Her face was numb now as she walked her way into the Teller-Morrow garage. It was late and it was dark. She hadn't been in all day due to the fact that she -- and her aunt both -- had been beaten within an inch of their life.

She wasn't supposed to have been there right after it happened. She wasn't suppose to find out from Gemma what had happened.

She seen red and before she knew it she was on the man finding him in the clubhouse and laying into him.

But he was stronger even though she was faster and the end result left her with a busted up lip, a broken nose, and two bruised and blackened eyes.

Her aunt was far worse off than she -- Clay had used Gemma as a punching bag and her whole face was swollen while Clara only got the backlash of Clay's rage.

He had never hit her before. In all twenty-five years of knowing him, he had never laid a hand on her. But now things were different. This whole cartel business had him on the edge and there was nothing she could do to help.

And to make matters worse, when she rounded the corner getting ready to enter the garage she ran right into one of the men she least wanted to see her like this right now.

Tig stood there looking at her wide-eyed. He had a smile at first, happy to see her but it quickly faded when he seen her face.

He had helped her last night. Finding her on the clubhouse floor he had helped her, patched her up and sent her back to Gemma's because she didn't want Chibs to see her this way -- she didn't know what the man would do if he found out.

"Clara..."

His voice was quiet as his hands came up and smoothed across her face. She fought back the urge the cry.

She didn't want him to see her like this not now.

"Don't worry about it Tiggy." She whispered resting a hand on top of his own. "There's nothing you can do about it anyway. Besides, you've helped enough."

He looked at her. Shocked and saddened at the same time. He shook his head as his hands moved her hair out of the way of her face some more to get a better look at her. Wondering who the hell could have done such a thing to her.

Then it dawned on him. His eyes narrowed and he looked her right in the eye as his brows knitted together.

"You never answered me, was this Clay?"

She felt her heart stop. His voice was cold, very rarely had she ever heard him like this before and before she could argue with him; her expression told him everything she needed to know.

"Wait on my bike."

He told her giving her a loving kiss on the forehead before he released her and stormed off toward the clubhouse. Clara felt her heart sink, worried about what Tig was going to do when he found Clay.

She did as she was told and waited on the back of his bike the fight in her completely gone. She waited until she seen him walking back out those doors about ten minutes later.

When Tig walked inside he went straight for the bar and threw his jacket down onto the counter. He was so mad he couldn't see straight. He took his fist and hit the top of the counter but suppress a shout as he did so.

He knew what he had to do. He knew that there was no turning back from this not after seeing what they had done to his own flesh and blood.

After seeing what Clay had done to his niece, the one woman that Tig could actually say that he cared for enough to do this, he looked at his patch before taking a knife from his pocket and removing the patch.

Tig walk to the back room where clay was unpacking some things from his rudsac and throwing them onto the bed. Clay turn to look at it for a moment and acknowledged him as he entered the room.

"What?"

Clay asked, raising a brow as he looked at Tig. Tig looked at Clay as he entered the room and held open his hand and within it was his patch that made him Clay's righthand man.

"You were right man. I can't do this anymore."

Tig said, shaking his head, trying his best to keep his emotions in check at this point. Clay looked from the patch that Tig handed him and back up to him.

"I can't believe you'd ever lay hands on her. I thought you loved her."

Tig said before turning on his toes and walking out of the room. When he walked outside he seen Clara sitting on the back of his bike waiting on him like he asked.

He scooped up her helment from her bike and handed it to her to put on as he grabbed his own before climbing onto the bike as well. They pulled out of the lot and put into the street.

Clara had caught sight of Clay just prior to them leaving the lot and she couldn't do anything else but stare as they passed him by.

Tig drove around for what seemed like nearly an hour as he went down dark back roads going as fast as the speed limit would allow. The wind whipped around them both, causing Clara, who was only in her work uniform, to wrap her arms tighter around Tig's waistline as she rested her body in closer to him for warmth.

After driving around for a long while Tig finally stopped back at Gemma's place going to drop Clara off knowing that Clay wasn't going to be coming home anytime soon.

"I'm sorry babe."

Tig said as she climbed off the bike and looked at him. She looked at his chest where the patch no longer rested and sighed deeply.

"Come inside?"

She asked. Tig looked at her for a moment, his expression still just as sad as before as he looked at her face.

He couldn't protect her. He couldn't have been there to stop Clay from getting to her. He felt like shit.

"Course baby, whatever you want." He whispered.

He parked his bike in the drive and walked inside after Clara. He cared so much for her, but he had yet to make a move in doing so. Knowing her well for two years had given him plenty of time to be able to fall for her -- and man did he fall hard.

But there were problems because now she was now Chibs's old lady and he couldn't do that to his brother.

He had asked her once, jokingly, to become his Old Lady and she had waved him off saying that there were plenty of other more beautiful women that would be better qualified to be his Old Lady rather than herself.

But truth be told, he didn't want anyone else. He wanted her.

After all the shit he had put her through. All the pushing away he had done with her. He seen now just how much he wanted her.

She lead him through the house and up to a spare bedroom, one that she would normally crash in when she stayed over.

She brought him to stand in the center of the room and just looked at him.

The room was smaller than the rest. A dresser, lamp, bed, closet -- everything a bedroom would need. But those were the last things on Tig's mind when he felt her fingers graze up and push his cut off his shoulders and onto the floor.

He felt his breath hitch in his throat when her fingers slowly moved over his dark button up shirt. His hands coming to rest up on her elbows as her fingers slowly worked at each button starting at the top and painfully slowly moving their way down.

"Baby, what are you -- "

"Do you really have to ask?" She looked up from his buttons to his eyes. "I would have thought by now that you've been with enough girls to know what it means when one starts unbuttoning your shirt?"

Tig swallowed hard. He hadn't hardly ever seen this side of Clara before and he couldn't let it go without say that he was completely hard right now.

He watched as she continued to unbutton his shirt to the point where it exposed his chest. Leaning over she took a nipped between her teeth and bit down softly.

Tig groaned and that was all it took to have his hands running up from her elbows to the front of her work shirt as he grabbed her breasts and gave them a harsh squeeze.

She gasped and released his erected bud from between her teeth. His hand moved from her left breast and up to the back of her head where it found itself tangled in her hair.

He tilted her head back and captured her lips as softly as he could, wary of her busted up face.

He pressed his lips a bit harder into hers when her hands came up to the back of his head and pushed him forward into her. She moaned and gasped as she walked them both backwards to the bed.

The back of her knees hit the edge of the bed which caused them both to fall forward neither one of them breaking the kiss.

She went at his lips with a powerful and hungry need. As her hips bucked up into his feeling his erection grinding into her sensitive area.

"Oh baby."

Tig moaned out as she pushed his shirt off his body and dug her nails into his back.

She had heard him joke enough that he liked it rough and was into some kinky shit -- apparently he wasn't lying when it came to what he was saying.

She was driving him crazy now. He was losing control over his body. Between the nails in his back and the new found teeth at his throat and neck Tig found himself bucking into her like a wild beast.

For once he found himself not wanting to be wild, he didn't want himself to be hard with her not after what happened between her and Clay -- but it seemed life she had other plans.

"Tig please."

She whispered into his ear as her hips went to grind up to meet his again. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on the sides on his face, making sure to be as careful as possible.

The last thing he wanted was to break her more. The last thing he wanted was for her to regret all this and so he pulled away shaking his head.

"No, no I can't do this Clara. Not now."

He said causing the younger woman to arch a brow best she could. She felt herself shrink backward, her mind finally clearing up.

Jesus what the hell was she doing? She was with Chibs! Her hands came up and ran through her hair as she turned around the room looking around. She was fucking up again. Just like how she had fucked up so many other times before.

They had promised each other that prison would be their last time together. Yet, at the wedding and now right now. Clara closed her eyes and stood with her back to Tig.

"I'm sorry!"

She cried out her hands coming up and covering her face. After everything she and Chibs had been through, she was doing this to him now and with Tig. He shook his head and approached her, his hands coming around her forearms and making her turn to look at him.

She noticed the sadness in his eyes were the same as hers. Her breathe hitched in the back of her throat looking up at Tig. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Do you want to stop?"

He asked. She hesitated, but nodded.

"We have to -- I can't do this to him again."

She whispered. Tig shook his head.

He kissed her lips over and over again to the point where he got lost in the feel of them. He felt her fingers moving over his belt buckle and tugging at it, trying to get it open.

Tig groaned as he went and took his teeth taking her bottom lips in between them. She winched slightly, but it was enough to cause Tig to stop what he was doing all together.

He had become so caught up in the moment that he had forgotten about what had happened to her face. He felt so fucking bad, but he wasn't able to show much remorse as she quickly went back to him and took his lips in between her teeth and tugged at it.

He was back on her again with a quickness that he never knew he had as his mouth opened and her tongue darted inside exploring his mouth, moving over spots where he had lost teeth in brawls or where they had been chipped from getting punched.

But it didn't matter to her, she enjoyed him just the way he was to her.

When she seen the way he looked at her when he saw what had happened to her face she paniced, fear set in but not for her -- for Tig.

She didn't know what he was going to do to Clay and she was worried that he would get hurt. She thought Tig would have went in guns drawn or fists swinging, but instead he took the smarter route -- the unthinkable route -- and turned in his patch for being Clay's righthand man.

She gasped unexpectedly when Tig rolled her over to where she was sitting up on him. He looked up at her, she was out of breath as she sat there with her pelvis pushed up and resting against his.

She could feel his erection against her.

He looked up at her and just stared. She didn't know what he was looking at, she knew he was looking at her, but she didn't understand why he was looking at her the way he did.

"You're so God damn beautiful."

He whispered.

Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she sat there on top of him. The way he looked at her and the way he spoke to her -- he meant every word he said.

"Tig, please, we can't -- "

She felt the water roll down her swollen cheeks and it confused her for a moment until she realized she was crying.

He had managed to say such sweet words to her even while she looked the way she did. She had been beaten to a pulp and yet he still said she was beautiful. What would Chibs have thought had he seen this? What would he say?

Slowly his hands came up and he removed her work shirt for Teller-Morrow garage and tossed it to the floor before her undershirt quickly joined it.

Her bra wasn't anything special because she had felt the need to dress up -- until now. Just your average dark colored push up bra, at least to her it was; but to Tig it made her tits look amazing.

He groaned at the sight of it while his hands came up and found a place to rest on her hips, his thumb rubbing slowly along the small pudgy hips that she had -- after all she wasn't a size zero.

"Do you know what you're doing to me right now baby?"

His gruff voice called out causing her to give a soft smirk. She shook her head acidently rolling her hips as she moved to sit better on him and he sneered.

Oh yeah, she knew exactly what she was doing to him.

His hands moved up back around her skin, they were calloused and tickled ever so slightly as he moved them. She giggled, smiling widely looking down at him while he could only chuckle and grin up back at her.

Finally his fingers found the clasp to the bra and it too was lost in the floor.

Tig's hands moved up to her perky nipples and started twisting and turning them harshly. She threw her head back and moaned softly, afraid of being too loud and embarrassing herself even though they both knew that the house was empty.

"Tig, you and I both know we can't do this."

He sat up and made her position both of her legs on either side of his as his face became buried in the middle of her plump breasts. The hair on his face scratched and tickled, but it felt good against her skin.

"Tig! I mean it! S-stop!"

His teeth pulled and bit at her skin, leaving so many marks in his wake. She finally cried out loudly when he took her nipple between his teeth and gave it a hard yank. Her fingers found their way into his messy curly hair as he continued his assault on her soft flesh.

He moaned and grunted into her chest for reasons unknown to her, but she enjoyed hearing the sounds he was making -- they were a big turn on for her.

Finally, he grabbed her by her waist and flipped her back around to where she was pinned underneath him. His hands went straight for her pants and unzipped them with a hurry as his fingers curled up and took both her pants and underwear down with several tugs.

She laid there completely naked underneath him. He took this moment to look over her body and quickly noticed that her face wasn't the only thing that was bruised. It looked like her hip had been rammed into something -- a table maybe -- and her knee had been smashed to the point where it was black and blue.

He felt the guilt coming back up in him again, but it was quickly pushed away when she whimpered out his name in an embarrassing tone.

"Tiggy, please."

His eyes flickered up to her and noticed that her cheeks and the corners of her ears were slightly red; showing that she was embarrassed by his looking at her body for such a long period of time.

He could only smile as he crawled up her body planting kisses as he went till he reached her lips and kissed her over and over again.

Sure, he had been with more women than he could count. But there was never really any other woman that had made him feel this way -- there was maybe one once, but she had died and he had been the cause of her death. It had taken him so long to forgive himself for her death -- she was pregnant as well, he had found out after the fact of her death.

But, being around Clara and speaking to her made him feel things that he hadn't felt in a long, long time -- if ever at all. And it scared the hell out of him.

He had grown close to her. He had grown to know her. He had grown to protect her. He had grown to love her.

"Tiggy, please."

Her voice was shaking as her hands tugged at the sheets beneath her. He looked at her one last time before pulling away and tugging apart his belt. As he went to unzip his pants he stopped. Pushing herself up she sat up on her knees thinking that maybe he was finally going to stop and watched Tig continue to push his pants down, when it and the underwear were fully removed she was able to get a good look at him.

He wasn't just talking when he said he was big.

"Baby, I don't wanna hurt yo -- whoa!"

He gasped, her mouth slipping over his penis in one fluid motion catching him off guard. He hissed through is teeth as he sat there on his knees watching as her head bobbed up and down as she applied her saliva to his penis.

He couldn't help but rock his hips back and forth into her mouth ever so slowly. He hadn't expected her to do this to him -- hell, he hadn't expected the whole sexual encounter to happen period. But it did and it was happening right now in front of him.

"Shit baby, how are you so good at this?"

He whispered, wondering out loud. She didn't have the heart to tell him and she didn't know if she ever would. She had always liked Tig -- but while he was locked away she had become extremely close to Chibs. He had made her his old lady. She had been honest with him, showing him that she loved him and that she wanted to be with him and only him.

She wouldn't say anymore than that after tonight.

Pulling away from his penis she made sure to leave a big trail of saliva for extra precaution just in case what she had done wasn't good enough. As she removed her lips from his penis, she found herself on her back and her legs up and bent into her chest as Tig pushed his penis into her without much warning.

"Tig!!"

She shouted, feeling the air being knocked out of her and her stomach being filled with a warm sensation before he pulled back out and pushed back inside of her again. He had tried his best to be as gentle as possible, but he was at his wits end. He liked it -- no, loved it rough and he couldn't play around any longer or else it was going to kill him.

"Baby, baby, baby, oh baby -- "

He called out watching her from above from the way her breasts bounced to the way her mouth hung open and her head hung back onto the pillow behind her. His thrusts were hard, short, and fast. He couldn't describe just how amazing she felt. She was extremely tight around him and she only tightened with each thrust he pushed into her.

"Tiggy! Shit, Tiggy!"

"You like that baby? Huh, you like that Clara?"

She cried out, her walls clenching around his penis while he still continued to go at her. He wasn't anywhere close, but hearing him grunt out her name in that deep and rough voice of his sent her well over the edge.

Feeling her body quivering around him, he took this chance to pull out of her and flip her around to where she was on all fours now before he pushed back into her. She cried out again as he continued pounding into her again, again, again, again --

"Tig! Fuck, Tig! God fucking damn it!"

She cried out, feeling his penis pushing further into her this time past walls that nobody had ever been able to get past before; it was amazing. Tig's grip on her hips tightened as he felt his dick twitching as he was closer to a release than he was prior.

He looked down at her and that was a mistake on his part. Turning his head down from the leaned back position it was prior, he met with her bright [e/c] eyes that looked up at him as her head was turned to the side. Her mouth was parted widely as she was breathing hard, watching him as he pounded into her from behind.

"Fuuuuuuuuck Claaaaara -- " he yelled at the top of his lungs "I love you, baby!!"

Before releasing his load into her and collapsing beside her on the bed exhausted. He laid there on his back next to her as she laid on her stomach. She had her head turned away from him, and he had his head turned up toward the ceiling.

His mind was racing a thousand miles an hour right now trying to figure out why he had just screamed those three little words to her. Was it because he was caught up in the moment? It wasn't as if he hadn't told women before that he loved them -- but this felt so much different.

Tig turned to look at the women that laid next to him. He looked at her back that slowly lifted up and down and wondered if she had passed out that quickly or if she was laying there wondering as well why he had told her he loved her.

He swallowed hard as he lifted a hand up and moved some hair out of the way of her shoulder. She turned her head over and looked at him. She didn't say anything as she just laid there and looked into his bright blue eyes. There wasn't anything to say because after all he had said it all.

And not with only words, but in his own way.