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Chapter 74 In the Zone

"

Ava had warmed up to him and Jax was sure when they got back to their hotel room, he would be rewarded with some sex for punching out the guy that groped Ava. In baseball terms, he was at bat and he was going to get a homerun.

Gemma used to play that Bat Out of Hell Meatloaf CD over and over. There was a song about the guy making out with a girl called "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" about a guy that was about to get lucky with a girl in his car and it used baseball language to describe his sexual progress. The girl drove him crazy because she wanted him to say he would love her forever before she would have sex with him. He said it and at the end of the song, he's praying for the end of time because he couldn't stand another minute with the girl. At least, Ava didn't expect him to tell her he loved her and he had less than three years to spend with Ava before he was going to be a free man. It never crossed his mind that Ava was going to be his permanent wife.

Gemma had done some back-up vocals for rock bands. That's how she'd met JT. She was in a club singing back-up for some band in Tacoma he didn't remember the name of anymore.

Gemma's career peaked when she sang the girl's parts on the Paradise song at a San Francisco Meat Loaf concert because the original vocalist got sick and couldn't sing. She'd sing the girl's parts when she played the song too. Jax could hear why his mother hadn't been a successful singer—she didn't have a very good voice.

He and Ava walked hand and hand through the resorts lush moonlit grounds. A balmy breeze ruffled Ava's hair. She was a beautiful girl and he was looking forward to getting back to their room.

Jax expected that once their hotel room door closed, he would sweep her into his arms, kiss her and then whisk her into bed. Reality is never as good as imagined reality.

Ava walked over and began to gather her T shirt and leggings that she slept in. He'd planned on helping her off with her clothes. Swift intervention was needed before this night ended like all the others with them changing into their bedclothes, each getting into their side of the bed, saying good-night and then sleeping.

"Don't you think I deserve a reward for saving you tonight?" Jax asked, his voice a husky growl. Girls liked his sex voice.

Ava tossed her clothes—the ones she was going to change into—on the bed.

"Of course," she whispered, ducking her head shyly. "I don't want to forget rewarding my hero."

She walked over to him and Jax's heart raced. This was it! Finally, she was going to fall for his Jax Teller charm.

She stood on tiptoe, her hand resting lightly on his chest and kissed him chastely on the cheek. He'd gotten more romantic kisses from his mother.

"I think I deserve more than that," Jax said.

"You were pretty brave," Ava said and Jax wasn't sure but there might have been a little sarcasm in her tone of voice.

She smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

"You're such a good friend," she said brightly before returning to the bed, grabbing her clothes and disappearing into the bathroom.

That was it. Nothing more including sex. Jax stared at the closed and locked bathroom door not believing that she hadn't given him anymore than those two lousy pecks.

The next morning, as they sat in first class on their flight to Louisiana, Jax couldn't help but feel short changed by his honeymoon. The purpose of a honeymoon was for sex.

While Ava slept with the help of Xanax and Ambien, Jax once again sought the help of the internet. It finally registered in his brain that the slow burn approach to seduction had one flaw and that was the slow part of the procedure. He was looking for a faster way to get into his bride's pants.

He was trying to be patient, but he'd never had to wait to have sex with a girl longer than it took to down a beer and that was only because he wanted to finish his beer. If he wanted the girl, the crow eater was his whether or not she had a full bottle of beer.

OK. Maybe the problem was the crow-eaters were like fast food and other girls were more like fancy meals. He'd never had to work for a girl. It could be that if you had to work harder to get a girl, it made sex that much better. Jax thought this through for several moments. Sex could get better? He didn't know if that were even possible.

The bottom line was he didn't have a whole hell of a lot of choice in the matter. He would never force himself on a woman, so he was back to trying to figure out a strategy to get Ava to have sex with him.

What were his options? The slow burn thing might still work. His definition of slow burn just was a couple of days. Maybe it would take a couple of weeks, but they'd spent two weeks in Hawaii. That should be slow burn enough for anyone.

He kept reminding himself of the early days of their honeymoon when they were constantly fighting. They had come a long way. He just needed to quick thinking with his dick and be a little more patient. Eventually, she was going to have sex with him. He knew from when she'd gotten drunk that she was into him. Ava was an iceberg and he was just going to have to be patient about thawing her out.

As he scrolled through different topics on the internet, he saw "Have you been friend zoned?". He read it and remembered that last night Ava made a comment about him being a good friend.

Son of a bitch! She'd friend zoned him.

"

Next Up: Jax finally gets out of the friend zone and when they return to Charming, the problems really begin. And I can see the end in sight for this story!

Author's Note: Grace, you're right. This version of Jax is a lot like the Quarantine story. Maybe I will link the stories in a future chapter.