It Was Always You

Ch. 18 Home Life

Happy was laying on the couch in his Ma's house, thankful to get some rest in before his long drive to take the Irishman and the little sweetbutt up to Canada so they could board a plane out of the country. He tried to make a habit of stopping by to see his Ma before long runs just in case something should happen while he was away. His Ma's multiple sclerosis kept them all on their toes; though it was a topic his whole family avoided like the plague. Most days, she pushed through it, but some days, it was too much. Like just moments before, when she'd kissed his head and told him she was going upstairs to take a nap. He hated seeing her weak, hated that he wasn't around more to be there for her. Thankfully, Angela was nearby and seemed to visit relatively often. Hell, he was even thankful for the idiot and his constant check-ins. Still, Happy was considering going Nomad just for the option of being home more. It'd make his Ma happy, and he'd do anything to make her happy.

He heard the front door open and sat up quickly before he heard the kid's voice call out, "It's just me! Stand down!"

He smirked, relaxing back into the couch. She walked into the living room looking very professionally dressed in her usual work attire. The pride that swelled in his chest when he saw her dressed for work never ceased to surprise him. He was proud as hell of how hard she'd worked to get her position. How she was thriving in a good profession instead of settling for being someone's old lady. "Hey kid," he greeted on a nod.

"Hey," she replied, throwing herself onto the couch beside him with a heavy sigh. She rolled her head over to look at him. "An ice pick. Really?"

Happy barely hid a smirk; it'd been one of his more creative methods to kill someone, and he'd been surprised with how well it'd worked. No fuss, no mess. Just one clean hit. "Was quiet," he explained on a shrug. She rolled her eyes, but he got the sense there was more to it. "You good?"

"Yeah. Fine. Juice explained what it was for. Said it wasn't 'cause a me, which I get, but I also have a feeling you loved getting that smiley face more than any of those other smiley faces you got."

She wasn't wrong, of course. He'd had an immense feeling of satisfaction at seeing the man who'd put his kid through so much go down like a sack of potatoes. "He deserved it."

"Whatever," she muttered, messing with her ring for a minute before she dug into her pocket. She handed him a little business card. "This lovely lady paid me a visit today."

He read the name on the card and sneered. Agent June Stahl. "This ATF bitch has been sniffin' around the club for a minute," he said, handing the card back to her. He knew Angela had a few ties to the club, but he was curious which one of them led the agent to her. "How'd she find you?"

"Juice," she answered on a sigh. "My lovely mother put me down as his wife for all of his hospital shit."

Of course Graciela would be the one to ruin years of his hard work to keep the kid's name clear of the club. He got where she'd been coming from though. Juice had been knocked out, needed someone to make decisions for him, and the kid was the closest one to him. Still, it left her vulnerable to interrogations like that with one easy to find way to tie her to the club. "She tryin' to get you on insurance fraud?"

"Can't. Never used my insurance for his stuff," she explained on a shrug. "First, she threatened to go to the club with my Mayan past. When that didn't work, she brought up the funeral home break in. Didn't mention you at all, though, so that tie is still buried pretty fuckin' deep."

Happy nodded; he'd worked hard to bury the tie between them. He never wanted anything he did to blow back on his kid. He'd even gotten Juice to go into prison databases and wipe his visit records to bury their relationship. "Good. She ask anything specific?"