A/N-Thanks for waiting...I finally got the internet back! So when I was first writing this it felt like there wasn't a whole lot going on but then I looked a little bit closer and realized that there actually is a lot going on, if you read between the lines a little in what's happening and what's being said. Well, that being said, I hope you enjoy!
LOVE SONG
Chapter Three
When Kate woke up the next morning, she had been secretly hoping that the day before was just a figment of her imagination. She kept up that façade when she slid out of bed and ventured out into the living room to make her morning coffee. Of course, Jax was passed out on the couch with Jake curled up against him…they were spooning. If it had been with anyone else and in any other situation, she would have thought it was cute but with this man and this situation, she wanted to throw up. But she wasn't about to let Jax see that.
So she went about her normal morning routine, not necessarily because that's what he had told her to do, but because it was the only way she could push what was happening to her life out of her mind. Passive aggressive defiance was her only line of defense left. Everything else had been ripped right out of her hands.
By the time she had showered, eaten breakfast, and finished her coffee, Jax still hadn't moved on the couch. There was one moment, when she passed by the couch in between trips to the kitchen from the bathroom, where she lingered over him while he slept and she found herself smiling down at the sight. His legs were wrapped around the blanket, pushed up close to his chest and both hands clutched the pillow under his head. For such a rough and tough biker guy, he slept like a big baby. And it was kinda cute. And when she realized what she was thinking, she wanted to slap herself. So when she was ready to go, she got out of that apartment as soon as she could without a glance back at the sleeping form on her couch.
When she got down to the store, it was business as usual. She'd gotten so used to doing everything by herself that she could go on auto-pilot when it came to opening and closing procedures. She'd brought Jake down with her too, again…not so he wouldn't disturb Jax…but because that's what she normally did anyways. She always felt guilty leaving him up in the apartment by himself and the mornings were usually slow anyways. The customers that did show up before 2:00 never minded the presence of the friendly golden retriever.
She watched Jake with a smile as he went sniffing through the aisles, almost like he was inspecting everything to make sure it was ok for her to be there. She still marveled at how he was always able to know who was good and who was bad. When a normal customer came into the store, he could always sense immediately that that person meant no harm and trotted up to greet him or her. It was when he stood on edge, tail erect, that she knew to be nervous. Which made his reaction to Jax all the more perplexing to her…she didn't know anyone or anything that was a better judge of character than her dog and Jake had found him trustworthy in under a minute.
It wasn't until around 10:30, when she was starting to prepare the café for the lunch crowd that trickled in, that Jax finally showed himself. She noticed immediately that his hair was a little wet and he wasn't wearing his cut. He also had a cup of coffee with him too. So, it appeared he had just helped himself like he owned the place.
"Morning." He said with a warm smile.
"Hey."
If he noticed her sour mood, he did a good job of hiding it. Jake found him immediately and he bent down to ruffle the fur on Jake's neck.
"I'd expected you to sleep in a little later." She said, eyeing the interaction between him and her dog carefully.
He just shrugged. "I guess I woke up to the smell of something good so I figured I'd better get my ass down here to see what you had cookin'."
She knew he was just giving her a complement, that he was just trying to keep the peace, but she decided it was best to keep him at arm's length. "It's almost ready to go; you can have some then."
He smirked at her, like he was amused by the effort she was putting forth to be the biggest bitch possible. She wasn't used to acting this way and he seemed to sense that, which did nothing but irritate her.
"Ok…so do you mind if I take this guy outside? I gotta move my bike anyways before you get too many customers in here." He asked politely.
She nodded and watched as Jax left with her dog, feeling like her only true ally had gone over to the dark side. Now it was just her against the outlaws, and it was obvious who was going to win that battle. She hadn't even had a chance in hell to win.
About a half hour had passed and she'd been helping a few customers find what they were looking for, so when she made it back over to the café, Jax was already sitting at the counter and looking over the menu.
"So what'll it be, sir?" She surprised herself with the light tone.
"Hmm…" he was still looking everything over. "I honestly don't know. Everything looks really good…and I'm not just saying that, you know?"
He paused, as if to check to make sure that she really did know and waited until she nodded.
"Got any suggestions?"
"Well…the turkey club is pretty popular; it's got lettuce, tomato, a honey mustard sauce that I make—"
"That's the one, then," he cut in.
She laughed. "Ok—one turkey club coming up."
He immediately started digging into his back pocket for his wallet. "How much do I owe you?"
She hesitated for a moment. She had honestly assumed that this arrangement also meant any of the club members coming to her store had free reign of whatever they wanted. That he was offering to actually pay was a bit of a shock. But why was he offering anyways? She knew he knew everything there was to know about her business, which meant he also knew that she was still in the process of getting her feet on the ground and the absolute last thing she needed was his charity.
"Don't worry about it, Jax. This one's on me."
His lips set in a firm line and he shook his head. "No…how much do I owe you?"
"Really, Jax, it's not a big deal…just forget about it."
"I'm gonna find a way to get you the money one way or another. You might as well just take it now." His eyes silently pleaded with her to cooperate, just this once, and to let him have his way.
"Fine." She said after a pause. "But will you at least take a free cookie?"
He grinned with a sly smile. "Darlin', I was hopin' you'd say that. I've been eyeing up that plate over there for the last half hour."
She chose to ignore the term he'd used for her; she didn't have the time or the energy to waste trying to decipher the meaning behind anything Jax Teller said. Besides, if she remembered correctly, that was usually just a generic term for a woman one of the biker boys was trying to charm into doing something. And if all he'd been wanting from her was one of those cookies, then why didn't he just ask for one in the first place? She would have just given it to him…she sighed deeply as she grabbed one of the more fresher ones off the platter and handed it over to him. His eyes lit up immediately as soon as it was in his possession and the entire thing was inhaled within a matter of seconds.
"Wow, did you even taste that?" She couldn't hide the amusement in her voice.
He closed his eyes briefly, like he was in heaven or something. "Hell yeah. Can I have another one? I'll pay for it—"
"Just shut up and take the damn cookie." She said, quickly losing her patience with him, even though she wasn't quite sure why. She was normally on cloud 9 whenever a customer complimented her food but coming from him…something just felt off about it. It was just a cookie, wasn't it?
His eyes widened at her tone and he held up his hands in defensive, cookie and all. "Ok, ok…shit, take it easy."
He took a bite as he walked away, shaking his head. He took a seat in a small table from across the counter and watched her as she prepared his sandwich, which set her even more on edge. Was he just doing this to piss her off? Didn't he say last night that he was there to try to make this easier on her? What a load of bullshit…she'd been perfectly fine and perfectly contented with her store and her dog. That was her life and, except for some occasional loneliness and a few occupational hazards, she had been in the driver's seat since the day she'd gotten the hell of Charming. It was all gone now. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to bang her head against the counter. She cast a wary glanced towards the cause of her misery and grimaced when he grinned and waved at her like nothing was wrong.
When she walked over to his table, he snatched the sandwich off the plate before she even had a chance to set it down.
"Jesus Christ," she muttered under her breath. She watched him for a moment as he proceeded to inhale the sandwich. Allowing the customer-oriented side of her take over, and he was technically a paying customer she reminded herself, she went back around the counter and got him a glass of water. By the time she set the glass on his table, he was already wiping his mouth with a napkin, the entire sandwich already inhaled.
"Man," he yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. "That was some good food. You should bring some of that shit over to my Mom's tonight."
She grimaced and ran a hand over her face. She'd forgotten about that. Shit. It really was never going to end…and it was just beginning.
"Oh yeah…right."
He gestured toward the counter. "And it would be sweet as hell if you could bring some of those cookies too."
She nodded, feeling like she wanted to take that plate of cookies and smash it over his head. She stood there for a moment, contemplating everything that was happening to her. Not only had he slept on her couch, uninvited for that matter, he had single-handedly become best friends with her dog, conned her into cooking for him and bringing left over food from her café to Gemma's 'family' dinner. Her blood was beginning to boil over and, well, there was just so much a person could take in a full 24 hours. There had to be statute of limitations somewhere about outlaws blackmailing and imprisoning innocent citizens. Shit…now her life was starting to sound like an old western or something. Either way, things were already starting to get out of hand.
"You know," she spat out. "I'm not your slave. I don't have to do shit, Jax."
In a split second, she heard the sound of the chair scraping back and he was standing in front of her, his hands held up in front of him defensively.
"Whoa…just calm down here for a second. I didn't mean anything by that…you're a damn good cook and that's all I was trying to say. I wasn't givin' you an order, Kate."
"Oh ok," she was just getting started. "So I'm just supposed to lie down and let you guys walk all over me, sleep in my house, eat my food, do whatever you want with my business and you think you can just sweet talk me and everything will magically calm down?"
"I didn't mean to do any of that…" he glanced around the store to make sure there weren't any customers around to hear. "I know this is really shitty and I know this isn't going to get any better over night but you've got to calm the hell down about all this. You're not making this any easier—"
"I'm not making this any easier? I'm not the one who thinks he can just walk into someone's life and completely take everything over and—"
Now he cut her off. "No one is taking over your life, Kate."
"Bullshit—I know exactly what's going to happen now. I'm going to go to this family dinner, then another, and then another one, and so on…and then you guys are going to keep bringing your cargo and your prospects until you're running my store and using my basement and apartment for God knows what and then everything I've been working the last nine years for, everything I've been trying to do to stay the hell away from all of you and all of this…none of it will matter anymore and I'll be in the same exact position as my parents."
He hesitated for a moment to absorb everything she'd just said. Finally: "I get that there are dangers and risks involved with being close to the club. No one is denying that. But…sooner or later, Kate, you're going to realize that this club is the only family you have left. I know it looks bad now and things didn't exactly go down last night the way I would've liked and…I didn't think so at first…but maybe this isn't going to be so bad for however long it lasts. There's gotta be a silver lining here somewhere. I mean, you're all by yourself here, except for Jake, we can help you and protect you and be there for you whenever you need it—"
"I don't need your help and while I know I can't say much about not needing the protection…I definitely don't want it, not from you. And my family, Jax, my real family…you know exactly where they are. My dad is rotting away in jail for the club and my mom was a porn producer who got strangled on set. Not exactly model parents or the model family, right? And if you're right, if the club is the only family I have left…after seeing the number the club did on my parents, well, I don't want any part of it. So as far as I'm concerned, Jax, you can take your club and your family and go fuck yourself."
His eyes widened at her last words and somewhere in between the shock and the frustration, she detected a hint of admiration in his eyes. She didn't know whether to throw her arms around him and sob or punch and slap him until she passed out from exhaustion. So instead of doing either of those things, she grabbed his empty plate and headed back around the counter.
Luckily for both of them, Jax knew well enough to steer clear of her for the rest of the day. She barely noticed when he made several trips to the basement, let Jake out a few times, and eventually retreated upstairs to her apartment, probably to watch TV. By closing time, she wasn't all that surprised to hear the roaring of a motorcycle engine climb through the window. She hardly glanced up when the door bell clinged and a skinny, pale, and completely harmless looking man came through the door.
"Hi," the man said amiably and held out a hand to her. "You're Kate, right?"
She hesitantly took his hand; there was something about this guy that told her she could trust him. He seemed way too nice to have fallen in with Samcro.
"Yeah and you're…?"
"Kip but everyone calls me Half-Sack." He said with a slightly goofy grin.
"Half-Sack?"There was no way this guy for was real.
"Yeah," he replied sheepishly and ran a hand through his short hair. "I was wounded in Iraq and…well…"
"I'm pretty sure the name says it all, right Sack?" Jax's voice came from down one of the store aisles. When Jax came into view, he nodded to Half-Sack. "How's it goin', man?"
Half-Sack nodded back to him. "It's goin'…got another delivery out front."
"Alright, pull your bike around to the back entrance from now on. I'll meet you over there." Jax said coolly without so much as casting a glance Kate's way. There was something about the way he seemed to be going out of his way to not look at her that was agitating. But then again, she'd also done the same to him since their heated confrontation that morning. So she supposed she couldn't fault him for all but ignoring her but there was still something about that that bothered her…something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
She chose not to pay any attention to what they were doing, or more specifically—bringing—into her basement; it was just easier for her nerves. She just went about her normal closing routine, cleaned up the café, checked the bathrooms, vacuumed down the few aisles that needed, and locked the money away in the safe in the storeroom. By the time all that was done, Jax and Half-Sack were standing in front of her. Jax, unsurprisingly, was looking everywhere but at her. Half-Sack rubbed the back of his neck as he looked back and forth between them, unsure of what to say or do.
"So…" Jax said finally, still not really making eye contact with her. "We'll see you at my Mom's later tonight?"
"Maybe that's not a good idea…"
His eyes immediately found hers. "Gemma will rip me a new one if you don't show."
She winced slightly, remembering that in spite of everything, the last thing she wanted to do was let Gemma down…or feel her wrath. There really was no getting out of this one.
"Alright, alright…I don't want Gemma thinking she has to start making house calls to get me go to those dinners. I guess I might as well surrender on this one, right?"
It wasn't really a question and she didn't miss the touch of sadness in his blue eyes when his eyes found hers again. She felt a pang in her chest at the look in his eyes and for a split second, found herself wondering what it would take to not see that look again. And then she remembered that he had no one to blame but himself and his stupid club for whatever it was he was feeling now. If she didn't need his pity, the last thing she wanted to do was return the favor. Feeling bad for the hardened criminal? Please…what the hell was the world coming to anyways?
They waited for her to lock up and tuck Jake safely away in her apartment—and against her better judgment, she grabbed the plate of cookies- then they sped off, Jax and Half-Sack leading the way on their 'badass' bikes as Kate followed in her perfectly safe and capable Rav-4. As Charming grew closer and closer, she felt her heart begin to pound erratically in her chest. The closer she got, the closer she came to the club and whatever else that meant. But she couldn't turn around and even though she wanted to, an unseen and inexhaustible magnetic force was pulling her closer and closer. And when the "Welcome to Charming" sign came into view, she felt like she was going to throw up. Something was coming. That was for damned sure. And she was beginning to feel like whatever that something was wasn't going to be very good for her.
When they pulled up to the house, she did her best to hide her awe…by the looks of Gemma and Clay's house—and they couldn't have lived there long—the illegal gun trading business was booming. The sprawling two story home was nestled in between two rows of trees, most likely for both privacy and protection and the long driveway seemed like it was never going to end.
Jax and Half-Sack parked their bikes at the end of the already lengthy row of other bikes and she felt her heart clench at the sight. Everyone really was here. She was going to have to face everyone and everything. She pretended not to notice the cocked eyebrow Jax sent her way when he saw the plate of cookies in her hand and instead, did her best to hold her head high and focused on keeping the plate from trembling in her hands as she walked the distance from the driveway to the front door.
The two guys in front of her entered the house and she heard a loud roar escape the front door. She swallowed hard, wondering what kind of greeting she would elicit from the group and with a deep breath, walked through the door that Jax was holding open for her. She was immediately greeted with hugs, hand shakes, and even a few kisses on the cheek from men she barely recognized, if at all. It was a bit of a shock to be greeted so warmly, so much like a long-lost friend and there was creeping part of her that realized, if she had any real family left, this was how that family would treat her. She had no idea how to feel about that and no time to contemplate her swimming emotions when she heard the voice she'd been waiting and dreading to hear.
"Oh! There she is…my girl…get over here!" Gemma's unmistakable voice called from somewhere in the kitchen.
When she came into sight, Kate found herself smiling. Even if she hadn't heard Gemma's voice, she'd have recognized her anywhere. The same bleached streaks, slightly longer hair than she remembered, same piercing eyes, same biker wife clothes, and as the matriarch grew closer, she could see faint lines around her mouth—those definitely hadn't been there before. She had a feeling the culprit was her new status as a grandmother but Kate wasn't about to volunteer that suggestion.
Before she knew what was happening, Gemma was enveloping her into a tight hug. She placed her hands lightly, almost tenderly, around Kate's face and smiled.
"I missed you, sweetheart. How you been?"
It took her a second a find her voice. "I've…uh…I've been fine. How about you, Gemma?"
Gemma laughed good-naturedly and shrugged. "Well, another nine years and I'm still alive. Ain't gonna complain about that…being a grandma makes me feel a little old and I have to say, I feel even older seeing you again. You've sure grown up, baby."
Kate laughed nervously, casting a glance at the watching eyes around her. "Thanks, Gemma. Um…here…I brought some cookies from the café; there just leftovers but Jax liked them so I figured I'd bring them along so I didn't show up here empty-handed."
Gemma grinned as she took the plate from her and lightly slapped away the hands that tried to grab some off the plate.
"Don't worry," she called from inside the kitchen. "All I needed you to bring was yourself…but I think the boys here will be more than grateful you brought this plate with you too."
Kate took a cautious step towards the kitchen and found herself face to face with Clay. A Mexican standoff…they both stared at each other tensely and Clay, at that moment, slightly resembled a bulldog gearing up for a dog-fight. She could almost see the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Then, in a split second, he shocked her by stepping forward and leaning down to give her a light kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Kate. Glad to have you here." He said coolly. For a moment, there was no trace of the edge and hostility she'd been confronted with the night before. And then, as quickly as it had come, the softness vanished and the coldness was back as he quickly stepped away from her and into the dining room.
"Don't worry about him, Kate," Gemma said coming up behind her. "His bark is worse than his bite."
All she could do was nod and follow Gemma into the dining room. The table had already quickly filled up with everyone taking, at least the way it seemed to Kate, their usual spots at the table and she had no idea what she was supposed to do now. Everyone was just falling into a routine but she didn't know the steps. She'd never felt so out of place before in her entire life. And to make things worse, a nagging feeling was, again, starting to rise up…why did she care that she didn't know their routine? Why did it matter that she didn't know where to sit? Why did it matter that she felt out of place? Wasn't that supposed to be a good thing in this particular situation?
And just as she began to feel the wave of a small panic attack coming straight at her, she jumped at the feel of a light hand on her back and Jax's soft voice in her ear.
"You can sit over here by Gemma," he gestured with the hand that wasn't resting on the small of her back.
She nodded back to him, biting her lip. She didn't know what to say. He hadn't really spoken to her since their confrontation in the café and the way he had spoken to her now…it was almost…intimate…and it completely set her off balance. His low voice was still ringing in her ears when she took her place next to Gemma, who was seated at the end of the table opposite of Clay. She was even more surprised when Jax slid out the chair right next to her and flopped down beside her. Their eyes met for a short moment and she had to fidget in her seat to keep herself from jumping at the contact. It was as if an electrical current had reached out and shocked her.
Gemma rose from her seat and held out her hands to get the table's attention. "Well, before we dig in here, I just wanted to say a few things. I know things have been a little rocky lately…well not really a little but you know what I mean. I can't tell you all how much it means to me to have everybody here under the same roof…all of us in one piece, nobody at each other's throats…at least not yet. And I'm even more grateful to have Kate here, my god-daughter and part of my family. I feel like the missing piece that I was feeling has been filled now and I've got everything back. Beautiful son, beautiful grandson, beautiful god-daughter, beautiful husband and a god-damn beautiful family, all of you. So let's raise our glasses to our family…none of us would be here without it."
"To family!" Everyone raised their glasses and cheered to Gemma's surprisingly heartfelt speech. Kate couldn't remember when she'd ever heard Gemma speak like that before; she'd always been the strong, hard as nails type and when she gave a speech it was to chew someone's ear and definitely not to give a heartwarming speech about family. Maybe she had changed, at least a little bit.
Kate nervously clinked glasses with Gemma and then with Jax, who surprised her again with a warm grin. His closeness was grating on her nerves and there were too many times when their elbows bumped into each other as they ate. She had to resist the urge to scoot her chair closer to Gemma but knew there wasn't a way she could do that discreetly enough to make it worth her while.
Kate ate in near silence as platters of fried chicken, green beans, scalloped potatoes, and ham were passed around both sides of the table. There were plenty of conversations going on around her but she did her best to block out the majority of what was said. She remembered enough about Gemma's family dinners to know that club business discussions were completely off-limits but she honestly didn't want or need to know what going on in all of their lives. She knew it would be easier to hold everyone at arm's length, to keep their interactions strictly about the business, if she didn't know anything personal.
"So, Kate," Gemma's voice jolted her out of her revelry. "You've been awfully quiet over there."
"What? Oh…sorry, Gemma. This is just…this is just a lot to take in all at once." She replied slowly.
Gemma nodded, an understanding smile pressing into her lips. "I know, sweetie, I know. After a while, it'll feel like you never left."
Kate was silent. She didn't know how she was supposed to respond to that. So she figured it was better to just not say anything at all.
"You know," Gemma continued without missing a beat. Kate, on the other hand, was beginning to notice that the rest of the table was listening in on their conversation. "I've been dying to ask you ever since I found out what you do for a living…what the hell ever possessed you to open up a bookstore of all things?"
The table was silent for a moment, all eyes on Kate, all trying to gauge her reaction to Gemma's comments. When Kate began to chuckle, for lack of a better reaction, the rest of the table took that as a sign that it was ok, too, to laugh at Gemma's underhanded joke.
"You know, I asked her that last night and I never got a straight answer out of her." Jax chimed in next to her. She had almost allowed herself to forget that he was sitting right next to her. And then he had to speak. So much for that.
"Yeah, Kate! What the hell is up with that?" Someone else yelled from across the table.
Part of her wanted to feel attacked, like they were making fun of her. But, deep down, she knew that their intentions weren't in the least mean-spirited; this was simply their way of starting a conversation. It was a little on the rough side but it was a good-natured, albeit aggressive, line of questioning.
She chuckled again and took a sip of her beer before answering, very aware that all eyes really were on her.
"Well, I know you guys are all dying to know how that happened. And I know you're all expecting that I just went down the list of majors and picked the one that seemed the furthest away from illegal activity of any kind," she paused and found herself smiling at the round of chuckles that came from around the table, even Clay was biting back laughter. "But the truth is, I've always loved to read and I've always loved to share the books that I've read. I wasn't really cut out to be a teacher and well…I guess the best way I can explain it is…my dad once told me that being part of the club was like being in on this life-changing secret that only a few people could know about. He always said that he wished there was a way more people could get in on the secret, that more people could know what being part of the club was really like, not just all the illegal stuff, that they would understand and want to be part of it too. I know it's a strange analogy but I feel like that whenever I read a good book. It's like you have this amazing, life-changing secret right in your hands and all you want to do is tell everyone you know so they can be in on the secret too. And when you think about it, it usually takes at least a week or two get through a book, given the reader, and that's a lot of time to spend with a story. When you find a good one, it's an experience…you're just sucked in and you can't put it down because you just have to know what happens next. I think the only reason I'm still in business is because I seem to have a knack for recommending the right book for the right person and the best part of my job is when a customer comes back in the store and tells me they loved the book I recommended to them. It's a good feeling, like you did something to make their day, like you helped them get that experience and get in on the secret."
When she finished speaking, her eyes briefly flitted to Jax, who had been watching and listening intently. He smiled softly, his eyes once again radiating the admiration she had seen before and bit his lip as he looked back down at his plate. By that point, the rest of the table was already reoccupied with their own little side conversations and the pressure was officially off of Kate.
"Well," Gemma replied, an impressed look on her face. "That was not the answer I was expecting but, you know, I guess when you put it that way…I can see why you enjoy it."
Kate nodded with a smile. "And there's something to be said about being your own boss…"
"Hey," Gemma replied with a nod. "That's definitely something I can relate to."
"Yeah, except when being your own boss means being your only employee." Jax added with that lop-sided grin she was quickly beginning to loath.
"What?" Gemma nearly dropped her fork. "How are you still standing by the end of the day?"
She just shrugged. "It's not as horrible as you'd think it would be. Besides, I can't exactly afford to hire anyone right now. I'm still getting on my feet with the store and it's just easier not to have to balance an employee on top of everything else that goes into it."
"Put the prospect to work." Gemma suggested nonchalantly.
"Don't worry, Ma…I've already got the prospect borrowed out to her and I already told Kate to put me to work too whenever I'm there." Jax reassured her good-naturedly.
"Well, you'd better give her a hand when you're there. If you don't, I'll rip you a new one…don't think I won't, Jackson." Gemma replied sternly.
Jax held up his hands in defense and shook his head, shooting Kate a dramatic eye roll.
"Besides, sweetie," Gemma turned back to Kate. "That doesn't leave you with anytime for a guy, right?"
Kate opened her mouth to speak and then shut it again quickly. "No," she started again. "Not really…I guess I haven't had a whole lot of time to think about that for awhile."
"Well, when was the last time you had a date, hun?"
She bit her lip in thought. "Hmm…it's horrible that I can't even remember. I don't think I've really had a date since I was in college. That was at least two years ago…wow."
Gemma swatted at the air and shifted in her seat. "You know, what? There's nothing wrong with being a career woman, at least not right now. I say, get your business up and going, get a couple employees under you, and then you can a man on top of you…or under you…you know what I mean?"
Kate just laughed as Gemma winked at her playfully. It was hard to believe they'd been separated for nine years. In some ways, it felt like they'd never been apart and now their relationship had matured from Gemma giving her advice on how to get a guy to kiss her to how to get a guy on top of her…or under her.
And in spite of her better judgment, she cast a glance towards Jax, who previously unbeknownst to her, had been paying close attention with a grave expression on his face. At first, she was a little embarrassed that he had heard that exchange with Gemma. But then again, her personal life had absolutely nothing to do with and it was absolutely none of his business. The look on his face bothered her; his forehead was crinkled up like he was deep in thought over something distressing and what bothered her was why he had even been paying attention in the first place. Again, it was absolutely none of his business.
"Well, boys," Clay rose up from the other side of the table. "I think it's time we headed over to the clubhouse for church."
The rest of the club murmured their agreement and several of them nodding their heads. What followed was the sound of chairs scraping back as they got up to leave, each kissing Gemma, and some even Kate, on the cheek as they passed by, and the roar of motorcycle engines as they rode off to attend 'church'. By the time they were all gone, Kate felt her head spinning. It was insane…about 24 hours before she had been all but living her dream of an honest, clean, Samcro-free life. And now here she was, sitting at the table of Gemma Morrow, helping her clean up the dirty dishes and plates, wondering what the hell just happened…and wondering why Jax was paying such attention to her.
"I don't know about you," Gemma called from in the kitchen. "But I'm glad those boys are gone. Now we can have some real girl talk…get in here and let's get these dishes done!"
Kate swallowed the lump that had progressively gotten larger as the night wore on. It had been a very long time since she'd had girl talk with Gemma and she still wasn't sure if girl talk with her was a good or a bad thing. Well, her long night was about to get even longer. Great.
A/N-The next chapter will focus more on the 'after' of the family dinner (this one was more the before and during) and we'll see Gemma and Kate's after-dinner girl talk and what happens during the club's church meeting. So...if you're enojying the story, please leave a review! I think I got about two or three for the last chapter and while alerts and favorites are still awesome, actual feedback is even better. Hope you liked it! R/R!
