Spark in the Dark

Chapter 96

Shawn didn't bother checking her phone until she and Juice woke up the following morning. Gemma had been the one calling the night before. Shawn listened to the message she had left, after calling one more time after they had gone up to Shawn's room. Apparently, Gemma's father had accidently shot Tig. Tara was on her way to fix him up, but Gemma wanted to let Shawn know. Shawn filled Juice in after deleting Gemma's message.

"She called three times for that?" Juice asked.

"It's Gemma," Shawn explained.

"True," Juice said with a smirk.

They had breakfast and a pretty normal morning. Shawn felt thankful. She needed a little bit of normal. After Juice left, Shawn had called Lyla and was able to set up a meeting with Dondo over lunch. She thought it had gone really well and hopeful he'd hire her.

On her drive home, her phone rang. She winced and hoped it wasn't Gemma. She had never called her back from the night before and Gemma hated that. Instead, Shawn saw Jax's name on her screen.

"Hello?"

"Shawn, I got a favor to ask you," Jax said, getting straight to the point.

"Shoot."

"Can you call up some of the Cara Cara girls? I have a job opportunity for them. $5,000 each for a few hours. Kind of a private party thing."

Shawn wrinkled her nose. Porn was one thing. Prostitution was another. At least in Shawn's eyes. "Yeah, I guess. Text me the details. I was about to call Lyla, anyways."

"Uh, not Lyla."

"Why not?"

"She's with Opie now."

"She'll be pissed if I don't tell her."

"Well, tell her to talk to Ope," Jax told her. Jax and Shawn hung up not long after.

Once Shawn got home, she called a few of the girls she knew were needing money. She called Lyla last and probably wouldn't have called at all except Lyla was already expecting her call.

"Hey, how'd lunch go?" Lyla asked excitedly when she answered.

"It went really well. I'm hoping we will once again be coworkers soon."

"We should celebrate. I'll get a sitter for the kids. When was the last time we went for margaritas?"

"It's been awhile, but that's not the only reason I called you. I guess there's a private party kind of thing. Jax wanted me to get some of the Cara Cara girls for it, you know, to help them out."

"Yeah, I'll do it."

"Ask Opie first, please? I have enough problems. I don't need anyone pissed at me right now."

"He'll say yes. He never tells me no."

"God, I can't believe you got him whipped this fast."

"Oh please. You had Juice whipped from the moment he laid eyes on you."

"Go back to work, Lyla," Shawn said with a smile.

"Man, and you're not even my boss anymore," Lyla joked back.

* * *

Shawn decided to go on a run when she got home. She was doing everything she could to get things back to normal. She no sooner walked in her backdoor and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge when her phone started to ring. She didn't recognize the number, but decided to answer it anyways.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Shawn. It's me. It's Cherry," Cherry's voice came through the phone.

"Cherry? Holy shit. Where the hell have you been?"

"Belfast. They shipped me off here since I'm looking at prison time in the U.S."

"Damn, that must be nice."

"Not really," Cherry admitted and Shawn laughed.

"So, I'm actually calling you for a reason. Can you give me a number I can reach Gemma at? I tried calling Kip, but his phone is out of service."

"Oh," Shawn said. "Yeah. She's using a burner right now, but I have the number. Hang on."

Shawn scrolled through her phone to her call log to read Cherry the number Gemma had called her from.

"Great. Thank you," Cherry said. "Can I get Kip's new number, too?"

"Cherry, um, gosh I wish I didn't have to tell you this," Shawn said.

"Tell me what?"

"Kip... died. He was murdered by some Irishman."

"Do you know who?" Cherry said, her voice sounded upset.

"I'm not sure. I heard one of the guys mention the name Cameron once."

"Yeah, I know him," Cherry said and sniffled. "God, poor Kip."

"I know. I'm so sorry, Cherry."

"He loved that club," Cherry said.

"He cared about you, too," Shawn said to comfort her. "They buried him with his top rocker, too."

"Yeah? That's really cool," Cherry told her, but she could tell Cherry was still crying.

"You okay?"

"I'll be alright. I should go."

"Alright. Bye."

Shawn hung up and felt really shitty. She texted Juice and offered to order take out for dinner and meet Juice at his place. She was getting sick of her own house and, luckily, he agreed. Awhile later, she parked her car and walked to his front door. He must have seen her coming because he opened the door as soon as she got there.

"You're not holding food," Juice pointed out.

"It's being delivered. You starving?"

"Yes. I've been working with Bobby's ex wife's new husband all day. If that just made sense."

"Bobby's ex wife? You mean Precious?"

"That would be the one. He's a bounty hunter. He's helping us look for Abel."

"You find anything else on him?"

"We're hiring someone to track him in Canada. That's why we needed the Cara Cara girls earlier. We need cash to pay him. I have something to tell you, though. The man who took Abel was found dead. There's no sign of Abel."