Jax stood in the doorframe of the bathroom, watching Holly in the shower, listening to her singing to herself, their song playing through the waterproof speaker she'd bought for herself for in the shower. He was lucky and he knew it. He knew he was on thin ice after cheating on her, but he had an amazing woman on his side, three great kids and his club was doing well. He smiled to himself as he took off his clothes, stepping into the shower. He turned Holly around in his arms and kissed her deeply. He pulled her close as he held onto her face gently, not letting her say a word as he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, laying her on the bed, ignoring the mess they were making as he kissed her deeper, pouring as much love as he could into the kiss. Pushing into her, it felt like home. Like his own little slice of heaven on earth. The best part of being inside of Holly was seeing the look on her face. If anyone else were to see it, all they would see were the effects of them having sex. But he knew the truth. After what happened with Greg, Holly didn't trust anyone enough to sleep with them for the longest time. She didn't let anyone in because she didn't want to be hurt again. Every guy after Opie and before Jax had hurt her in a way that she never thought she'd recover from. She'd abused, humiliated and insulted to the point where, though Jax was the only one that knew, she would hate herself. Jax had watched her go through it all. The eating disorders, the depression. Knowing that he added to that hurt him more than he'd ever be able to explain to Holly, but at the time it made sense. But he'd saved her from it all. So the look on her face when he was inside of her was pure trust. He was just happy to know that she trusted him again. Slowly but surely, he was coming home.
Holly sat at her desk at the firm, using her downtime to look at wedding dresses. She'd never been the kind of girl to plan out her wedding. She knew that the guys she'd been with before Jax were never gonna last long in her life and Jax wasn't someone that was gonna get dressed up for anything. So she never saw the point. But Gemma asked how things were going between her and Jax and where things were headed for them. And it made her curious. She was halfway through her lunch break, eating the sandwich she'd made for herself as she looked through pages and pages of wedding dresses and the only thing she knew for sure was that the idea of tulle made her head hurt. But, just as she found a style of dress that didn't make her cringe, she heard her cell go off, jumping as she hadn't expected that. She looked at the number and answered, seeing Laroy's cell number.
"Laroy? What're you up to?"
"I hate to do this, but I need someone sympathetic. You got some time?"
"I still have some time on my lunch break. Can you meet me somewhere close?"
"Yeah. how about the diner in Charming?"
"Yeah. I'll meet you there."
"Thanks, boo."
"Of course. I'll see you soon."
She threw her trash away and turned off the computer before leaving, driving to the diner. She got there not too long before Laroy showed up. Looking like he'd been crying.
"Are you ok? You look horrible."
"Someone came after me. Killed my girl instead. I needed to talk to someone."
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry, Laroy. Do you have any idea who did it?"
"Not yet, but I will."
"If there's anything you need, let me know. Don't hesitate to ask."
"Thanks, boo. I appreciate that."
She nodded, talking with him until she had to go back to work, getting up to hug him.
"I mean it, Laroy. You need anything, you have my number."
"I will. Thanks for listening."
Holly took a deep breath, having just finished a yoga session while Gemma fed the kids dinner, looking over when she heard her phone ring, picking it up, slightly out of breath.
"Hello?"
"Hey, boo."
"Laroy? How are you holding up?"
"As well as I can be. So, that offer still on the table?"
"To do anything if you need me? Yeah. Why? What do you need?"
"Veronica's dad heard about you and how friendly you've been to me and my guys no matter what was going on between us and your old man. He wants to meet you."
"Why does he wanna meet me? I haven't even met Veronica."
"He wants to show his gratitude."
"Um….Ok. When?"
"Dinner tonight. Is that alright?"
She thought for a second, looking at the clock on the wall, biting her lip.
"Ummm….I guess that's ok. When exactly does he wanna meet?"
"7."
"Can we do 7:30? I was working out and need to get cleaned up."
"Yeah, that's fine. He's sending someone to pick you up."
"Alright. I'll see you in a couple hours."
She hung up on him after their goodbyes, laying back on her yoga mat for a minute before going up to shower and look for something nice to wear to dinner, calling Jax.
"Hey, babe. You ok?"
"Yeah. I got a call from Laroy. His old lady got killed in an attempt on Laroy's life. Veronica Pope. I guess her dad, Damon Pope is some bigwig gangster guy. I guess Laroy mentioned that I'm friends with him to Damon and he wants to meet me. Take me to dinner."
"I don't want you going."
"I can't say no, Jax. I have no real good reason to say no. Besides, I already said yes."
"Holly, call Laroy back and tell him you changed your mind."
"Jax, I'm not gonna do that. I'll be fine. I'll be there for an hour or so and then I'll come home. I just wanted to let you know."
"I don't want you doing this, Holly. I mean it."
"Jax, do you trust me?"
"Of course I do."
"And I trust Laroy. Nothing's gonna happen to me. I'll be back home in a couple hours and everything will be fine."
After a few more minutes of arguing, she got Jax to calm down and trust her, finishing getting ready. By the time she was done, she heard someone knock on the door, going downstairs, looking at Gemma.
"Where are you heading out looking like that?"
"Out with a friend. Jax already knows. I'll be back in a couple hours."
She kissed the kids goodbye before leaving, seeing one of Laroy's men at her door, following him to the SUV, climbing into the back. When they got to the restaurant, she was a bit taken aback. The restaurant that Damon Pope had picked out was a lot fancier than she'd been anticipating. She'd dressed up nice, but she hadn't expected this. She walked inside with the men, giving Laroy a smile and a hug, kissing his cheek.
"Holly, this is Damon Pope. Veronica's dad."
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Pope. I wish it were under better circumstances. I'm so sorry for your loss. No parent should outlive their children."
"Thank you for your sympathy. I understand you've suffered a couple losses of your own."
"More than my fair share, yes."
She thanked Damon when he pulled a chair out for her, sitting down, putting her purse on the back of her chair.
"If you don't mind my asking, what happened?"
"I don't mind. I lost my parents 5 years ago yesterday. And then I've suffered 2 miscarriages."
"I'm so sorry. Do you have kids?"
"3. My oldest is my fiance's son from a previous relationship, my middle is 2 going on 3 and my youngest is almost 2."
"Congratulations."
"Thank you, Mr. Pope."
"Damon, please."
"Damon."
She looked over when the waiter, who immediately started flirting with her, asked for her drink order, ordering a glass of white wine and water. She looked over at Damon. He hadn't done or said anything to raise any red flags, but he made her nervous.
"So, please don't take this the wrong way, but why did you want to meet someone who you and your daughter have never met?"
"You can relax, Ms. Pavlov."
"Holly."
"Holly. You can relax. I only want to say thank you. Laroy Wayne has been under my employ for quite some time now, and I know how difficult it can be to make friends on the outside and make it work."
"I can understand that. I've spent my entire life around the club and to this day I don't have friends that don't know about some club things."
"It's good to know that the Niners have someone so understanding and sweet as your reputation hints at."
Holly had just gotten home as Jax pulled into the driveway, thanking Laroy with a kiss on the cheek before getting out of the SUV, going over to Jax, smiling at him. She'd had a couple glasses of wine and was a bit tipsy.
"I told you I'd be fine. You gotta learn to trust, baby."
"What did Pope want?"
"He wanted to thank me for being so nice to Laroy and the Niners and offering to help out with the funeral of someone I'd never met."
"Is that all he wanted?"
"Yeah, it was. Went to a nice restaurant, had a fancy dinner and high end wine."
Jax couldn't help but smile at her. He knew that Holly was not that kind of girl.
"Oh yeah? And what'd you think of it?"
"Weird sauces, tiny portions. The wine was really good, but give me a steak and fries any day."
He chuckled, kissing her softly and holding her close. He looked at her, keeping his hand on the small of her back.
"Why don't you go upstairs and get out of those shoes and that dress, come down and eat with me?"
"I've already eaten. But I haven't had dessert yet."
She smirked at him before looking over at Bobby and Chibs.
"You guys wanna come in for some coffee?"
"No, lass. We've got stuff we have to do tomorrow. We're gonna head home."
"Ok. Goodnight, guys."
She went over to hug them before going inside and telling Gemma she could go home before going up to change into comfier clothes. She was just coming downstairs to start cleaning up as Jax came inside, looking at him when he stopped her and picked her up, putting her on the counter in the kitchen, kissing her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair.
"I hate that you cut your hair. I loved it long."
"I'll grow it back out just for you, darlin'."
"Good. I like having something to hold onto."
"Speaking of which, wanna go upstairs?"
"No. I wanna stay right here. We've never done it here."
She smirked at him, gasping softly when he ripped her pajama shorts down her legs in one big movement, holding onto his shoulders. She pushed his cut off, gently placing it on the counter before pulling off his shirt, tossing it to the floor. She stopped and looked at the cut for a second.
"Do me a favor, baby?"
"Anything."
"Keep the cut on?"
"Anything for you, darlin'."