Evie remained awake, staring at her bedroom ceiling that was faintly lit by the moonlight streaming through the open blinds.
Jax was naked and asleep next to her, laying on his stomach, his muscular arms wound around the pillow underneath his head.
He gave her what she asked for. He gave her the truth and nothing but the truth.
Evie was happy that she knew everything. Hell, she was thrilled.
But, his latest confessions caused her worry to get shifted into overdrive.
Overdrive may not even be a strong enough word to describe her drastically increasing level of concern.
Not only is he selling guns again, but he's transporting cocaine for a god damn Mexican Cartel!
How is he so calm about it all? Does he really think everything will run pefectly without no harsh bumps in the road she decided to go down with him?
Or was he just as scared as she was, and is going through these insane motions because that's what he always does?
Is there really no other way to finance his exit?
Evie turned her head, her fatigued brown eyes finding her alarm clock on her medium sized night stand.
5:43 am.
She sighed in frustration, wishing her screaming thoughts would shut the hell up already and let her get some rest.
She knew of one trick that always worked, though she only used it when it was an emergency.
What was it, you wonder?
One word.
Alcohol.
Evie carefully sat up in bed, pulling back the blankets covering her own naked body. She turned around, making sure she didn't disturb the man she was falling way too quickly for.
She rose to her feet, walking to the back of her door, grabbing her signature off white robe,wrapping it around her bare body, tying the sash tightly around her waist.
Once she was out in the middle of the hallway, she closed her bedroom door.
Her perfectly manicured feet quietly shuffled across the hallway, peaking her head inside of her son's room, finding both Abel and Andre still asleep.
She smiled, closing Andre's bedroom door.
Evie's legs quickly brought her to the pitch black kitchen. She switched on the light on the wall to her right, opening the cabinet above the stove, grabbing the unopened bottle of Jack Daniels.
She made her way into the living room, plopping herself down onto the brown colored couch, opening the bottle of J.D., filling the medium sized glass halfway from the top.
Evie tossed back the glass of liquor, wincing because of its undeniable strength.
"I took you as a wine kind of girl."
Evie quickly swallowed, turning her head to find Jax in his boxers and his short blonde hair in a hundred different directions.
"I am, but every now and then, I tend to turn to the hard stuff to put the mind on mute."
He nodded, taking a seat next to her.
"You still thinking about what I told you?"
"Yeah," she replied, reaching for the bottle of J.D to supply herself with a refill.
" Are you thinking about turning me in? I'll understand if you are."
"Believe it or not, but turning you in is the furthest thought from my mind which is ironic considering who my brother is."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. This will sound annoyingly repetitive, but I'm worried about what could happen to you or to the people you care about if shit goes sideways."
"I already told you, I'll be fine, babe. Hell, I'll be more than fine. I have contingencies in place so nothing happens to me, or to anyone I care about," he pushed a unruly curl out of Evie's face, giving her a kiss on her temple.
"Come on, let's go back to bed. We could do a little something that can make the both of us fall back to sleep."
"Are you sure you're up for it at this hour," she asked, looking down at his boxers, seeing his erection grow with her own eyes.
"I was up for it before I even suggested it. You don't have to turn to alcohol to help you sleep anymore, darlin'. Just roll over and let me have you."
Evie opened her eyes, the sun shining brightly through her bedroom's blinds and curtains.
She welcomed the morning in with a smile and stretching of her body's muscles, her arms reaching out for Jax, feeling nothing but the mattress.
She sat up, looking around his side of the bed for any notes informing her of his whereabouts.
Nothing.
Curious as to what time it is, Evie glanced over at her alarm clock.
11:32 am.
Shit!
She was supposed to be at work over three hours ago.
This is just great. She is only on her second day of her new job, and she was late.
She jumped out of her bed, racing around her room to get ready for the day.
With a pair of black heels in one hand and her purse in the other, Evie came storming out of her room, recieving confused looks from Jax, Andre, and Abel, who were eating at the kitchen table.
"Morning mommy. Where are you going?," Andre asked, standing on the tops of his toes, putting his now empty cereal bowl in the sink.
"Morning, baby. Mommy is going to work. God, I'm so late.. Jax, why didn't you wake me?"
Jax stood up from the chair, giving Evie a reassuring kiss.
"Evie, you needed the rest. I called your job, said you came down with an awful stomach virus. They said it's okay, and they hope you feel better. I figured we could all do something together since I got you the day off . Our boys were thinking about going to the zoo."
"Yeah?", she asked, getting enthusiastic nods from both Abel and Andre.
"Okay, I'll go get changed. I'll be ready in a few minutes. But, before we go to the zoo, I have to stop at the station. Eli called me while I was in a temporary coma."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sure everything's fine. He probably wants to yell at me some more."
Evie entered the station with her head held high, preparing herself for her brother to go off once again.
She approached the first officer in her midst which was a female cop with blonde hair with the name Eggley displayed on the right side of her chest.
" Hi, I'm here to see my brother, Eli. He's the sheriff."
" I never knew Sheriff Roosevelt had a sister. Hi, I'm officer Eggley, but you can call me Candy," she greeted, stretching out her hand to shake Evie's.
"Nice to meet you Candy, I'm Evie."
Eggley lead Evie to Eli's office, knocking on the closed door.
Eli opened the door, seeing his younger sister stand with one of his officers.
"Sheriff, your sister is here to see you."
"Thanks Eggley."
Eli allowed Evie inside his office, motioning for her to sit down in the chair across from his own that sat behind a large wooden desk.
"Please have a seat, Evie."
"No thanks. I can't stay long. I'm taking Andre to the zoo today. May I ask why you called me here? Did you want to apologize for how you acted the other day?"
Eli scoffed, causing Evie to shake her head.
"Absolutely not. I continue to stand by what I know. You and Dre need to stay away from Jax and that god damn club. Nothing good comes from being around those men."
"Men who you continue to judge without actually knowing them."
"Jesus Christ.. you fucked him, didn't you?"
"What? Even if I did, I don't see how that is any of your business."
"Evie, when you sleep with someone, it blinds all the senses. You're so focused on the good in this man, you refuse to see he has more bad than good. He's dangerous. The people he's associated with is dangerous. You're my sister and I love you. I can't fathom the thought of something happening to you and Andre because you want to go against my consistent warnings."
"Eli, I do appreciate your concern, but I'm a grown woman. I'm going to see who I want, whenever I want. He's good to me and to my son. Do you know how long it's been since my son and I have been treated with actual respect?"
"You say that now because whatever this is between the two of you is new. Mark my words, if you stay with him, you'll get hurt. No good can ever come from being with an outlaw."
Eli pulled up in the Teller-Morrow parking lot with two fire trucks behind him.
He got out of his cruiser and removed his sunglasses, approaching Clay with a faint smile.
"What can I do for you, sheriff?"
"We got a call, reporting a disturbance across the street. In the process of responding to the call, I smelled smoke. I decided to call the fire department, and have them check it out."
"Is that so," Chibs asked, seeing right through his bullshit.
"It smells like it's coming from the clubhouse. "
The firemen followed him into the clubhouse. He began touching the wall holding the club's mugshots.
"Yeah, it definitely feels warm right here. Can I see that for a minute," he asked, taking the axe out of the fireman's hand, thrusting it into the wall, knocking the pictures to the floor, the glass from the frames crashing at his feet.
"You piece of shit," Chibs spat, ready to fight the raging cop.
Eli handed the axe back to the fireman, closing the distance between him and Clay.
"Tell your step son to stay the fuck away from my sister."