7

Tara's Story

Chapter 25 Recap

Jax demands Tara tell him what her relationship is with Hale. She tells him it is the same as her relationship with him. The answer doesn't satisfy him.

Jax tells her that Hale brought her to his party and then paraded her around so everyone would think she was his girlfriend. She doesn't agree. She makes the classic mistake of asking him why he thinks she's his girlfriend and why does he care. She really only wants to know why he cares.

He tells her that it is a matter of respect and Hale was being disrespectful to him.

Neither gets answers from the other because they are guarding their hearts. Jax leaves telling her that he's going to get answers from Hale.

Chapter 26 Cell Hell

I was having a hard time figuring out what had just happened. It didn't make any sense. The great Jax Teller couldn't possibly be jealous that Hale and I were together. He could have any girl he wanted. He also had never given me any indication that he thought of me as anything more than a friend.

For a couple of minutes I allowed myself to take a vacation from reality and imagined that Jax actually had romantic feelings for me and he was jealous. He would realize that he likes me and wants me to be his girlfriend. He would come back, kiss me and ask me to be his girlfriend. I could feel my heart swell up with love as I thought about being Jax's girlfriend.

The problem with taking a vacation from reality; it hurts when you have to return to the real world. I was always going to be a nerdy, awkward girl. Why would Prince Charming want me?

I remembered that Hale told me that sometimes Jax would watch his back when he was doing business. That meant that Jax would know where to look for Hale. That wasn't good. I wished I hadn't remembered that.

I needed to do something to warn Hale. When Jax said he was going to get an answer from Hale, he might have meant that he was going to do it now.

I sent Hale a text telling him that Jax might be looking for him because he wants to know if I'm his girlfriend.

I paced around the living room waiting for Hale to reply. Going to Jax's birthday party wasn't worth all this stress unless it made Jax jealous and made him start to think of me as a potential girlfriend.

When my phone rang, I jumped startled by the ringing and buzzing phone in my hand. It was Hale.

"I haven't seen Jax, but I've got a couple of deliveries to make. What is this about Jax wanting to know if you're my girlfriend?"

"He wanted to know about us. I told him that we were friends just like he and I are friends."

Hale laughed.

"He had to have loved that."

"I don't get it. Why is that answer such a problem?"

"Because it's not an answer. Guys don't like to be equal. He probably thinks he's more of a friend to you than I am and now you're telling him that we're equal."

"I didn't think of it like that."

Damn. Hale had a point. Jax was a better friend to me than Hale, but Hale was still a good friend. Jax wanted to be more of a friend to me than Hale. It was sort of jealousy, but it wasn't romantic. It was just guy stuff.

"What else did he say?"

"He said that you brought me to his party because you wanted everyone to think I was your girlfriend."

There was a long pause and I thought the call had dropped.

"I brought you to the party because he asked about you."

"That's what I told him. I told him that you were doing him a favor because he thought you wanted me at the party."

"I have to go. I'll call you in a few minutes."

"OK. Be careful."

I was beginning to calm down a little. Jax's temper would cool off and everything would be back to normal. I was overreacting like always.

I spent the next few minutes worrying about Hale. I hoped he was OK. I really wished I could think of a way to get Hale to quit selling drugs. He'd had a couple of brushes with danger. He wasn't always going to be so lucky.

My phone rang and I jumped again. My nerves were still on edge.

"Are you OK?"

"Hey, you are going to make me think you care about me, you ask me questions like that," Hale said.

"I do care about you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

There was a long pause. Looking back, it was clear to me that Hale had a crush on me. I hate that I hurt him. I never meant to hurt him, but I didn't know what to do to so he wouldn't get his heart broken.

"Back to Jax," he said his voice was husky. He cleared his throat. "What else did he say?"

"He asked me if I were your girlfriend and I asked him why he cared."

"You denied being my girlfriend, right?"

"I said we were friends."

"You didn't deny it then."

"No. He made me mad."

"Do you want me to tell him that you were helping me out with my parents by pretending to be my girlfriend?"

"No, you don't owe him any explanation. You took me to his party because you thought he wanted me there."

"Come on, Tara, you knew that it would make him wonder what was going on between us."

"Honestly, I didn't think about it until Jax talked to me. I was focused on how Gemma hated me and she lied to Jax."

"Gemma is horrible. My mother hates her because she used to make fun of her in high school because my mom would sew her own clothes."

"Gemma is such a bitch."

"She's a little creepy with Jax, the way she always kisses him. If my mother kissed me that much, I'd call her my girlfriend."

I started laughing and had a hard time stopping. Hale laughed too.

"If my mother kissed me that much, I'd call her my girlfriend," I said repeating Hale's line. It made both of us laugh all over again.

I'd remember that line whenever Gemma was getting kissy with Jax and would laugh inside thinking back to this conversation. It was good to have Hale for a friend. I did have love for him just not the romantic kind.

"Are you sure you don't want me to tell Jax that you are just pretending to be my girlfriend or do you want to see how jealous you can make him?"

"I don't think Jax is romantically jealous. He said that you disrespected him by bringing me and then parading me around so everyone would think I'm your girlfriend."

"Oh, shit. That's bad."

"How bad? Why bad?" I asked suddenly losing my vocabulary for no apparent reason.

"The MC is very big on respect. You disrespect someone and it's going to end in a fight."

"Hale, that's not funny."

"It's not a joke. If Jax thinks I disrespected him, there's going to be a fight."

"Over something that silly?"

"Tara, guys get into fights over less."

"What can I do to stop it? If you tell Jax I was just pretending to be your girlfriend, will that help?"

"No. If he gets some time to cool down, he might realize that he wasn't being disrespected. Don't worry about the fight. Guys like to fight. It makes us feel like men."

I could hear the sound of a motorcycle through the cell phone. I hoped that wasn't Jax.

"I've got to go," Hale said.

"Is Jax there?"

"Yeah," he said and ended the call.