I disclaim. I own nothing.
Chapter 14
Tara wasn't sure why she let Jax talk her into letting him come back home with her. She knew how he did it, all the boy had to do was run his lips over her pulse and she lost all ability to tell him no. Actually it was like she lost all ability to think, as it didn't occur to her until after they got to her house that they were actually going to have to climb through her bathroom window to get in. Fortunately Jax readily bought her excuse of still being grounded and that she locked her bedroom door to keep her father from finding her gone.
"Father's tend to take a teenage girl's locked bedroom door at face value." Tara explained as she stood in her bathroom and watched Jax boost himself in. "The music gives the impression that I'm in a seriously funky mood."
"My mom would take it as a sign to remove the lock from the door."
Jax stepped into her bedroom-kicking off his shoes, tossing aside his cap, and removing his heavy sweatshirt-every bit as comfortable as he was the first time. And it was thinking about that first time that made Tara uncomfortable. She'd been absolute putty in his hands, might have let him do whatever he wanted with her. Now he was back in her room, those two days of hell she'd been through still fresh in her mind, but nothing compared to the last few weeks of him being a near perfect boyfriend.
"Mind if I take off the sad chick music." It wasn't a question as he was already at the stereo shifting through her collection.
Tara went to stand next to him at the dresser, pulling open the first drawer to grab the pair of shorts and T-shirt laying on top. "Tori Amos is a goddess. And if you can't appreciate that, than just go ahead and take it off."
Not at all offended Jax popped the cassette out. "You have an odd collection of music here, Knowles. Hey," There was a teasing grin on his lips as he turned to look at her. "Don't feel like you have to go into the bathroom to change on my account."
The look in his eyes was all she needed to prove just how much she needed to changed away from him.
By the time she came out of the bathroom Jax had The Black Crowes pouring out of the stereo and was propped up against her headboard. She was in a large pair of gym shorts that hung low off her hips while the Taste of Charming T-shirt she wore seemed several years old by the tight fit and he thought he was falling in love with the clothes she wore around the house. "Come here." He patted the spot on the bed beside him.
Tara went to the bed, but instead of laying down next to him she sat on the foot of the bed facing him. "So where are you on your bike?"
"Right on schedule. I'll be done by my birthday, if not before."
"Now all you have to do is pass the driver's test."
"That's in the bag, babe."
"You never told me how long you've been riding."
"Since I was a kid. I was ten the first time my old man took me out." Dropping his arm next to the leg she had stretched out beside him, he allowed his hand to run absently along the exposed skin. "Thomas had gotten really sick, he was actually back in the hospital. It messed me up, you know. My old man, I guess he didn't want me to feel bad, so he took me out. It became kind of our thing after awhile." Sometimes it made him feel bad, that he was able to go out and for a few hours forget what was going on. Because his mother, Thomas, they were never able to forget. But now, after losing his father, the memories meant all the more to him.
"That's sweet." She recognized the look that settled over him, knew the way the memories of his father made him feel. She'd seen him sad before and hated it now more than before. "I've been in a car with you behind the wheel, so your dad must have been a very brave man."
"Hey."
Tara caught the dangerous glint in his eye but chose to ignore it. "With any luck you'll get a woman for the road test and use that pretty face of yours to distract from how piss poor your driving is."
Quicker than she even knew he could move, Jax's hand was wrapped around her ankle and yanked her half-way down the bed. And he was hunched over her, deft fingers torturing her ticklish ribs, before she could recover.
"Jax, stop!" The command came out on a shriek of laughter, her body twisting but she was unable to avoid his attack.
"Not until you tell me how good a driver I am." He eased up a moment, thinking to allow her to catch her breath so she could speak. He forgot who he was dealing with.
"If you want me to lie-"
He cut her off by placing his hand just above her knee and squeezing. Tara's entire body jackknifed, damn near bucking him clear off the bed.
"Jax!" Tara wasn't sure if she was being tickled or tortured but she could hardly take in enough air to tell him what he wanted to hear. "Okay, okay."
Jax allowed his hand to loosened a bit, the ease in pressure sending her into a giggle fit. "Okay, what."
"You're a good driver, now stop. Please stop."
Jax sat back with a pleased grin, he opened his mouth to speak only for the words to back up in his throat. In an attempt to protect both her ribs and the insane spot he found on her thigh, Tara had brought her knees up to her chest. And the move had caused the wide leg of the shorts to drop back until they revealed the graceful line of her hip.
Jax couldn't fully recall giving himself permission to move, would have sworn his brain had simply clicked off as he wasn't even aware of what he was doing until he heard Tara's surprised gasp.
Tara had felt the change in atmosphere, realized Jax's playful mood was gone but she hadn't been quick enough to realize what had happened. Hadn't even been aware of his intentions until she felt his breath on her skin seconds before his mouth closed over the sensitive skin of her hip.
"Tara."
He didn't even bother to take his mouth away as he growled her name and it had all the muscles in Tara's stomach tying into knots. He was asking her permission for something but she wasn't sure what, only knew that no one had ever asked it of her before.
When Tara nodded, Jax gripped the waistband of her shorts to yank them roughly down her thighs. He didn't even bother to pull them past her knees before his mouth closed over her panty clad core. Tara cried out and Jax's lips curled in a self-satisfied grin as he pressed the flat of his tongue against her. He could taste her, just a hint of her through the cotton, and it was enough to have a groan rumble deeply in his chest.
Tara's back arched so sharply off of the bed she thought it'd snap. One of her hands tangled in his hair as the other gripped the fabric of his T-shirt as if her mind couldn't decided rather to hold him closer or push him away. She thought this shouldn't feel so good, not with the awkward way they were positioned. Her shorts were still at her knees and with his body thrown over them, she was unable to close or open her legs any further. Jax's hands were cupped under her bottom, doing his level best to bring her closer to his mouth but again the shorts were hampering his effort. She tried to remove them, tried shifting her legs to shimmy the material down to her ankles but Jax refused to budge. And when he slipped a finger into the sides of her panties to tease at her entrance, Tara forgot all about the shorts.
Jax felt surrounded by her. She was wet and hot and more than he allowed himself to imagine she'd be. He tried to go slow, wanted to ease her into this, make it so good for her that waiting would no longer be an option. But he was taking her in with each breath and he wanted her so fucking much that what he wanted to do and what he actually did became separate entities.
He couldn't move away from her long enough to remove her panties, so he simply shoved them to the side. Made himself take a moment to look at her because he was the first, a thought that sent his teenage hormones skyrocketing. The first touch of his tongue to her and he moaned, she screamed. His control didn't slip away, it shattered into a million pieces.
When he allowed himself to think about this, or the endless times the thought slipped into his mind, he thought his experience would show through. That he'd go slow, make her so crazy she'd be begging him for it and even then he wouldn't give her what she wanted. He thought he'd be in complete control of her and himself. There was nothing controlled about him now. Tara was thrashing around on the bed and he was so lost in the taste of her he couldn't bother to try and calm her. He slipped a finger inside of her, not at all prepared for just how tight she'd feel around him.
Tara thought maybe she was embarrassing herself. That all the other girls that Jax had been with knew how to act with his mouth buried between their thighs. And if that pretty mouth of his wasn't sending intense pleasure throughout her body she may have been embarrassed. But at the moment all she felt was pleasure. And lucky. As Jax's mouth closed over that wonderful bundle of nerves seconds before her entire body erupted, Tara felt like the luckiest girl in Charming.
If Jax had one regret it was that he hadn't watched her come. It struck him deep in his chest as he was finally able to pull himself away from her. His arms were shaking as he braced himself over her, heart hammering in his chest as he took in the beautiful curl of her lips and the deep glossy green of her eyes. Her cheeks were flaming red, her chest rising and falling with her rapid breaths. He thought she was probably even more beautiful when she was coming, wanted to slip his fingers back between her legs to find out if he was right.
Tara wasn't sure what to do with the way Jax was looking at her. His eyes were so intense, she'd have thought he wanted to eat her alive if that wasn't exactly what he'd just done. His eyes were darker than she'd ever seen them, his pupils blown wide. His hair was a mess atop his head from her eager hands, his mouth and chin slick and wet from…her. The realization made her moan and before she even knew she wanted to, Tara was pulling his mouth down to hers.
As his tongue slipped passed her lips to tangle with hers, Jax couldn't help but groan at the thought of her tasting herself. "Fuck. Tara."
"Let me do something for you." Tara whispered the words against his lips. She wasn't ready for sex, not yet, but she wanted to make him feel the way he just made her feel. "Please, Jax."
He wanted to be inside her but thought that if that was what she wanted she'd have asked for it. He thought if she took him in her mouth he'd scare the shit out of her. "Here," Keeping himself braced on one arm, Jax practically ripped the button off his jeans in an effort to free his painful erection. "Wrap your hand around me."
Tara thought there may have been a time this would have been awkward but with her own taste on her tongue she knew that time was long past. Her hands were shaking as they slipped between their bodies to wrap around him. He was bigger than she thought, not that she had anything to compare him to, but the prospect of having him inside her was scary. Knew, scientifically that she'd stretch to accommodate him but at the moment didn't see how. "Tell me…Show me how."
"Your hand." It was so soft, so small, he nearly couldn't take it. "You want to make it slick so it's easier…" Jax trailed off as she brought her hand up to her mouth, swiped her tongue over her palm before lowering it between them one more time. That had not been what he was going to ask her to do, but he could admit it was much better than what he had in mind. His eyes drifted close, his mind lingering over the image of her tongue. "Wrap it tight around me. Now…"
Tara did exactly as he said, following each instruction he gave her to the letter. His voice was strained and rough, she had a hard time deciding where to look. Her eyes going down between there bodies to admire the way he looked thrusting into her hand before shooting back up to his face to take in the play of emotions there. He really was beautiful, she swore it hurt to look at him sometimes.
Suddenly his movements became erratic, the arm holding him up giving way until he collapsed on top of her. His mouth was at her ear, her name a whispered prayer on his lips. Then he groaned, long and deep seconds before she felt him spill out over her hands and onto her stomach.
"Fuck." Jax knew he was probably crushing her but at the moment he lacked the energy to roll off of her. "Jesus, Tara." He was well past the stage of hand jobs and dry humping, at least he thought he was. Didn't know what it was about Tara that made him enjoy both when other girls had given him so much more. "I'm going to move in a minute, okay, I just…Jesus, Tara." He repeated for lack of anything better.
For her part Tara could only give a contented sigh. She was sticky and thought a hot shower would be a good idea but she could admit it was nice having his weight this way. "Okay."
Their breathing seemed to slow and sync or maybe it was an illusion his mind supplied. Either way Jax buried his face in her neck and allowed his eyes to droop close. They had to get cleaned up as he was sure they made a mess of her bed and each other. He could imagine how they looked, her shorts around her ankles and his jeans halfway down his ass. "Don't let me go to sleep." He needed to go into the bathroom and get a warm rag to wipe her hands and stomach. "I wanna stay. But don't let me sleep yet."
She wanted him to stay. Wanted to go to sleep and wake with the sound of his breath in her ear and for once have it not coming over the phone line. Wanted to keep him with her here forever. "Okay." The word was barely a whisper as her eyes drifted close and her breathing evened out.
The moment he climbed through her bedroom window the night before Jax had his mind set on staying the night with Tara. Though, and he'd never admit it to anyone, there was something he enjoyed about the all night phone conversations he and Tara had, he was ready to wake up to the sound of her voice and have her actually next to him. When he woke in the middle of the night to find himself sprawled out on top of her, he couldn't keep the pleased grin off his face. And because he didn't want her to wake up regretting anything that happened between them, he climbed sleepily off the bed and all but stumbled into her bathroom, tossing his T-shirt off on the way.
His movements were slow and a bit unsure as he used a warm rag to wipe off her stomach and hands. Since her shorts were already down around her ankles he removed them. It was when he was getting ready to toss them that he realized just how big they really were. Having ripped the button on his jeans, Jax considered a moment before he removed them and slipped into the shorts. It was after he deposited the damp cloth back into the bathroom, and stopped by the dresser just long enough to turn off her stereo, that he had a moments hesitation by the bed.
This would be the first time he stayed the full night with a girl just sleeping and he wasn't exactly sure what to do. He knew a lot of girls liked to cuddle and he wondered if that was something Tara would want as well. And if she did, exactly how would she want him to hold her. Was he suppose to drape himself over her as he had been? Cuddle behind her? Or maybe drag her across his chest and hold her to him that way?
In the end Tara seemed to answer the question for him as she flipped over onto her back. Easy, so not to disturb her, Jax crawled back into the bed. Laying his head down next to hers, he slipped his arm around her waist to pull just a little bit closer. Tara sighed but her eyes remained close. And with a contented sigh of his own, Jax drifted back off to sleep.
It was only a few short hours later that he was woken by a heavy pounding on her door. For one fleeting moment he thought his mother had tracked him down and come to drag his ass home. Then he heard a male voice and found himself afraid her father had realized what was going on and was standing outside the door with his saw in hand.
"Come on, Tara-girl, I need to talk to you. Your music is off so I know you're not mad anymore."
Tara's eyes opened slowly, staring blankly at Jax as if she wasn't really seeing him there. When his lips curled and opened as if he were about to speak the blank look in her eyes quickly turned to panic as she slapped a hand over his mouth.
Jax knew she had the right idea, that he needed to keep quiet so her father wouldn't realize he was there, but that didn't stop him from flicking his tongue over her palm. Tara shot him a warning look even as she gave his arm a particularly vicious pinch.
The smile that curled against her palm should have been wasted. Probably would have been if it hadn't reached his eyes, making the blue even brighter. Before she could get too lost in his eyes or give in to the urge to kiss what she knew was an extremely cocky smile off his face, she turned her attention back to the door. "Dad, I'm sleeping."
"I know-" His voice was harsh, loud, and a momentary frown flitted across Jax's face at the sound. All the times he saw her dad at the house he was normally as placid as lake water. "I'm glad your music's off."
"Okay."
Jax found the exchange weird but when he thought about it, he found a lot of things weird between Tara and her father. One being the fact that Tara, with her frequent bouts of wildness, seemed to be the adult in the relationship.
"You have to go." Tara's voice was a whisper as she finally dropped her hand away from Jax's mouth and rolled off the bed. It wasn't until her feet hit the floor that she realized she was in nothing more than her T-shirt. "Are you wearing my shorts?"
"More comfortable than the jeans." Stretching out on his back, Jax held an arm out to her. "Come back to bed, your dad's gone."
For now, Tara thought. She knew him well enough to know that he'd be back a thousand times or at least until she went out and talked to him. "If he's up this early it means he's working, which means he'll be home all day, which means now is the best time to sneak you out of here." Walking around the bed she took his arm to pull him up, a feat made all the more difficult by him refusing to budge. "Jax, seriously, you have to go."
Although he thought she was really cute when she whined, Jax had no intention of leaving. That is he had no intention of leaving until he heard her father's saw start up. He practically jumped out of the bed. Tara grabbed his shoes off the floor even as she continued to pull him to the bathroom.
"Go around the back so he won't see you." Tara shoved the shoes into his chest, started to move away when Jax caught hold of her wrist to pull her in close.
"See you later?"
Despite having spent the whole night with him, Tara nodded eagerly. Framing his cheeks in her hands she leaned in to brush her lips quickly over his before giving him another shove towards the window.
The moment he climbed through her window the night before Jax had very much planned on staying the night with Tara. What he hadn't planned on was climbing back out her window at the ass crack of dawn and running through the neighbors yards to get to his best friend's house. So it was a half realized plan that he couldn't complain about in the least. The plan had not been for things to progress the way they had, he only wanted to spend time with her. Maybe he was looking forward to having her grind into his lap the way she had taken to doing recently but it never occurred to him that things would go as far as they did.
It seemed weak to say that after one flash of her hip he couldn't help himself but fuck if it hadn't been the truth. And he'd be damned if he'd be sorry about any of it. Doing things with her, that he knew she'd never done with anyone else, got him in a primal possessive place he didn't even know existed. But Tara touched and revealed a lot of places in him he didn't know existed.
The Winston house was quiet when he walked in but considering the hour he wasn't exactly surprised. He didn't understand how Tara's dad could not only be up but so gung-ho to work so early in the morning. He also couldn't understand how Tara slept through the sound of power tools as he had no doubt that she collapsed back into the bed once he was gone. She wouldn't be able to sleep long, as she had to be at work in a couple hours. Fortunately he wouldn't be needed at the garage so his plan was to get a little more done on his bike before heading over and keeping her company.
They'd found a rhythm, a comfort, or maybe a confidence that made it so he could go to the store or she could stop by the garage during working hours. She still asked questions, still seemed genuinely interested in what he was doing to get his bike up and running. But he found a way to answer her questions and talk to her while banking down on the need to walk away from whatever he was doing to bury his face in her neck. And with Candy a constant presence at the store Tara was very well use to working with distractions.
Jax couldn't imagine things being any better between, well actually he could. After last night he could imagine all too well what it would be like when she finally let him inside of her. He couldn't deny the need was churning inside of him something fierce. After every night spent with her, he had to return home to bury his head under a cold shower. He also spent the majority of the time they were on the phone together with his hand down his pants.
Talking to her was easier now. He could tell her things about his dad, about his feelings regarding his mother and Clay, or whatever else came to his mind without being concerned about falling any deeper for her. And he was falling deeper and harder for her, sometimes it made him crazy and it still scared him, but he no longer felt the need to run away from her.
Jax considered grabbing a shower and heading home, thought the sooner he got started on his bike the sooner he could finish for the day. Instead he found himself dropping onto the couch. There was a blanket and pillow stacked on the end of the couch. He thought it was weird, very considerate of Opie, but weird none the less. He also took it as a sign that another hour or two of sleep was a good idea.