"Ah shit", Tig mumbled under his breath as he carefully pulled the needle out of the redhead's arm. Her head was hanging down but she was breathing, he could hear and see it. Even though her chest only moved up and down slowly, she was definitely alive.
The man with the black curls quickly called out to Chibs, who was just coming around the corner after searching somewhere else. As they had promised Happy, almost everyone in the club went looking for Avery without even hesitating.
"Jesus Christ." The Scotsman rubbed his face, the pitiful sight not exactly pleasant. "Hap is going t' lose his mind."
"Would it surprise you?" Tig made sure to throw the syringe well wrapped in a tissue into the trash can next to them so no one else could hurt themselves with it. Then he tentatively patted Avery's cheek. "Hey, wake up, doll. It's Tig and Chibs."
But nothing. Avery merely choked on her own spit as she was still passed out, causing Tig to immediately sit her upright to prevent the young woman from vomiting and choke on her own puke.
"Why would she do something like that?" Sighing, Chibs crouched down and brushed a few strands of hair from Avery's pale face, which was now completely devoid of color. "Let's take her home so Happy can decide if he wants to call Tara."
"I don't know, man, but she's only been clean for about a year. A relapse happens quickly." As gently as possible, Tig reached under Avery's arms and hoisted her to her feet. Since she wasn't exactly heavy, it wasn't difficult to support her limp body.
Nevertheless, Chibs' stepped to the other side, put one of her limp arms around his shoulder, his other arm around her waist, and brought her with Tig to the car in which they had searched the town together. After all, no one knew what condition they would find Avery in, so they left the bikes at the clubhouse and decided to take Gemma's SUV.
Tig grabbed the brown leather jacket that had slipped off her shoulders earlier and threw it into the back seat before he, along with Chibs, placed Avery there too.
"Still, there must have been a reason", Chibs said thoughtfully as he sat back in the car, his elbow leaning against the plastic under the window. Sighing, he let his head fall against the headrest. "Happy will go on a killing spree when he finds out who sold her the drugs."
"If she even knows who sold them to her", Tig replied, starting the car before heading straight to Happy's and Avery's house. "If not, Happy will probably look out for every dealer in town."
"And they'll be lucky if he lets them live." Chibs could understand the killer's angerᅳ but the dealer had basically just done his job.
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Happy took a second to look at his stung out Old Lady, still hanging in Tig's arms. Shock, anger, disappointmentᅳ so many emotions intersected that he didn't even know what he was feeling anymore. But fear was one thing he felt quite clearly. No matter how angry he was, the fear that something could've happened to his Avery prevailed.
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.
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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.
Happy first gave her a moment to let her realize what had happened, but when she looked at him completely broken and desperate with tears streaming down her pale cheeks, his heart broke for her. He fucking hated seeing her like that and in that moment any anger he had towards her vanished.
Yes, he had been angryᅳ which was perfectly fine. But just because he had felt anger alongside his worry didn't mean he would abandon her for making one mistake. No one was fucking perfect.
Without wasting a word, which wasn't needed at the moment, he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her into his arms. He carefully held her shaking body as he leaned against the headboard, letting his head fall against it.
"I'mᅳ I'm so sorry", she cried between sobs, practically clinging to Happy like her life depended on it. "IᅳI didn't want to disappoint you", she sniffled hysterically.
Again he was at a loss for words, not because he didn't know what to say, but because the thing itself was bothering him. Not only did she have a lump in his throat, but so did he. The last time his chest had felt this heavy was when that CPS Lady had taken Debbie away.
Her fingers desperately dug through his shirt, which was now soaked with her tears in some places anyway, and into his skin when there was no answer, leaving a slight pain, which, however, didn't seem to bother him.
"Please don't hate me", she begged, almost chocking on her own tears. "Please Happy.."
"I couldn't, not even if I wanted to hate you for it", he finally answered, his tone more dismissive than usual, which was because he had to process the situation himself first. "But it fuckin' sucks to see you like this, woman."
She nodded understandingly, but instead of saying something, she remained silent. Only her sobs and sniffles filled the bedroom. Feeling ashamed, she pulled her legs up a little and buried her face more on his chest. She wanted to at least really feel him one more time before he would probably throw her outᅳ which she could totally understand.
The younger Dvorak sister had believed that nothing could destroy their relationship. Neither Kim, nor Kim's stupid sister back then, nor anyone else. And now it was she who was risking everything because of a fuckin' mistake that could've been avoided if she had thrown the drugs away immediately.
"What happens now, Happy?", she asked with a sniffle.
"We'll make sure this doesn't happen again." Sighing, Happy rubbed his face, finally taking a moment to properly look at her after she lifted her head to look up at him.
She looked broken. Completely desperate and emotionally broken. His chest felt heavy again as he looked at her tear-stained face.
Almost as if Avery was surprised, her jaw dropped slightly. "Does that mean you're still staying with me?"
"You think I'm going to dump you because of one slip up? If you really thought that, maybe you should get to know me again", he huffed, shaking his head. "You will become my wife, and you will still become Debbie's momᅳ with the proviso that you want to stay clean."
"Yes, yes of course", she nodded quickly and swallowed hard despite the lump in her throat. Avery tentatively pushed herself away from him, her hand resting on his chest. "I'll be attending more group therapy sessions right away, maybe even individual ones. But I know I don't want to lose you and Debbie."
At the end of her sentence, another sob escaped her dry lips and a new wave of tears gathered in her blue eyes, the brown spots more visible than usual. For a moment the killer even lost himself in her gaze before he finally nodded.
"That is all I'm asking for", he said sternly, sounding more authoritatively. "You know you won't be left out of sight for a while, right?"
"I know", she sobbed, rubbing the tip of her nose, her eyes puffy and red from crying. She was emotionally drained right now anyway and Happy's stern tone, how cold he sounded towards her, hurt her. But she understood why he acted the way he did. "I'll do everything to avoid relapsing again. And I'll do anything you ask me to do."
"It's not like you have a choice if you want to keep me and Debbie", Happy said with a shrug, to which Avery just lowered her head and nodded again. He may did sound like an asshole now, but he needed her to know how serious this situation was.
"I'm so sorry..", she whispered before more tears dripped from her chin and onto her legs.
With his eyes fixed on the wall and his legs bent as well, he rested his arms on his knees before looking back at Avery. "Why did you do it, Avery?"
Avery looked at him, ashamed, feeling her heart pounding in her throat, which suddenly felt incredibly dry. "The moment I had the drugs in my hand, I knew that I wouldn't be able to control the craving. I wanted it, I wanted to feel carefree again, I wanted to let myself go. My mouth watered at the thought of shooting up. At that moment I didn't really think about the consequences. I knew I was making a mistake butᅳ"
"But the craving was too strong", Happy finished her sentence with a sad, dry laugh.
"Yes." Avery's lips began to tremble again and another heart-wrenching sob slipped past her lips. When she looked into Happy's watery eyes, which showed that even he was having trouble controlling his emotions, her guilty conscience only got worse. "I know that I don't deserve you, neither you nor Debs. I didn't deserve you to begin with andᅳ"
"Shut up, seriously, woman", Happy warned with a bark, yet there was a certain gentleness in his tone, for the first time in this conversation. "Who the hell said you don't deserve Debbie and me, huh? Why would you even think that?!"
"Because...becauseᅳ", she stopped briefly as Happy's intense stare made her shiver. "Because I'm a junkie. You've got enough to do with Debbie and the club, you don't need a burden like me on top of that."
She was startled when Happy roughly grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him, his grip bruising. Avery looked at him in silence, only resting one hand around his wrist, letting her thumb gently glide over his skin as it became almost impossible to keep the tears in his eyes.
"Stop calling yourself a burden, got it?" he growled lowly, his jaw clenched for a moment. "You're with a killer, someone who tortures people in the most cruel ways. Do you honestly think I'm a better person than you? Fuck no!"
When he let go of her chin and quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, she hated herself for doing this to him. She suppressed the craving for the drugs that she already felt again with all her might.
"You're still perfect in my eyes", she dared to whisper, her soft gaze searching his, which seemed just as broken as hers at the moment.
Such moments were rare. Happy wasn't someone who would ever show himself like that in front of anyone unless it was impossible for him to keep his facade up.
"And so are you", he insisted, grunting. "Just tell me why, little girl. Everything was okay, how did you even get the idea to get drugs? What the hell happened?"
He knew one thing; Whoever's fault it was for her relapse, that person would pay for it. To give her at least some strength, he stretched out his arm and placed his hand on her knee, squeezing it encouragingly.
"It doesn't matter how angry, disappointed or mad I am, I want you to talk to me. I promised you full disclosure, but I demand the same from you in return", he said with urgency in his tone.
Avery nodded, but still hesitated for a moment. She took a shaky breath and wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her cheek on Happy's hand so she didn't have to look at him.
"Kim gave me the drugs. Practically shoved them into my hands", she finally confessed, feeling pretty small at the moment. "I really underestimated her. Last time I laughed at her threat to ruin us, but somehow she knew exactly what she had do to really jeopardize our relationship."
Happy stared at her as if she had three heads, unable to even speak at first. He had expected a lot, but not that Kim had actually been the reason for the relapse.
The fact that Kim had gone so far awakened an anger in him that he hadn't experienced before. This wasn't a job he had to do where he could just remain emotionally cold. This was personalᅳ and Kim would pay for it in the next few hours.
"You know what happens next, right?", he asked dangerously calm, his grip firm around her knee, almost painful.
Avery didn't say anything and just nodded slightly. As much as she wanted to take revenge on Kim for all of this, she knew that Happy was in a position to take revenge on his ex. He deserved to take her out. If she took that away from him, he would always struggle with it internally.
"I know", she finally said sheepishly, placing a hint of a kiss on the palm of his hand. "What are we telling Debbie?"
"That her birth mother died. She should know the truth, just not the whole truth", Happy decided, his voice firm. He had never lied to Debbie and wouldn't in the future.
The redhead sniffled again and wiped some snot from under her nose while silent tears rolled down her cheeks again. Deep down she was still convinced that she didn't deserve Happy and Debbie.
"Were you planning on coming home? Or was your plan to just disappear if Tig and Chibs wouldn't have found you?" Happy asked hesitantly, which was completely unlike him.
Now it was Avery who just stared at the wrinkled blanket and made no effort to wipe away her tears anymore. She knew that her answer would hurt him even more, but she wanted to be honest.
"I would've left first thing in the morning", she admitted honestly, her voice cracking. "But just to save you and Debbie the pain of seeing me like this."
"I don't give a damn how you come home, woman. Whether you're high, drunk. I don't care if it's going to piss me off or drive me crazy. Just come home, Avery!", he almost yelled at her. At first Happy wanted to avoid speaking, out of fear his voice could crack and make him look weak. But he simply didn't care right now and the pain in his voice was hard to miss.
He had to let her know that she had to come home, no matter if it would hurt him, disappoint him, or make him angryᅳ he needed her here with him. He fucking needed her and that would never change, no matter how many relapses would come.
"I'm sorry, Happy", sobbing deeply, she crawled to him, climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, not even thinking about letting go of him soon. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
"You better don't", Happy croaked, his voice cracking, before his arms were wrapped around her again, holding her so close that he almost took her breath away by squeezing her body too hard.
And while his face was buried in her tangled hair, the redhead was sure she heard a sniffle, so she just cradled him closer to her and tried to give him the comfort he needed right now.
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authors note; finally updated again! I'd love to hear some feedback (don't feel forced to leave a comment, please!). Is there anything you don't like about this story? Or is there anything specific you'd like to see happening in the future? 🥰