Chapter Text
I moved to Charming when I was a freshman in high school. I was a pretty but shy girl, I always preferred to be reading one of my fantasy books instead of going to parties. I kept to myself but had run into some issues when it came to the prince of Charming and his friends. Jackson Teller was a grade above me in school and a year and a half older. The blonde menace had developed a fascination with me. Any chance he got he was teasing me, Tara and Opie often tried to get him to leave me alone. It started out as simply pulling my hair when he walked past me in the lunch room or library, to taking my book and forcing me to have a conversation with him. I never considered it bullying, he was used to people fawning over him and wanted the attention of the one person who didn’t think the sun shone out his ass. Jax and his friends would invite me to do things with them constantly and I took them up on offers of rides home from school or going to the movies. Slowly but surely I became one of them, but I favored Opie over Jax no matter how hard the golden boy tried to get on my good side. Opie always made sure that I was taken care of even when he was in a relationship. I was the first to get his jacket if I was cold, he brought me my drink first at bonfires, and I always got the first plate of food if he had gone to get something.
I had to quickly learn how to fight in order to defend myself, girls would take their jealousy out on me instead of facing Tara or Donna. It frustrated me to no end that my friendship with the boys caused the rest of the school to see me as one of their girls, someone who was off limits. I went to every dance or school event with the golden boy and his friends. The only part of the high school experience I missed out on was dating.
When Tara graduated she left Charming, which left me as the only girl that Jax trusted. During my senior year Jax and I became best friends, he would throw rocks at my window when the nights got too rough for him and we would walk through the woods that surrounded my driveway to where he parked his bike and take long drives, discovering waterfalls and meadows that we never knew existed before. I taught him the constellations and he taught me how to shoot and gun and throw knives. Jax started reading more books so that he could curl up on the couch with me at my house without my parents' protests.
When he got really bored I was dragged to his motorcycle club parties, where I met his mother Gemma who took me under her wing making sure that I was treated like the club princess. The club took to me surprisingly fast, a lot of them had daughters or sisters close to my age and their protective instincts kicked in when I was around. Tig took to me instantly, seeing his own daughters in me and went out of his way to be my favorite. Bobby thought it would be fun to throw a wrench in his plans and started competing with him. When Tig taught me how to ride a bike, Bobby taught me how to drive a car. I had gone from seeing Jax as nothing more than any annoying leech to being part of his family, loving them the way I did my own. Every charter of SAMCRO knew me as a Teller. Birthdays and holidays were celebrated in twos, one with the club and the other with my parents. My parents had met Clay and Gemma enough times to trust them with my safety. They had met Jax and thought he was trouble but Opie was the balancing factor.
But nothing lasts forever. Right before graduation I lost my parents in a tragic accident, one that I should have been in too. My older brother who had joined the military was granted leave to watch over me until graduation and then we moved to the East Coast.
It broke Jax the day he hugged me goodbye in the airport. I promised that I would come back. I lost contact with Jax as the years went on. He was always running around with the club and I could only call Gemma's house phone. I wrote letters but never got any replies. I started pursuing my degree in psychology, my brother put me through a non official basic training to keep me focused and give me an outlet to deal with the rage and sadness that had almost swallowed me when my parents had died, and I started photography. College was a different experience for me. I made amazing friends, and I started dating. But I couldn’t help but find myself wondering if Jax and Opie would approve of the guys I brought home. None of them made me laugh the way they did, they never made me feel as safe. They were never as attractive either. I had been ruined spending four years with beautiful men.
Once I completed my Masters degree, my brother agreed to transfer the deed of the house in Charming to me. My brother had paid to have someone maintain and renovate it over the years, always asking me what I wanted. It was a ranch style house with a raised wrap around porch and the bedrooms on the second floor. The master bedroom was on the second floor with its own porch. The first floor boasted a three season room and an open floor plan with the kitchen only being separated from the living area by a marble island. It was painted dark green with white trim so that it blended into the woods when viewed from the road. My brother and I had decided to add a screened in gazebo in the back yard to honor our parents. I planned to fill it with comfortable chairs and use it as an outdoor reading space so that I could sit out there to feel closer to my parents.
I had begged one of my best friends, Emris, to make the drive with me to my new home and help me set it up. The drive across the country was everything I wanted it to be, windows down, loud music and shouted singing. We stopped everywhere we had ever wanted to go, spending a few days exploring New Olreans, Nashville, and Vegas. We had started the trip with a planned route but it had gotten thrown out the window as soon as we had made it into North Carolina. It reminded me of the days I had spent with Jax and Opie just driving, switching bikes any time we made a pit stop.
What I hadn’t expected to run into when I first arrived at my old home was the gruff looking biker posted at the end of my driveway. His kutte told me that he was one of Jax’s. I allowed the last of the moving trucks to enter the driveway before I stepped out of the car and Emris drove down to where the movers were starting to unpack.
“Can I help you?” I asked the bald man.
His face screamed resting bitch face but I caught the slight tilt of the corner of his mouth.
“I’m just watching over the house, making sure everything goes smoothly.”
“Who asked you to?” I arched a brow at him in question.
“That’s none of your concern.” He stood from where he had been resting against his bike.
“Tell Clay and Jax to mind their own.”
I waved my fingers at him before I turned and walked the rest of the way down the drive. Some part of me expected Jax to have spent all these years taking an interest in the work that had been done to the house. He was clearly invested enough to see who was moving in. I hadn’t been sure how I wanted to handle approaching Jax after almost ten years but he had beaten me to it. The club was involved in my safety now, or at least spying on me even if they didn’t know it was me.
I was able to brush it off until the second day. The movers had finished late but everything was arranged where I had instructed them to put it. Beds had been made, couches and chairs unwrapped. Appliances were plugged in and tested. Everything had been perfect, until I was startled awake to the sound of several motorcycles pulling into my driveway.
I groaned as I rubbed my eyes, shifting off of my new king sized bed to place my bare feet on the carpeted floor of my new room. My smoke colored bangs fell in my eyes as I shuffled around the room. The banging on my front door left me little choice to get ready to greet the bikers. I walked down my stairs in sleep shorts and one of Jax’s reaper t-shirts from high school. The shirt made it look like I had no shorts on, the shorts themselves were barely more than underwear. My waves were in a ridiculously messy bun and I thanked my lucky stars I had remembered to take off my makeup before bed. The mirror on the wall next to the landing windows gave me a chance to pinch my cheeks for a little color and make sure my eyes weren’t still red from the crying and the marijuana I had smoked last night to help me fall asleep. My eyes were a little more green today than usual but I ignored it as the banging got more persistent.
“FUCK OFF ALREADY I’M COMING!!” I shouted.
Emris was on the stairs behind me with a gun in her hands. I pulled open the door to find Jax standing there with his fist still raised ready to start pounding on the door again. He had a black ball cap on holding back longish blonde hair, he still towered over me. My hazel green eyes met his blue ones and I sneered at the shock that crossed his features.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“Uh, yea, I never saw a for sale sign before construction started.”
He had been ready for a fight but obviously he was flustered by the pretty curvy girl with a major attitude who looked to be wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt, one that he must have recognized as a SAMCRO one.
“Don’t tell me I look that different.” I grumbled.
I side stepped Jax to find Opie on the front steps. A few other bikers lingered on their bikes in the yard, some I recognized and others I didn’t. When Opies eyes landed on me his face split into a massive grin.
“Wyn!” He crouched just enough to catch me as I launched myself into his arms.
“I missed you!” I laughed as he stood to his full height and my legs dangled in the open air.
“Wyn?” Jax said from behind me.
I turned to face him. I could see the shock and then recognition in his eyes as his whole demeanor shifted. Opie put me down just for Jax to pick me right back up.
“You came back.” He whispered into my shoulder.
“You knew I would. Did the hair really throw you off that much?” I giggled.
“Well if it isn’t Wyn Elder.” Bobby called as Jax put me back down.
I took a playful bow as the group of bikers around me relaxed as the ones who knew me came to the porch to say hi. I was introduced to the others, the angry bald man was Happy, the Puerto Rican was Juice, and Chibs was the Irish man. Tig ruffled my messy hair before he left to call Clay and alert him that Jax had thought there was going to be a problem but it turned out to be their own little princess returning home.
“As happy as I am to see you all again I would love to go back to sleep. I’m sure my friend has a lot of questions.”
I motioned back to the door where Emris stood, looking almost as disgruntled as I was.
“Sorry about that.” Jax looked away sheepishly.
“I’ll drop by the shop once I’ve finished getting settled and we can really catch up.” I smiled at two of my oldest friends.
“Sounds like a plan.” Opie winked at me as the men turned and mounted their bikes again.
I closed the door behind me and let myself sink to the floor as Emris sat on the stairs.
“So that wasn’t what I expected to happen.” She sighed.
Her black dreads were piled high on her head and her milk chocolate colored skin shone as the sun peeked through the window.
“I’m sorry Emris, I didn’t think they were gonna be such assholes about it.”
“I’m not, some of them are majorly hot.” She grinned at me.
“You’re the worst.” I laughed at her as I moved to the kitchen to see what we had for breakfast.
“What’s for breakfast?” She called as she tucked the gun away in the hall closet.
“Bad news is we’ll have to go into town and buy groceries.” I sighed as I took stock of the empty room.
“I’ll take the civic and you can ride your bike. I know you’ve been dying to ride since we got out here.” Emris grinned at me.
“Deal.” I grinned at her.
I had been given two weeks to settle in before I started both of my jobs. I was going to work as a school counselor and at the hospital. I was planning on using it to see what had changed in the time I had been gone and to show Emris where I had spent four years in before I met her. She had taken a vacation and I was grateful that she had. Driving through town was surreal. I had been away for years but it looked almost exactly the same. I pulled into an empty spot next to a police Jeep and Emris pulled in next to me. We had both changed before leaving, I was sporting a modified Reaper Crew shirt I had gotten from Gemma before I left and high waisted dark wash skinny jeans, the shirt was cropped and the sleeves had been cut off. Emris was in a cropped black shirt and high waisted jean shorts. I favored combat boots while she had opted for a pair of low cut Converse.
“I didn’t know Crow Eaters could look so unused.” A man called out.
We had our backs turned to him, facing the entrance to the grocery store. I whipped around to come face to face with a white man standing in front of a cigar store.
“Not a whore!” I flipped him off.
“You might as well be if you’re with SAMCRO.”
“Excuse you?” I stepped towards him.
A familiar face in a police uniform stepped between us.
“Don’t start with her.” David Hale warned the other man. He turned to me. “I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again.”
“I thought you were getting out too?” I asked the older man.
“I did for a while, you?”
“Just moved back to work at the school.”
“We’ll have to finish catching up later, it was good to see you. Don’t wear that type of thing to work. People aren’t as friendly as they used to be.” He said before he pushed me towards Emris and the grocery store.
“What was that about?” Ermis asked as Hale pushed the man back into the cigar store.
“Honestly I don’t know, I never used to get shit for wearing this stuff when I was a kid. I guess things really have changed.” I mumbled the last part.
We grabbed all the necessities and loaded up the back of my car without incident. I was surprised to find two bikes parked next to mine. Juice sat on one while Happy smoked on the sidewalk.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“Saw an unfamiliar bike parked next to your car. Just wanted to make sure you weren’t in any trouble.” Juice said a little too quickly.
“Jax put a tail on me?”
Happy grunted. I rolled my eyes. I shouldn’t have been surprised, if Charming was becoming less friendly towards the club then it made sense that they would watch out for me. Anyone who had lived here when I did knew I was connected to the club, it wouldn’t be hard to have the wrong people find out by accident. Emris shot me a questioning look and I shrugged my shoulders. My car wasn’t super identifiable from the outside, the maroon honda symbols being the exception, but the inside was fully customized with maroon accents on the seat covers and air vents. The little crystal chandelier hanging on my rearview sparkled in the sun. They had to have taken a picture of my license plate.
“How long does this last?”
“You’re stuck with us unless we have club business or the shop needs help.” Happy informed me.
“Isn’t this a prospect’s job?”
“Would be but Jax insisted on someone who could protect you.”
“Well if you’re going to be sticking around, prepare to be useful.” I said as I pulled my helmet on and started my bike.
Emris had already started to back up and blocked traffic so I could pull out and guide her back to the house. I took off and heard the guys' bikes rev to try and keep up with me. The nice part about having a sports bike was that I was faster than them.