Restless Heart, Lazy Mouth
A year disappears like blowing the peddles off a dandelion, It flies away so fast you can hardly remember watching it fly away. Haley had moved in with Piney and a off beat coexistence took hold. It was anything, but normal, but no one knocked her around for refusing to back down and no one ever smacked her ass as she moved for the door. Piney was the kind of dad who expected his kids to follow through with their responsibilities, hold firm to a commitment. Taught Haley to be strong and stand on her own two feet, but he never checked to see if she did her homework, curfews only applied when he was sober enough to notice she was late, and a night cap with the old man wasn't out of the ordinary even if she was only seventeen.
Over the course of a year Haley had realized something, her mother had once been breathtaking and she looked just like her before hard living took it's toll. Boys and grown men alike noticed when she walked by. Hell, even some of the girls eyes had a tendency to linger. She had discovered with a flash of her smile, a look to her eyes, could get her just about anything she wanted. At first this new found power felt overwhelming and intimidating, but slowly she grew accustom and realized it wasn't such a bad gift after all. Even though it had earned her some jealous enemies, Haley decided to use her plump lips, sultry eyes, silky locks, soft curves, and long legs to her advantage and have a little fun. Because as Haley saw it, wasn't that what being part of this life with Samcro
was all about… Knowing how to have a little fun.
Jax pulled up into Piney's driveway in a heap of thunder, a Teller-Morrow Motors tow truck hot on his heels. Piney's drunken grumbles rumbling out of the truck cab as Jax moved to give the prospect a hand in getting him out of the truck, on two legs that hardly remembered how to find their footing. Normally Opie would be handling this, but Donna had called saying the baby wouldn't sleep and she had to work the morning shift, so Jax stepped up.
Slinging Piney's arm across his strong shoulders, Jax braced the older man's dead weight against his side and shoulders. "I got it. Get the truck back to the garbage." He instructed, without a second glance, before he stumbled himself and Piney toward the front door like two drunken sailors struggling to find their land legs.
Like a bat out of hell the front door flung open, Jax had anticipated it was Haley coming to help, but that thought quickly dissipated as the sight of a quick stepped guy came charging out. Haphazardly dressed at best, he never met Jax's eyes, never even looked his way. But Jax took keen note, easily in his twenties with his flannel shirt flapping at his sides as he moved, bare chest visible against the porch light that gave a glow to the yard, as he raced for his car parked on the curb. Sterling baby blues eyed the guy conspicuously before the weight of Piney on his shoulders and the sight of Haley coming out the door stole his attention. Racing toward them, Jax took note of her flimsy tank top, bare feet, and jersey cotton shorts too short to be worn anywhere, but her house. His heart sank with the unspoken implication.
Her shining smile greeted him on approach, golden locks shining in the moonlight as she reached Piney's other side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to lighten the load.
"Hi Daddy," Her voice softly cooed in the darkness. Earning her a sloppy grin off her old mans lips.
With a bit of a struggle and well practiced effort, Jax and Haley got Piney into his bed, past the clutter littering the house. The old man's head dropping heavily upon his pillow. Jax stepped back out into the hall to make room, as Haley disappeared and quickly returned with a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin, she carefully placed on his nightstand. Standing silently near the door, Jax watched as Haley swept the thinning matted hair off her father's clammy forehead before placing a quick kiss upon his head. That's when Jax noticed it, the pungent thick aroma of sex that lingered in the back part of the house. Piney was too drunk to notice, but it was unmistakable to Jax. Making it clear he needed to stick around and have a little word with Hales.
Without a word, her slender body slipped past him in the hall and moved for the kitchen. Careful not to make a noise, Jax pulled Piney's bedroom door closed and followed her down the hall.
Finding her in the kitchen, hovering over an open refrigerator that illuminated her hastily chosen attire like a spotlight, the memory of her fuck buddy scampering out to his car hovered in the forefront of Jax's mind. Making every protective instinct inside pinch like a nerve. The shut of the refrigerator door shook him loose of his thoughts. His sterling blue eyes shot back up to find her popping the cap off two beers. Her hand reaching out to him in offering, "Want a beer?" The sweet melody of her voice chimed, the gentle ease of her eyes as she stared upon him reminded Jax she was his girl, his and Opie's, always had been.
Taking the cheap domestic long neck in his hand, Jax brought the chilled glass to his lips for a swig. With a casual ease, Haley pulled herself up onto the counter top, her bare feet dangling below. Taking a lazy seat before bringing her own beer to full thirsty lips.
"Who was your visitor?" Jax was casual with his approach. Easy like the cool big brother and watcher he liked being to her. While also letting her know tonight's events haven't flown below his radar. That she had been caught, and there were people besides Op who gave a shit if she was spreading her legs to dickheads.
Pulling the bottle back from her lips, Jax watched as a slow forming smile spread across Haley's mouth as if she had seen this coming. Her eyes darting his way as she nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders with ease. "A guy." She vaguely answered to tease him. The spark in her eyes revealing how much she loved to push his buttons sometimes.
This time it was Jax who found an amused sexy grin sliding across his lips. "Yeah, I got that." He let off a loose huffed laugh, humored by her playful jab. "Who is he?" He continued, never giving into her evasive answer. His eyes roaming as the moonlight pierced through the kitchen window, shining down upon her. Jax suddenly found himself captivated by her legs that seemed to go on her miles, not sure if he's ever seen them quite like this before. Slender, toned and tan in the most delicious of ways, Jax found the playboy in him conjuring temptation it had no business acknowledging. Weaving fantasies of what he would do to a girl with legs like that, to a girl like her, but never her.
Jax could have slammed his head into the nearest wall with the realization of what he was doing. Shaking his unwelcome thoughts loose, Jax internally cursed himself for his petulant dick that always seemed on the look out for a thrill. Caulking it up to a long night, Jax let out a heavy breath as he dragged his hands down his face. Relieved when Haley doesn't seem to notice what he had done, but it did make the realization all too clear, Haley was growing up. He wasn't sure when it had happened, slowly he presumes, but tonight seeing that guy, seeing her now, he can't help, but realize she's not the same little girl. Even if she is still so young in his eyes. He knows now he's going to have to be hypervigilant around her, with guys whose hungry stares will be too busy to notice the innocence's in her eyes.
His smooth swaggered step moved over to countertop beside her, leaning his back and weight against it. Finding her eyes, his question still lingering in the air, Jax could almost feel her squirming as she looked away. "Nobody Jax, nobody who matters anyway. We were just having fun. You know how it can be…" Her words reveal a casual disinterest as her hand runs loosely through her long silky mane. Oblivious to the fact that her words punch at his heart. The detachment in her eyes as she looks away, the casual tone on her breath, she almost sounds jaded and part of Jax always worried this would happen. For everything he had discovered she went through at her mom's, for everything he suspects she went through, but wouldn't talk about.
Nodding silently, Jax refrained from prying further on his identity and over thinking the implications of her response. Jax didn't really need Hales to give a name to figure out who it could be, Charming wasn't that big, and Jax had plenty of connections. He'd rather Haley feel like she could talk to him more then he wanted that shit heads name to pass from her lips. But there was something about that guy he couldn't shake. Something Jax had noticed right off the bat. Something that made up his mind he was going to find that loser and have a little chat. "Kinda old for you, don't you think Hales?" His low gritty breath breezed out as big sterling blue eyes darted upon her. Watching her evade his gaze, Jax reached out and hooked his fingers under her chin before tenderly pulling her face to meet his. There's a vulnerability that always sucks him in waiting in her eyes. It's blinding, raw, and leaves him unable to look away or pull back. It reminds him she's still so young, and yet bares deep scars, and he'll be damned if he lets anyone hurt her again.
In an instant the look disappears before a smile she knows can melt takes it place. "That's right, I forgot you and Op were old men now." Haley playfully teases him as her face pulls back from his touch, and her hand shoves as his kutte in jest.
A sexy smirk that would seduce most, but only put Haley at ease, swept across Jax's face. "Too old for you." Jax shot back. His tone lighthearted, but his words close to an order he wasn't negotiating on, not when it came to her. They both know he isn't talking about himself, they're talking about her fuck buddy that easily matched him in age. A guy, Jax didn't want anywhere near Haley. Let alone putting his hands on her, getting lost inside her. Jax knew his words were hypocritical. He had been with dozens of girls by her age, many older then he was now, but he didn't care. Haley was his girl, he couldn't stand the thought of some punk staking a claim on her, treating her like she's anything less than she is.
Jax can see it in Haley's eyes, she hears him, that she trusts his word, unlike most. But he doesn't know if it'll change much. Haley's always been independent and private with dirty secrets. There was no room in this life with the club for weakness, only the strong survived. Jax has every intent to keep a closer eye on her now that he knows what she's up to, but he also knows he can't watch her every second.
Loving this girl the way he does, in the most genuine, unadulterated of ways, Jax wants to ask if that punk loves her, if he knows how special she is. But Jax knows he doesn't need to ask. He already knows the answer, the way that little pussy hightailed it out to his car, tail tucked between his legs with the roar of Jax's bike made his intentions clear. If Haley meant anything to him he wouldn't have run.
"You deserve a guy who's gonna give a damn, Hales." Jax pressed, his deep gruff breath growing steady with seriousness that came from the heart as his eyes drilled his point upon her. Jax didn't want Haley experiencing a revolving door of flesh and cheap nights. He wanted her to feel what he had found in Tara; clarity, peace, love. Even if it didn't last for her, the way it hadn't for him, at least she would know what it's like to have someone touch your heart while they touch your body.
Out of his peripherals, Jax catches sight of Haley's hand roaming blindingly about the counter before coming back into view. Thick joint pinched between her fingers as she brings it to her full lips and lights a spark. As if this conversation had taken a turn for the deep end and she could use a little escape. Taking a slow deep hit, Haley holds it as long as she can. Her eyes falling blissfully closed as she waits for the feeling to find her. Her eyes linger closed as the smoke dances out past her lips. She suppresses the urge to cough, because this isn't her first rodeo. Surrendering to the calm waves washing over her, humming through her, Haley opens her relaxed eyes and meets Jax's gaze. "I'm not looking for love, Jax." The confidence on her breath makes her words sound like a promise, there's no doubt in her eyes.
Jax holds her gaze as she takes another hit before he steals the joint from her grip and brings it to his own waiting lips. The grip of their eyes never letting up in the exchange. Her words worry him, because there's that guard she puts between herself and others. How she protects herself from others, because she's had to learn the hard way not everyone can be trusted, even if she's never used her guard against him. Jax doesn't want her weary from the road of life, untrusting of men, and blasé toward the profound intimacy of sex with someone you love. If he had his way she'd still be a virgin, but he'd rather she make love to a boy who held her heart then fuck around any day.
Haley must have seen the trouble written in his eyes, perhaps in the crease of his brow, because a soft warming smile finds her face as she gazes into his sterling baby blues she trusts completely. "What do I need with high school bullshit when I got you and Op?" Her question is rhetorical, her eyes searching his as she reaches out to him as if to say, you're all that I need.
With the mellow high running through her veins, Haley breaks the hold of their eyes, and leans her head gently upon his shoulder, snuggling in close to the warmth of his neck.
Joint steady in one hand, Jax reaches up with the other to gently grip the side of her delicate face with care, his thick gritty fingers slipping smoothly into her locks. Unable to argue with her finding everything her heart needs in him and Ope. Even if he also wished it also meant she didn't need to get tangled up with horny guys that didn't deserve her.
"Wanna watch a movie?" Haley's hot breath whispers from the confines of his neck and shoulder before she slowly pulls away to meet his eyes. "Unless you need to get home."
Jax cringes inside, he knows she's not going to like what he's about to say next.
His lingering pause summons a look in eyes that says she's bracing for bad news, impending doom. "Wendy and I are taking a break." His words loosely drawl out as Jax runs a heavy hand down his face, before pushing off the counter at his back. Taking a few heavy steps as he waits for her response.
"Why?" He can hear it on her breath even before he turns and sees it in her eyes; surprise, disbelief, sadness. Haley had always liked Wendy, taken to her right away. She had known Tara, but Haley was so young when she left, the bond was different. When Jax finally settled down and stopped drowning in booze and pussy in attempt to forget Tara, Haley had been elated. She had always credited Wendy for slowing Jax down, even if the story wasn't quite that simple.
The look in her big vulnerable eyes hit Jax where it hurt as she slid off the counter and moved slowly to him. Reaching out for her, Jax touched her cheek tenderly with his callused hand. "Don't worry about it sweetheart. It'll work itself out. It always does." He appeased her, trying to sooth that look in her eyes, never wanting to be a source of her pain. Even though Jax wasn't sure he could fix things with Wendy forever, make his heart love Wendy like he knew it should. That marriage was a damn waiting to burst, but he wouldn't put that on Haley. She had enough to deal with. Swinging a strong arm around her shoulder, Jax pulled Haley tight into the crook of his arm and realized maybe she wasn't the only one whose changed. "Come on, kid, you can pick the movie."
Author's Note:
Sorry for the delay in an update. I just graduated from college, so things have been crazy, but now I have more time. I do plan to continue this and write more than was originally planned. Assuming anyone wants to read it lol. This chapter was written from Jax's point of view. I wanted to give insight into his ever evolving relationships with Haley. I hope you enjoyed it and if there's any questions feel free to ask. Reviews are highly encouraged. They really do push me to write and let me know what's working in the story and what's not.