Living with the Club

Stolen Huffy

Veronica called Juice and they ended up fighting again about marriage, about getting out of town, and about anything else they could. She felt like he'd given up on their relationship, but she didn't even know why. She hadn't done anything, maybe he was still beating himself over his brother becoming a rat and almost killing himself.
She pulled her fresh chocolate muffins out of the oven and carefully put them onto a cooling rack, then she got a call from Jax.
"Hey, um, did you hear? Did Juice tell you?" Jax's voice seemed shaky.
"Tell me what?" Veronica asks, beginning to panic internally.
"Opie...he, um..." Jax trailed off, trying to form the words.
"Jax?" Veronica begged for him to answer her.
"He got killed in county to keep a relationship with Pope. It was suppose to be me, damn it. It was suppose to be me."
"Oh, Jax," her voice cracked and she could feel the tears streaming down her face.
"Don't do that, it was his choice. I just was calling so you could check on Lyla and the kids. Make sure their okay."
"Of course, it's a good thing I was already making muffins. I can bring them over to Lyla's," she said, through her obvious tears.
"Hey, I love you, kid," he told her, knowing this would hurt her just as much as is hurt him.
"I love you, too. Stay safe."
They hung up and Veronica collapsed to the floor, letting out tears for Opie.
This death hit her hard, he was like family to her.
She let herself cry for awhile longer before picking herself up, fixing her face and putting the muffins into a container.
She drove to Lyla's home.

"I think Opie's been looking for a way out since Donna died. He's never been right since. He went out a warrior," Jax says in Chapel with all the members, explaining what happened with Ope while they were in.
"We...we wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for him," Chibs says.
Juice closes his eyes, not wanting tears to shed.
"No doubt, Ope made his own choice. It's Pope forcing that choice that concerns me," Clay comments.
"Jax did all he could...all he could to push back the threat," Tig defends Jax.
"Agreeing to a fifty G payout?" Frankie asks almost skeptically.
"Shorterm, Frank," Jax responds.
"How short?" He asks skeptically.
"We never rubbed up against a guy like Pope. An OG sitting at a table with judges, senators, and CEOs."
"He could kill us with a phone call as easily as a bullet. We're just white smoke to this dude," Bobby says.
"I say we agree to his term, see where it goes. Maybe we can even use this guy to our advantage," Jax adds.
"What advantage is that?" Clay asks.
"If we're good with Pope, the rest of black gets in line."
"What about the tar stains that killed Ope? They just gonna get in line, too?" Hap asks.
"No retaliation. Not now. It puts his and Charming at risk."
"We're already at risk. Those home invasions, they got to be black," Clay says.
"Pope didn't put them in play. He wasn't sure about the niners. He's looking into it."
"We're throwing Pope a lot of trust."
"It ain't trust, man. It's fear! Right now, he controls it. We got to buy time to change that. Let's vote this. We pay out the fifty G until we figure this shit out. Yeah" Jax says.
There is a unanimous vote of yea's.
"Okay. I'll set up a meeting with Pope, tell him were good, push him on these home invasions. The body should be here this afternoon. Let's do this right," Jax says, hitting the gavel.

Veronica drove Lyla and the kids to the funeral. When Lyla got out, Jax walked up to her, "I'm sorry."
He pulled her into a hug and she cried into his shoulder.
Veronica watches as Juice and the guys carry the casket inside.
She finally walked into the clubhouse, Juice was leaning against a support beam, but all she could think about was Ope.
She rushes to the bathroom without being noticed so she could let out a few more tears.
She sits on the floor, head on her knees.
She hears the door to the bathroom, but she doesn't look up because knows who it is before he sits beside her, pulling her into him. Juice, of course, it was always Juice.
She somehow knows that he's crying too, even without looking at him.
"Come on, let's go say goodbye, baby," he finally says, helping her to her feet.
When she sees him all pale, laying in the casket, she cries all over again. She walked up and rested a hand on his cold cheek.
"You remember the time when we were bike riding in Charming and you found that ratty, old keychain. It says living the good life. I still have it. And now it'll be with you forever. I love you, Opie," she smiles sadly and puts the keychain into a pocket in his cut.
She didn't wait for Juice to say his goodbyes instead she ran out of the clubhouse. She didn't drive home, she just ran which eventually turned into walking.