You Are My Sunshine

Chapter 72 - Not Out of the Woods

"May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of His hand." - Traditional Irish Blessing

When Jax awoke the next morning, alone, he flew out of bed and grabbed his gun as he charged for the door. Before he could even step outside he heard Amelia's laugh through the window and instantly relaxed. Peeking out he saw her and Mae sitting together, Alice babbling happily in Mae's arms, while Opie was brooding down the way.

"Morning girls," Jax said with a sweet smile as he kissed each of them on the cheek before hurrying down to meet with Opie. "What's going on?"

"We gotta tell my old man," he grumbled. "I'm not taking that shit alone though so let's go."

"What about Meely?" Jax asked, shoving his gun in his wrinkled jeans.

"She won't even look at me," he grumbled.

"Yeah, she's pissed," Jax looked back at them before Opie knocked on Piney's door at the end of the long row of room.

"Come in," Piney shouted as the door opened. Opie and Jax entered the room, fully expecting an unholy amount of anger but they were greeted by something much worse. "Is she okay?" Piney asked, a gun trained on him as he sat with his back against the headboard.

"What's go-" Jax was silenced by three more men with guns, one pressing the barrel on his weapon against Jax's chest.

Opie too had a gun digging into his ribs as they were ordered to sit at the tiny table a few feet from the bed. "The girls are fine, Pop," Opie grumbled. "Pissed but fine."

"There's two more then the girls," one Irishman said to the others.

"You're not going to touch those girls," Piney roared, his voice raspy and deep.

The tallest Irishman chuckled. "Galen wants them."

The whispered between them for a moment before the tallest man added, "He wants his daughter and grandchild, the other one doesn't matter."

For a moment Opie felt some relief but it was short lived when he realized that meant they could shoot Mae in the head just as easily as let her go free. "I'm not really a fan of foreplay, boys," Jax said smugly. "Let's get this show started, call Galen, and end this."

The men shrugged and three slipped out of the motel room, guns raised, only to return with a sleepy looking Juice and Happy, and a terrified Amelia, Mae and Alice. It felt wrong to essentially ask them to bring the others but that was the point of it all and prolonging the wait seemed foolish.

"Bring the van, we have em'."

--

When they were taken back they were split up. Amelia, Mae and Alice went into one room, Happy and Juice into another while Piney, Opie and Jax were taken down a long corridor to find Galen waiting for them.

"I really can't be all that angry with you," he said to Jax and Opie. "Those girls got out on their own, they didn't need you to come for them, but you," his eyes fell on Piney. "You, I'm very angry with."

It was clearly physically painful for Piney to keep his mouth shut but he did so, reluctantly, knowing the girls were the ones who would pay.

"What do you expect to happen here?" Jax grumbled. "You gonna keep her? Play house? You already know that ain't gonna happen, she won't let it."

"There's no making up for lost time," Galen paced in front of them. "But I like to have what's mine."

"She's not yours," Piney bellowed.

"Is that because you think she's a Winston," he smirked, "Or because she's no ones property?" Galen rolled his eyes. "Am I expected to believe you look at your women any differently than we do? You're not exactly pillars of feminism."

"I'm gettin' blue balls over here," Opie sneered. "Get to the point."

Galen smiled and, sticking his head out into the hall, summoned the girls. Amelia and Mae were roughly brought in, gagged, and put on their knees, Alice handed to Galen, in front of Opie, Jax and Piney.

None of them could speak as Amelia and Mae both looked up at them with pleading eyes full of terror, they had no words.

"The point is, Amelia and Alice are my blood and they were taken from me and hidden. Yes, having some of your closest betray you to help with this soothes some of that burn but I have to set an example. I can't have my men thinking I won't take what's mine and make these wrongs right."

Casually, he moved about the room until he was behind Opie, Piney and Jax. Galen babbled on, clearly killing time, until he snapped his fingers and pointed to the door. In a few seconds one man left and returned with Chibs, gagged like the women, but otherwise unharmed.

"You'll be happy to know he refused to help, but when he found out about good old Paddy we had to make sure he kept that mouth shut. Charlie," he looked at Mae, "On the other hand was wildly useful. You'll thank him for us, won't you Miss Mae?"

She mumbled something, unintelligible through the gag in her mouth, but Galen was uninterested. With Alice still in his arms he pulled his pistol from his jacket and fired two shots into the back of Piney's head.

Mae and Amelia saw it coming, they tried to scream through the gags as Galen pulled his gun, but the boys didn't even realize what had happened until Piney's blood splattered along their cheeks. They both panicked, wiping their faces and actually questioning who had been shot for a split second before Piney's dead body fell to the floor.

"Now you only have one Daddy, love." Galen smiled at Amelia as she wailed, crumbling to the floor.