She smiled at me with a grin so wide that it should’ve split her face wide open. The next thing I knew, McKayla was straddling me on the chair and we were making out hard and fast. Abel started to fuss and Mick slowly pulled away from my lips. A smirk played on my lips and I chuckled. She blushed and swung her leg up off of me.

“I’m sorry baby, I know you’re hungry.” She said to him.

I stood up from the table and slid my arms around her waist.

“I’m hungry too.” I murmured into her ear.

McKayla shivered beneath me and tipped her head to the side. With one hand still around her waist, I used the other to move her hair off of her neck. Slowly, I brought my lips to her skin and kissed her softly. She moaned so softly and put her hands on the counter top.

“Jax, Abel needs to eat.” She managed to whisper.

I smiled and sighed in her ear.

“Later, baby.” I breathed.

She turned and faced me and kissed my lips.

“Later.”

As Mick was fixing Abel his breakfast, my phone started ringing. I groaned and answered it.

“Yeah,”

“Jackie boy, we need you. Now.” Chibs said on the other end.

It sounded urgent. I let out a deep sigh and hung up the phone. McKayla was watching me and feeding Abel at the same time.

“What’s up?” She asked.

I shook my head and kissed her forehead.

“Club shit. I gotta get going, is my mom coming today?” I asked her as I grabbed my cut and gun.

McKayla nodded slowly and sunk into a chair. She was biting her lip, something I’ve noticed she does when she’s nervous. I gave her a smile and walked over to her.

“I’ll see you tonight, okay?” I said to her.

She looked up at me and smiled softly.

“Okay. Ride safe, Jax.” She said seriously.

Something was bothering her, I could tell. Her perfect eyes were swimming with worry. I held her face in my hands and kissed her deeply. When we pulled away I pressed my forehead to hers.

“Always baby.”

I kissed her one last time before giving a kiss to Abel. Looking at the two of them from the doorway, I finally realized what a family is supposed to look like. Hell, maybe this will work out after all. I had a smile on my face the whole ride to the club house. It disappeared as soon as I saw Chibs and Tig waiting for me.

“Shit.” I said under my breath.

They walked over to me and crossed their arms. I took my helmet off and set it on the mirror.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Chibs shook his head and Tig rubbed his face with his hands. I could tell that it wasn’t good.

“There’s some shit going down with Darby.” Tig said.

“Great.” I said with a sigh.

Chibs and Tig nodded and we went inside. Everyone was already in Church and Clay was rocking in his chair.

“Alright, what’s going on?” I asked him.

Clay turned so he could face me and ashed his cigar.

“Unser picked up a whore with crank out at the Lydia. She said she was moonlighting because she wasn’t getting enough screen time at Cara Cara.” He said with hostility.

I rolled my eyes and lit a cigarette.

“So, we go after Darby. Persuade him to shut down the crank and the pussy and the problem goes away.” I said with a shrug.

Clay shook his head.

“Darby’s not gonna shut down for us. He’s already in Charming now. We gotta hit him where it hurts.” He said.

The guys mumbled something along the lines of agreement.

“We torch the lab then threaten Darby to stop pushing pussy.” Clay said.

I shook my head and leaned forward on the chair.

“I don’t think we need that kind of publicity right now. For all we know, he’s cooking right inside the county line. If we torch it, everyone knows it was us and we’re right back where we started with ATF.” I said.

The last thing we needed was that ATF bitch back up our asses. Blowing up the crank lab would only bring her sniffing right back at us. Clay stared hard at me and looked at Tig.

“Let’s put it to a vote.” He said.

“Yay or Nay.”

“Hell yes.” Tig said without hesitation.

Chibs looked at me and sighed.

“Yay. No one deals in Charming.” He said.

Juice shook his head and folded his hands on the table.

“Nay. Jax is right, we don’t know where it is and we don’t need ATF back here.” He said.

I nodded once to him and looked to Opie. He looked at me, and then to Clay.

“Yay.” He said.

That’s four counting Clay. He needs five to get the majority vote. There was no way I was coming out on top now. Piney voted Yay and that was it. Bobby was with me, but it didn’t matter. We were torching the crank lab. Clay put Juice on finding the place and Bobby went to Cara Cara to make sure no other bitch works with Darby. I went out to the garage and started working on a bike.

“It was the right decision.” Opie said from behind me.

I sighed deeply and shrugged.

“Whatever, it’s done.” I said.

Op was quiet for a minute, then he stood in front of me.

“Jax, we can’t have crank in Charming. You know that. Talking to him wouldn’t do anything so we gotta hit him where it hurts.” He said.

I just shook my head and got back to the bike. It was hours before Juice called us back into the club house.

“Okay, I’ve got the address and thankfully it’s not in Charming. It’s just outside in the woods.” He said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least no one had to know it was us.

“Good. We move on it now. Shot guns and AK’s.” Clay said.

We nodded and got ready to go. Gemma hadn’t been to the shop today so I figured her and Mick were out. I went into the apartment and grabbed a black hoodie that I’d left there and threw it on. My cut I left on the bed and shut the door behind me.

“Let’s go.” Says Clay once we’re all regrouped.

Instead of taking the bikes, we piled into our black van. That way, in case something goes south it’ll be easier for us all to get out. The crank lab was about a half hour ride. On the way we came up with the plan. Juice, Chibs, Opie and Sack would circle the place and give us a head count. Clay, Bobby, Tig and me would wait and then rush the front. Once we got everyone out or killed them, we’d blow the place up using Opie’s special talents. We pulled up about a half mile away from the place and hid in the woods.

“Everybody know what to do right?” Clay whispered.

We all nodded slowly and the first group went. Slowly, they crept around the house. After they circled, Sack ran back up to us.

“Okay, there’s five guys in and two chicks. They don’t look armed but we couldn’t really tell.” He whispered.

I looked at Clay and gave him a weary glance. That wasn’t good enough. We had to be damn sure that they weren’t armed if we were rushing in there. We could be headed for our deaths. Clay ignored me and gave the signal to move. I cocked my gun and started down the path. The first group headed around back and we counted to move.

“3..2..1…”

We crash through the door, right into the cook. The smell immediately catches us all of guard and we start hacking. Darby’s guys jump from the table and pull out guns.

“Shit! Guns!” I choke out.

Tig already dragged Clay out and I had Bobby. Before we could clear the porch, Darby’s men started firing. I threw Bobby to the ground and spun and fired at them. I hit one in the shoulder and the other in the stomach.

“Move!” I shouted.

My lungs were burning and my head was foggy from the crank. Op came around to me and pulled me to my feet. He nodded to me and I realized he set the bomb.

“Shit.” I said under my breath and we tried to take off.

One of the cookers who I’d shot jumped from the porch and tackled me to the ground. Another grabbed Op and we were throwing punches.

“Jax!” Opie shouted to me.

We only had a few seconds now. I landed a hard kick to the shithead’s stomach that threw him off me. I jumped to my feet and yanked the other guy off of Opie and pulled him up. We didn’t even have a chance to run. The bomb went off and we got sent flying. The next thing I knew, everything was dark.