Money Can't Buy Happiness

Chapter 18

Blinking her eyes open in the mid morning sunlight, Katie slowly remembered the night before and the fact that she was squeezed in next to Happy. She sat up quickly to see him, already awake, wearing his usual dark expression.

"Sorry," she said timidly. "You should have woke me."

"Nah," he shrugged. "You were tired."

"Yeah," she peeled himself from the chair. "My life is exhausting lately. Coffee?"

"I gotta go," he said quickly.

"Can you stay?" She asked shyly. "Just for a little longer?" He hesitated when she asked and Katie could see he wanted to run. "Never mind, just go."

"I can stay if you want," he shrugged.

"You don't want to," she turned to start some coffee. "It's fine. I'm a big girl, I'll be fine."

"I'm not trying to be an asshole, Katie. I just wanna make sure you're safe. I don't want anything else."

She let out a loud huff and informed Happy snappily, "I didn't do anything wrong. You knew who I was from the start. It's not my fault you kept your business shit quiet and I had to keep my clients a secret; it's part of my job and clearly you can't handle knowing who they are."

"Don't put what happened on me," he said warningly. "That ain't fair. I woulda let him kill me."

"Bullshit," Katie spit harshly as she finally turned to face him again. "I don't believe you would have actually let Pope kill you just so I didn't have to go through that. You probably think I wanted it; I can tell. Fuck, Hap, you called me a whore to my face because of it."

"Don't tell me what I woulda done," he bellowed. "I had to watch my brother fuck you, Katie. I had to watch you cry as Pope sat there and fucking cheered. My life don't mean shit enough to be that selfish."

"Oh look, Tinman has a fucking heart," she waved her hands in the air. "Good for you. So sorry you're so mad that me and Jax wanted you to fuckin' make it outta there."

Happy was gutted. He felt he was able to open up, to admit true feelings to her and she went right back at him with cold disbelief. Truth was, they were both expressing themselves in ways the other could never comprehend.

"I dunno, you guys were always so fucking chummy anyway," he sneered. "That's why you do it, right, for the fucking attention? Look what it got you, Cassandra."

"Fuck you," she hollered as she hurled a mug at his head. "Get out. Get the fuck out. I don't need you to pretend to want me safe. Don't come back, Happy."

--

*The Next Morning*

"Boys," Lumpy scurried into the clubhouse as fast as he could. "I need your help."

Jax looked up from his coffee, one eyebrow arched high with intrigue, as Lumpy hurried toward him. "What's up, Lump?"

"Katie," he sighed, "We always have breakfast and run errands, same day same time every week, but she never showed up this morning."

"You call her?" Happy asked, suddenly very interested.

"It went right to her voicemail, I left three messages."

Jax and Happy made eye contact, agreeing silently and without any debate, that they'd search for Katie.

"We'll take care of it," Jax assured him. "Go home, Lump, I'll let you know as soon as we find something."

"I'm not going anyway," he said stubbornly.

Jax shrugged, "Alright, stay. You can kick a prospect's ass in the ring outside."

"Just find Katie," he said somberly. "I got nothing but her left."

With a supportive hand on Lumpy's shoulder, Jax nodded and gathered the others to form a plan. The first move was Juice, as usual, as they tried to locate her by tracking her phone.

"Nothing," Juice said disappointedly. "Her last call, other than Lumpy, came in four hours ago. She didn't answer. I'm checking towers to see where the call pinged and we can get an idea of her direction."

"I'm just gonna look," Happy said suddenly. "I can't just sit here with my thumb up my ass."

"Okay," Jax understood completely. "I'll call you when we hear something."

He nodded, feeling the rare urge to cry, and left the clubhouse in a hurry. Happy wasn't very emotional, he never had melodramatic breakdowns or fears of last words and unfinished business before. Now all of those fears and emotions sat on his chest so heavy he felt he might suffocate.

Following her usual route from her place to their usual spots he felt what little hope he had wilt away with each passing block. Jax text him her last location, as of four hours ago, and Happy took off toward the utility sheds sitting few before Charming's city line. He sped past them, out of town, and soon he heard the sound of his brothers catching up behind. Jax pulled alongside him, giving him a nod to go further and lead them all ahead.

Less than ten miles down the road Happy noticed the back half of a black car sticking out from a ditch along the San Joaquin river levee. He knew, he knew it was Katie even before he could read her license plate. Squealing to a stop, almost laying his bike down, Happy ran to the driver side door to see Katie slumped over the wheel.

"Katie," he opened the door. "Come on, Kate," he felt around her neck for a pulse. It took longer than he hoped but eventually he felt her blood pumping through her jugular. Scooping her up, Happy carried her out of the car in a fireman's hold and laid her on the asphalt. "Katie," he tapped her face lightly.

"Hap, brother," Chibs called his attention. "She needs an ambulance."

"Jesus," Jax peered into her car. "I can still smell the liquor."

"She's hammered," Happy grumbled. "I can smell it on her. No hospital."

"Tara can handle it," Jax said quickly. "And a DUI ain't shit compared to head trauma and a fucked up neck, Hap."

"Fine," he relented, only in her best interest, and nodded at the others. Happy needed to know what happened between him leaving and the accident, it was gnawing at him already, but he wouldn't get any information until she woke up. "Call an ambulance. Now."

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