Smiley Face

I was shaken awake the next morning, by Jax. He was sitting down on the edge of the bed next to me, with his hand rest on my shoulder blade. His blonde hair was slicked back out of his face, and he was dressed in his usual ensemble.

Looking over at the alarm clock, I saw that it was almost one in the afternoon. "What's going on?" I groaned, rolling over onto my back. The blanket was laying over my bare stomach, and I felt like my lack of clothing made Jax feel ever so awkward. He was quick to look away from me, before standing up from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed.

"We've waited for you to wake up as long as we can, Teagan. I need you to get dressed and come into the chapel." Jax sighed. Immediately I remembered that I was supposed to go tell everyone what was going on with me. Why I'm here, asking for protection. "Alright, I'll be there in a minute. Just let me get dressed." I mumbled, moving to sit up.

Only once he was gone did I throw the blankets off of my body and get out of the bed. I picked my outfit out of the bags that I got when shopping with Tara yesterday.

I put on a pair of ripped up shorts. A black tank top that said 'If loving my tattoos is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.', with a plaid over shirt that matched the shorts. And also a pair of knee-high boots that matched as well. I left the sports bra on under the shirt, just in case I needed to take the shirt off to show everyone the bruises.

I didn't leave the room before fixing my hair, putting on make up and grabbing one of my two guns. I put it the back of my shorts. Only once I felt I was completely ready to face everyone did I walk out of the room, shutting the door behind me.

Ever so slowly, I made my way through the club and towards the chapel. Sitting at the bar, was Tara and Lyla, who both gave me sympathetic smiles before I walked through the double doors. All the men looked at me immediately, before I closed the doors behind me and made my way over to where Jax was sitting at the head of the table.

I didn't know what he expected me to do at this point. When I walked over to him, he was quick to rise from his seat, and allow me to sit down instead. He then stood behind me, with his hands gripping the chair tightly.

"You all already know that Teagan is here for her own protection; but what you don't know is why. She didn't come here asking for it- but she is a friend of the club and we're going to take care of her. I just thought, it would be best for her to explain why." Jax said, already sounding angry.

He was the only one who knew the entire story, not even Bobby knew everything. I took a deep breath as once again all eyes came to land on me.

"Well, uh, my father is a pastor back in Reno. He doesn't really show it in public, but he's one of those guys that believes in every little detail, and repenting from sins on a daily basis." I started, not really sure how to explain things.

"It wasn't that bad as I was growing up really; but when I turned eighteen, and started hanging out with different people, getting tattoos and piercings, he changed. It was only occasional, really. Only a few bruises here and there, easy to hide. I thought that things would get better when I started seeing a guy from the church. "

"Things were fine up until a few weeks ago. He had found out that I had been hanging out with the Sons Charter in Reno and about the modelling gig that I had; and it was so bad that I was hospitalized with a few broken ribs. I didn't tell anyone what happened, not even the Sons. Instead, as soon as I was released, I ran.

"I waited until I thought he would be sleeping one night, and I tried to sneak out of the house. I was wrong, he was still awake and waiting, like he knew I was going to try and run. I was just barely able to get away from him. Once I knew he wasn't following me, I came to Charming, first thing I did was go to the ER and that's how Jax ended up finding me, because of Tara."

"Jax only knew who I was because he and Bobby met me on one of their runs to Reno. He only knew that I was here because my dad trashed the SAMRENO clubhouse looking for me, and they called Jax about it." I continued.

It was silent for a few moments after I finished talking. Looking around the table, I saw that most of the men sitting around me look angry. When I looked over to Happy I saw that his eyes were narrowed down into a glare, and his hand was balled up into a fist and resting on top of the table. Jax was still gripping the chair, but his grip had gotten even tighter.

"How bad is it?" The Scottish accent of Chibs rang through out the room. Looking over to him, I felt ever so slightly confused. "What he did to you, how bad is it?" He asked again, a look on his face so angry that it scared me.

Without saying a word, I stood from the seat, before pulling off the over shirt and pulling up the black tank top I was wearing. I turned in place, showing off the bruises and scars, and even some of the fresh wounds that were covering my torso.

Feeling fingers touching my lower stomach, I ever so slightly jumped, before turning to look at whoever it was. It was Bobby, and the look that covered his face just about broke my heart.

"Why didn't you tell us about this? We could have gotten you out of it." Bobby mumbled, sounding like he was about to cry. "Because I thought that I could handle it, I didn't want help because I can take care of myself. I didn't come here to ask for protection, it was just the farthest I could get that night." I explained ever so slightly. "You can take care of yourself? You don't even have a way to protect yourself!" Happy snapped from the other end of the table, slamming his fist down.

Glaring at the man, I reached behind him before grabbing my gun and slamming it down on the table. "Yes, I do! You don't know shit about me." I growled out. My eyes never left the tattoo-covered man as I waited for something else to happen.

When nothing happened for a few moments, I moved and started putting my shirts back onto my body. "Just because you have a gun, doesn't mean you know how to protect yourself." The man growled out, crossing his arms over his chest. "The guys at SAMRENO taught me how to protect myself. Want to be my practice target?" I snapped, glaring at him.

Before another word could be said or anything could be done, Jax reached around me and took the gun from me.

"Well you're here now, and no matter how happy I am that you have a way to protect yourself, we're still going to do everything we can to keep you safe. If those mother fuckers find you and come here, there will be hell to pay." Jax said softly. At his words, the entire mood of the room changed.

Jax let me leave, and I made my way outside into the bar. Tara and Lyla were still waiting there to see what had happened; but I didn't say anything to them and instead made my way behind the bar and started making myself a drink. I could feel the women's eyes on me as I started drinking one drink after another, not caring at this point.

"U-uh, Teagan isn't it a little early for that?" Lyla gasped out.

Once again I said nothing, and instead lifted my gaze to look at the two girls sitting in front of me. I could feel my hand clutching to the glass rather tightly, as I threw back yet another drink. "Never mind." Lyla mumbled, quickly looking down at the bar.

I continued to drink, and a few short minutes later the boys came pouring out of the chapel one by one. My eyes locked on to Happy, who was fuming as he stormed out of the bar. He had his hands balled up into fists by his sides, and his eyes narrowed down into a glare. No one said anything to him, no one tried to stop him- we all just let him go.

I could hear the sound of his bike starting and him pulling away from the club quickly, as Bobby came over and sat down at the bar.

"What's wrong with him?" I mumbled, looking towards my close friend. When he looked up at me, I saw what looked like betrayal and hurt hidden in his eyes. "Happy may not be the most touchy-feely guy out of the lot of us, but like the rest of us, he isn't very happy about the fact that you were being beaten. We don't take kindly to men who beat women." He scoffed.

Taking in the tone of his voice, I felt slightly hurt. "Bobby, are you mad at me?" I questioned, moving around the bar. I went and sat down next to him, as he knocked back a shot that Ratboy had poured for him. "To honest, Teagan, no, I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad that you didn't tell us that this was happening to you. We could have helped, made it stop." Bobby sighed, this time not even looking at me before downing another shot. I sighed, closing my eyes as wrapped my arms around myself.

"I didn't mean to let it get this out of hand, Bobby. I thought I could handle it." I whispered, feeling myself breaking down.

So I did the one thing I knew how to do best. Leaning over the bar, I grabbed the bottle that was the most full before running out of the clubhouse. I could hear Bobby yelling after me, but I didn't stop to listen to him- I just kept running.

People watched as I ran past them, with tears running down from my eyes and smearing my make up. I ran all through town, and past all the business'. I didn't stop running until I got an abandoned playground. There, I sat down on a swing set before unscrewing the cap of the bottle, and started drinking.

At first the harsh liquid stung the back of my throat, but I didn't let that stop me from drinking more. With every thought that passed through my mind, I drank. With every memory of the Sons, I drank. With every flash back of the beatings, I drank.

I just wanted to forget.