He Use To Be A Son Of Anarchy

Chapter Twenty Five: In The Loop

"Jesus Christ, Jax," was the first thing Al said when Jax and I both squeezed into the front of the tow truck. Jax had called Al because there was no way we were walking back to town with his broken nose and my banged up head. Happy was following behind us on his motorcycle, making sure we reached our destination.

"I thought this shit got sorted out," Al said looking straight ahead at the road. He seemed to be in the loop, more than what I could say at that point.

"I know," Jax said, "It was a mistake on their part. Happy wasn't supposed to come to Georgeville."

It was quiet for a minute.

"Is the shithead's debt to the club paid off yet?" Al asked. I assumed he was talking about his brother.

"Not even close. He's been skipping on payments. That's why Happy was here; to get info on someone that Bernie knows and also to remind him that the club hasn't forgotten about the twelve grand he still owes them for saving his ass from the bookies."

Al glanced at me quickly. "She looks pretty bad. You should have that head of hers checked out."

"And tell them what? We just accidentally hit a bullet with the back tyre of the car?" Jax retorted.

"Fine, but at least get someone to check her out. You don't know how serious that might be."

Silence again.

"You know Jax, when I gave you this job I thought all this shit was finally behind you."

Jax gave a little sarcastic snort. "Trouble always finds me, Al."

***

Once we were back in town we left my car at Al's. He told us that the car was badly damaged and beyond repair. He advised that it would be cheaper to just buy a new one than to have it fixed. And so I said goodbye my dinged up old metal friend that had stuck with me since high school.

We hurried off towards the apartment building, trying to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible. It was hard to do with the dried blood that covered Jax's face and the nasty wound on the side of my head, but somehow we made it in without anyone seeing us and asking questions.

Happy ushered us into Jax's apartment and locked the door with the deadbolt.

"Talk," he said to Jax.

Happy started rummaging through the cupboards. He found half a bottle of whiskey and drank from the bottle. Either he was a day drinker or this little episode took more out of him than I realised.

"Talk, Jax," he repeated after taking a big swig from the bottle.

Jax sat down in one of the lawn chairs and I stood next to him.

"When I killed Marks in front of the court house I had to run like hell. Cops were tailing me, I had no chance of escaping. The only option was to opt out. I had to disappear for good. I drove in front of a truck, hoping the impact would kill me. But that didn't happen. Instead I was just flung over a cliff with a broken leg and cracked ribs. I fell in a ditch, I had some help. They were waiting for me, loaded me into a van and off I went."

The way Jax told the story was almost too casual. Like he didn't think that he could have died.

"I escaped, but I knew the cops wouldn't just stop looking. I spent two months recovering in a cabin that belonged to a friend of a friend in the middle of nowhere. Then I moved here to start a new life."

"Help?" Happy asked, obviously still stuck on that part.

"I'm not putting their lives in danger. I wouldn't tell you even if you threatened to kill me."

Happy walked over to Jax with the bottle still in his hand. He pulled out a phone from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Jax asked eyeing the phone.

"Calling Chibs," Happy said and took another swig from the bottle before placing the phone against his ear.

***

That night there was an angry knock on the door of Jax's apartment. Jax moved closer to me as two men entered the room. Both of them gazed at us over Happy's shoulder.

"Jackie Boy," one of them said. He had two nasty scars on the sides of his mouth almost like a Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight type of way. The other man was a rather dirty looking man. His hair was standing in all directions. He had a mad look on his face. He could've given Terry a run for his money on the creepy scale.

"Chibs," Jax said walking to the man with the scar.

"Do you want to explain to me what in God's name is going on here?" Chibs asked.

"Happy found me here. I wanted to lay low before he saw me around."

Chibs shook his head. "You have never been the careful type."

I took a good look at Chibs. A patch with PRESIDENT written on it was proudly displayed on his chest.

"Who's this," the other man asked eyeing me with an expression I can only describe as hunger.

"Back off, Tig," Jax said moving in front of me. Tig didn't look intimidated, but broke his gaze with me.

"What the hell is going on?" Happy asked from the counter.

"This is why I didn't want anyone to find you again," Chibs said and turned to Happy, "What the hell are you even doing here anyway. I don't remember telling anyone to pay a visit to Bernie."

Happy looked like a kid that had just been scolded by his teacher. "Thought it would be the easiest way to track down..." but Chibs threw up his hand and Happy stopped talking.

"Who do you think helped Jax escape?" Tig said over his shoulder to Happy with a mischievous grin on his face that was still creepy.

"You were supposed to get as far away as possible. Why are you still hanging around here? You need to keep on the move, Jackie Boy," Chibs said, "If any of the other members find out what we did, that we've been helping you, all our asses are on the line; especially if the other branches catch a whiff of this. All trust will be broken and we won't be on top anymore. If anyone sees you we're as good as fucked in the arse."

"You have to disappear again, Jax," Tig said, "We can't cover for you again. This time you have to go for good."

Jax nodded.

"What about this one though?" Happy asked pointing his bottle towards me.

"I can always take care of her," Tig said maliciously stepping forward.

Jax swung his fist hard at him and it collided with his face. Tig stumbled backwards. When he came back up he clutched a broken nose that matched Jax's.

"She's off limits," Jax spat at him.

"That's enough," Chibs said getting in between the two.

Tig sat down on the couch, obviously sulking.

"You can't stay here anymore. It's time to move on. This is your last chance. We can't protect you anymore." Chibs looked at Jax making sure the message was sinking in.

"I don't know what you're going to do with her or where you're going to go, but as of now this is no longer the club's problem," Chibs said and motioned for Tig to get up. The three men walked to the door.

"If we see you again we will kill you," Tig called over his shoulder.