Chapter 3

Jax yawned, opening his eyes and rubbing them gently, he stretched and groaned as the sharp pains erupted from his ribs. Cursing under his breath, he scanned the small room, searching for Tara. He glowered as he realized she was probably still asleep. What time is it? He wondered, was it morning or afternoon?

The sun shining through the living room window onto him and knowing that Tara Knowles was in the room next to him warmed his heart and a huge smile formed his lips. After everything that had happened yesterday, rolling his bike, breaking four ribs and getting a mild concussion, it had turned out to be not that bad of a night. It had seemed that he had a guardian angel watching over him. Someone had sent him to Tara, or they sent her to him. He did not know. Maybe it was fate? All he knew was he did believe in second chances and they were both mature adults now, maybe this time it would be different? Who was he kidding? Even if they had the most amazing weekend, nothing would change. He was still the vice president of a motorcycle club and she was a doctor, living in Chicago. He could not expect her to leave what she had worked so hard for, the thing she left him for six years ago.

"Jax?"

Jax glanced up, his eyes focusing on Tara.

"You okay, Jax?" She asked, looking down at him, a glass of water and two painkillers in her hands.

A smile crossed Jax's lips and he reached for stuff in her hands. "Morning, Doc. Thanks!"

"Morning." She grinned, she moved toward the bay window and opened the blinds, smiling at the blue sky in front of her. "Beautiful."

"Yeah, looks beautiful." He whispered his blue eyes piercing at her; she blushed and opened the window slightly, letting the warm breeze in.

"Do you think you could help me get to the bathroom Tara?"

Tara nodded, "Of course!"

She moved away from the window toward the couch and she leaned down, positioning herself so Jax could use her as support. He leaned on her and lifted his upper body, swinging his legs off the couch.

She stood up slowly bringing Jax up with her, her head turned towards him, their lips inches from touching. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I really gotta take a piss. Can we go a little faster, Doc?"

Tara laughed giving him a playful shove. She held him up and guided him down the hallway towards the bathroom. They stopped at the door and Jax pulled Tara to him, hugging her, "It's good to see you again, Tara."

"It's good to see you too, Jax."

Jax grinned, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek, then winking at her before disappearing into the bathroom.

Tara leaned against the wall, her eyes closed and a small breath escaped her lips. What was she going to do? She was on two days off now, alone at her apartment, with Jax. How was she supposed to get through this weekend? What the hell had she been thinking asking him to come home with her? Did she really think the past would not come back to haunt her? She could not stop thinking about last night. The way Jax's body felt against her. The way he kissed her, like nothing else mattered but her. It felt like it always had, like they were one body, one soul. Physically and mentally connected. She had always thought she had imagined it, all those years ago. Always blamed it on first love bullshit, but, after their extremely, intense kiss last night. She was not so sure anymore. Tara froze as a hand brushed her cheek, down her neck, over her shoulder and down her side. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and she opened her eyes to Jax staring at her seductively.

Damn...

"Jax, you need to stop moving around, you need to lay down and rest. You were in an accident yesterday, remember? You need to heal."

"You're so beautiful," He whispered, leaning towards her, resting his forehead against hers." God, I've missed you so much."

Tara was about to respond, when there was a loud knock at the door, "I should probably get that." She whispered, moving away from him towards the front door.

"Come on Tara, I can hear you in there, answer the damn door Knowles, you have a lot of explaining to do!"

Tara exhaled, of course it was her best friend, Jenna, who else who it be? "Hold on, Jenna. I will be right there." Tara yelled as she helped Jax across the living room back to the couch.

She smiled down at him and Jax winked, a small smile crossed his lips, "I'll be okay, Doc, better answer that door before she rips it off its hinges." He laughed, lying back down.

Tara laughed softly, heading towards the door, hesitating slightly. Taking a deep breath, she opened it, her eyes falling on her best friend.

"Okay what the fuck happened to you last night, Tara? I have called and texted you since I got off at eight." Jenna asked, pushing passed her friend into the small living room.

"Mark and Matt wanted to have some beers tonight, down at Shooters. Matt and I have not been alone for weeks. He will not ditch Tyler though, so I need you to come with me. Please don't let me go alone. Mark really likes you Tara and he is really nice. Why don't you get to know him?"

"Not tonight, Jenna. I have plans."

"Oh come on Tara, you do not. Just one drink, pretty please." Jenna begged, she was about to protest some more when she noticed the man from the hospital last night, the hot guy from room two; laying half-naked on Tara's couch. Jenna's eyes widened and then snapped towards Tara, a very confused look crossing her features.

"Jenna, meet Jax. Jax, meet Jenna."

Tara could not believe what was happening. Jax was lying on her couch, half-naked and wounded, looking very hot and her best friend shows up. Tara wondered what Jenna would say. In the four years Tara had known Jenna she had never told Jenna about Jax, about the life she left. It had been too hard to even think about, let alone talk about it. So she just filed Jax and the memories in a safe place for only her to know.

Jax smiled, his hand came up and he waved, "Hey darling."

Jenna was so confused, what had that gorgeous guy been doing at her best friend's house. It wasn't like Tara to take in strangers, let alone a very gorgeous one at that.

"Hi, Jax. Nice to meet you." Jenna replied, her eyes returned to her best friend. Who was this guy and what did he mean to Tara? She could tell her friend was uncomfortable and she was really curious to know why. "I have about an hour before I have to go to work. Would anyone like some coffee?"

"I'd love some." Jax responded and Tara nodded towards Jenna.

"I'll make it." Tara answered and Jenna stopped her.

"No, I will make it, sit down… be back in a few."

They sat there in silence, neither one of them wanting to be the first to talk. Jax broke the silence, clearing his throat, "She seems nice."

"Yeah, she is." Tara responded, moving around the living room nervously. Why was Jenna taking so long? She paced back and forth; almost forgetting Jax was still in the room with her.

"Tara, sit down. You are going to burn a hole through your carpet soon. Are you okay?"

She exhaled blatantly, walking over to the couch and helping Jax sit up, "She doesn't know about you Jax, about us. It was too painful."

"Coffee time." Jenna shouted, carrying a tray of cream and sugar and cups, she placed them on the coffee table and went back for the coffee pot. She returned with the coffee and filled each of their cups, leaving the remaining coffee on the table.

Tara filled one cup with milk and sugar and passed it to Jax, then poured some cream in hers and took a large sip. She smiled and leaned back against the couch, "Thank god for coffee."

Jenna watched the two in front of her and she knew Tara had been hiding something. She was going to find out who this handsome man was. She wasn't leaving until she did. "So, Jax, how do you know, Tara?"

Jax grinned, looking at Tara, and then back to Jenna, "We grew up together. I've known her since we were fifteen." He smiled, remembering Tara at fifteen. "First girl I ever got arrested with."

"Hey, that was all your fault Teller! You were the one who got us caught, if I remember correctly!"

They both laughed at the memory of Chief Unser catching them in his cop car, having sex. Tara had been so embarrassed at the position they were in when Chief Unser found them. It had been the most awful experience. She shuddered at the thought of the old man catching her in the nude, spread eagle and all. That definitely was not one of her finest moments.

"Yeah thanks for that. I couldn't look at Unser for months after that. I was so embarrassed!"

Jax chuckled, "Don't be embarrassed, you made Unser's whole year. He probably went home and jacked off. Wouldn't blame him though; I did."

Tara's face turned red and her mouth dropped, "You did not!"

"I did, many times."

Tara blushed and averted both stares from her friend and Jax and took another sip of her coffee. "Thank god my dad was so wasted. He didn't even answer the phone. I probably would have been shipped off to boarding school with no visits until I turned 21."

"Well now I am really curious to know what you got caught doing. Please enlighten me?" Jenna asked, glancing from Tara and then Jax and back to Tara. She took a large drink of coffee and brushed her red hair from her face, her eyes never wavering from the two.

"Let's not, and pretend we did." Tara whispered, her eyes shot towards Jax and she stared at him for a long moment before taking a drink of her coffee and glancing back at her friend.

Jax smirked, before taking a sip of his coffee, "So Jenna, tell me about yourself, how did you and Tara meet?"

"Hmm, well let me see. I went to school with Tara for about a year and a half before I even got to know her. This girl is such a stick in the mud. Never went out, always studying during lunch breaks and weekends. I've known her for four years now and I finally just saw her drunk at the annual Christmas party and I gotta say Tara, you need to get out more."

"Now, that was a party!" Tara chuckled, taking a drink of her coffee. "I'm never doing tequila shots again. I think I was still hung over a week after the party." She giggled and her green eyes fell on Jax's.

Jenna stood up, chuckling softly," Bathroom break. Be right back."

"I should probably give the shop a call, let everyone know what happened to me. Gemma is probably having a fit right now, mind helping me up Doc? I need a cigarette."

Tara nodded and helped him up, walking him towards the door; she grabbed his Kutte and handed it to him, before leading him outside.

Jenna entered the living room, taking a seat back down in front of her coffee. Tara did the same, avoiding Jenna's studious look.

"Who the hell is this guy Tara and why does it seem like he was a very huge part of your past life? Like you two were together? You never told me about you being with a very sexy biker in Charming? You lied to me; you said you didn't have a relationship in your hometown."

"It's complicated Jenna."

"Hey Op." Jax greeted, taking a drag of his cigarette, sighing happily.

"Jax, what the fuck brother? Where the fuck are you? Gemma is freaking out over here, Cheryl too."

"Shit, where are you?"

"I'm in the shop, you called here remember? Gemma is in the office. Cheryl is at the clubhouse, won't leave until she hears from you. Where the fuck are you brother?"

"I'm in Chicago, Op."

"What? Chicago? Why are you still there?

Jax groaned, the drugs were starting to wear off and he wanted to go back inside. He wanted to be close to Tara. He took another drag of his cigarette and started to explain to his best friend what happened to him last night.

"Am I not your best friend, Tara? Do you not trust me at all?"

Tara sighed, her green eyes closing. "Jenna I love you, but this is something that I just don't wish to share. It was a bad time for me, bad memories. I wasn't a good person back then."

Jax had slowly entered the house, wincing silently in pain, he could hear Tara and Jenna conversation and he frowned. Had Tara really just said that? Had their time together been a bad memory for Tara. How could she say that? Anger entered his body and he gritted his teeth silently, "I was just a bad memory?"

"Jax. . ."

Jax hurt by Tara, turned away from her towards Jenna. "It was nice to meet you Jenna. I'm pretty sore and exhausted, I'm going to lay down."

"Jenna, can I call you tomorrow?"

Jenna could tell that she wasn't welcome at the moment and she blushed and she slipped her purse over her shoulder, moving towards the door. "It was very nice meeting you Jax."

"You better call me tomorrow, Tara." She leaned towards her friend, her lips inches from Tara's ear.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Jenna whispered, before opening the door, then closing it behind her.

"Would you like some breakfast? It's almost eleven, you haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Really Tara? You're asking me what I want for breakfast. That part of you hasn't changed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tara snapped, heading towards the kitchen in search for more medication for him and avoiding his penetrating stare.

"You know exactly what it means." Jax yelled, anger rising within him.

"Take these," she mumbled, passing him pills and a glass of water, "You should lay down and get some rest, I'll put on the tv in my room. You'll be more comfortable in there, I'll just sleep in the living room tonight."

"Again, you are avoiding." He snarled slowly moving towards her, trying not to cause himself too much pain.

"I am not. You're getting yourself excited and it's not helping your current situation." She walked away from him heading into her bedroom and turning the TV on and heading to the bed, placing two pillows on top of each other and pulling the bed sheets away. Making sure that Jax would be comfortable. Scanning the room quickly she inhaled a deep breath and exited her room. She found him, standing in the same spot, a stunned look upon his face.

"Come on Jax," She whispered, grabbing his arm and slinging it over her shoulder, she helped him in the room and onto the bed laying him gently on to her bed. Reaching for the sheets she covered him and her green eyes fell on his blue ones.

"I need to go to the grocery store for some things, I won't be long." She reached over him for the remote on the other side of the bed and passed it to him. "Relax, watch some TV. I'll be back soon. "Tara moved away quickly, but Jax caught her arm, keeping her there.

"Sooner or later we're going to talk and I'm not leaving Chicago until we do."

Tara pulled away, her eyes averting his dark gaze. The way he looked at her. The pain in his eyes was too much for her to handle and she bolted from the room, grabbing her keys and leaving her house quickly. She stopped abruptly as soon as her front door closed and the tears streamed freely, she sobbed, gasping for air.

She couldn't do this. She couldn't be alone with Jax anymore, because if she was, she would tell him everything and after finding out Gemma had never given him the letters, meant he had no idea what Gemma had done.

Wiping the tears from her eyes she regained her posture, if she was going to try and get him back, she wasn't going to tell him, not now anyways. She stepped off her porch and headed for her small, blue caviller, getting in she turned the key. She reached in her console for her sunglasses and put them on. Shifting in to reverse, she glanced to her bedroom window for a moment before backing up.

"After everything you've done to me Gemma, this has to be the lowest. You really didn't think Jax and I would cross paths again. Well you were wrong! Jax will know what you did and then you'll get what you've always deserved."

Tbc