Patrick Verona as Gabriel "Gabe" Morrison
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After Tweety picked up his car a couple days ago, Sophia hasn't seen him around town. She's relieved but also somewhat uneasy, he could be hiding- waiting for her somewhere but she pushes that out of her head when she sees her boyfriend roll into the shop.
"Hey babe." Jax says, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he throws his arm around her shoulders.
"Hey." She smiles back, wrapping him in a hug. Jax has been easing her into his lifestyle, she still doesn't know the entire truth about the club but she'll know soon enough.
Hell, if she can tell Jax about her life in Modesto, he can tell Soph about his twisted MC life. He plans on telling her more tonight when they get together after her shift at the garage.
Sophia's blue eyes glaze over when she sees a familiar car drive past the shop real slow. Her heart drops into her stomach as she freezes, her hands wringing together nervously. "Soph?" Jax asks, bending over slightly to catch her eye line. "You okay?"
"Huh?" She tears her eyes from the street and forces a smile with a nod. "Yeah."
Jax doesn't believe her but drops the subject. "What's going on with your car now?" He nods to the jacked up Chevy in the last stall.
"Lifting it." She responds.
"Again?"
"Again." Sophia grins, picking up her rag to wipe her hands off. "Wanna help me? I got new tires and rims and I gotta cut the frame-"
"What!?" Jax laughs. "Tires that you have to cut your frame for aren't worth the headache."
"Oh shut up and help me." She smiles back, elbowing him playfully. Jax laughs again as he picks up a tape measure, that same slow rolling car creeps past the shop again.
He slips into the office to file through the old paperwork for Tweety's invoice. He reads the description of the car and his face drops.
Tweety is still in town and probably isn't leaving anytime soon.
He's thrown into protective mode as he heads back out to the shop, keeping a look out for that orange and white 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado.
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Sophia sighs to herself as she pulls the garage doors shut, her brain aching from an incoming headache she can't wait to drink away with her boyfriend.
She locks her car, leaving it parked out in front of the stall. She then heads to the clubhouse to take a shower before Jax comes by.
Sophia keeps her back turned as she dries off, humming along to a song playing on the radio she's added into the room. She doesn't hear the dorm room door shut as she pulls on one of Jax's t-shirts, her hair wrapped up in a towel.
"I missed you." She hears behind her. Sophia slowly turns and sees her ex-boyfriend standing there in his 'bad boy' jailbird glory. Her stomach sinks and her heart flutters at the sight of Tweety fuckin Handler looking more devilishly handsome than ever.
"What're you doing here?" She asks, frozen in place as he steps closer.
"I got released early by mistake, wanted to see you before they realized they fucked up and lock me up for a couple more years." She suppresses a shutter as Tweety looks her over. "Damn, why did I ever let you go?"
"Seriously?" She scoffs. "I was done being your human punching bag."
"Sorry you feel like that." He says, turning his green eyes to the various pictures hanging around the room. "You've got a type, huh?" He glances between his reflection and the man's mugshot stuck between the frame and mirror.
"Leave." She tries to say confidently but it comes out like a plead. "Now."
Tweety chuckles that handsome laugh of his, making shivers go down her spine and that familiar burning ache blossom through her body. "I just got here."
"How did you find me?"
"You don't blend in; you're too beautiful to blend in."
"My boyfriend'll be here any second, Tweety."
His face splits into his panty-dropping smirk. "I'd love to meet him."
"Please just leave."
"We need to talk." Tweety says, tossing another picture onto the nightstand before picking up one of Jax's cigarettes to light for himself. "Here." He offers it to the woman standing in the doorway of the bathroom.
"I quit, thanks."
"Wow, you're boring now. You're not that hell raiser you were in high school."
"Shit happens." She responds, her heart beating in her throat. "You gotta get outta here."
"Not until we talk."
"Fuck- fine. I'm off next Thursday after four. We can talk at the diner off the main road."
"Sounds good, baby." He winks, stepping toward her as she backs herself against the doorframe, breathing hard. Tweety grabs her jaw and kisses her hard making her head spin, his hands snaking down to her ass.
If she's being honest, she kinda missed the way Tweety's kisses turn her on but the bad outweighs the good.
Sophia shoves him back, keeping her eyes down as he exits the room, leaving her alone and somewhat scared.
Sophia lowers herself to the floor, her thumbnail between her teeth as she lowkey panics, her heart racing.
Jax finally joins her and he frowns when he sees her on the floor. "You okay?"
"Yeah." She nods, her eyes stuck on the floor.
Jax sits across from her against the bed, sliding her a beer before opening his own. "What's bothering you?"
"Nothing." She forces a smile, tilting her head back against the wall. Sophia scoots over to him, leaning against him. "Kiss me."
Jax chuckles and does as he's told, his ringed hand sliding to the side of her face as he kisses her hard. She lets out a soft noise, moving to straddle his lap. He holds her hips, shoving them down towards his, eliciting twin moans from the couple. Sophia twists her fingers in his long hair, her lips against his neck as Jax's hands slide up her shirt.
Sophia can't get the way Tweety kissed her out of her mind as Jax goes down on her. She sighs quietly causing the blonde to look up at her from between her thighs.
"Everything okay?" He asks, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Sorry, I'm just a little preoccupied." She whispers back, pulling her panties on before sitting up against the wall behind the bed. "Just a lot on my mind."
Jax nods, feeling awful for putting his club business on her plate along with her dying dad and crazy ex. "Sorry." He says, sitting across from her on the bed. "Anything you, uh, wanna talk about?"
"No, I'm okay." She smiles at him, feeling safe and heard with him. Jax returns the smile and holds his arm out for her to cuddle against him. She chuckles and slides by him, stretching her long legs out in front of him. "You said you had something you wanted to tell me?"
"It can wait." He mumbles back, his eyelids feeling heavy from how fast paced life has been.
"I gotta see my dad tomorrow. He's getting out of the hospital since his vitals or whatever has been up for a week straight with no issues."
"That's good, right?"
"Yeah." She takes a deep breath. "That just means I gotta take a little step back from my jobs to keep an eye on him. He's stubborn as hell so if something's wrong, he won't tell anyone."
"I see where you get it from." He teases, laughing at the look she gives him.
"I gotta get his house cleaned up and ready." She stands up and starts to get dressed in a pair of jeans with the baggy t-shirt then steps into her shoes. "You gonna help me?"
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Sophia sighs as she sits at the kitchen table, an empty beer bottle in her hand. She got the dates mixed up; her dad doesn't come home for another couple days so she's been cleaning up and out his house.
She sighs again, rubbing her tired eyes as the door opens. "Scotty?" She hears a familiar voice call. Her head shoot up and her face splits into a smile at the sight of her older brother standing in the living room.
"Gabe!" She laughs as she wraps him in a tight hug, her face against his chest. "Holy shit, where have you been?"
"Stockton." He chuckles, dropping his bag on the kitchen table. "Prison."
"The hell? For what?"
"Just a misunderstanding." He brushes her off, digging around in the fridge. "I'm hungry."
"Well sit down, I'll make you something." Sophia nudges him toward the chairs then starts to throw some easy lunch together. "How long were you gone?"
"How old are you?"
"Twenty three, almost twenty four." She responds, dropping a cheese sandwich on the hot skillet.
"About nine years." Gabe answers, leaning his elbows on his knees. "Man, you grew up."
"Yeah, well, I'm not fourteen anymore." She chuckles, cutting his toasted cheese sandwich in two triangles with a handful of stale potato chips and a beer to wash it all down.
"What've you been up to, little sister?"
"Just been here to take care of our old man."
"How's Angela?" Gabe asks with a mouthful of chips mixed with grilled cheese.
"She's, uh, fine, I think." She shrugs. "Hey, we should get a drink. I know a bar that's down the street."
"Yeah, sure. Let me take a shower and change my clothes." Gabe stands and sets his dirty plate in the sink before downing the rest of his beer. He presses a kiss to the top of his sister's head then heads to the bathroom to take a long hot shower for the first time in years.
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Sophia laughs as she sits next to her brother, a lit cigarette between her fingers for the first time since she was about nineteen. Gabe is still his charming self and it comes across as flirty to the oncoming stranger.
He has his arm resting on the back of the booth off the side of the bar's main room behind Sophia, his voice low as they talk.
"So how's Scotty doing?" Gabe asks, looking down at his third beer. "Still alive?"
"Yep. He's coming home some time next week. Doctor said he's doing good so they're sending him on his merry way." She reports, tapping the ash off her cigarette.
"What brought you back home? Scotty?"
"Yeah." She nods with a sigh. "I'm glad to be back, though. Modesto was getting old."
"That's where Angela moved to? I figured she'd be on the other side of the country with how much she bitched about California."
"Right? Even in Modesto, she bitched about it here." She chuckles. "I think- I dunno." She cuts herself off with another sigh. "I kinda resent her for splitting us up. I missed a lot."
"You missed a lot? Hell, I was in prison for a couple years." Gabe laughs, setting his fourth beer down. "You seeing anybody?"
The door to the dive bar swings open and in stalks Jax with Opie. Sophia has her back turned to the door so she doesn't see them but they see her first.
Opie elbows his best friend in the side and nods to the brunette laughing with a guy they've never seen before.
Jax's mood immediately shifts at the sight of another man making his girl laugh and he becomes livid.
He stalks over to the table and crosses his arms. "Oh, hey Jax." Sophia smiles, stubbing her cigarette out. "This is-"
"Let's go." He says, grabbing her arm.
"What the- what the hell is wrong with you?" She yanks her arm from his grasp. "This is-"
"I don't care. Let's go, now."
"Leave me alone, Jackson."
"Yeah, Jackson." Gabe adds, giving him a dirty smirk that has the blonde's blood boiling. "Leave her alone."
Sophia gasps as she's suddenly torn out of the booth and behind Jax. She stumbles, grabbing onto Opie's arm to steady herself. "Dude! What the fuck!?" She shouts, catching the attention of the other customers.
"You think you can fuck around with Sophia!?" Jax sneers at Gabe's shit-eating grin covered face. "You're a dead man." Jax winds his arm up and clocks the brunette in the face, shoving him to the floor.
"Jax!" Sophia gasps, covering her mouth with her hand. "The fuck is wrong with you!?"
Opie tries to grab her hand when she starts toward the blonde wailing on her brother but he's too slow. Sophia reaches out for Jax's arm but he swings his elbow back, connecting with her mouth.
She drops to the floor behind him with a loud thud, blood gushing from her mouth and nose. "Fuck!" She whimpers, twisting her body so she's looking down as she leans on her elbow, watching blood drip onto the floor beneath her.
"Dude!" Opie shouts, wrapping his strong arm around his friend, pulling him away from the battered man against the wood plank floor.
Gabe laughs and winces as he tries to get up, his hand hovering over his probably broken ribs. "What the fuck, man?"
Jax's fury turns to worry and guilt when he sees the bartender holding ice wrapped in a rag against his girlfriend's face, his own face dropping at the sight of her struggling to stand. "Holy shit. Oh my god- Soph-"
Sophia ignores him as she rushes to the bathroom to clean the blood off her face, neck and shirt, tears swelling in her eyes as she relives her relationship with Tweety.
Jax's eyes bounce between Opie, the crowd and the man on the floor before he heads outside, sitting himself on the sidewalk with a lit cigarette between his fingers.