Chapter 2
It wasn't that Tessie was uncomfortable in this situation, even though she really was; it was just that she never trusted herself alone with Jax. She especially never trusted herself alone in Jax's bedroom with him. He closed the door behind the two of them and Tessie moved to stand on the other side of the room. As long as there was distance between them, then all was well, right?
"So? Let's hear it," he said, leaning his back against the door. He reached into his cut and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it as his eyes moved back up to meet her own.
"Do you want the Cliff's notes version? Or the whole story?" she asked, hoping to at least get a smile from him. But it didn't seem like her attempts were working in her favor.
"Fine," she said, "Some shit went down and freaked me out. And the only place I could think of to go and get away from it was here," she let out in one full breath. It was the simplest explanation she could give him.
"Look, if you came back here looking for…" Tessie threw up her hands, interrupting him before he could finish saying what she was pretty sure he was about to say.
"I didn't come back looking for you to save me, Jax," she said, plain and simple. She took a deep breath and looked around, sitting down in the desk chair that was behind her. "Some serious shit went down with my mom. This was the only place I knew she wouldn't come looking for me at." Her eyes were focused on her hands in her lap. She didn't want to see the look on his face. She didn't want him to see the look on hers, either.
"What are you talking about, Tess? What did that old witch do now?" he asked, moving towards Tess. She looked up long enough to see him moving closer to her and she wheeled the chair she was in away from him. She never stopped loving Jax, she always thought that was the reason she couldn't keep a serious relationship now. She wasn't sure about him, but she sure as hell wasn't going to make a fool of herself either.
"She showed up at my apartment a few weeks ago, drugged out of her mind, drunk too I would assume. She broke the chain off my door trying to get in. She had some boyfriend of hers with her and they tore up the place looking for money or anything they could hock to get money. I kept yelling at her to get out, but her boyfriend pulled a gun and threatened me. I gave her all the cash I had before finally getting them to leave," she took a deep breath, trying not to cry. None of this was a lie. This was the main reason she had taken the case in the first place. Her mother would never set foot back in Charming and Tess knew it.
She stood up from her chair, running her hand through her hair. Her eyes looked up and locked with Jax's. He was angry now. But not at her, at least Tess had hoped not at her. He had hated her mother almost as much as Tessie had. She knew that he would find out eventually, she just wanted him to hear it from her. It was the perfect cover story. Sometimes, the truth always works out to your benefit.
"Look, I just wanted you to hear that I was back from me and not from someone else," she said, moving to walk around him. The room felt somehow smaller now and Tess knew that if she stayed in there any longer that she would end up crying. "I'm sorry, Jax. For everything," she muttered as she opened the door and walked out of the room.
She leaned her back against the door, closing her eyes for a split second. She took in a deep breath and made her way down the hallway and back into the bar. She knew that her uncle would catch her before she left, as well as a few of the other guys, so she wanted to make sure she looked like everything was alright.
Once she was in the room she noticed that Charlie was sitting at the bar with Juice, which meant that he had fixed her car already. She slowly walked over to them, noticing the look on Charlie's face, Tess shook her head softly before leaning on the bar.
"So, which one of you fella's is gonna pour this girl a drink?" she asked, smiling at the group of guys around her. This used to be her family. And now they were her job. How did life get so topsy turvy all of a sudden? She shook the thoughts from her head as her Uncle Chibs walked over and embraced her in a hug.
"Welcome back, kiddo," he grinned as he kissed the top of her head. She said her hellos to Tig, Bobby, and Piney, knowing that she had already said hello to everyone else. She just hadn't seen Clay or Gemma yet. She shrugged the thought off as she watched Jax walk back into the room with everyone. A slight smile crawled across her lips as she glanced over to Charlie, Tess reached for the shot glass in front of her and downed her first shot of Tequila for the night.
Five shots of tequila and two beers later, Tessie was nowhere near able to drive to a motel. She and Charlie hadn't even checked into one yet since they'd gotten into town. It was seven o'clock and she was drunk, she knew this wasn't a good plan. She glanced around at the others who had drank just as much, if not more than she had, and she smiled to herself. 'So, this is what it's like to come back home,' she thought.
She found Charlie flirting very heavily with Juice and knew that there was no chance she could drive them anywhere, so she only had one option left. "Shit," she muttered to herself as she leaned back in her chair. She pushed her body off her chair and looked around at her surroundings. She was sober enough to move, but she wasn't sober enough to take responsibility for her actions or in this case her words.
She walked towards Jax and Opie who were sitting at a table by themselves. Normally, Tess was the other person at the table with them. But ten years was a long time. She smiled as she took the empty seat at their table.
"Well, hello boys," she grinned, running her fingers through her hair.
"Hello drunkie," smiled Opie as he reached for his beer and drank the last little bit of it. Tessie frowned at him as she leaned back in her chair.
"That wasn't very nice," she pouted as she folded her arms across her chest. Jax laughed and shook his head at the woman. He looked from her, to Opie, back to her.
"Dude, I think she's giving you the death glare," said Jax, motioning to the look on Tess' face. She looked between the two, sticking her tongue out at the both of them.
"You guys are mean," she said, pushing out her bottom lip like a child. The two men both laughed at her, shaking their heads.
"Some things never change, eh Tess?" said Jax. She reached over and punched his arm as hard as she could, knowing it wasn't very hard considering her body was slowly getting ready for sleep.
"Bite me," she grinned, "I think it's time for bed," she laughed lightly as she looked around the room. It was still early and part of her knew that. But it had already been such a long day of driving, plus the alcohol, and the stress, and a million other things that kept piling up in her head. The last thing she remembered was laying her head against the table and then everything went black around her.
She remembered someone picking her up and carrying her, followed by them laying her down in someone's bed and throwing a blanket over her. After that, there was nothing. She felt like a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She couldn't remember when the last time she drank like that was. It was probably the last time she was in Charming.
Tessie stretched the next morning, not even caring where she was; just that she had slept very well the night before. She let her legs stretch out in bed as far as she could, her body freezing when her foot kicked someone else that wasn't her. She very slowly turned her body around, glancing over her shoulder and praying to God it wasn't who she thought it was. When she seen the person, she realized how much God had truly hated her.
"Damn it," she growled, jumping out of the bed. She was grateful that her clothes were still on, or else she would have been kicking Jax's ass right about now. She walked back over to the bed, picking up the pillow and hitting him with it as hard as she could.
"Son of a bitch!" he growled, raising up in bed, "Damn it, Tess. What the hell?" Tessie's grip on the pillow never faltered, she didn't plan on letting it go.
"Why the hell am I in bed with you?" she asked, raising her voice a little more than she had intended. "I'm barely back a day and already I'm in bed with you. What the hell is wrong with this picture, Jax?" she asked, knowing that her freaking out wasn't helping the situation any. She reached over the bed and hit him with the pillow again, "What…" she hit him with the pillow, "the fuck…" she hit him again, "happened…" one more time, "last night!" Jax finally took the pillow from her, pulling her onto the bed next to him.
"Calm down, woman! Nothing happened!" he raised his voice to her, not meaning to. But a man can only take being hit by a pillow so many times before he gets annoyed.
