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Taming Ava & Outwitting Jax - A Modern Fairytale

Chapter 6 Negotiations

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Author's Note: I said I was going to use images with Jax with his shirt off, but while he's in prison, I've decided to use pics of Jax in prison and then when he's out he won't have a shirt on anymore.

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If Jax couldn't get his conviction tossed, he could kiss his youth good-bye. He was mentally tough enough to do the time, but it was still a helluva waste of his life. He would never have the money to pay a new attorney and he didn't trust Lowen or Rosen to handle his appeal. He blamed them for his conviction. He had wanted them to investigate the two ATF agents. They had told him they were working on it and had presented absolutely nothing at trial.

They had given him one of those useless defenses where the defense stands up and says the case hasn't been proven and that's the defense. Even high priced attorneys did that. Mostly it failed.

The MC had paid as much as they could afford, but unless Clay managed to line up a big revenue source, the chances of the MC ever having the money to help him pay for the appeal were slim.

Of course, he was entitled to counsel to appeal his conviction. He could get a public defender. That was going to be his only option if he couldn't find the money to hire his own attorney. It could take years to even get assigned a public defender. His life was slipping away.

His situation looked hopeless until today when this opportunity just fell into his lap. He didn't have a problem with marrying a woman for money when refusing the offer could keep him in prison for decades. He saw this as an opportunity to right a wrong. It wasn't as though he were scamming her or telling her he loved her in order to get money. She was the one who wanted to marry him.

It suddenly occurred to him that even if they couldn't reach a deal to get married, he could use the internet to pay for his appeal. He needed to talk to Juice about setting up a "Go Fund Me" page for his legal expenses. Why didn't anyone think of that? It might take a month or two to get the money for marrying Ava. If they could get some money together maybe it would be possible for him to get an investigator to look into the corrupt ATF agents soon.

He had nothing but time on his hands. He would use his time to find a private investigator maybe he could find one with experience in handling cases involving ATF agents.

As far as getting out of prison and then having to pretend to be a husband, he could suffer through that in exchange for his freedom.

Ava was still hoping that she would be able to avoid actually having to go through with the marriage. Surely her father wouldn't let her go through with marrying a prisoner. Did he really want his clients and colleagues to know his daughter was married to a Federal prisoner, a convict?

The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that she wouldn't have to go through with the marriage. He would have to think that the marriage was real. She would need to have to come up with a story to tell him.

She lay back on her bed, pillows propped behind her head and shut her eyes imaging the story she was going to tell her father. Her future depended on getting this right. She just wasn't sure that Jax Teller was the right man for the job.

Just to make sure there wasn't some inmate out there who would be a better fit for her plan, she looked through some pen pal requests from inmates online. It was a motley assortment. Definitely not like online dating.

The fact that Jax wasn't using any pen pal websites was a plus for him. He didn't look like he was looking for a woman to give him money. As much as she hated to part with such a large amount of cash, it would be worth the investment in her future.

Suddenly she had a thought that put the fear of God in her. What if they allowed conjugal visits? OMG. No. It couldn't be. She asked her phone who told her that California allowed conjugal or family visits, but the Federal system did not allow conjugal visits. She would never have to deal with sex with Jax Teller. Thank God for small favors.

A few days later she and Ellie Lowen were back at the prison waiting for Jax. She was still nervous. She didn't understand that. Normally, nothing really bothered her especially men.

If she had been susceptible to falling for Jax, she would have already fallen in love with him by now. He just wasn't her type even if he weren't locked up and she'd met him in a club. She didn't even have to harden her heart against him.

Heartbreak was never a big emotion for her. She'd rather have her heartbroken than get the flu. A broken heart took only a day or two to get over if that. The flu could last four or five days.

When he walked in and held up his hands to get unchained, she could take another look at him without looking like she was staring. Nothing changed. He was still too tall for her taste and he was too muscular. There was something almost a little frightening about his powerful body. She liked the nice safe looking Hallmark heroes except the ones that had stubble. She hated facial hair and the whole beard trend. Stubble was still better than a man having too many muscles.

It wouldn't matter that he was a lot bigger than she was because he would spend their entire marriage in jail. She would never have to deal with any sexual demands because there were no conjugal visits allowed in Federal prisons. She was so glad he was doing Federal time and not state. That was another factor in picking him over some other correctional institute inmate. She just wished he could ramp down the testosterone.

She looked at his hands. They were almost two and a half times the size of hers. They were definitely not like the manicured hands of the guys she usually dated.

"I'm kind of uneasy about giving you a lump sum of money. I think it should be spread out over the three years," Ava said.

Jax's face flushed with anger.

"That's bullshit," Jax said. "I'm only doing this because I need money for my appeal. I need it up front."

"Why would you stay married to me after I give you the money?"

"I can help there," Ellie Lowen put in smoothly. "We can have the agreement state that you are giving him this money and if the marriage ends before the three year mark, he will return all the money to you plus interest."

"And I've lost out on my inheritance."

"I've got a solution for that," Jax said looking into Ava's eyes.

She had this sinking feeling that she wasn't going to like his solution. She didn't like the way his eyes bored into hers. It was like he was trying to get inside her head. Never going to happen, she thought.

"I'm sure you do."

"I get 10% of the money you inherit. This will motivate me to stay in the marriage for the three years and make sure you stay in the will. It will also keep my mouth closed about our deal."

"I'll give you 5%," Ava countered.

"Deal," Jax said promptly.

She looked into his eyes and knew that he'd just screwed her without touching her. Damn. She was a terrible negotiator. She'd just never been in a situation before where she had to barter with someone.

"OK. The deal calls for the $500,000 when you are married. If you stay married longer than 3 years, you will receive an additional 5% of any inheritance Ava receives from her father provided you never discuss your marriage to Ava with anyone. Anything else?"

"If Ava divorces me before three years, she doesn't get the $500,000 back," Jax said.

"Ava, is that acceptable to you?"

"Yes," she said, "unless I divorce him for adultery or domestic violence."

Jax smirked at her.

"I love it. You believe in my innocence and are already planning for our life together."

Ava stared at him and thought she was going to pass out. The idea of this man being uncaged and let loose in a house with her was almost more than she could take. He could believe all he wanted that she thought he was going to get out within the three years of their marriage, but she didn't think for a second that he was getting out early or she'd find someone else. The whole idea behind picking an inmate was that she didn't want a real husband or marriage.

Ellie was busy at work on her legal pad. Ava looked at her nails and was trying to decide what color she wanted to get her nails painted. She'd just had them painted a red so deep it looked black to match the Castle's goth vibe, but she was over the color.

Jax was sprawled in his chair leaking testosterone. He should put a plug in it. She wondered where the plug would go. She thought of a couple of places and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

Maybe his cellmate could help him with the plug situation. She wondered if he ever had sex with other prisoners. Voluntarily or involuntarily. She looked up at him and back down. Why did she put that image in her head?

Prison where having your back takes on a whole new meaning. She burst into a fit of giggles. It was just too much. She had to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Jax demanded.

"Spontaneous laughter disorder," Ava said. "It just happens."

"OK, here's a draft. If it's acceptable, I'll type it up and hold it until you're ready to move forward with your marriage."

Ellie showed them the prenuptial agreement and went over each point making sure they both understood all the terms.

"Fine by me," Jax said.

"It's good for me too."

"OK. Just give me a call when you're ready to get this thing signed," Ellie said.

"What do we do next?" Ava asked.

"We need to look like we're a couple. You need to visit me, write me and take my phone calls. I'll put you on my visitor's list. I'll call you as soon as you get approved," Jax said. "Give me all your contact info."

Ava took the tablet out of the briefcase Ellie had loaned her and wrote down the information and handed Jax the sheet of paper. He turned the tablet around and wrote down his information.

"Ava, you need to keep in mind that anything you say to Jax if you're visiting may be recorded or listened to. Since I'm meeting with him as his attorney, this meeting is free of surveillance. All the mail is read and censored. Calls are also recorded. Don't forget."

"Any naked pictures you want to send me get confiscated. The guards trade them like trading cards."

"I'd never send naked pictures," Ava said.

Jax smirked at her.

"I'd send you naked pictures, but we're not allowed to have phones," Jax said.

"Guess I'll just have to imagine."

"Imagine big," Jax said.

Ava sucked in her breath. Why couldn't this guy be just a little less . . . male?

She and Ellie left the prison and returned to Charming. She did ask Ellie what she thought Jax's chances were of getting his conviction overturned. She gave her a typical attorney answer—in other words, she never answered the question.

That night, she thought about Jax Teller. She didn't reach for her sex toy. She thought about having sex with Jax Teller and she was completely turned off. Not even watching a Hallmark movie would help her now that she'd thought about sex with Jax.

Sex with him would be dirty, disgusting and animalistic. She was glad that she was never going to have sex with him. Now that was looking on the bright side of things.

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Author's Note: Please help me make my story better and do a quick review and tell me what you like or hate. I always write back but if you don't want me to tell me that and I won't.