A wide grin was plastered on the fifteen year old's face as he walked down the street, headphones in his ears as he listened to some rap while texting with a girl from his class, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks with sheer horror in his eyes as he noticed a young woman on the side of the road laying in the dirt.

But what almost gave him a heart attack was the fact that it wasn't just any woman, no, it was his sister. The phone slipped out of his hands and after the first shock wore off a little he ran the last few meters towards the unconscious woman, knelt down next to her and rolled her onto her back. He searched in panic for her pulse, which fortunately was there.

“Cassie!” The fear in his tone was clear as he shook the brunette as he tried to wake her up, too shocked to check for any injuries but who could blame a fifteen year old for not reacting logically in such a situation.

“Wake the fuck up, Cassandra”, he pleaded desperately, gently slapping her cheek a few times. He lost his father already, the woman he called mother and now his sister? Hell no.

The teenager jumped to his feet but didn't move a centimeter, too afraid something could happen to Cassie while he would run back to the house and get his brother's help. Instead, he stood there petrified and screamed his lungs out with yelling his brother's name. He didn't give a fuck about waking up some neighbors.

It was still early and if he wouldn't had been on his way too school probably another few hours had passed without anyone finding the young woman.

Relief washed over him the moment he saw his brother run down the sidewalk, ready to fight everyone who was assaulting his brother. Why else would Benny scream his lungs out for him to come outside this early in the morning?

“What the fuck happened? What's wrong?” James, the always overprotective brother, stared at his clearly upset younger brother. The man was only in his joggers and sneakers. No shirt, no jacket and he didn't care.

His gaze slid past Benny after the teenager pointed behind him and for a brief moment James' eyes widened, his heart stopping for a second in shock.

“I just found her there! S⸺she's breathing but her pulse is weak”, Benny chocked out, totally loosing his shit about this. No matter how many horrible things he had seen in his life, finding a family member, especially a close one, laying on the ground unconscious hit different.

“Call Happy and Jax and tell Teller to bring Tara”, James barked his order at Benny after he picked up his sister in bridal style, clearly loosing his own shit, too.

They had no enemies at the moment, no wars were going on with rival clubs, he couldn't explain why his sister was attacked. Or had she been even attacked? Maybe she just smoked too much weed? James swore he could smell alcohol on her, maybe it was alcohol poisoning? As stupid as it sounded, he wished for the latter one and not an attack.

⸺

Happy stormed into his best friend's house twenty minutes later not even thinking about knocking on the door before, he just let himself in. Opie, his white pitbull, always walked next to Happy but quickly ran towards the couch where Cassie was, he rested his paws on the sofa while his whimpering filled the room.

“What the fuck happened to her?!”, Happy barked at all of them when he saw Cassie and immediately walked towards her. He studied her face closely, how pale it was, which wasn't usually the case. The brunette has always had a healthy looking skin tone, right now she looked like she was half dead.

“We don't know. Benny found her on the side of the road”, James said through gritted teeth, not taking his eyes off his sister while he sat on the couch across from the one Cassie rested on. Tara had told them over the phone not to touch her or try to wake her up but only turn her on her side in case the brunette had to throw up.

“She felt cold, so she probably lay there for a while”, the fifteen year old muttered, slightly traumatized from the event. Just like James, he hadn't taken his eyes off Cassie since his brother lay her down on the couch.

Carefully, as if she might break at any touch, Happy ran the back of his fingers down Cassie's cheek, his face set in worry as anger slowly boiled up inside him. He would, whoever did this to her, find the ones responsible for it and kill them.

“Whoever did this is going to die”, he rasped, his voice dangerously low as he crouched down next to Opie to pet him while he ran a hand through Cassie's knotted hair. The fact that she didn't make any sign made him nervous and even though he already knew that Tara would be here in a moment, he felt the need to call an ambulance.

This was about his girl, not some person he didn't care about. The thoughts swirling around in his head grew darker and more sadistic as he thought about what he could do to whoever had touched his girl. But the worst thing was that no one knew what really happened. And they probably wouldn't get an answer that quickly either.

“You can count on that”, James said in approval, a glint of darkness flashing in his own eyes. It was nothing compared to the darkness Happy felt, but it came close. It wasn't easy to get on Happy's level when it came to darkness and torturous, sadistic thoughts.

“But who would do this to her? She has no enemies. Cassie is a literal ray of sunshine, everybody loves her”, Benny said firmly, still not able to wrap his mind around this situation.

“We don't know, buddy.” James features softened a little as he noticed the vulnerability in Benny's voice and he finally took his eyes away from Cassie only to look at his youngest sibling. “But we're gonna find this person and deal with him or her, I promise.”

The teenager nodded slightly and swallowed. He wasn't stupid nor innocent, he knew what his brother meant. And with the murderous look in Happy's eyes, Benny almost felt bad for the person who'd have to suffer the consequences, yet that person had it coming.

⸺

James lit a cigarette and blew out the smoke, looking stressed as fuck. By now he had managed to put on a shirt and his Kutte before Jax and Tara arrived. The doctor sent all of them out of the room while she examined the Connor woman.

Guilt flooded Tara's body and made her feel incredibly shabby. As a doctor, she should never have let that happen, and in hindsight, she regretted not stopping Kayla.

She couldn't help it and kept asking herself how far Kyle had really gone. He had definitely drugged her, you didn't have to be a doctor to be able to determine that, but what came after that? Had he touched, molested, maybe even raped Cassie the way Kayla wanted him to to ruin the young woman's life?

Tara couldn't do the necessary tests to find out here, so she later had to take Cassie to the hospital to run a few tests and do a  gynecological check. But first it was important that the brunette regained her strength.

“Easy”, the doctor put a hand on the brunette's shoulder to keep her down after Cassie blinked a few times, panic flashed in her piercing blue eyes as she spotted Tara leaning over her with a stethoscope around her neck.

“What is this?”, Cassie questioned, grimacing at the scratchy feeling in her throat. “Why do I feel like shit?”

Her mouth felt dry as if she didn't have a drink in days. Not only was she in the position that she could barely speak, but she felt like her head was about to explode. The throbbing pain at her temples ran up to her neck and even into her shoulders. Her body also felt stiff and sore, as if she had taken a long nap on a hard bench.

Her eyes had to adjust to the bright light at first, still too weak to raise her arm so she could cover them with her hand. Why was she feeling like this? Her headache was too bad to think deeply. What worried her the most was that Tara sat with her, a concerned frown on her face.

“You were drugged and left outside for the whole night. Besides a headache, muscle pain and nausea you'll feel for the rest of the day you're fine. But⸺”, Tara took a deep breath, clutching her stethoscope as she tried to summon up enough courage to tell Cassie her suspicions. “It could be that someone took advantage of your helpless state.”

Cassie's eyes filled with bewilderment while Tara's next words were a blur and only a dull noise in her ears. The doctor didn't need to say it out loud, to tell her that she might've been assaulted or even raped. After the first shock wore off, Cassie closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths while focusing on her body.

She was sore and in pain but it was only her muscles that were affected. She felt no pain in her lower body, including her middle. If she had been raped, she would probably feel it.

Being drugged by someone scared her enough already. But if anyone would've raped her, her life would've turned into one horrible nightmare.

“I don't think anyone took advantage of it”, the brunette finally dared to speak up, her hoarse voice causing Tara to get up and get a glass of water for Cassie.

“How do you know?”, she asked, a sympathetic look in her eyes as she helped the younger woman to sit up and take a few small sips of the water.

“Doesn't feel like it”, Cassie retorted somewhat absent before taking a few more sips of the water. She felt like drinking all of it with one big sip but Tara kept her from doing so.

“Easy, Cassie. You need to take small sips or you're gonna throw up”, the doctor said firmly, yet some softness lingered in her tone. “Look, we still have to take you to St. Thomas and run a few tests. We need to know what kind of drugs are in your system.”

Once again, a wave of shame hit Tara like a truck. The doctor knew exactly what kind of drugs Kayla gave Kyle to make Cassie all helpless. The Connor woman was lucky Kyle didn't use more of the dangerous liquid, it could've done some serious damage otherwise.

“Who would do that?” That was the first and only thing that came to her mind, the feeling of disgust and incomprehension was big.

“I don't know, Cassie”, Tara mumbled, dropping her eyes as she saw the tears build up in the brunette's eyes. She hated the guilt she felt towards the woman she barely knew. “I'll let the others know that you're awake. Please let one of them take you to St. Thomas later.”

“Okay”, Cassie sniffled, quickly wiping away some tears that had managed to escape her eyes. Right now she was too worked up to see the real reason behind Tara's weird behavior. At the moment it just seemed like the doctor was just concerned and compassionate.

Before Tara stood up, she patted Cassie's hand and gave her a reassuring smile. “You'll be fine.”

“Tara?”, the brunette uttered before the doctor could leave.

“Yeah?”, Tara quickly turned around again, her hand already on the doorknob.

“Thank you for the help. I appreciate it.” A weak smile formed on Cassie's dried out lips, sincere appreciation sparkling in her watery eyes.

A shaky breath slipped past Tara's lips at Cassie's words, the grip around the doorknob firm. “You're welcome. Now get some rest before the guys take you to the hospital.”

On her way out, tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Maybe Cassie wasn't so bad after all? Why did she let Kayla talk her into this sick plan anyway? Since Cassie was here in Charming she never treated her bad or gave her a reason to dislike her and yet Tara let the contempt for the club win and side with Kayla.

Seeing everyone's concern for Cassie got Tara thinking. Even Jax, who had no real relationship with Cassie, showed concern and empathy for the whole situation. Everyone was there for everyone here, maybe her husband and the rest of the club weren't that lost yet, she just needed to open her eyes and not just see the bad and dangerous things the Sons were doing. Because the thing Kayla did and the Plan B she wanted to use in case Plan A wouldn't work, was pure evil and much worse than some of the violent things her husband and his brothers did. Tara, out of them all, had no right to judge anyone anymore and she knew that.

Happy and James practically jumped up from their seat on the stairs outside and stared at the doctor, impatiently waiting for Tara to say something, anything. James had sent Benny to school since he didn't want his little brother to miss anything important and in case there was anything worse with Cassie, he didn't want his brother around and spare him worse sights.

“She's awake and stable. I told her to get some rest first but I need one of you guys to bring her to St. Thomas later so I can do a few more tests”, she informed all of them and almost flinched as Jax wrapped his arm around her waist. What if any of them would find out she was part of this? They would hate her, rightly so. The guilt and the fear of them finding out was why she had been so sensitive to Jax' touch.

“So, we can go inside?”, James inquired unsure, earning a nod from Tara. This was all the two men needed to hear to storm inside the house, an excited Opie followed them inside while Jax waited outside to talk about few things with Tara.

⸺

Cassie finally leaned into Happy's side after his arm was draped over her shoulder since a little over ten minutes now. Immediately, a comfortable sigh fell from her lips as his warmth made her feel safe. Oh how she had missed feeling his heavily tattooed arms wrapped around her body.

The brunette threw her own legs over his and snaked one arm around his torso, her face nuzzled against his chest as she took in the familiar scent of leather and his aftershave. The sweet white pitbull joined them and snuggled up next to Cassie who patted his back. It had been three weeks since they had last seen each other at one of Gemma's family dinner's and the desire to have him back as a friend, and much more than just a friend, grew stronger and stronger, almost unbearable.

But this, how they sat there now, was the first time they'd touched each other since they decided to keep distance. No one else could give her the feeling of security she felt in his arms, not to the same extent.

“Cassie please, you have to remember anything”, James' tone was pleading, almost desperate while trying to put the pieces together. “How did you end up on the side of the road?”

Happy gave her arm a comforting squeeze, encouraging her to tell them what happened and it worked. The brunette felt stupid for letting anyone drug her, yes, but she knew they wouldn't judge her for being too incautious.

“I was out with this guy from the hospital. Kyle is his name”, she started with a sigh, tightening the grip around Happy's torso as she felt him tense up immediately at her words.

“You had a date?”, Happy huffed and ran a hand over his face, then over his short beard. Cassie could tell he hadn't shaved in maybe two weeks and she liked it, only the sides of his face were shaved and adorned with stubble. The black/grey beard suited him, it made him look a bit older but in a good way.

James raised a brow as he studied Happy's body language, and he was sure that his best friend was close loosing his shit over the fact that Cassie was out with a guy.

“No, it wasn't a date, I made that clear to him right from the start”, she assured him, her tone soft yet firm and convincing. “There's only one guy I want.”

Happy looked down at her the moment she lifted her head to look up at him, the small smile she gave him washed away the anger he felt only a moment ago. He had no idea how he would've reacted if she would've had a date with another guy but he knew it wouldn't have ended well for anyone. Happy knew how possessive and toxic that was, but this was about his woman. The woman he just let walk away a few months ago even though they both had feelings for each other. He wouldn't let the same mistake happen again.

“Good, because I wouldn't accept any other guy by your side, little girl”, he told her firmly.

“You won't have to”, she smiled up at him.

“Okay lovebirds, you can sort that out later. First I want to know what happened.” James knew they'd hook up again sooner or later and he was happy for them, but now was not the right time to get all romantic. “This guy, Kyle was his name, right? Could it have been him?”

Cassie cleared her throat and scratched her forehead after tearing her eyes away from Happy, looking at her brother now.

“No, that wouldn't make any sense. He's a pretty nice guy and, wouldn't it be stupid for him to drug me? I mean, we're working together, I know where he lives. I could give the Cops lots of information about him. His ass would be in jail before he can run off. He wouldn't do that to his kids”, she stated matter of factly. Deep in her heart, she hoped her guess wasn't wrong. She wouldn't know how to deal with it if Kyle really was behind this. She'd feel absolutely stupid for putting trust in him.

“We should still pay him a visit. From his reaction we can find out whether he is behind it or not”, Happy rasped, his grip on Cassie became more protective at the thought that her own co worker had hurt her. “And if he did, he's gonna pay for it.”

James nodded in agreement, knowing what Happy would do to Kyle if he was behind this. And he wouldn't stop his best friend, no, he would join in.

The last time he felt such a great anger was a long time ago, probably when Kayla told him that she had cheated on him.

A part of him wanted to know every detail of what happened to Cassie but the other part of him was afraid to find out. The person who did this already went too far by drugging his sister, but if there was more to it, he would turn into Happy 2.0 and find himself some torture tools.

“Just because he seems like a nice guy doesn't mean he is one”, James stated simply and shrugged his shoulders, lighting up the fourth cigarette in a row. Blowing out the smoke, he leaned back in his chair and looked closely at his sister. “Is there really nothing you can remember?”

“No, I swear. And honestly, I'm happy about it”, Cassie sighed, stretching out her arm to get a hold of the cigarette pack on the table. She fumbled a cigarette out of the pack and put it between her lips, ignoring the displeased looks from her brother and Happy, and lit it.

“You shouldn't smoke yet.” With a grunt, Happy took the cigarette from her and put it out in the ashtray on the coffee table after she had taken the first drag.

“Fine”, the brunette muttered, snuggling into his side once again when she realized she was getting dizzy, probably from the nicotine. “But guys, please don't hurt him, okay? We don't know if it was him.”

“We won't hurt him if he wasn't behind this”, James said, his hands raised defensively. “But if he was, which I don't wish for him, he'll be dead by the end of the day.”

Happy watched the guilt spread across her face and sighed. Cassie was the last person to feel guilty about anything. If Kyle was behind this than he deserves to die, period. But if he wasn't, they had to find out who it was, quickly.

“Come on, I'll help you get a shower before we leave”, the SAA stood up, gently dragging her to her feet while his arm was always around her waist supporting her.

Cassie looked down on her and then into the small mirror on the wall, deciding that Happy's idea was a good one. Her hair was knotted and dirty from laying in the dirt, her make up was smeared and, as she looked closely at her face, the first images from last night crept back into her mind.

And suddenly she remembered, the feeling of Kyle's lips pressed against hers while his hand slipped under her top made her shiver, causing the nausea she already felt become much worse. But for now, she kept her mouth shut and let Happy led her to her brother's bathroom.

⸺

authors note; idk, the chapter turned out better in my head. I'm not quite happy with it but I'm excited for the next one. It'll include a heart to heart talk between Happy and Cassie because I need them back together. 🥰 I'm not made for slow burn, I'm sorry, lol.