Tara
Tara didn't go back to sleep after that. She just sat in bed until the sun finally started to rise.
When it was light enough outside, Tara quietly got up, threw on her scrubs, and grabbed a cup of coffee to go. She scribbled out a note for David and left it on the kitchen table.
She wrote something about having to work early and ran for the door.
.
.
.
.
.
All day she had been tweaking.
Every time the doors to her department opened, she expected to see black leather and blonde hair.
Her day dragged on and on. David had called her twice, and when she refused to pick up, he had simply texted:
"Can I see you again tonight?"
Tara didn't dare answer. For all she knew, her world would be turned upside down by nightfall.
What had she done? She wanted so badly to feel remorse. She just couldn't. It was like a piece of her broke that day so long ago. And Jax's lack of concern for her, of keeping her updated, of even bothering to check her well-being was like salt in an open wound.
She was left stranded and alone. Was she really supposed to go back like nothing ever happened? Tara was FAR too stubborn to think that could be possible.
Maybe a month ago, shit, maybe even a week ago. But not after what happened yesterday…and last night.
Sleeping with David was a choice she made at the height of hysterical emotion. Yet still, it was a choice. One she made for herself, to somehow feel something again.
She had been the shell of a human being for so long, that just the simple human contact had bought her back to life again.
She was almost killed twice. Could've been raped, killed, or both and no one from the MC was there to save her. She knew she was being selfish, but after six months of loneliness, she wanted to be selfish. She just wanted something tangible for herself. And right now, until the club was back, David was what she wanted.
She was being stupid and she knew it, but a small part of her wanted to see what Jax would actually do when he got back.
If he got back. Another part of her had been wondering all day if he really was on his way home.
The phone call last night had been short and without a lot of information. For all she knew he was coming back in a week, a month, and who even knew if he had more "business" to handle.
She had tried to call the number he had called her from, but it was disconnected. She had even tried to call almost every number she had, which wasn't many, and still no one answered.
She was tired of playing the waiting game. She knew she would never love David. She would always love Jax, but she was tired of being alone. She would stop if it she could, and with one simple text, she could.
I'll see you at my place. 8 o'clock.
Jax
The flight home was the best time of his life. Sitting securely in the seats, with his son next to him, Jax was the happiest guy in the world. Well, almost the happiest.
Two things would put him over the top: 1. Tara 2. Gemma.
They were flying into Seattle to meet up with the later before caravanning back down to Charming. He hadn't seen his mother in six months, and she was chomping at the bit to see both her son and grandson.
When the flight landed in Seattle, of course his mother and Tig were waiting for the rest of them. Jax barely hugged his mother before she was brushing him off and reaching for her grandson.
"Oh baby boy, I missed you so much!" Gemma gushed squeezing the baby to her.
She stopped baby-talking to Able long enough to stare at her son. A smile played on her lips as she reassured him, "I missed you too, baby boy."
Jax hugged his mother and son at the same time.
"I missed you too ma." Jax couldn't help it and neither could Gemma. They both had tears in their eyes when they pulled from the hug.
Jax turned to Tig as the rest of the boys gathered their things.
"Everything work out with Jimmy?" Jax questioned.
"Yeah man. I don't think they want us back in Ireland anytime soon." Tig said it with a bit of mischief in his eyes. Jax would worry about that later. Or never. He had more pressing matters to attend to.
He turned back to his mother.
"The bikes all here?" he asked her, already knowing she had taken care of it.
"Of course, Jax. What do you think I've been doing while you flew over the ocean." She paused and looked at her boys. "I'll take the car back with Able, and you guys can hit the open road. We should be back in Charming by sundown."
Jax just nodded. Time to go home.
Tara
When Jax hadn't arrived at the hospital by the time her shift ended, Tara was more resolved than ever. She drove home more than a little depressed that she hadn't been able to see the people she truly wanted to see.
It was just after sundown, Tara was showered, changed, and cooking spaghetti for dinner. A knock on the door had her turning off the stove and putting the last bit of pasta in a big bowl.
David stood under her porch light holding a bouquet of flowers. Her answering smile gave him the courage to hand them to her and enter the house.
"I hope you like spaghetti," Tara asked putting the flowers in a vase by the sink.
"I'm famished," David answered. He seemed a little nervous.
They took their places separate at the table, and took turns making their plates. A few bites in and David couldn't help but ask.
"Tara. I know what happened yesterday to you was traumatic. I just hope you know that last night…was…well…the best night of my life."
Tara felt her heart break. She knew she would only ever love Jax, and hearing David say that, she realized the decisions she had made to not be lonely anymore, didn't just affect her. David would get his heart crushed eventually as well.
Tara set her fork down and wiped her mouth before addressing him.
"David, you can't feel that way about me." David just stared at her to continue.
"You know that they will all be back some day, and I don't know what that means for me." As she said this, she was pleading with her eyes for him to understand.
"What if they don't ever come back?" he questioned, a lot more sober after her admission.
"You and I both know that that is not going to happen. Jax or Gemma or any one of them will come home soon, and everything will change."
"Are you saying last nigh was a mistake?" she could see the hurt in his eyes as he said this.
"No David. Not a mistake. You were there for me when no one else was and being with you made me feel safe and real again." She took a long pause.
"I hadn't felt alive in so long, that just being with you made me feel better. Not just last night, but on my birthday as well."
David just nodded.
"You're my friend David. We've been friends for a long time," she watched him physically deflate at the word friends. "I just don't want to see you get hurt if we keep this up and Jax comes home."
David looked like he was lost in thought for a moment. As she wondered what he was thinking, to yell or to bolt, he finally looked like he'd reached some internal decision.
He slowly pushed his chair back and came to kneel at the floor by Tara's chair. He took both her hands in his and stared deep into her eyes, imploring her to listen closely.
"Then if now is all the time I get, I don't want to waste it talking."
He wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed her slowly but fiercely. As he stood up, he grabbed her legs and never let the kiss break. Holding her up with both his hands supporting her ass, she wrapped her legs around his waist tighter and went for the buttons on his shirt.
Hale turned her around and headed to the hallway where her bedroom was. They only stopped kissing for a moment when Tara leaned back, still wrapped around his waist and lifted the shirt over her head and off. Then she went right back for his mouth.
She couldn't help herself. His strength, his warmth, they way he didn't try to stop or reason with her, she just wanted more.
By the time they hit the bed, David's shirt was off and he'd got Tara's bra unhooked. She was fumbling with is belt when she decided just to undo the zipper and release the hardness pressing so tightly against his pants. David only took a minute ripping Tara's pants from her legs.
He knew it was stupid, but had to take a second to ask. She had already told him that this between them was just filling up her emptiness without Jax. He understood all this would ever be was sex. A small part of him broke with the news, but a larger part told him that whatever it was, it was right for now.
"Tara? Are you sure?" He felt stupid for even asking. Her lying there naked was too much a temptation. He was surprised at himself for giving her an out.
Tara had no emotion play across her face.
"We don't know what tomorrow could be David. So just kiss me and hold me."
And as David slipped inside her… he was doing just that.
Jax
Tara wasn't at his house.
He would be lying if he said that that wasn't heartbreak all over again.
He called the hospital to see if she was working. Disappointed to hear she wasn't there either. As he looked around their home and their room, it was obvious she hadn't been there in a while.
Although everything was clean and well kept, there was no food in the fridge and her clothes and things were no where to be found.
Had she gone back to Chicago? Gone somewhere else? There was one other place he could check. Her father's house.
Gemma had graciously accepted Able to stay at her house while he went to find Tara.
"You go give that girl a proper homecoming present," Gemma had said with a knowing smirk.
He hoped she was at her father's, because he intended to do just that.