12

Jax and Tara's Unexpected Christmas

Chapter 7 Words Fly Out

Once again, I'd opened my mouth and words came out without any editing from my brain. When was I going to learn to think before speaking? I don't know why the hell I said that to Gemma except it was the meanest thing that came to mind.

Suddenly I realized that I was OK with what I'd said to Gemma. I was probably never coming back to Charming and it didn't matter what that bitch thought of me. I wanted to hurt her and make her crazy. She'd spent a lot of time making me miserable. And I had a back-up plan; I'd just deny that I'd said that to her. Jax had caught Gemma in plenty of lies.

I went to my room and got the recipe book that my aunt had made for me. On each of my birthdays, she would teach me a recipe, write it down and take a picture. The carrot cake recipe was from my fourteenth birthday. The cake had crushed pineapple and different kinds of spices in it. It's a really moist cake, so Donna made a good choice. I would make a filling of pineapple curd and use a cream cheese frosting for the outside and a butter cream for the decorations.

A cake for twenty people didn't have to be very big, but the cake freezes well, so making extra would be OK. I knew people would want to take some home. I'd made the cake before for SAMCRO and it was a big hit. I wanted the cake to look like a wedding cake with four tiers. The two top tiers were going to be foam. Most big wedding cakes use fake layers to keep the cake's weight down and to create size.

I made a list of everything I would need from the grocery store and another list of everything I would need to get at the local craft store. They carried cake decorating supplies. In addition to the styrofoam and pans, I would need food coloring. The grocery store liquid food color wouldn't work. I couldn't get the red color I wanted and the liquid could wreck the buttercream.

I was looking forward to cooking dinner. I hadn't done any cooking while I was at school. I lived in the dorm and ate at the cafeteria. Since I was making dinner for my father and Jax, I was making their favorite dinner, ribs, twice baked cheese potatoes and Southern style green beans with onions and bacon. For dessert, I cheated and used a brownie mix. I'd warm them a bit in the microwave before serving and topping them with ice cream and hot fudge sauce.

The brownies were finished and the ribs and potatoes were in the oven. I was just putting the pineapple curd for the wedding cake in a jar when Jax knocked. After I let him in, I had him taste the pineapple curd.

"Tell me what you think?" I said and handed him a spoon of the still warm pineapple curd.

"Good. Not too sweet. What's it for?"

"Between the layers of carrot cake."

"Sounds good. When is your father coming home?"

"In an hour," I said.

"Maybe we should go into your room and I can check your clothes and make sure you aren't going to have any problems with them."

"Subtle. You are some smooth talker, Jax Teller. Last night you talked me out of my clothes because you said there was a problem with them. We never did figure out what the problem was."

"The problem was you were wearing them. Now, give me a kiss."

I kissed him because I really wanted to and Jax was all freshly showered and shampooed and I loved the way he smelled.

I was in the library studying one day when I smelled that same scent. For an insane couple of moments, I thought Jax had come to San Diego for me. I even tracked down the source of the scent, just to make sure it wasn't Jax. For an even crazier few seconds, I thought about trying to date the guy. If he smelled like Jax, I could pretend it was Jax. I regained some of my sanity and returned to the reading for my chemistry class.

Jax wrapped his arms around me and kissed me long, hard and deep. He released me and caught me as I almost hit a cabinet.

"You can still kiss me dizzy," I said. (from Tara's Perfectly Imperfect Christmas).

"I get dizzy too; I just have better natural balance. If you're feeling dizzy, I should help you to your room. Will all your cooking be OK if we're gone for a couple of minutes?"

"Everything's in the oven and OK. I was hoping for longer than a few minutes. It won't matter if my father's home. We'll lock my door, not that he would come in."

He kissed me again and began backing me into my bedroom just like he did my first day back in Charming. It was already dark outside and my bedroom was cool because I'd switched off the heat again before I started cooking.

I just couldn't get enough of Jax. It was like a physical addiction. The world was a horrible place. During sex though, everything was right with the world and nothing mattered but the pleasure we were giving and sharing.

"How about if we leave a little early tonight, so I can give you the Jax Teller super premium sex experience?"

"What the hell?" I tugged on Jax's chin hair in mock anger. "You've been holding out on me! You can actually do sex better?"

"You'll find out tonight if we can leave a little early. And the super premium sex experience is for you exclusively."

"I'll think about . . ." I broke off as Jax kissed me. I forgot what I was saying.

Over dinner, we talked a bit about Opie and Donna's wedding. My father revealed that before they reinvented themselves as an 80's cover band, The Fire Ants played a couple of weddings. He still had some CDs they'd made. It would be perfect for the wedding. I'd let Donna and Opie listen to the CD so they could decide if they wanted to use it.

My father told us funny stories about his days as a wedding singer including one story where the bride and groom got into a fist fight during their first dance. My father was different with an audience meaning Jax. He was switched on, not as intensely as when he was singing, but he was definitely more outgoing.

I was again struck by how harshly I'd judged him in high school. With time and distance, I realized my unhappiness with myself and my nerdy awkwardness colored how I saw my father.

I still had some lingering resentment over his walking out on my mother and me and then never having any contact with me, but it was time to just move beyond it. He made mistakes. I made mistakes. It was just time to forgive.

We watched more Trailer Park boys DVDs, but we did go to Jax's place early where he gave me his Jax Teller super premium sex experience. It was definitely worth leaving early for. It was a wonderful, romantic and leisurely experience.

"I have an idea," I said when Jax began showing signs of being ready to have sex again.

"Another clothing malfunction?"

"No. I wear your cut while we have sex."

Jax sucked in his breath sharply. He appeared dazed by my shocking suggestion shaking his head from side to side as if he couldn't believe what I'd just said.

"What did you say?"

"I wear your cut while we have sex."

"I'm not sure I can do that. It's pretty out there."

"Think about it."

"I'm going to have to think about that a lot. If I agreed—and I'm not saying that I am—it would have to stay a forever secret between us."

"I can do that."

"How about instead we start our own MC? Just the two of us. You're a prospect."

"Oh no, you don't. You want to play MC and make me a prospect so you can torture me the way you and Opie were tortured. No way. Besides, I don't know how to ride a bike and I don't have the big, strong muscles it takes to ride one like you do."

"True. You couldn't possibly learn to ride a motorcycle. You have problems with some of the simplest things in life like your clothes."

"Lucky for me you know how to take a girl's clothes off."

"I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't been able to unbutton your shirt last night. It could have choked you to death."

"You were so brave as you battled my buttons. So, what's it going to be? Can I wear your cut and your reaper crew baseball cap?"

"Reaper crew cap forward or backward. If you answer correctly, I will allow you to wear my cut and cap."

"Backward because you can't read "reaper crew" if I wear it forward."

"Congratulations, you have answered correctly and I'll even let you be on top. Just take the gun out of the inside pocket of my cut."

Was the super premium Jax Teller sex experience better than me wearing the cut and cap on top? It was a tough call, so we decided we would have to repeat the experiment tomorrow night.

The next day, I drove Jax and me to Oakland and we hit an Ikea and a larger craft store. The small one in Charming didn't have everything I needed. I finished all the shopping that I needed to get done. It was so nice to get out of Charming for a little while.

For a couple of moments, I imagined a life for Jax and me outside of Charming. I knew it was just a dream. I didn't think Jax would ever leave Charming.

Donna and Opie got back from her grandparents early enough for us to go to the florist and order her wedding bouquet. Donna and Opie both loved Christmas. Gemma had put up two Christmas trees at the clubhouse and Donna wanted us to leave them up, which helped the budget because we wouldn't need flowers. We were just going to get a bouquet for Donna.

I wasn't sure how the florist was going to combine red and gold flowers, but she suggested she use sunflowers for the gold. Donna loved the idea and it only took us twenty minutes to get the bouquet ordered. The florist was closing early New Year's Eve, so I promised we would pick up the bouquet by noon.

I knew I would remember, but I still wrote it down on the paper that I had all the wedding preparations written down with names of the people responsible.

I took Donna back to Opie and Jax's place. I was surprised that Donna didn't stay. Opie took her home on his bike. Jax was putting a couple of things in a duffel bag to take to my father's house. He was going to stay with me for a couple of nights. Opie had been in the house less than ten minutes when Donna called Opie crying hysterically. Her parents were kicking her out of the house immediately.

"I've got to go to Donna's house," Opie said.

Every so often, I get a feeling that I should interfere in something that isn't any of my business. This was one of those times. It usually worked out.

"Maybe we should go too," I said. I was worried about Opie's temper. "There might be boxes and we can put them in my father's car."

"OK," Opie said. "Good idea."

Jax and Opie rode their bikes giving me a bike escort to Donna's house.

She was in her bedroom crying, shaking and putting clothes into a garbage bag. Her seven year old sister looked on with wide hazel eyes. She looked scared.

"Donna, what can I help you do?"

She pointed to the closet and tried to speak but she kept sobbing and couldn't get out the words.

Opie put his arms around her and rubbed her back, trying to console her.

I left the clothes on the hanger and put them into a garbage bag. Jax began helping me. I saw through the bedroom window that her parents were outside on the patio. Her father was a short man with gray hair and pale, almost colorless blue eyes. He was smoking a cigarette. Her mother was a tall, thin woman with dark eyes.

I just didn't get how her parents could kick her out of the house when she was getting married and moving out in a few days. What could she have done that was so terrible?

"Can we leave some stuff and get it later or do we need to get everything now?" I asked.

Donna raised her head from Opie's chest.

"Ask them," she said.

"I'll do it," Opie said.

Opie left the bedroom.

"Go with him," I said to Jax.

I didn't want Opie to lose his temper and beat up her father. No matter how badly they treated Donna if Opie hit her father, he could get arrested. This was a bad situation that didn't need to be made any worse.

Jax nodded and followed Opie.

Donna shut her door.

"Excuse me," she said and I moved out of her way so she could get into her closet.

Donna opened a shoe box and took a cell phone hidden in a sneaker.

"You know about cell phones," she said to her sister. "This is going to be yours, but you have to keep it hidden."

Donna explained how to use the phone. She'd programmed in her cell phone number and made sure her sister knew how to call her. She also told her that if anything happens she was to call her and she'd come right away. The word "happens" seemed to have a special meaning to the sisters.

I couldn't figure out what the hell was happening at Donna's house, but I was going to find out because Donna and I were going wedding dress shopping tomorrow. Not only that, I was going to find a way to fix things.

I felt like it was my destiny.

Next Up: Tara will learn what's going on at Donna's house in either the next chapter or the one after.

I'm not sure if I'm going to do another chapter for this story or do a short one for Jax Is Really Alive next.

Not relevant, but who wouldn't want a Jax Teller super premium sex experience?