Chapter 1
"Come here Sweetheart. We need to talk to you." My mother tells me. I sit on the couch between her and my father, Elliott Oswald and hear what they have to say. "What's going on mom?" I ask. "You know, we've been dealing with the SONS for a while now." My dad says and I nod. "Well, they struck a deal with Jacob Hale to give us the construction contract for Charming Heights." my dad says. "That's great Daddy but why don't you seem happy?" I ask. "That's because the club wanted something in return. Or someone rather." he tells me and I look at him confused. "You remember Jax Teller?" my mother asks. "Yeah. He's their President, right?" I ask. "Yes. He is. He wanted something in exchange for helping us get that contract." my dad says and I look at him confused. "What is he wanting?" I ask. "You." my mother says. I stand up and say "No. Absolutely not." I tell them. "Sweetheart…" my mother starts. "Why me? What could he possibly want with me?" I ask. "You know his wife died a little while back and he has his two sons. He wants a wife and a mother to his sons. He wants you as his wife." my dad says. "Why me?" I ask again. "I don't know. Apparently he's had his eye on you for awhile." my dad says. "Sweetheart, we've set up an arranged marriage with him. If you don't go through with it, we lose the contract and sweetheart, we really need this. I promise you, we'll make sure you are set up and Jax will take care of you." he tells me. "How do you know he will? Wasn't his wife murdered?" I ask. "She was but it was his mother that killed her and she's no longer in the picture. She's not a threat anymore." he tells me and I realize what he's saying. "Holy shit." I say. "Yeah." my mom says. "Fine. When's the wedding?" I ask. "We're meeting with Jax and the club tomorrow to work out all the details." my dad says and I just sigh before leaving the room and heading to my bedroom.
Walking into my bedroom, I look around. This won't be my life anymore. I wanted things for myself. I wanted to help people. Now what? I become a biker's Old Lady? Then what? I hear a knock on my door. Looking over, it's my little sister Tristan. "Hey." she says softly. "Hey." I say as she walks into my room. "Are you okay?" she asks. "I don't know." I say, sitting on my bed. There's almost ten years between me and my sister but we could not be closer. "I can't believe mom and dad sold me off like that." I say. "At least he's cute." she tells me. I look at her shocked for a minute and start laughing. "Yeah. I guess." I tell her. She leans against me and says "I'll miss hanging out with you." I pulls her into my side and say "We'll still hang out. I'll make sure it's part of the deal. Gotta have someone to keep me sane." I tell her and she laughs, making me laugh.
The next day, my parents and I, pull up to Teller-Morrow Automotive, where the clubhouse is located. Getting out of the car, I am in a pair of skinny jeans and a teal blouse and my black heeled boots. I walk into the clubhouse behind my parents to see everyone just hanging out. Jax stands once he sees us and yells. "You ain't family, get out." and we watch everyone that's not wearing a kutte walk outside. Most of them are women that are barely wearing anything and they glare at me as they pass. I just shake my head. My parents lead us over to a table and we take our seats and I am seated next to Jax. Great. I listen as the men talk and mom takes my hand and squeezes it to tell me it's going to be okay. "I spoke to Hale this morning and the contracts should be on your desk in the morning. Five million dollar contract. I had it put in that any future work he does will be given to you so it's not just Charming Heights that you're getting. You're getting all future work too." Jax says. "I appreciate that, Jax. I really do." my dad says. Jax nods and my dad asks "When are you wanting to set the wedding up for?" Jax looks at me and I say "I'm good with just going to the courthouse." My parents look at me shocked. "We can do a wedding if that's what you want." Jax tells me. "I don't want a wedding. No disrespect but I'm not getting a say in this. This is happening whether I want it to or not and I would really appreciate it if I could at least get married the way I want to." I tell him. "If that's what you want, that's fine with me. But don't most women want the white dress and daddy walking them down the aisle and shit?" he asks. "Most. Not me. I never wanted that." I tell him. "Okay. You want the courthouse, we can do that. You tell me when you want to do this." he says. I look at mom and dad and then back at Jax. "A week from today. Gives me time to spend with my sister and get my things packed up. That okay with you?" I ask. "That works for me." Jax says. "I do have one more request if I am doing this." I say. "I'm listening." he says. "At least one weekend a month, my sister gets to come stay with me." I tell him. "That's fine." he says and I nod.
After they finalize all the details, everyone moves to the bar, including my parents. "Can we talk?" he asks. I nod and when he stands, I follow him. He leads me down a hallway and to a ladder. We climb the ladder and sit up on the roof. "It's beautiful up here." I tell him. "Yeah. Peaceful. I come up here to think." he tells me. "I see why." I tell him. We sit on one of the air units. "How are you with all this?" he asks. "I don't know, honestly. I just found out yesterday that I'm getting married to someone that I don't really know and that everything I wanted is out of the question." I tell him. "What things do you want?" he asks. "I wanted to get married and have kids. I wanted to help people. I wanted to actually do something to make people's lives better." I tell him. "You can still do that." he tells me. I look at him and he says "I have two sons. Abel is five and Thomas is two. They need a mom." He tells me and I nod. "You know, mom used to hold all these fundraisers to help raise money for the schools. I think I still have her planner with all her info and contacts. You can handle those. They help raise money for things like music and shit." he tells me. "I could do that. Maybe do something for the local kids or the hospital or something." I tell him. "Look, I know this shit sucks. You didn't ask for this. But, I've had my eye on you for a while and took this as my chance to make you mine." he tells me. "Jax, look, I'm sorry about your wife. I really am. But how is this going to work?" I ask. "We get married and you move in. If you want, I'll take the couch and you can have the bedroom. Just take care of my boys and I'll handle the bills. You can concentrate on the fundraisers and shit and if there's anything else you want to do, tell me and we'll make it happen. I want you to be okay with this." he tells me. "I just need time to wrap my head around it. That's all." I tell him. "Now, about your sister staying. You two are close?" he asks. "Yeah. Really close. She's ten years younger than me but she's my best friend. When mom and dad told me about the arrangement, he asked if I was okay and said 'at least he's cute.' But we have a tradition that one weekend each month is just our weekend where we order in and watch movies." I tell him. "You can still do that." he tells me. "Thank you." I tell him. "If you want, tomorrow, we can meet at the park or something and let you meet the boys." he tells me. "I'd like that." I tell him. He takes my hand and laces his fingers with mine. "Can I ask you something?" I ask. He nods. "Why did you choose me? You could literally have any girl you wanted." I ask. "I like you. I have since we were in school. Don't get me wrong, I loved Tara but she wasn't the one that I really wanted. I wanted you." he tells me and I look at him shocked. "You didn't know?" he asks. "No." I tell him, looking down at our hands. "I didn't think you would go for someone like me." he tells me. "Jax, from what I've seen over the years, you love your family. You're a good man. Yeah, you've done some bad things but that doesn't mean you're a bad person. You love your kids?" I ask. "Yeah. I do." he says. "You will keep me and your boys safe?" I ask and he nods. "I'm going to tell you something. My family doesn't even know. Only my sister knows." I tell him and he waits for me to continue. "When I was in college, I was seeing this guy. He started getting possessive and started hitting me. One night, I'd had enough. A friend's brother gave me a gun and told me to keep it on me. I did. The guy I was seeing, came into my apartment, drunk and started hitting me again. I pulled out my gun and unloaded it into his skull. I flipped. My friend's brother that gave me the gun, knew why I needed it. I called him and he helped me get rid of the body and the evidence. No one knows, Jax. So, see, I'm not in any position to judge you. Killing him didn't make me a bad person and the things you do doesn't make you one either. But if this is going to work, you have to be honest with me and I will accept nothing less than full disclosure and that goes both ways." I tell him. "I can handle that." he says. We sit there on the roof a little longer, talking before heading back inside the clubhouse where everyone else was. After talking a little longer, I head out with my parents and Jax walks us to the car. Before I get in, he leans in and kisses my cheek and says "Thank you." I nod before getting into the car and closing the door. As my parents pull off the lot, all I can do is look out the window and think about how my life is about to drastically change.