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Chapter 8

Jax:

I closed the door behind myself as I exited the bedroom. I heard the doorknob jiggle slightly and knew she locked the door to change into one of my shirts. The silence thereafter was so profound, I threw the extra blanket on the guest bed and flipped on the television just to break the silence. The guest room was much smaller than mine, and the bed was a little more firm than I preferred, but after the day I'd had, it was very nice to take my shirt off, lie down, and be able to fully relax. Of course, as soon as I got situated in the bed comfortably the doorbell rang. Who in the fuck? I asked myself. I sighed as I moved to go find out who was at my door after midnight.

Moving as quietly as possible through the house, I tried to detect cops outside, but there were no lights and only one car in the driveway which I did not recognize. I retrieved my gun from the table in the family room, and looked out the peephole. It was a man of my stature, maybe a little stockier, wearing glasses and a sweater. I opened the door.

"Jackson Teller, where in the fuck is my daughter?" he demanded angrily before I could even get the door open. My heart sank. I was hoping we could have waited to handle this shit 'till morning, but my luck forbids it every time. I rolled my eyes.

"Listen, this is all a big misunderstanding; I assure you." I retorted, attempting to explain. His temper only became more inflamed.

"Misunderstanding my ass, you got her involved in your club's dealings, didn't you?" he shoved the photos and the typed note into my chest, "How do you explain these? I swear to God, I'll kill you if I don't get her back." He declared, clenching his fists. The veins on his forehead protruded due to his manic state.

"Your daughter is fine," I said forcing him to look me dead in the eye, "Photos and the note are from my ex-wife. She gets a little jealous of my female friends." I lied, trying to calm him down with no such luck. He attacked me, pushing into the house and forcing me to draw my gun. Just then, Autumn entered the room in only my black shirt, its length barely covering her ass.

"Dad, what in the hell?!" she yelled coming toward us. Her father's entire body relaxed with relief when he saw she was alright, but flooded with rage when he noticed her attire and assumed we were sleeping together.

"You little slut," he uttered in complete disgust to Autumn and the looked back to me, "and you, Jackson Teller, you're a sick son of a bitch. You're going to jail, can't get out of this one. My daughter is only seventeen years old you depraved bastard."

"You don't even know what you're talking about, dad, Jax is my friend. I just wanted to get away from everyone's crap for a couple days and he let me crash here. In the spare bedroom. I'm almost 18 years old, get off my case!" she replied before I could think of anything to say.

"But you're NOT 18, Autumn, you're 17, and for you to be doing things with this man is immoral and I will not condone such illicit behavior! I can't believe you would do this, who are you?" I knew that had to hit the girl pretty hard, but her glare never faulted.

"I am tired of asking you if I can hang out with other people from school, just to be shot down every time. I am done being caged inside that house after doing mom's job for the last 6 years. I have done everything you asked of me, and I still can't go out to a party without chaperones. I still am not allowed to hang out with boys or different friends. Maybe if you'd been a little more permitting, I wouldn't have had to run away to a biker." I was surprised to hear her speak that way to her father.

He must have been surprised too, for he backhanded her across the face. With that, I had to put an end to it. I elbowed him in the jaw and pushed him out of my house.

"No one hits my girl, man. Now get the fuck off my property." I told him before slamming the door and locking it. Autumn stood in the middle of the room holding her bleeding lip. I went to her and led her to the bathroom so she could get cleaned up. When she saw her swollen lip, oozing blood, she started to cry.

I held her` against my chest, her blood and tears on my skin. "It's going to be alright." I consoled, caressing her head. "Did he ever hit you before?" I asked, hoping to hear that this was the first time, but as is often the case, she divulged that her father had always become violent when his temper got the best of him. He disgusted me. How could he handle his innocent daughter that way?

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. If I'd known it was your father, I would have never answered the door." I whispered. Let me get you cleaned up," I said, grabbing a washcloth from the cabinet. I turned on the hot water to wet the cloth, she winced when I touched it to her lip, but then relaxed. Red stained the white rag as I wiped the blood that had dripped from her chin.

She smiled, splitting the cut only to make it bleed again. This time she put pressure on her lip and it began to subside. Her enormous green eyes gazed up at me, brimming with full, wet lashes. I couldn't imagine how she must have felt at that moment; her relationship with her father in shambles, and reputation at school at risk of being ruined.

"I'm sorry I let you take the fall for all this with your father." I spoke softly, letting my hand caress her beautiful black curls.

"Well, someone's gotta get in trouble; I didn't want it to have to be you. The kind of heat that comes with the truth is much worse than anything I'll face over this." She said, staring into the depths of my soul. I wondered what she saw in me that made me worth her time. Here I was, standing there hoping she would forgive me for throwing her under the bus, when I had done nothing but cause her pain; as was the case with every woman in my life. I couldn't let this sweet girl endure the pain of my lifestyle.

"Listen, Jax. I am going to be in tons of shit for this when I go home, and I'll definitely be grounded," she began, I let my eyes wander the length of her body. Her slender neck connected her torso with sharp collar bones that peaked from the neck of my oversized shirt. Her childlike fingers intertwined with mine, "but I don't want this to be the last I see of you." Said her soft pink lips; giving me a glimpse of her pearly whites as she formed her words.

Her long, creamy legs were bare, hardly covered by my long shirt. I wondered in the back of my mind what she was wearing beneath it. Oh, but I couldn't get too excited.

"When do you turn 18, Autumn?" I asked bluntly. She quickly replied that she would be having a birthday in November, almost two months away. I ran it over in my mind and it sounded okay. I mean, it's only a couple months, and she is taking a big hit for me here, if she told the truth I'd go to jail and the club would be in the heat too, not to mention Alvarez.

When her lip ceased bleeding, she pulled the bloody rag away from her face. Her lips were always full and voluptuous, but now she had a large bump.

"It hurts," she said when I attempted to run my finger over it to gauge the severity.

Autumn:

Jax placed a finger on my lip, I parted them slowly. I couldn't believe the shit hit the fan already. Today had been the shittiest day, I sighed and leaned into Jax again.

"I'm sorry," I said, pulling away. He wrapped his arms around me and held me. When he finally did let go, I looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes and just about melted when he smiled.

"I don't know about you, but I think all this has earned me a beer." He said smoothly dragging his finger down my spine and then walked back toward the kitchen. He offered me a beer, I declined and accepted a glass of Moscato instead.

The wine had subtle flavors of citrus and crisp apple, I noticed as I sipped it daintily. I followed Jax back to the bedroom. He was on the bed, lying on his stomach rolling another joint. The smell permeated the air, and my nostrils. It was sweet and earthy.

"Another? I'm still high from the first one!" I announced, chuckling. He just smiled. Secretly, I hoped he would kiss me with those perfectly succulent lips. Taking another sip of the wine, I sat carefully on the bed with him.

"Let's get stoned and watch a movie. I promise you'll enjoy." He said with a wink. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach.

After a few moments of licking and twisting, we had another joint ready to smoke. He held it up between his thumb and index finger, "You ready for this?" he asked, and then lit the end.

When he passed it to me, I heartily accepted. Toking modestly, I began to feel the THC reach my brain, overcoming my senses and making them more acute. My muscles relaxed again. I had been tense since my father showed up.

"That's my girl, relax." he told me, rubbing his hand on my lower thigh and knee. I was nervous with him touching me, his hot, calloused skin of his palm massaging my leg while I sat on the bed wearing only his shirt.

I leaned against the pillows, waiting to exhale the thick smoke, my hands laced behind my head. I coughed, expelling the grey smoke from my lungs. My eyes watered and I thought I would cry. Jax stared at me with his beautiful blue eyes. I took another sip of the bittersweet liquid from my glass and smiled widely back at him.

"You're pretty fucking cute, ya know; and if you weren't so young, you'd be a lot closer to me right now." he said with a wink.

"So how old are you, Jax?" I asked curiously, but was shocked by his answer.

"I'm almost twenty-nine, sweet heart." He admitted, brushing a piece of blonde hair behind his ear.

"Wow." I said, for lack of something better to say. I couldn't break my smile. He definitely did not look almost thirty years old. He was almost wrinkle free and had very minimal signs of aging. Finding out he was a bit older than I had presumed did not deter my newfound feelings, but rather the news awoke my inner rebel and I found myself more attracted to him.

"See, you are too young. You can't even fathom being with a guy my age." He picked, playfully.

"That's not true," I snickered, turning over to lay on my belly, intentionally giving him a clear view of my black, lace, boyshort clad bottom. He remained exactly where he was, but I watched his eyes as they carefully scanned my body from head to toe, lingering at my recently exposed skin. "I can fathom." I said teasingly.

Jax:

I stayed seated at the foot of the bed, but I let my eyes inspect her sweet body. The edge of her ass peaked from beneath her lacy panties. She was only mere inches away from me on the bed, and it took my entire concentration not to work my finger between her and that lace.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a trainwreck, and can't stop looking no matter how grotesque." She taunted, kicking her feet back in forth in the air.

"Grotesque doesn't describe what I'm thinkin, babe." I said vaguely, enjoying the view of her perfect ass. I passed her the joint, burning in my hand. She accepted and hit it like a champ. I had to be stupid to get involved with a teenager, I knew in my head it would never really work, but this girl was something else.

"You gonna tell me what you're thinking?" she inquired before taking another hit.

I laughed, there was no way I could divulge to this seventeen year old hottie, how much I wanted her; but somehow I thought she knew more than she was letting on. I puffed on the joint and put it out in the ashtray beside the bed.

"I think I must be crazy, to be letting you under my skin like this." I admitted truthfully, as I stretched out on the bed next to her and reached for the remote. She watched my every move, nervous and excited at the same time.

I clicked on the television, and began navigating my way to the guide.

"OOH! Let's watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." She suggested eagerly. I turned my head.

"You mean to tell me you want to watch a scary movie?" I asked. It was cool, I knew the game. She just wanted an excuse to bury her face in my arm and avoid seeing the scary stuff.

"Yes. I love scary movies." She said, propping her head on her hands. I shrugged and selected the movie from the list. She resituated and pulled back the covers to get under. I stayed on top of the bedspread, keeping something between us.

I sat next to her, arms crossed, eyes straight ahead; but I could feel her, sense her presence beside me. I tried to relax. It shouldn't be so hard. I said to myself.

"You look tense, something wrong?" she inquired, genuinely.

"No, sweetheart. Everything's fine." I promised. But I knew there was a reason I had a sick feeling in my gut.