CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT
Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile. 5 reviews gets next chapter early.
The sun is up before we see any of the guys again, the sound of bikes rumbling down the street is a warning that they're incoming.
The utter silence as the bikes are shut off is startling, even though they haven't been making noise for long it sounded like they were going to drive into the house, and it's not till Clay comes in that I realise why, the entire Redwood charter is behind him.
Clay's eyes go straight to his wife where she's sitting on one of the arm chairs, feet curled up under her and a thick blanket thrown over her, the book in her hand is set aside as he moves through the room.
"Why aren't you lot sleeping?" He asks as the rest of the Sons filter through the doorway and find places to sit or lean.
Gemma looks at me, "Sarah couldn't relax, despite inhaling an entire joint by herself, she then destroyed any relaxing effect that may have had by drinking 2 pots of coffee."
I'm slightly jittery from the amount of caffeine that I've consumed over the course of the night, my leg is bouncing and I'm unable to stop it. Donna looks up sleepily from where she was napping on the couch, spotting Opie she stands up and walks over, wraps her arms around him.
Jax and Happy both come over to me but Happy is the one to crouch beside me and look me in the eyes, "I'm not gonna give you details, if you want them you'll have to ask Jax, but your wish was done."
I know I shouldn't but a wicked shot of glee surges through me, I manage not to smile but quietly whisper my thanks. My eyes flick to Jax hovering over Happy's shoulder and the look on his face, and the look on everyone else's faces I can tell there was more to it then they want to tell us, the tension is obvious in all of them, from the way that Opie's arms are wrapped tightly around Donna, the clenched fists hanging at Tig's side, the disturbed expression on Kips face. Even Bobby who's normally so relaxed looks like he's barely holding his temper in check, his eyes normally sparkling with humour are filled with a bloodthirsty look that I can't imagine being on the receiving end of.
Looking around them all I take a quiet inventory of them all, none of them are bleeding, none of them look like they're in pain.
"What happened?" Donna voices my query before I can even start to open my mouth.
Jax shakes his head, and it ends up being Clay who starts to talk, "We had an internal issue to deal with."
Taking another look around the room I realise that one of the guys isn't there, Gemma has obviously had the same member checklist running through her brain and says, "Where's Aaron?"
I'm really surprised when it's Piney who curses and starts muttering, but a heated look from Clay stops him mid word.
"He's sharing the same shallow grave as Fuckwit McAsshole." Clay says, his voice definitely sounds furious; Gemma twists in her chair and looks at him waiting for him to finish.
Clay sighs and sits down on the arm of Gemma's chair, ignoring her muffled protests. "After tonight I don't want him mentioned again, right?" Clay meets mine, Donna's and Gemma's eyes and waits till we all nod before he continues.
"Aaron had been feeding Craig information, from what we can gather they met up in Stockton not long before Craig rang us, and the little bastard never said a word. Half those photos of you since you came back were taken by him." Clay looks at me, "The whole knife to the throat was staged, Craig wasn't actually meant to knock Aaron out, but hit him a harder then he intended."
"Not hard enough." Chibs states from where he's sitting on the couch between Juice and Piney.
"As soon as Jax and Hap had hold of Craig he started singing like a fucken canary." Clay says a smile on his face that I certainly wouldn't want to be on the other end of.
Turning my head to look at Happy who's standing behind my chair all he does is raise an eyebrow and grin, "I love my job."
My stunned look at Jax holds a thousand questions but the shake of his head has me closing my mouth before the first one can be asked.
The information about Aaron has me completely stunned; that a prospect would turn his back on his club, withhold information and ignore the fact someone is under the Sons protection is completely foreign to my mind. I know that he and I didn't get on, but that he'd willingly want to hand me over to someone is impossible for me to wrap my brain around.
Amongst the absolute chaos in my brain one thought pops to the forefront, the complete absurdity of it almost makes me laugh, but the fact I can now get my car back doesn't matter to anyone but me.
Clay lets out a giant yawn and everyone starts leaving, Jax, Opie and Happy stay in the living room at Clays silent request, but everyone else heads out the front door, Tig stopping on the doorstep.
Jax, Clay, Opie and Happy go into the kitchen and have a short conversation before they come back out; Happy comes over and looks down at me, "You better keep making cupcakes for me."
I look at him and nod.
"Me too!" I hear Tig calls, sticking his head through the door.
I nod again and Happy leaves a few minutes and the sound of the two bikes starting and leaving startle me out of my thoughts, I know I should feel lighter and more relaxed knowing that Craig is now out of my life, permanently, but the weight has been on my shoulders for so long it'll take time before I stop looking behind me at every turn.
Standing up I look at my watch, it's 7am and I know it's at least an hour too early to get my car from the impound lot and I'm desperately in need of sleep, Opie and Donna have headed down the hall, heading to get some sleep before their kids wake up, I can hear Gemma on the phone behind me talking to Neeta about coming in for the day. Clay's on his phone as well talking to one of the mechanics to let them know none of the guys will be available today and to just get done what they can.
Jax walks over and puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to his chest and resting his chin on the top of my head, I take a few minutes of silence in his embrace before the unusual smells that are hanging on him register, the oil, gas and general road smells are present as normal, but under all that there's the smell of gun powder, dirt, sweat and blood.
Jax tugs me towards the door, "Let's go home and get some sleep."
I'm pretty much on auto pilot the whole trip back to Jax's house, the wind is freezing but I barely notice, I'm sure by the time we get to his street my hair looks like a bird has been nesting in it. He pulls into his driveway and through the front door, leading me the whole way. It's not till I'm tucked into his bed, the blankets hoisted right up around my shoulders that I realise I haven't spoken a word since my whispered gratitude.
Raising myself up on an elbow I look at Jax where he's collapsed onto the bed, his head resting on the pillow and his t-shirt, jeans and socks still on, he opens his eyes and I can see the exhaustion in them.
"Thank you." I whisper softly.
He blinks slowly, "What for?"
"For saving me." A single tear slides down my cheek and that seems to be the permission my brain wants to completely lose it. Tears well in both my eyes and cascade down my cheeks, falling onto Jax's shoulder.
He tugs me down till I'm nestled into the side of his body, his forearm tight against my back, he seems happy to just lie there and rub his thumb over my shoulder as I cry. When I finally stop crying the t-shirt he was wearing is wet from the tears I've shed, and my eyes feel sore, blinking becomes hard, the effort it takes for me to reopen my eyes is obvious to Jax when he stops moving his thumb and says quietly, "Sleep now."
I manage a half nod before my eyes close and refuse to open again.