6

Chapter 485 Tara's Reckoning

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While Decker was out looking at houses, Jax and Scarlett hit the gym at the condo. Once her therapist got her strong enough to use a gym, Scarlett had begun to make noticeable improvements in regaining her back and abdominal strength thanks to the gym program she'd given Scarlett. While Scarlett went through her exercises, Jax also worked out. She could see the admiring looks the only two women in the gym were giving him. She didn't like it, but he made it OK by ignoring them.

Afterwards, they went to Jax's house. Tara was going to meet them there. They needed a place to talk to her where they couldn't be overheard. Now that Tara had been cleared in the Kohn death investigation, it was time for them to talk to Tara.

Jax gave Scarlett a tour of his house suggesting as her father had done that he paint to make the biggest impact with the smallest amount of money. As they went through the house, Jax was smiling.

"What's so funny?" Scarlett demanded.

"How much you and your father are alike. He said the same things you're saying right down to painting the brick fireplace or putting a façade over it."

"He taught me. That's why I'm saying the same things. There's one thing he suggested that you haven't mentioned. Can you guess what that is?"

Scarlett was trying to figure out what she'd missed when Tara knocked on the door.

"Scarlett and I were just talking about ways to fix up my house," Jax said letting Tara into the house.

When Scarlett called, she told Tara that she needed to talk to her and told her when she'd be at Jax's house. She'd been vague about the reason, afraid if Tara knew that she and Jax were going to confront her over what happened during the night Tara shot Kohn, she wouldn't come.

"What are you thinking about doing?" Tara asked.

"Paint, new flooring and new kitchen appliances that all match," Jax replied. "Trying to be an adult and settle into my house like a proper homeowner."

Tara chuckled a little nervously as Jax led her into the living room where Scarlett was studying the fireplace deciding how to fix the mantle.

"I have a confession to make," Scarlett said, turning to face Tara. "On that night that Kohn was killed, I called Jax and asked him to come to my condo. I told him the truth about what really happened because I knew he would never tell. I also felt a little guilty at urging you to kill Kohn since it was better for me if he died because I was afraid he'd come after me."

The color drained from Tara's face.

"I didn't think you would say anything to anyone," Tara said in a hurt tone of voice.

"You know I'm not going to tell anyone anything," Jax said.

"I waited to have this discussion until after you'd been cleared in Kohn's death because I didn't want to add to what you are going through. I am furious with you for trying to drag Jax into the Kohn situation," Scarlett said, her voice perfectly calm but her green eyes flashed with anger.

"I just thought we could ask Jax what he thought we should do," Tara said avoiding looking at either Scarlett or Jax in the eyes.

"Tara, you know damned well you didn't want Scarlett to call me for advice. You wanted me to come over and handle the Kohn situation for you."

"I just wanted advice," Tara protested.

"What advice could I have given you? Shoot him or don't shoot him. This was the same bullshit you used to pull in high school and afterwards. Every damned time you got yourself in some kind of trouble, you would call me to come riding to your rescue."

Tara looked down, studying the worn gold carpet.

"I guess I did want your help," she admitted.

"What made me really angry was wondering what would have happened if I hadn't been there," Scarlett said her voice tight with anger. "Would you have called Jax and told him you needed to see him? He comes over and then you present him with Kohn, half dead but probably not going to die from only the one gunshot wound. You saved his life so you think he owes it to you to kill Kohn in cold blood? Now he has to get rid of the body. What if he'd gotten caught getting rid of the body? He couldn't tell the cops what really happened. He would have ended up going to prison, maybe for the rest of his life just because you didn't want the inconvenience of shooting Kohn yourself,"

"I wouldn't have let that happen," Tara protested.

"Come on Tara, in the heat of the moment, the only person you ever think about is you. I owe you for saving my life, but I've done a hell of a lot of things for you. I don't have a problem helping you depending on what it is, but I'm not your private hitman."

"How did you even think you would get away with it?" Scarlett demanded. "Kohn was an ATF agent. Sooner or later, they were going to look for him. He rented a car. It was parked on your street. Those rental cars have GPS in them. They would have located his car and come asking questions. How were you going to explain how he just disappeared after parking his car on your street? Do you think you could have held up to harsh interrogation?"

"I didn't think about the car," Tara admitted.

"We would have had to have gotten rid of the car and that would have created another opportunity for me to get caught," Jax said.

"Sorry that I was really upset that Kohn was going to rape and kidnap me and I wasn't thinking clearly," Tara said, no apology in her voice just anger.

"I would never have called Jax for help in that situation," Scarlett said. "I would have shot Kohn again and called the cops. You wanted him to take care of things because you didn't want to have to go through the police investigation. You wanted to do the easiest thing for you and get someone else to do your dirty work."

"That's your pattern. You don't want to face the consequences so you used to call me to protect you and fix everything. Those days are over. You're an adult. You need to act like one. Stand on your own two feet. What the hell did you do for the ten years when I wasn't around to take care of things for you?"

"I've never gotten into this much trouble before," Tara said angrily. "I will handle all my own problems from now on. You don't have to worry about me."

"Tara, I don't worry about you," Jax said very quietly. "Stand on your own two feet."

Tara looked at Scarlett as though she felt deeply betrayed by Scarlett's actions.

"Well, if that's all, I'll be leaving," Tara snapped.

"Bye," Scarlett said.

Jax walked with Tara to the door.

"I am grateful that you saved my life, but killing someone in cold blood because you don't want the inconvenience of killing him yourself is out of bounds. Maybe part of this is my fault for always rescuing you. Those days are over."

Tara turned and saw Scarlett watching. She left closing the door quietly behind her.

"Do you think she gets it?" Scarlett asked.

"I doubt it. It doesn't matter. She saved my life but that doesn't mean I owe her every favor she wants to ask for. When I would rescue her from some situation she'd gotten herself into, it made me feel powerful. I was saving her. By the end, I was fed up with having to do everything for her because she never wanted to inconvenience herself."

"I don't know if Tara and I will be friends after this. Unless she thinks about it and apologizes and admits she was wrong for trying to drag you into the Kohn mess, we're done."

"That's fair. Did you figure out what your father suggested?"

"Doing something with the mantel?"

"No."

Scarlett frowned trying to figure out what she missed. Other than the mantle, she couldn't think of anything.

"I give up," Scarlett said.

"He suggested I get a new bed."

Scarlett blushed.

"I'm going to kill him."

Jax chuckled.