DutchessTiki- This is an awesome chapter! Acclamation into parenthood can be tough, you've more than made up for the absence! I can't wait for more
So glad you understand. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 8: One Day
Dinner ended around ten or so. Jax and Clay made the prospects, Phil and Ratboy clean up for Gemma, who had gone to bed early. The guys decided that the night wasn't over, and we all found ourselves back at the clubhouse, having a repeat of Jax's party. There were now, even more people at the clubhouse, than at Gemma's. Some inside, and some outside, drinking, talking, and smoking. There were a few non members doing wheelies up and down the street on their sports bikes, while Tig, and Rat lightheartedly beat the crap out of each other, in the boxing ring out by where the picnic tables were.
That's where Jess and I sat, smoking the rest of the joint, Jax saved for her, listening to the crow eaters, and other members egg the fight on. All I could do as I watched them go toe to toe, was shake my head at how bad they both were at sparring.
"Guess it's a good thing this isn't a professional fight." I said to Jess, expecting her to laugh, only for her to stay quiet. I glanced over to see her looking off into space, clearly too high to hear me talking to her.
"Ummm Jess?" I nudged her arm with my elbow, causing her to jump.
"Huh? What? What happened?"
"I was talking to you, but it's not that important…"
"Oh shit, my bad. I was thinking." She said, taking a puff from the joint.
"About?" I asked, and she hesitated at first, but sighed, before opening her mouth to speak.
"So don't laugh, but like… Have you ever wondered if blind people can see their dreams? Or do you think they just hear shit while they sleep?" She asked, and I couldn't help but look at her, wondering if she was serious, but the blank expression on her face told me that she wasn't kidding. I tried so hard to keep a straight face, but because of the THC in my system, all I could do was bust out laughing, which in turn caused her to laugh.
"Fuck you, Elise. I was serious!" She laughingly whined.
"Yeah I know, which makes it ten times funnier, because how fried do you have to be to ask a question like that?!" I cracked up, before reaching over and grabbing the joint from her.
"I'll take this off of your hands, love. I'm officially cutting your high ass off after that." I said, taking a hit and shaking my head at that overthought question.
"Shit, you just did me a favor, this cotton mouth is kicking my ass." She sighed, before standing up. "I'm gonna go get something to drink."
"Better be water, unless you wanna turn the party into a scene from the exorcist again!" I teased, drawing another pull from the j. She playfully cut her eyes at me, before flipping me off, and heading inside the clubhouse.
I turned my attention back to the fight just as Tig cold cocked Rat in the jaw, knocking him out on his belly. I felt an impressed frown form on my face, and I nodded in approval taking a puff, as Chibs, and Juice came to Rat's aid. That's when Tig came to my side of the ring and leaned on the ropes.
"Say birthday girl, what's a doll like you know about boxing?" He asked, leering at me.
"Enough to know that that wasn't boxing. Just a whole lot of lazy footwork, wild swinging, and bad form, but overall still a good fight. I think I could've done better though." I shrugged, shooting him a sardonic grin.
"Yeah? Well maybe you could teach me some of your moves outside the ring. I agree that I could use some work on my form." He suggestively hurled back, and I felt my nose wrinkle up, at the thought of what he was hinting, and shook my head, as I took one last hit off of the joint.
"She ain't interested, Tiggy." The sound of Jax's voice caused me to look over to my left, and see him walking up to where I was sitting. He sat down with his legs on either side of the table's bench, and scooted so close to me that I was basically sitting in between his legs.
"Plenty crow eaters around here for you to choose from though." He added, and I watched Tig throw both of his arms up, and wave us off.
"Ahh, no fair man! You always get the pretty ones with all their teeth, you lucky bastard!" He said, before turning around and going about his business.
"You must be really high to wanna entertain Tig." Jax teased, plucking the roach from in between my fingertips, and putting it out in the ashtray in the middle of the table. I just rolled my eyes.
"Anyway! What have you been off doing all night? Haven't seen you since we left Gemma's."
"Just talking club shit with Clay."
"Club shit at a party?" I asked, and he nodded.
"A VP's job never ends."
"Well, if being a VP keeps you tied up during times of fun, I'd hate to see how busy you'll be when you become President!" I said, and I noticed him become visibly uncomfortable, as he looked away, gritting his teeth. I tilted my head, and squinted at him as I tried to figure him out.
"Something wrong?" I asked, getting his attention again, and he looked at me for a second before shaking his head, and standing up. He grabbed my hand, and pulled me to my feet as well.
"C'mon, I wanna show you something." He said, guiding me towards the clubhouse entrance.
People moved around us when they saw us coming through, and Jax led me down the hall leading to the dorm rooms. On the way, I glanced into one of the rooms, only to see Jess sprawled out and fully clothed on the bed, and noticed a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the nightstand. She was passed out, with her shoes still on and everything.
I stopped in the doorway, tugging on Jax's hand, and causing him to look back at me in confusion. I pointed into the room, showing him his sister.
"Looks like you're stuck here for the night."
"Yeah, lucky for you. I should lock the door, so no one messes with her." I said, and Jax scoffed.
"Trust me, everyone here knows better than to mess with my sister. The most they might do is draw a unibrow and mustache on her in permanent marker, but that's it…. As a matter of fact-" He joked, patting his self down for what I'm guessing was a marker.
"See, that's even more reason for me to lock the door." I laughed, shaking my head, and doing like I said. I shut the door and looked up at Jax, who was smiling at me in admiration.
"She's lucky to have a friend like you." He said, before draping his arm over my shoulders.
"I'm sure she would do the same for me." I shrugged, sliding my arm around his waist and continuing with him down the hall.
We turned in to Jax's room, and I went to sit on the bed, while he rummaged through a box on top of the dresser. He pulled out a binder with a thick stack of papers inside, then he walked over, and sat beside me, handing me the binder.
I opened it up and mentally read the message in the middle of the first page.
'The life and death of sam crow. How the sons of anarchy lost their way. By John Thomas Teller.'
"What's this? And why are you showing it to me?" I asked, looking up at Jax in confusion.
"This is my late father's manuscript. It's a book he wrote before he died, talking about his vision for his club, and how what he built started to become less about brotherhood, and more about fear and greed. Reading it a few years back, I just thought my old man was talking nonsense, but after doing that time in prison, and taking time to reflect on all of samcro's past and current dealings, I realized that he was right. This club has lost it's way, and it's turned into something that I no longer want to be a part of." He trailed off.
"I'm showing it to you because of what you said out there about me becoming president. That ain't really something I wanna do… Not anymore, and the reason why is in that binder. I want to get out of the club, and start a new life somewhere with a clean slate. That's actually what I was talking to Clay about tonight. We made a deal that he would peacefully let me walk away from the club, if I finished out one last order of business for samcro." Curiosity had me tempted to ask him to elaborate more on this order of business, but I decided not to, as I knew he probably wasn't going to discuss their affairs with the daughter of a sheriff.
"So what do you plan on doing once you leave the club? Where would you go?" I asked instead, finding it hard to picture him as anything other than a biker.
"I'm a pretty good mechanic, and businessman, so I plan to open my own auto repair shop somewhere far away from Charming. I'm thinking somewhere on the east coast."
Right after he said that, my stomach growled loud enough for both of us to hear it. I pursed my lips, looking up at Jax, who was already staring at me like he had never heard such a noise before, and we fell into a fit of laughter.
"Got the munchies?" He asked, and I nodded bashfully.
"I didn't wanna say anything, but I'm craving a large stuffed crust pepperoni pizza with pineapples and jalapeños on it." I told him, and he looked up at the clock on the wall above the door.
"I know a good pizza place, but who the fuck eats pineapples on pizza though?" He pulled out his phone and dialed in a number.
"Don't knock it til you try it." I shot back, looking down at his dad's manuscript, and running a curious hand over it, while he waited for an answer.
He ordered in from a pizza place, here in Charming, called 'Joe's New York style pizza', and it arrived in thirty minutes. Jax left the room for all of five minutes, just to wind the party down, and when he got back I was already working on the other half of the pizza. He made a comment about how fast I was eating, but I didn't catch it because I was honestly too busy stuffing my face. By the time I got full, there was only four slices left. Embarrassing, but I couldn't help how hungry I was, thanks to the munchies.
Anyway, Jax had brought a deck of cards, when he came back in the room, and while he finished what I didn't eat, and talked shit about my choice in pizza toppings, he had me shuffle and set them out on the bed, so we could play a game of memory.
When I beat him the first time, I decided to make it interesting, and turn it into strip memory, in which the rules were basically if you didn't get a match, you had to strip one article of clothing, and if you did get a match, your opponent had to strip. With only my shirt off, I beat Jax down to his underwear, and he ended up giving up before all the cards had been found.
"Aww, but the game was just getting good." I fake pouted, as I picked up all the cards.
"Yeah, says the one with damn near all her clothes on." He said, laying back in the bed.
"Well it's not my fault my memory is just better than yours, old man." I teased, setting the cards on the nightstand, next to the bed.
Jax motioned for me to lay with him, so I kicked my shoes off, and climbed up next to him, with my head on his chest, and my hand resting on his abs.
He picked up my hand and brushed his thumb over my knuckles, that I didn't know were bruised up until just then.
"You're way too pretty to be fighting." He said, and I nodded in agreement.
"And that's exactly why I don't give the person I'm fighting the opportunity to touch my face." I jokingly shot back.
"Where'd you learn to fight like that anyway? I was surprised to see how you fucked Ima's face up, and I never would've expected you to do that kinda damage."
"My dad. He was a professional boxer back in his days as a marine, and he made sure to teach me everything he knew about the sport. Of course, this was back when we could stand to be around each other though."
"Your old man was a marine? Maybe that explains why he's so… intense."
"Intense?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Please. That man is so uptight, he could squeeze a brick to dust with his butt cheeks!" I corrected, and Jax laughed, but I was so serious.
Placing my hand back down on his torso, I felt a rough area under my hand and looked down, to see what looked like three healed scars just above his stomach.
"What happened here?" I asked, gently running my fingers over them.
"Got stabbed while I was in prison." He said, and I gasped, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Who'd you piss off enough for them to stab you three times?"
"People who used to be associated with the club. They did it as a way to sever their ties with us."
"Well shit, I see why you want out of the club in that case." I huffed, and Jax scoffed.
"Funny enough, that wasn't even the last straw for me." He said, and I looked up into his eyes with my chin resting on his chest, waiting for him to explain. He read my expression, and shook his head.
"I can't tell you everything, sweet cheeks. Not now, but one day. I promise you'll know it all one day." He gave his word, as he comfortingly caressed my arm.
We talked a little while longer, and Jax eventually fell asleep on me. I was unable to sleep since I couldn't wrap my hair up, so I sat up, with Jax's head resting on my thigh, and arms wrapped around my leg, looking around for something to do. I ended up laying eyes on his dad's manuscript again, and decided to read it, and find out at least some of what Jax didn't want to tell me yet.
The whole thing was full of vague, poetic metaphors, that made it hard for me to comprehend, being that I wasn't a member, and didn't know John Teller. From what I could understand though, I gathered that John, and Piney- Opie's father started the club in hopes of creating a brotherhood after serving in the Vietnam war, but somewhere along the way the members became violent, and lawless. In John's own words, he didn't intend for the club to take the path it took. It just seemed to happen, and with it, he went. I read most of the manuscript, until I found myself nodding and dozing off.
Let me know how this chapter was :)