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Chapter 104 Playing Ava

Jax sent a text to Gemma telling her that Hale called him to tell him Clay had been arrested for Allie Lowen's murder. That was all he knew and when he knew more, he would call her. He added that she would need to be patient and let the situation play itself out.

Less than thirty seconds passed before Gemma called him. Jax scowled as he answered her call.

"What do you mean Clay's been arrested?" Gemma demanded.

"It's straightforward. Clay was arrested for Lowen's murder. Hale called me and told me. He also told me about Unser. Did you visit him?" Jax asked hoping without much belief that he could change the subject.

"Yes. Why do they think Clay killed Lowen?"

"Hale didn't say," Jax said. Gemma had been through someone from the MC getting arrested enough times that she should realize that it takes a minute for things to play out. Hell, it had been less than a year since he'd gotten arrested.

"You don't have to be so grouchy," Gemma said sulking.

"You know how this goes. You're just going to have to wait to see what he's charged with. I'm sure he'll call you as soon as he's able."

"What if he goes away?" Gemma asked sounding emotional for the first time.

"Don't worry about it until it happens."

"How much will the MC help with legal fees?"

That was the Gemma he knew best practical. She was worried about herself and what would happen to her financially if they had to spend all their available cash on an attorney.

"We need to give it a minute and see how the charges shake out," Jax said.

"I'm going to go down to the police station and see if Hale will let me see Clay."

"He's at county."

"I'll just go there then," Gemma said.

"You know as well as I do they won't let you see him," Jax said impatiently. "Stay home and wait until he calls."

"You could have told me in person," Gemma said.

"Gotta go. Club stuff," Jax said and ended the call. He shook his head as if to clear it. "I'm a fucking idiot. I should have made Sack go to her house and tell her."

Opie and Chibs laughed imagining Sack telling Gemma. It would have made the top five of the worst things they'd ever done to the prospect.

"At least I won't have to tell her about his death. The county will have to do that," Jax said trying to find a bright side.

"You'll still have to tell her the truth about Clay," Chibs pointed out.

"Thanks a lot, bro," Jax said, "nothing like kicking a man when he's down."

Chibs chuckled.

"Make Sack do it," Opie suggested.

"Another great idea," Jax said.

Once they were back at the clubhouse, Jax filled in the rest of the guys on his meeting with Laroy. They were fine with Jax's decision to pay Laroy more if he could kill Clay quickly. If Clay got put into PC (protective custody) it could make it difficult or impossible to get to him.

Juice made a copy of the video editing it down to the most important parts; Clay making a deal with Lowen to screw up Jax's defense, plotting the attempt on his life when he was in prison and finally killing Lowen.

"Good job, Juice," Jax said impressed by Juice's initiative and skill. This would make telling Gemma so much easier. She could watch the video.

"I thought we could put it our confidential MC only Facebook page," Juice said.

Jax thought it over. It might be good for the other charters to see exactly what happened. Clay had a lot of history with members of other charters. They should see the real Clay and they would understand what happened in Charming.

They discussed it as a club and decided Jax would write a president's letter to all the charters and attach Juice's video to the letter as soon as Clay's death was confirmed by the prison. Jax thought it was safe to assume Lowen sent the same email videos to the cops and it was probable that some of the clips would end up on the news or online. With a little luck, they would be able to get the information out to the other charters before it hit the media.

The club spent another hour discussing how they were going to get through the next few days as the news about Clay unfolded. Jax was pleased at how well the MC came together as a group focused on moving the club forward.

He called Ava and told her he was going to pick up his favorite roast beef sandwiches from Romero's. They added Swiss cheese and green chilies before wrapping the roast beef in a thin pizza dough. The sandwiches came out crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside.

By the time he got to the house, Ava had set out plates and poured them both large glasses of iced tea and put them on the kitchen table. She preferred the smaller cozier atmosphere of eating in the kitchen to the larger more formal dining room..

During dinner, Ava told him about getting books on architecture and then looking at different houses and trying to figure out what she wanted in their house.

"I'm sure whatever you want to do about the house will be fine," Jax said. "As long as there's a bed, bathroom, a refrigerator, a TV and maybe a microwave, I'll be happy."

"I had a feeling you weren't very interested in designing our house."

"I trust you to take the lead. As long as there aren't roaches, rats and dead dogs in the bedroom it will be a step up for me," Jax said referring to the mess the buyers had made of his former home.

Ava gave Jax a skeptical look.

"I don't buy the sweet talk, but I don't mind doing all the house stuff and just showing you what I want to do."

"Thank you," Jax said. He was glad Ava wasn't going to give him grief over the house.

After they ate dinner, they returned to their room. Jax wanted nothing more than to jump in a hot shower, take a couple of painkillers and watch TV until the painkillers knocked him out. He needed to be ready for tomorrow because if Laroy made good on their deal, it was going to be another grueling day.

Jax put his arms around Ava.

"Thanks for today," Jax said kissing Ava on the forehead. "It was very considerate of you to handle lunch for all the guys and Dark Tower. And extra thanks for sending me the painkillers."

"You aren't going to distract me. What's really going on?" Ava asked. She carefully wrapped her arms around Jax's shoulders.

Jax realized that he was underestimating Ava. Her beauty was camouflaging her brains. Most of the crow-eaters weren't very bright, which suited him. He couldn't remember a single conversation he'd had with one. He wasn't sure if that was because he had never had a conversation with a crow-eater or if it just hadn't been memorable.

"I need a hot shower and then I'll tell you," Jax said. He wasn't sure how much he was going to tell Ava. He'd figure it out while he was showering.

"No painkillers until we talk."

"Nurse Ava is getting drunk with power," Jax said. He tightened his grip on Ava and kissed her. For the moment, he didn't care about the pain. She could set him on fire like no woman before her. He didn't understand his reaction, but he didn't put too much thought into it. Only chicks thought about relationships.

"You aren't changing my mind about the painkillers with a kiss," Ava said when Jax ended the kiss and released her.

"Maybe I just wanted to kiss you."

"That's all you can do," she said with a grin.

"I will remember this and get revenge on you," Jax said giving Ava a look that said the revenge would involve them together without clothes.

"I'll friend zone you," she threatened.

Jax chuckled at the idea. He knew that wasn't going to happen. Now that he'd shown her just how great sex with him was, there was no doubt in his mind that she would be unable to give it up. She wasn't fooling him.

"You can't do that and you know it. You find me . . . irresistible."

"You forgot to add sexy as hell."

"Well, that goes without saying," Jax said modestly.

"I was joking," Ava said playing it cool.

"I wasn't," he said grinning at her. He gave her a pat on the butt as he walked past her. "Feel free to join me in the shower."

To Jax's disappointment, Ava didn't join him in the shower. Instead he figured out what he was going to tell her. She was sitting with her back against the bed's headboard watching TV.

"Congratulations on your promotion to club president," Ava said.

Damn, Jax thought, Ava didn't miss much. He was going to have to work on not underestimating her intelligence.

"Yeah, thanks," Jax said sitting down on the bed facing Ava. "You know that the MC is a biker club. We make money together doing security for trucking companies transporting electronics, computers and high value cargo because there's a lot of hijacking. You remember Clay, president of the MC and my mother's husband?"

Ava nodded leaning closer to Jax, clearly interested in what he was telling her.

"He wanted to provide security for a drug cartel—the Galindo cartel. I was against it, but it was going to be a hell of a lot of money. We vote this stuff in and I had the votes from the guys to block him. That's what I did. Shortly after that, I got arrested by the ATF."

"So you and Clay were kind of enemies?"

"Yeah," Jax said. "Clay thought with me locked up, he could sway another vote in his favor. Before he could have that vote, the Galindo cartel got busted by the DEA. The MC would have gotten locked up if they had been providing security."

Jax got his phone from the nightstand and pulled up the video that Juice had put together. "Could you move over? I want to show you something. Lowen sent me videos. These are edits Juice made to show the key scenes." Ava moved over and Jax sat next to her on the bed. He showed her the video of Clay plotting with Lowen to throw his defense, planning the hit on him and discussing how the hit had gone wrong.

"Were Clay and Lowen behind all the attempts on your life?"

"He was definitely behind the first one. He had to have given her the information on the hospital and my room for the second attempt. I'm not sure about this last attempt on my bike. Lowen wanted Clay to kill me because I was a threat to her career. She blamed him because he convinced her to screw up my defense. He paid her to do it, but she still she felt she owed him to fix it. She was threatening to go to the MC and tell them what he'd done. If the MC found out he would have been kicked out of the club. He was one of the founding members. The MC has charters not just in the U.S., but around the world. Clay was really proud that he'd been one of the founding nine members. His ego and love for the club couldn't deal with getting kicked out."

"That's why he was willing to kill you rather than get kicked out. He couldn't let your mother find out either. She wouldn't stay married to him if she found out the truth, would she?"

"No. Lowen was threatening to destroy his life. It was a mistake for her. This next part of the video is really tough to watch, but I think Lowen sent videos to law enforcement and me as a back-up plan in case something happened to her. I think it's going to end up on the news or internet and I want you to be prepared if you should see it. This is what happened to her." Jax said before playing the final piece of video.

The video showed Lowen opening the door, Clay pushing past her, grabbing her by the neck and choking the life out of her. She never even managed to speak a word to him. It was quick and it was brutal. Ava gasped, her eyes wide with shock. Jax put his phone down on the bed.

"I know she put you in prison and tried to kill you, but that was so horrible," Ava said softly, her eyes filling with tears.

"I know," he said brushing the tears that spilled from her eyes and down her cheeks. "I like this soft side to you. I hope you never lose it."

"What happened to Clay? You said you think the video was sent to the cops."

"He was arrested for Lowen's murder today. They didn't charge him with the murder attempts on me. Probably will add that later. I had to go to the clubhouse to deal with what this is going to mean to the club. We voted Clay out of the club."

"Does your mom know?"

"Gemma knows Clay was arrested, but you are the only outside the MC and law enforcement who know about Clay paying off Lowen to throw my case and trying to kill me. I didn't want to hit her with too much at once. You need to keep those parts secret until I tell Gemma. You can't even tell your father."

"OK."

"I'll probably tell Gemma tomorrow."

Jax was testing Ava a little giving her this information. He doubted she would pass it on because she didn't seem to be communicating with anyone to tell, but by confiding in her, he was bringing her closer building some trust between them.

"How do you feel about Clay? Were you close?"

"We've had ups and downs over the years. He married Gemma after my father was dead three months."

"Is that when you started calling her Gemma?"

"Yeah," Jax said, surprised by her insight.

"I know what Lowen did to you, but watching her die," she shook her head. "I've never seen anyone die in real life. The look on her face . . ."

"I shouldn't have shown it to you."

"I'll be OK. She did help put you in prison and then try to kill you. Do you think Clay will get out on bail?"

"Not a chance. If a judge sets bail, it would be so high he'd never be able to come up with the money. No one's going to help him."

"You really had a tough day."

"You made it easier," Jax said getting up. He was going to get in bed from his side. Trying to slide over would hurt more than walking around the bed to get in.

"I'll get your medication," Ava said in her tart no-nonsense nurse's voice. She'd gotten up from the bed to get his medication.

"When we go on our trip, bring the Nurse Ava outfit," Jax said sliding his hands to her hips. "I'm getting some ideas. Maybe I take a little extra pain medication and we get closer." Jax took a step closer so their bodies touched.

"You have broken ribs. You have to heal. Friend zone."

Jax was sure if he could take enough pain meds, he and Ava could hook up.

"Come on Ava. You know you want me."

"This much," she said holding her thumb and forefinger a half inch apart.

"I'm going to make you pay for that comment when I'm healthy and we both know there's no damned way you'll friend zone me."

The way Jax looked at her sometimes made her body ache. He may have toxic masculinity, but he made her feel like a woman. She'd never felt that way before. The guys she'd dated felt like high school. She'd felt like she was still in high school when she was with them.

Jax was different. He was a man who knew how to use his body to make her feel she was a woman. He'd given her the most physical pleasure she'd ever had. She knew that whatever he had in mind to make her pay for her comment, she'd enjoy every second of it.

"Medication and sleep for you," she said sounding a little breathless.

"Yes, Nurse Ava."

She got his muscle relaxers and pain medication, put them in the little paper cups in the bathroom and filled another cup up with water.

"I'm giving you an extra pain killer since I know you're in a lot of pain and it takes more pain killers to kill pain. Tomorrow, you're going back on a medication schedule, so your pain level doesn't get so high."

Maybe Ava had a little nurse in her. She was right about him being in a lot of pain. He could only distract his mind for so long with thoughts of Ava and sex.

He took the medication without looking at the pills in the cup. He trusted her to give him the right medication in the right amounts.

"How about you get into bed with me and put your head on my shoulder? It balances out my hurt ribs on the other side. Just until I fall asleep."

"You want to cuddle with me," Ava teased.

"Why wouldn't I want to have my beautiful, sexy old lady close to me when I fall asleep?"

"You do know the right things to say."

Just the truth," he said as Ava carefully settled her head on his shoulder. Jax was asleep in less than twenty minutes.

He was awakened less than six hours by a call from Juice. He told him that the fire was out. Damn, Laroy was good. He fulfilled their agreement.

Clay was dead.

"

Author's Note: Just wanted to let readers know I'm committed to writing this story. I have long COVID and I have good days and bad and the last three weeks have been mostly bad. Just means the story takes a little longer between postings but I tried to make up for that by writing a longer chapter. Hope you enjoyed.