Never Again

Chapter 5

It was almost noon and Cath was nearing her last hour of work at the diner. Surprisingly, her day had been going rather smoothly. No major mishaps had occurred, and Cath had been blessed with rather mellow and amicable customers, which she greatly appreciated.

As she stood behind the bar counter smiling to herself, she caught sight of a man entering through the diner doors with another tattooed man trailing closely behind him. Just the sight of them was enough to wipe the grin right off of her face.

"Fucking Darby," Cath grumbled, eyeing the man and his friend up. Darby was a middle-aged baldie with a hatred for anyone who wasn't Caucasian. He led the Nordics, or the Nords, for short, a white supremacy group that SAMCRO had beef with.

The only reason that Darby didn't outwardly insult or mess with Cath was because of her father being the police chief. If not for Unser having her back, Cath knew that she'd get continuously name-called and harassed by Darby and his Nazi-loving assholes.

Cath fought the urge to glare at him and his friend as they entered, walking in with their swastika tattoos on full display. They went and found a booth to sit in, and just to Cath's luck, their selected booth was in her section.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Cath groaned to herself. "I was so close to having the perfect shift." She shook her head, trying to shoo away her ghastly attitude before approaching the pair.

She took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the counter, walking towards their booth, removing her notepad from her pocket as she went. They eyed her with painful scrutiny as she made her way to their seats, stopping before them. The tension amongst the trio was indescribable.

"My name is Cathleen, and I'll be your server today," she bit out, forcing a smile onto her face. "Can I start you with something to drink?"

Darby and his friend looked to each other before looking back to Cath and giving her their order. She practically fled the scene as soon as she had what they wanted, eager to get away from them before she burst into flames.

Cath headed back into the kitchen, grabbing the drinks they ordered. As she came out with their cups, she noticed more familiar faces enter through the diner doors, though these faces brought her relief rather than more dread.

Jax, Clay, Bobby, and Tig made their way into the diner, walking right up to Darby's booth and sitting down, setting a wooden box on the table. The look of disdain that crossed over the old Nord's face was priceless.

Cath proceeded towards the booth, a little less bothered to be serving Darby now that the Sons were there. The guys all waved to her as she approached the table, setting the drinks down in front of Darby and his friend.

Clay looked up to Cath after she set the cups down. "Cath, why don't you hold off on taking Darby and his friend's order?" he asked, a formidable look on his face. "We've got some business to attend to."

Cath nodded at the SAMCRO president. "Take all the time you need," she smirked, walking off. She went back to her spot behind the bar counter, watching the group from a distance, curious to find out what the problem between the two clubs was this time.

She watched as Clay pushed the wooden box across the table, bringing it closer to Darby, inviting him to look inside. Whatever the box contained seemed to please Darby, and from there, the conversation continued on as normal.

For a while, the discussion seemed to be peaceful, as though it really were a business meeting, but then the mood shifted when Jax practically flung himself across the table, grabbing onto Darby's shirt, spilling their drinks everywhere. Darby's friend tried to push Jax back, and Tig, who was sitting in the booth behind him, reacted by leaning over and grabbing the Nord by the neck.