TRUE LOVE WAY
Chapter Eleven
Emma really didn't like watching Jax pack. Even though he was only going to be gone four, five days tops, it might as well be a month. As he threw some random clothes into a bag, she sat on his bed with Abel nestled safely into the blankets next to her. When he gurgled and spit his nook out onto his stomach, she gladly looked away from Jax and focused her attention on the baby at her side. At least Abel wasn't leaving her too—she wasn't sure she'd be able to handle being abandoned by both of them. Blowing out a deep breath, she squeezed Abel's tiny little fist, trying to get a hold of herself. She knew she was being overly dramatic here; Jax was coming back. It was just a routine protection run. That was it. Then he was going to come back and everything would go back to the way it was before.
Of course, the fact that she still wasn't entirely sure what all went on during those protection runs wasn't making this any easier to swallow.
The truth was—she was going to miss him like crazy. They'd spent every night together since Abel came home from the hospital and the sudden prospect of sleeping alone seemed scary and foreign. And the knowledge that they'd yet to really sit down and talk about the parameters of their relationship was starting to feel like borderline suffocation. Ever since Jax had broken the news that he would be leaving, that was all she could think about. She had a million questions just brimming at the tip of her tongue but couldn't find the courage to push any of them out: were they going to be staying with another club? Would he even bother to call to let her know he was alright? Was he going to be hooking up with some random croweater? Did he think he could? The problem was she also didn't think it was necessarily appropriate for her to tell him not to.
Whatever this was—it was still new and neither of them had any grounds to be laying down any sort of demands or expectations. But this was going to eat away at her the entire time he was gone. She knew she'd be lucky if she was able to focus on anything else for more than a minute at a time.
"Hey, Em?" Jax's soft voice came floating from across the room.
When she brought her eyes up to meet his, she found him standing next to his dresser, balled up boxers in his hands, and watching her intently, almost worriedly. Shit…the last thing she wanted to do was worry him just as he was about to leave.
"Yeah?" She attempted a smile but felt it fall lamely on her lips.
That only made the crease in his forehead deepen. "Everything alright, babe?"
She quickly flitted her eyes back to Abel and grasped hold of his little fingers again so she didn't have to make eye contact with Jax. "Everything's fine, Jax."
He blew out an unsteady breath and tossed the clothes in his hand next to the bag, settling himself down on the bed next to her. He reached down to run a hand over Abel's smooth little patch of blonde hair and then groped for Emma's hands, bringing them up to his mouth to place several gentle kisses.
"Listen, babe," he glanced back up at her as he spoke. "I don't want you to be worried or anything…it's not like I haven't done this before. It's just normal shit—nothing new, nothing dangerous. I'll be fine…I promise, Em."
She bit her lip and mentally kicked herself for being all stressed out about whether or not he would taking some skank into his hotel room—she hadn't even really thought about whether or not he'd be in any real danger, which only made her feel even worse. In fact, she felt like a huge bitch. So instead of wallowing in self-pity—that could wait until later—she decided to suck it up and deal with it.
"I know, I know," she replied quickly, trying to ignore the way his eyebrows flew into his forehead at her hasty answer. "I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to do here."
That was probably a good an answer as any.
"You don't have to do anything, Em," he reasoned, his blue eyes radiating back at her. "You know you can stay here the whole time—"
"Jax—"
"Hey," he held out a hand to stop her. "I mean it. Just because I won't be here doesn't mean you can't. And please don't feel like you're completely responsible for Abel either—my mom and Neeta are fully capable of taking care of him. You've gotta be at work and help your Mom and you don't have to worry about all my shit too."
"I know, Jax," she was smiling now despite the deep pit unfurling in her stomach. "Don't worry about me—just take care of yourself, okay?"
"I will, babe…hey, I'm sorry I won't be here when she comes home today—give her a hug for me or somethin', alright?"
"Sure," she nodded with a small smile. "My mom's gonna be so looped up on pain-killers I don't think she'll even realize she's not at the hospital anymore let alone who's there or not there."
"Yeah, you're probably right about that," he grinned, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
A few minutes later, he was all packed up and ready to head to the clubhouse. He lingered in the living room for a couple moments, like he was taking a mental picture of the entire place, and his eyes softened when he saw her come out of Abel's nursery with his son nestled safely in her arms. There was something about the way he looked at her whenever she was holding Abel that she just couldn't quite place. It stirred something in her and she felt it again every time she looked at Abel, with him reaching his tiny fist up to her. Suddenly, her agitation and hesitation over laying 'ground rules' seemed trivial. She was practically living with him—hell, he'd even given her a key so she could come and go easier while he was gone- and even though he'd said she could ask Gemma and Neeta for help, they both knew that he was really leaving his son in her care and that meant more to her than anything he could have possibly given her. It also gave her the courage to finally speak up.
And now, she was hit with the realization that he was really going to be gone. The thought of separation, even a short one, seemed to rip her heart in two—in a way, it felt like he was taking half of it with him and that she wouldn't completely be whole until he returned. And that scared the shit out of her.
Still, as if they had a will of their own, her feet were carrying out of the front door of his house and followed Jax out to the driveway as he readied his bike to leave. Abel was still bundled in her arms, looking curiously between them like he could understand everything that was said—and everything that wasn't. Jax was securing his bag into the storage compartment on his bike when he glanced up at her approaching form. His smile widened until it reached his eyes and he immediately, hastily, finished what he was doing so he could hop around his bike to meet her.
"I gotta get goin' now, Em," he said gently as his hand closed around her cheek. "I'll call you whenever I get a chance, alright? For sure when we get to Tacoma."
The name clicked in her brain and it was clear now that he would be staying with the charter in Tacoma, at least for part of the run—which meant there'd be ready and willing skanks falling all over themselves to get into his bed.
The words that tumbled out of her mouth next were completely out of her control.
"Could you do me a favor, Jax?" She didn't even wait for him to respond. "Do you think you could maybe…not sleep with anyone while you're gone? I'd really appreciate that…"
She forced herself not to shut her eyes in horror at what she'd just thoughtlessly let slip. There was no taking it back now. She'd gone and stuck her fucking foot in her mouth and now she was at the mercy of Jax's understanding. What the hell had she just done? At this point, she was just training her eyes on anything and everything that wasn't the blonde biker standing in front of her. Nevermind the fact that she was still holding his infant son in her arms or that he'd just told her he would call her whenever he got a chance. Why couldn't that have just been enough for her? Hell, his words had barely even registered before her own word vomit spewed all over the pavement.
When her eyes dared to meet his, with a wincing glance, the soft smirk that crossed his lips wiped everything she'd just been figuratively wringing her hands about. For a fleeting moment, she couldn't think, couldn't really breathe—it was a miracle she still had Abel in a firm grasp. Then Jax chuckled lightly and tugged a hand through his tangled hair.
"Well," he started finally. "I think I should be able to manage that…as long as you're waitin' for me when I get home, Em."
It wasn't really a request, at least not like her ill-timed outburst, but she read the promise in his ocean-blue eyes and she knew what he needed from her. Hopefully, he understood what she needed from him without her needing to elaborate on her lame attempt at setting things straight between them. Well, at least it better than nothing—even if there was still a lot more ground to cover.
She couldn't contain the wide grin that crossed her face and her feet were moving forward now to close the small distance between them. When she pressed her lips into his, her grin was still lingering on her face.
"I think I can handle that," she murmured back to him.
His lips twisted into that sexy lop-sided grin that was quickly serving to only drive her crazy. "Sounds good, babe."
Then he leaned down to kiss Abel gently on the top of the head and ruffled the little boy's hair. "See you later, buddy. You be good for Em and Grandma, okay?"
Abel just gurgled in response.
Jax blew out a deep breath and pulled Emma to him one last time before kissing her hair. She breathed him in—reveling in the mix of leather, grease, and musk—needing to commit all those scents to memory. It was going to be crucial to her sleeping at night.
Then Jax swung his leg over the side of his bike and revved the engine. As he backed it out of the driveway, he nodded to her with a small, albeit reassuring, smile and waved to them both before heading down the street towards the clubhouse.
Jax pulled into TM's parking lot feeling like he was going to be sick. He swallowed hard and tried to shake himself out of whatever the hell was happening to him. He'd felt queasy when he'd woken up that morning and had held Emma a little bit closer to him in subconscious response but the pit in his stomach had just sunk deeper and deeper as the morning wore on. Leaving her, and Abel, had felt like someone had reached inside his chest, twisted around his insides, and then pulled them out through his throat. Was that why his throat felt so scratchy right now? What the hell was wrong with him?
He squeezed his eyes shut as he hopped off his bike, hoping that would be enough to recharge himself, but it didn't do much good. He felt guilty for leaving. And he felt like a fucking asshole for not sitting Emma down ahead of time and telling her he had no intention of taking anyone to his bed except her. Sure, she'd caught him off guard and her timing wasn't the greatest but then again, he hadn't stepped up to the plate either. They had never really taken a moment to clear the air about whatever they were—not that he was big on talking about his feelings—but in this instance, the situation absolutely called for it and he'd dropped the ball. A little communication would've gone a long way and he was kicking himself for letting her wonder, potentially even stress, about what he would be doing during his down time on this run.
He was an asshole. And now he felt like he was going to be sick. What the fuck had happened to him?
Another deep breath wasn't enough to prepare him for what was waiting for him inside the clubhouse: his mother. On any other day, he was usually well-equipped to at least deflect her bullshit. But today, he wasn't exactly up to the task—preoccupation was a bitch sometimes.
Gemma was perched stoically by the bar with her arms crossed over her chest. At this point, he'd rather walk through hell naked than talk to her but experience told him she wasn't about to let him off the hook. Of course, it didn't matter that he had no idea what he'd done this time. It never really mattered.
"Hey, baby," she started easily, which only made his eyes narrow in suspicion. Whatever she was about to say—he knew he wasn't going to like it.
"Hey, Ma," he replied quietly as he stepped forward to kiss her on the cheek. "Here to see us off?"
"Of course, Jax," Gemma blinked back at him, looking a little surprised but that didn't fool him.
Of course she was here to see them off—that and then some.
"So…" Might as well get it over with; the sooner she said whatever she needed to say the sooner he could get on the road.
Her smug smirk told him that she was gearing up to spill whatever she'd been holding onto. The fact that her smirk quickly sunk into a sneer was not lost on him.
"I think we need to talk, Jax."
"Right."
She pushed out an agitated breath and hooked a fist on her hip. "About you goin' on this run and about Emma."
Shit. He should've known this was coming but did she have to fucking stick her nose in his business right now? As if he didn't already feel like shit already…
"Alright, Ma," he exhaled. "What do you want to talk about?"
She didn't even wait a beat. "Are you planning on keepin' it in your pants while you're gone?"
Jax squeezed his eyes shut and huffed loudly as he tugged a hand through his still wind-blown hair. "Jesus Christ, Mom…"
"It's a fair question and one you need to answer."
Of all the fucking things…he didn't need this shit today.
"I don't think I need to answer to you though." And he knew he was right. He was getting real tired of his mom butting into his personal life—sure, she was his mother and had certain rights but she, by no means, deserved any sort of control over his dick. Just even thinking that felt completely twisted.
"Let me guess," Gemma jutted out her hip as she spoke and he knew he was about to be on the receiving end of more bullshit. "You don't think any of this matters because you and Emma 'don't know what this is' or some shit like that—"
"Mom, that isn't really any of your business—just so you know." He cut in curtly, just wanting this tired conversation to be over already.
Her eyebrows rose and her eyes coiled to strike. "Fine. But just answer me this one question: is she your old lady or not?"
Fuck.
"Mom…"
"I take that as a no then," Gemma interrupted with a wave of her hand before he even had a chance to defend himself and turned her sharpened index finger directly into his chest. "What the hell are you thinkin', Jackson? Did I or did I not tell you before all this shit started that you needed to figure out what you wanted before doing anything stupid? And you went ahead and shoved your head up your ass anyways."
"It's complicated, Mom," he threw his hands up in the air in an act of desperation.
"So uncomplicate it," she stated simply. Only the problem was it just wasn't that simple.
"Emma has basically been living with you since Abel came home from the hospital," she went on anyways. "And for all intents and purposes has not only been your old lady in practice but Abel's de facto mother too. You need to think long and hard about that Jackson—you can only stay in limbo with her like this before so long…before the other shoe drops and something happens."
He almost said, 'like what', but immediately thought better of it. He didn't really want or need to know what those possibilities could be.
"And you know something else?" Jesus Christ, there really was no stopping her now. "I'm fuckin' pissed that you've let it go this far without figuring this shit out, Jax. You know—I'm pissed and I'm fuckin' disappointed too. You know better than this and you know what else?"
He brought his blazing eyes up to his mother's and was just sick of all this shit. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. "What?"
Gemma sighed, quickly registering the hostility in his voice and brought a hand to his cheek. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm not trying to cause problems…really, I'm not…I just want to see you happy and settled and I think you and Emma are great together. The way you look at her—the way you are with her and with Abel—it just makes me so proud, baby. But then you follow that up by being so god-damned stupid…"
He blew out a deep breath and even though, on some level, he knew she was right, he didn't have the capacity to deal with it today. This was the first time he'd ever seriously resented his duties for the club and this was also the first time he had to leave his son and his…well, Emma. His mother shoving his guilt in his face wasn't helping anything and she always thought she was just helping. If he had a fucking quarter for everytime she'd weaseled her way into his business, he'd probably have enough money to pay for the rest of Abel's hospital bills and the mortgage on his house to boot. He just didn't want to hear how inept and insensitive he was—he fucking knew all that shit already.
"Look, Mom," he started, not wanting to egg her on even further. "I get where you're coming from—I do, alright? But you gotta lay off…I'm gettin' ready to leave and I got a lot of shit on my mind right now. I don't really appreciate the ambushing and, again, not like this any of your business, but we talked before I left this morning and I promised her I wouldn't do anything stupid."
Gemma hitched up an eyebrow at that. "You plan on keepin' that promise?"
"Yes, I do."
His mother gave him a look with her ever-inquisitive, assessing black-lined eyes and then nodded slowly. Jax wasn't sure whether or not to take this as a good sign—with Gemma, you never really could tell. But when she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek, he had to believe he was finally off the hook.
"Alright, Jax," she muttered. "Maybe having this time away from her will be good for you—give you some time to untwist your head a little. But just remember that you need to do that before Abel is old enough to start callin' Emma mommy."
That was a low blow but there really wasn't much he could say in response. His mother, like usual, was right about that. He did need to pull his head out of his ass and figure this out—preferably sooner rather and later. Maybe there was a silver lining in having to leave after all; maybe he did need this time away from everything to sort through all the emotions he hadn't yet allowed himself to register.
"Anyways," Gemma continued. "Don't worry about anything here at home, okay? Abel will be fine and I've been wanting some real Grandma time with him anyway."
"Well," he scratched the back of his head as he spoke, not exactly knowing how to go about this. "Emma's gonna be takin' care of him for most of the time but I told her to call you when she needed a break…you know, maybe you could take him for a night or two but don't bombard her either, alright? Maybe just…I don't know, let her do her thing with him, okay?"
He immediately fought back a wince, fully anticipating another verbal whipping for denying her 'Grandma time' but when her mouth turned upward in a wry smile, he almost didn't believe what he was seeing.
"Where is she gonna be staying by the way?"
He just shrugged. "I gave her a key—she knows she can be there whenever she wants. I don't want her to have to be away from Abel if she doesn't wanna be—I don't know, Mom, but she's just got this way him…I have no idea how to get him down at night and she just comes in, sings a little, tucks him in, grabs his fingers, and then, just like that, he's out. But I know she's got a lot of shit goin' on right now too with her mom and everything at CaraCara so I told her to call you or Neeta whenever she needed some help."
The wry smile twisted into the sly, knowing one that he'd been familiar with all his life.
"Alright," Gemma shrugged easily. "I guess you really do plan on keepin' that promise, don't you?"
Her entire response completely threw him. It just wasn't like her to be so forthcoming and easily swayed like this. "Wait—what? You're not gonna fight me on that?"
She just shrugged again. "No, I think you and Emma had every right to work that out between the two of you. I'll help her out however she needs me to—besides, you know I love seein' my little boy anyway I can."
"Huh…well, alright."
"Just be safe, okay?" She put her hand on his cheek again and smiled up at him.
"Always, Ma."
He walked away from his mother shaking his head. Women were just so god damn confusing.
Emma blew out a shaky breath as she watched her mother struggle to situate herself on the couch. She'd literally only been lying there for less than five minutes and she was already fidgeting like a five year old with a toothache. When Emma bent down to scoop up one of the pillows that had fallen to the carpet in the flurry of Luann's 'rearranging', her mom just swatted her hand away like she'd just gotten caught in the cookie jar.
"What?" Emma asked incredulously, having absolutely no idea what she'd done wrong.
"I can do it, sweetie," Luann chided softly. "You can't do everything for me, Em. You've already done enough."
"Well, it's not like you're really in any position to get up and do it yourself," Gemma added lightly as she fluffed the pillow under one of Luann's broken legs. "I still, for the life of me, can't figure out why in the hell you won't let us hire you a fulltime nurse for awhile."
"I don't need a god-damn live-in nurse!" Luann cried out desperately. "No…no. That's not happening. I'm gonna be fine and sure as hell don't need some stranger livin' here with me and wiping my ass—"
"Right," Gemma smirked as she gestured between herself and Emma. "That's what you've got us for."
"Well, I agreed to the part-time one but that's fuckin' it!"
"Yeah," Emma laughed. "Because it was sooo easy to get you to agree with that."
Luann just sighed and allowed Emma to snatch the pillow from her hand so she could tuck it under her mother's head. The entire ride home from the hospital she'd known Luann had been in pain from just being in the car and she'd hoped that getting her settled into the house would ease some of her discomfort. Apparently, the medication was now doing its job. The part-time nurse wasn't due for another few hours and then was only schedule to stay for four hours to make sure Luann was taking her medicine correctly and functioning as best as possible. Unfortunately, she still had a long recovery ahead of her—the doctors had prepped them for that—but the sight of her mother engulfed in all those casts was still unsettling. For a fleeting moment, she found herself wishing that Jax had been able to there with her—all she needed was just a quick smile, a quick squeeze of his hand, even the most minimal contact and she knew she'd be able to get through this. But he wasn't here.
A moment later, when Luann was happily channel-surfing and sucking on the popsicle Gemma had ruefully handed to her like a pacifier, Emma had to believe that things were going to get better. Broken bones healed eventually, didn't they? And maybe Luann wouldn't ever be entirely back to normal, maybe there'd always be a little scar tissue but eventually, hopefully, her mother would be back on her feet, both literally and figuratively speaking.
"Hey, sweetie," Luann waved a hand just as Emma sat down on the chair across from her. "You don't have to hang out here—I know you have better things to do than babysit me. Gemma and I can take care of things here so go…get out of here…what's Dawn been up to these days? I'm sure you've got some plans with her or…wait, what about Jax?"
Emma tried to keep her eyes steadily trained on her mother and not on Jax's mother, who was surely watching her reaction like a hawk. "Um, well, Jax is out on a run right now…he should be back in four or five days. And Dawn is—"
"Wait, so where's Abel, then?" Luann asked quickly.
"He's with Neeta right now," Gemma answered for her, sending her a reassuring nod.
"Oh, okay," Luann relented quietly and then looked curiously back at Emma. "So…are you…"
"I'm taking care of Abel, yeah." She answered, probably way too quickly. She didn't exactly want to get any further into this discussion, especially with Jax's mother and Abel's grandmother in the same room. Besides, her mom had literally just come home from the hospital after being brutally beaten with a baseball bat. Did they really have to divert to gossip so quickly? Why couldn't she just rest and let the painkillers do their job?
"You know, Em," Gemma started again from her end of the couch. "Your mom's right—you don't have to sit here with us old ladies and listen to us bitch. I think we can take care of ourselves for a little while. Besides, Abel's just fine with Neeta and he'll be waitin' for you when you get back to Jax's later tonight."
Emma sighed, feeling a little strange for being unceremoniously kicked out like this. She got what they were doing and understood why her mom didn't want her to linger for too long. Luann had told her numerous times that she didn't want her to give up her life to take care of an invalid mother—not like Luann was exactly an invalid but she was pretty close right now—but if she was being completely honest with herself, she felt a little weird having been away from Abel now that Jax was gone. While she wasn't the only person around that could take care of him, there was still a part of her that felt like she needed to be spending all her time with Abel so he wouldn't feel abandoned in any way. Of course, she knew how crazy that sounded…she wasn't Abel's mother but still, she felt like if Jax couldn't be there, she most definitely had to be. And lately, it seemed like whenever she wasn't working, she just wanted to spend all her time with Abel and Jax. She'd barely seen anyone else in a few weeks and had only met Dawn for a hurried coffee twice in the last few weeks. Maybe she did need to do something that counted as being 'social' for once.
Even if she couldn't get a hold of Dawn, at the very least, she really needed to stop at her apartment for a while. She needed some more clean clothes, needed to wash the dirty ones, and hadn't checked her mail in a few days. So, with that in mind, it didn't take much more convincing to send Emma out the door and driving towards her long-neglected apartment.
It was really crazy, she thought as she pulled up to the parking lot, that as soon as her and Dawn had men in their lives, how quickly everything had changed. She honestly couldn't remember the last time they'd been at the apartment at the same time, even in passing. Dawn was always holed up with Juice somewhere, even now that their relationship was mostly out in the open. They were still being careful not to let Tig see them together too much which was for the best for everyone involved. And now that they were getting married—she still had no idea how that happened so quickly—Dawn was busy getting her new life settled. Juice had gotten them their own apartment, which really seemed like a waste since no one was ever really at theirs, but he, being the gentleman that he was, had wanted to provide for his old lady and give her their 'own place'. It was about as romantic as an outlaw biker was going to get and Dawn was very aware just how lucky she was—especially since her baby daddy was still breathing.
Every time Emma stopped at the apartment—she had to stop herself from thinking of it as the 'old' apartment—it felt strange, like she didn't really belong there and maybe she didn't. So much had changed since Abel was born…and she felt a fluttering in her stomach just thinking about it but the pang residing in her heart right now was a constant reminder of Jax's absence.
As she padded up to their mailbox, she let out a long sigh. It was practically overflowing—probably with junk mail and catalogs and a bunch of other shit she and Dawn didn't really need. She quickly flipped through the stack in her hand—bills, magazines, more bills…great—and stopped cold when a blank white envelope stared up at her. There was no return address, no writing—not even her name. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest as something clicked in her head…something about this just didn't feel right.
Immediately throwing the rest of the mail down to the ground, she tore open the envelope before she could chicken out. Her shaky fingers turned over an old photo of herself sleeping—she didn't know exactly when it had been taken but she immediately recognized the soft green sheets she'd had on her bed in her old college dorm. The photo almost slipped right out of her trembling fingers when she read the simple script on the back: "You always looked so beautiful when you sleep. I've missed this. See you soon."
Samuel. It had to be Samuel.
In a flash, she yanked open her apartment door—the mail long-forgotten behind her—and flew to the closet. She tore through the boxes she'd shoved up on the shelves when she'd first moved in until she found the one she was looking for. And even as she rifled through it for the document she needed, she already knew the answer to her question. When her shaking fingers finally closed over the restraining order she'd tucked away in the box for safe keeping, she scanned it quickly before squeezing her eyes shut in defeat.
It had been expired for almost an entire year.
She'd known this. It had been in the back of her mind somewhere but she hadn't done anything about it. But she also had had no reason to believe he was even still in California let alone still in a rage over everything that had went down. Besides, that part of her life was behind her now, a closed chapter that she'd had no intention of ever opening again.
But unfortunately, it seemed like Samuel had other plans and those painful, humiliating memories were most likely going to spill over the surface whether she liked it or not.
Agent Stahl had been waiting patiently for a full five minutes before the door finally opened. After all, she had all the time in the world to deliver this news, especially since she'd been fantasizing about how it would feel for the last week. She'd timed everything perfectly: Teller had just left on a run—not like it really mattered—and she'd just gotten confirmation that Samcro's downfall, still unbeknownst to them, was finally on the move to Charming. Everything was falling into place exactly as she'd intended and after this, there really wasn't much more for her to do other than sit back and enjoy the show.
This last order of business was going to be particularly enjoyable because there really was nothing she liked more than to crush someone's spirit, especially that of a hardened criminal like Big Otto Delaney. She'd promised she would be back and fuck, was she ever. The son of a bitch had no idea what was about to hit him.
It was difficult to keep the sly grin at bay as Big Otto eased himself down on the chair across from her. He was watching her expectantly, his hands folded calmly in front of him, and his one good eye squinting at her through his thick glasses.
"Hello, Mr. Delaney," Stahl started congenially. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here—"
"You did say you'd be back," Otto cut in wearily. "What do you want now?"
"Well, first of all, I would just like to offer my condolences for what happened to your wife. It was a horrible, terrible thing that happened to her and I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
She paused, looking for some sort of reaction from Otto but he remained silent across from her, his lips set in a firm, grim line.
"But, of course, the good news is that she's going to make a full recovery. Your daughter brought her home from the hospital today in fact so I'm sure Luann will be back to making porn in no time."
Still, no reaction. She felt a slight nagging prickling down her neck and was suddenly hit with the unfathomable notion that this might not be as easy as she thought it would be.
Finally, Otto spoke. "Why are you here?"
"Well, I just wanted to see if you'd changed your mind about what we discussed the last time I was here." She stated simply.
Otto let out a chilling, almost biting, bark of a laugh and ran a hand over his stubble. "And you should know that my answer hasn't changed: go fuck yourself."
Stahl just smiled, keeping up the pretense that everything was under control here. The last thing she needed to do was let him see that he'd unnerved her. "I can't say I'm surprised, Mr. Delaney. After all, you view Samcro as family—as brothers. It's only natural that you'd want to defend them. I just wonder how well you really know them."
When Otto stiffened in his chair, the slow smile of victory flowed across Stahl's lips. This was exactly the reaction she'd been looking for. She was really going to love every second of this. Everything she had observed and studied about Samcro told her that its members were self-righteous, cocky, and completely under the illusion that they were untouchable. While this wasn't completely out of the ordinary for criminal organizations, there was something about the air of superiority that Samcro's members gave off that really pissed her off. Something about them just got under her skin—maybe it was the fact that they'd collectively evaded the law for so long—but she wanted nothing more than to bring them all to their knees.
And she was going to start with Big Otto Delaney.
"What I mean is," she went on. "I'm sure there was an understanding when you went inside that the club would take care of your wife and daughter. I'm just wondering if anyone spelled out for you exactly what that meant."
She paused for effect and even though she'd been anticipating it, her heart thundered in her chest when his eyebrows rose ever so slightly. He'd taken the bait whether he liked it or not.
"Is this why you're here? To ask me some bullshit questions about my family?"
She smiled knowingly and decided to press him further. "I'm sorry—I won't waste anymore of your time. I'll cut right to the chase here…Bobby Munson has been sleeping with your wife and Jax Teller has been sleeping with your daughter."
Pausing one last time for dramatic effect, she decided to bring him even further to the brink when she saw a flickering of understanding and coiled rage in Otto's eyes.
"Now, if I were you, I'd take a good hard look at this. These people, who are supposed to be your brothers, are perfectly fine with using the women in your life however they see fit. And before you ask me how I know, it's common knowledge in Charming and no one is trying to hide anything, especially Jax Teller—who's all but broadcast the fact that he's tapping your daughter."
As Otto's eyes began to harden into thick shards of ice, Stahl just kept going.
"I don't know about you, but my definition of family doesn't involve people who are supposed to be taking care of your loved ones using them as pass-arounds." She stood from the table as she spoke. "I just thought you should have all the facts before turning me down again."
Even as she backpedalled towards the door, she could see Otto's hand close tightly around the edge of the table until his knuckles turned white. It was obvious that her message had rung loud and clear.
"Let me know if you change your mind, Mr. Delaney," she added for good measure before pushing through the heavy steel door.
There were only four days between now and the kickoff of the big show. Four days until Teller came home from the run. Four days until life as he knew it came crashing down around him. And if her instincts were right, and they always were, Big Otto would be calling Munson and Teller in to explain themselves…then he'd overturn any sense of loyalty he ever had to Samcro and give her all the extra ammunition she needed. In the grand scheme of things, this little side-note really wasn't necessary to her end goal. It was just one more crack in Samcro's armor and one more way to kick Teller when he was down. And he was most definitely going to be down.
A/N-Well, things are about to change in Charming. Well, at least Jax and Emma got some things cleared up before he left-which was important given the tornado that's headed towards Charming. The next chapter will find Jax coming to terms (as much as he's able to) with some things about Emma and we'll see what Emma does in reaction to finding the photo.
Thoughts/predictions? I'd love to hear what you think! R/R!