White Lies

Chapter 18

A few days later...

Happy left the house that morning after giving his girls a kiss but instead of heading right to the clubhouse, he met Clay and Jax on Main Street. They parked a few spots from the Diner and shook hands as they climbed off their bikes.

"So? We meeting him?"

Nodding, Clay pointed to Jax who yanked a DMV photo and clean background check from his cut. "They did most of their work for this guy. Rory ever mention him?"

"She never mentioned work." He said. "Shit here and there about little things but never jobs unless she thought the club needed to know."

"Well, the club would have loved to know about this guy." Clay said coldly as they jaywalked to the opposite side of the street. "Not big time but he's got all those connections."

The three of them strutted into Hanna's to see Darby sitting with a coffee and a smile on his face. "Mornin' boys."

Clay scoffed and rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Waiting until everyone was seated to discuss the situation any further Darby couldn't help but grin seeing the Sons so off guard and surprised by his presence. He had the upper hand for once and he loved it.

"I'm your go between." Darby said matter-of-factly. "Big guy's in San Bernardino and he wasn't sure this was worth his time."

"Not worth his time?" Jax grinned as the waitress brought over their coffees. "One of his most used PI's is in lockup and Roosevelt is sniffing around. That's bad for the big guy."

Darby nodded as he took a sip from his mug. "Parker, right? He's been MIA, we all thought it caught up to him."

"Oh it did," Clay said smugly.

"Not the way we all wanted." From the counter directly across from the table Happy grumbled with annoyance as he watched and listened carefully.

"He's in PC?" Darby asked although he already knew Parker would be kept safe and comfortable for the time being."

"He is and he hasn't said shit yet." Clay raised his hand, his index finger pointed toward the sky as he spoke the last word. "But, that's doesn't mean he won't."

"If he doesn't, it doesn't matter."

"Oh it does." Surprised that he didn't catch the potential for trouble, Jax sat forward. "An old lady used to work with him, Roosevelt was all in her shit the other day. They're pressing and they're digging and they will find something. We need to keep that from happening."

--

Rory smiled bright as she joined Tig at the kitchen table. Happy had been gone for a little bit and she felt perfectly comfortable with inviting Tig over, although he knew what he was walking into, he couldn't say no. Even if Happy did arrive home unexpectedly, it wouldn't even click on his radar that anything was amiss in their meeting.

"I'm not going to play games, Tig."

He leaned back and blew out a huge puff of air. "Good. I already know why I'm here."

"Please, I know something happened, I just don't know what." Her big eyes were watery as she looked across the table at him. "I can't do this, I can't suspect he's cheating and just sit here but if I went through with my instinct and if I ever caught him, I don't trust myself not to hurt him."

"Rory," Tig closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face. "Why don't you talk to him."

"Really?" With a loud, enthusiastic chuckle she shook her head. "We can barely talk about baby names let alone the fact I think he's cheating." When she turned to check on Emma in the back yard Rory felt her heart slowly breaking. "It's the whole pregnancy thing, before he said he was standoffish because he couldn't get me pregnant and now I feel like I gross him out."

"I can tell you one thing, you don't gross him out." Tig laughed a little to himself remembering a passing conversation he and Happy had regarding Rory and her weight. "Hap's one of those guys that probably looks at the pregnancy as some weird fetish thing."

"Stop trying to soften it. I like you and I kind of look at you as a friend, someone I can talk to who, while you're still loyal to Happy, can be a loyal friend to me. I don't have any friends, I tried with the other girls and they're nice but, we don't click."

"He's not cheating on you." Tig said sternly, her words had hit him one by one with emotional force and turned his joking avoidance into something more serious. "Jenna, is one of those chicks, she wants him but he shut it down, she's just licking her wounds."

"I don't believe you." Rory said sadly. "Something is going on."

"Let it go, Ror." Tig now spoke with authority, his biker mentality winning over. "Even if he did or is, you're lucky he's changed for you and your kid."

"Lucky is not the way I'd describe it. You should go, I got shit to do."

Tig nodded and saw himself out but instead of texting Happy he simply jumped on his bike for a ride to clear his own guilty conscience.