99 Problems.....but a Bitch Ain't One

“How is working at the garage down in LA?” Bobby said while topping off both of our shot glasses. Instead of gulping the whole thing down, I just decided to baby it for a while. I had to talk to my mother, and if I went down there slurring my words, the bars would not stop her from trying to kill me.

“You know me. Working on and racing cars is my life. But Aaron hired this new mechanic, Jesse, and he is just taking all the business away from me. He works on custom orders, damn good mechanic, but a fucking prick if you ask me.”

“ Show your tit’s off and give him a taste of your medicine?” Tig roared while walking into the club house. I saw Bobby give him a look while we both turned around on the bar stool. “Ah relax I am kiddin. But you can’t put a cap in a hand and knock out your competition?”

“No I can’t do that. If it’s not working out for me at the garage, then that’s life telling me that its time to move on.”

“So talked to Clay and Jax, and come back to Charming. You are always welcome to work here and you know that.” Bobby said while putting his and on my back.

“Ya well, I would want to come back. But I can’t live with Luann. You know that I will take a shot gun to her head or worse mine, and kill myself.”

“Well we can set you up in another place. Have your own space, I can come over and make sure you get settled in. You know tuck you in at night.” Damn, Tig never knew when to stop. I though to myself.

“Funds are tight right now. We wouldn’t be able to help out much, but we can get you something.”

“Ah ya, what about Eleanor? Her dad bought her that house, has an extra room.”

“Ya you think Princess and El are gonna get along? Two strong personalities. I don’t think its gonna work. I’ll talk to her though, try to set the two up.” Bobby said while reaching for his beer.

“I like the sound of that.” Tig said with his pedophile grin coming across his face.

They were practically having this conversation without me. Arranging where I would live. Let alone saying I can room with this Eleanor girl. Who the fuck is Eleanor? There is no way in hell I would room with a croweater or a sweetbutt, even though I am sure Tig would get a good rise out of that. No, I am not even sure I would want to come back to Charming in the first place. It wasn’t the time for me to come back and settle down in this town. I would always call it home, but wasn’t ready to make it my home again.

Before I could say another word about moving back home Piney, Oppie and Jax walked in.

“Time to go make trouble. Bobby, Tig, Clay said you’re with me.” Piney said while checking the rounds of his revolver and putting it back into his Kutt.

“Ight, you coming with us angel?” Tig said while wrapping an arm around my back.

“Not this time, actually going with Op and Jax tonight to handle some club business.”

“No, you can’t get in the middle of this Reese. ATF already has your mom, we can’t let them get you too.”

“Not up for debate Bro!” I said while jumping off the bar stool and pulling away from Tig. “Clay already gave me the ok. I gotta go see Luann. Make sure she gets a message to my pop’s before something worse goes down.”

Jax looked to Bobby trying to see if I was telling the truth about Clay. He nodded to what I said was true and assured Jax that I got the ok to go with them.

“Shit.... Ok, but you do exactly what I say, and no lip about it! We gotta wait for Unser to get off. Shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes. You stick by my side tonight. You go it.”

“Yes Jeez I got it.” I said while throwing up my hands. “I won’t screw anything up tonight. But there is actually something I gotta ask you. Mind coming with me out to the tables?”

“Ya sure thing. Grab us two beers and I will be right out.”

I took two Michelob Ultra’s from the fridge, uncapped them and headed out to the picnic tables. I took out my pack of Reds, and forgot that my lighter still didn’t work. Jesus Christ, Hurry up and get out here Jackson. I got up on the table top and laid down on it. I looked up at the sky and took it all in. There was a light breeze that came with the sudden darkness that let me know it was night. I drew in a large breath, held it in, counted to three and finally exhaled. My mind was working over time. I hadn’t been in Charming for more than 5 hours today, and I had already managed to become stressed out.

I was fine with picking up my life and moving to another town. I just didn’t think I would come back to Charming. It was the only move that made any sense though. If I moved to San Fransisco, I would end up getting caught up in a circle that included my ex. Fresno had Asia there, but I couldn’t live in a town that had no action in it. Yes Charming was smaller than Fresno, but the club had been here. There was something always exciting going on. Plus I would be around my family. Before I could think anymore, Jax had scared me by pulling my leg and making me almost fall of the table.

“Hey asshole! I was thinking here.”

“Ha wow! Must be your first time too.” Jax climbed up on the table next to me and flicked his lighter, exposing a flame that I leaned in and lit my cigarette. Greatly appreciating the smoke I breathed in.

“Hey, at least I made it out of college with an actual degree.”

“Ya, a degree you hardly ever use.” I had to give it to him, he was right.

“Touche.”

He let out a large cloud of smoke. “What’s on your mind? Could tell you seemed pretty deep in thought.”

“Ha ya. Just thinking what I should do next with my life. Wondering if it is a good idea to move back here or not.” I said while ashing my cigarette.

“Oh ya?” he cocked he head towards me while looked down at my hands. “Sure Luann and my ma would love that. And Clay would have no problem with you helping out around the garage.” He sat there looking for me to reply back.

There was a minute of silence between the two of us. Jax could tell that Reese was still very unsure of her place in Charming. He put his arm around her and pulled her in.

“You know its ok to move back here. This life is apart of you. Know matter how far you think you can get from it, it is something that you will always going to miss.”

“Ya and how would you know? After you got your GED, you went straight into prospecting with Oppie. You never second guessed if you should leave here and starting another life.”

“Because I know there wasn’t another life for me. If I left, I would be in the same position as you. Sitting her looking at the ground, thinking of reasons not to come back to Charming.”

I took a drag of my cigarette. Jax was right. There was no reason for me not to come back to Charming. “So I have a spot at the garage huh?”

“Ya. You were always TM’s best mechanic, besides Lowel.” Jax nudged me.

“Alright. But I can’t move back in with Luann. You know if I do I will just end up running. Gemma already put the breaks on my living with her, so right now I got no where to stay.”

“I mean when Abel gets out, he will need some kind of women figure in his life, other than his crazy ass Grandma. You can always come and crash in the spare room until you figure out what your next move will be.”

“Now we are talking Jax.” I smiled up to him, and he returned his famous smirk.

We stayed outside talking about how the prospect Halfsac would take the van down to LA and help me pack up my shit. Getting the plan finalized for me moving back up here to Charming. It wasn’t long till we saw Unser drive up in his truck and Jax stood up from the table and said “Show time.”

I finished my beer while Jax walked inside and grabbed Oppie. I nodded to Unser to follow me to the van. “You coming with us tonight?” he said while I slid the side door open and motioned for him to go into the passenger seat.

“Oh you know I couldn’t not see my mother behind bars. It would ruin the fun of my whole trip.” I said and climbed into the van.

“Shit, Clay know your coming?”

“It was his idea actually.” I said while talking down my hair so it would flow down my back. Jax hopped into the drivers seat and Oppie crawled into the back of the van with me. Oppie threw me a black zip up hoodie.

“Here, in case if there is anyone around. Might make it easier for them not to see you.”

“And here I thought you were just giving me a jacket since it was cold outside. I guess Chivalry is dead.”

Both Jax and Oppie chuckled. “So still in love with Oppie huh Reese?” Jax said while peeling out of the TM lot.

“Ever since he scared the monster out of my room, he has been the love of my life!” I gave Oppie a wink. “To bad you had to marry Donna Oppie and pop out a few kids. I thought we had something real.”

“Ya, cause our make believe wedding when you were seven made me your Old Man.”

“Hey! Don’t pretend that our vows that day didn’t mean anything to you! You promised to treat me as good as your leather!” I poked him hard in the chest just to get my point across that he was also apart of our wedding that we had at the clubhouse when everyone was in church.

“Ya I officiated that wedding, and when I said till death do you part, I meant till death.” Jax said while lighting another cigarette. Everyone in the van laughed. We were such dumb kids when we were younger. Also wanting to pretend that we were apart of the club, even faking a SAMCRO wedding.

We pulled up to the curb next to the station. Both Jax and Oppie took off their kutts and Jax turned his body in the set to get a better view of Unser.

“Dispatcher’s in a separate office. She won’t here us. Get to the cells through the back door.” Unser said while I was leaning into the seat with Jax. He turned his head to the back of the car and saw that Oppie was looking down on the ground. Ever since he got out of Stockton, he seemed to handle club business in a different way. Like he was afraid of doing anything for the club. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Jax address Oppie.

“Ope. You here man?”

“Yeah” was all Oppie said and looked up towards both me and Jax.

We all turned out attention to the front of the station to see four police officers running out of the front doors to their cars.

“Thats our cue” Unser said while unbuckling his seat belt. We waited till all of them drove off with their sirens going off. I opened the side door of the van when I heard Jax say to Oppie

“Stay here. Call if anyone shows up”
“-I thought you wanted me”
“-Just keep your eyes open dude.” Jax said with a disappointed look on his face and climbed out of the van.

I looked back towards Oppie, who was now staring out the front of the van and couldn’t help but feel bad for him. I wanted to say something but I know I would just be wasting time, and Jax would have probably made me stay behind as well. And there was no way in hell that I was gonna pass up seeing my mother behind bars.

We walked through the station and Unser guided us back towards the holding cells. Not that he needed to. Both Jax and I knew our way around the station pretty well, especially the way to the holding cells.

When we got back to them, Unser handed Jax a key. You could see one of the holding cells from the hall, and there was standing the little tart that I saw getting arrested earlier today at the grocery store. Jax put a finger up to his mouth indicating for her to be silent.

“Holy Shit” Cherry said. Already she was pissing me off in my book. Jax opened the bar door and we both turned to our left to see Luann who was laying on the bed in her cell.

“What are you doing here Reese?” I spoke to her first before Jax could get out any words.

“We think feds are pressing Otto.”

“Something's going on. They're letting me see him tomorrow.” I thought that she def looked stressed. Being arrested did not look good on her at all. But it still brought a smile to her face.

“ You got to get a message to him Luann. They're trying to use RICO act against the club.You got to tell Otto he can't give them any info, all right? Nothing - no matter how small or old.” Jax said to her while moving closer to her cell.

“Shit” was all my mom could say

“Nothing all right mom.”

“Ya I’ll tell him.” She reached out her hand for me to take. I couldn’t deny her, so I grabbed her hand and kissed it.

“You get to see him tomorrow ok. You are gonna be fine. Don’t worry about it. Just make sure he gets the message.”

“Ya.” I could see tears forming in her eyes. “Thanks for coming baby. I really..” I cut her off before she could say anything else.

“Mom don’t. You will be out of here sooner than you think, and I will be at home waiting ok. I promise. We gotta go though. I will see you later.”

“Alright baby, love you. Be careful.”

I turned around to see Jax talking to the tart that was being held in the first cell. All I heard from her was that she was going to rat if he didn’t get her out of here.

“You fucking rat and you will answer to be you jail bait slut!” I said while trying not to raise my voice.

“Reese not now.” Jax looked at me. I didn’t take my eyes off of her. Who the hell did she think she was saying she was gonna rat on the club. If she ever did I would make sure that I handled her myself. She just held on to the bars and kept whining to Jax. “Please, please!”

“All right. Shut up!” he said and raised her voice at her. He put Unsers keys into the key whole and started to open up the cell.

“ Where the hell you going with her?” I practically pushed Jax into the hall way.

“We got to take this one with us.”
Unser pointed past me towards the cop and asked both Jax and I “You’re breaking her out?”

“NO! Jax is breaking her out.” I said with agitation in my voice.

She followed us on our heels to meet Unser when I heard her ask, “Hey, aren't you the police chief?”

“I’ve got no idea what I am anymore.”

Jax turned to the little tart and said, “He’s a friend. Put them both in the van.” he said to Unser.

“You are fucking kidding me right now.” I said to Jax.

He turned to me and said“I am gonna go check Unsers office, See what I can find.” and was off before I could detest him.

To say I was pissed would be an understatement. I turned to both Unser and the tart and said, “Come on little girl.” and walked off towards the center of the station. Before I walked in I stalked by the wall to see if anyone was in there. Before I got a good look, the tart almost made her way passed me. I quickly grabbed her by the arm and pushed her into the wall.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!?” I said and pointed a finger in her face. “If you want to get the fuck out of here, we gotta be careful to make sure no one sees us. Maybe if you had be sly before in your life, you wouldn’t be in this fucking mess.” I pushed off of her, and Unser was there waving us to go through the station.

I so badly wanted to beat the shit out of this girl. She had some nerve saying she wanted to rat on the club right in front of me. When we got to the van Oppie quickly opened the side door for us to get in. I opened the drivers door and stole Jax’s spot. If he was going into Unsers office, we were going to need to make a fast get away, and there was no one better to do it rather than me. I also knew that if I got into the back with her, she would definitely be dead. I slammed the door shut and heard Oppie say. “Why the hell is Cherry with you guys.”

“Said she was going to rat on the club if Jax didn’t sneak her out. Any word comes from this whore, I will make sure I will be the one responsible for whacking her off.” I practically yelled at him while starting the ignition.

“Who the hell...” Cherry was cut off by Ope.

“I suggest you don’t say anything else unless if you want to get in that ring with her and go into an early grave.”

She must had taken him seriously cause that was not another word said from anyone in the van. I sat there and pulled out a cigarette and had it lit by the time Jax came to the van. Before he could shut the door, I slammed on the accelerator and we were off.

I knew we couldn’t go back to the clubhouse. Once they had seen Cherry was missing, that would be the first place they would look. Instead, I drove north down Main Street and let it guide me out of town. Jax just gave me a look that I returned back, reassuring him that I knew where I was going. The only place that the cops would not know to look, Piney’s cabin.