𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐄 | sons of anarchy.

𝑪 𝑯 𝑨 𝑷 𝑻 𝑬 𝑹 𝑻 𝑾 𝑬 𝑵 𝑻 𝒀 ᅳ 𝑺𝑰𝑿

He didn't even know exactly what had happened, but his feeling told him that it was probably a relapse. That would also explain her text earlier.

"Where did you find her?", he asked, his jaw tense. He carefully removed Avery from Tig's arms and her body immediately fell against his chest. She was still completely off trackᅳ but kind of awake.

Unintelligible sentences left her dry lips, her voice barely louder than a whisper as she clumsily fumbled hair out of her face. Her breath didn't smell of alcohol, so his instincts hadn't deceived him. It must have been a relapse.

"Behind the supermarket in the middle of town", Tig let him know. The next words visibly made him uncomfortable. "She had a needle in her arm, but I think you're already aware of that", he added with a sigh. "If you need anything, man, we're here."

"We can stay if you want", Chibs offered, lowering his voice as he tried to read Happy's expression. "Want us to send Tara over?"

"No, I can handle it", Happy grumbled, trying to keep his girlfriend on her feet, his fingers digging deep into the fabric of her leather jacket. "Can you just let Lyla know that Avery is home? And tell her to keep Debbie with her for now."

Tig nodded quickly, his hands on his hips. "Let's head back to the club. Seriously, call us if you need us, got it?"

Without wanting to seem ungrateful, Happy nodded with a grunt. At the moment he simply had no words left, and he wanted to take care of Avery first and then he wanted an explanation of how the relapse could even happen.

"We'll come by again tomorrow", Chibs decided without further ado, slapped Happy's back encouragingly and finally nodded Tig outside, noticing that the killer preferred to be alone with Avery.

But the Scotsman was still worried about his brother and the young woman, who had already a place in everyone's heart.

ᚔ

His gaze was fixed on his Old Lady's arm, on the two fresh punctures in the crook of her arm. It felt like he hadn't averted his stoic gaze once in the last three hours.

How could he not have have seen this coming? In the morning she had seemed completely normal, was in a good mood and was looking forward to the movie night that Debbie had wanted. Everything had been okay, there hadn't been a single sign that a relapse might happen.

His thoughts rattled without giving him a damn break. Only when Avery slowly stirred and made noises did he sit up, got up from the chair he had previously placed next to the bed and finally sat down on the free side of the bed, his eyebrows furrowed.

Only when Avery noticed a dip next to her did she blink slowly a few times, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand, her face contorting painfully.

"What theᅳ" she muttered. The redhead had to come to her senses first and realize what had happened in the last few hours.

As soon as her eyes were open she immediately looked for Happy, whose worried yet cool gaze was on her. When he didn't say anything and just continued to stare at her in silence, she frowned and sat up.

"Slow down", Happy croaked from behind her, now placing a hand against her back as if he had to support her.

Grumbling, she rubbed her face, then slowly all the memories from earlier came back and flooded her thoughts. In horror, she stretched out her arm and ran the tips of her index and middle finger over the marks.

"No", she slapped her other hand over her mouth, sobbing, absolutely disgusted and disappointed in herself. "Iᅳ Iᅳ", she choked out, but the words got stuck in her throat along with the lump that had formed in it.