❛ I'm sorry, Donna, I love you. ❜

chapter twenty seven.

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     IT'S THE DAY of Donna's funeral when the police come around to the house to question Scarlett about the events of that night. They'd left her with a few days to somewhat recover and come to turns with the product of the events, but they needed to know what happened in order to find whoever destroyed Donna's life.

Scarlett's sat on the sofa in the living room, while Luke and Camille are out of the house like usual. Two police officers are sat opposite on small chairs she'd dragged from the kitchen, while another man is positioned in the doorway. She's not sure why three cops is necessary for a simple witness questioning.

Her hands are fiddling in her lap as they relay question after to question towards her. She tries her hardest to answer them all clearly and without showing how much she's struggling inside to even think about the incident. She hates looking so small and destroyed while she's surrounded by men, who probably have no care in the world for her mental health.

Each question is another dig in the heart and as she speaks her replies, the scratching off the officer's pens on their paper is irritating her. She wants to ask them to leave, possibly even shout at them a little. But she has no energy to even give them an annoyed look. She just stares across at them, as if her eyes are voids. Not that they seem to care, as they just keep their eyes on their paper whilst they rattle of stupid questions like;

"Did you hear anything?"

She wants to reply with; 'No. There was a gun being fired and I heard nothing.'

Instead she simply says. "Yeah. Gunshots and the glass shattering."

The cops continue to bother her for the next half an hour, until the one positioned by the door finally decides enough is enough with a low cough to signal that he's ready for departure. Scarlett stays completely still as the three men leave her house, and once she hears all their car doors slam shut, she looks over at the clock on the wall.

Camille's coming back to pick her up for Donna's funeral in fifteen minutes. She's still in her fucking pyjamas. Why would the stupid cops come so early on the day to question her, knowing damn well she has a funeral to attend?

She moves around the house quickly, throwing on a pair of black jeans and tight fitted black top. Running a brush through her hair, she hears Camille's truck roll onto the driveway and she leaves the engine running as she jumps out and heads towards the front door. By the time she's opened the door, Scarlett is already a few metres in front of her, zipping up her block combat boots.

"In all honesty, I wasn't expecting you to be ready,"
Camille hums.

Scarlett pushes her back out of the house, pulling the door closed behind them and locking it, "The cops were just here. Woke me up."

Cami's brows shoot up in surprise, "Shit. How'd that go?"

"Exactly like I was expecting," She opens the passenger side door, swallowing down the thought that the last time she'd stepped foot in a truck, her best friend had been shot, "They didn't shut up. Gave me a second or two to answer."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Camille sighs, pulling the truck out of the drive, "Luann was having a moment."

Scarlett shrugs lazily, flicking her gaze out of the window, "Don't worry 'bout it."

Camille glances momentarily at her best friend, noticing how her eyes have not a single sign life behind them and her fingernails dig into her biceps as she crosses her arms over her chest. Opening her mouth to say something, Cami decides against it, instead biting her lip and tearing her eyes away from Scarlett, knowing if she looked at her anymore she'd end up crying.

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       CAMILLE AND SCARLETT stand with their arms locked together by the cemetery gates, watching as the Sons ride down the road in a neat formation with the funeral vehicle driving behind. Luke raises his hand momentarily at his girlfriend and she returns the small gesture, Scarlett feels her relax. As the men pass the two women, they begin the short walk to Donna's burial site.

By the time they reach the patch of grass, most of the group is already settled in their chairs. Camille slides down into a seat beside Piney and Scarlett takes the one next to her on the end of the row. Piney glances to them both momentarily, reaching over and patting their knees reassuringly and they bother offer him a small smile. Luke takes his position directly behind Cami's chair, his hands falling to her shoulders whilst the rest of the Sons line up behind the other seats.

The casket is laid out between the two sets of chairs, and soon enough the priest begins to speak, but Scarlett's already zoning him out, her eyes too focussed on the wooden box holding her friend's body only a few metres away.

A smack to her thigh pulls her from her own mind, and her head turns slightly to Camille, who just points away from the ceremony. Confused, Scarlett follows her finger and soon her eyes land on Jax Teller. He's dressed only in a white t-shirt and jeans with a deep cut on his lower lip. She hadn't even noticed until now that he hadn't been at his best friend's wife's funeral. He's making his way over slowly, his eyes burning directly into her, despite the awful situation happening around them.

Shaking her head, Scarlett moves her gaze to Juice, who's stood right beside her. Between his hands is Jax's kutte. She reaches up and taps Juice gently.

"Give it to him," She whispers, motioning towards the careless blonde bike.

Juice's brows furrow, "You sure you don't want—"

"Just give it to him," She says, not bothering to even glance once more at Jax as Juice approaches him with his kutte. She turns back to the ceremony, rolling her shoulders back and swallowing thickly to keep her composure. From behind her, Chibs reaches down and rubs her shoulder gently so she raises a shaky hand to pat his hand, silently thanking him.

Jax strolls over to the casket, trying everything to drag Scarlett's eyes to him. Instead she clenches her jaw and drops her chin to her chest, only again raising her head once she hears his footsteps wonder away.

Opie's speech is the thing that has tears streaming down her cheeks and falling into her lap. A tear-soaked crumpled piece of paper is buried in his own fist and he gave up following it before he even started.  Once he's finished, he holds his hand out towards Scarlett.

"Ope. . ." She speaks lowly.

"Knowing you, you'll have a lot to say," He forces out a chuckle, while a few others dotted in the crowd laugh. Biting her lip, she raises from her seat and takes his place in front of the casket, while he returns to his chair.

"I didn't prepare for this, okay? So don't be expecting a swear-free speech. I'd have to rehearse for that," She sniffs, "Obviously everyone here knew Donna, was victim to her adoring heart and unnecessarily lovely personality. I've known Don since I was, fuck, I don't even know. Since I can remember, really. She watched as I threw my life away by fighting or being with the wrong boys. She constantly tried to lead me away from the shit show I was performing in. But never once did she get truly angry with me. She knew I was a stubborn cunt— shit, sorry— stubborn person. She knew and understood me. She let me cry, throw up and sleep on her. She was never stubborn or had to communicate with. She was perfect. I watched as she fell in love with Ope. Our whole friendship group did. As I'm sure most of you remember, Opie wasn't the easiest teenager," She smiles gently at the small hums of agreement from the crowd,

"but Donna flitted into his life like a fucking butterfly and saved everyone permanently from his anger tantrums, and turned him into this big hairy cuddly bear who's now an amazing father," She wipes at her cheek as tear trickles down, "I'll shut up now. And if I was aware I'd be making a speech, I would've planned it at home and had you all crying," Her hand rests carefully on the end of the smooth wooden casket, her rings clicking against the surface, "Look, all I want to say is Donna is the last person out of us all to deserve what happened to her," She squeezes her eyes close, causing a few more tears to push out as she quietens her voice, "I'm sorry, Donna, I love you."

She glances up and around the crowd of people, noticing the warm sympathetic smiles and the tears strolling down everyone's cheek as she retreats back to her chair and the priest begins his own speech before the casket is lowered.

Once the ceremony is finished and Donna is buried permanently under the ground, Scarlett makes her way over to Opie, who's speaking with his two kids. She appears at their side and the family of three turn to her.

She crouches down to the children's level. She bites her lip as she spots the residue of tears littering their cheeks. She opens her arms, "Come here."

The two kids runs forward as if they were waiting for ages for her to offer them a hug. They both envelope her while one of her arm curls around Ellie and the other secures Kenny. She feels as they both vibrate in her grip, most likely crying into her shoulders. Her eyes wander up to Opie, who's watching the interaction with a tight smile on his lip as he attempts not to cry.

When he notices her gaze on him, he nods and mouths, "Thank you."

She smiles shakily, mouthing back, "No problem."

Her hands raise to the kid's head, rubbing them gently before she pulls away slightly and jokes, "I can't forget about your dad now, can I?" As they shake their head, she raises and turns to Opie, raising her brows in questioning. Not bothering to say anything, he steps towards her and bends down slightly to wrap his arms around her in a hug. She rests her chin in his lap whilst her hand runs up and down his back. She whispers, "I'm so sorry, Ope."

He shakes his head gently, "It's not your fault."

Scarlett pulls away, keeping her voice low as the children begin a conversation between themselves, "I should've—"

Opie sighs, "Scarlett. Stop."

She bites her lip, "Sorry."

He smiles, "Thanks for coming today. I best get the kids home," His hands fall to both of his kid's heads as they move to stand either side of him, "Scarlett, don't keep thinking you could've done anything. No one could've. Take care of yourself, and speak to him," His head nods to the man positioned in front of his father's grave at the other end of the cemetery.

She watches as Opie turns around speaks to his children, causing them to run towards the vehicles while he follows after them. Then she turns and spots the man he was speaking out. He stands motionless in front of his father's grave with a brown envelope in hand.

Her friends wander over to her, "You need a ride home, Scar?" Camille asks as Luke throws his arm around her neck.

"Yeah," She continues to stare at Jax's back, contemplating if she should go other and speak to him or not. She bites her lip anxiously as her gaze flick to Gemma and Clay as they stand and watch Jax too, mumbling between one other.

"Come on, then," Luke sighs.

Cami elbows him, "I think she's wanting to speak to Ja—"

Scarlett faces them both again quickly, shaking her head in denial and also to dislodge the blonde biker from the forefront of her mind, "Let's go."

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion and concern, Camille says, "What the hell has happened between you two? Is this something to do with what happened at Abel's homecoming? You haven't spoken at all."

Sighing lowly, Scarlett calmly replies, "After Donna died, he took me home and left me there on my own," As a grimace is pulled over Cami's face and she opens her mouth to speak, Scarlett continues with the story, "He abandoned me so he could go home and fuck Wendy Case."

As the information floods Camille's ears, her anger plummets so high that she's immediately striding past her best friend towards the blonde biker who's still gazing at his father's grave. Luke shouts after her, while Scarlett just spins on her heel and watches from afar with a small grin on her face. She's going to enjoy this interaction.

"Teller!" Camille roars as she marches down the aisle of the gravestones.

He turns around, half expecting her to be far away, but before he can even look at her properly, her fist has crashed directly into his nose. He stumbles back and drops a palm to his father's grave to keep him upright. Luke Caddal shouts for his girlfriend and moved forward but Scarlett pulls him back.

"What the hell, Jones?" Jax raises a hand to his nose before he inspects his fingers, wincing at the sight of the blood and he feels it as it streaks down his face, adding more injury to match with his bust lip.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Her head tilts as her nostrils flare and her bright red knuckles stay clenched by her side, "You think 'cause you're some scary biker that you have the right to do whatever you want to women? I've always known you're a shitty person, but abandoning Scarlett that night is another level of fucking shittyness. She's the only woman in your fucking life who liked you for you and not for your lifestyle or ugly ass looks. She's also the only woman who isn't some slut that you fucked 'cause you were bored."

Jax rolls his jaw to try and relax the pain in his face and his eyes wander over to Scarlett, who's standing under a tree staring right back at him, her grin dropping when she notices that he's looking at her.

"Don't even look at her, Teller," Camille pushes his chest to grab his attention, "And as for Wendy fucking Case," She waves her hand towards his ex-wife, who's now watching from a distance too, "she's a cunt, who you claimed you married just to shut her up. But then you go fuck her while Scarlett's— Jesus fucking christ. I can't even say it," She shoves her index finger into his chest, "You disgust me."

"Jones—"

She holds up her hand, "I don't want to hear your poor excuse for doing what you did. Ain't no excuse gonna be good enough to validate it," She rotates on her heel and walks away, brushing her hair away from her face as she mutters curse words under her breath.

Gemma steps towards her, "You—"

Camille glares at her, continuing walking as they pass one another, "I don't wanna hear you try and excuse him either. It's about time he grows up and stops listening to his mother so much. And you need to get your head wrapped around the fact that he's a grown ass adult. He don't need you doing his shit for him. I mean, come on, he's twenty nine, for fucks sake."

Gemma's head snaps to Clay in surprise, but her husband just shrugs uselessly.

Camille reaches Scarlett and Luke again, walking through the middle of them, "Let's go," She snarls, continuing towards the truck.

Scarlett shares a glance with Luke before he rushes after her and Scarlett follows behind, sending an overdramatic fake smirk towards the Teller adults. Whenever she's unable to have a go at the people she hates most, Camille will always step up and do it for her, delivering the same amount of satisfaction.

. . .

apologies for taking so long to update

word count,
2734
(not proof read)