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Taming Ava & Outwitting Jax - A Modern Fairytale

Chapter 9 Toxic Masculinity

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Today's visitation was outside. There were a number of long picnic tables, some smaller tables with the chairs attached and a couple of smaller tables that would fit two people. Ava walked promptly to one of the smaller tables. The tables were about half full. None of the prisoners had arrived yet. She had actually gotten to the prison early because she mixed up the times. She tried to never get anywhere early. She liked it when people had to wait for her.

She stared at her nails. No one in Charming knew how to do her nails properly. Her manicure was only two days old and the polish was already chipped. Chipped nails were an offense to her eyes. She tried not to look but found herself staring at the chip in her dark purple thumb nail's polish.

The men were brought in escorted by guards and already unchained. Ava hid her disappointment. She liked watching Jax get unchained. She wasn't sure why, but she really enjoyed it.

Ava looked at the men checking to see how Jax measured up to the other prisoners. None of them had that testosterone overload that he had. Most were average looking, not remarkable in any way. There were a few that were large, but none of them had Jax Teller's good looks even if he did have a beard and tattoos.

Finally, he appeared wearing the normal orange shirt over a white T-shirt and orange pants. His blonde hair had been cut short almost shaved. She looked at it trying not to stare. She decided if she had to choose between the two extremes, she preferred his hair long. He had his beard. She still wished that would go away.

"You got your hair cut," Ava said.

"I asked for a trim and look what I got instead," Jax said dryly.

"It's really short."

"The haircutting talents of the inmate barbers tend to be limited."

"You mean other inmates cut your hair?"

"What do you think a real barber comes here and cuts our hair so we look nice for each other?"

"It's just so uncivilized."

"There's a reason it's called prison and not a spa retreat."

Ava noticed the eyes of the guards on them. It made her feel uneasy. What did the guards think she was going to do? Or were they worried about Jax?

"Why do the guards keep looking at us?"

"You're the best looking female here. They are also watching everyone to make sure violence doesn't break out."

"Is that likely to happen?"

"You never know," Jax said. "Family situations can turn explosive."

"These seats are so uncomfortable with the table and seats being connected."

"You know why that is?" Jax asked. "It's to keep people from using the chairs as weapons."

She looked around again. Even the guards didn't have the testosterone leakage problem like Jax. She wondered if he could dial down the masculinity and be more normal like the nice guys in the Hallmark movies she loved so much.

"Are you always so . . .?"

"What?"

"Masculine. Have you heard of toxic masculinity?" she asked seriously. "I think you might have it."

"Toxic masculinity?" Jax scoffed. "How exactly can a man be too male?"

Ava should have known that a man like Jax Teller would not be woke. Well, she would just have to wake him.

"Men can be too masculine. It's called toxic masculinity. It makes women uncomfortable."

"Are you comfortable with my level of masculinity, darlin'?"

"No, now that you've asked me I'm not."

"How exactly do you suggest I detoxify my masculinity to an acceptable level for you?" Jax asked with an amused smile on his face.

Jax thought toxic masculinity was the most ridiculous thing he'd every heard of in years. It was just more bullshit thought up by people with too few brains and too much time on their hands. In his world, men were supposed to be tough and strong. Those were traits that were valued.

"I don't know how to detoxify masculinity. Maybe there's a book or something online. I'll ask my phone later. It knows everything."

"Ask your phone how I'm going to get out of prison for a crime I didn't commit. That's all I care about right now."

"OK," she said sullenly. "I get it. All you're focused on is getting out of prison."

Jax shook his head in exasperation.

"Wouldn't you be if you were innocent and in prison?"

"Yes."

"Do you know anything about my case?"

"No."

"You're going to need to know. Get Lowen to give you a copy of my file."

"OK," Ava said with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

"What do you do all day?"

"Before we moved to Charming, I would get up and eat breakfast. My personal trainer would come over and train me in my father's gym. I'd meet friends for lunch, maybe go shopping, then dinner out and clubbing. I don't have any friends in Charming. The town doesn't even have a club. Just some bars that aren't very nice."

"How the hell did you end up in SAMCRO's clubhouse?"

"I asked around town and everyone told me that the most fun a girl could have was at this biker club's clubhouse on Friday night. I grabbed a bottle of Scotch and a bottle of tequila and walked into the clubhouse."

"Do you know the difference between an outlaw biker club and a regular motorcycle club?"

"I didn't know there were two types."

"If you are so worried about toxic masculinity, you should stay the hell out of MC clubhouses.

Ava's eyes widened.

""Do you think they could be dangerous?"

"No, an outlaw biker's clubhouse is exactly like a Sunday school only with less God."

"You're making fun of me."

"Smart girl."

Jax patiently explained the difference between a regular biker and an outlaw biker club.

"Now it's safe to assume that inside every outlaw biker club's clubhouse are men with high levels of toxic masculinity."

Ava thought back to her two visits to the bikers' clubhouse. Jax might be right. While the guys were nice, they did seem to have high levels of masculinity—not as high as Jax's—but still far more than she was comfortable being around. It was definitely in the toxic masculinity range.

"I was just looking for a little fun."

"You will get more fun than you can handle if you end up in the wrong clubhouse. You heard about me at the clubhouse?"

She nodded and tucked a strand of russet colored hair behind her ear.

"They said you were in for 20 years and were innocent. When my problem with my father came up, I thought marrying you would be perfect."

"What story are you telling your father?"

"A form of the truth. I saw your picture and heard you were innocent. I mentioned it when I met with Ellie Lowen over my father's will. It turned out she was your attorney. She brought me with her a couple of times when she met with you about your case. We started writing and I started visiting you."

"OK. That is pretty close to the truth. I'm going to say that Ellie mentioned some girl wanted to meet me. She brought you twice. We struck up a friendship, started writing and then you started visiting."

"How long do you think we're going to have to see each other before we get married?"

"How long does it usually take you to fall in love?"

"A few minutes," Ava said. "What about you?"

"I've never been in love. I think my longest relationship was five weeks."

"My longest relationship was three weeks and he was gone on a work trip for one of those weeks."

Jax laughed at her chose of words.

"So we have something in common. We've never had a relationship longer than a few weeks. I think maybe two months of visiting and letters. We can get engaged and then married in another month. We can do the old we started out as friends and love happened."

"OK," she agreed. "I'm having dinner with my father tonight and I'll mention you to him."

"I don't know anything about your father other than he has some money."

"He has hundreds of millions, but he's very cheap and gives me very little money. He won't give me a trust fund."

"Rough life," Jax said saracastically. "How can you pay me then?"

"My mom left me some money. It was left over from their divorce. It's enough to pay you."

"OK. How do you know that if you fulfill the terms of your father's will, he won't decide one day to write you out of his will completely?"

Ava's mouth dropped open. Her father would never do something like that to her. Then again, she never thought he would have done this to her forcing her to get married to stay in his will.

"I never thought of that."

"You need to get him to put some money aside so that if you fulfill the terms of his will, you get that money either after a certain number of years or on his death."

"Why didn't Lowen suggest that?"

Jax leaned forward.

"Do you think first rate attorneys work out of a law office in Charming?"

"That's a good point. Is that what happened to you? She didn't do a good job with your case."

"Understatement of the year. She's a shit attorney. As soon as I can find another attorney, I'm firing her and her idiot partner."

"My father only does civil law not criminal, but I'm sure he knows of some good criminal attorneys."

"Does he know any good investigators? I need someone to dig into the two ATF agents that set me up."

"I don't have much to do in Charming. I'm so bored. I guess I could look at your case and talk to him about it. I know he uses investigators. He may know of someone."

"That would be good for me and our story."

Visiting time was over. They both stood up and Jax kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"Next visit, I'll kiss you on the cheek when we first meet and kiss you on the lips when you leave."

Ava looked at him. Her heart was racing. He desperately needed to do something with his toxic masculinity. It might get completely out of control. She didn't want to be around if that happened.