The Best of Us

Chapter 10: Old Lady and Old Man

Chibs had been watching the discussion between Clay and Annabelle go down from inside the clubhouse. When Clay came inside and Annabelle headed further into the gym, he knew things hadn't gone well. He decided to give Annabelle some space before going out to check on her, hoping that she might just need a couple of minutes before heading back inside herself. That was almost two hours ago. Chibs grabbed Tig and headed out to the gym towards Annabelle who was still hard out work at the punching bag. She had removed her shirt at some point and now worked only in her leggings and sports bra and her hands were bare, not having her stuff with her to wrap her hands. Both men approached cautiously, not wanting to incur Annabelle's wrath more than was already apparent. 

"Want to move this into the ring, lassie?" 

Annabelle responded, but never ceased her jabbing at the punching bag. 

"Don't have my gloves." 

"Plenty of extras in the dorms." 

"I'm fine, Chibs. I'll be in in a minute." 

"I'm sure you told yourself that two hours ago." 

Tig had remained silent thus far, but he could tell that Annabelle's anger was running deep right now. He gave a Chibs a slight nudge, telling him he'd take it from here. Chibs was hesitant to leave Tig alone with Anna. Most of the time the two got along, but when they did butt heads, things got intense fast. He was afraid that Tig might only make things worse. But still, he could tell that his brother was serious, so he decided to trust him and headed back inside with the rest of the club. 

Tig moved around to the other side of the punching bag, holding it in place while Annabelle continued to release her stress. He knew he needed to tread lightly here, so he did his best to keep his tone neutral. 

"You want to talk about it?" 

"If I wanted to talk, I would have come in to talk. Besides, it's not like I could if I wanted to anyways." 

"So, this is about Kozik then?" 

At the mention of Kozik, Annabelle stopped all movement and felt her body deflate. In truth, she did want to talk to someone about everything; about her relationship with Kozik and her more recent conversation with Clay. But she knew talking wouldn't help anything if everyone agreed with Clay over her. 

"It's nothing new. Just all the shit about no dating any Sons. Same shit as always." 

"Okay, so what has you so pissed this time then?" 

"Doesn't matter. You agree with Clay anyways." 

"Yeah, and I'm not going to apologize for that. He's right Annabelle, you deserve better than one of us." 

"Maybe, but that is my decision to make! And I choose this, I choose this life. And instead of being able to live it out as happily as possible, you'd all rather I spend it either alone, or completely separate from you all. Neither of those sound like fair options to me." 

"Maybe not. But it's for your own good." 

"Yeah, except now I have a taste of the third option that you all are so against. I know you don't like him, but I am so happy with Kozik. Okay, I love you guys and everything that you all have done for me, but I've always wanted a real family of my own." 

"And a Son is the last person to be with if you want that. I mean look at all of us, Anna. Jax and Tara have been through hell, Bobby's kids want nothing to do with them, Chibs is an entire ocean away from his family, and we all know about my track record with my girls. Sons don't have a good rep with having stable families."