Fighting Destiny 6

Chapter 31 More Than One Way

"

Clay was fuming after his conversation with Jax. He didn't trust him. He suspected that he was up to something that would end up with Jax being president of SAMCRO. The whole plan to leave Charming was fake. The little prince would never leave his kingdom.

As far as Opie and Piney leaving SAMCRO, that was just all part of his plan to put pressure on him. Maybe he was hoping the guys would beg them all to stay and then Jax would end up president. Jax was a sneaky son of a bitch.

He hoped that it was real—that Jax, Opie and Piney would all leave. He didn't care about them leaving as long as he kept his president's patch. They could always recruit more guys.

He needed money to keep Gemma in the style that she was accustomed to which meant a cleaning lady twice a week, a gardener once a week to mow the grass and help with Gemma's plant projects and a new leased car every two years because Gemma's world would come to an end if she had to drive a car for three years.

She was waiting for him in the bedroom, propped up in bed, her glasses perched on her nose reading a romance novel with a woman's clothes half ripped off. He didn't understand why she wanted to read trash like that.

"How did things go with Jax?" Gemma asked peering at Clay over the tops of her glasses.

"Fine. The guys understand why he wants to leave. We've got a deal closing tomorrow and another next week and then he'll be officially gone."

"I can't believe Jax is really leaving."

"Wait until you hear this," Clay said. "Piney and Opie are leaving too. They are going to Louisiana with Jax."

The book fell from Gemma's hands hitting the floor. She pulled her glasses off and stared at Clay unable to believe what she'd just heard.

"Piney leaving? He's first nine."

"I know," Clay said, irritated that Gemma would think he wouldn't remember something that basic. "He's going so he can be near Opie and his grand kids. Opie says he wants to give his kids a better life and that means leaving California."

"I'm not that surprised by Opie, but Piney leaving SAMCRO is unbelievable."

"With Jax and Opie gone, there's not much left in Charming for him," Clay said.

"Except the MC," Gemma said.

"Guess Piney loves his son and grand kids more than the MC," Clay said drily.

Gemma chewed her lip as she watched Clay undress and put on his pajamas. She didn't like this new development with Opie and Piney. It would be harder to persuade Jax to stay in Charming if Opie and Piney were also planning to leave with him.

It crushed her to think that Jax had been planning his departure from Charming for quite awhile without giving her any kind of opportunity to have a say. To now find out that he had not only been planning his exit from Charming, but Piney and Opie were also involved in that planning hurt her to the core. It was nothing short of a betrayal. And to think she'd been like a mother to Opie.

Jax had schemed and planned this whole move behind her back. She knew he kept her deliberately in the dark, but it wasn't his fault. Jax was always weak when in came to Tara. She was behind all this. The whole move was her fault.

"Jax came over while you were busy talking to Opie and Piney. He said Tara told him that I threatened to rat her out to the cops over that cross I gave her to give to Otto. Stupid bitch is just trying to destroy my relationship with Jax."

Clay shook his head, his face tight with anger.

"How could he even think you would do something like that? You're my old lady. You can't rat."

"I know," Gemma agreed, "but that bitch Tara is telling him that just to cause problems. It's not enough that she's taking my only son and grandson away from me, she's got to poison our relationship too."

"Never did like her," Clay said. "Always walks around with her nose in the air thinking she's better than everyone else because she's a doctor."

"She's been like that her whole life," Gemma said. "When she was a teenager, she walked around like she was better than everyone always talking about how she was going to leave this incestuous little town."

"Guess that was still her plan," Clay said getting into bed. He kissed Gemma on the cheek. "I have to be up early. MC business."

Gemma turned off the lamp and pretended to go to sleep. There was no way she would be able to sleep; she was too fired up with anger to sleep.

The level of betrayal from her son was too much for her to bear. How could he plan to run away with his old lady, her grandson, his best friend and his best friend's father and not say anything to her? And Opie and Piney were stabbing her in the back too. They were all a bunch of ungrateful bastards.

It was all Tara poisoning Jax's mind against her. Something needed to be done. It was time for a plan that would destroy that little marriage. Baby Nate was the only tie Jax had to Tara. That was gone now. There was nothing keeping them together. It might sound cold, but maybe Baby Nate's death was for the best.

She'd never felt that same love for him that she had for Abel. Maybe that was because Tara was his mother and her negative feelings for Tara spilled over to Baby Nate. Tara was also so crazy about her baby that she ignored Abel. She tried to make up for that by loving Abel more and spending more time with him. Abel was the future of SAMCRO. He had to stay in Charming with Jax and learn about being part of the MC.

She would break up Jax and Tara. Tara had no rights to Abel. She could leave town just as they had planned only without Jax and Abel. She didn't really give a damn what Tara did as long as she was out of Jax's life for good. She wasn't going to lose her only son and grandson.

As she turned over various options, she found one that might work; should work if she knew her son as well as she thought she did.

Tomorrow, she would put her plan in motion. There was more than one way to destroy a marriage.

"

To Guest Reader Ash—Baby Nate is just called that. My nephew was about Abel's age when his brother was born and he would always call him Baby Tyler I guess to make sure everyone knew that Tyler was a baby. We all started calling him that. I can't remember when we stopped but it was many months maybe even a year. I stole that bit of my life for the story.

Jax and Tara are out of sync over the different ways they are grieving the loss of Baby Nate. As you pointed out, marriages usually break up after the death of a child.

And see, I didn't give Jax a pass over the boxes. I couldn't tell you this earlier because I didn't want to give up that plot point.