CHAPTER NINE

Spending 10 minutes at the garage listening to Piney compliment my cooking put us over the 15 minutes I wanted to be, but when Donna's phone rang on the way to Tara's house she answered it and told Opie that we were held up talking to Piney and would be there soon, but to have a cupcake if they were starving.

I heard Opie saying they would wait as we turned onto Tara's street. Donna closed her phone as I pulled up to the curb then looked at me, "What exactly are you going to do?"

I shrugged at her, "Honestly, I'm not sure. I guess I want to remind her that she's not 18 anymore, and that neither am I. But I also want her to realise that I am not leaving.Hone"

I unclip my seatbelt and step out, hearing Donna get out as well. Walking up the path to the door seems to be the longest walk I've made in a very long time, and the corners of my eyes note that the house really needs some major work done. Pressing on the doorbell gets us nothing, so I knock, hard instead.

When the door opens she's standing there in one of Jax's SAMCRO T-shirts and a pair of lounge pants. Leaning against her door frame she looks me up and down and snaps "What, did you come to say goodbye this time?"

I feel my hands tighten into fists and have to relax before I can open my mouth, remembering that Jax just ate dinner I cooked makes me smile at her before I open my mouth. "No, I'm not leaving. But you are. You'll go back to your fancy school in Chicago, back to your medicine that is more important to you than family, and you'll leave Jax here. But this time I'll be here, so when he realises that you're just a pussy that left, again, I'll be there. When he realises that you're not coming back, I'll be there. When his son turns 1, I'll be there. When he is ready for a real relationship, with a REAL Old Lady, I'll be there. And when he gets married, I'll be the one right there beside him taking vows with him. When he decides he wants more children, I'll be there. So, Tara, you may have him at the moment. But he will be mine, he's always been mine, you're just fighting with his destiny and making him wait. But thank you for letting him have his 'wandering' ways now with you, cause it means I know when he gets to his forever he won't want to go anywhere else."

With that, I smile at her and go back to my car.

Donna slips into the passenger seat beside me and claps as I start the car. "That was great. I thought she was going to pass out, she went so red. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look like a fish before."

Turning the corner I hear my phone ring from my bag and just ignore it, knowing that she would have got her composure back and want to say something. But at the moment I feel so great that I can't help but grin like a Cheshire cat at Donna.

Driving in silence back to Donna's house I can't stop smiling, but when we pull into the driveway and Jax is standing outside looking mad and smoking the smile falls from my face. Climbing out of the car I walk over to him and ask "What's wrong?" thinking that he and Opie had another stupid fight.

He grabs my arm, pulls me into the porch light and examines my hands, checking over my knuckles carefully before doing the same to Donna.

Finally having had enough when he shoves my arm into the light to check my elbows I pull my arm away and snap, "What the fuck is wrong with you, I am not a doll you can manipulate till you're happy with its position."

He lights another smoke and glares at me before barking out, "Donna, go inside."

Donna walks past me and gives me a look, "I'm fine, I'll be in in a minute." I say as she turns the door knob.

Jax turns to me as I sit on the step and seems to relax a bit. "Why did Tara just ring me and tell me that you and Donna showed up at her house?"

"Cause we did. I needed to let her know to lock her phone before she fucks."

Jax's expression twists for a second before he shakes his head. "What did you think you would accomplish by punching her in the nose?" He asks me, seeming at the end of a wick I didn't know was burning.

"I didn't touch her, neither of us did. I simply told her a few home truths then left. We were only there for maybe 2 minutes. And we didn't go anywhere other than her front porch. Ask her nosy neighbour that's was looking out the window. He saw us arrive, talk, then leave." I snap at him, my temper frayed from seeing Tara has snapped now that I'm being questioned like then enemy.

"Really, you expect me to believe you went there, talked to a woman you hate and then calmly left? Shit Sarah, we all know that you used to excel at breaking noses." Jax seems surprised that I want him to believe the truth, throwing the 3 peoples noses I broke in high school back at me doesn't help my mood, but then he doesn't know the reason those noses got broken.

"You know what, if you don't believe me that's fine, but we didn't touch her, all that went between her and I was words. She said 1 sentence to me; I told her what I went there to say, though I did have to stop myself from hitting her just from her 1 sentence."

I push past him and turn the doorknob, intending to go inside when I hear Jax's phone ring. Pausing to see who it is I'm not surprised when I hear Tara's voice, high pitched; she seems like she's hysterical after our visit, "Did you find out why she hit me? What have I ever done to her?"

Jax looks over at me, still standing there, with un-bruised knuckles and meets my eyes before sighing down the phone, "She said she didn't touch you that neither of them did."

"Then why is my nose bleeding at my eye is already swelling closed!? Did I do this to myself? I was sitting here, watching TV and waiting till you got back when she showed up at my door and hit me." Tara's voice is rising in volume as she screams more.

Walking back to Jax I pull the phone from his hand, put it near my mouth, but so that he can still hear what I say, and Tara's reply, "I didn't hit you, I didn't touch anything near you, apart from knocking on your front door. Neither did Donna, so I'm not sure why your nose is bleeding, or your eye is messed up. Maybe you threw yourself into the door to make it seem likely that we did hit you. But let me ask you something."

I hear Tara make a small noise and know she's listening, "Of all the people that you know, don't you think Jax would know what knuckles that have thrown a punch look like? Mine look exactly the same as they did when I sat next to him and ate dinner."

Handing the phone back to Jax I open the door and say, "If you want a cupcake, I'll be here."

Closing the door behind me I sag against it but quickly gather myself and move to the kitchen where Donna is retelling what happened at Tara's.

Opie stands, pulls my hands out and examines my knuckles as well before nodding, "I knew she was full of shit when he answered and she burst into tears. She was always good at crocodile tears."

Grabbing the cupcakes off the bench I'm surprised when I hear the front door open and close, but then realise that Jax's kutte is still hanging on the back of the door. He steps into the room and slips it over his shoulders while, holding the phone, which is still glowing like it's in mid-call

"Sorry, but she's completely hysterical. She's insisting that she needs to go to the hospital, but that she can't drive herself. So I told her I'd be there in a few minutes." Jax says to Donna and Opie, ignoring me completely, putting the phone down while he shrugs on his kutte.

"That's okay Jax; we'll be here if you want to come back later." I said, grinning at Donna. I know the grin is malicious, after all the fact that he's in the kitchen and there are 4 of us in there, other than Jax doesn't travel down the phone line. All Tara would have heard would be Jax making excuses to leave furniture moving and me speaking.

Jax walked out the door and I collapsed into a pool of giggles at the table. Opie and Mary both looking at me slightly warily while Donna finally finished recreating the speech I'd made to Tara.

On hearing that I'd managed to repeat the words that were probably driving her mad Opie shakes his head, "I really am glad your back, everything is much more interesting with you around."

"Why thank you, cupcake?" I offer, holding the plate out to him.

Once we're all situated at the table with coffee and cupcakes watching the twins demolish theirs I look at Donna and say "I'll be here D."