"Hi mom," Bella said coldly.
"That's your mom?" Jax asked, his eyebrows high and his eyes wide.
"Yup that's Renee. What do you want?" Bella asked, her heart thumping and everything in her trying to shy away after talking to her mom like that. She was grown now though. Her mom couldn't do anything.
"I raised you to speak better than that to me Isabella!" Renee hissed her eyes sparking with a dangerous malice. Bella balled her hands to stop them from shaking. "Then again, I also raised you not to be a whore. Least this one is patched and alright enough looking. But a prospect? Really?"
"Renee, not that I need to explain myself but I'm not screwing Jax, or the prospect! I'm not a whore."
Jax snickered and she shot him a look.
"This is a celebration tonight. Now what do you want before you bring the whole mood down?" Bella snapped, folding her arms, hands still balled.
Renee's eyes flashed again and she reacted quickly, backhanding Bella hard enough for her to reel and stumble a little.
Years of living with her mom had her instincts ingrained, she automatically cowered away. If she tried to stand up for herself it never ended well.
"Hey! Back the fuck off lady! Now!" Jax yelled in a terrifying voice she had never heard from the Vice President.
"This is between me and my daughter and she still has a few lessons to learn." Renee said with a falsely sweet voice. One that usually promised pain. Renee grabbed Bella by the hair hard, pulling their faces together. "You show some respect and listen. I don't want much. Phil split, I need money and some place to crash for a week or two that's it. And I know you've got money. Charlie left you everything. I want it. Call it compensation for raising you."
Bella moved her face away from her mom's as far as she could, ignoring the stinging in her scalp. Her heart was thumping loudly but her brain was reeling. She could not give Renee a cent. Happy had finally let her in, was going to let her help him out and she was going to need that money to do it. No. She needed that money to be a good Ol' Lady and take care of her man and her future mother in law.
"What's all the shouting for man- Hey what the fuck! Princess!" Tig's voice shattered her petrified state. He was her sponsor, her mentor and he was going to be pissed with this.
"I'm not giving you a cent," Bella said calmly, grabbing Renee's arm and twisting it like she'd been shown, breaking her mothers hold on her hair.
"Isabella!"
Again it was instinct that had Bella flinch away from that tone.
"You stupid little bitch!" Renee roared.
"Who the fuck is this gash? Princess?" Tig asked as the door to the clubhouse opened again and more of the club and the party goers spilled out.
Bella ignored it all. "No! No Renee! I'm not giving you anything! I'm not putting you up and I'm not going to be knocked around by you like I'm a kid again! Leave. While you still can."
"How dare you. You jumped up little tart!"
"I fuckin' wouldn't." A raspy voice, hard and cold like steel, bit out from behind Bella as Renee made to strike her again.
"Well, well, well. Renee. What the hell brings you to our parts?" Georgia's sugary sweet tones rang out as she came to stand next to Bella. Briefly Georgia grabbed Bella's hand and squeezed.
Renee looked Georgia up and down before sneering. "Who the hell are you?"
Bella's spine stiffened. "That's my mom, my dad's wife."
Renee laughed loud and sarcastically. "You can't change who your mother is, baby, and I'm the one that pushed your parasitic body from me over nineteen years ago. I'm the one who grew you, who gave you everything you had growing up. I'm your mommy, not some club whore you met a few months ago."
"You're wrong Renee," Georgia simpered. "You ain't her momma. From some of what I hear, you ain't never been her momma. See a momma is there for her little girl, no matter what. Looks after her kid, makes sure she eats, has fun, isn't beaten for having nightmares."
Bella felt herself freeze from the inside out, she had never told Georgia about the nightmares or how they used to upset Renee. How any interruption to Renee's sleep was not well received. She had never told anyone, so how had Georgia known? Who else knew? God, did the whole club know? Did they all think she was a pathetic cry baby like Renee? This was supposed to be one of the happiest nights of her life and now her mother was here ruining everything again and all her family knew just how feeble she really was. Happy would know she wasn't the strong woman he wanted for an Old Lady, the club wouldn't want someone weak, her dad-
"That little slut tell you that huh? You've known her months, I had to look after her for years. You've no idea how whiny, how annoying that little bitch-"
Renee never finished her rant as Georgia took a swing and laid her out flat.
"Hey honey, why don't you go back in with Hap? Rane and I need to speak with Renee for a minute," Georgia said with a sweet smile and flashing eyes as the woman in question lay on the floor groaning.
Bella hesitated for only a moment until Happy wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her flush with him. "Yeah sure."
"Yo, Quinn, you got this?" Happy rasped, his deep voice rattling through her body.
"Oh yeah Hap, me and Georgia have this. You just take care of our girl," Bella's dad said, his eyes not leaving the woman on the floor.
Happy nodded and then spat on the ground, next to Renee. "Come on Spitfire. Need another drink."
Bella walked back into the clubhouse with Happy, Tig and Jax, not even sparing a glance back. Part of her was grateful for the out, part of her felt like a coward while the rest of her was worrying. Worrying what Happy and the club would now think of her. Worrying what other secrets she no longer had.
"You good Girly?" Happy asked in her ear as he led her back to the bar.
She shook her head having no words right then.
"Don't worry your pops and ma will take care of that bitch," he said with a shrug.
"Yeah don't worry sweetheart, we all got crazy bitches in our family. You and me just happen to call 'em mom," Jax winked at her with a grin, grabbing a beer off the bar. "Only thing I don't get is why she thought you were screwing the prospect."
"What?" Happy asked with a scowl.
"Oh come on man, even I can figure that one out. Look at her top rocker. Not like we ever gave one to a woman before, only bitches who usually wear them are being screwed and even then they only wear them as the only item of clothing when no one else can see," Tig grinned with an eyebrow raised and a lick of his lips.
His lechery cleared for a moment and he went back to being serious for all of a second. He could do it, and well, but it was rare for the Sergeant at Arms. Tig settled a hand on her shoulder. "You can't deal with that bitch out there, we get it. I can't deal with dolls. We come across them, it's all on you Princess."
Bella smiled, feeling a surge of relief and fondness. "Sure thing Tiggy."
She leant into Happy's body and sighed as the two other club members walked away.
"You know, if ya pop's had known about you, especially about that bitch out there, he'd have got ya. Have raised you right," Happy said into her ear as he collected two beers from the bar. Sandy the Croweater barely even looked Happy over now, which she appreciated especially as this was their engagement party and all.
"I know," Bella nodded, taking the offered beer and drinking it down to the label straight off. The thing was she did know too. Her dad and Georgia they'd shown her what it would have been like growing up with them. Birthday's, Christmas, having them listen to her, give her their full attention, be there when she needed them. Tease her, have fun together. Yeah, she knew that Rane and Georgia would have taken her and raised her and she'd have had the childhood she'd fantasized about. However that wasn't what happened, so she saw no need to dwell.
Happy nodded and pulled her closer. "Alright, if it ain't that then I'm clueless. What's wrong? Other than that cunt outside telling everyone she's your mom."
Bella sighed and stepped back a half step so she could see his face. He had let her in earlier. It was her turn. Even if it did terrify her to do it.
"All that stuff Georgia said out there? You knew? About the nightmares and stuff?"
Happy's eyes snapped to hers in realization. "Quinn said some. Not much, just how he thought Renee shouldn't have had you, he should've, little reasons. You say some, don't even realise it's not right. About not eatin' right, or havin' to do bills as a kid. Then other times it's… You have a nightmare, you panic, about waking me up. And I know I don't scare ya. So it's ingrained. Something that happened for a while, when you were younger. Never chatted with anyone else about it though Spitfire. Was just trying to show you it was different with me. No need to worry about waking me or anything."
Bella felt tears jump to her eyes but she refused to spill them, instead she grabbed hold of Happy again and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him softly. He responded instantly. "Thanks," she whispered before kissing him again.
"Woooooo!" Bobby started cheering in the background and suddenly she wasn't a scared little girl, or worried about how her family would feel about her anymore. She was with her man, surrounded by her found family who wouldn't ever let her fall to shit like this, celebrating finally becoming the Old Lady of the man she loved more than anything.
"Happy?" Bella whispered her heart fluttering hard and fast in her chest.
"Yeah?"
"I love you," Bella said, her eyes locking with his. She watched with bated breath as his eyes widened a little before he let out a huff of a laugh and grinned wider than she had ever seen.
"Yeah. I love you too Girly," he rasped and kissed her again. Hard and fast.
0000000000000000
Happy watched his Old Lady with a glint in his eyes. He wasn't ignorant of the fact that Juice, Clay and a few others were going in and out of the clubhouse looking serious and that Juice had been at his laptop a few times. He was however trying to ignore whatever shit his Girly's ma was bringing. Instead he was watching Bella grind on the dancefloor with her two best friends. The porn star and the sweetbutt. It was hot as hell. And the best part, his Spitfire had no idea what she was doing to all the guys here. She had only got eyes for him. Despite the changes in her since moving to Charming, she was still fucking adorable.
"You are one lucky bastard," Tig said, coming over and passing over a fresh beer.
Happy nodded in gratitude and grinned. "Don't I know it." He did too. That feeling, that feeling he had been almost sure was love, his Spitfire had named tonight. She felt it too. Naming it, telling him, it was the last piece of the puzzle falling into place. Yeah he really was one lucky bastard.
Tig and Happy watched the girls for a few songs before Bella tapped out and smiling from ear to ear walked over to the pair.
"Enjoying yourself sweetheart?" Tig asked, a leer to his voice that wasn't in his eyes. Tig might appreciate his Girly's looks but Happy was almost sure he wouldn't actually act on it. Nah, Tig actually cared about the Spitfire despite his usual perverted ways.
"Yeah," Bella beamed, wrapping her slightly sweaty body around Happy, her head on his chest, her arms around his waist. Happy smiled down at her before putting his free hand around her waist.
"Oh you two are disgusting. Seriously, we're happy for you and everything but this whole thing," he gestured at the pair of them with his beer. "It needs to not be so… sweet. It ain't right. Happy the stone cold killer and the action movie bitch all sugary. Nah, it ain't right."
Happy smirked. "Jealous Trager?"
"Very."
Bella laughed but cut off as soon as it came.
BANG. BANG.
Screams from the girls ripped the air. Not from his Spitfire though. She grabbed onto Tig's arm and his.
"Yo, Princess, wrong way!" Tig yelled as she started dragging them towards the dorms rather than out front where the sounds of gunshots had come from. "We go towards that shit!"
"I know! Lyla! Get the girls into the kitchen and stay there! We're going to go around back and come in from behind, there'll be plenty out front," Bella explained. Smart bitch.
"You think it's to do with your mom?" Tig asked as they ran towards the fire exit by the dorms.
"I hope not," Bella said.
Happy squeezed her hand before dropping it so he could pull his piece. He went to tell her to do the same while everything in him wanted her to go back into the kitchen with the other women and Old Ladies. He knew she'd fight him though and he didn't know if they had time for that shit. Their brothers were out there and might need their help.
They edged around the side of the building and Happy instantly saw the problem.
Renee was standing in front of the rest of the club, two men either side of her that Happy had never seen, both holding guns up.
Quinn was backing Georgia up towards the clubhouse but the woman was trying to fight him. If it weren't already well documented Happy would swear up and down that Georgia was Bella's biological mother. They were two peas in a pod. He knew if he'd been in that situation Bella would also be fighting him every step of the way. Which was why he didn't even bother arguing. He'd just watch her ass as well as his own. He'd never let anything happen to her while there was breath in his body and he knew Tig would take a bullet for her too.
With facial expressions and head nods the three of them darted into the shadows and jogged around.
Happy's heart was starting to beat hard as the three of them came out of the shadows and ran behind the three aggressors in a crouch. If one of them turned around too soon they'd be under fire with nowhere to hide. He wasn't scared for himself, this was the shit he loved. Nah, he was scared for his Spitfire who's eyes were flashing with anger, her body coiled and ready to take her own mom out for the club. Even if they got out of this without taking a slug she was gonna suffer in one way or another.
Together Tig, Happy and Bella pulled their guns and pressed them to the back of the fucking idiots heads. Happy had the biggest guy, Tig the other guy and Bella her mom.
"Put the fucking guns down!" Happy bellowed, ready to pull his trigger if the guy so much as twitched. "I will kill you. Dead."
"Put it on the floor motherfucker!" Tig yelled.
When the two stooges' guns were on the floor Happy glanced at Bella. Her eyes were set, her hand steady, her gun hadn't waivered an inch.
"You got a gun. Or a knife?" She asked in a cold steely tone.
"N… No. Bella, baby, put it down. Please," Renee whispered, her voice quivering.
Bella ignored her. "You sure you haven't got a weapon?"
"I haven't. I swear."
Bella nodded then straight up pistol whipped her mom so she slumped to the ground. Down but not out. Not hard enough so that the bitch wasn't conscious.
"Is everyone okay?" Tig asked, looking out at the Sons who were all in front of them, guns out. Georgia was also still present and looking out from behind Quinn.
"We're all good. Smart thinking, going behind," Clay nodded at them.
"All princess," Tig grinned. "What you want to do with these fucking idiots?" He shoved his gun harder into his man's head.
"Shit!"
Happy looked at what Jax was yelling at.
Renee had picked up one of the dropped guns and was pointing it directly at Bella. He loaded a round and pointed his gun at his Old Ladies ma. He had no doubts, no hesitation he would drop her.
"Put the gun down," Bella said, sounding like she had no fear.
"I want my damn money," Renee said, her eyes cold and dead. Nothing in them, no love for her daughter, no affection. Nothing.
"No. And shooting me won't get you it. You're not my next of kin anymore. If you think for one second you'll walk out of here if you shoot me then you're an idiot. There's nothing here for you Renee but pain. Put it down. Walk away. It's the only deal you'll get. There's seven guns pointed at your head right now and not one of them will hesitate. You're two… friends are unarmed. You're done."
"I need that money," Renee was shaking now, Happy's finger curled around the trigger, his heart was hammering. She was getting emotional, all it would take would be one slip and his Girly would be hit.
"Last chance. You gotta take it Renee. I'm not giving you money. I don't have it. I bought a house, brought a bike, and lived off it until I got a job. There's no money to have. I've got less than a grand in savings and five hundred in my checking. I'm not giving it to you."
Happy's gun didn't so much as twitch but his eyes darted to his Girly. Her cheeks were a dull red which Renee wouldn't be able to see from her vantage point, any hesitation could be put down to being frightened. Happy knew better though, she was lying. Talking bullshit, but she was pulling it off purely because of the situation they were in.
"You can't have. I need this! I need it!"
Happy shared a glance with Tig. This shit needed to end. Now.
Bella moved closer to him, her eyes darting to Tig and then back to her mom. She moved slightly again and again all while talking. She was edging around .
"Get a job. Leave here, get a job. Go back to teaching, you made good money doing that. Rent a small place and save. Get alimony off Phil, you were married for a few years, you should be entitled to something," Bella was saying softly. Having moved slowly but steadily so that Renee almost had her back to Tig now.
Tig nodded at her and Happy braced himself to drag his woman to the floor or take out her mom.
"I…" Renee's gun shook and tears jumped to her eyes. "I never wanted things to be like this Bella. Never. I wanted to be better than my mom… But look here I am.." She moved the gun a little as though to emphasize her point. "I… I'll leave…"
Happy saw Bella's shoulders relax the smallest amount, but she didn't stop moving.
"Just… Give me what's in your savings. Give me that and I'll go baby."
Bella shook her head before looking at Tig.
Tig moved in an instant. His hands forced the gun up away from Bella and everyone else. He kicked the woman's arm viciously making her give up the piece.
"It's over Renee," Bella said lowering her gun, her voice was still strong but Happy could see the shake in her arms. "What do you want to do with her, Clay?"
Happy also glanced at the prez. Something like this would normally warrant a beating before being taken far away and dumped. He guessed that's what would happen to the men Renee had dragged along with her. Renee was a special case though, she was a woman for one, she was Girly's ma and she had a lot to answer for from Quinn.
Clay sighed loudly and pulled a large hand through his silver hair. He turned his head to where Quinn was still pushing Georgia towards the cubhouse. The woman had been fighting the entire time and Happy was sure Quinn was gonna be covered in bruises and scratch marks. "Your circus man, your choice."
Quinn nodded, he looked towards Bella then at the bitch on the floor. "Georgia and me'll see her to SEATAC and make sure she gets on a plane. She comes back… I'll tell her the consequences."
"And those two donkeys?" Tig asked, nodding at the men on the floor.
"Fuck 'em up, dump 'em," Clay shrugged.
Tig smiled widely and looked at Happy, silently asking him to join him on his job. Happy grinned. "Oh yes I will."
Happy turned to his Spitfire, "go back in Girly, I won't be long."
Bella smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.
"C'mon Bells, we'll keep you busy till your man comes back!" Juice yelled over.
"It's my day off!" Bella's smile was more genuine this time.
"I meant with the party but if you wanna work…"
Bella laughed and shook her head before turning to Happy. "Be back soon. Have fun babe."
0101010101
Tig sat at the bar drinking some strong black coffee his prospect had made, her and the killer were sitting drinking their own coffees, disgustingly wrapped around each other and getting ready to leave for Happy's ma. Despite it being her day off she was good at shit like that, making sure the club had everything they'd need before she split. He didn't see how she wouldn't be a fully patched member before the end of the year. She was loyal, a real sweetheart, hot as hell, could think on her feet and more importantly she could kick ass without batting an eye.
He glanced around the clubhouse where half dressed skanks were passed out, some of his brothers tangled with them, hangarounds with others. It had been a damn good party. And he didn't have to clean this shithole up. Life was pretty fucking good he thought with a wink towards the two ladies he'd had the attentions of the night before. Both of them had been blinding drunk. Which had made them more susceptible to his ideas. He'd loved every minute.
"Alright Tig?" Bobby grunted out coming to sit next to him and holding out a mug toward the coffee pot.
"Yeah, you?" Tig grunted, filling the other man's mug up. Last he'd seen Bobby the night before he'd been eating pussy at one of the couches. Bobby was a fiend for that. Tig could take it or leave it, he preferred being balls deep in something or someone.
"Sure," Bobby replied, still looking drunk for the night before. "This is good coffee. Bells make it?"
"Well it wasn't me," Tig scoffed.
"No shit," Bobby chuckled, his hair everywhere, his stomach straining his shirt as usual.
They sat drinking their coffee in silence for a while before Bobby broke it. "Those two look alright, I don't remember seeing 'em after Georgia dragged that bitch off by her hair." He nodded towards the love birds.
"No one saw 'em. Sure as shit heard them when I took Vicky and Emily back to my room though. Happy is one lucky bastard," Tig leered. The Princess was a screamer alright and apparently her Killa had stamina. He managed to drown them out with his girls for the night though. Happy wasn't the only lucky fucker. Pun very much intended.
Tig looked over his shoulder as he heard the door to the clubhouse open and slam close. Standing in the doorway looking at the carnage was Unser. Fuck. One of those douchebags must have gone to the cops. And if that were the case Happy and him were screwed, unless the guys could be persuaded they actually had a fall rather than two shades of shit kicked outta them. If they couldn't be Hap and him would be back in Chino for a stretch.
"Chief!" Jax called jovally as he walked into the room looking less hungover than the rest of them. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Jax," Unser nodded at the VP. "Is Clay here? Only we got a report of gunshots coming from here last night, got to check it out."
"Yeah. Prospect, go get Clay," Jax said, looking all the world as if he wasn't bothered by the report.
Tig let out a little breath and caught the eye of Happy who looked to be doing the same. They were off the hook. For now.
Bella stood and went to leave, to get Clay he guessed. He nodded, she was a damn good prospect. Never complained about shit, just got on and did it all.
"I meant the other one, where is he anyway?" Jax looked around.
Half-Sac wasn't anywhere to be seen. Outside of his working hours he never was anymore. Tig was more than glad he hadn't sponsored that shit show. His prospect was always there. Always put the work in. Was always up for fucking someone up. Yeah, he got the better one for sure.
"It's fine. I'll go get Clay. There's coffee on the bar if Bobby and Tiggy haven't drunk it all. Help yourself as well Chief Unser," Bella said before striding back to the dorm rooms.
"Thanks!" Unser called and Tig poured him a cup. Might as well make the old cop sweet. He'd make whatever bullshit Clay came out with official anyway.
Bella came back in quickly, her face scarlet and refusing to meet anyone's eyes. She'd obviously caught Clay and Gemma getting some morning delight. It'd happened to everyone at one stage or another. Kid was gonna have to get over it. Didn't think she'd be so prudish after fucking the Killa for months, from what he'd heard Happy could get real kinky.
"He'll be here in a moment," she squeaked out before sitting back down next to Hap.
"Thank ya sweetheart," Unser said warmly.
They weren't waiting long for the Prez. He sauntered into the room and didn't bat an eye at the mass amounts of people passed out.
"Unser, early to be here. What can we help you with?"
"We got reports about gunshots here last night. Came to ask you about that and to make sure everything was alright," Unser said.
"We're all good as you can see. Or at least all uninjured. Think some of these people are gonna have a killer head," Clay smiled an oily smile that Tig admired and wished he could emulate. However he just looked like the perv he was when he tried. That worked as well though, managed to freak people out and he loved doing that shit. "We were racing, using guns to start us off. Just around the lot, nothing sinister for you to worry about. Though next time we'll just go for one of the girls waving a rag or something. Sorry to have wasted your time."
Unser sighed, obviously not believing the lie but going with it as they all knew he would do.
"Clay, we gotta book. My ma's being transferred now, Spitfire told her we'd be there," Happy said, standing up and pulling Bella to her feet with him.
"Yeah, alright. See you two tomorrow, you let us know if your ma needs anything. And congratulations again, we love you," Clay said sincerely. He put his coffee on the bar and hugged first Happy and then Bella, both of whom hugged him back.
"Congratulations?" Unser asked.
"Happy and Bella got engaged, last night was our party for them," Clay explained.
"Congratulations you two, I hope you're very happy," Unser said.
"Thank you," Happy said and gave a small upturn of his lips.
"Yeah, thanks. See ya later guys, bye Chief Unser," Bella smiled at them all, taking Happy's hand as he led them out of the clubhouse. Happy nodded at Unser as they passed.
"They seem like a nice couple," Unser said innocently as the door shut behind the pair.
Clay choked on his coffee as Tig and Bobby just stared at the man who should've retired a long time ago if that was his instinct.
Happy was a stone cold killer. A psychopath. Bella was not much better. She'd pistol whipped her own mom and held her at gunpoint. That girl was one day gonna be as scary as her fiance.