. Happy's gonna be back later with the Glocks, so we'll bring those to Laroy tomorrow after we scoop up Chuck - good cover."
"Good." Tig tapped the table in agreement, the rest of the men nodding.
"Got anything to add, Princess?" Sydney pursed her lips and shook her head in response to Jax's sneer from across the table - a question that she knew was for the sole purpose of asserting his dominance. Regardless of their ongoing power struggle, she thought it was a good plan - and it was nice to see him and Clay working together on something.
"Good." He pushed his chair back with a smug smile.
"Uh... Wait a minute, wait a minute." Clay put his hand up to halt their departure. "There's, uh... There's one more thing." He sighed, rubbing his forehead regrettably. "April Hobart wants to know if her old man can come to the fundraiser to see his kid's band play." He dropped the bomb in a voice which told Sydney that the idea to put it up for a vote had been all Gemma's.
"You gotta be kiddin'..." Jax raised a brow as everyone turned to Opie for his reaction.
"I know..." Clay sighed. Sydney had been right, it hadn't been his idea at all - but as usual, his wife had found a way to make it his idea.
"That's done brother, that's done." Tig shook his head.
"No, I know, but... You know she took a big hit standin' behind. She supported the club." He tried to reason with a shrug as everyone looked to each other skeptically. "It's for her, not Kyle. I figured I'd throw it up for a vote."
"What? Don't got nothin' to say? No opinion on how we should handle our problem?" Jax egged Sydney on when she stayed silent on the matter, pushing harder and harder for a reaction as his carefully chosen words reminded her of her position; an outsider.
"It's not my beef." She responded simply.
"Where the hell's that attitude been hidin'?" He scoffed.
"What's your problem, man?" Tig squinted as his VP attacked his woman for what he only wished was no reason, but he knew that there was one, and until it came to the surface, he was going to play dumb - just like they wanted.
"Yeah, Jackson." Sydney contorted her face into a sympathetic pout. "What is your problem?" Her brow raised deviously.
"Let him come." Opie announced in an attempt to diffuse the situation, an effective method as Jax's face fell.
"Are you serious?" The VP blinked in disbelief.
"This can't be about gettin' even... Not at the school." Clay scolded.
"It's not about that." Opie confirmed with a sincere nod. "The guy's got nothin', right? No club, no family... It'd do me good to see that, appreciate what I got." He tipped his beer back.
"Anybody opposed?" Clay nodded, pleased with the maturity of one of his younger members - hoping that maybe Jax would take some notes from his lifelong pal.
"Yeah, me!" Tig hollered.
"I don't agree with it." Piney threw his cigarette butt into the ashtray, glaring at his son disappointedly.
"This is wrong." The Sergeant continued.
Clay looked around the table, seeing that nobody else objected to the matter. "Majority rules." He shrugged as he lifted the gavel. "The vote passes, let him come." The echoing of the harsh wood-on-wood was the only sound that cut through the tense atmosphere until Jax piped up again.
"You okay with that, Sydney?" He just didn't know when to fucking stop, she thought, not even when it was at his detriment. "You gonna let us make a decision for our club?"
"Alright, that's enough." Sydney slammed her hands down on the table, pushing her chair back as she stood and pulled her Glock from her waistband, rounding the table to where the VP sat wide-eyed.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Tig began protesting when he saw what she was doing, Clay rising from his seat to stop her before he heard the cocking of her gun and found himself on the other end of it - being forced back into his seat as the feisty woman managed to restrain him without even looking over her shoulder.
"I'm gonna give you one free punch, let's go." She told Jax who rose from his seat as well, harshly staring down at her as he weighed his options. He couldn't believe this girl - exposing him to his own club, holding the President at gunpoint, and then demanding that he hit her? Who the fuck did she think she was?
"I'll keep my promise." She sneered through gritted teeth as the cocky man stayed silent. "You had so much to fucking say before, why so quiet now?" She looked around the table as a smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "Or was the first one enough for you?" She'd adorned his yellow and purple marks like a badge of honor, taunting him with the evidence ever since he'd left it - a message that she wasn't afraid to out him if he pushed her to it, and it was a message that apparently he hadn't received.
"What the hell is she talking about?" Clay's ireful gaze shifted to Jax.
"Nothing." Jax responded quickly as everybody began to ponder her cryptic words. Suggesting that he'd hurt her was one thing, but risking being outed for the Mayans was another, and he had vastly underestimated how far she was willing to go.
Sydney saw the surrender in his eyes, lowering the gun and taking a step back from the VP. "Give us a minute." She demanded to everybody in the room, not breaking eye contact with the blonde man.
Clay looked to Jax who ripped his eyes from her fiery gaze, nodding softly as he took a step back as well. He got to his feet after a moment of hesitation, signalling for everyone to clear out after him.
Tig was the last to stand, unwilling to leave her alone with Jax after what had just transpired, but the glare that he got from Clay told him that it wasn't up for discussion. He sighed, walking stiffly out of the chapel as the previously weathered storm began brewing in his mind once again. He had so many questions - questions that he would've had the answers to if he would've just fucking told her the truth during one of the many perfect opportunities that she'd given him. He knew that this had something to do with Jax trying to get her to lie for him, but he couldn't stop thinking about those damn bruises. She'd laughed them off when he'd finally asked - told him that they were just battle scars from her rough arrest, but something about what she'd said to Jax in front of everyone just didn't sit right.
"I gotta give it to you, Jackson." Sydney began once they were alone. "You're real bold challenging me when I'm the one who knows your damning secrets."
"Could say the same to you." He scoffed back. "Maybe I'll let Tig in on your little date yesterday, I'm sure he'd love to hear about it." He mused with a cocky smirk.
Sydney snorted when he presented her with his leverage - the leverage that she and Tig had laughed about not more than a day ago. But she kept her mouth shut, if thinking that he had dirt on her would stop him from trying to dig up more, then she would let him.
"Glad to see you took that note about laying your hands on me." She looked him up and down before pushing herself away from the table and strutting out the doors.
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After yet another long, whiskey-filled night of trying to ignore whatever was going on between Sydney and Jax while simultaneously trying to forget about his painfully memorable past, Tig had reluctantly ridden along for the pickup of their refugee at Stockton. He and Bobby rode alongside the van, guarding Half-Sack, Clay, and Jax from the potential threat of Henry Lin - which never showed, no matter how anxious Chucky had been that they would. After making the equally uneventful drop to Laroy, they made their way back to the clubhouse to store their prize for an agonizing twenty-four hours that would apparently be filled with babbling, and masturbating.
"You all better be going to that fundraiser." Clay narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger in a scold as Bobby, Tig, Jax, and Half-Sack set off.
"You comin'?" Bobby nodded with a smirk.
"I'd rather have my balls cut off." Clay grinned, eliciting a louder reaction than he'd expected as Tig cackled. "What? What? Too soon for that joke?" He chuckled, nodding to Jax. "Watch Kyle tomorrow, alright? I don't want anything going down at Gemma's gig - especially not with the cops watchin' us. This is a chance to restore some community credit, so keep him away from Ope."
"Aight." Jax nodded, clapping Clay on the shoulder as he followed Tig and Bobby to the bikes before completing the short ride to the middle school where they laughed at Bobby's Elvis outfit the entire way. But the morning of light-hearted humour came to an abrupt end as they pulled into the busy lot at the exact same time as Kyle, watching as he and his much younger girlfriend got out of a lifted silver truck. The Sons glared at their former brother before Jax cut the tension. "Check in with Gemma." He sighed, ushering his companions away so that he could have a real talk with the scumbag who had fucked over his best friend.
"Ah shit." Gemma looked up when Luann nudged her once the bikers finally began trickling in. "You are late!" She scolded as she marched toward them.
"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get this into a helmet?" Bobby defended as he fluffed his Elvis wig, hastily making his way over to the booth where he was due over an hour ago.
"The kids are waiting!" She scolded, almost tripping him.
Sydney chuckled, leaning back against one of the coolers while she and Tig watched the overweight man scurry backwards as the angry woman closed in on him.
"Havin' fun?" Tig turned to face her with a smirk, looking around the booth where Gemma had commissioned her into helping serve her famous Teller chili.
"I am now." She smirked, tiptoeing to kiss him.
Hale was walking across the parking lot to join in on the community event when that familiar white-blonde hair caught his eye, a smile coming to his face as he eyed Sydney behind the Sam Crow booth - but his smile faded as he watched her entangle herself with none other than Tig Trager. He grit his teeth, ignoring the chill that ran through his veins. It was what he should've expected all along, because it was what always happened.
"Is everything okay?" Tig whispered into her hair, running his hands down her sides as she hung off of his shoulders.
"It will be." She nodded.
"Syd…" He sighed. "You can't just-"
"I don't need you to tell me what I can and can't do." She pulled herself from his previously comforting grasp as it began to feel more like a restraint.
Jax winced as he stood in the parking lot, waiting for the coward to finally approach him, when Opie happened to arrive, climbing out of his rusty truck with Donna and his kids in tow.
Donna scowled as she followed Opie's gaze to the middle-aged man with a buzzcut who had his arm around a tiny blonde girl that, for a split second, she thought had been the same one that had cornered her with Gemma at the grocery store. "Isn't that guy SAMCRO?" Her scowl deepened as they both stared longer, realizing that she did recognize somebody from the duo - and apparently Opie did too.
Opie sighed. "Not anymore." He ground his teeth.
"He got out?" Donna asked hopefully. She didn't realize that getting out was an option...
"Sort of." Opie blinked, sensing where this conversation was heading. "Why don't you take the kids. I'll catch up."
"Okay." She nodded, grabbing Kenny and Ellie's hands as she led them towards the field full of games and bouncy castles.
"Harry." Jax grinned to Opie's son - his twin, holding his hand out to the young boy for a high-five as he kissed Donna on the cheek.
"Hey, bro." He gave his friend a sad smile as his family carried on. "She know about Kyle?"
"No." Opie sighed, turning back to face his nemesis. "Kyle looks like he's doing alright." He nodded at the bitter sight that did nothing to wash the salt from his wounds as he'd hoped that it would.
Jax looked between the two sympathetically, clapping the taller man on the shoulder. "Go hang with your family." He walked him amble off to join his family with a nod, making sure that he was out of view before heading over to give Kyle the real rundown on how today was going to play out.
Kyle shrank the second that Jax approached, his blinking becoming rapid as he handed his belongings to his girlfriend. "I'll catch up in a minute baby, alright?"
"Okay." She nodded, scurrying away quickly to set up their foldable chairs in front of the stage.
"No need to say anything, Jackson. I know my boundaries." He held up his hands before the VP could start.
"Yeah, well I'm gonna tell you anyway." Jax scoffed. "You stay away from everyone. When your kid's done playing, you and your teenager climb in your pretty little cage, and drive away, got it?" His fellow brother nodded. "Good." He returned the nod, turning away to finally join the cause.
"Jax, wait..." Kyle sighed. "I have something, for the club..." He walked back up, building his confidence with each step. "This thing fell into my lap, man." He smiled nervously. "I'm making stupid money funnelling stolen parts though my gig over at Sparks Brothers, I wanna hook you guys u-" But he couldn't finish before he felt himself being hauled into Jax's arms by the front of his black zip-up.
Jax was almost glad when the weasel of a man presented him with an opportunity to let out some of the anger that he'd been holding in - slamming him against the wall the same way that he'd done to Sydney. "This why you're here? Huh? Trying to buy us back?" He sneered. "Pull us into one of your bullshit schemes?" He pressed himself against Kyle muchharder than he had Sydney, now that he was free to do so without the guilt.
"It's not bullshit." Kyle narrowed his eyes. "Okay? I wanna share this with you guys..."
Gemma looked up from the money she'd been counting, her eyes squinting in the long distance as she just barely made out Jax holding Kyle against the wall, staring him down until he finally let up.
Jax inhaled sharply as he pulled away under his mother's gaze, looking the traitor up and down in disgust. "Get out of my sight." He spit onto the ground next to his shoes.
Sydney shook her head slowly with a smirk from where she and Tig stood beside Gemma, taunting the VP from afar. Tig watched the silent exchange between the two young blondes, and as much as it made his blood boil, it helped his tortured mind to see that at least their tension was hostile, and not sexual. He kissed her on the cheek protectively, staring Jax down as he did so before making his way over to the Elvis booth in search of some good entertainment to lift his spirits.
Opie made his way over to where Donna and Ellie were sitting on a stack of hay bales with two lemonades in hand, catching Kyle out of the corner of his eye as he and his daughter took first place in the egg toss, eliciting cheers from the thickening crowd.
"Alright, alright." The game-runner looked around as the competitors dispersed. "Who's next."
Opie crouched down, painting a smile on his face as he looked to his daughter. "Wanna try?" He nodded.
Ellie fiddled with her fingers as she avoided his eyes. "I'm not so good at catching." She shrugged.
Donna felt her heart cracking behind her chest as she watched her family struggle, the one thing that she had always told herself that she wouldn't let happen...
"Well..." Opie continued. "Me neither."
"Well if we're both not good at it, then we shouldn't even bother."
Opie blinked. "We could give it a shot? See how it goes?" He pushed for something, some kind of connection with his kids - something that Donna was clearly doing as well as she stroked the long braid at the back of Ellie's head, giving her a nod. "It's okay, sweetie." Opie shook his head. "You can go play with your friends." His daughter practically shot out of her seat. "I gotta go get the fireworks ready." He grumbled to Donna before storming off.
"Hey." Jax greeted his mother as he waltzed into the booth, helping himself to a tortilla chip.
"How are the guys handling Kyle?" Gemma questioned with a raised brow.
"Nothin' to handle." He pursed his lips with a stiff shrug before his teeth cracked the chip in half. "Kyle's dead."
"Looks alive and kicking to me." Sydney responded cheerfully, swiping the half-eaten chip from Jax's hand and popping it into her mouth.
"Your boyfriend comin'?" He asked cryptically, looking down at her with a menacing gaze. She may have had dirt on him, but he had dirt on her, too.
Sydney scanned the crowd for the starry-eyed cop, smirking when her green eyes finally landed on him. "He sure is." She grabbed a bowl of chili and carton of chips before making her way over to him.
"He's not dead to Opie." Gemma lowered her voice as she observed the bearded man watching his enemy in envy from his concealed position behind the booths. Jax turned his attention to where his mother was looking, and she was right... He sighed, touching her shoulder by way of farewell before heading over to his conflicted brother.
"Hi Davy." Sydney greeted the blue-eyed man with a grin. "Figured I'd return the favor." She winked, handing him the disposable containers full of food.
"Thanks." He accepted the meal without making eye contact. "So, you're with Trager..." He stated as he drove a tortilla chip into the bowl of hearty soup that he didn't even think he could stomach.
"You sound disappointed. I didn't make you fall in love with me that fast, did I?" She teased with a smirk.
"What happened?" Hale was grateful to find a quick distraction from her question, nodding to the bruising across her chest that he knew hadn't been there before - because he would've noticed with the amount of times that his eyes had drifted to her cleavage during their breakfast. "Did he do this to you?" His horrified but hopeful eyes finally met hers.
"Are you checking out my rack, Deputy?" She feigned offense, slapping her hand over her heart before dropping the facade with a playful smile. "Unfortunately, Mr. Hale, part of throwing the punches is that you gotta take a few in return."
"You are full of surprises." Was all that he could think to say in his flustered state, looking down at that chili a little more optimistically now.
"I pride myself on it." She winked. "I'll see you around." She squeezed his bicep before returning to her post.
;
"This is a very nice place." Chucky blinked rapidly as he looked around the clubhouse from where he sat at the bar. "Thank you for having me." He nodded to Clay and Piney who ignored him, digging into his pockets for a bill when Half-Sack placed a beer in front of him. "Thanks." He nodded to the prospect.
"It's on the house, man." Half-Sack shook his head.
"Oh." The bald man nodded as he reached for the alcoholic beverage - the first in over a year. "That's very nice of you." He took a sip, inhaling deeply as he savored the flavor on his tongue. "Excellent draft." He nodded his approval.
"So, you uh, really got four-hundred thou stashed away, huh Chucky?" Clay raised his brows from where he sat in his own barstool across from the odd man, loading a fresh clip.
"Four-hundred and sixteen thou." He nodded with pursed lips as his hand slipped inside of his pants.
"Jesus." Piney winced as he witnessed the nervous tic for the first time, looking to Clay who simply sighed.
"Lin was real sloppy with his money - arrogant, wasteful prick." Chucky scoffed. "There was so much of it, too; counterfeiting, prostitution... So I cooked his books for about a year. Skimmed a little hoping that he'd fire me, but nobody noticed, so I kept on skimming." He nodded smugly.
"What'd you get busted for?" Clay asked as he made his way around the bar.
"Lin's lawyer finally caught on. I got scared so I blew the whistle - cut a deal."
"Ah, so you're a thief and a rat." Clay nodded.
Chucky chewed the inside of his lip as his eye twitched. "I accept that." He nodded regrettably, moving his hand even faster along his length.
"The, uh... The hand on the dick, what's the deal?" Clay nodded to his excessively moving crotch as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
Chucky looked down nervously, slowly willing himself to remove his hand from his khakis. "I'm sorry, man." He shook his head as the awkward situation presented itself once again; when he was brought back to a reality that reminded him that others could actually see what he was doing. "I'm sorry. I have this condition, I'm not even aware of it half the time."
"Condition?" Clay raised a brow.
"CMD." Chucky nodded, waiting for the nods of understanding that never came. "Compulsive Masturbation Disorder..." He looked over their faces for a hint of recognition that also didn't come. "I couldn't get the right meds in Stockton, so it's a little out of control right now."
"You know..." Piney nodded understandingly. "I used to have that, and then uh, then I turned thirteen." His hearty laugh barely allowed him to finish the joke as Clay and Half-Sack busted out laughing.
"Well, it's a lot more common than you think." Chucky looked over their unserious faces. "It stems from childhood trauma. I was sexually abused-"
"Hey, Chuck?" Clay cut him off. "I don't give a shit about your childhood trauma. If I see your hand dance in your pants one more time, I'm gonna tie you up, and I'm gonna throw you in a goddamn closet. Are we clear?"
"I accept that." Chucky nodded again.
;
"Yo." Jax called as he made his way over to Opie who pulled his eyes away from Kyle, attempting to conceal what he had been doing by fiddling with various boxes of fireworks, but it was no use. "You bow out of the egg toss?" He nodded, hoping to make what they both knew he'd witnessed, less awkward.
"Yeah..." Ope sighed as he sat himself down on one of the boxes, twirling his brass SAMCRO ring around his finger as his eyes reattached themselves to the bitter sight of Kyle and his daughter. "Yeah, I did." He chewed the inside of his lip. "I wanted the guy to be a miserable, broken piece of shit without SAMCRO..." He sighed. "I'll tell you, I'm having a hard time, man..."
"Here." Jax offered him a cigarette, placing one in his own mouth as Opie lit up before looking out into the school yard to see his family having all of the fun in the world, without him.
"You know..." Opie sighed. "This club means everything to me - the only thing I ever wanted from the time I went here." He scoffed, nodding to the middle school where he and Jax had spent countless days dreaming of what they had right now. "But everything else... Donna, the kids, work... Are all heading in the opposite direction. I just can't hook shit up." He shook his head. "I feel like I'm missing on every front."
Jax felt his heart ache for his best friend, but it was an ache that wasn't nearly as strong as the one that he felt for himself - for his own life, every morning that he woke up with that damn pit in his stomach. "I got no answers." He scoffed. "My family plan is right out of the Sid and Nancy handbook."
"Speaking of Syd..." Opie watched as Jax's eyes naturally drifted to the little blonde girl where she stood among the old ladies of SAMCRO as his expression hardened. "What's going on with that?" The quiet man had been witness to the tension between the reaper royals for weeks, and based on what he saw in church the day before, it was only going to keep getting worse.
"Ah, she's just a mouthy bitch." Jax brushed the question off with a playful smile and shrug of his shoulder.
"And you're not?" Opie retorted with side-eye and a smirk.
"Hey, come on man." He groaned, playfully shoving his friend. "Nah, just not gettin' too comfortable with anything. Tig will dump her once he gets bored, she's just arm candy. You know how he is."
"You think that's all it is?" Opie's forehead creased slightly. He didn't know Tig half as well as he knew some of the other guys - and even that wasn't all that well, but he knew that he'd never seen the curly-haired Sergeant quite like he was with Sydney, with anyone before.
"It's all I can hope for." Jax scoffed, turning his attention back to Kyle who had just been pelted by an egg - struggling to get his sweater off while holding his young daughter.
"You think he's happy?" Opie nodded earnestly.
"I don't know." Jax shook his head. The happiness of a dead man was of no concern to him.
"Okay, hold on." Kyle chuckled as he placed his daughter down to the ground. "I don't wanna get egg on you, sweetheart." He shook his hands out. "Help me out." He nodded to his girlfriend, the little blonde scurrying over and lifting the garments covering his back.
Their faces fell when they saw it; the identifying ink that he had been ordered to blackout after he was exiled, still splashed proudly across his back.
"He still has that tat..." Opie growled.
"Yeah." Jax whipped his half-smoked cigarette into the dirt, standing to walk over and handle the situation before he was stopped by a large hand on his chest.
"This is me." Opie nodded.
"So, how's that new hi-hat I bought you?" Kyle clapped his son on the shoulder as they made their way into the school's gymnasium to retrieve the equipment as they started to set up for their evening performance.
"It's great, dad." Charlie looked over his shoulder with a grin. "Thanks again."
"You got it, buddy." Kyle nodded as he leaned over the freshly polished wood floors, inhaling the musty scent that brought him right back to his childhood, to gym class - where he was the star pupil, of course.
"Um, just grab that box." Charlie nodded to the drum cases.
"I'll grab the heavy one." Kyle nodded, straightening up to see Opie standing in the doorway. "Hey, uh..." He set the cases back down to the ground. "I'll meet you outside, alright? I'll get this guy to help me." He winked convincingly.
Charlie looked between his shrimpy father, and the tall man who rubbed the bridge of his nose, refusing to make eye contact. "O-okay dad." He nodded shakily, making his way out of the gym before flinching when the heavy metal door immediately slammed behind him.
"Hey." Kyle put his hands up as Opie pulled his beanie off and tossed it to the ground. "I've been doing what Jax asked, I'm staying clear of everyone."
"I think you and I need to settle a few things." Opie slid his rings off with no regard for the words that were coming out of the pussy's mouth.
"Yeah... I guess we do." Kyle sighed as he watched the younger man's flannel hit the floor, bracing himself for the punch that he was sure would knock him out cold. "I wanted to come up to Chino to try and explain what happened-" He tried.
"But you didn't." Opie shrugged as he advanced on the shorter man.
"Come on, man." Kyle shook his head. "Coming up on family day didn't feel right, you know? Taking time away from Donna and the ki-"
Sydney watched with a curious crease in her forehead as Jax and Opie stood angrily glaring at Kyle before Opie followed him and his son into the school's gymnasium while Jax walked over to Donna, clearly to keep her distracted - the two women snickering as the VP found himself on the receiving end of a few water-gun-toting kids along the way.
"Hey." Jax laughed as he reached the dark-haired woman who was wearing the first real smile he'd seen in ages. "Little Harry looks like he knows his way around a gun." He raised a brow as he looked at Kenny as he chased down a group of girls with his Super Soaker.
Donna exhaled sharply, looking up at Jax with mock-annoyance, rolling her eyes as a grin came to his face. "I'm kidding." He nudged her shoulder playfully.
She chuckled as she crossed her arms, standing awkwardly next to the man that she used to call a friend, but lately had seen as the enemy. "Thanks for the crib money..." She nodded. "Any little bit helps right now."
"Yeah, I get how rough it is for you guys." He nodded sympathetically as he watched her face fall, cringing as he felt the opportunist that begrudgingly lived deep inside of him, clawing its way up his throat. "I know you always had trouble wrapping your head around the MC life." He sighed as he gave in to his impulses - the impulses that he had undoubtedly inherited from his mother. "But SAMCRO is the only-"
"Your mom's already given me the 'SAMCRO is the glue' speech." Donna cut him off.
"I'm not talking about you and SAMCRO." Jax's lip turned up as the rush of defensiveness coursed through his veins - another piece of his mother that had aided in the years that he had successfully spent as an outlaw, before the pieces of his father had begun to take over. "I'm talking about you and Ope."
"What happens between me and Opie is no one's business." She snarled.
"You're wrong." Jax shook his head. "He's my best pal. I love that guy more than anyone. But I also see what's happening to him, and it scares the shit out of me." He glared down at her. "Opie can't be half in, half out. It'll get him killed, Donna." He blinked as the words tumbled from his subconscious - the words that he hadn't yet been able to understand, for himself. "Trust me." He shook his head.
Donna's lower lip began to tremble as the painfully familiar turmoil swirled behind her blue eyes. "T-then I want him out." She blinked. "That other guy got out - Kyle."
"Kyle was kicked out." Jax scoffed, feeling the cockiness tingling in his tightening jaw as he argued with somebody that he knew he would beat - for once. "You know why? Cause the night Opie got arrested for blowing up that truck yard, Kyle was supposed to be his getaway ride." He seethed as he recounted what had undoubtedly been one of the worst nights of his life. "The asshole panicked when he heard sirens, left Opie behind."
"Opie never said anything!" Donna's voice rose with a mixture of confusion, anger, sadness, and betrayal.
"Because Opie's not a rat!" Jax sneered, taking a step back once he was sure that she'd gotten the message. "Brothers don't turn on each other. He did the time, it's what we do." He softened his expression as he looked down at her where he could see the switch beginning to flip behind her eyes. "Opie will never walk away from the club, we both know that. He's like me; it's all we know, it's in our DNA." He felt it again, the dumping of his subconscious as he spilled every piece of advice that he himself, needed to hear - needed to believe. "And if you keep pulling him in the other direction..." He shook his head slowly.
Sydney watched amusedly as Donna grew angrier and angrier listening to whatever Jax was saying to her - although that didn't say much since Donna seemed to get angry anytime anyone said anything to her, and Jax seemed to piss off anyone that he said anything to.
;
Kyle sighed as he pulled the bloodied towel away from his throbbing nose while Opie leant down to the water fountain that was practically at his knees, the two completely spent, completely battered men looking up to see Jax entering the bathroom with a smirk.
"I see you two have been talking..."
"Yep..." Opie replied in a tone much more chipper than it had been before the long awaited fight. "You seem to be doing alright." He turned back to Kyle. "New truck, nice piece of ass."
"Yeah... I guess." Kyle sighed, looking over the two men that he used to call his brothers. "I miss it, man... I miss it all. I mean, when I had that kutte on, everybody knew who I was..." He smiled nostalgically. "Even if I never met 'em, man - I got instant respect. Now I'm just like every other shithead." He shook his head as he made his way back to the gymnasium.
Jax looked to Opie who gave him a nod before he pulled his black t-shirt over his head, the pair following the dismal man out to where he had sat himself down on top of a pile of blue mats. "You started telling me something earlier..." Jax began. "Stolen parts thing."
"Yeah." Kyle nodded. "I'd love to bring it to the club, let you guys share in the pie." He looked up at Opie. "It's my way of saying sorry."
"We could run it by Clay." Opie nodded after a moment's hesitation.
"Yeah?" Kyle's brow raised.
"Yeah." Jax nodded. "It's kind of a complicated time for us right now, so we should probably do it tonight while you're still in town."
"Yeah. Yeah, absolutely." Kyle nodded eagerly.
"What about your kid's band?" Opie nodded to the pile of instrument cases.
"Oh, hey, it's cool." Kyle swatted the air as he got to his feet. "I can hear him play some other time."
Opie and Jax nodded before sharing a glance as they followed him out. He was still the sleazy, unreliable piece of shit that he had always been.
;
"It's the plum-coloured Volvo." Clay heard over his shoulder as he rifled through the cork board full of jingling keys, nodding to the uptight red-head as he finally spotted them, swiping them off the hook and throwing them down on the desk that was stacked with various orders and repos. He sighed as he leant over the disorderly stack, sifting through them until he concluded that her service sheet wasn't among them. "Paperwork must be in the garage." He blinked behind his sunglasses as he lugged his aging body into the garage as he worked overtime to keep up with Gemma's absence.
The middle-aged woman sighed a phlegmy, displeased sigh as the man who clearly didn't give a shit about professionalism, made his way out of the office - looking around the dingy room with disgust.
"Excuse me?" She looked up to see a short, bald man standing in the doorway. "Have you seen Clay?"
She had no idea who this 'Clay' was, since nobody here seemed bothered enough to wear a uniform, but she assumed that he must be talking about the white-haired man who was severely understaffed as they approached minute four of his absence.
"Yeah." Her almond-shaped fingernails clacked against the keys on her Blackberry. "He's looking for some paperwork." She nodded to the garage.
"Okay." Chucky nodded, oblivious to the fact that his fingers were bunching his light blue polo over the waistline of his khakis. "Hello." He waved as she turned back to her phone, realizing that he had been rude earlier in disregarding a proper greeting for the snazzy looking woman.
She finished typing out her message before she bothered to give the man a response, finally looking up from her screen to see him aggressively tugging at his dick. "Jesus Christ!" She blinked incredulously, shoving her phone to the bottom of her Prada bag and pushing past him as she ran out the door.
"Oh." Chucky looked down, pulling his hand out from his pants. "I'm sorry!" He yelled after her.
"Get the hell away from me!" She screeched, picking up her pace as she heard him behind her.
"No, it's not-" He panted as he ran after her. "It's not sexual! I'm not sick that way!"
Clay scowled as he heard the ruckus, looking up from Tig's messy toolbox to see Chucky running after his bitchy pick-up.
"Get away!" She yelled again.
"Please, please!"
"Chuck!" Clay's voice cut through every plea and protest, stopping the short man in his tracks as she hid behind her car that was surely going to have to be serviced for free. "Jesus Christ." He shook his head as he watched her speed away, but he didn't care about that - he cared about the blue BMW that pulled out after her.
;
"You seen Jax?" Bobby asked as he and Tig approached the booth.
"He's with Ope... Why?" Gemma questioned wearily - knowing that the reason was surely about to piss her off.
"Boss wants us." He held up his burner.
"You got two more hours in that booth." She sighed.
"Sorry, mother." Tig dismissed, nodding for Sydney to follow.
"Jesus Christ, Clay..." Gemma sighed into the warm afternoon air that was beginning to take on a hazy hue as the day came to a close.
"Sucks bein' boss, don't it?" Unser chuckled to his old friend as he approached, holding a half-eaten corndog.
"All that fried shit's gonna kill ya." She narrowed her eyes at his lunch.
"Yeah, cause the cancer's keepin' me fit and spunky." He joked before looking around to make sure there was no one in earshot. "Hey, you okay? After that raid?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She nodded, her attention falling to somebody who may not be fine as she looked up to see Tara making her way through the crowds, stopping dead in her tracks as she stared at the Charming PD booth where the officers wore yellow aprons under the 'Grilling Suspects For Over Fifty Years!' banner. She looked between the little brunette, and her line of sight - her eyes landing on a silver-haired man that she didn't recognize before they returned to Tara who turned and walked away quickly.
"Who's that guy behind the grill?" She pointed across the field at the mystery man who laughed a little too hard as he put on a display with a customer.
Unser looked over his shoulder. "Oh, that's our new best friend." He rolled his eyes. "Agent Kohn - ATF.
"The fed looking into the club is grilling sausages?" She asked incredulously.
"Must be part of his special federal trainin'." He joked. "Good chili." He nodded, holding up his bowl - although he'd already known that Gemma was the best cook in town.
"They're in the gym with Kyle..." Sydney nodded to the school with a weary gaze and she led Tig and Bobby towards where the men emerged - battered and bloody, from the school doors.
"Are we okay here?" Bobby asked with a brow raised as all three men approached, side by side.
"Yeah." Jax nodded confidently, his eyes flicking to see Kyle - who was already on thin ice - taking a peek at Sydney. Tig ripped off his sunglasses, glaring at the light haired man with that threatening blue gaze that he was all too familiar with. "What's up?" Jax asked before the jealous Sergeant could blow their plan.
"We gotta go. Chow mein's ready." Tig nodded to their bikes in the parking lot with a stiff jaw, sliding his sunglasses back on as he ignored Kyle altogether.
"Now?" Jax scowled.
"Yep." The two men nodded, keeping their mouths shut about the sudden change of plans in front of the outsider.
"Alright." Jax turned to Opie and Kyle. "I'll catch you guys back at the clubhouse." He nodded to the pair of enemies who walked off, shoulder to shoulder, as if nothing had ever happened.
"You gonna leave them alone?" Bobby mumbled, side-eyeing Jax as they made their way across the school yard.
"I'll tell you on the way..." Jax watched over his shoulder until Opie had led Kyle far enough away before his attention was stolen by a familiarly unfamiliar face staring at him from the Charming PD booth.
"Jax, who is that guy?" Tig asked when he noticed the staredown that was taking place, but before Jax could answer, his smug-faced distraction brought him crashing directly into yet another problem that he didn't want to deal with right now...
"You tell Clay that I'm pissed off!" Gemma wagged a scolding finger in her son's face as she lifted her hands off of his chest. "It's bad enough that his sorry ass isn't here, now he's taking all my manpower."
"Who's that guy with the cops?" Jax ignored his mother's complaints, nodding to where Kohn continued to watch him as he lifted a blue solo cup to his curled up lips.
"That's your ATF guy."
"That guy was at the hospital the other day watching me with Abel..." A scowl overtook the curious crease in his forehead as he squinted in the sun.
Sydney's heart sank when she heard the words come out of his mouth. Obviously Tara still hadn't told him, and hearing that the man was getting bolder and bolder - hiding in plain sight - only meant that time was running out before someone would get hurt.
"That's dangerous, brother." Tig shook his head.
"Shit..." Gemma placed her hands on her hips.
"Keep an eye on him." Jax nodded. "If he follows us out of here or leaves at any point - you give me a call." He instructed.
"Prepay?" She knew what this meant, letting her gaze linger on the man that she now knew was bad news for two reasons...
"Yeah." Jax nodded. They couldn't take any chances on the record.
"Kyle never blacked out his ink." The VP explained after leading his thoroughly confused entourage over to the bikes "Earlier he was trying to pitch me some stolen parts gig. Ope used the beatdown as a cover to make him think that we're square." He breathed out as quickly as he could in the busy parking lot. "He's good to come to Clay with his offer, but I don't know how we're gonna get him to the garage where we can strip that patch for good. We need-"
"A distraction." Sydney cut him off with that infamously smug smirk.
Jax bit his lip and shook his head before looking to the pavement. "Yeah..." He humourlessy chuckled at his own stupidity for completely setting the stage for her. "That's exactly what we need..."
;
The majority of the club was sat in the van with a vibrating Chucky who had his hands duct taped to the armrests of his seat to keep them out of his pants as Tig drove them to Lin's restaurant where the money was hidden.
"I'm telling you, Clay. We can't go to the restaurant now, everybody's there." He shook his head rapidly.
"Yeah, everybody but us. I'm not sticking around for another day of your hand puppet show." Clay scoffed.
"W-well what's to stop them from calling the cops?" Chucky tried again. "You know, trespassing, vandalism..."
"I'm a little more worried about them calling Lin, than the cops." Jax scoffed.
"None of them have direct contact with them." Chucky responded easily, his voice cracking as a rather violent shiver ripped through his body. "Ugh, is this really necessary?" He tugged at his wrists.
"Yeah." Jax blinked.
Sydney ignored the mindless chatter as she tried to figure out the best way to handle the Kohn situation - the burden that Tara had left on her shoulders. She knew that she needed to warn Jax about the threat that Kohn really posed, but she also knew that he wasn't exactly her biggest fan at the moment, and she worried that if he didn't take her seriously, the consequences of his carelessness could, yet again, land on the entire club.
She blinked a few times as she was pulled from her thoughts by everyone exiting the van, getting ready to move in as they shed their kuttes and readied their weapons.
"You with us?" She heard the soft whisper in her ear, glancing up to see Clay looking down on her with concern.
"Yeah." She shook her head, blinking a few times as she refocused herself.
"Why don't you wait out here, our friends in the Beamer shouldn't be too far behind..."
"Okay." She nodded.
"We'll be ready." Tig confirmed, placing his hand on Sydney's shoulder as they watched their President, Vice President, and liability, barrel into the packed Chinese restaurant. "Baby... You gotta tell me what's goin' on." He turned to Sydney the second that they were alone, keeping his voice low so that the rest of the crew wouldn't hear from the other side of the van. "I can't help you if you don't-"
"I don't need your help." She snapped, her eyes lingering on him as the habitual rush of anger behind them turned to guilt. "I just have a bad feeling about that fed..." She blinked out of his gaze. It wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a lie, either.
"That bad feeling got anything to do with this?" He brushed the back of his hand over her chest.
"No." She recoiled from his touch. "I told you yesterday, I was slammed against a fucking bartop and spent the night in a prison cell - sorry I didn't come out clean and perfect like you wanted." She stormed away, stomping to the opposite side of the van where she squeezed her eyes shut. She hated herself for gaslighting him when all he had done wrong was care, but she knew that telling him where the bruise really came from would only make things worse. Right now, she needed Jax to trust her - not think that her goal was to turn his club against him.
"Our friends in the Beamer are here." Bobby announced from the side door, providing a much-needed distraction as Clay, Jax, and Chucky emerged with the bag of cash.
"Another interested party's been takin' laps in the silver Caddy." Tig nodded to the grey sedan slowly driving past the entrance to the parking lot.
Sydney was impressed - she hadn't noticed shit going on around them while they had been arguing, and she didn't think that he had either. She looked back at him from the other end of the van, cursing herself even harder for pissing him off while he was in full Sergeant mode, looking irresistible in his dark sunglasses and grey flannel - longing for the days when he was more interested in her pussy, than her safety.
"Shit is on..." Jax pulled the gun from the back of his pants.
"Alright, let's go. Jax drives." Clay said calmly, slowly walking backward to the van.
"Oh we're fucked." Sydney scoffed as she climbed in behind Jax as he jumped into the driver's seat, sighing when he revealed that his master plan was to attempt to drive straight out of the lot - quickly being cut off by the blue BMW. Definitely fucked.
"Shit! Hold on." He put the van into reverse, hammering his foot on the gas before trying the other exit which was now blocked by the Cadillac.
"What'd I tell ya?" Sydney shook her head, smiling when Clay looked back at her from the passenger seat with a smirk.
"Sunday would've been so much better!" Chucky whined while Tig held him in place with a wicked grin on his face as chaos ensued - the only time that he felt truly in his element.
Jax rammed the Beamer in an attempt to push it out of the way, but he couldn't get enough speed in the short distance. "Well, that didn't work..." He threw in back into reversed.
"No shit it didn't." Sydney scoffed as he brought the van swinging back again, the men from the smashed Beamer beginning to shoot now that they were trapped with no way out.
Tig grabbed Sydney out of her seat and shoved her to the floorboards, shielding her body from the bullets while everybody else attempted to take cover - Clay diving into the back, and Jax ducking below the steering wheel.
"Shit..." Jax cursed as Lin's men closed in. "What's the plan here, Clay?"
The President looked down into the bag of money that he'd landed on, happening to catch sight of... "Plates?" He held up the currency maker. "These are plates for a twenty..." He grabbed a stack, rubbing the bills between his fingers.
"This shit's counterfeit?" Jax exclaimed to Chucky with a glare.
"All we want is the bag!" They heard from outside the van.
"It's not shit, it's really good." The squirrely man nodded frantically to the pissed off bikers. "These bills will pass anywhere."
"God dammit!" Clay socked him before getting out, holding out the bag as a show of surrender. "I wanna talk to Lin!"
Henry Lin emerged from the Cadillac where Clay quickly cut a deal with him - offering him the money, plates, and Chucky for sixty thousand. Sydney grinned once she realized what her President was doing; capitalizing on the shit situation and milking Lin for as much as he could get to put towards their Irish debt.
"Hey, Chuck!" Clay called.
"Was there ever any real skim money?" Jax interrogated the small man while Tig held him down.
"No." He trembled before Bobby shoved him angrily. "I'm sorry! I needed protection and I figured you guys could still spend the money." Tig and Bobby hauled him out of the van, dragging him over to where Clay stood with Lin - making the hand off despite his desperate pleas for mercy.
Jax watched as the inner conflict swirled in the pit of his stomach - a feeling that he was starting to get more and more used to as he sat in the driver's seat while Chucky was shoved into the Cadillac, begging them to spare his life - oblivious to the fact that, for once, Sydney was sitting behind him with the exact same expression.
They returned to the clubhouse safely where Opie and Kyle were waiting with a very confused Piney - which was obvious by the expression on his face that he'd never cared to mask. Clay rounded the bar, twisting the cap off of a Budweiser while Jax attempted to distract Piney.
"You sure it was the same Beamer that Clay saw out front?" The old man scowled as he ignored Kyle without a second thought.
"No, it was the hand-job police." Jax grinned.
"Clay, good to see you man." Kyle extended his hand with a grateful smile, but the older man ignored the gesture - tossing his bottle cap over his shoulder as he completely turned away from the traitor.
"So, I hear you got an offer that I can't refuse." He rounded the bar with his head down disinterestedly, taking a seat at the table where the former member joined him.
"Somethin' like that." Kyle smiled with a nod.
"Well, I better get back to the fireworks or your mom's gonna be stuffin' gunpowder up my ass." Opie announced once the plan was in motion, looking over his shoulder at Jax as he began walking towards the hallway.
"Yeah, I'm sure we're all on Gemma's shit list by now." Jax chuckled before following him. "Ope." He caught up to the tall man once they were out of view. "You sure you're okay with this?"
"Yeah." He nodded sincerely. "Look, about what I was sayin' earlier... It doesn't mean I don't want this. I'd rather be dead than be that guy."
Sydney scowled as she listened to their conversation from her position around the corner, wondering what exactly it was that Opie had said earlier, and if it was a shared opinion - something that wouldn't have surprised her after witnessing both of their questionable actions over the last few weeks.
"I know." Jax nodded sincerely, nudging his friend down the hallway before giving Sydney her signal.
Sydney listened as Kyle pitched his bullshit scam to Clay who accepted, waiting until they all started drinking in celebration. She peered around the corner as the blonde man took a shot, waltzing out once Clay gave her the nod.
"Hey, Kyle..." The President got his attention, nodding towards the absolute dime of a woman that he'd seen with them at the event earlier, now standing across the room, summoning him over with a smile.
"Oh, man..." Kyle groaned as he freely raked over her perfect body; blonde with big tits - just how he liked them. "You serious?" He looked back at his former superior.
"Hey." Clay smiled with a shrug. "If you're really gonna make me as much money as you say you are, then this is the least I can do."
"She's a good one man." Tig winked. He and the douchebag had always shared in their taste of women.
Kyle grinned, his eyes dilating as he walked towards his prize who took him by the hand and led him outside. "Damn, baby..." He watched as her hips swung in front of him, licking his lips. "They didn't have whores that looked like you when I was around..."
"Is that any way to talk to a lady?" She joked over her shoulder with a flirty smile as she led him to the TM office.
"I just call them like I see them, sweetheart." He shrugged from the doorway before following her inside.
"That usually work with the girls?" She raised a brow as she slowly walked backwards through the door that led to the garage.
"Eh." He shrugged again. "I get by."
"You wanna get by with me?" She narrowed her eyes seductively as she leant against the blue beam of the car lift.
"Hell yeah I do..." His voice dropped as he approached her.
"Mmm, I bet you do..." She slid her hand up his chest, slowly pushing against the taught flesh to turn him around as she reached into the back pocket of her denim shorts, positioning him so that his back was pressed against the lift now. "A lot of boys wanna get by with me..." She leant towards his neck, her breath tickling the sensitive skin.
"I can see why." He shivered, grabbing a handful of her ass and pulling her against him.
"But the thing about me? The thing that makes them all want me?" She ghosted her lips over his neck as she spoke, sliding the back of her hand down his arm. "Is that I don't fuck just anyone. I'm selective."
Kyle smirked as she stroked his ego with the same enthusiasm that he was about to have her stroking his cock with. Tig had been right, she was a good one.
"I could never fuck somebody who would turn on a brother..." She breathed into his ear.
"What?" His face fell once he processed the words that had left her mouth. "What the hell is this?" He pulled away. "Who are you?" He demanded.
"The decoy." She smirked as the clicking of the handcuffs echoed through the empty garage, her eyes trailing down his body and to his wrist that she'd secured to the metal structure.
;
This is still one of my FAVE episodes in the show😩
Song for this chapter
Lydia - Highly Suspect