Angel Amongst the Reapers :||: Angel Chronicles #1

89) We'll Have To Change That

Hayley McFarland as Brooke Putner

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Mia
A steady, rhythmic thump flowed into my ears. The light through the drawn curtains slowly got brighter, signalling the day would not wait for me. Still, I made no move to get up.

My fingers trailed over his toned, tattooed chest, muscles flexing beneath my touch. Ringed fingers delicately ran over my bare form, lazily trailing from just under my breast to the rise of my hip and back. Neither of us had spoken but we'd both been awake for a while.

My fingers did not halt in their journey across his torso, my naked body sprawled halfway across it, my ear against his heart, listening to the comforting beat. Thud... Thud... Thud...

Every morning we would wake like this, silent and sullen. We would dress wordlessly and join the others, pretending to be ready to start the day. But this morning was different.

"Jax gets out today."

Happy hummed in response.

Flattening my palm, I placed a kiss over his heart and sat up, his hands falling away from my hip. Stretching and patting down my wild hair, I could feel his dark eyes watching me. He didn't make a move as I started to dress, pulling on the black lace panties I'd worn the day before and the black jeans too. The shirt was toast though, from where Happy had ripped it in his haste to remove it from my body.

I moved to his dresser. "Can I borrow a shirt? I'll give it back."

He grunted and I took that as a 'yes'. "We should talk, angel." His deep, raspy voice, rough from sleep did things to me I could just not handle being distracted by this morning.

"Talk?" I pulled out a navy SAMCRO shirt and chucked it on, bunching up one corner of it and twisting it into a knot. "About what?"

At his silence, I turned. His eyes darted away from my face and I froze. Oh. Hap must have seen the clarity, or horror, on my face and asked something else instead. "How is it you got Jax out again?"

I roughly ran the comb I'd stashed here during the weeks we'd been doing this, whatever this is. "I went to Patterson and asked."

More like begged, I had gone to Patterson and begged she let Jax out. What I had said was true, I couldn't deal with everything that was going on, both within and out of the club, alone. But now that his release day had finally arrived, I couldn't tell if I wanted to throw up or drive to County to pick him up myself.

I shrugged on my kutte, Hap finally stirring from the sheets. "The boys are dealing with T.O.'s drama."

"Yeah," I nodded, Chibs had sent me a text late last night letting me know a handful of the boys would handle it.

"Come on," I cleared my throat, fluffing my hair in the small mirror on his dresser. "Let's go." Get this shit over with.

...

Everyone's bikes were lined up opposite the street as Hap and I pulled in, backing our bikes into their spaces. He flanked me as we walked across the street, lighting a cigarette. I shook my head, looking up and catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked pale and raggedy, jeans trying to cling to hips that had dropped weight too quickly over the past two months. Fuck.

Chucky held open the door for me, grimacing with nerves as I approached. "Good morning."

"It's certainly morning," I said under my breath as I passed. Hap chucked the cigarette and came in behind me.

Jax stood in the centre of the room, a relaxed grin on his face, his arm around his eldest's shoulders. The room paused as I stopped in the doorway and then Chibs was hollering for everyone to get upstairs. The Scotsman kissed my cheek on the way past, his eyes lingering on Happy, then me. He and I had been working closely together these past few months and he'd been nothing but supportive of my plays to try and control the brewing gang war in Oakland. Neither one of us had mentioned the sad truth of why our friendship had grown.