6

Chapter 629 Teacher on a Field Trip with Drunks

"

It was going to be a long horrible night, Scarlett thought as she looked at the guys. They were at the clubhouse and by the way they were swaying and grinning, it was obvious they were all drunk. If they had only taken their pain meds, they would be calm and relaxed instead of boisterous. She wanted to suggest they take their pain meds, but given they had been drinking, she was afraid they would overdose and that would make for a worse problem.

They piled into the van. No one had on their cuts since they were following Jax's orders about downplaying their club affiliation. The cops hadn't caught on and it seemed as though their massive highway crash was going to go down as another hit and run that would go unsolved.

Clay had fallen and re-injured himself, so he was going back into surgery to repair the damage. It wasn't a life threatening surgery, so the guys' rowdy mood wasn't misplaced. Gemma needed the support of the MC and it was protocol for them to go to the hospital when a member was having surgery.

Scarlett was glad Clay wasn't in a life threatening condition because dying in a hospital was too peaceful a death for him. He not only killed her mother, he also killed JT. Jax would make him pay for that, Scarlett had no doubt about that. She wondered how Jax would react if he learned the truth—that JT wasn't his father—Clay was. She was never going to find out because there were some secrets that were forever and that was one of them.

The secret of Jax's parentage could destroy their relationship. He might turn to Clay and embrace the worst of his nature. She did worry that Jax might have too much of Clay in him and at his core might be as evil as his father. She hadn't seen any evidence of that so far, but it didn't mean she could relax and quit looking.

"Let's sing," Tig suggested. "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall or Row Row Row Your Boat?"

Scarlett rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"No, Those songs will get stuck in my head. There will be no bottles of beer on a wall or rowing of boats," Scarlett said firmly. Jax chuckled at Scarlett's tone of voice.

"Just a couple of verses," Juice pleaded.

"No."

"You heard her," Jax said from the van's front passenger's seat ending all further discussions about group singing. "I can't stand those damned songs either," Jax said softly to Scarlett.

"We could play that car bingo game. Saw it in a movie," Kozik suggested.

"Don't you have to have cards or something so you know what to find?" Juice asked.

"Yeah," Kozik replied, "I didn't think of that."

"I'll turn the radio up," Scarlett said trying to divert their attention. They had been so much better behaved when she drove them back from the hospital, but they had taken their pain meds.

"I spy with my little eye something that begins with a "D"," Kozik said trying again to inject some fun into the trip.

"A douche," Tig guessed and the rest of the guys roared with laughter.

"Who's the douche?" Happy demanded.

"The guy that said douche," Bobby said.

"Tig's a douche," Happy sang.

There was a skirmish among the men. Jax just looked back at his brothers and shook his head.

"I owe you big for doing this," Jax said to Scarlett.

"You should take me somewhere after your ribs get healed. Maybe Hawaii or at least Catalina."

"After tonight, you deserve Hawaii," Jax said eying his brothers who were trying to thumb wrestle. "It could be worse. They could be trying to play poker without cards. That always leads to fights."

"How do they do that?" Scarlett asked.

"That's why there are fights. When they get this drunk; it gets crazy. Add women into the mix and you do not want to be there."

Scarlett laughed. She could just imagine the drunken fights and the women. She was glad that she'd never seen Jax in drunk partying with girls mode. It was bad enough knowing about his colorful past.

"Hey, Bobby, I dare you to moon a car," Chibs said.

"You'll scar them for life," Juice said.

"A man's got to do what a man's got to do when he's been challenged," Bobby said.

Scarlett looked back in alarm as she saw Bobby begin to unzip his jeans.

"Don't you dare!" Scarlett said raising her voice. "No mooning anyone. Bobby, you leave your zipper alone, right this minute."

"It's really funny when he moons people," Chibs said. "The looks they give him."

"Fortunately, that happens only when he's in a vehicle and drunk, so it doesn't happen too often," Jax said.

"Can't think of a way to do it on my bike or I would," Bobby explained. He began fumbling with his zipper again.

"If you moon anyone, I'll stop the van and leave all of you by the side of the road for not stopping him. I will not put up with that kind of behavior in my van."

Old ladies were expected to do as they were told, but old ladies of the president and vice-president had more leeway in that area. They were expected to look after the guys when necessary and sometimes act as a surrogate mother or big sister. Jax's silence was all the support Scarlett needed to have the guys obey her.

"I don't feel so good," Bobby said.

Bobby was the puker in the bunch. After all the years of partying, he still hadn't learned to hold his liquor.

"Scars, you might want to pull over," Jax suggested.

As Scarlett began to change lanes, the guys erupted in laughter.

"Just kidding," Bobby said.

"I will take you on an all expense paid trip to Hawaii," Jax whispered.

"I feel like a teacher on a field trip with drunks."

"That's pretty accurate," Jax said with a laugh, "only problem is you can't threaten to expel them or put a black mark on their permanent record."

"Even if they were in school, I don't think that threat would have worked," Scarlett said to Jax. "OK, very funny Bobby. You are on thin ice with me. If you throw up in my van, aim for Sack. He's a prospect."

"Oh, come on, Scarlett," Sack protested.

"Shut up, prospect," Chibs said. "You'll be puked on and like it if that's what Bobby does."

"Why don't you sing the Twelve Days of Christmas?" Scarlett suggested. She needed to give them something to do.

"It isn't very close to Christmas," Juice complained.

"I like that song," Happy said. "I want to sing it."

After some discussion the guys began to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas, but after the third day, there were heated arguments over the order of the gifts leading to some shoving and pushing.

"Juice, get your phone out and look up the lyrics and straighten this out," Scarlett said.

"If you learn to ride a bike, I might be willing to make a case for you patching in to SAMCRO. You are damned good at handling the guys." Jax said as the guys began again to sing.

"No thanks. I'll leave the outlawing to you."

Jax leaned close to Scarlett, suppressing a groan as the movement pulled his ribs, and whispered softly in her ear. "You're an outlaw too. You just don't ride a bike."

"Most outlaws don't ride bikes. They wear suits," Scarlett said grinning.

With the guys settled into a useful activity, the rest of the ride passed uneventfully. No one pretended to vomit, there were no more fights and there was no more talk of mooning anyone.

Everyone tumbled out of the van when they got to the hospital.

"OK, you have to behave. I don't want anyone to get arrested for being drunk in public," Jax told them.

"Drunk in public arrest," Happy said, his eyes shining brightly. "Jail fights, yay!"

"Watch him," Jax said to Sack pointing at Happy. "I don't want to have to bail anyone out tonight."

"Let's go to a bar and get in some fights," Happy said.

"You have a broken arm," Scarlett pointed out.

"Use it as a weapon," Happy said.

"OK, we're not going to a bar. You're injured," Jax said sternly to Happy. "You are all going to behave or I'll have Sack and Scarlett kick your asses and you do not want to mess with Scarlett."

Piney and Opie were spared the trip to the hospital. They were at the cabin with Donna and the kids. Later Juice would fill them in on the van trip fun and Clay's condition.

Gemma was in the surgical waiting room when they arrived.

"How's he doing?" Jax asked.

Scarlett marveled at how Jax managed to sound like he actually was concerned for Clay. Or maybe, he didn't want Clay to have an easy death either.

"He just got out of surgery. The operation went well. He was going to get released tomorrow but that's been delayed. He probably won't get out until Friday. He won't be at church. He needs to rest."

"I'll manage," Jax said.

"Well, there's no point in sticking around," Gemma said. "I saw him and he's heavily sedated and they are restricting his visitors. It was nice that you came though." She avoided looking at Scarlett.

"Are you leaving then?" Chibs asked.

"No point in just sitting here," Gemma said getting to her feet. "Who wants to ride back with me?"

The guys exchanged looks, but no one volunteered.

"Juice, don't you want to talk to me about your new girlfriend?"

"Don't have her anymore," Juice mumbled.

"Well, you can tell me everything."

Jax nodded almost imperceptibly at Juice.

"Sure, I'll go with you," Juice said with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm.

After Juice and Gemma left the guys snickered.

"Poor Juicy boy," Chibs said.

"You mean Gemma's worse than me?" Scarlett asked.

"Oh, yeah," Bobby said. "You're actually a lot of fun."

"What song should we sing on the way back?" Happy asked.

"How about we play a game? We'll have a contest to see who can be quiet longest," Scarlett suggested.

"My mother used to try that," Tig said. "It never worked, but nice try."

"Just think of Hawaii," Jax said.

The guys piled back into the van and Scarlett began the hour drive back to Charming.

"How about instead of beer on the wall, we make it joints on the wall?" Tig suggested.

"No," Scarlett said. "I am definitely collecting on that trip to Hawaii," she said to Jax.

"I was hoping to renegotiate for Catalina."

"No way," she said as the guys began singing an obscene version of the 12 Days of Christmas involving strippers, porn stars, magic mushrooms, guns and sex toys.

Author's Note: I am taking a break of a week or two from this story because I'm writing a new Christmas chapter for Taming Ava and I am doing a rewrite and adding new material for Happy's Christmas story that will be posted as a new story and I'm going to repost my two MVeneer Christmas stories with new epilogues for them. I've got a lot of writing to do that will take me away from this story because I'd like to post all the Christmas stories together.