Chapter 9: The Afterparty
"Stop fucking laughing at me" Jax yelled at Opie when they walked back into the clubhouse the next morning.
Opie tried to mumble words through inane laughter. "That chick almost bit your dick off!"
"Op, honestly, I have six stitches in my cock right now, and I don't wanna be laughed at." Jax sat down on one of the couches and winced harshly as he lit a cigarette. "Today's gonna suck." He had sat down much too fast.
"Well well well" Clay walked into the room, "If it isn't the ginger giant and cockmunch." He addressed Opie and Jax. "Are you two out of your fucking minds?" he asked as he knocked over a barstool in anger.
"Jesus Christ" Jax said loudly "My head"
"Your head hurts, does it?" Clay smacked him over the back of the head. "I should beat the shit out of you" the SAMCRO President scowled angrily. "Do you realize how badly that could have gone?" He asked sarcastically.
Jax took a drag off of his cigarette, "it was a party, we have party's here all the time."
"NOT with a bunch of high schoolers, we don't. If the cops had found out we had a bunch of underage teens drinking and smoking in here, they'd be able to search the entire fucking clubhouse without a warrant. Do you know why that would be bad?"
Jax had just realized how big of a mistake he'd made. Clay spoke before Jax could muster an excuse.
"We literally have an entire shipment of AK's in the basement, if they'd found those, we'd be buried in so much shit we wouldn't know which way was up."
Otto, Tig, and Tom Whitney walked into the clubhouse at this moment, Otto holding a large California road map. Delany was marking parts of the map with a sharpie. Clay nodded to them as he continued to scold Jax and Opie.
"There are only two people in the club that can authorize a party here. The President and the VP. I didn't sign off on anything." Clay turned around "OTTO"
Otto almost dropped the beer bottle at the sound of Clay's booming voice. "What's up?"
"You sign off on a party last night?"
"Ugh" he sipped from the beer. "No"
"Well then" Clay laughed "I guess this was an illicit party." He picked up the barstool that he had knocked over and sat down onto it. "You" He pointed to Jax, and more specifically, his pants. "You've suffered enough I think." He turned to Opie as Chibs and Tig laughed at Jax. "But you… Op, you are literally a week away from being patched. Your lucky I don't make you wait another month."
Opie looked on with desperation. "Please, Clay I'll do anything."
"Your gonna clean this place from top to bottom. When I get back for the meet with the Niners this place is gonna be spotless." He turned to Jax "You, go to school, that's your punishment."
The ride to school was uncomfortable, the bumps in the road very unsettling to Jax. He moaned in pain as he rode into the lot. The young SAMCRO prince had forgone his cut today, not feeling up to the challenge of representing the club today, not after what happened last night. He was clad in a black button up shirt, with gray strips running down the material. The same white sneakers he always wore were matched with a pair of blue stonewashed jeans. The front of his shirt was tucked into his pants, where a SAMCRO belt buckle could be seen, gleaming in the sunlight of the early Californian morning.
He could see people pointing at him, some of them laughing, and when he looked in their direction, they moved their gaze. They were too afraid of him to laugh in his face, if he'd been anyone else, everyone would be torturing him relentlessly. But he was SAMCRO's golden boy, and no one dared mess with him.
He parked and dismounted his bike, ignoring stares as he tossed his cigarette and took off his sunglasses. Jax strutted towards the school, almost being hit by a bus crossing the lot. He opened the doors and shuffled in, making his way to his locker. "Where's Op when you need him" he whispered as he fumbled with the lock. He was pulling off the button up shirt and leaving himself with only a gray shirt that said SONS on the chest when Tara leaned against the locker next to him.
"Hey Jax" She smiled at him, wiping a strand of hair off of her forehead. She was wearing a tight pair of jeans, in stark contrast to his baggy ones, and running shoes. To cover her chest and stomach she wore a tight fitting black tee shirt, with glittering embroidery on it. "What's up?"
"Tara" He said softly. Fuck he said to himself, unsure of what to say to this girl, an abnormality with him. He grabbed his backpack from his locker."Not much" He said, "Have to get to homeroom." He started walking down the hall.
She followed. "So um," Tara's sneakers squeaked off of the floor. "Do you wanna do something tonight?"
Why is she following me? He asked himself. "No, I'm busy."
"Oh" She said Duh Tara She told herself It's Wednesday, who wants to do anything in the middle of the week? "So what about Friday? We could get a burger or something."
"What?" Jax stopped in the middle of the hallway.
Tara blushed intensely as he turned to face her. She almost knocked herself right into his chest. "Or we could do something else, whatever you want."
"No thanks" He turned and began walking again.
"No thanks?" She said, following him again. "What do you mean no thanks?"
Jax stopped again. He was sick of the entire week, he was tired of this situation. He had stitches in his most private area and was in deep shit with Clay. "You just don't get it do you?" He snapped at a bewildered Tara. "No thanks means no I don't want to do anything with you but thanks anyway."
"But I thought, I thought that…"
"What?" An agitated Jax asked "You thought what? That we would be going out every night for a movie and some popcorn. It was just a date" He said as Tara's mouth flew open. He silenced her by resuming his scowl. "I'm not your boyfriend, I'm not even your friend." Jax pulled his backpack onto his shoulders "Stay away from me."
Tara watched in shock as Jax walked away, disappearing into the room on the left. She looked behind her and saw Katie and Alex walking through the halls. Tara felt a stream of a tear run down her cheek as Katie pulled her aside.
"I'm sorry Tara" her friend said "That looked rough, are you okay?"
"Yeah" She said hesitantly "Yeah I guess."
Alex scowled "Don't worry about him Tara, he's a little tough on the girls. You want me to rough him up for you?"
"No, no I just want to be left alone right now" she said as Katie moved down the hall and Alex went into Jax's homeroom. She strutted over to his desk, and leaned into his ear.
"Call me when that thing heals huh?"
She pushed a small piece of paper into his hand and walked out of the room, giving Tara a small grin as she followed Kate down the hall.
Opie was just finishing scrubbing all of the dried vomit off of the clubhouse bar. He winced at the smell and almost vomited himself.
"Put your back into it prospect" Chibs grinned as he walked past Opie. "Get out those stains boy"
"Thanks boss" Opie said grimly as he pushed the toothbrush into the rough corners of the bar. Jax walked into the bar as Opie threw more soap onto the wood. "You did pretty good here Op" Jax said, "Just gotta get that corner then your done."
"You could help" Opie said "Since it was your party that caused the mess."
"My party" Jax lit a cigarette "The fuck do you mean 'my party'. I think you mean 'our party'"
"Our party" Opie scoffed as he stood up. "Yeah sure, it was 'our' party that I'm cleaning up. It's 'our' party that got me on Clay's shitlist" Opie threw down the toothbrush "It's 'our' party that I'm paying for, with my patch!"
Jax was taken aback by his friend's volatile attitude. "Look man, it wasn't my fault. I didn't know Tig was gonna wake up."
"You soaked his hand in warm water you asshole."
Jax smirked and laughed slightly. "You have to admit that was funny."
"Shut up" Opie said "You think you can just get away with shit like that. We'll you've got your patch already alright, I don't. I'm paying for this, I'm moving away, I'm getting everything, all the shit."
Jax stomped out his smoke. "You know, when I offered to have a party last night, you didn't say anything against it. This is as much on you as it is me."
"No, it's on you entirely. It was your fault, not mine. And of course you're the golden boy, so Clay isn't doing shit about it."
"I have a large gash on my penis alright. I have plenty of shit on my plate."
"Good" Opie said. "Maybe you'll learn to keep it in your pants then, it might make everyone's life a bit easier." He yelled angrily.
"I have to see the guys at the clubhouse." Clay pulled the left boot onto his foot. "I'll be back around later tonight." He patted Gemma on the thigh.
"What about Jax?" She asked, putting her bra back on and sitting up.
"I'm gonna keep him at the clubhouse till late with Chibs, Tig and Op, for a little discipline after the stunt they pulled."
"So" Gemma said "You're going to skip out on their discipline to dish some out for me." She whispered into his ear.
He laughed and stood up. "Be sure to wait up babe" Clay kissed her on the cheek and started to walk out.
"Clay?" she asked from the bed.
"Yeah" he turned back around
"I wanna get married." She said, "Soon."
Clay groaned at the prospect of taking on this subject. "I told you, a few months."
"No" She grabbed his cheek and planted a kiss on his lips. "Soon."
That was all Gemma needed to say.
"Okay" Clay said, "I'll tell Jax on Saturday. It's gonna be tough to bring him around. But I'll do it" He smiled at her. "Anything for you babe."
The rest of the guys strolled into the clubhouse as Opie and Jax glared at each other. Their gazes met and sparks flew until Chibs patted Jax on the shoulder.
"Church" the scot said as he pulled Jax away into the other room.
They grabbed their beers and walked into the other room. Clay joined them soon after, pulling into the Teller-Morrow lot ten minutes to eight. The President walked into the room as the others were pushing themselves into their chairs. Clay shut the door and separated the tense air between Jax and Opie.
"So" Clay took the gavel and slammed it down "Church is in session." He nodded at everyone as they lit their cigarettes or took swigs from their drinks. "We've got a few things on the table tonight." He pushed a large cigar in between his lips and lit the tip. "First, we need to discuss our latest business venture, which has been on hold for a few weeks now. The Niners need their AKs, and I need some delivery men. I want Tom and Otto on that truck to Oakland."
Both men nodded at their new assignments as Clay resumed his speech. "Now we also have a bigger problem, the ATF has landed in Charming and is talking to Unser as we speak. Now Unser is gonna lead them off our trail as best he can, but we ain't gonna get rid of this new problem until we get into that Lodi PD evidence locker."
"Shit" Jax said, "You actually think we're gonna get away with that?"
"Truthfully I have no idea, but Unser has a way of getting us in, on Friday, through a friend of his in Lodi."
"This friend has that kinda pull?" Bobby asked.
"Yep" Clay said "We're gonna go in dressed as janitors, then break into the locker and disassemble the gun, and have it put into several different bags. The trash goes out, and no one is ever the wiser."
"So who's on this locker job?" Tom asked Clay.
"Me, Jax, Chibs, and Tig." The President said. "it's gonna be easy, just another average precinct break in."
They all laughed at that. "Now" Clay said "One last thing" he puffed on his cigar. "Opie"
"Now?" Tig asked "Why? I thought that was gonna be next week?"
"Look" Clay said "I know the rule is one year, but right now, in this time of need, we're gonna need bodies for awhile. We're gonna patch in Op, then get some more prospects."
"Alright man" Otto said "If that's how you want to play it."
"Good" Clay said. "let's vote this. Yay" he nodded to Tig.
"Definitely" The curly headed man said, He may have fucked up last night Tig thought But he's a brother
The vote passed on to Chibs, "Oh absolutely, that boy's on my side." The scot pounded his hand on the table and chuckled loudly.
Jax. He scowled at the cigarette in his hand and crushed it in the ashtray. How did Opie dare blame that party on him alone? So what if he was moving away, Jax called for that party to give him a great sendoff, and how did Opie repay him? With a bunch of insults and accusations, Jax took a long sip of his beer.
"No"
