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Chapter 105 Dead Dead

Ava rolled over and looked at Jax.

"Is everything OK?"

"Yeah. Juice wanted to let me know he had a little fire in the clubhouse kitchen but he got it out without having to call the fire department."

"And you needed to know now?" Ava asked.

"He's very conscientious."

Ava laughed. Jax's choice of words struck her as funny.

"How are you feeling?" she asked looking at the clock on the nightstand. "You can have a painkiller and muscle relaxer."

"I can get them."

"I was getting up anyway," she said, getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom. After a couple of minutes, she returned with the two small cups one with water and one with his medication.

"Thanks," Jax said.

"That's "thanks Nurse Ava," she said tartly.

"Yes, Nurse Ava," Jax said dutifully grinning.

Jax swallowed his medication and laid his head back on his pillow. He patted his shoulder where Ava had rested her head until he had fallen asleep.

"What?" she asked. She knew what he wanted but she wanted to hear him say it.

"I need my beautiful bride's head on my shoulder to help me sleep."

"The drugs will do that," she said before putting her head on his shoulder.

"My body prefers you."

Jax settled in for more sleep. It was going to be another tough day, mostly because he was going to have to share some hard truths with his mother. There's nothing that will short circuit the grieving process like finding out your husband was cheating and was trying to kill your son. It was going to be easier to deal with an angry Gemma than a heartbroken one.

The next morning, Ava helped Jax dress in jeans, a T-shirt and his cut. He explained he needed to go down to TM and talk to Gemma and meet some more with the club.

"I don't expect you to spend every waking moment with me, but you were injured and you need to rest so you can heal," Ava said.

"I need to push through today. I should be able to rest a bit tomorrow. I'm not going to be back for lunch."

"Do you need me to get lunch for you and the club?"

He kissed her on the forehead.

"I've got it covered."

"Let me give you some medication to take with you," she said walking into the bathroom. She returned carrying an old Ambien prescription bottle containing two pain pills and a muscle relaxer.

"Thanks," Jax said slipping the bottle into his cut. "What are you doing today?"

"House stuff. I want everything done so when I or we meet with the architect, he'll have enough info to draw up the plans."

Jax kissed Ava good-bye left with Dark Tower driving him to TM in one of their SUVs. He needed to talk to TB soon so he could reduce the amount of security.

All the guys were waiting for him at the clubhouse. Gemma hadn't arrived at TM yet. Chuckie was manning the office.

Jax took the seat at the head of the table feeling as though he'd been doing it all his life. He looked at the assembled men waiting for him to lead them. He brought the gavel down bringing the meeting to order.

"Juice, tell us the news," Jax said.

"I got a call. It's done. Clay's dead. County should make the official call this morning."

None of the men at the table were grieving Clay's death. They exchanged looks. There was a collective release of tension. Clay was one less problem for the club to worry about. If Clay ratted the club, every man in the room with the exception of Sack could have ended up spending decades behind bars or in some cases ended up permanently there.

"I've already got a meeting set for you to give Laroy the payment and the location of the gun warehouse," Juice said passing a slip of paper up to Jax with the GPS coordinates."

"Thanks. If we don't get confirmation before it's time to leave for the meeting, we'll have to postpone."

"You need to leave in an hour. The meeting is a couple of blocks away from the park at the Coffee Hut. I'll text you the address."

"Thanks, Juice. Sack, after the meeting, stay close. We'll do the shirt switch thing and you need to hang in the clubhouse until I get back."

Sack nodded.

"Bobby, I want you and Hap to go to the warehouse. Make sure we're not giving Laroy much more than the 20K that I told him we had in stock. I don't mind giving him a few more handguns, but if there any ARs, I want them. Stash them in the cabin's armory."

There was a club policy not to keep illegal hand guns in the clubhouse. The clubhouse was too big a target for law enforcement. Unser was out of the loop for state and federal search warrants. There could be search warrants they wouldn't know about until they were on the club's doorstep. This cautious approach saved the club's ass when Jax was arrested and the clubhouse got raided.

"OK," Bobby said.

"I'm not worried about giving Laroy a grand more, but I don't want to give him much more than that. I'm not looking to screw him over by shorting him. He could be useful in the future. You never know."

"Damned impressive that he got it done that fast," Chibs said.

"Hale was so pleased that he'd actually got to arrest Clay for a serious crime. Hope he enjoyed it because nothing's going to come of it. His fantasies about driving us out of Charming are going to stay that way."

"Unser," Opie prompted.

"Thanks," Jax said. "Forgot to mention it yesterday. Unser's at St. Thomas. He's got a day or two left. Fucking HMO. I'm going to stop by and say good-bye. He's done a lot of shit for us. Any of you want to go, feel free to come with me or go on your own."

Normally cooperation between outlaw bikers and law enforcement is forbidden, but Charming was the exception because outlaws called the shots aided by the police chief. The other charters envied SAMCRO's control over law enforcement.

"When are you going?" Opie asked.

"This afternoon after lunch which I'm buying. Taking everyone to Felipe's Mexican Fiesta to celebrate my becoming president and Clay's death."

"He hated Mexican food," Tig said.

"That's what makes it so perfect. Ope could you call them and see if we can get that private room behind the bar?"

"Sure."

There was a pounding at the door.

"Jax, I need to talk to you," Gemma shouted through the door.

"Sack," Jax said jerking his head in the direction of the double doors.

Sack opened one of the doors.

Gemma pushed past him roughly.

"Clay's dead."

Not one of the men even bothered to fake being surprised except Happy who blinked his eyes.

Jax wasn't accepting Clay's death at face value. Laroy would get his money, but Jax wasn't going to feel truly sure Clay was dead until someone he trusted laid eyes on his actual dead body.

He didn't trust the prison. Laroy's guys could have thought they killed Clay. The prison gives out the killed story and then places Clay in protective custody and use the murder attempt to turn Clay. Or, Clay made a deal and they used the attempt to help them fake his death. They plead down his killing of Lowen to short time and he does it under a new identity, gets out and has a new life in exchange for selling out the club.

This wasn't some strange paranoid reaction. He'd read about the government faking an inmate's death. They had even called an ambulance.

No, Jax wouldn't feel truly rid of Clay until he knew he was dead dead.

"

The next chapter will have a mind blowing twist. Read at your peril!