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Chapter 26 Recap

Tara tells Jax that she's been in physically and emotionally abusive relationships in the past. She confronts him over the abuse he put her through when he gave her escorts after he found out about her plan against Gemma. She told him that he terrorized her everyday.

She had had a long discussion the previous night with Ryland and he told he thought she and Jax should reconcile. Tara isn't so sure, but she takes his advice and tells Jax what she needs from him including that if he has any contact with Gemma, their relationship is over.

Jax is optimistic that they can have a future together. He also tells Tara that he feels sexually disconnected from her. She tells him that she's felt the same way since she was released on bail. He wants a more emotional connection to her. She tells him that with her hormones making her sex crazy, she isn't ready for anything more with him.

They go to Nero's uncle's home and are told by the uncle's girlfriend that a man claiming to be sent by Jax Teller has been there looking for the kids.

Jax Is Really Alive

Chapter 27 Honey Bunny

Author's Note

Originally, this chapter was going to be called Spill Blood. I reordered some plot points and have moved those points to a later chapter. This chapter was getting too long and the back half of the chapter was going to suffer, so I decided to split the chapter and expand the back half of the chapter. I will post another chapter next week.

Nero's uncle Juan and his girlfriend Myra were unable to provide any useful information that could help locate the boys. Jax hadn't expected them to be of help; his goal was to get Nero's uncle to arrange a meeting with Nero.

Jax explained that he had helped Jax Teller disappear and he had a new ID and money ready for Nero in exchange for a few minutes of Nero's time answering questions about the missing boys. Nero's uncle claimed he wasn't in contact with Nero, but Jax knew better.

He needed to assure Nero that this wasn't a law enforcement trick to locate him. He told Nero's uncle about the conversation Jax Teller had with Nero in the TM office on the day he disappeared. This was a signal to Nero that the message came from Jax Teller. He gave his cell number and the name and phone number of their hotel to Nero's uncle on a slip of paper.

Myra hadn't been able to offer much information on the man claiming to be sent by Jax Teller. She had been rushing to a local park for a birthday party for a niece and hadn't paid much attention to the man. She told him she didn't know anything about the kids' location. She described him as being average height wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. She promised Tara that she would call if the man returned.

As soon as they were back in the SUV, Tara looked at Jax.

"I don't like this mystery man," she said, frowning. "I'm going to call Louise to see if she knows anything."

Louise didn't have any information, but she was going to post it so everyone looking for the boys would get the message.

"I think we should go by Nero's farm and search it, then dinner and back to the hotel for a few hours and then we'll check out a couple of the bars Brooke and Wendy visited."

"I'm worried about this man searching for the boys. Not only are the boys missing, we've got to find them before this man does," Tara said.

"We don't know what his intentions are."

"You don't believe that. This guy can't be good news for us."

"When Abel was kidnapped, I had a hard time dealing with it. I finally found a way to just focus on getting him back and doing everything to make that happen. I shut down the what if, what if, what if. It will make you crazy. For now, focus on getting the boys back and the steps we need to take to get there."

Tara leaned over and kissed Jax on the cheek.

"Thanks, baby."

Jax felt this rush of love for Tara. The intensity of his feelings still surprised him. He'd loved her since he was sixteen. Time had done nothing to diminish his feelings; they just continued to grow and deepen.

Despite his words, Jax was worried about this development. There was no good reason for someone to pose as an investigator helping Jax Teller find his boys. He hoped Louise would hear from someone on the team who would know something about this guy, but he wasn't optimistic.

"I need to tell you something about Wendy. Hale told me and I told him that I would tell you. It may come out in the press or Hale may leak the information to the press to see if it will motivate her to resurface."

"OK."

"Gemma was right when she called her a junkie whore."

"I figured that she traded herself for crank," Jax said, shrugging off the revelation.

"She started work for an escort agency when she was just out of high school. She's been busted a lot. She was in an off phase when she met you. She was still using, she just wasn't selling herself or there weren't any arrests for that time period."

"I'm not surprised. She always claimed she made money by freelancing manicures and pedicures, but she didn't even do her own nails."

"While she was pregnant with Abel, she went back to work in Sacramento as a very high end specialized escort. There are some men who have a fetish for having sex with pregnant women and they are willing to pay a premium. She even got arrested a couple of times."

"She told me that she'd gotten a DUI arrest in Sacramento."

"Hale said her arrests got mostly wiped away because she had a cop and a member of the California legislature as clients."

"I am Abel's father, right?"

"Yes."

Jax shook his head. The idea that Wendy would sell herself while she was pregnant with his child disturbed him, but he wasn't under any illusions about Wendy.

"I'm not surprised."

"You are taking the news better than I thought you would."

"Our boys are missing. Who Wendy fucked and for how much, doesn't matter much."

"I like how you've got your priorities straight," Tara said.

"I'd really like to smack the hell out of her for lying and saying I took the boys."

"You are better than I am. I still want to kill her."

"I'm working on my temper."

Tara laughed.

"You don't have to when it comes to Wendy. Any horrible thing you want to do to that crank whore, I'm in."

Thanks to the mini-CAS system in the car, they were guided to Nero's farm with flawless precision. Jax turned down a dirt road and drove for about a mile. The house was shielded from view by towering pink flowered oleander bushes.

The bushes are a favorite in water starved Southern California. They need no care and thrive in drought conditions. They are poisonous, but there's a downside to everything.

Off to one side were various pens that must have held livestock. Nero's son had little time to spend with the animals before Nero was forced to go on the run.

The house was a single story large white rectangle. From their discussion with Nero's Uncle Juan and his girlfriend Myra, they knew that the house was empty and the animals had been sold or given to neighbors.

The key ring for the SUV contained the standard car alarm remote only Jax's had alien tech modifications that could only be accessed by someone with nonhuman DNA. With a twist and a pull, the remote came apart. One part could be used to open any key card lock with a swipe leaving no record of the entry. The other part could unlock any lock from a padlock to the most sophisticated deadbolt. Jax used the remote gadget to unlock the house's front door. They had already pulled on gloves from a secret compartment under the driver's seat.

"I think we will be OK to turn on the lights. We're blocked from view and it won't take us long to search."

"I can't believe there's no crime scene tape," Tara said.

"Tara, remember, the cops aren't doing anything to find the boys."

"I thought they might have done something."

"They did something by deciding not to do anything."

Tara looked at the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

"There's hardly any food. There's no formula for Thomas."

Jax could see that Tara was buckling under the pressure. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Come on," he said gently. "Let's move on."

The farmhouse was a typical house; it was just set in the middle of vacant land and animal pens. The furniture came with the house. The kitchen and living room were one big room done in oak with a large sectional sofa and a couple of armchairs all in beige.

Jax and Tara scanned the rooms looking for anything that seemed out of place. They walked down a short hall and found what had briefly been Abel and Thomas' room. There was a twin bed and a crib.

Tara looked at the crib and noticed Thomas' bunny.

"They didn't take Honey bunny," she said, her eyes bright with unshed tears and her lower lip quivered.

The way she looked at Jax broke his heart.

"It's OK. We will get them back."

"Gemma didn't take the boys. Gemma would have remembered his bunny. She knows he needs it to sleep," Tara said. She picked up the bunny, smelled it and wrapped her hands around it. "I don't think it will hurt if I take Honey bunny. I'll keep it hidden in one of the secret compartments in the car."

There was no way Jax was going to tell Tara that she couldn't have the bunny. When Clay took Abel's hat from him, he thought about punching him. He didn't think Tara would take a swing at him; he thought she would cry. He would take the punch over seeing her cry any day.

"We will kill the people who took them," Jax promised grimly.

"Slowly," Tara added. Jax knew from the look in her eyes that she wasn't kidding.

Tara pointed to a ring on the nightstand by the single bed.

"Gemma wouldn't have left the ring either."

"That's the ring Gemma gave JT when he joined SAMCRO."

"I saw Gemma give the ring to Abel on the alien surveillance system. She went to his school. If Brooke took the kids because Wendy wasn't a fit mother, would she have remembered Thomas' bunny and Abel's ring?"

"Brooke is good with the boys, but she's young and kind of forgetful. If she took the boys, she wouldn't have known about Abel's ring unless someone told her. She knows Thomas needs his bunny. She's put him to bed enough to know that, but she could have forgotten especially if she were in a hurry."

There was another bedroom with a widened doorway for Nero's son's wheelchair. His son had been born with spina bifida and he had spent his life in a state run facility. Nero had been looking forward to finally having him at home.

"It's sad. Nero's kid didn't get very long at the farm," Jax said.

"Poor kid," Tara said. "He's losing his father. I hope the care facility is not letting him see the news. He doesn't need to know his father is wanted for killing a couple of guys."

"I hope the same thing for Abel."

"Come on, let's finish," Tara said, rubbing Jax's arm.

They looked around the master bedroom and a spare room with a sofa bed and a small table and two straight backed chairs.

"We haven't found any suitcases or bags belonging to Wendy or Brooke. I think that means they left on their own and no one took them," Tara said.

"There's only a small bag with stuff for the boys."

"That's why we need to talk to Nero and find out what Wendy packed for the kids. I was hoping we would find some clue that would help."

"I didn't think we would find anything here," Jax said, "but we needed to check."

"Abel's medication. We need to see if they took that," Tara said.

"I forgot that too," Jax said.

They quickly searched the bathrooms and the boys' room without locating Abel's heart medication.

"At least they took Abel's heart medication."

"We don't know that," Jax pointed out. "Wendy could have forgotten to bring it. That could also explain why Brooke was coming to Norco; she was bringing the forgotten medication."

"We really need to talk to Nero."

Jax used the alien tool to lock the deadbolt behind them. They stripped off the gloves. Jax returned them to the hidden compartment under the front seat along with Thomas' bunny.

"Are you going to make it through dinner without sex?" Jax asked with a warm, sexy smile.

"How about a quickie in the back seat?"

"A quickie? Ouch! You have wounded me." Jax said with his hand clutching his heart, "I can't believe you think I'm even capable of being quick."

"I appreciate your help during my sexual time of need," Tara said as she climbed into the backseat.

"When you need sex, I'm your guy," Jax said as he followed her into the back seat. "You don't even have to ask. You can unzip my jeans or start taking your clothes off."

"Thanks for the options."

"Happy to be of assistance."

For a moment, Jax thought about fretful little Thomas crying for his bunny or a familiar face or poor terrified Abel scared and wondering when someone was coming to save him.

Torturing himself with the images wouldn't help get the boys back. He focused on the moment and the pleasure of burying himself deep inside Tara's warm, silky body. Sex had always been his drug of choice.

Next Up: Gone Girl