8

Chapter 490 Deal with It

"

Scarlett's father made an offer on Jacob Hale's home. It was substantially less than the asking price. They were in the stage of offer and counter offer. It was the first offer Jacob had had on the house because it was on the end of the price scale that had a limited pool of buyers something that if he were a better businessman he should have figured out. The carrying cost of the loan he'd gotten to build the house was gobbling up all the profit, so he was willing to cut Decker a deal.

The good news was they were negotiating. The bad news was he was staying with Scarlett and Jax at her condo until negotiations were over. It felt like it was taking years but it was only Wednesday. Jax and Scarlett may have been sharing a bed but it felt like Decker was in bed sleeping between them.

Jax had gotten off work early and he and Scarlett were at his house discussing paint colors. They had gotten some small bottles of sample paint to try on the walls. They were testing different shades of gray from a light dove gray to a stormy blue-gray to a cool gold color that Scarlett was using for part of her store.

"Since your father gave me a break down of all the projects and costs, I want to start work on the house. Paint, flooring, the kitchen and my bedroom and bathroom for now. I can't believe how reasonable the costs are."

"I don't want you to do all this for just for me."

"Since staying at your condo, I've realized I'm tired of living in a swap meet of a house. I'd like to live somewhere nice and from what your father says, it isn't going to be some nightmare ordeal with huge costs."

"My dad has suppliers with the best prices and you're not structurally changing the house. Most of the expense is in the kitchen and you can wait on doing that."

"I want to fix up the kitchen so I can cook simple meals. I think I'm finally ready to grow up and act like an adult. Part of that is living in a place that looks nice. Tell me what you think about the paint colors now."

"All the colors look good. It's just which ones you like the best."

"I want you to like the colors too. I'm hoping one day you'll live here with me."

He was standing behind her, his arms around her waist, his cheek against her hair.

Scarlett turned to face him.

"Sound like you're planning a future with me," Scarlett said in a light teasing tone of voice.

"I don't want to imagine a future without you," Jax said being serious for a moment.

"Me too."

"I was thinking we could go into my bedroom and I could reacquaint you with my lips," Jax said flashing her his irresistible grin.

"Reacquaint me with your lips, huh?" Scarlett said. "I can see them just fine from here."

"The reacquainting was going to be lip to lip not a visual reacquainting," Jax explained seriously.

"I've missed you," Scarlett said putting her arms around him. "I crave physical contact with you."

Scarlett never got tired of Jax. The more time she spent with him, the more time she wanted to spend with him. It was a new experience because she'd never had a man other than her father around her as much as Jax.

Jax tipped her face up to his, gently cradling her face in his hands and began to lower his head to kiss her when his cell phone's text message tone sounded.

Jax cursed softly under his breath before heading over to a living room chair that he'd laid his cut across, reached into the interior pocket and grabbed his phone. He looked at the message and Scarlett noticed an almost imperceptible tightening of Jax's jaw.

"Is that about Esai?" Jax hesitated. "The truth," Scarlett added.

"Yeah," he said. He took his phone and sent a text to Sack telling him he had fifteen minutes to get to Scarlett's condo.

"You think this is it?"

"I hope so. I need to get back to your condo, get changed and get to the clubhouse. I sent a text to Sack to go to your condo."

Jax drove Scarlett's van to her condo before changing his clothes from his normal faded blue jeans to dark denim jeans, his bullet proof vest, a long sleeved black T-shirt, the gun and holster that Scarlett's father had given to him and a dark blue hoodie. Scarlett quietly watched from the bed.

"My father told me if you get shot up again, he's going to give you full body armor. I told him not to tell you that or it might encourage you."

Jax chuckled.

"What would encourage me more is how tender and sweet you were when you were taking care of me."

"I'm going to be mean and cruel so there better not be a next time. Instead of giving you painkillers, I'll give you drugs that will make the pain worse." Scarlett said. She was doing her best to keep things light with Jax because Jax didn't need her falling apart. She didn't want to distract him.

"I will definitely not get shot then," Jax assured her lightly. He stuffed a black knitted beanie in the pocket of his hoody.

There was a tap at the front door. Scarlett went to the door and let Sack into her condo.

"Why don't you turn on the TV and find something to watch," Scarlett suggested to Sack. "Help yourself to a drink or a snack."

"Thanks," Sack said.

Scarlett returned to her bedroom.

"I don't want you to worry," Jax said.

"Of course I'm going to worry," Scarlett scolded. "If I didn't worry it would mean I don't love you."

Jax put his arms around her.

"I guess we'll have to find another time for our lips to get reacquainted, but here's a preview," Jax said giving Scarlett a light kiss on the lips. "This could take hours. We're not taking phones. Juice will have a prepaid but we don't want to make any calls on it if possible. Once we deal with Esai, I'll try to find a pay phone but it's hard to find them these days and a lot of the time they don't work."

"OK," Scarlett said. She hugged him fiercely overcome with the fear of losing him. "Take care of you."

Jax tightened his hold on her.

"You be a good girl for Sack," Jax said.

Scarlett poked him in the ribs.

"I'm not a child."

"Believe me, I have noticed that," Jax said with a grin as he released her.

They walked into the living room to find Sack a glass of iced tea in his hand settling in to watch a movie.

"I'm off to the clubhouse," Jax said. "Don't let anything happen to Scarlett."

"I won't" Sack promised solemnly.

Scarlett walked with Jax to the door, locking it behind him when he left.

"Did Jax say how long he was going to be gone?"

"Could be hours."

"How about we watch a marathon of movies?" Sack said enthusiastically. "What genre? Horror? Suspense? I'm down for anything but rom coms. If you want to watch rom coms, I can be down for that too though."

"Horror, thriller or suspense and I'm not in a rom com mood," Scarlett replied. "You pick. I'm going to get some iced tea."

Scarlett knew that Sack was trying to divert her from thinking about Jax and the danger he was going to be facing. She was grateful. She'd feel better when her father returned. He was running errands and visiting his realtor.

"My dad was going to pick up fried chicken for dinner. I figure since you're going to be around I'll give him a call and have him pick up extra. Jax can eat cold fried chicken or he can warm it up if he doesn't get dinner while he's out."

"That's real nice of you. I'm going to miss watching over you. It's been the best prospect assignment ever."

"I still need you at the store for at least another week if they can spare you."

"I'm sure they won't mind since you're Jax's old lady."

"I still can't get used to the term "old lady. Makes me feel old before my time."

Scarlett called her father about getting extra chicken and side dishes and then she settled in with Sack to watch a movie about a wedding at a remote island where the cast was getting killed one by one. The big question was whether it was a maniac who was on the island or a member of the wedding party.

Scarlett's father arrived as the movie ended. It turned out the bride was the killer. Scarlett appreciated the film makers making a woman the killer. Women have now achieved equality.

They ate dinner together. Scarlett picked at her food, her mind on Jax. The next movie was less horror and more suspense since Decker wasn't a horror movie fan.

A few minutes into it, Scarlett took her father into her bedroom so they could talk. She told Sack he could fill them in on the movie if they missed anything.

"I didn't want to say anything in front of Sack but Jax and the MC are going after Esai now."

Her father nodded.

"I knew it was something bad."

"I'm just so worried."

"Did he wear the bulletproof vest?"

"Yes and he took the gun you gave him, but I'm still worried. I don't want Sack to know how worried I am. What if something happens to him?"

Decker gave her a hug.

"You have to believe that he will be alright or you will drive yourself crazy. This is part of who Jax is. You can't change it so you're going to have to accept it."

"I know," Scarlett sighed as her father let go of her. "I keep telling myself it's like he's a cop, firefighter or soldier, but it isn't just death that he faces. He could get arrested and spend years maybe his whole life in prison."

"The only way to handle it is to believe in him. If you can't handle it, you shouldn't be with him. Every man has parts of him that you have to put up with though. You will learn to deal with it. Hopefully, there won't be a lot of these times."

Scarlett kissed her father on the cheek.

"Thanks for the pep talk."

Scarlett made more of an effort to forget, but it was always in the back of her mind wondering what Jax was doing and if he'd come back to her alive.

"

Author's Note: For April Fool's Day, I wrote a new story Truth: Can SAMCRO Tell the Truth about the guys going on a paternity test/lie detector type reality show that Luann is doing. You might want to check it out and find out what happens to Happy when he tries to save money and suffers the consequences.