A/N: Updated – 8/21/20

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Chapter 20

Eliza POV

"I came back to Charming because my father is very ill and I needed to move him to a nursing home and clean out his house." Tara said.

I stood up from the chair that I was sitting in, walking closer to her. I leaned down to get eye level with her. "You don't think that I actually believe that… do you?" I asked Tara, standing back up. "Come on now Tara, I'm the one that introduced you to Jax. Do you really think that I'm that stupid?" There was something that she wasn't telling me, and I was sure that it had to do with my brother. I nodded to Hap, and he grabbed the can of gasoline.

"Eliza, come on, let's talk about this." Tara said, as Hap started to make his way toward her.

"This can stop at any time Tara. Just tell me what your hiding." I said, lighting another cigarette.

Tara let out a sigh, right as Hap was about to start pouring the gasoline on her. "Okay!" Tara shouted.

I held my hand up for Hap to hold off. "What are you hiding Tara?"

Right as Tara was about to speak, I heard the warehouse door slam shut. I stood up and turned toward the door. It was Jax and Opie. How the hell did they find me? I walked over to them. "How did you find me?" I asked.

"It's not important. What is this?" Jax asked me.

"She knew more than what she was saying." I whispered, so that Tara wouldn't hear. "I was never going to hurt her, but we need answers… and you know that I can do that without actually hurting someone." I whispered to them.

They exchanged a look. "Dude, she's got a point." Ope said.

Jax rolled his eyes. "Fine. Opie's stays in here and I'll wait outside." Jax said.

I hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Jax." I said. When I let go of him, he turned and walked back outside. I looked at Ope and he gave me a soft smile. I turned and walked back to Tara. "You were about to say…"

"Okay, so my dad is part of it but not all of it. I did think that if I came back to Charming that Josh wouldn't come looking for me but I also thought that if he did…" She trailed off looking at the ground.

"That Jax would protect you?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yeah." She said.

I stood up and walked over to where Ope and Tig were standing. Hap and Chibs walked over and joined us. "Do you think that's everything that she's going to tell us?" Tig asked me.

I looked at him and he nodded to what I was thinking. "Yeah I do. She may not know where Carlos is… especially if she's hiding from his brother." I said.

The guys agreed with me. Hap handed me the handcuff key. I walked over to Tara and uncuffed her. She stood up and rubbed her wrists. "Thanks. I think." Tara said.

"I was never going to hurt you." I told her.

"Okay." Tara said.

"I just needed information."

"Great."

"Come with me." Tara and I walked over to where Lexi was standing with the guys. "Tara, Lexi. Lexi, Tara." I said turning to Tara. "Lexi was Carlos' girlfriend. Last night I had to drive up to Washington to go get her. Carlos has been hitting her for years. I need to know if you have any idea where he might go. Anybody that he might be in contact with." I said.

"I honestly don't know. The only person that I think of that he might be in contact with is Josh. When Josh and I were together, Carlos would call and ask for money. Josh told him that he couldn't keep sending him money but that he could use the cabin." Tara said.

"The cabin?" Lexi and I asked at the same time.

"Yeah, apparently their dad owns a cabin up in Montana. Sometimes any of them would go up there to get away from everything." Tara said.

"Alright. Thanks Tara." I said. Tig, Chips and Hap headed back to the clubhouse. Jax took Tara home and made sure that she knew that she couldn't tell anybody about tonight. Ope and I headed home. Lexi rode back with us.

When we got to the house, Ope went to bed. He was tired and he had to open the garage in the morning. Lexi and I decided to sit up for a while. She was going to help me clean and prep food tomorrow for Abel's homecoming party. I grabbed us a couple of beers out of the fridge and we sat on the couch. I pulled the joint that Ma gave me out of my cigarette pack and lit it. "So, what are your plans?" I asked her, taking a hit off the joint.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it much." Lexi said.

"Well, I mean you gotta do something. Have you thought about sticking around here… in Charming?" I asked her.

"Yeah, maybe. I'd have to find a job though." Lexi said. "Eventually I'm gonna have to get my own place."

"I might know of somewhere that you can get a job." I said, taking the joint back from her.

"Really where?"

"The diner usually hires people pretty regular and since I used to work for Lumpy, he'd probably hire you on the spot." I said.

"That'd be awesome." Lexi said.

"And Clay and Gemma are always looking for bartenders for Friday and Saturday nights at the clubhouse." I mentioned.

"You think that they would hire me?" She asked.

"You leave my mother to me." I said, with a big grin on my face.

Jax POV

After I dropped Tara off at her house, I headed over to the diner to get something to eat before heading home. After eating, I headed home. I had to be at the hospital in the morning for Abel's discharge. Wendy had sent me a letter telling me that she was moving into a sober living house. She'd signed over all rights to me but I knew that she'd still want to know how Abel was doing, despite her stupidity.

When I walked into the house, Eliza and Opie had already gone to bed. I knew that Eliza was stressing herself out with the homecoming party. Lexi was the only one up and she was sitting on the couch watching TV. I hung my Kutte up on my usual hook and went to the kitchen and grabbed me and Lexi each a beer.

When I walked into the living room, I sat beside her on the couch, and handed her the beer I brought for her. "I'm sorry about Eliza tonight." She said not looking at me.

I shook my head, lighting a cigarette that I pulled out of my pack. "It's not your fault. When Eliza is hurting, she tends to use that pain to get answers out of someone. I know that you saw things tonight… I need to know that the Club can trust you." I said.

I knew that Eliza trusted her, but I didn't know her that well. She turned and looked at me. "You can trust me, Jax… and so can the Club." She said. She opened her beer and I nodded at her. "So, umm… Eliza said that she might can help me get a job."

"That's great. So, I guess that means that you'll be sticking around." I said.

"Yeah I'd thought about it. I mean, I knew at some point I'd have to get a job and an apartment. I can't just keep living here." She said.

"Yeah, Abel comes home tomorrow." I said, looking down at my beer.

"Eliza's been getting calls from Gemma all week making sure that everything is gonna be ready." Lexi said.

"Sounds like Ma." I said taking a drink of my beer. I looked over at Lexi. "You're gonna be here aren't you?" I asked. Even though I didn't know Lexi that well but being around her… I don't know there was something about her. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it.

"Wouldn't miss it." Lexi said with a smile.

Lexi POV

The next morning when I woke up, I went to the kitchen to start coffee like I did every morning. While I waited on the coffee, I sat at the kitchen table and smoked a cigarette thinking about the night before. It wasn't even the fact that E had Tara kidnapped so that she could talk to her, that was on my mind. It was my conversation with Jax that was stuck on my mind. It was almost as if he'd wanted to tell me something. Like he didn't want me to go anywhere.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of Eliza's voice on the phone as she walked into the kitchen. "Yes Ma, I know. Don't worry, everything will be ready. I've got everything under control." I heard Eliza say into the phone. A few minutes later, she slammed her phone shut. "Oh my god!" She yelled.

"Gemma again?" I asked.

She nodded, grabbing a coffee cup out of the cabinet. "Yeah. And that's not even the first time that she's called today. The first time she called it was at 6 am wanting to make sure that Ope was still gonna open the garage. The second time she called was at 7, that one I actually answered. She wanted to remind me that they were planning to discharge Abel first thing. And then just now she wanted to see if I had all the food prepped." E said.

"Wow." I said as she handed me a cup of coffee. "Your mother is a piece of work."

"Don't I know it." She said.

We sat and drank our coffee before we started getting things ready for the homecoming party tonight. We'd cleaned the house from top to bottom and began setting up table in the dining room for the food and tables on the back porch for everyone to sit. By the time we looked at the clock it was way past lunch. I was surprised that we hadn't heard anything from Jax.