A Happy Coincidence

Chapter 5

After their shower Happy didn't stay for a chat, he barely stayed long enough to fully get dressed before sprinting for the door. He'd given her a fleeting kiss on the cheek, unsure why he'd even do it, and tapped the paper as he slid on his cut. Rory watched as he kicked up gravel on his way out of the motel parking lot. She stepped backward and flopped down on the bed, empty and alone.

"What the hell do I do now?"

That was the same question on Happy's mind as he rolled into TM, the guys were waiting for his report back. Slowly he took off his helmet, gloves and sunglasses before joining the club members. His head wasn't as clear as it usually was after a kill and that wasn't from the extracurricular shower activities, it was from Rory.

"I was worried you were flipping sides." Clay remarked as he and Happy shook hands. "Heard about a Chinese break-in, double murder, I didn't think that was some coincidence."

Happy shook his head. "Killed her brother," he said. "They took in one of Lin's guys, child support and domestic warrants. So his crew tried to take them out."

Jax and Opie shared a look. "So you killed em'?" The VP asked amazed.

"She killed the girl, guy took a shot at us and I killed him. I covered myself and the club." He nodded confidently but that wasn't their concern, it was the witness.

"You cover her?" Tig asked as he came behind Happy with a rough smack to the back of the head. "And I don't mean with your dick."

"Do we have to worry about this?" Bobby asked, his eyes locking with each member's before settling on Happy's. "No warrants between us but what's to stop her from opening that mouth?"

Nothing." Chibs groaned. "She is the other side. I don't know why'd you even do it."

"Nah." Happy shook his head. "She knows we know who she is and I was bored. Guy was an asshole anyway, we got no business with the Chinese."

"All the more reason to need protection, she obviously knows who we are." Opie added.

"We got that meeting with the Irish in a few days. Is she outta town?" There was a wobble in Juice's voice. He didn't like mixing with anyone who had reason and opportunity to hurt them.

Happy grinned a little. "I left her at a motel outside the Morada border."

"That's still SanWa." Clay said. "I know you don't use your words often but did you talk to her?"

"Not a lot of talking."

"That means he stuck it to her proper!" Chibs roared with laugher.

"You wipe and toss your gun?" Jax asked, not as amused by the joke as some of the others. Of course he did, Happy nodded slightly offended. "What about hers?"

"She's still got it. Legal, registered, couldn't toss it." The interrogation, while not meant to annoy or anger, was killing Happy's postcoital buzz. "She won't say shit. I got her number anyway," he pulled out the napkin. "Track that shit, check her out, whatever."

It was troubling that Happy would have done it, they understood his penchant for murder but who Rory was what stuck with them all. There was something about those pleading eyes though and the stern rough attitude he saw beneath the smiles. Whoever she was Happy saw parts of himself in her and that was why he helped her. Besides, he knew she'd have been killed and that, for some unknown reason, didn't sit well with him.

--

Clay had done more than trace her cell. He called Kozik from Tacoma the moment she crossed state lines to follow her. His eagerness to patch over to Redwood made the already loyal and dedicated member that much more willing to do the job.

He sat on his idling bike and called Clay. "Hey, Prez. She finally stopped, I've been following her for hours. We're at a motel in Medford, Oregon. She met up with three guys, they look like military, maybe cops but rougher."

"Rough like bounty hunters?" He asked pacing out from of the military surplus.

"Actually yeah. Thigh holster, to me, says fucking bounty hunter. They looked like they knew each other pretty well."

"No suits?"

"Not one."

"Good." Clay nodded and relieved Kozik of his duties. "Leave her, she's not a threat. Come on down to Charming soon, see how you like it."

"You know I will." Kozik said before hanging up and taking off the way he'd come.

--

"You okay, Ror?"

Lost in her head she nodded and forced a smile. The only thoughts Rory had since her brother's death, the hatred and need to get even, still consumed her but now she had no driving force. Revenge had been handed out as she saw fit but the hole was still there. The hate still lived. Now she was left with an obsession over what she could have done to have saved him.

"Just tired."

"You handle that shit in California?" The other man asked as he methodically took apart his gun and began to clean it. "What was that anyway?"

Tapping her temple she nodded. "Just my own shit. I had to work it all out, you know?" The three of them looked at her suspiciously but she moved on. "What do we have on the agenda? That Thompson asshole locked up?"

"We already caught him, took him in the other night. Right now, we got nothing on the docket."

Thoroughly disappointed Rory nodded and followed her companions lead, dismantling her gun and beginning to clean it. She wanted a job, anything to take her mind off what she and Happy did and Happy in general.

"Hey now," She perked up as an email chimed through on her phone. "It's from Trina. She's always got good ones."

Rory skimmed the information, not that it mattered, she'd arrest anyone at that point. "Oh shit, this guy is nasty."

"What is it?" The three men surrounded her and they all laughed in unison as she read the charge.

"Alexander Trager. Indecent exposure inside a livestock pavilion." It already sounded fun for Rory, probably some freak she wouldn't mind sending away for a while. "Poor animals." She swiped the screen again and her smile dropped when she saw Tig's face scowling at her. Tig, she'd only known him as Tig but now she was knew more than she wanted.

Shit.

Rory closed her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose sighed heavily. It was as if her dad and brother arranged it all from beyond the grave. She just wasn't sure if it was punishment for murder or sleeping with Happy, neither of which she actually regretted.

"Bounty isn't that big." She remarked. "Split between the four of us, it's shit. Why don't I just go?"

The two younger of the three shook their heads. "You been gone long enough. We promised Emmett we'd look out for you if he wasn't around and I'm not letting you run off. That dude looks like a nut-job anyway."

Rory wasn't sure what she'd even do when she got back there but bringing along the guys would be bad for Happy and herself. Something had changed when she pulled that trigger, when she watched Happy easily kill that man. She has seen that all criminals were not as her family described them. Happy had been sweet in his own creepy way and Tig was nice to her. He had joked with her and Happy before finding out who she was, of course.

"I'll stay back then." She didn't want to be alone again but if Tig saw her she'd instantly be one of those people Happy just found a reason to kill.

"Nope. You're coming." When the one man moved to grab her arm she shirked back. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing." She gave up and began reassembling her gun still trying to find an out but her time was dwindling. "He's at a hospital waiting for transfer to another in Red Bluff, we should go now. It isn't far."

"That's my girl. Let's go catch ourselves a pervert."