Three Months Later
Jax dared any of his brothers to disrespect Tara again. He promised them they would regret it. Since then, they were all accepting of the relationship. They were still worried, Jax couldn't fault them that, the fear of their illegal activities being brought into light would always be a legitimate reason to be nervous. If caught they would face a lengthy prison sentence. They would just have to be smarter, he wouldn't allow the clubs activities to ruin things with the love of his life again. He would fight for her until his dying breath.
Tara wasn't as optimistic as Jax about the way things were going. The guys seemed to accept her with the exception of Clay who would follow Gemma's lead. Gemma put on a good show but Tara could sense the hatred the matriarch felt toward her, that didn't stop her from coming to Tara anytime the club needed financial help.
"You okay?" Jax found Tara staring out of their bedroom window. He pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head.
"Yeah. I'm just thinking. What are you doing here? I thought you were in Nevada til Friday?" She didn't want to tell him that she was regretting staying here in Charming. She wanted this to work. She wanted both of them to have their dream but the longer she stayed the more she remembered everything she hated about this life. He was always gone despite his promises that he wouldn't go on any runs until they figured everything out. She had a suspicion that all of the runs lately were on Gemma's orders rather than the clubs. Gemma had Clay wrapped around her bony finger and he'd follow her every command. Jax was oblivious, he thinks things are going perfectly.
"I had to come back, I've got some good news for you," he smirked, "for us." He dropped his mouth down to hers.
"Clay isn't upset about you leaving them shorthanded?" She rolled her eyes at the thought, more like Gemma upset that he's spending so much time with Tara.
"Nah, Opie's covering for me. No one even knows I'm back in town but you and him. When I got the news, I had to come tell you in person." His smile spread across his face.
"What?" She asked, curious to see what has him so upbeat.
He pulls out an envelope from his back pocket, "my divorce was finalized this morning. It's official babe. I'm all yours." He winked.
"Really?" She asks taking the papers from him, excitement building. This was the day she had been waiting for.
"Yup." He picked her up spinning her around the room. "I love you so much and I don't want to wait any longer. As soon as you're ready Tara Grace Knowles, I'm making you my wife."
She threw her head back and laughed when he nibbled on her ear lobe, her mood improved, her worries temporarily forgotten, "I'm ready baby. I'm so ready. Let's do this."
"You sure you don't want to do that chic planning stuff?" He laughed when she smacked him on the shoulder.
"No, I don't want to wait any longer either and besides when have I ever acted like a chic?"
"Oh, I can think of a few times." He winked lowering her down on the bed.
"MMM," she moaned out, "how about we keep you being back here our little secret. I'm loving having you here to myself."
"Deal." He agreed. "I'll have to hide my bike in the garage."
"Get to it then," she panted, "then you're all mine…for the rest of the night."
Her promise had him jumping out of bed to put his Dyna in the garage, feeling unashamed for not telling anyone he's back in town, and more than looking forward to this uninterrupted time with his girl.
…A Beautiful Disaster….
"Do you really think this is a good idea, Gem? Maybe things won't be so bad for us if they're together. It's been months and things have been pretty calm around the clubhouse." Clay questioned.
"It's only a matter of time." Gemma spat. "She ain't good for him and she sure as shit ain't good for the club." She sat in her husband's lap and looked him in the eyes, "she's bad for the club baby, she will be the reason we all go down."
Clay nodded, "how do you wanna handle it? If she turns up dead here, you know the media is going to point fingers at us. All eyes will be on us even more than before."
"We don't have to kill her," Gemma pondered out loud, "just scare her into leaving him, leaving town. Making this place and my boy a distant memory."
"Don't think she will scare easily." Clay replied taking a puff from his cigar.
"Tiggy can be scary without trying. I think he can do it," Gemma grinned, "and he's the only one who will do what you order without question or hesitation."
"I'll talk to him, get him on board, and then we can figure out what to do." Clay patted her leg and stood up pulling out his phone to call his Sergeant-at-Arms.
…..A Beautiful Disaster…..
Jax and Tara spent the night wrapped up in each other. Sleep was the last thing on either of their minds. This was such a rare opportunity for them to be completely alone, no church, no Gemma, no paparazzi…. Just the two of them.
"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" Jax whispered in the darkness.
"No, tell me." Tara giggled, listening to his heart beat.
"I love you more than anything or anyone in this world. You complete me. You are the one I would give all of this up for in a heartbeat, no hesitation, I would walk away from this town, this club, all of it before I would risk losing you again."
She fought the urge to beg him right then to leave. She knew his words were true. He would sacrifice all of it for her and that was the reason she would try harder to make it work. "I love you too, Jax. You have no idea how much it means to me that you would walk away from it all for me if needed. You making us a priority instead of the club proves we are in fact headed in the right direction. I can't wait until I'm officially your wife on Saturday." She kissed him softly as her stomach growled, "as much as I love this conversation, I'm going to go make us some breakfast."
"You know we don't have to wait until Saturday. Op gets back Friday evening; we can do it then." Jax suggested.
"He's been gone for over a week, his top priority will be getting into Donna." Tara giggled, standing up, "bacon, eggs, and French toast okay?"
"Sounds delicious," he agreed, "I'm going to hop in the shower if you don't need any help."
"Nah, I'm good. Go clean your sexy body," she paused eyeing his nakedness on the bed, "so we can get it dirty again after we refuel."
"Yes ma'am." He playfully saluted her and swatted her ass.
…..A Beautiful Disaster….
Tara had her ear buds in dancing around the kitchen in Jax's blue SAMCRO t-shirt when strong hands gripped her arms.
"That was fast." She giggled. "Miss me already?" The horror on her face when she saw the person holding her was wearing a ski mask and dressed in all black. He jerked the phone from her hand dropping it to the ground stomping on it.
"Who…Who are you?" She whimpered, her voice failing her.
The stranger pushed her back hard against the cabinet, holding her tiny wrists in one hand, and pushing her shirt up with the other licking his lips gazing at her nakedness. Tara struggled against his hold, bringing her knee up to hit his testicles but he blocked the assault shoving her back harder against the wood. He ran his fingers down her body and her rational thinking kicked in, "my boyfriend will kill you for this. He's in the shower, if he comes out and sees you, you're a dead man." She knew her admission would either scare the assailant into noticing someone else was in the house or make him do what he came to do sooner instead of dragging it out.
She wasn't expecting the laugh that escaped his lips, and she definitely wasn't expecting to recognize his voice once he spoke, "Jax ain't here. He's in Nevada." Tig. Her fear was more prominent; he was the only one of Jax's brothers that scared the shit out of her. He was unpredictable and downright psychotic. "HELP!" She screamed hoping Jax would hear her.
"Shut the fuck up." He backhanded her, "you need to leave here, leave Charming, leave Jax, make up some bullshit excuse. Just leave. Don't ever tell what happened here today. Get the fuck out. I don't want to hurt you, I actually really like you. I will do what I'm told though, you know that. So leave before I have to do anything that you'd find unpleasant."
"Who told you to do this?" Jax growled standing behind Tig seething, his gun pointed at Tig's head. He was still dripping wet. He must have heard her scream. His eyes found mine, "get in the bedroom babe." His gentle tone eerily calm. I had a bad feeling about it. The calm before the storm. Tig crossed a line, a line that he wasn't going to be able to come back from. Jax was smart though, he'd get to the bottom of who sent him and why. Tara already knew who sent him, she was sure if Jax thought about it, he would too. Tig is Clay's little lap dog after all and Clay will do whatever Gemma wants.
a/n: thank you all for reading! I hope you are enjoying the story so far…sorry for the tiny cliffhanger. Please review and let me know your thoughts so far. I'm thinking this story is only going to have a few more chapters but we will see based on what everyone thinks and how much time I have. There may be some pretty big delays as I'm starting a new job on Monday that will take up the majority of my writing time.