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Chapter 109 The Truth that Bites

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Jax felt at peace with his decision but he wanted to think it over a little while longer. His future was at stake. He stayed at JT's grave feeling closer to the father he'd lost thanks to his mother's murderous actions than he'd ever felt before. Finally, it was time to make a quick swing by TM and see what was going on on the work and MC fronts before heading back to Ava and dinner.

TM was really starting to look like a new place. The outside was almost completely painted with the exception of the garage area. The color looked great. Once they finished all the appointments in the next couple of days, they were going to close for a few days to allow for the office's renovation and painting of the garage area.

On the MC front, support from all the other charters continued to pour in for SAMCRO and for him. No one questioned the story of Clay dying as a result of prison violence. Close to 100% of them would have made the deduction that the MC had a hand in Clay's death. They would have done the same thing in SAMCRO's place. The speed of Clay's death also enhanced the MC's reputation for taking care of business quickly and efficiently.

Jax and Ava had dinner, cuddled up together and watched movies. His ribs were throbbing. He was pushing himself too hard, but he had a couple more days to get through before he could rest and heal.

Ava was being difficult. She refused to give him extra pain meds so they could have sex. He didn't really think she would go for it, but he had to try. He could have really used the comfort of her body, but he had to settle for some light making out.

He left to have his confrontation with Gemma after lunch. Gemma's car was parked in the driveway. It was time to get this over with once and for all. He knocked on the door.

"Why haven't you returned my calls?" Gemma demanded after she flung open the door and let Jax into the house.

"I've been busy dealing with the MC. It comes first. That's the way I was raised," Jax said evenly. He wanted to grab Gemma by the throat and bounce her head off a wall, but he'd planned this conversation carefully. Now wasn't the time to give in to impulse.

"And you couldn't find five minutes for your mother?" Gemma raised her voice.

"Apparently not since you didn't hear from me," Jax said sarcastically. Gemma would rather him yell at her than use sarcasm. That was partly because she didn't really understand it.

"Don't you take that tone with me," Gemma scolded sharply. She saw a change in Jax already and he'd only been president for a few days.

Her son always had swagger even when he was a baby crawling. Now that he was president, the swagger was greater and so was his cockiness. As a mother, it was her job to bring him back down to Earth. He needed to be reminded being president didn't add six inches to his dick size.

Gemma sat down at the kitchen table. An ashtray was crammed full of cigarette butts. She lit a blunt, inhaled deeply and offered a hit to Jax. To her surprise, he shook his head.

"Skeeter cremated Clay yesterday. I told him to throw his ashes out with the trash."

"It's what he deserves," Gemma said indifferently. She'd moved on from Clay to a Latin pimp named Nero she'd met at a bar last night. "The MC was behind his death, wasn't it?"

Jax shrugged. "Prison's are dangerous places. Look what happened to me. Clay went into prison unprotected. His death was inevitable. It just happened faster than most expected."

'"It was the best thing for me financially and for you since you have sole control of TM. If he'd just stayed in prison, he would have remained a partner."

"Yeah, his death solved a lot of problems. You know, I've been doing some thinking. Maybe Clay tried to kill JT. I know he was ambushed by the Mayans and got out of that. I wonder if Clay could have been behind that." Jax watched his mother carefully.

Gemma shrugged indifferently and stubbed the joint out.

"I wouldn't know."

"Is there any way he could have been behind JT getting run down on the highway?"

"I wouldn't know that either," Gemma said. She got up from the table and went to the refrigerator. She pulled out a pitcher of her cherry lemonade, grabbed two glassed from the cupboard and filled them with ice. She poured them each a glass and put one in front of Jax and sat down and took a sip of her cherry lemonade. It was one of Jax's favorites.

"I thought you might have a clue since you were sharing a pillow with Clay for at least six months before my father's death," Jax said before taking a sip of lemonade.

For a moment, it felt like time stopped. Even the kitchen clock seemed to pause from ticking off the seconds. Gemma paused mid-sip before putting her glass down.

"Who the hell told you that?"

"Unser. Me and the guys went to see him."

"I'm not proud of it, but Clay and I did get together," Gemma said getting to her feet and going to lean against the kitchen counter, watching Jax. It was time Jax heard a hard truth about his sainted father. "Your father was far from faithful. He had a little eighteen year old girl he was screwing in Ireland. That's why he was over there so often.

"I found out when I was going through his clothes before washing them and I found a little love note she'd written him in a pants' pocket. Purple ink with lots of hearts and flowers. He was almost twenty years older. I felt old and useless. How could I compete with an eighteen year old? Clay provided comfort. He made me feel alive again."

"Ever occur to you that he might decide to help you out a little by getting rid of JT?"

Gemma appeared to think that over. Jax had to give her credit for acting the part. If he didn't know better, he might have bought her act.

"No, of course Clay wouldn't hurt JT. He loved him."

"Yeah, he used to say "I love you, son" to me," Jax said before taking a sip of lemonade. "I'm guessing that changed considering he wanted me to go away for twenty years and when that didn't look like it was going to work; he tried to have me killed. I know JT and Clay were beefing over something with the MC before his death."

"Normal MC stuff. You know how that is," Gemma said reaching out and patting Jax on the arm. "It was amazing seeing you sitting at the table with the gavel. I'm so proud of you."

Jax wasn't fooled. Gemma was appealing to his ego to change the subject. It wasn't going to work. He'd plotted out this conversation too carefully to get sidetracked.

"Unser told me that Clay took a truck from Unser trucking and ran JT down with it. Clay power washed the truck and then ran it into a wall to account for the damage."

Gemma's heart beat painfully in her chest. She wondered if she were having a heart attack. She wouldn't mind if it got her out of this conversation with her son. She might have to make a small admission and avoid the one she could never make because the consequences would be too great.

"A few years ago, Clay told me that he had hit JT with a truck he took from Unser. He didn't want to kill him. He just wanted him to get injured and lose his vote because he wanted to take the MC into a dangerous direction. I don't know details."

"So Clay admitted to you that he killed JT."

"He was really drunk. He told me that he didn't mean to kill JT."

"So you've known all these years that my father wasn't killed by some random trucker but by your new husband," Jax's voice was deadly quiet.

"Not until years later," Gemma protested. "When Clay sobered up, he threatened me if I told. He said he would kill me and kill you. I kept quiet because I thought it was best for you and the MC. Clay was a good president. I was mostly worried about what you would do if you found out. I was afraid you would kill him and end up spending the rest of your life in prison. I couldn't bear seeing you locked up for the rest of your life," Gemma said. She blinked quickly willing herself to at least get teary eyed, but failed.

"Thanks for looking after my best interests. I mean it wasn't as though you helped Clay kill my father. You only found out years later that Clay killed him. Unintentionally of course."

Gemma smiled and returned to the kitchen table. Crisis averted. Jax bought her story.

"That's right. I'm sorry. I was trying to do what I thought was best for everyone."

Jax nodded his head.

"Of course you were."

Gemma gulped some lemonade suddenly overwhelmingly thirsty.

"I don't understand why JT was on that stretch of road alone after the Mayan ambush. It never made sense to me," Jax said.

"I have no idea," Gemma said.

"Clay would have to have been following JT or he must have lured him out to that stretch of road."

"Makes sense. So what's going on at TM? I really think I should have helped pick the paint color."

"Unser shared some more information with me," Jax said making eye contact with the woman formerly known as his mother.

"And what is that?"

"That you lured JT to that stretch of road by telling him that you won a dinner at The Overlook. You helped Clay murder my father," Jax was deadly calm.

For the first time in Gemma's life, she feared her son. She suspected that "men of mayhem" patch he wore meant he had killed for the MC. She knew Jax and she raised him in the MC world. Forgiveness was not part of his training. It was all about revenge, retaliation and retribution. He was raised to do whatever he needed to do to get those things. She had to get him to believe she didn't have any part in killing JT or he would kill her.

"Wayne is an old and bitter man," Gemma said dismissively. "When I visited him, he told me he loved me. I couldn't lie to him and tell him I feel something for him that I don't. He got angry and said that I'd be sorry. I didn't lure JT to that stretch of road. It's just a dying old man's attempt at revenge."

Jax nodded his head thoughtfully.

"That's what I thought," Jax said. Gemma visibly relaxed. "Until he gave me more information including proof."

Gemma felt like her face was frozen. She was so scared she couldn't move. She needed to hold it together. Jax was bluffing. There was no way there could be any proof. She could get through this.

"Jax, I didn't lure your father to his death. You have to believe me," she said reaching out to lay her hand on his arm. He shook off her hand.

"You told Piney that you won a dinner for two to The Overlook. JT was meeting you there. That's why he was on that stretch of road," Jax said.

"That was a long damned time ago," Gemma said impatiently. "I don't remember every detail," Gemma paused thinking through her next series of lies. "I won a dinner. JT was going to meet me, but I had gotten the day wrong. I tried to call him, but he must have been on his way and couldn't hear the phone. I decided to wait until he was at the restaurant to call him. I called him and he never answered because he was in the accident."

Once Jax learned of his mother luring his father to that stretch of highway, he had a vague memory of that night. She'd come straight home from TM, but she hadn't made dinner. She told him it was make your own dinner night. He remembered because he was in the middle of making a third peanut butter and jelly sandwich when Unser knocked at the door to tell Gemma about JT. That was a moment he would never forget.

He reached into a pocket of his cut and pulled out a large envelope containing the copies of the contents of the envelope Unser left him. He spread out her statement, the statements from the staff at The Outlook and Unser's statement on the kitchen table.

Gemma's heart sank when she saw the papers Jax spread out in front of her. This couldn't be good.

"Unser did a little more investigation than San Joa," Jax said.

"What the hell is this?" she demanded. She'd learned from Clay that the best defense was a good offense.

"Proof. Here's a copy of the statement you gave to San Joa sheriffs. You said you were actually at The Overlook when JT was run down. Lucky for you, they didn't bother checking with the staff at the restaurant. It was outside of Charming's jurisdiction, but Unser got statements from the staff. There was never any contest. You lied in your San Joa statement; you were never at The Outlook."

"It was a stressful time. I was half out of my mind with grief," Gemma said. "Clay told me he entered me in a contest for a dinner for two to The Outlook. He told me he had the wrong night, but JT was already on his way."

"All you're doing is making up lies to fit new circumstances. You lured my father to his death," Jax shouted, his face was bright red with anger and he brought his fist down hard on the table making the lemonade glasses jump.

Gemma didn't see her son looking into her eyes. She didn't recognize this man sitting so close to her. She knew that she had to get away and put a locked door or two between them.

She jumped up so fast her chair fell over and she began to run towards the master bedroom. He caught her before she made it to the hall. He grabbed her by the throat and threw her up against the wall so hard a small picture of Jax on his first day of school fell off the wall.

"Quit fighting," Jax said in a low growl, "it will just make this worse."

Gemma nodded and quit slapping and punching at Jax.

"Jax, I did it for you," Gemma said pleading for her life. "Clay said JT was going to destroy the MC. I couldn't let him do that. It's your legacy. It's your birthright."

"Shut your lying fucking mouth," Jax yelled still holding Gemma by the throat. "You killed JT because he wanted to get the MC out of guns and you and Clay couldn't have that because you and Clay didn't want to lose that gun green coming in. You went to Unser and begged him to help cover up JT"s murder and he agreed out of love for you and concern for me and what would have happened to me if you and Clay had gone down for JT's murder. What would you have done if you and Clay had gotten locked up for killing JT?"

"I knew Wayne would keep the secret," Gemma gasped.

"You took my father's life and you took all the years I could have had with him," Jax tightened his hold on Gemma's neck. He wanted to kill her. She needed to die for what she had done.

When he'd been at JT's grave, he'd felt his father's presence. JT didn't want him to kill Gemma. He didn't want that stain on his son's soul. It was the only reason he wasn't squeezing and beating the life out of Gemma.

"I'm not going to kill you because JT wouldn't want that," Jax said his face so close to Gemma's face she could feel his breath on her face. "Make no mistake, you are dead to me, to the MC and to all the friends of the MC."

"You can't do this. I am still your mother," Gemma said.

"I have no mother. She died with my father on that highway. I will never speak to you again. I am declaring you an enemy of the club. I'm firing you from TM. Chuckie will pack up your shit and leave it on the porch. You will never be allowed at TM or in the clubhouse."

"Jax, please try to understand," Gemma pleaded. "It was Clay twisting my mind."

"Don't worry about being alone. Just sit your ass down on a barstool and spread your legs for the first guy that buys you a drink. You're just an old used up whore barely worth the price of a beer."

Jax slammed Gemma against the wall again and released his grip on her so she fell in a heap to the floor. He wanted to kick her and punch her, but he didn't trust that once he started he would be able to stop. Instead, he spit in her face. It was the ultimate sign of MC disrespect. He turned and left, her sobs ringing in his ears.

Gemma might still be alive, but Jax was grieving the loss of his mother. Not the mother of now, but the mother he'd known up until he'd learned the truth about her.

He sat in his van for several moments, his eyes filled with tears over the loss of his mother.

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"***

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Jax was not going to throw her out of his life like she was trash. She was his mother and he would need her. He was going to come around. It might take a few weeks but this was going to all blow over.

Fuck you Wayne! Fuck you Wayne! Fuck you Wayne!