Vanessa was happy to be on the back of Jax's bike. They would finally be able to get a little while to themselves. The past few weeks since Bobby got shot and Gemma's 'accident' have been hectic, so Jax and Vanessa were both craving some alone time that they could spend together.
Her smile was huge as Jax sped down the main drag, her heart racing with the pure adrenaline. They both remembered doing this exact thing when they were teenagers. Except then there were no responsibilities and no real club drama. But it brought them both back to feeling free again.
Jax pulled into the lot near the small park that they were going to spend the morning at. He helped her off the bike and unclipped her helmet for her and turned to grab the bag that he brought with them. He stared at her as she shook out her long golden waves, the smile wide on her face.
"What?" She asked, seeing him stare at her.
"Nothin', it's just nice to see you relaxed for a little while. You look beautiful, darlin'."
"Aw shut up, you're making me blush." Her cheeks flushed slightly, feeling as captivated by Jax as she did when she was younger.
"C'mon, babe." He held his hand out to her and she grabbed it, walking hand and hand over to the big tree in the center of the park. She put a small blanket out for them to sit on and he sat down underneath the shade. But she stayed standing, her fingers running over the hardened oak. "What?"
"It's still there. Our initials are still carved into the tree." She trailed her fingers over the heart that contained the letters JT + VH inside of it, remembering the make out session they had right after he carved it. "God, we were such horny cliché teenagers." They both chuckled as she laid down next to Jax, putting her head against his stomach as he laid on his side.
They stayed silent for a little while as she read a few of the pamphlets that were in her bag and Jax wrote in his journal. He looked down at her and saw a strained look on her face, as she bit her lip in concentration. He grabbed a hold of her hand, their fingers intertwining as he kissed her knuckles, a small smile on his face.
"You look stressed."
"No, not really. Just thinking." She took a deep breath before turning to look at him. "Remember how I said I was thinking about going back to school?"
"Yeah, you deciding to go back?"
"I've been looking at advanced practice nursing programs. There are a few nurse practitioner programs in Sacramento that I've been considering. I'd be able to do it within two years if I go full time, but I just don't know if it's the right time. They're expensive and I still need to get a car that I can actually use to drive Abel around in. Then with work, all the club shit, Abel, and helping at the garage. I'm thinking I may put it off for a little while."
"Don't worry about money, Nessa. As much as you hate the porn business, it's been good profit. Not as much as guns, but it comes with so much less risk that it's worth it. I got all the financial shit covered. I actually got the new car covered too. I needed a few weeks, but a brother from the Sonoma charter has an old lady whose brother owns a dealership. Got us a real good deal."
"What? Really?" She asked, completely in shock.
"Yeah, we'll go up there in a few days to pick it up." She kissed him deeply, a huge smile on her face again. "The Q7, right?"
"What? No, no. It's too expensive, we can find something cheaper."
"You loved it. It's safe, it's reliable, it's got space for Abel, and maybe any other rugrats you pop out." Jax looked at her, his fingers absentmindedly grazing over her stomach as he tried to see what she was thinking, but she wouldn't even give him a hint. "If that's somethin' you want in the future."
"It is definitely something I want in the future." She gave a small smile, and he went in to kiss her, his hand moving over to her ass when she pulled away and looked around to see if anyone was near them, which they weren't. "I meant in the future future, like a few years from now."
"Doesn't mean we can't practice right now." Jax gave a flirty smirk that made her heart flutter, and she pulled him into her by the front of his sweatshirt. As things were getting more heated and he started unbuttoning her shirt, his phone rang out from in the bag next to them.
"I fucking hate that thing." Vanessa whined, her chest still heaving causing Jax to smirk. She reached into the bag and saw that it was Cara Cara causing her to groan. "Porn hotline."
"Shit." He said as she handed the phone over to him. "Yeah?" He answered.
"Jackie Boy. You better get over here, brother." Chibs spoke from the other line.
"Why?"
"Well, Bobby turned up, told Luann he's handling her books and shit."
"He did what?" Jax asked tensely. "Who told him to do that?"
"Clay, I guess. And Luann is freakin' out."
"Jesus Christ." Jax ran a hand over his face. "Alright." He sighed out and hung up.
"We gotta leave?" Vanessa asked and Jax could hear the disappointment in her voice.
"I'm sorry. I'll drop you at home."
"Take me with you."
"You sure?" Jax seemed unsure.
"Yeah, maybe we can still salvage the day. Get lunch or something."
"Okay." He smiled, kissing her a few times before helping her off the ground and packing up all of their stuff again.
"I'll wait out here." Vanessa said as she got off Jax's bike and unclipped her helmet, looking over the lot and the warehouse.
"You sure you don't wanna come in?"
"Yeah, Luann might try to get me to star in one of her movies if I do, and with the way you worked me up before, I just might." Vanessa joked and saw Jax's face harden a little bit as he shook his head. "I'm kidding!" She chuckled, grabbing the front of his sweatshirt and pulled him in for a kiss, that he deepened and made slightly more possessive than usual. "Although I do remember her saying that I could always get a job here if I need one, thanks to my 'nice rack.'"
"They are nice. Nicest I've seen." Jax's eyes flicked down to her chest as he gave one of his signature smirks. "I'll be five minutes, babe." She just nodded before Jax kissed her once more, she watched as he headed inside, sighing to herself.
She was only sitting on Jax's bike for a few minutes before she heard loud music playing and a white car pulling into the lot. She saw the blonde hair and immediately remembered that it was the same girl that she slammed up against the wall for flirting with Jax at one of the parties.
"Uh, shouldn't you be polishing that, sweetie? Jax likes it nice and shiny." Ima looked her up and down, a small smirk on her face. Vanessa could hear the sexual innuendo in the woman's voice, causing her to want to jump up and wipe that smirk off of her face. But she remembered how Ima looked when she caught Jax and Vanessa fucking in one of the dorm rooms at the party. So instead of physically hurting her, Vanessa decided to go with an even lower blow.
"Don't you worry, hun, I polished his shit last night. I know exactly how he likes it." Vanessa snickered, using an over exaggerated and over enunciated fake-nice tone of voice. She saw Ima's smirk fall and almost wanted to feel bad, but she couldn't. She tried to be nice to Ima that night at the party, and she completely wrote her off and disrespected her. "Stupid bitch." Vanessa muttered to herself before putting her sunglasses on the top of her head and looking around the lot again.
Just a few seconds later she saw Gemma's familiar Escalade pulling into the lot, two motorcycles right behind her, belonging to Clay and Tig.
"The hell you doing here?" Clay asked loudly and stern. Vanessa watched on as Gemma jumped out of her car.
"Luann called. She's freaking out." Gemma said, starting to walk over to the bike that Vanessa was sitting on.
"That's club business. You got no reason to intervene."
"What- intervene? She's my friend. She needs to talk." Gemma spoke, bewildered.
"Oh, so when she wants to talk, you what, drop everything?"
"Jesus Christ, what are you three?" Vanessa could already see the argument that was about to ensue, not knowing what she should do, while Tig came over and sat on Jax's bike right next to her.
"I hate it when mommy and daddy fight." Tig whispered to her, but Vanessa was too busy listening to the ever-growing argument between Gemma and Clay.
"Get back to the garage." Clay ordered.
"Excuse me?"
"The last thing I need is for you running diva over a goddamn cum factory."
"Asshole!" Gemma threw back at him before walking off. She almost made it inside but turned around when she heard glass shattering. She saw the window of her Escalade broken; the glass shattered on the ground right next to a cinder block.
Vanessa shot up quickly, jumping off of the bike and stared at the scene. Moving closer to Gemma to get her away from Clay, not knowing what exactly he was capable of in that moment. But before she could, Gemma started yelling.
"You stupid piece of shit!" She barked, walking over to his bike before kicking it several times, her leather high-heeled boot leaving scuff marks.
"Gemma!" Vanessa yelled over to her, but she didn't look at her, she just continued to yell and kick the bike. "Shit." Vanessa quickly ran into the studio, looking for Jax. She saw him sitting next to Ima on the couch, his arm thrown over her shoulder. Vanessa could feel rage flowing through her veins but overlooked it, knowing she needed to get Gemma out of here.
"Jax!" Vanessa called over to him, seeing him get off the couch immediately and away from Ima, like he knew she would be pissed at him if she saw. Which she was.
"I'll make sure you get home safe." Jax was telling Ima.
"He's occupied, honey." Ima stood next to Jax but in Vanessa's face, her hand still lingering on Jax's chest. The other pointing in Vanessa's face. "You should wait outside like you were told, skank."
"And you should get the fuck out of my face before you know what it's really like to get a good pounding. Stupid bitch-" Vanessa lunged forward, but Jax gently grabbed a hold of her and pulled her away before she could do any real damage. And he could tell that she really wanted to do damage.
"Okay, I'm sorry." Jax continued to pull her away. "She's a little out of her mind."
"Well, she's not the only one." Vanessa grabbed Jax's hand and pulled him outside quicker, getting outside just in time to see Clay punching the front hood of Gemma's Escalade.
"Just what those arthritic mitts need, a good pounding." Gemma yelled. Jesus Christ, we're more alike than I thought. Vanessa thought to herself, still pulling Jax towards them.
"You wanna see a good pounding?" Clay bellowed, causing Jax to move towards his mom quickly.
"Come on, bad ass, lay hands on me." Gemma screamed. "I'll sit your goddamn throat! You are pathetic!" Gemma started to walk off when Clay grabbed her from behind, causing her to scream out in fear. "Don't you touch…" Jax pushed Clay off of her. "Don't!"
Vanessa ran to Gemma's side as she began to sob, gently placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, letting her know that she's there for her as she continued to sob quietly, ignoring the yelling coming from the President and Vice President of the club. Gemma took Vanessa's hand and gripped it tightly, causing Vanessa to calmly whisper to the woman.
"You're alright, Gem. You're gonna be alright."
"What do you got?" Clay asked as the guys all sat in the garage after the incident at Cara Cara. He was in a pissy mood. The bullshit with the club, his family, and the severe lack of intimacy with his wife was piling up on him as of late.
"Zobelle's a goddamn saint." Juice started. "He owns five cigar shops, deacon at his church, widower, one kid."
"But look at this." Jax placed a paper in front of Clay. "Last place the League of American Nationalists put down roots was San Bernardino. Six months later, War Boys MC crumbled. Entire crew went away for aggravated assault, attacked Zobelle's Cigar Shop."
"War Boys run guns." Clay announced.
"They did." Jax nodded.
"Why would Zobelle care about guns?" Half Sack wondered.
"'Cause these dickheads are prepping for the great race war." Clay said, irritably.
"Zobelle came at us hard. Cocky threat. No fear." Tig admitted.
"He wanted to incite you."
"So, what? We own the law in Charming." Chibs said to everyone.
"Unser, not Hale." Tig pointed out.
"Maybe he got Hale." Opie guessed, causing Jax to shake his head.
"If Hale could be bought, we'd have him." Jax announced, thinking about the fact that Hale has always been a self-righteous prick. He got the 'Captain America' nickname for a reason, and that reason was his sanctimoniousness. "I can get Vanessa to talk to him. But I'm telling you, Hale is not working with them.
"Maybe we never offered him the right pay off." Clay sighed. "Let's stick with the devil we know. And don't involve Vanessa into this shit, we don't need her to end up taking her brother's side. We still don't know where her loyalties lie."
"She has patched up every single one of us when needed. Stole from her job to do it. She helped give us Oswald's daughters rapist. She took on Abel like he's her own, takes care of Kenny and Ellie whenever she can. Her loyalties have never been in question for me, and I'm sick of feeling like she needs to prove herself to you. She's gonna get my crow. She's Sam Crow, through and through."
"Like I said, let's stick with the devil we know." Clay insisted, ignoring everything that was just said, causing Jax to shake his head.
"Darby's Lodi cook shops are all shuttered up. Maybe he's gone mobile."
"Yeah, well let's find those meth labs, okay? And now!" Clay barked.
"Jax, Ima called. Miss Double Penetration is ready for you." Gemma walked in and called out to Jax.
"Oh." He groaned. "I'll be right back. Just gotta give her a safe ride." He walked over to his mom, getting ready to leave.
"Yeah, a producer's work is never done, huh?" Clay sneered.
"Should've given me a heads up about Bobby taking over Luann's books." Jax walked back over to Clay. "I brought this to the club. It's my action."
"Bobby needs it." Clay yelled back to Jax, while the rest of the guys stared on, anticipating another argument between the two. "He spent months inside for us. Maybe it's time you start thinking about something other than yourself and that piece of pussy you have over there."
"Yeah." Jax scoffed, walking back over to his mother who had a stern look on her face. "I'll see you later, ma."
"You better be careful with that." Gemma called out to him, causing him to look back. "I heard all about the shit with Ima today, and I don't see Vanessa being too thrilled that you're giving Miss DP a ride. That ride you're giving her, better just be a ride on your bike, and that's it. You hear me, Jax?"
"I hear you. Surprised you're even sticking up for Vanessa." He said with a small smirk, remembering the tension and dislike that the two women in his life had for each other just a few weeks ago.
"I see how she's been taking good care of you and my grandson. She's doing good things for the club, too. Even if Clay doesn't see it, I do. And so do the rest of the boys. You could do worse than her. You have done worse than her, Jackson. Don't fuck this up with her."
"I don't plan on it, ma."
AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapters (tashiolove, hateme101, ForeverKee)! Thanks to everyone who supports this story by reviewing, favoriting, and following. It means a lot. Hope you guys enjoy this update. Don't forget to review to let me know what you guys think!
