CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

The ride to the San Bernadino doesn't take long. The sun is just starting to set as we pull into the lot and the typical sight greets us. For a Tuesday night there is a remarkable amount of flesh on display. The line of bikes includes some boringly stock ones that obviously belong to the few prospects that are running around fetching beers and flipping burgers at the giant grill.

I wait till the bikes are backed into place, Jax's hand on my leg a reminder that no one knows who I am and he'll have to 'mark his territory' so to speak. Out of the corner of my eye I can see a very quiet conversation going on between Al and Juice and I'd almost bet he's warning her of what will happen if anyone goes near any of us the Redwood Son would have to react in a rather bloody way.

Jax removes his hand as he turns his bike off and I carefully swing my leg over the back and stand beside him, waiting till he's removed his helmet before handing mine to him. He hangs them both over one of the handles and stands up and steps close to me. Both his hands go to the top of my hoodie zipper and pull it down slowly. I know that the arrival of the three unfamiliar bikes has already gained attention, but Jax's show is bound to gather more.

It feels like it takes minutes before the zipper is clear at the bottom and Jax runs his hands up the inside of my sides to my shoulders and gently tugs the hoodie down my arms before tossing it over the seat of his bike and wrapping his hands around my upper arms pulling me close to him. I'm grateful for the boots that I'm wearing. They shrink the 6 inch difference in our heights to only 3 inches but I'm still at full stretch when he presses his lips to mine. The harshness of the kiss does exactly what it's meant to. The interested murmurs that were starting behind us abruptly stop and the noise goes back to a normal level.

My bones turn to mush and Jax pretty much has to hold me up when he finally releases my mouth from his assault, the self-satisfied smirk on his face isn't lost on me, but neither is the promise of more to follow. Jax tows me across the lot towards the doors, nodding at a few patches through the course of the short walk. He pushes the door open and lets me go through in front of him, but as he comes through the door behind me he wraps his arm around me and jams his hand into the back pocket of my jeans, something I would have thought impossible given how tight they fit.

"Jackie!" A voice calls across the room and I get my first look at the hierarchy of the San Bernadino and San Gabriel charters. The difference in the four men crossing the room is huge. One of them is a small pale dark haired man whose expression could easily freeze lava. The next man who I see is average height but sporting a shocking red hair colour that I instantly know came out of a bottle but the smile across his face is enough to counter balance the coolness of the first man. The third is tall with the same dark hair as the first, but unfortunately missing the handsome part of the description, it looks like he may have been attacked much the same as Chibs, the tell-tale scars of the 'Glasgow smile' are quite clear on his face. The final of the four is defiantly what would be described as a pretty boy; his hair is so blonde that it's almost white, the wide smile showing teeth just as pristine as the t-shirt he's wearing under his kutte.

Jax pulls himself away from my side and hugs the four men in front of me, Opie and Juice doing the same which leaves Al, Donna and I standing quietly while they do their standard man-hug-back-slapping greeting. As Jax reaches the last man and hugs him he steps off to the side and shoots a glance at me, I immediately walk over to his side and wrap my arms around his waist. "This is Sarah, my Old Lady. Sarah this is Hawk and Eagle from San Gabriel. Before you ask, and I know you will, they're brothers."

I smile politely at the two dark haired men and thank Jax for not mentioning the connection to Clay. I'm sure they're aware of it, or will be by the end of the night.

The red haired man and his pretty boy companion are introduced next "These are our hosts for the night, that's Kane the President and Mickey, his VP."

Another polite smile is aimed towards them my fingers involuntarily tighten on Jax's shirt, he picks up the movement of his shirt and looks down at me "You okay Darlin'?"

"Just give me a minute?" I say softly.

Jax's face tightens slightly and he nods pulling me closer to his side "Well you don't have to go further than there all night if you don't want to."

My mouth twitches up in a smile "Thanks. I'm sure I'll be okay in a while, but just please don't leave me till I say."

Jax nods, the four ranked members looking curiously at us isn't missed by his eyes "Can we give them a heads up?"

I glance over at them and see that their faces are all an equal mix of puzzled, curious and concerned which makes a small smile cross my lips and I take a breath in "I don't do very well in new situations. Simply put the reason is I was held captive for several weeks recently and my confidence was shot to hell. I'm sure I'll be fine in a while, but I do apologise for the disruption that my being here may cause."

Kane steps forward and halts a couple of feet away from me "Lil lady, if you have any problems here and Jackie ain't around you come get one of us and we'll sort it out."

I smile gratefully at him "Thank you."

Jax's eyes meet those of the men in front of us and even though I know I'm not meant to see it I do notice the thanks that he's conveying in his look.

Mickey waves a hand and two of the half-naked women show up, beers in each hand which are passed to the Sons. The older of the two looks at the three of us, her eyes cataloguing what we're wearing, Donna and Al have both gone understated compared to what I'm wearing, while all three of us are wearing jeans Al's topped hers with a dress shirt and Donna's wearing a ¾ sleeve black shirt with a skull made of silver domes on the front.

I don't say a thing, the fact that all three of us arrived with out of town Sons should be enough, the fact that the three Sons have already done their testosterone marking is enough for me, and the knowledge that I won't be moving far from Jax's side through the night. She obviously sees how comfortable we are with the patched members at our sides and smiles politely "Would you girls like anything to drink?"

I glance at Al and Donna who tell her what they want before she turns to me "I'll just have a bottle of water."

I'm not sure if I'll reach the stage of being able to consume any alcohol tonight. At home it's different, being with by the members of the Charter I grew up around is relaxing, comforting and safe. Here, in another state surrounded by people I don't know is having enough of a reaction with my nerves that mixing booze in is not the greatest idea. Coupled with the panic attack from earlier I'm safer keeping my full wits about me.

Jax takes a swig of his beer and kisses me softly on the cheek, burying his nose into my hair as he does "I'll leave when you want, k babe?"

I smile at him and shake my head "I'll be okay, just don't go far?"

He nods and turns to talk with Hawk and Kane. As he speaks he rests his hand on my shoulder, pulling my hair so it trails down my back instead of over my shoulder and down my chest, he starts leisurely rubbing his thumb across my collarbone, rubbing the dark bruise and appearing completely oblivious to the fact the motion is drawing attention to the mark, but the tiny smirk I can see on the corner of his mouth gives away his motive was exactly that. To remind everyone looking our way that I'm not public property, but also to remind me that he's not going anywhere.

The night passes fairly peacefully, there's only one slight fuckup when one of the San Bernadino members that wasn't there when we arrived tries to hit on Al, but she manages to extract herself politely by pointing out the rather angry looking tattooed Redwood Son heading their way. Thankfully a round of shots and an apology is all that's needed before the almost-issue is resolved.