Spark in the Dark

Chapter 94

The following night was Half Sack's wake. As she parked her car at the funeral home, Shawn was pleasantly surprised by how many people were there. It helped her knowing how loved Kip had been while he was alive. Walking towards the front of the funeral home, she saw Juice standing with Opie and Lyla. Shawn approached them and Lyla turned to hug her.

"Hey, how you doing, darlin'?" Lyla asked.

"I'm okay, thanks."

"I have something I want to talk to you about later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Opie briefly hugged Shawn next and then Juice gave her a one armed hug. He thought it would look weird not to hug her, especially since Opie and Lyla already had, but a full hug seemed to obvious, too. Juice mentally rolled his eyes at himself. He knew he was overthinking it. If anyone saw them hug, they wouldn't think anything of it. Everyone knew they were friendly and they were at a funeral. Juice suddenly felt bad about the shitty hug he had given her and kissed her temple as she pulled away from him. Shawn looked up at him with panic in her eyes. He realized the kiss was too far. Opie hadn't given her a kiss and he was one of her best friends.

Lyla watched their interaction with amusement. For a moment, she was kind of happy they were still keeping things under wraps. They were too damn cute this way. For two people who slept together on a regular basis, they were terrible at even giving each other a hug in public. Kozik suddenly appeared next to them, giving Shawn and Juice a much needed distraction.

"Hey there, Shawn. How are you, sweetheart?" Kozik asked her. His voice sounded nervous and Juice could see why. As soon as Shawn saw him, she gave him a hard glare and walked away. Kozik nodded to himself. "So, yeah, she still hates me."

"Is that, like, a Trager family trait or something?" Juice asked.

"Something like that," Kozik answered and headed inside the funeral home. Juice followed him and Opie and Lyla followed a few feet behind Juice.As Lyla walked with Opie, she decided to test the waters for Shawn. She turned her head towards Opie and spoke quietly.

"Juice and Shawn should totally get married."

Opie looked at her like she was crazy. "Why?"

"Don't you think they'd be cute together?"

"Did you see her face when he kissed her forehead just now? I thought she was going to deck him."

"You think she was mad he did that?" Lyla asked. "I thought it was cute."

"Don't think she would agree with you on that."

If you only knew, Lyla thought to herself as the enter the funeral home.

The crowd was thick inside. Opie stayed with the other members of SAMCRO while Lyla moved to stand with Shawn. The two women paid their respects to Kip and then stood back so others could approached his casket.

Shawn saw Jax and Tara enter, but there were too many people for her to approach them. Jax saw her and gave her an upwards nod to greet her. After Tara was done praying, she moved to stand with Shawn and Lyla while the guys said their own goodbyes.

"You okay?" Shawn asked Tara.

"Doing as good as can be expected," Tara answered. "How are you?"

"Same answer, I guess."

There was a bit of an awkward silence after that. Being nice to Tara was still new to Shawn and she wasn't really sure what to say to her. As people began to clear out of the funeral home, Lyla wanted to wait outside for Opie while Tara wanted to stay inside to wait for Jax. Shawn decided to go with Lyla as she needed the air. She was beginning to feel claustrophobic in the large crowd. Maybe she should talk to Tara about that. She had never felt like that before being locked in a dark closet for days.

"You sure you're alright?" Lyla asked when she saw Shawn's pale face.

Shawn shrugged. "Just crowded that's all. Hey, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I got a new job working for Dondo. Ever heard of him?"

"Yeah, he worked for Luanne back in the day. I've never met him but she mentioned him a few times. He directs now?"

"He does," Lyla told her. "He asked about you, actually. I guess Luanne mentioned you to him, too."

"What about me?" Shawn asked.

"He wants to make you an offer."

"He knows I don't work on camera, right?"

Lyla gave a light laugh. "Yes. He knows."

Shawn thought about it for a minute. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that just yet."

"Well, whenever you are ready then. He seemed pretty interested. I don't think he'll lose interest if you take a few weeks to yourself."

"Okay, I'll think about it," Shawn said as she nodded. "What's he like to work for?"

"He's good," Lyla said. "He's not bad to look at, but he's a dumb as a stump."

Shawn laughed and covered her mouth when she remembered that she was at a funeral. She looked around to make sure no one noticed and saw the guys heading their way. Opie was walking towards Lyla while the others were about to pass by. Lyla and Opie hugged as Shawn glanced in Juice's direction. He was looking back at her and she longed for him to walk towards her and hug her like Opie did to Lyla.

Before either one could look away, there was several loud popping sounds from behind Shawn. She turned and saw a van filled with men shooting into the crowd outside the funeral home. Shawn barely had time to react before a pair of hands grabbed her waist, pushing her to the ground. She covered her head with her hands until the shooting stopped. When she looked up, she expected to see Juice there, but instead came face to face with Kozik.

"You alright?" he asked as he stood.

"Yeah," Shawn said and sat up. Kozik ran towards the street and Shawn turned to where Juice had been. She felt relieved when she saw him also lifting himself from the ground. Shawn thought that he looked angry.

He looked towards her and looked her over. She could tell her was looking for injuries. He looked back at her face. Shawn nodded to let him know she was okay. He nodded back.He held out his hand to help her up. Once she was on her feet, he gave her one more look before heading in the same direction as Kozik.

All the club members were at the street. Some were pulling Jax away from the beating he was giving one of the shooters who fell from the van. David Hale's body wasn't far from them.Shawn looked around the scene. People were hurt, some were dead. The air escaped her lungs as if she had been punched in the stomach. She tried to breath, but her chest felt tight. An arm wrap around her waist and turned to see Lyla.

"What do we do now?" Lyla asked, but Shawn didn't have an answer for her. All she could do was shake her head.