5

Chapter 483 Comfort & Love

"

Jax got his kitchen, master bathroom and bedroom cleaned. He also picked up the living room. It looked a lot better and he was starting to see the possibilities of what his house could look like fixed up a bit. Staying in Scarlett's nice, neat and decorated home made him want to fix up his place. Before, he wanted to get Bela's room all fixed up before he did anything to the rest of the house. He no longer had to do that. It was time to become an adult and have an adult home.

He jumped in the shower, dressed and headed to Scarlett's condo. He'd gotten her text about Louise. He wasn't surprised, but like everyone else he had hoped that somehow they would find her still alive. He sent a message to Juice so he could distribute the news to SAMCRO.

Louise was a nice decent girl. He didn't understand how someone could have hurt her. Same with Violet. He'd liked Violet. She was a fun loving girl who liked partying with the guys.

Once Esai was dead, he and Scarlett would search for Violet's killer although he had no idea how they were going to find her him. He was also worried about Scarlett putting herself in danger. He couldn't imagine losing her.

He had done some laundry while he'd been cleaning. He repacked his bag to bring to Scarlett's, jumped in the shower and put on clean clothes before heading over to her condo.

She'd called to tell him that she was at her condo with Sack and her father. When he knocked on the door, Sack answered and let him inside.

"Take off prospect, but stay close in case I get called away and you need to come over and watch over Scarlett."

"Yes, si . . .," Sack said.

Jax looked at him sternly.

"Almost said sir didn't you, prospect?"

"Yes, si . . ." Sack said.

"Get lost, but not too lost and work on that sir thing."

Sack nodded and left. Jax locked the door behind him. The second he saw Scarlett's face he knew something was wrong.

"You're not OK," Jax said softly.

"I'm going to go take a look at some of the houses the realtor sent to my phone," Decker said. "Should take me at least an hour. I'll knock when I get back."

"Thank you," Jax mouthed over Scarlett's shoulder.

He locked the door, walked over to Scarlett and wrapped his arms around her. Holding her so her head rested on his chest over his heart. These were the moments when he loved that he could comfort her and made things a little better for her. He stroked her hair with one hand while he held her close. She was so warm and she smelled of some exotic mix of flowers and spices from the perfume she wore. He knew she put perfume in her hair. She said the fragrance lasted longer there.

Jax recognized that Decker had given them this time to be together. It was a generous thing to do to let him comfort Scarlett. This was something that Gemma would never do. If the situation would have been reversed, she would have shoved Scarlett out of the way to get to him. She didn't understand as Decker did that building an adult relationship meant letting that person's partner be the one to bring comfort.

"It's stupid. I didn't even know her," Scarlett said, her voice muffled against his chest.

"You're thinking about Violet too," he said, his lips against her hair.

Scarlett's arms tightened around Jax.

"I love that you understand," she whispered.

He would always do his best to understand this complex, beautiful woman, but above all, he would always protect and watch over her. The idea of her being killed like Louise, Violet or the poor naked blonde woman made him a little crazy. There was a lunatic out there killing young woman and Scarlett fit the victim profile.

He kissed her softly, sweetly and tenderly because he didn't want to get either of them stirred up. If it wasn't the first time for them, he would have suggested they go into her bedroom for a quickie before her father got back. He was definitely learning a lot about self-control. Not too much longer, he told himself.

Decker returned and suggested they go out for Chinese because he wanted one of those dinners where they bring a lot of courses and the more people, the more dishes they add. He wanted to order food for eight so there would be a lot of leftovers that they could eat tomorrow night. This wasn't the first time he and Scarlett had done this. Jax thought there was something funny about the idea, but he loved it.

While they were eating, Jax mentioned that Decker had gone to his house to give him some ideas on fixing it up.

"You took him to your house before me?" Scarlett asked, her eyes narrowed. "You like him more than me?"

Jax realized he might have made a mistake. Better sweet talk her a little to smooth things over.

"I like him, but I'm in love with you," Jax said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You really think that's enough to get you out of trouble with me?"

"I was hoping," Jax said giving her his killer grin.

"You're still in trouble. We'll talk later."

Decker laughed.

"You're in real trouble now," he told Jax.

Jax explained how he'd wanted to find out if Scarlett would run screaming from the house if he took her there. She wasn't buying that either, but the three of them talked about fixing up his house. Jax brought the subject up deliberately to give Scarlett something new to think about other than her sister Violet's murder.

Originally, he had this idea about fixing it up and surprising Scarlett, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to include her in the fixing up process. He wanted her to spend time there when he had it fixed up and one day he planned on her living there with him.

After dinner, they drove by the places Decker was going to look at with the realtor in the morning. The houses were large and on the expensive side of town. It didn't surprise Jax since he knew what kind of money Decker and Scarlett had removed from her psycho ex.

"That house," Jax said pointing at a large house that Jacob Hale had built, "has been on the market for a long time."

"It's overpriced," Decker said. "That's part of the reason. If the seller doesn't get realistic with the price, it's going to stay on the market."

"Are you looking at something you can remodel?" Jax asked.

"No. I don't mind paint, flooring and some minor things, but I'm not going to knock down walls and do a bunch of stuff. It needs to fit my needs and Scarlett's needs in case she decides to move in with me."

Jax looked surprise.

Scarlett laughed.

"He's messing with you. I'm not going to live with my father. I've been on my own for too long."

They returned to Scarlett's condo and Decker went upstairs early. He was trying to give Jax and Scarlett some space.

Back in Scarlett's bedroom, they had settled in to watch DVDs on Scarlett's computer. Once more, there would be no romance and cuddling for them.

Right now, Esai was standing between Jax and sex. It was just another reason to kill the little bastard. He and Scarlett could then take their getaway to the lake house.

"

Author's Note: Like the reader who commented that she loved home reno shows, I do too and I'm going to indulge my reno fantasies a little with Jax's house. Scarlett and Decker are going to give Jax an amazing housewarming gift.