A/N-Sorry about the wait again...real life has totally taken over the last few weeks but it's starting to settle down again. I'm so excited to finally get this chapter out of my head-I've been thinking about this moment in the story since day one of planning-and this is definitely where the story will start to take a different turn. Nobody guessed the twist so I guess that's a good thing (and I didn't hint too much). Anyways, I hope you like it!
LOVE SONG
Chapter Nine
The next morning, Kate woke up in a fog. The alarm was blaring in her ear and Jake was lapping anxiously at her hand. On any other day, one of those would have been enough to force her to peel herself out of bed. Today, neither of them seemed to be enough. She just wanted to lie there, curled up in the safety of her fluffy down comforter until everything else just went away. The day before had drained any remaining energy and motivation completely out of her. She just didn't feel like herself anymore.
It seemed like everyday there was a new drama, a new reason to hate her life, a new reason to feel uncomfortable, and a new reason to feel like the walls were closing in on her. Yesterday had been the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. She felt like all the fight left in her had been emotionally beaten out of her. And now she had to face the byproducts of the day before, which was exactly why she couldn't bring herself to leave the bed. She wanted to hide. Part of her wanted to just throw everything she could grab into a bag, shove Jake into her Rav-4 and get the hell out of town. The longer she stayed there, the deeper the roots seemed to pull her in.
Jake nudged at her hand with his nose now and whimpered. She groaned and forced herself, one leg in front of the other, to get out of bed. At least that was a start. She supposed it was better than nothing. Probably a little better than skipping town.
Her normal routine was plagued by dread of the day yet to come. It was Jax's birthday so she really couldn't get around having to face him. He would be at the store soon and then they'd have to tip toe around each other and awkwardly pretend like the night before had never happened. At the time, it seemed like such an easy thing to do. But now that the reality was smacking her square in the face, it didn't seem that way. It freaking sucked.
Before long, she just couldn't put it off any longer. She had to go downstairs. She couldn't avoid this anymore. And she knew what she needed to do: she needed to sort of act like an adult today. They were both adults. They could go about their usual business and be cordial. They could. Right?
Of course, it didn't really help that she was still trying to wade through her visit with her father. And her talk with Opie. What happened the day before was like the perfect storm of emotional wreckage and turmoil. God…could she be anymore melodramatic…grow up, she told herself. Pull yourself together and be a big kid. She'd already made it this far and she wasn't going to crumble now, even though she was aching to.
Jake was barking again and scratching at the door. And then she heard the motorcycle engine. Shit. And he was early too. On his birthday no less. This was shaping up to be another stellar day.
With one last look in the mirror, and an exasperated sigh at her reflection, she skidded through her apartment, grabbed the present she'd debated back and forth about, and opened the door for Jake before he clawed it down. He barreled down the steps and practically leapt into Jax's arms.
"Easy there," he laughed, lightly pushing Jax down. He tucked some windblown hair behind his ear and glanced up at her. He smiled quickly at her then his hands were in his pockets and he was lighting a cigarette.
"Those things can kill you, you know." She joked. She knew it was a lame attempt but she was willing to try anything to keep this from getting too awkward. She had a feeling it wasn't going to take much.
"Yeah," he chuckled good-naturedly. "But so can stress, right?"
"Not gonna lie…I've been thinking about giving my old therapist a call."
He froze for a moment with his cigarette half-way to his lips, then, after a beat, he smiled again. He'd obviously figured out that she really was just joking and she heard him chuckle softly. She figured this was a good a time as any to get rid of the package weighing down her hand. So against her better judgment, and in spite of the awkwardness permeating the space between them, she pushed the wrapped package towards him.
He frowned and flicked his cigarette to the ground. "What's this?"
She just rolled her eyes. "It's your birthday, isn't it? I figured I couldn't show up to a biker birthday party with a present so I'm giving it to you now."
A lop-sided grin slid onto his face and he gingerly took the present from her hands. "You know you didn't have to, right?"
She shrugged. "So what? Do you want the present or not?"
"Shit," he grinned. "Alright, alright. I'll open it."
He swiftly ripped through the paper on both ends and then turned his brand new copy of TheHungerGames over several times in his hands to inspect it. Watching him just stand there staring at her gift was unbelievably agonizing. She hadn't thought too deeply about his gift; she'd just grabbed it off the shelf and wrapped it, feeling like she needed to give him something, especially after everything they'd been through the last few weeks. Now she was starting to wish she'd put a little more thought into it.
"So…it's a book." She started cautiously.
His eyes shot up to meet hers and he smirked. "Yeah, I know. I just…"
"What?" If her hands weren't tucked safely inside her back pockets, she'd be wringing them anxiously now.
"This is gonna sound lame but I can't remember the last book I read, let alone got as a present."
She shrugged. "Well, maybe it's time you read one, right?"
He grinned back at her. "Right. What's it about anyways?"
"Well, it takes place in the future after some sort of apocalypse and the US is divided up into 13 colonies again. Every year, the government sends a boy and girl from each colony into the Hunger Games to fight to the death and they televise it. I figured all the violence, killing…anarchy…would be right up your alley."
That lop-sided grin slid onto his face again and the knot in her stomach twisted a little tighter.
"Yeah that sounds like something I might be interested in." He smirked before carefully tucking the book inside a small storage compartment in his bike.
She watched anxiously as he fiddled with some straps. It was obvious he felt the same tension that she did and neither one really knew what they were supposed to do now. He stood back from his bike and cautiously met her eyes only to quickly divert them back to the straps on his bike. The whole trying to act like an adult thing wasn't working out so well for either of them.
She sighed deeply and his head shot up immediately at the sound. His eyebrows hitched together and he shoved a hand in his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one up and puffed silently for a few moments, occasionally running a hand through his hair.
"So…" she whispered hoarsely. "Happy birthday, Jax."
He looked up at her again and nodded simply. There wasn't really anything else they could say at this point, at least, nothing that was necessary. It was clear the weight of the previous night's events was going to be too difficult to ignore. Even now, as he was staring at her, she couldn't keep herself from staring right back directly at his lips. That needed to stop.
He nodded to her again and then pushed open the store's back door, disappearing down the stairs into the basement. It was just as well. His presence was already distracting enough. Besides, she actually had some work she needed to do. And she had a feeling he needed some space from her just as much as she needed it from him.
About a half hour later, right as she was getting ready to open the doors, she heard another motorcycle engine roaring to a stop and then the back door opened.
"Hey, Kate." Kip called from where he stood. "How's it goin' today?"
She shrugged and waved. "Hi. I'm fine, thanks."
He smiled good-naturedly back at her and was about to respond before Jax's voice came hollering up from the basement:
"Quit with the small talk, Sack, and get down here and give me a god-damn hand."
Kip looked back to her apologetically and she just waved it off.
"Don't worry about Jax," she assured him. "I think he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something this morning."
"Isn't it his birthday though?"
She shrugged again and he just shook his head, waving goodbye before heading down to the basement. She listened for the basement door to shut and let out a loud exhale. Alone at last. But the longer she was in the store by herself, the more off balance she felt. A few hours passed but she still didn't feel any better. There was a rapid pounding in her head that wasn't subsiding and, to top it off, the knot in her stomach was beginning to snowball.
What did it matter anyways? It wasn't as if anything could possibly come of that moment. It wasn't even a moment. It was an instance. Nothing more. People do all kinds of stupid, impulsive things when they're an emotional wreck and mostly live to tell about it. He had been comforting her; that was all. This wasn't the end of the world. She didn't have to sit around and mope about it all day, especially since Jax appeared to be perfectly fine with avoiding her for as long as possible. She wasn't even sure what she'd been expecting from him in the first place.
Of course it was going to be awkward. They'd stepped over the invisible line that had been drawn the second Jax and Clay had waltzed into her store weeks ago. It was time to step back over and stay on their respective sides. Besides, hadn't he said…what were his exact words…"you don't want where that might've been headin'"? It was clear to both of them that it had been a mistake, albeit a big one. And it was even more glaringly obvious that crossing the line again was going to land her in a world of shit she didn't need to be involved with.
And what exactly would that look like…stepping over that line again? Their lifestyles were like oil and water; they just didn't mix. There was no way either of them would be able to fit in the other's world for long without the push and pull of their responsibilities. Jax hadn't been back in her life for long but she'd never heard of any member of a motorcycle gang, outlaw or not, that left the life at a young age. From her understanding, you wore the patch until you were six feet under or until you were too old and crippled to ride and that didn't even include the time in between spent in prison. There wasn't much room for exceptions to that particular philosophy. And she wasn't anywhere close to being the type of woman that would put up with that nor did she have any desire to be. She wouldn't become anything like her mother. And she would not, under any circumstances, have the same type of relationship her parents did. She couldn't sit around and wait for Jax to either end up in prison or shot. There was nothing about the circumstances that could ever function normally.
She heard a loud sigh at her feet and looked down at Jake, who was resting underneath her chair at the counter. He was staring up at her as if to say, "come on, don't tell me you're not thinking about it…" That damn dog seemed to know everything.
"What?" She asked him exasperatedly.
His ears shot up at the sound of her voice and he lifted his head to listen with wide eyes.
"It's not like it's going to happen again, you know." She told him pointedly. "So what if it was kinda sweet and so what if I kinda want to kiss him again. It's not gonna happen, Jake. Don't get your hopes up."
Jake put his head back down dejectedly. She nodded triumphantly to herself at this small victory. That'll show him. She looked back down at the paperwork in front of her and sighed.
There was just too much swimming around in her head for her to even stay focused on one task at a time. She found herself picking up a pile of paperwork that needed finishing and then her thoughts would drift to what had happened the night before and the paperwork seemed to drift back to the desk. It certainly didn't help that she'd seen only two customers the entire day, which was steadily becoming a trend as of late, and the store was currently dead empty. She couldn't allow herself to tackle that thought just yet. The implications of that was most likely going to be way more than she was equipped to handle at the moment.
As if on cue, the bell on the front door dinged and her head immediately lifted at the sound. Finally, she thought. Usually that sound meant more customers, more business, more money…but the sight of the Mexican men in their leather cuts with the words "Mayan" sewn across the back did not muster the same reaction from her. She froze at the sight of them and it took her a beat too long to plaster on a fake smile. She stood up shakily from her chair and Jake was around the counter in a flash, his tail standing at attention, ready to strike if necessary. He let out one loud bark and then kept his eyes trained on the three men standing less than ten feet away.
She tried to control her breathing, to stay calm, and to think. She had to stay one step ahead of them otherwise this could end very badly. She slowly reached under the counter to search for her phone and when she found it, she had to fight from letting out a sigh of relief.
The Mayans nodded a curt greeting her way before taking a step closer. Jake growled.
"Jake…" she warned. "It's alright. They're just customers."
As she spoke, she flipped open her phone from underneath the counter and with a silent prayer of thanks that Jax had programmed his number into her speed dial, she hit the button.
The Mayan closer to her took another step towards the counter before speaking with a heavy accent. "Hola senorita…we were just passing through and could've sworn we saw some bikes parked out back. Figured we'd come in and make sure la bonita was alright."
"I'm fine. Thanks, though."
Was that it? Would they leave now?
"You know…we've been through this way before and this isn't the first time we've seen bikes parked in the back." Another Mayan asked with a sly smile.
"I don't…"
"Now, mija," The closest Mayan spoke again. "I would take this very seriously if I were you…we wouldn't want to have to cut up that pretty face of yours."
She could feel her heart begin to beat wildly in her chest. This had quickly gone from bad to worse in a matter of seconds. She forced herself not to look at the back door; she just had to believe that Jax had not only gotten her call but had gotten the message that something was very, very wrong upstairs.
"We know Jax Teller is here," The Mayan went on. "His bike is parked in the back; there's another Son here too. We know Teller's been here almost every day for almost a month."
He paused and seemed to be expecting her to have a response. She wasn't even sure she could still speak, let alone formulate an answer. Her mind was racing with options but what made the most sense? She just couldn't think of anything…she needed to tell them something though because she had a feeling she was quickly running out of time and the Mayans just kept closing in on her. The longer she stalled, the sooner they'd realize that Jax was the in the basement and what he was doing there, which would most likely end with them all in pieces strewn across her store.
"So," the third Mayan spoke up. "Why is Teller here? The sooner you tell us, the easier for you this will be."
Her response fell out of her lips before she could think better of it. "What are you planning on doing?"
The trio of Mayans looked at each other and smirked. They reminded her of vultures she had seen on the Discovery Channel. They had a similar look in their eyes right before they pounced on their prey. A split second later, one was lunging at her and then a cold blade was pressed dangerously close to her neck.
"Don't make me ask you again," he whispered menacingly to her. "Why is Teller here?"
The blade nipped at her neck and she felt a hot sting as he took a step closer to her. Her mind was blank and she just couldn't come up with anything that they might buy. The Mayan took another step and now his face was so close she could smell sweat, oil, and tequila.
Jake was barking ferociously and was just about to attack the arm that was threatening her when she spat out the first thought that came into her mind:
"I'm his old lady."
The Mayan's face contorted in confusion and the knife to her neck lowered. He looked back hesitantly at his brothers and then turned a hard face back to her.
"His old lady, you say?"
She nodded slowly, her eyes still trained on the knife extended towards her. A heartbeat later, Jax and Kip materialized out of the aisle closest to the trio of Mayans threatening her, their faces a contusion of shock, confusion, and wrath.
"Don't fucking touch her." Jax spat out darkly. As the Mayans turned away from her, his eyes immediately shot over to her, to make sure that she was alright, and she nodded quickly.
The Mayan wielding the knife held his hands innocently in the air and shrugged. "Didn't mean any harm, Teller. Just wanted to make sure everything was alright here. She tells us she's your old lady."
Jax didn't miss a beat. "Yeah, that's right. And you have two seconds to get the fuck off her property before I beat the shit out of all three of you assholes."
The Mayans glanced apprehensively to one another. The one holding the knife calmly closed it and shoved it back into his pocket, then held up a hand.
"Now, listen…we weren't going to hurt anybody…"
"Bullshit," Jax interjected hotly. "You pull a knife on my old lady but you weren't here to hurt anybody? I should fucking kill all three of you assholes right now…"
"Come on, you can't kill us for looking…not gonna lie, bro…you did very well for yourself. It's no wonder you've been hiding her out here all this time." One of the Mayans smirked, casting a glance back towards Kate.
"I'm not your bro and she's not yours to look at. Leave. Now." Jax stated firmly, taking a step closer to the Mayans with an expression of murder on his face.
"Alright, alright…we'll leave you to your old lady."
They began to turn towards the exit with grins on their faces and then the one who'd held the knife to her suddenly spun on his heel to step closer to her.
"I'd hide her too if I were you Teller," he sneered as he reached out to touch her hair. "She looks like she'd be a good fuck too."
The Mayan had barely touched the strands hanging off her shoulders and then Jax was on him, yanking him away from her. He threw the Mayan onto the floor and his fists started flying across the Mayan's face. He pummeled him with a few steady blows until another Mayan tackled him from behind, and then Kip threw him off of Jax, only to be hit in the face by the remaining Mayan.
Kate could only watch, frozen to the ground, as punch after punch landed all around and as blood spilt across the carpeting. Both Jax and Kip were good fighters but they were outnumbered. For every punch Jax landed, it seemed like he was served two in return. Then she remembered…she scrambled under the counter and when she finally had it in her hands, she waited.
She needed an opening and finally had it when Jax managed to throw one of the Mayans off of him and kicked him in the face.
"Jax!"
He turned at the sound of her voice and his eyes widened when he saw her gun slid across the counter to him. He snatched it off the glass and cocked it immediately at the three Mayans in the room.
"Get out now," he panted. "Before this gets worse."
The Mayans, knowing they'd been beaten, wiped the dripping blood from their faces and straightened their cuts.
"This isn't over, Teller." The Mayan snarled as they backpedaled towards the door.
"I'm counting on it, asshole." Jax retorted with a smirk. They exchanged one more jagged edged sneer and the Mayans backpedalled their way out of the store. Jax was right on their heels, slamming the door shut behind him and flipping the lock as he peered out the window to ensure that they were actually leaving.
"Get the back door, Sack!" He hollered to Kip, even though he was already high-tailing it to the back of the store.
Jax waited until the motorcycle engines echoed down the street before he turned to face her. She was leaning back on the counter, Jake tucked protectively against her legs, with a hand resting gingerly over the line of blood left behind on her neck. She was having a difficult time getting control of her breathing and clutched the edge of the counter with her other hand to stabilize herself.
He quickly closed the distance between them and then reached out to cup her neck gently, his thumb brushing across her cheek.
"Are you alright, Kate?" He asked hoarsely as he inspected the cut on her neck.
"I'm fine, Jax. It's just a scratch."
His eyebrows clenched together and his eyes kept their focus on her neck, on her face, on her eyes, just making sure she was still in one piece. His hand lingered on her neck and his thumb continued to run soothingly across her cheek.
"You sure you're ok?" He asked again, his eyes burning into hers.
She nodded and gripped the counter a little more tightly; between a knife being held to her throat, the brawl in her store, and Jax's touch on her face, she was beginning to feel light-headed.
"Jax…you're the one that's banged up to hell, not me," she sighed as his thumb slid down her cheek. "Come on…I have a first aid kit in the storage room."
He nodded and stiffly followed her to the back with a slight limp. She tried not to walk too briskly for him; she could tell he was in pain and after what happened, part of her just wanted to be close to him.
She sat him down on an empty crate in the storage room and began dapping at a nasty cut on his eye with an alcohol swab. He winced a little but then sat stoically as she bandaged as many of his cuts as she could.
"Some birthday, huh?" He joked, trying to ease the thickness in the air.
She forced a smile at his valiant attempt and bit her lip, refusing herself to meet his eyes for fear of what she might do.
"What do we do now, Jax?" She asked softly. It was a good a question as any.
He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. "We'll take it to the club; figure out what to do next. Everything will be alright."
She swallowed and looked down at her hands because they had started to tremble. "But what about…what I told them…"
He smiled softly and tilted his head back as he spoke. "What…the part about you being my new old lady?"
She took in a sharp breath and held it for a moment. "Yeah, that part."
He just shrugged, that stupid lop-sided grin sliding onto his face. She really hated it when he smiled at her like that. It was so frustrating.
"That was smart, you know," he started again. "Giving them that story. They seemed to buy it so we might have to roll with that for a little while until we get everything else straightened out."
"But what does that mean…what does that mean for me?" She asked urgently.
He frowned and ran a hand over his face. "I'm not sure yet, Kate. We'll get all that figured out; I promise."
They were silent for a moment, both staring at their feet, unsure of what to say or do next. She hadn't given what she'd said any real consideration; it had just dropped out of her mouth the second she'd thought it. She'd needed to say something, anything, to convince them that Jax was there for a legitimate reason. But why that had been the first thing to run across her mind was lost on her. Either way, it had served its purpose, even though she figured that train of spontaneous, albeit irrational, thinking was going to have some repercussions.
A moment later, Jax was rummaging around the first aid kit for a large bandage. He leaned forward and silently, carefully, set the bandage over the knife-long scratch across her neck. She watched him, unable to speak as his fingers lightly grazed the tender part of her neck and couldn't stop herself from trembling a little.
"I better go make some calls," he whispered, getting up from the crate. She nodded, knowing that was necessary given the situation they currently found themselves in.
She sighed as she watched him leave and figured she might as well go looking for Kip; he'd been just as badly banged up as Jax, if not worse, so the least she could do was help clean him up a little too.
A little less than a half hour later, she was on her hands and knees trying to scrub as much blood out of the carpeting as she could. She sighed exasperatedly when she realized that she had made next to no progress. It was almost hopeless. The carpet was ruined; who knew what was going to happen to her life now that she had basically served herself up on a platter to Samcro.
"Hey," Jax's soft voice broke through her dark thoughts. "Don't worry about the carpet. I'll get someone in here to clean it."
She sighed again. Why did he always have to be so damn capable? Always had a plan…always knew what to do, for the most part. At least, if her fate and safety had to be in someone's hands other than her own, it might as well be Jax's, who always seemed to have some semblance of a game plan.
"Look," he was saying now. "The club is going to have church in an hour so we can figure this shit out. Go up to your apartment, pack whatever you need for a couple days, whatever you need for Jake; I'll be up there in a few minutes to help you bring everything down."
"A couple of days? What…"
He just shook his head. "You can't stay here right now. It's too dangerous now that the Mayans know we're connected, at least until we figure out what to do. Don't worry about the store; the prospects will be able to take care of everything while we're gone."
"Where will I stay?"
He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I've got a spare room at my house. Besides, if we need to play this thing out like I think we will, then that's where you need to be anyways."
She swallowed down the warm, sick feeling that rose up her throat. There were so many things wrong with what he said she didn't even know where to start. There wouldn't be any going back now. She'd said what she said and now the consequences were going to come back to haunt her. If someone had told her three weeks ago that she would be in this position, she would have laughed right in their face. Maybe even smacked them in the face too. Because how could her situation possibly be any worse than having her store over-run with Samcro and their cargo? Well, little did she know…it could get worse.
When they pulled up to Teller-Morrow, Gemma was already there waiting for them tapping her heels in impatience. She barely let Jax turn off his bike before she was hovering over him looking for answers.
"Are you alright?" She demanded. "Is Kate alright?"
"Jesus Christ, Ma, everyone's fine."
She took hold of his chin to inspect the new bruises and black eye forming on his face. "Who patched you up?"
"Kate did."
She nodded slowly, deep in thought before turning to see Kate letting Jake out her back seat. Jake immediately scurried around the side of the Rav-4, nose to the ground to investigate his new surroundings. When he caught sight of Gemma, his head bent down, ears laid flat and his eyes moved curiously from Jax to Gemma. After a moment of consideration, he seemed to sense that she was somewhat trustworthy given her interaction with Jax and trotted over to her outreached hand.
"This must be the killer golden retriever," she said warmly as she ruffled the fur on the back of his neck. She looked back up at Jax and gestured with her head towards the clubhouse. "Club's waiting for you inside, Jax."
He nodded solemnly and cast a quick glance of reassurance to Kate before trudging to the clubhouse. It was time for the question and answer shit that he didn't want to have to deal with right then. What he really wanted to do was punch Clay in the face for insisting that they hadn't needed a cover for Kate, and that they hadn't needed to take shifts at the store. He was always so fucking over-confident, always so self-righteous. Kate could've easily gotten killed if she hadn't thought so quickly on her feet, or at the very least, seriously injured. That didn't even include his own involvement in this pile of shit situation. He would deal with that later over a bottle of whiskey.
Just like Gemma said, the club was waiting for him at the table. When he opened the door, they were already standing to greet him, to slap him on the shoulder and make sure he was all there in one piece. He took his place next to Clay and clenched his fists in preparation of what was about to come next.
"Alright," Clay began with his gravelly voice. "Let's get all this shit straight here: the Mayans walked into the bookstore, you were in the basement with the prospect, and one of those pieces of shit held a knife to Kate's throat. Am I doing ok, so far Jax?"
He nodded silently, his blood beginning to boil at the not so distant memory. If he'd had a gun when he'd first seen Kate, wide-eyed and scared as hell, with a knife pressed to her throat, those three assholes would've been shot where they stood. Instead, he'd had the pleasure of pummeling each one of them despite the blows he'd taken in return. It had been fucking worth it.
"So then," Clay went on, the rest of the club listening intently. "They ask what you're doin' there and she tells them she's your old lady at which point you and the prospect get there and the fight commences. Is that everything we need to know, Jax?"
He sighed and nodded thankfully to Juice, who slid a pack of cigarettes over to him. "That's not exactly how the fight got goin'."
"How exactly did it start then?" Tig interjected, leaning forward in his seat.
Jax sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. "I told those shitheads not to touch her and get the hell out of there. When they were going to leave, one of them said he'd hide her too if he were me, said she looked like a good fuck and then the bastard touched her hair. That's when I started pummeling the piece of shit."
The table was silent for a moment as they each digested this new piece of information.
"They were testing you then." Opie stated simply.
"Yeah," Jax nodded. "And I guess I gave them the reaction they were lookin' for."
"It's a damn good thing you didn't kill any of those Mexican arses," Chibs offered. "Otherwise we'd be dealing with a whole shitload of new problems with the Mayans."
"It's not over." Tig cut in with a huff. "The Mayans aren't going to let this go."
"My guess is they're gonna keep up with the surveillance for a few weeks to make sure Kate was tellin' the truth." Jax concluded as he blew out some smoke and pressed the spent cigarette butt into the ashtray.
"If they find out it's not, we're goin' to have some issues. They find out Kate was lying and they kill her. They find out what's in her basement and there's gonna be retaliation, maybe war if they're really pissed off." Opie said softly.
"Not to beat a dead horse or anything," Jax added with a dark undercurrent of malice directed at Clay. "But we might not be in this predicament right now if we'd had a better plan, you know, like a cover."
"Don't start that shit," Clay spat back, pointing a finger at Jax. "You're not helpin' anything here. We have war breathin' down our necks. You need to leave your personal shit at the door before you sit down at this table. Besides, if you'd been doing your job there, we also might not be in this predicament right now."
"I wasn't doing my job? Me and the prospect were in the basement, like we were supposed to be, and then those fuckers walked in and held a knife to her throat." Jax threw back with venom.
"And then she fed them a line that served up another pile of shit for us to deal with." Tig cut in angrily.
Jax slammed a fist on the table. "What should she have said instead, Tig?"
Tig looked away furiously, still pissed off at the situation and then the room was silent for a few tense moments.
"You know," Opie finally broke the silence with quiet calmness. "We're all god-damn lucky she gave them the story she did. They might not have believed anything else."
"Then we gotta make this little story about Jax and Kate the truth. The last thing this club needs is more shit with the Mayans." Clay stated with a weary glance towards Jax. He was clearly sick of fighting and just wanted this resolved.
Juice nudged Jax with his elbow. "Looks like you got yourself an old lady for a few weeks."
All Jax could do was shrug and look away. He had no idea what he was feeling right now but he sure as hell wasn't going to let any piece of spill over onto the Redwood. One more thing to work out over that bottle of Jack Daniel's.
"Something about this still doesn't feel right." Tig stated, shaking his head solemnly.
Bobby shrugged from across the table and took a long pull from his cigar in thought. "The way I figure, this is as air tight as we're gonna get. She's Otto's daughter and the Mayans aren't stupid enough to miss the history there and connect the dots. Jax startin' that fight the way he did was probably enough to back up the story. This is the only card we've got left to play at this point."
Another murmur passed around the table and even Tig had to nod his head in agreement. They're backs were clearly up against the wall and Jax felt himself sigh with relief as the tension seemed to die down a little. They would come up with a plan and although it was far from ideal, it would save Kate from becoming another MC casualty and prevent all-out war with the Mayans.
"So," Clay was saying now. "This little arrangement with Jax and his 'old lady' stays on a need to know basis. Gemma needs to be in on this scam for obvious reasons. Anyone else?"
"Lyla should know too. She'll be able to help Kate." Opie offered quietly.
Jax nodded and then looked to Clay, who nodded his agreement as well.
"Alright, Gemma and Lyla and that's yet. This has gotta look real for all intents and purposes. You think you can swing that, Jax?"
All eyes were on Jax now and he swallowed heavily. This was on his shoulders. One slip and people he cared about were going to get hurt. And, he didn't know whether it was a curse or a blessing, but he had a feeling that making it 'look real' with Kate was most likely going to be no problem at all.
With church over and the members of Samcro splitting off to ready themselves for his birthday blow-out later that evening, Jax was left with the unfortunate task of giving Kate the bad news. He wasn't expecting her to be thrilled with the charade they were going to have to pull and he really couldn't blame her either. Of course, there was the fact that she had been the one to blurt out that she was his old lady. He still was having troubles wrapping his head around that one but on the other hand, he couldn't think of anything else she could've said that the Mayans might've bought.
He found Kate and his mother right where he'd left them and he wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. Kate didn't look anymore shaken than she did before, given the situation, which probably meant that Gemma hadn't yet descended with her talons.
"Hey Ma," he called out, making both of them turn at the sound of his voice. "Can I have a word with Kate?"
She nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly and her hands immediately went to her hips. She'd obviously put two and two together and was now analyzing how this recent development would effect her and those closest to her.
Kate was watching him now with a knot of dread building in her stomach. She'd been waiting very impatiently while he was gone and judging by the mix of weariness, frustration, and apology in his still-alarmingly blue eyes, the news was not going to be good.
"So we have to go along with this, don't we?" She exhaled with frustration.
He nodded slowly and dug in his back pocket for his cigarette pack. "Me and the prospect will keep coming to the store; we're not going to be bringing any new cargo into the store now that we know the Mayans are tailing us but that also means we can't take any old cargo out."
"Ok, so…how long are we going to have to pretend to be…" She couldn't even really say the words at this point. Nor did she really want to know the answer to her question.
"Look, Kate," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "The only way this works is if we make it look real. You're gonna have to spend more time in Charming and at the club house. You're gonna have to spend some nights at my place so you can be seen leavin' it in the morning. The way I figure, we keep it goin' for a month, maybe two, three tops…until the Mayans see enough to forget about it. Then, if anyone asks…I guess I tell them it wasn't working out between us."
Three months tops? Part of her wanted to believe him. The other part of her had a sinking feeling this would have to go on longer than he was saying. She knew he was just trying to protect her again, given the fact that she'd been the one to put them in this predicament anyways.
"So I have to be your old lady." She said slowly, testing out the words.
"Looks like it."
She sighed. "I'm sorry, Jax. I know this is my fault."
He frowned and put his hands in his pockets to keep himself from putting an arm around her shoulders. He wasn't necessarily ready to start with the physical contact yet, especially since the first time he had, it had actually been for real.
"You don't have anything to sorry about. You saved our asses. Hell, it was our fault for not prepping you for what to say in case that happened." He reassured her, keeping his hands firmly in his pockets.
"Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry I indirectly got your ass kicked on your birthday."
He smirked as he shook his head. "Hey, I seem to remember some of those Mayan shitheads getting what was comin' to them too."
She smiled. "Yeah, I guess. But, thanks anyway…you know for not letting them hurt me."
He looked down at the cracked concrete and she could see his jaw clenching tightly. He shoved his hands forcefully into his pockets and exhaled loudly before meeting her gaze again with a cloudy expression.
"I would do it again, you know," he said roughly. "Nothing is gonna happen to you, Kate."
She swallowed and nodded, forcing herself to look away from him. She couldn't look him in the eye; it was too much to see the concern and some other indiscernible emotion in his eyes…let alone relive the feeling of a knife pressed to her neck. That was definitely something she never wanted to experience again.
They stood there for a few moments in silence. They couldn't look at each other. She had half a mind to rest a hand against his shoulder, to somehow move closer to him. His presence next to her was oddly calming and he seemed to be shifting closer to where she was standing. It wouldn't take much for him to put an arm around her shoulders. After all, he'd done it before but, she had to remind herself, that had been purely comforting, purely out of friendship. In only a matter of hours, they would have to play the part anyways.
She sighed again and decided it was time to break the silence. "So I guess that means I'll be making a mandatory appearance at your birthday party."
He nodded. "Yeah, we're expecting a visit from our Mexican friends so they would know somethin' was up if you weren't."
"I don't know anything about being an old lady, Jax. I mean, I know I'm not actually going to be an old lady. I just…I don't know the rules. I don't know how I'm supposed to act or dress or say or anything."
"That's where my mom and Ope's old lady, Lyla, come in. They'll help you with whatever you need."
He smiled encouragingly as he looked over to the entrance of Teller-Morrow, where Gemma was watching them. She caught the look in his eye and nodded in understanding, before rubbing her forehead and heading back inside the office.
He motioned with his head towards the office door and Kate knew he was telling her it was time for her first lesson from the First Old Lady herself. He smiled one more time and she bravely smiled back, and despite her urge to fling herself back into her Rav-4, she started heading towards the office. And as she walked, she was beginning to feel more and more panicked. The gravity of the situation was finally dawning on her as the dust from the day began to settle. She was being pulled into the very predicament she'd been willing herself to avoid—deeper into the MC life, more connected to Samcro, and most damaging of all, more attached to Jax, regardless if it was pretense or not.
Any hope of getting out of this in one piece had been completely ripped out of her hands. Her life really was on the line here now. She knew exactly what would happen to her if the Mayans could wind of the lie. There was nothing she could do because there really was no other alternative. She would have to be Jax's fake old lady until Samcro deemed it was 'safe' for her. And the worst part of it all was that she'd done it to herself. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She'd completely thrown any control over her own fate right out the window in a moment of sheer self-preservation.
But yet, as she opened the door to the office, she glanced back into the parking lot of Teller-Morrow and found Jax watching her. She couldn't quite read the expression in his eyes but there was something in them that set off another wave of knots in her stomach, only this time, it wasn't because she was scared and it wasn't because she was feeling sick over her current situation. It was something completely different entirely. And that…was not something she had the capacity to deal with at the moment.
So in a stand of stubborn will and defiance, she turned back to the office without any acknowledgement to Jax, and went inside.
A/N-So there you have it...the twist! I'm very excited to explore this direction and see where these characters can go given their less-than-ideal situation. I'd been hinting at it a little bit (Opie and Jax talking about coming up with a cover) and I hope it lived up to your expectations. There's definitely going to be some fall-out to this, especially if they have to act the part and deal with the fact that they have some feelings for each other too.
Please let me know what you thought-loved it, hated it-let me know! I love reading your feedback and it definitely keeps me motivated! R/R!