Charming, a town that wasn't so different from Tacoma. That was something Cassie realized over the last three weeks. The weather was much better, way hotter and less rain or wind, but that was it. The rest wasn't different at all. Charming wasn't much bigger than Tacoma nor had it much more stores. They did have a few more doctor offices and leisure activities for children though, which was good as Lily got  bored quickly now with Kayla back at work and James dealing with custody shit for Benny.

Their mother wasn't in the picture anymore. It was James who'd put a bullet right between her eyes when she didn't care a bit about Benny's well-being. All she wanted to know when James showed up was when her youngest son would be back so he could go back to his job and bring home money again. And honestly, Cassie couldn't blame James one bit for shooting her.

Of course, a part of her felt a pang in her chest the moment she heard the news about her mother's death. She was still her mother and before the woman left their father she was actually a pretty good mom. Cassie couldn't say, nor would she ever find out, what it was that changed the woman and she simply didn't care, yet a part of her still felt sad.

Luckily for her, she's had enough distractions for the last two weeks because of her new job as a nurse at St.Thomas. It wasn't easy getting the job as two other women were interested in working there too, but in the end the hospital management chose Cassie.

It felt good to work as nurse again. It was and always will be her dream job, no other job could hold a candle to this one. The few months she worked in a bar in Tacoma were draining and exhausting even though Cassie loved to party. The job just was no fun. But being a nurse, that was a great job.

She worked in the children's ward, which didn't bother her. In Tacoma, she had worked on the cardiology ward, and there were kids there too, so at least she had some experience. Basically, she didn't care as long as she could put a smile on people's faces, young or old.

Since Happy refused to take rent from her for living in his house, she would spend a lot of her money on Benny and spoil him a little since their mother never did and only used him for her own benefits. Oh, and of course, she'd also spoil her niece.

She was on her way to the clubhouse anyway. Her shift was over and James asked if she could pick up Lily from Gemma and take care of her until Kayla's shift was over. Her brother wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning and even though Cassie tried to avoid Kayla the best she could, she agreed to take care of Lily. She would survive seeing her sister in law a few times.

As she slipped out of her car and spotted Happy in the ring with the one recently introduced to her as Tig, she could hardly take her eyes off the shirtless Tacoma Killer. She had to get used to seeing him on a daily basis and living together again. Not that anything has changed, she loved being around him regularly again, it was about damn time, but something has changed. Every morning when she heard his raspy voice whispering  good morning, little girl into her ear she felt a tingling sensation in her stomach area. And not just there. It wasn't a secret how turned on she was by his attractiveness, they both couldn't keep their hands off each other. But it seemed like he got even more attractive in the past few months he hadn't visited her in Tacoma.

What was also new, they now shared a bed every night. At first they claimed it was just because they were too lazy to go back to their own room after sex. Secretly, however, they both enjoyed snuggling up against each other. It was now so far that Cassie couldn't fall asleep without Happy's presence anymore, which worried her sometimes.

They were friends with benefits, nothing more. Neither Happy nor her were the type for a relationship, it would only end in a shit show with lots of drama included.

“You know, you could snap a picture. You'd have more of that, baby.” Gemma's amused voice rang in her ears and tore her out of her stare.

Her cheeks were now covered in a bright pink as she cleared her throat and slipped her black, big sunglasses on. She definitely felt caught but Cassie was glad it was Gemma who caught her and not Happy himself or one of his brothers.

“I was just watching the fight”, the brunette replied quickly. Since they left Tacoma she hadn't coloured her hair. It was still dark but her natural dark brown came through slowly and the black faded. Especially when the sun shone her hair looked much lighter.

“Yeah, keep telling that yourself”, Gemma huffed with a smirk that crossed her lips. “How was work? You look tired, baby.”

Gemma has been like an aunt to Cassie since she was here in Charming. The two women had hit it off from the start and Gemma was the only one who hadn't given either her or Benny a pitying or judgmental look. Not once had the Queen tried to lecture her about smoking too much joints like Kayla had. She never looked down at Benny like he was some bratty child without manners. The Matriarch gave both of them a chance to be the person they were and didn't try to change them.

“Rough day”, Cassie smiled briefly. “Why are they fighting?”

“Oh, no particular reason. They just had to get some steam off”, Gemma explained with her arms crossed. “Lily's inside with Abel. Wanna have a coffee?”

“Oh, okay. And yeah, coffee sounds great” Cassie shook her head and chuckled before she followed Gemma inside, smiling at Happy as they passed the ring.

She would never understand what was so great about hurting each other. But growing up in the club, she grew up with the fact that men always let out their frustration this way. Or take a woman to their room. If she was honest, she preferred it if Happy went that route instead of grabbing a blonde that he could fuck mercilessly.

Once inside, the brunette crouched down and kissed the top of Lily's head before ruffling Abel's hair. She loved watching them play together and get along. Abel was a little over a year older but that didn't seem to bother either of them.

“Hi auntie Cassie”, the blonde girl giggled while holding up a cracker. “Want one?”

“No thanks, sweetie”, Cassie caressed her cheek and smiled at the two kids. “You two are having fun?”

“Yes, look what we did!” Lily proudly pointed at the tower of building blocks. “Can we finish the tower before we leave, please?”

Cassie rolled her eyes in amusement at the perfect dramatic pout Lily gave her. “Yeah, I was going to sit down with Gemma anyway. But we won't be staying much longer, we still have to pick up Benny and then make dinner.”

“Uncle Benny!” Again, Lily's giggles filled the clubhouse making most Croweaters and Gemma smile.

Cassie sat down with Gemma, who already got them two cups of hot coffee, and let out a sigh as she leaned back. It had been a long day in the hospital and she was glad to finally be able to sit down and relax a bit.

“Tell me, how do you get along with Tara?”, Gemma asked with a hint of curiosity in her tone making Cassie look at the woman with a raised brow.

“We don't see each other much but good I guess, why?”, Cassie asked just as curiously.

“Just wondering. It's weird to see Tara get along with new people. I haven't heard her say one bad word about you”, Gemma shrugged slightly before taking a sip of her coffee.

“I never gave her a reason to dislike me”, the brunette stated slightly confused. “But I noticed she isn't everyone's favorite around here. Why's that?”

“Tara doesn't need a reason to dislike someone”, the older woman huffed. “She isn't, not anymore. It's complicated with her. I see a lot of similarities between Tara and Kayla.”

“You do?”, Cassie sighed. If there was one thing she didn't need, it was a second version of her sister in law. But so far she really couldn't say anything bad about Tara.

“Yeah, and I don't like it. I see how Kayla hates leaving Lily here when James isn't around, like we're all incapable of babysitting. Tara is the same. But I guess we're still good enough to take care of the kids.” Gemma's gaze wandered off to the children who happily played at the table next to them.

“Great”, Cassie groaned softly, letting her head fall into her hands. “I just don't get it. I'd be happy if I had so many people care for my child.”

“You want kids?”, Gemma asked with a warm smile. Talking about kids was one of Gemma's favorite subjects, that's what Cassie had figured out by now.

“No, god no”, the brunette shook her head quickly, a brief laugh slipping past her lips. “I don't think I'd be a good mom since I never had one to learn from. My life is chaos, I'm not made to be a mother.”

“That's bullshit”, Gemma waved her hand after setting down her cup to bend over the table a little. “It doesn't matter if you had a mother or not. Either you have it in you or not.”

“Well, I guess I don't then, huh?”, Cassie shrugged. It didn't bother her since she never thought about having kids anyway. She liked her freedom, even though it had to sound horrible for some people.

“I wouldn't say that”, Gemma just smirked. “With the right partner everything is possible.”

“Who said I want a relationship? Maybe I'll just grow old and get a lot of cats”, the brunette chuckled nervously because she was afraid this could actually happen. Maybe she did want a relationship but was afraid to get into one.

The matriarch just shook her head. She saw so much potential in the women sitting across from her and couldn't understand how some people were happy without children. It was about time Happy would make his move. Every blind person saw the love he had for Cassie and the other way around, just the two of them somehow didn't.

The young woman raised her head as Happy and a few other guys came inside. They greeted her with a head nod before they headed towards their dorms or sat down at the bar to get a drink. It was Friday, so they got ready for the weekly party by starting drinking at 4pm.

Happy threw the small towel with his blood on it over the counter. Turning his attention towards Cassie, he stood there for a moment secretly admiring her beauty. Even after a long shift the brunette managed to look stunningly beautiful. With her brown hair in a messy bun and the sunglasses on the top of her head, only mascara and lipstick plus the joggers and sneakers, she still looked like the woman of his dreams.

Pulling her into his arms every single night for the last three weeks felt better than he wanted to admit. It was probably because they haven't seen each other in months, that must be the reason. He grunted to himself before he made his way over to the two women, pressing a kiss on the top of his best friend's head.

“You coming to the party tonight?”, he asked, his voice hoarse due to his dry throat.

“Uh, I don't know. I'm not sure when Kayla's gonna be able to pick up Lily. And I don't wanna let Benny babysit her.” Cassie let out a sigh and scratched her forehead. “I'll be there next week, okay?”

“Want me to come home later?”, he inquired while he pulled over a chair from the table next to them and sat down with the two women, ignoring the smirk on Gemma's face.

“No, you stay here”, the brunette replied quickly even though she'd love to have Happy home later.

Happy just grunted and took the cup out of her hand to take a sip from the coffee. He needed some liquid after that fight with Tig.

“He got you good, you're still bleeding.” Cassie got up and slightly pushed his legs apart so she could stand between them before checking the still bleeding cut on his cheekbone. “Come on, I'll clean you up before I go.”

Having a hard time not to grab her by her hips and make her sit on his lap, Happy stared up at her concentrated face while she gently ran her thumb over the cut. He didn't even notice the slight pain as her thumb slid over his bruised cheekbone.

“I'm good, little girl”, he rasped, his eyes staring into hers for a brief second before he gently pushed her back so he could stand up. If he had to look at her a little longer he'd throw her over his shoulder and take her to his room, which he'd do anyway if there weren't any kids around. “I won't be home tonight, don't wait for me.”

Cassie took a step back, a little confused about him pushing her away. She just wanted to clean him up. Sighing, she nodded slightly and grabbed the keys of her car and called Lily over, who didn't listen right away.

“See you tomorrow morning then?”, she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Probably”, he nodded and as a new small smile formed on her lips his stomach did one of those stupid flips again. He definitely needed to get some distraction tonight or he'd loose his mind. All he could think about was her. The woman right in front of him. But they promised each other once they'd never destroy their friendship with stupid feelings.

When he just walked off, she stood there even more confused. He never walked away without telling her to be careful or to get home safe but now she didn't even get a quick hug.

Her eyes followed him and witnessed something she rather hadn't seen. After he tapped a blonde on the shoulder, she followed him like a puppy. She didn't seem to care that he didn't really pay attention to her. Sometimes Cassie really felt sorry for women who hoped that one of the men would be seriously interested in them. The chances were small that a member would ever choose one of them and make them their an Old Lady.

A feeling of jealousy and disappointment swept through her and she felt like following them to tell the blonde to stay away from Happy. But she had no right to do so, after all, the two weren't a couple and didn't want to become one either. At least, that's what she was still trying to tell herself.

Gemma had watched the short conversation between them and what happened afterwards and she felt bad for the young woman who stood there with disappointment, maybe even sadness, written all over her face.

“I'll give you some advice, baby. Make him yours or keep your distance. Anything in between will only hurt you and him in the long run”, the matriarch said softly before she stood up to kiss the brunette's cheek. “Stop telling yourself that the two of you are just friends, because you're not.”

And with that, Gemma left her there to go back to work in the kitchen and get all kinds of snacks and food for the party ready.

Cassie swallowed softly, running her hand up and down her arm. Maybe Gemma wasn't so wrong and there was more between them, which freaked the brunette out. Not only Happy was a complicated person when it came to relationships, no, she was, too. Before she could hear Happy fuck the blonde's brain out and get even more irritated, she quickly picked up all of Lily's stuff and told the little girl that it was time to pick up Benny.