Jax sat back in his chair in the outdoor seating area, and took a sip of his coffee as he watched Jules inhale a piece of chocolate cake. He wondered what she would be doing right now if she were in Chicago, and while this place was pretty nice, how could the places here, in Stockton, in Charming, compare to places in a metropolis like Chicago?
Jules looked over at him, brow furrowed just a bit. "What? Do I have cake on my face?"
He shook his head. "No, although with the way you're inhaling it, I'm surprised." She smiled as he chuckled a little. "Nah, I was just thinking about what you would be doing if you were back in Chicago right now."
Jules sat the fork on the plate and took a drink of her latte, then shrugged. "First of all, it's almost eleven-thirty in Chicago, so there is a good chance I would already be asleep, as lame as that sounds." She grinned a little. "Between Sophie and Eric, if I'm in bed past seven am, someone is sick."
Lighting a cigarette, she sat back and looked at him for a moment. He could see she was gathering her thoughts and took another drink of his own coffee and waited her out.
Before she could start talking, a couple of people, professionals around their age had come out to the outdoor area. As Jules tried to turn to not be seen, the woman had spotted them.
"Jules? Jules Baroja? Is that you?" The woman's voice still had traces of the East Coast and she looked like a stereotypical sorority girl grown up. All blonde hair and tits covered by an expensive power suit.
"Fuck." Jules breathed under her breath as she turned back to the woman. "Cecily. How are you?" Leaning into him as she went to stand. "Stanford dorm roommate. God, she was so annoying."
He sat back with a slight smirk on his face, masking the intense interest in the meeting. He had wondered how someone like Jules navigated the stuffy Stanford world, even if only for a year.
Jules gave the woman one of those hugs that he's seen women who can barely tolerate each other give. The other woman seemed oblivious to Jules reluctance to engage, but the man did.
"Cecily, these people are obviously in the middle of dessert, maybe we should move along." The guy was shorter than both he and Jules, impeccably dressed and highly uncomfortable. The guy eyeing his kutte like it might jump out and bite him.
"Nonsense, Mitchell. If they wanted to be left alone, they would have stayed home." The woman flipped her blonde hair and looked back to Jules. "So, it's been forever." The woman smiled, and it made his flesh shudder. "You know, since you dropped out of Stanford, breaking poor Sam's heart." He had to give the woman credit, she was good, Gemma good. She apparently had issues with Jules and she was going to try and make Jules squirm. "And there I was, so sure that you two would eventually be making giant babies." Cecily turned to him. "Sam was one of the few guys in the dorm more than an inch taller than Jules." Then turned back to Jules. "But, Jessica healed his broken heart for him."
"Until she died." Jules voice was flat. "You've tried to do your damage Cecily, I think it's time to end this little reunion." Cecily's boyfriend looked like he was totally onboard for that idea.
Before Cecily could speak, Jules stood back up and hovered over the smaller woman. "Yeah, we're done. I've never quite understood what your problem with me is, but back then, I had to deal with it because Stanford Housing in all its lack of wisdom, decided we should be roommates. But, out here in the real world, as real adults, I don't have to listen to one second of your passive-aggressive bullshit." He could see the Tig-like gleam in Jules's eyes.
Before Jules could go on, Cecily's face turned ugly and the woman was nearly hissing words at Jules. "You always thought you were better than me, and all you are is biker trash."
He could see Jules ball up her hands into fists, and then take a deep breath. "Cecily, I am not responsible for your neurosis, or insecurities. And you need to walk away right now, before I show you exactly how biker trash I am."
He stood quickly and took Jules by the arm, as Mitchell reached for Cecily to pull her away. Luckily, the outdoor area population was sparse, and since no voices had been raised, no one was paying attention.
"Babe." He started to pull Jules down into her seat, while looking up at Cecily's boyfriend. "Think maybe you two need to go back inside." His tone making obvious that was the only option available.
Mitchell nodded, pulling Cecily with him. "Yeah." The man nodded toward Cecily. "Sorry about this. Had no idea." Speeding the two of them back inside.
As they were going, he could hear Cecily hiss at her boyfriend, he wasn't sure what, but he could hear the boyfriend's response.
"Cecily, if we're going to take over my Dad's practice here, first rule of this area; don't fuck with SAMCRO."
He and Jules looked at each other for a moment, then both grinned. Jules's eyes sparkling as she took another drink of her latte. "Not a bad rule to have." Her smile faded. "Well, wasn't that just loads of fun?"
He shrugged. "You don't have to explain shit to me if you don't want to, babe." He gestured at the two of them. "We're adults. We've got baggage. Good and bad." He shrugged again while lighting a smoke.
Jules smiled and finished off the last couple bites of her cake. Wiping her lips, she turned back to him. "Sam Winchester was never going to be the father of my kids." Jules shook her head fondly. "The two of us were so out of place at Stanford, it was almost a survival mechanism that spurred our dating." She smiled. "While we certainly love each other, neither one of us was ever in love with the other."
"Love? Present tense and not past?" He could feel himself frowning. Mostly due to the jealousy he was feeling. He'd never felt that way over some girl before, not even Tara.
Jules shrugged. "We still e-mail here and there. Mostly hi, how are ya." Then laughed. "Of course, the last few years have been more Sophie-centric. At least on my end." Her face took on a hollow look. "I haven't seen him since after he left Stanford when Jess died, at her funeral." And as if she could hear the question. "Died in an apartment fire. Sam was getting ready to propose." Her lip quivered. "He said they would wait until after he graduated from law school so that Sophie could be their flower girl." She wiped at the corner of her eyes. "That's what really pissed me off with Cecily. Jess was my friend, I was happy that her and Sam had each other." Her lips twisted as she tried to finish her thought. "Isn't that what you're supposed to want for the people you love, for them to be happy?"
He had the feeling the question was rhetorical, but he answered anyway. Kissing the hand that he had taken a hold of, he looked at her, all flirting and kidding aside. "It is, darlin'."
"Yeah." She said, squeezing his hand. She looked at the empty plate and coffee cups in front of them. "Let's get out of here." Stepping into him as he wrapped her into a hug. "Get on that sweet bike of yours and just go for a while."
Smiling into her crown of curls, he squeezed her tight. "We can do that."
/
Gemma sat back on her couch, picking up the glass of wine she had poured herself after clearing the house of all that were not sleeping under her roof tonight. Most everyone had cleared out not long after Jax and Jules, with just Jake's boys and Tig sticking around.
She had to admit, the whole bath, story, bed thing probably would have been a lot rougher without Dennis Lyons in the house. He knew Sophie's routine and was far better at cajoling the tired toddler to do what she didn't want to than the rest of them. Jake and Tig would have just given in, as would Eric Lyons. While she wouldn't have given in to Sophie; she had already endured one dressing down from Jules, she really didn't want another in less than twenty-four hours; she probably would have just prompted a tantrum out of the girl, and a phone call to Jax and Jules to come calm Sophie down.
Jake came back into the house from seeing his boys off for the night. He eyed her glass of red wine. She smirked. "Bottle and glass in the kitchen." The lanky man nodded as he detoured to the kitchen.
Jake came back from the kitchen holding a beer. He shrugged. "I like Chaintis and Malbacs." Then rolled his eyes. "Lu likes wine."
Taking a sip of her Merlot, she smirked again. "Your secret is safe with me."
Jake snorted. "I have four smart-ass kids. That information has been disseminated in the most embarrassing ways they could think of." He shook his head with a smile. "Dennis obviously being the worst of the bunch."
She laughed. "That boy is somethin' special, all right." Then looked back towards the room that held Sophie. "Gotta say, for all that 'special-ness', he sure has the touch with Sophie."
"Yeah, he pretty much lives with the two of them." Jake took a drink of his beer. "I don't know what he's gonna do if they end up staying out here permanently."
"We got room for a Prospect." Clay's voice came from behind them. He had been outside talking with Tig.
Jake shook his head. "Nah, if Den moved out here for the girls, he'd go civvy." Jake sighed, and for the first time she could see how worn out he was, regardless of how awake the man seemed to be. "Other than it's what the men in our family have done, I still have no idea why Den even patched into our club."
She reached over and patted Jake's knee. "Because he respects the men in your family. That's why. It's how he shows it, no matter how jack-assy he can act."
Clay leaned down to give her a kiss. "Well, nothing is being decided tonight, so I'm heading to bed." He looked at her. "You coming?"
She nodded towards her glass of wine. "I'll come to bed in a bit." Also giving Jake a covert look. While Clay had business still to discuss with the man, so did she. Just a little more on the personal side. And couldn't be taken care of in a room of bikers.
Clay nodded, then looked to Jake. "Goodnight."
Jake nodded back. "Yeah. You too."
She waited until she could hear their bedroom door click, signaling it's close, she turned back to Jake. "You think the girls won't choose to stay?"
Jake shrugged. "No idea." Then the man gave her a wolfish smile as he sat his beer on the coaster she had laid out for him. "And even if I had one, I wouldn't be selling my kid out." The smile softened. "Even to someone who has only the best intentions." This time it was Jake reaching out and patting her knee. "If you want to know, talk to my daughter." Giving her a look daring her to contradict that last part of his statement.
"Wouldn't dream of it, sweetheart." And that was the truth. She had seen enough of the dynamic between Jake and Jules to call them anything other than father-daughter would be an insult to both. "But, that doesn't mean there isn't room for Tig in there, too." Addressing what hadn't been said. At least in words.
Jake's body bristled, but his face remained neutral. She could see where Jules picked that look up from. "That would be another thing up to Jules." Then came a rueful shake of the head. "Whether I like it or not."
"What the fuck did Tig do to have Jules's mother shut him out like that?" She shook her head. "Granted, Tiggy is fucking nuts, but he's never even come close to hurting a kid, especially one of his own." As much as she respected Jake's relationship with Jules, she wasn't going to not defend one of her guys.
Jake looked everywhere but at her face as he began to speak. "You know anything about Tig's family?" Not bothering to check if she nodded or shook her head, Jake already knew the answer was no.
Jake shook his head. "When old man Trager was still alive, things were okay enough in that house. His mother was someone that Mama always referred to as 'delicate'. Deeply religious, but, as they'd say now, also bi-polar as hell. And her lows tended to be violent." Jake sighed. "After the old man died, she functioned well enough to run a household, but I don't think it was the sanest house to live in."
Jake finally looked at her. "Marina was afraid if Tig found out that Jules was his, so would his mother." Jake's eyes took on an anger. "And considering that old bat called Marina a 'brown devil woman', Marina didn't want that woman anywhere close to her baby girl, was afraid that Tig wouldn't be able to keep Jules safe from her. Who knows what that woman would have done." Jake picked up his beer and took a drink. "And I think Marina did the right thing."
"So, it had nothing to do with Tig directly? Why the fuck didn't she just talk to him? Tell him to keep his crazy-ass mother away." If this was the only reason that Marina Baroja had for cutting Tiggy out, it was a shitty one. Not that she would say that out loud, not if she wanted to continue to count Jake Lyons as an ally.
"Wasn't just that." Jake's voice was clipped. "Something in Trager went a little haywire while he was on duty overseas. Marina saw something that made her not totally trust him anymore." Jake's blue eyes bored into hers. "That's all she would say, and I respected that." Then there was a hint of a smirk on the weathered, handsome face. "And no one needs to know about this little conversation. I make not like Trager all that much, but it wouldn't be okay if all of his laundry came to light."
She blinked. She hated to admit it, she had figured that Jake really wouldn't give a rat's ass about Tig or Tig's feelings. But the man was aware that Tig did not talk about his past, and Jake was asking her to respect that.
She smiled as she drank the last of her wine and stood. "What conversation? Go get some sleep, the way things have been going around here, who knows what'll happen tomorrow."
Jake saluted her with his beer. "You're a keeper, Gemma. I've gotta say, if the girls stay, I feel better knowing you'll have an eye on them." He stood and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight." Then he walked off to the guest room, with his beer in hand.
Walking to the kitchen, she sat her wine glass by the sink. Before going into her room, she stopped at Jax's old room and peeked in. Sophie was fast asleep in her handed-down motorcycle pajamas, holding fast to Spook Dog and Sam Bear, sleeping hard. She left the bedroom door partially open, and quietly made her way to her own bedroom where Clay was sitting up in bed, reading a book.
"Get the info you wanted?" As he watched her get ready for bed.
She thought about the conversation she and Jake just had. She wasn't sure if she had gotten the information she wanted, but she had certainly been given food for thought.
"Not really." She smirked at her husband as she climbed into their bed, she wouldn't tell Clay what Jake had told her until Papa Lyons was well on his way back to Chicago. "But he did say that he feels better about the girls being here if I'm keeping an eye on them."
Clay grinned before kissing her. "He obviously doesn't know you well." Clay laughed as she pinched his arm. "See, this is the kind of bad influence I'm talkin' about." Kissing her again.
"Yeah, yeah. Yuk it up." She smiled a little as she took her spot in their bed, pulling the covers up over her legs. Turning, she faced her husband. "Well, the girls can't stay at the clubhouse for long…" Which was true, the clubhouse was no place for a toddler.
"You want them to stay here? That would be fine." Clay set his book aside, starting to settle in for the night. "Or are you thinking Jax's? You finished up over there?"
Sighing as she laid down. "Almost. Gotta re-do Abel's room from that fuck Kohn breaking in, but all of Wendy's shit is packed up and in storage."
Clay reached over and turned out the bedside light. "Well, I say that they stay at the clubhouse until Jake leaves, then ask Jules what she wants to do." He gave her a final kiss. "There's my two cents, do what you want."
She smiled in the dark. "Don't I always?"
Clay's responding chuckle resonated in her ears until sleep came.
/
Jules felt better after they had ridden for a bit, the anger and anxiety produced by her old roommate had dissipated in the wind. Jax pulled off onto a side road that she could barely see, must have been some sort of service road.
They wound up the dirt road to a small bluff. Jax pulled over and turned back to her. "You okay with stopping for a while?" He gestured towards his saddlebag. "Got a throw in there we can sit on."
Some mellow time sitting under the stars sounded good to her. "Sounds like a plan." Getting off the bike and putting the helmet that Eric had brought her on the bitch seat of Jax's bike, she waited for Jax to pull out the promised ground cover.
After they had gotten it spread out, and the two of them settled down on it, Jax wrapping an arm around her, she smiled. "I hope you weren't planning sexy time under the stars, I hate to be a buzzkill."
Jax laughed for a couple of minutes. By the time she was ready to be offended, he stopped laughing and was trying to catch his breath. "Oh, Jesus." He chuckled again. "Sexy times under the stars?!" She had to give him credit, he was trying to stop his laughter, he was just failing spectacularly. "You have something against outdoor sex?" Still trying to stop his laughter.
She did the only thing she could, hit him on the bicep. Not hard, just enough to convey the fact that he was far more amused than he should be. "No." Then laughed herself. "I'd just probably relax enough that I'd fall asleep." She gave him a smirk. "I'd hate to bruise your ego like that."
He laughed again, but this time it wasn't the uncontrollable laughter from before. Just a good full-throated laugh with a wide smile that made his face light up. Damn, he was a good-looking man.
Still chuckling while he lit a joint, as he exhaled he handed it to her. "Then I vote we don't do that." Then kissed her temple as she was taking a deep hit. Another plus in the Cali column, better weed here than in Chicago. Or at least at better prices. "I thought we might, you know, talk." He gave her a smirk of his own. "You know, that thing you do to get to know someone?"
That made her cough out her hit. Looked like Jax had thought of everything as a bottle of water was handed to her. After taking a drink, she looked at Jax. "Okay, smart-ass. Talk sounds good." She leaned back into him. "What do you want to know?" She pitched her voice in a parody of a dumb sorority girl. "My favorite color is red, my favorite…" She couldn't finish because of the hand Jax was holding over her mouth.
He shook his head with a slight smile. "I suppose we could play twenty questions, but how about we continue the conversation that we started at the coffee shop."
Oh, he really wanted to talk. She got that this was a hell of a lot more serious than some fun-filled night; they both knew that this would either be everything or nothing at all, so she should be grateful that he wasn't just all about getting into her panties. But, she was a little disappointed he hadn't tried harder.
"We could do that." She conceded. She snagged the joint from his hand and took another hit. Once she had exhaled the smoke from her lungs and felt the familiar buzz up her spine, she handed it back to Jax. "As far as I remember I was telling you that I was lame and would already be asleep by now if I were home."
Jax chuckled. "Well, it is nearly midnight there now, I'd probably be asleep, too." Then laughed a little harder. "Or wishing I was."
"You thought being an outlaw would cut down on those early morning hours, didn't you?" She couldn't help but quip.
Jax smiled a little wider. "Yeah, that's it, exactly." He shook his head. "Nah, you know, like your brothers, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into."
She nodded. That was true, Eric and Den had an advantage other Prospects did not. They knew the drill better than some patched members, having seen Prospects come and go over the years.
"Well, then." She peered at him in the moonlight and the faint light coming up from the City of Stockton. "What does Jax Teller like to do when he's not being Mr. SAMCRO VP?"
He looked off, over the city, and shrugged. "That takes up a lot of my time, babe." Then shrugged again. "I don't know, normal stuff."
"What the fuck is normal stuff?" She laughed a little.
"You know, work out. Maybe watch a game on TV." He looked to be a little put out. "Read a book. Nothing exciting."
She put a hand on his arm. "Doesn't sound entirely different than what I have going on in Chicago. Just add more concerts, and Dennis." She grinned. "Dennis is an adventure unto himself." Then she shrugged. "I have a kid, and other than family, she doesn't have a sitter. And I don't like to take advantage of Lu. She has a hard job and shouldn't spend all her days off taking care of my kid. So, it's not like I'm on the go twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." Then thinking of Soph, she smiled. "I mean me and Soph have things we do during the day, but she's usually in bed by seven." She shrugged again. "Yeah, friends will come over and hang out, but if you think that I have this fast-paced big city lifestyle, I really don't." She couldn't resist, she grinned. "Don't tell the others, I like them thinking I'm all fabulous."
The put-out look upon Jax's face had faded as she had rambled on about how boring her life was, and as she ended, he had grinned back. "Never, darlin'. You have my word." Then his grinned dimmed into a gentler smile. "Slow-paced sounds just about my speed." His tone turned more serious. "The last year, hell, years, other than SAMCRO all I really did was get fucked up and fuck, well, any girl I could. But, I'm so tired of that, and now, with Abel, I really am ready to settle."
Again, she just couldn't stop herself from the smart-ass moment. "Settle? That's what me and Soph are?" Her tone trying to let him know that she was only joking.
He shot her a dirty look. "You know what I mean. I want someone who feels the same way about family that I do, and understands the MC life, and is okay with it."
She did know what he meant. But, she also knew that SAMCRO was a whole different animal than the MC she had grown up in. And she had to address that, and now seemed like as good of time as any.
"SAMCRO isn't the Satan Son's." She took a deep breath. "I know they are a one-percent club at heart, but the only people who really know that outside the club are a pretty select bunch."
She stopped when Jax held a hand up. "I know. And I'm trying to get my club away from guns." He kept his hand up when she went to speak. "I really can't say more than that right now. Not until I'm sure it's gonna pan out. Just trust me."
She studied his face. He was serious as all hell. This was her moment of truth. She either accepted what he said and trusted his word, or she didn't. The moment seemed to stretch, and even though it felt like a huge leap, she jumped any way. "Okay."
He looked surprised. "That's it? That's all you have to say? Okay?"
She nodded. "I guess I could give a half-hearted effort to weasel the information out of you, but, you said trust you." She gave him a soft smile. "So, I am." Then she let the smile get a little vicious. "And if you've lied to me, well, then that will be a whole different conversation."
He smiled. "Fair enough." He sat back and lit a cigarette. "So." He looked around. "Feel like heading back?" He smiled. "I don't know about you, but I could use a beer."
She nodded. A beer did sound good. So did razzing Den. "Yeah, I could use a beer, and some sleep, to be perfectly honest."
He stood up and extended a hand to her. "I'm sure you could." Pulling her up. As they stood close together, he leaned over and kissed her thoroughly. By the time he was done, someone could have asked her name and she would have had to think about it, he was just that good. Damn, it sucked that she was near falling asleep on her feet. The two of them could have had an even nicer evening. Oh well. There was always tomorrow.
Next thing she knew, Jax was handing her helmet to her. "You ready?" Getting the helmet on and tucking herself in behind him, she patted his abdomen as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He turned and gave her a smile over his shoulder. "Let's get out of here."