4

Chapter 513 On Coming

Jax was pleased about how well the fire extinguisher present had gone over with Scarlett. It had been a fun moment. There had been an almost explosive amount of sexual tension between them. He loved knowing that she'd believed herself to be defective until she'd met him and he woke her up in a sexual and not a political way.

He'd loved Tara as a friend and thought maybe that was what romantic love really looked like until he met Scarlett. It wasn't love at first sight. He wanted to have sex with her and he was happy to pursue her to achieve his goal. It had been a new experience for him chasing after a woman.

Even after she told him she wasn't going to sleep with him and her back injury then prevented it from happening, he continued to see her because he enjoyed being with her. It was the first time since Tara that he saw a woman as something more than a tool to satisfy his sexual needs.

Despite having been married to Wendy, this was his first mature adult relationship. Wendy had been nothing much more than a series of one night stands strung together into a marriage. He'd married her out of loneliness before he even knew her. He'd beaten himself up mentally for that mistake more times than he could count. He would never make that mistake again. He shoved aside thoughts of his past and decided to focus on this time with Scarlett and the present.

Grocery shopping with Scarlett always amazed him because she actually used a list and was organized. He just wandered down the aisles adding food to his cart. Later, he'd look at the stuff he got and try to figure out what meals he could make from it. Scarlett planned meals out. It had never even occurred to him to do that beyond one meal and that was usually the night he was grocery shopping.

She always pushed the cart when they shopped together because it was easier for her to walk with the aid of the cart. He would go ahead and find the items on the list which made quick work of their grocery shopping. Now, she was walking faster—still slower than he walked but she was taking longer steps.

He didn't drape himself all over Scarlett. There was a certain MC swagger that didn't work with being all over a woman at the grocery store. It would make him look weak and part of being an outlaw biker was looking the part.

"I think we should have at least one cooked meal with some kind of protein. Fish, pork, chicken or beef?" Scarlett asked.

"How about teriyaki chicken kabobs?" Jax suggested. "There's this bottled stuff that we can get. Donna made them once and they were really good."

"OK," Scarlett agreed. "You can get the bottled stuffed and the chicken. I don't think we have rice at the lake house. I'll get the rice and we can meet up in produce."

They met up in the produce section so Jax could lift a watermelon into the cart even the smallest personal sized watermelons were too heavy for Scarlett to lift without pulling the muscles in her back.

"I've missed having watermelon this summer," Scarlett said.

"When I was a kid, we had watermelon a lot, but I haven't had it much since," Jax said.

"It was always a special treat for me when I was little," Scarlett said.

They quickly checked out and Jax loaded the groceries into the van. He got into the van before removing his cut and carefully putting it into his duffel bag.

Before Jax started the van, he turned his head to look at Scarlett.

"I do have two SAMCRO T-shirts for you in my duffel. We were out of shirts and needed to get more made and then the shirts I wanted for you were on back order. I know you like longer T-shirts, so I got you one in bright blue with a reaper in that dark pink color you wear a lot. That's just for you because it is definitely a non-club approved T-shirt."

"I'll only wear it around you," Scarlett promised with a grin. "I'm so happy to get a T-shirt. I've wanted one for so long but I didn't want to say anything."

Jax chuckled at Scarlett's enthusiasm.

"I got you another that is just the normal reaper T-shirt but extra long because you're so tall."

"Thank you," Scarlett said turning her body in her car seat and kissing Jax on the cheek.

"When you said you were hoping for a T-shirt, I almost told you then."

"That's so sweet to get them extra long for me," Scarlett said. "You are the best."

"I am," Jax said with a wicked grin.

"I might need some more cooling down," Scarlett said. "Could we go by the drive thru so I can get some tropical iced tea?"

"Sure. We'll get a giant gulp and we can share," Jax said.

They went through the drive thru that had the tropical iced tea that Scarlett liked and headed out. They picked up the sandwiches and deli salads that Scarlett ordered earlier and set out on the final leg of the trip.

They had gone less than ten miles on the freeway when Jax noticed a white pickup truck swerving all over the freeway.

"Drunk driver?" Jax suggested looking in the rear view mirror.

Scarlett turned and saw the pickup swinging from side to side on the freeway. Cars slammed on their brakes trying to avoid hitting the lunatic. Other cars scattered amid a lot of honking of horns at the pickup.

"Out of state driver?" Scarlett countered.

The white pickup was traveling at least ninety miles an hour when it passed Jax and then suddenly without warning or signaling, it swung in front of the van. Jax slammed on the brakes, sending the van skidding across the freeway directly into the path of a big rig.

Scarlett braced herself for the impact.