9

Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run

Chapter 191 Intention

As soon as Elliot dropped her off at her hotel she carefully lowered herself to her bed and called her father. She needed to hear his voice and she needed him to talk her back to sanity.

Preventing the attack on Tristen had caused her to have a big emotional flashback to the time when her mother was fighting SAMCLO. She hadn't always been proud of her mother for breaking up SAMCLO's child sex trafficking ring because she had been bitter that her mother hadn't thought about her.

Eden had been beautiful, charming, smart, but fatally naïve. She believed that SOA would denounce the Laredo charter. How could anyone defend forcing little boys and girls into prostitution? She hadn't factored in that Sons of Anarchy was a brotherhood and that meant unconditional love even for the chapter that sold kids for sex.

Her mother believed SAMCLO would be in such disarray after the entire chapter was arrested that they wouldn't have the power to hurt her or her daughter. She had been right about the disarray, but she had failed to take into account the fact that SAMCLO was part of the Sons of Anarchy and they would take care of the betrayal. Her mother had actually thought Clay was coming to see her to talk about getting to know his daughter.

There was an impulsive side to Scarlett and she needed her father to talk her down a little. She was afraid she might ask Jax how SAMCRO could battle a child rapist while less than two decades ago, it supported their Laredo chapter when it sex trafficked kids. This would be a foolish and dangerous mistake, but her ability to control her behavior wasn't at its best when her pain level was high.

She had made her injured back worse by walking quickly to get David Hale and Jax to rescue Tristen. Saving Tristen was more important than a temporary increase to her pain level. It hadn't even been a choice for her.

Her higher pain level though was bringing out her reckless side that didn't care what happened to her. That's why she was worried she might give in to the urge to ask Jax how the SOA could support a chapter that sex trafficked children.

Seeing her bio dad hadn't helped either. He scared the hell out of her. She couldn't help it. All she could think of was seeing him squeeze the life out of her mother, chasing her and almost catching her. She hadn't expected him to recognize her, but he wouldn't have asked her about Texas if he didn't think he knew her.

During her call to her father, he listened to her, told her how proud he was of her for saving the little girl and reminded her she could do anything when she put her mind to it.

"How are things going with Jax?"

"Fine. He realized that my helping Tristen could lead to media attention. He and David worked out stories to keep my identity secret."

"I like that guy. He can think fast and well."

Scarlett laughed.

"It wouldn't help much if he thinks fast and screws up," she said.

"I like knowing that he's with you. How was your evening with David Hale."

"Not as boring as I expected, but still boring."

"That's the problem with boring," her father said with a laugh. "It's safer, but do you really want to sleepwalk through your life?"

"I could use less excitement. He's really nice and I enjoyed the evening, but . . ." Scarlett broke off.

"He isn't Jax," her father finished her sentence.

"Yeah," Scarlett said woefully.

"I keep telling you that there is nothing wrong with having feelings. It's about time for you to fall in love."

"And get my heart broken."

"Scarlett, sweetheart, do you think that getting your heart broken will hurt any more than all the pain you've already experienced? You are a strong girl. You can handle heartbreak. There's also the possibility that he won't break your heart."

"Relationships always end. Even when they work out, sooner or later, it ends. Someone will die. Unless I die first, there will be heartbreak."

"I don't regret for a second that your mom and I fell in love. If I'd never fallen in love with her, I wouldn't have you. The good times and love I had with her made the heartbreak worth it. Having you for my daughter also made it worth every second of pain."

"I don't want to fall in love with Jax."

"Love doesn't work like that. You don't decide to fall in love with someone. It just happens. You can't control some things in your life."

"And that's exactly one of the worst things about it."

Her father laughed.

"Sweetheart, you can't control everything. You need to enjoy your life and if that means enjoying falling in love with someone, that's OK. If you want a nice safe life, you can have a nice safe relationship with David Hale."

"Or have my own life with myself."

"There's nothing wrong with being alone, but I'm not alone and neither are you because we have each other."

"You need to stop trying to shove me into Jax's arms."

"I like him. He was willing to risk his life for you when he thought you were going to be kidnapped. He's a brave guy. There aren't a lot of men like that these days. Most men now are a bunch of whiny little snowflakes."

Scarlett wrapped her arm around her waist as she laughed.

"I can't imagine Jax Teller asking for a safe space or an emotional support animal," she said when she quit laughing. "I still have a suspicion you did the whole thing as a test."

"I didn't, but I can't say I'm sorry it happened. I like knowing that there's someone who can look after you."

"Modern women look after themselves."

"I've raised you to look after yourself, but that doesn't mean that you can't have someone with you while you do it."

"Just you wait," Scarlett threatened, "I'm going to look for a woman for you."

"Good. I trust your judgment."

"Even I don't trust my judgment."

"You are too hard on yourself. Enjoy your life and quit trying to be perfect. You did a really good thing today and you used great judgment. How many people saw Tristen with the clown and just ignored it? You got that child rescued. Without you, that little girl's life would have become a life long nightmare and you saved her father from having to help his little girl live with that kind of trauma. You did more good than you will ever know."

"I did what you taught me about paying attention and looking at things to see if they made sense."

"What is really wrong?"

"Meeting Clay was a lot worse than I thought. I was so scared I thought I was going to fall apart. I covered it up by saying he reminded me of a scary teacher I'd had, but I don't think he bought it. He asked me if I'd ever been to Texas."

"That's bad."

"It's worse because I told Jax that I'd lived in Texas. I lied and said I'd never been to Texas except to change planes."

"Did Jax contradict you?"

"No, but I know he remembered what I'd told him about Texas."

"Clay can't know for sure that you are the little girl. He sees a resemblance. We need to come up with a way to prove to him that you aren't that little girl."

"How can we do that?"

"Let me handle it. I will figure out a way to prove that you aren't that little girl. Don't worry. I've got this."

Scarlett trusted her father. If he said he would figure a way to prove to Clay that she wasn't the little girl that saw him commit capital murder, he would find a way. He was smart. She could rely on him.

"Thanks, dad. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart," he said.

They ended the phone call. Scarlett waited for Jax to pick her up. He'd sent her a text earlier that he needed to go to the clubhouse with the guys for a beer before he could pick her up.

She understood that he needed this bonding moment with his club. It wasn't every day that the men of SAMCRO got to break up a gang rape of a child. It was worth celebrating. They had earned it.

Her back was stiffening. She decided to temporarily surrender to the pain by taking three painkillers and three muscle relaxers. Killing her pain would help her rein in that reckless side of her personality too.

Just as the medications kicked in, Jax pulled up in her car. She left her room and got into her car gritting her teeth as she struggled to get into low slung sports car. Even with muscle relaxers, it was difficult.

"Let me help you," Jax said.

"I've got it," she said.

"The guys are still excited from the fight and everything that happened after."

"What happened after?"

"Kiss first," he said, his voice husky.

He leaned over and kissed her long, slow, sweet and tender. Scarlett knew she was lucky she was sitting down because he was turning her insides to jelly and her legs would have buckled under her if she'd been standing.

She'd been kissed before, of course, but no one had ever kissed her like Jax. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. If a kiss could do this to her, what would sex be like? Dangerous. It would be dangerous in more ways than one and she wasn't thinking about pregnancy and STDs.

Jax pulled away, looked deeply into her eyes and smiled at her.

"You mean everything to me," he said softly.

She kissed his cheek, not trusting herself to speak because she was afraid she would say something stupid. Her father's words about Jax were weighing heavily on her mind. She wasn't ready to surrender her heart to Jax yet. Her brain still thought it could control her emotions. Foolish Scarlett and foolish Scarlett's brain.

They drove in silence until they hit the outskirts of town.

"What happened after?" she prompted.

"A lot of the people were standing around by the woods because the deputies were creating a perimeter and everyone wanted to know why. When we walked out of the woods, the deputies were holding the people back. I told them briefly that a friend of the club told me about a group of men taking a local child into the woods. We checked it out and we prevented a child from being raped."

"Just another day in the life of an outlaw MC," Scarlett teased him.

"SAMCRO takes the protection of the city seriously. We can do things the police can't or won't. That's why Hale asked us to back him up. It would have taken too long to get the county to the carnival and he knew the MC wouldn't have a problem walking into a fight."

"You saved him and Tristen."

"It's a bitter pill for Hale to swallow. He wants the police department to run Charming. He doesn't understand that law enforcement has too many limits to be effective at solving some problems."

"What else happened?"

"My little speech didn't work out so well for the rapists," Jax said, grinning, "because I finished about the time the clown was being wheeled out on a gurney. The crowd tried to beat him. They spit on him and they weren't happy that the deputies were trying to keep them from hurting the other guys.

"Charming has a hate hate relationship with the county. In emergencies, Charming needs the county for back-up, but the citizens are always afraid that the county will take over the local police department. If Hale had been there, he might have been able to control the crowd, but most of Charming doesn't respect the deputies. Sees them as an enemy.

"While there's a skirmish between the deputies and the citizens who want to express their displeasure with the rapists, the other carnival workers are freaking out. They just know carnival workers are getting arrested. Some are just fleeing leaving their booths and prizes behind. People started stealing the prizes and even the booths."

"Didn't the deputies try to stop it?"

"Not really. It was such a mess; they kind of gave up. SAMCRO confiscated the prizes and the booths. Gemma can use them for her school charity event, so it's a win for the town and the schools."

"Didn't the county deputies arrest the people?"

"Lucky for everyone, the deputies had enough experience with Charming's residents that they didn't make that mistake. It would have triggered a full scale battle."

"Is SAMCRO OK with keeping my name out of everything?"

"They think more of you because you don't want any publicity. That brings greater focus on the MC. You don't need to worry. They won't mention Tristen's name or yours. Hale will do whatever he can to keep Tristen's name confidential within the confines of the law, of course.

"Oswald will use his influence as well. He won't let Tristen talk to anyone alone and he'll make sure she keeps your name out of it. He gets that he needs to protect your identity. For a multimillionaire, he's a very decent guy. Honorable. He would go to his grave before he would reveal your identity."

"I hadn't even thought about anyone finding me because I helped Tristen."

"You were focused on her."

"I did worry about you and the guys too."

"So, tell me, how do you know Clay?"

The question slipped into their conversation about Tristen caught her by surprise. She suspected that was Jax's intention. Maybe that whole business with kissing her was also part of a plan to throw her off balance.

Author's Note: A longer chapter. I have to confess as the chapter got longer and longer, I got itchy and scared. I resisted the urge to end it and just wrote the chapter.

Next Up: Meow.