ᅳ 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧

Tig ruffled his hair after hanging up and slipping his phone back into his pocket. Having a daughter, three of them at that, wasn't always easy and it was even harder when two of them didn't get along.

Sage, his middle child, had just told him again that she wasn't coming to Charming. Normally Tig didn't ask her to do that, but this time the lockdown was different than usualᅳ more serious and longer. All Tig wanted was Sage to be safe, but he couldn't keep her safe while she was in Seattle instead of here with him.

"Let me guess, she's not coming?", Dawn asked, who was only here because her niece's birthday was tomorrow. That was the only day of the year when she tried to spend a few hours with her youngest sister, Fawn.

The fact that a sudden lockdown would take place came as a surprise. Otherwise she would definitely have stayed in Seattle, and now she had to find a good excuse to tell her boss why she isn't coming for the next week or even longer. She finally had a decent job and didn't want to lose it because of such a thing.

"No, she still refuses." Tig nervously played with one of the crayons that were still spread out on the table and his granddaughter was still drawing, unable to stay calm. "Then I'll just have to force her, but she has to come here."

"You can't force her, dad", Dawn said with a shrug and ran her fingers through Hayley's, her niece, dark blonde curls.

"And what am I supposed to do then? She's my kid, a part of me, so she's automatically in danger. Plus, she was the club president's Old Lady, which makes it even more dangerous for her to be alone right now", the man with the black curls countered sternly.

"She was, right, not anymore", Fawn sneered, who had been following the conversation with a bitter aftertaste, next to her Jax, who had his arm loosely around her shoulder. "She's exaggerating like always. If she doesn't want to come here, that's her problem, dad."

Frowning, Dawn snorted, simply not understanding her sister's audacity. "She's exaggerating? You fucked her boyfriend while she was in the hospital after the miscarriage and was grieving over her and Jax' baby. And then she had to find you two in her bed together when she got home."

"We know we made a mistake", Jax sighed, not exactly happy about how Dawn spoke to him and Fawn. However, she had every right to do so and he was truly sorry for what happened back then. "But if Tig tells her to come here, she has to get her ass down here."

“Oh yeah?” Dawn challenged, bending over the wooden table just a little to get closer to him. "She can make her own decisions and even though I think it would be safer if she came here, I can understand that she would rather accept that something might happen to her before sharing a room with you two", the brunette hissed, then she got up and left the main room of the clubhouse to call Sage herself and make sure her sister was fine.

"She can't talk to us like that forever. At some point it's enough", the youngest Trager sister hissed in annoyance as she looked after Dawn with a venomous gaze.

"No Fawn, Dawn is absolutely right." Sighing, Tig slammed his hand down on the table before he stood up and looked at his youngest, disappointment still in his eyes even though it had been three years. "What happened back then is unforgivable. And you don't even try to sincerely apologize to Sage. You just expect her to forgive you like nothing ever happened."

"Tig", Jax called before the older one could disappear as well, standing up and walking towards Tig. He knew that his father-in-law still held a grudge against him, but they still tried to get along because of Fawn and Hayley.

Nevertheless, the brotherhood between them had crumbled. "No matter what, we still need a solution. Sage can't stay alone, not with the danger that currently exists. Either you get her here, or one of us has to get her."

"I hope you don't mean you", Tig replied dryly, but he knew Jax was right. "Happy is in Tacoma right now anyway. I'll call him and sort it out with him."

The blonde nodded in agreement and put a cigarette between his lips, lighting it. "Okay, he needs to take her with him to the SAMTAC clubhouse."

Tig grumbled something incomprehensible before he left the blonde and headed to his room so he could talk to their other SAA.

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Slightly annoyed, Sage rolled her eyes and put her brush down on the paint palette that was on a small table next to her easel when there was a knock on her door. It was a Tuesday afternoon and she wasn't expecting anyone, she hadn't ordered anything and Dawn was in Charmingᅳ so it had to be someone who couldn't want anything important.

"I'm coming!", she called on the way to the door, almost tripping over her Converse sneakers in the hallway, cursing under her breath before opening she opened the door. Arching an eyebrow, Sage eyed the heavily tattooed biker. "What do you want here?"

None other than Happy Lowman stood at her door, his gaze motionless and stoic just as she knew it to be. She had met the Tacoma Killer before she left Charming, but the two had never spoken much to each other as she had only crossed paths with him three times before she left.

"Tig sent me", he explained curtly, pushed himself  past the door and entered without waiting for her permission, then he closed the door behind him and looked at the redhead. "I need you to come with me to Tacoma, at least until the lockdown in Charming is lifted."

Instead of just doing what he told her, she let out a huff and shook her head. "I don't know how you think this is going to work, but I have a job. I can't just disappear. I have to make a living somehow."

"Jax and Tig told me to get you, so that's exactly what I'm going to do", the killer shrugged nonchalantly, his intense gaze still on the young woman in front of him who was looking up at him with her arms crossed.

"Jax?" Sage snorted, scratching her eyebrow. "I don't give a shit what Jax wants. I'm staying here, that's it."

"No, you're not staying", Happy countered, just as stubborn as she was, his forehead  wrinkled and his head tilted to the side. "There are two ways we can do this. It's up to you."

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do? Throw me over your shoulder and carry me outside if I don't listen?", she asked, her tone slightly provocative. But Sage had always hated it when people tried to force her to do something.

Happy shrugged his shoulders again, impassively. "That would be one way."

The thing was, Sage had complete confidence in him that he would actually get her out of her apartment like that and that wouldn't be particularly pleasant if the neighbors would see that. She still didn't want to give in, she couldn't.

"Okay, listen", she began with a sigh and beckoned him into the living room, where there was still a lot of chaos as she was just finishing some work.

Happy's gaze swept across the bright room. Despite the rain, the sun shone, casting a warm light into the room that actually impressed him. He was more fascinated by the canvases that were spread out on the dark emerald green couch and the dark wooden floor.

From cheerful, colorful pictures to profound works of art, everything was there. If these were all Sage's works, he had to admit that she had real talent.

“You see all this here, right?” She pointed at all the pictures and went back to her easel, lifted her brush and continued to paint without a care in the world. "I still have three pictures to finish by the day after tomorrow. If I come to Tacoma now, I'll probably lose my customerᅳ and that's one of my regular customers that I really don't want to lose."

"You can take the stuff with you", Happy suggested in contrast to appease the redhead, whom he was now studying extensively while her gaze was focused on the canvas.

He remembered her well, but it was difficult to forget such a beauty. If she weren't Tig's daughter, he would simply hit on her and make his move, hoping of having her in his bed later. But he also remembered the sadness, the brokenness in her eyes when she left Charming.

To this day he didn't know exactly what had happened because no one said another word about it. All he knew was that she apparently had a past with his current Pres, who in turn was dating Sage's sister. It was definitely some confusing shit.

An eyebrow shot up again as Sage turned back around and looked at Happy in disbelief. Still, she thought his suggestion was nice. "It's not that easy."

She nodded at each picture. "I would have to take almost everything with me to add the finishing touches, and I would also have to take all the paints, the easel and a few other things with me. That's not worth it for a few days."

“You know what a lockdown means, right?” Even though Happy was getting impatient, he also understood Sage's side. "We're not doing these lockdowns for nothing. There's a certain risk that something will happen, I can't just leave you here unattended."

"Well", Sage said, lost in her thoughts for a moment, tapping the end of her brush against her lips. "Suggestion; what if you just stay here until the lockdown gets lifted? That way I'm not unattended and I can do my work. If the lockdown is still in place when I've finished everything here, I'll come with you to Tacoma."

Happy pinned her with his eyes, thinking about her suggestion. He wasn't really keen on crashing in an apartment for days that was so far from the clubhouse, but Sage piqued his interest and he could imagine worse company.

"You have three days. After that you'll come with me to Tacoma", he ended the discussion with a grunt and looked around again. “Do you even have enough room here?”

"Okay, I can work with that", she nodded happily before briefly examining the man in her living room. "And yes, I have enough room, don't worry."

He was attractive, no question about it. Definitely different than Jax, more masculine. Plus he had this bad boy attitude and this raspy, gravelly voice that made her feel things she hadn't felt in a while. Mainly lust. She was only human and a person with needs. But another biker who doesn't give a shit about staying faithful? No, she had learned her lesson.

"So you just trust a stranger to sleep in your apartment?", he asked, a little surprised.

"You're not a stranger", she said, shrugging. “Why the lockdown? Did something happen?”

"I'll tell you as much as I can later", he grunted. "But first I have to get a few things. And you're coming with me."

Sage tried to protest again. "But Iᅳ",

"No buts", Happy rasped, his tone serious. "We'll be back in two hours, you'll survive it."

"Whatever", the redhead mumbled under her breath and just shook her head. She would definitely have a word with her dad about this.

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authors note; new story because I had to write the idea down, I really liked it and I hope it'll turn out the way I want it to. I hope you're gonna enjoy it. Oh, and for your information; Abel doesn't exist in this story. Hayley is Jax' [and Fawn's] only child. 😊