The Final Ride

Chapter 20

"Morning." Rory greeted Happy from the breakfast bar, a cup of coffee in front of her, as he sleepily trotted into the kitchen. Leaning over, he kissed the top of her head before pouring himself a mug. In silence they sat, sipping in unison, until Rory finally broke in with conversation. "What's on your agenda for the day?"

"We gotta figure out what were gonna do with the Chinese," he grunted. "You?"

"Asher has his well-check this afternoon," she chuckled. "Couldn't get much different, huh?"

He nodded and sipped his coffee. "Why you up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep," she shrugged. "What about you? I don't remember the last time you were up before Mrs. Whittle."

"Can't sleep when you're not in bed," he reached across the table and took her hand. "Not when crazy shit is going on, I mean."

Rory smiled, her cheeks growing hot, and hid her face as she began to blush. "You're sweet," she sighed.

"You alright?" He asked, craning his neck to see her as she stared into her coffee.

"Spooked," she said truthfully. "Hap, do you know what they were saying to Tara?"

He shrugged. "Usual bullshit; club can't protect her and the kids. We can and you all know it." Why? What did she say to you?"

"Same shit, added in my past though. I don't have the cleanest record."

"Fuck her." He stood, rinsing out his mug and leaving it in the sink. "I'm gonna head in early, maybe hit the gym, it's been a while."

"I think you forgot you guys had a gym in the clubhouse." Rory smirked and poked his stomach. "Getting a little soft, Hap."

"Shut up," he chuckled. "Love you," he said casually, as they did every day, not noticing she didn't say it back

--

When Rory went to the apartment she noticed the plain clothes officers watching her from across the way. Ignoring them, she headed in and sat in the empty living room to cry. That room alone was the setting for some of their brutal fights, it was the room she and Happy became a family in as he slowly got used to the idea of Emma being in the world and his life and, regretfully, where most of her and Tig's trysts occurred.

"What am I doing?" She sniffled, wiping her face roughly. "Hap always protects me, he can do this, we can do this."

Charging out of the apartment she headed right for the officers. They looked shocked she was approaching them so boldly but they didn't move. She glared at them, sticking her head in the window, and grabbed the radio.

"I'm going to guess Patterson is listening, or at least recording, right?"

"Miss Lowman," Patterson's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Listen bitch, you can come and get me whenever you like. I'm right here."

"You won't get bail this time," she warned Rory. "Happy and the Sons of Anarchy can't save you."

"They always have before," Rory smiled. "And besides, I'm innocent, so what do I have to worry about?"

Patterson smiled in her office, Rory was going to play dumb and she had to start right then and there. "Good luck," she said before flicking the radio off.

"I'll be seeing you guys," Rory sneered before jogging back to her truck and speeding off.

--

"Can't we just shoot this fucker in the head?" Happy suggested out of frustration.

Jax smiled menacingly but shook his head. "That's not enough. That's easy on him. He almost killed our women, our kids."

"What's Romeo say?" Bobby asked darkly. "He's not going to play nice."

"He said he wants to handle it," Jax explained. "Said that's the point of having them around. He's pretty sure this shit is because of them anyway."

"They came at us," Opie barked. "We're the ones going back to them."

"That's how I'm feeling," Jax nodded. "Lin agreed to meet with us this afternoon, before we go out on that run."

"Prez, I don't like it," Juice said sadly. "Leaving after all this shit?"

"We have to," Opie said. "We gotta get the cash from this, we're gonna need every fucking penny we can get."

"We'll all go meet with Lin then cut the run in half, no one is gonna be vulnerable."

Jax brought the gavel down and the guys filed out into the bar. Happy was shocked to see Rory there, none of the kids in tow, with puffy cheeks and red rimmed eyes.

"Baby, you okay?"

"We gotta talk," she sniffled. "I'm okay, but we have to have a conversation."

Happy looked back at Jax who was already on his way out and huffed out of frustration. "Tonight, after the run, we'll talk. I gotta go now though baby."

"Okay, be safe," she kissed him hard. "I love you."

"You too baby," he winked and quickly headed out.

--

"We know it was you," Jax bellowed in Lin's face. "All this shit, all this was you, fucking cowards."

"We came to you," Opie added, much calmer but equally as angry. "We tried to deal with this up front."

"Up front?" Lin growled. "You call my dealers dead being up front? Your guy owning me for coke and pussy for months, up front?"

"What?" Jax was truly confused, his face twisted as he tried to make sense of Lin's accusations. "We didn't kill any dealers and none of my guys owe you shit."

"Tig Trager," Lin smiled. "Who do you think put him in that hospital bed? Your old lady's little mistake too. Shit, bet you wanted that kid to die. Nasty reminder of what they did."

Happy charged and tackled Lin resulting in a near pile up of Sons and Triad members. They grappled around and threw punches but in almost no time at all they were back to their separate corners. It was a flash bang of violence with no real damage done.

"I'm gonna break his jaw again," Jax growled under his breath. "That was you too?" He snarled. "Knox is a fucking kid, Tig's debt has nothing to do with his family or the club."

"No?" Lin laughed devilishly. "Galindo partners up with you, then moves into my turf and the next morning my restaurant is full of dead bodies. You told us it was just guns, Teller, that was all. My business is done because of you and your brown buddies."

Jax clenched his jaw, silently cursing himself and Romeo, and allowed Opie to take over. "None of this shit was our plan. If Galindo did it, and we don't even know if they did, they didn't run it by us."

"That's not my problem," Lin shrugged. "They're your partners." One of Lin's men took a call and after a brief whisper their meeting was cut short.

"If this was Galindo, we'll find out."

"Fine." Lin slammed his car door and left the Sons in a puff of exhausted and dirt kicked up from the squealing back tires.