HOUSE OF CARDS
Chapter Two
When Jax pulled TM's tow truck up to the two banged up cars currently blocking downtown Charming's main intersection, he did a quick appraisal of the damage. The silver Honda Civic didn't look too worse for the wear but the obvious culprit behind the accident, the blue Dodge Neon was in need of a new front end. The front bummer was completely smashed and curled into itself with a slight folded-up accordion effect. While he'd definitely seen worse, the owner of the Dodge was in for some hefty repair costs.
He jumped out of the truck and strode over to the sidewalk—the Dodge was the clear winner in the bid to get towed back to TM and he needed to find the owner. As he got closer, his eyes widened when he realized Darby's daughter, Allie, was standing the closest to the Dodge and seemed to be otherwise preoccupied on her phone. When he was basically standing in front her, she finally looked up and her blue eyes turned into saucers.
"I…um…Ava, I have to go—I'll call you when I get to the shop. My tow-man is here." She quickly tossed her phone into her purse before looking back up at him with barely contained excitement.
"That your Neon, little darlin'?" He grinned, shoving his hands in his pockets.
She nodded eagerly and bit her lip in anticipation. "Yeah…I can ride with you to TM, right?"
His eyebrows rose at her forwardness and rolled back a little on his heels. Then he realized that, basically, a younger version of Ava was staring back at him. It had been a little while since he'd seen her around town and she'd sprung up into a pretty girl somewhere along the way. She and her older cousin could've easily been sisters—same long blonde hair, same crystal-clear blue eyes, same tall and slim build. And it was a little unnerving to have the underage doppelganger of the woman he'd been lusting over the past few days standing right in front of him. It kind of made him feel like a dirty old man.
Still, he saw no need to be either afraid of or unfriendly to a harmless teenager and turned on the charm. "Wouldn't have it any other way. Let's go…"
He jutted out an elbow towards the truck and gestured for her to follow him. She readily fell into step behind him and grinned like a Cheshire cat when he opened the passenger side door for her. He had a feeling it was going to be a long ride to TM.
"I wouldn't worry too much about your car," he offered once they'd gotten on the road. "Shouldn't take too long to get it up and runnin' for ya again."
Allie sighed next to him and ran a hand over her eyes. "Yeah, well, my dad is still gonna kill me, though. Can you do anything about that?"
"Sorry," he turned to her with sympathetic eyes. "Probably can't help you out there. Is he gonna be pissed about you takin' the Neon to TM?
She shrugged a little. "My insurance company told me to call you guys 'cuz you were the closest and the cheapest. He'll probably be pissed but he'll get over it eventually."
He chuckled and shook his head. "Figures. That's nice to know. So…how's your summer goin'?"
"Oh, you know, same old same old. Just counting down the days to get back to school."
He grinned again and decided to just go for it. "Bet you like havin' your cousin back in town, though, right?"
She nodded empathetically, a smile brightening her face. "Yeah…I do. After my mom, well, you know, she told me she wasn't gonna leave me here all by myself. And…she lets me stay over at her house whenever I want, so there's that too."
"Well," he reassured her. "I think she'll do a good job watchin' out for you."
"You met her?"
"A couple nights ago, yeah," he nodded with a small smile.
"At that bar, huh? She told me made a shit-ton of money there on her first night. You have anything to do with that?"
Shit, for a teenager she sure didn't miss much. She was still looking back him with a way-beyond-her- years maturity that made him a little uncomfortable. He'd thrown down a fifty dollar bill on their table that night at Lucky's-the other guys had left her a sizable tip as well but not quite to that level. He didn't necessarily plan on making a habit of it; he just figured she'd earned it and then some that particular night.
"Maybe." He shot a sly grin back to her. "But I don't think your cousin likes me too much."
"Yeah right," Allie muttered under her breath but then her cheeks flushed a little when she realized he'd caught that.
He figured if he'd unceremoniously propositioned her like he had her cousin, she might be feeling a little differently. But then again, judging by the way she was looking back at him now, maybe not. Still, he hadn't yet nailed down Ava's reaction to his suggestion. He thought he'd done a decent job of presenting it in an appealing, less offensive way and had mostly expected her to flatly turn him down. Instead of slapping him in the face or calling him out for being an asshole, she made that comment about not being quite upset with her uncle yet—which implied that his offer was worth considering if it ever came to that. But then she'd gone back inside Lucky's and basically ignored his presence for the rest of the night. He hadn't been joking when he'd said the offer would always be on the table—he couldn't imagine a situation where he wouldn't come running if she came calling to take him up on it. And that, at the very least, she seemed to have gotten loud and clear.
"Yeah, well, I think I might've said some things Wednesday night that pissed her off a little."
Allie rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Don't let her fool you—she's not as stuck-up as she looks."
"I wouldn't necessarily call her stuck-up…but what makes you say that?"
Allie shot him a knowing look. "She has a tattoo…when I called it a tramp stamp she got really pissed. But that's what it is so…"
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. He definitely hadn't been expecting that little piece of intel—she must've had it carefully tucked away in that jean skirt the other night because there was no way he would've missed that.
"But," Allie was saying now, a look of panic crossing her face. "If she finds out I told you—anyone— she'll flip…"
"Don't worry, little darlin'," he quickly recovered and flashed her a grin. "Your secret's safe with me."
The only way he was going to be mentioning that little secret was when he was seeing it in the flesh for himself.
By the time they pulled into TM's parking lot, Ava was just getting out of her Corolla—and he wondered with a smile if she'd bought a foreign car just to, once again, piss off her uncle. His heart started thundering a little bit in his chest as she walked over to the truck with an agitated expression on her beautiful features. She strode up along the passenger side of the tow truck to survey the damage on Allie's car and winced.
"Shit, Allie—you sure you're okay?"
"I told you already…I'm fine. Besides, I was being taken care of." She called out as she slid out of the truck.
Ava frowned but when she leaned her head over to see who had driven her cousin to TM, her eyes dramatically lifted to the sky.
"Thanks for all your help, Jax," Ava pushed out between clenched teeth, a thin smile pressed into her lips.
He just shrugged as he shut the driver's side door to the truck. "Just doin' my job—makin' sure Allie over here got back to you in one piece."
Her blue eyes narrowed a little at his words but she still followed them towards the office. The closer they got, the clearer Gemma's form behind the window became. His mother was not known for her tact or courtesy—especially where the Nords were concerned—but he hoped she would be able to see straight enough to realize that these girls walking next to him had nothing to do with that shit. Besides, they were paying customers so for all intents and purposes, Gemma needed to be on her best behavior.
Gemma held the office door open for them as they walked through with a friendly smile on her face. He shot her a warning look—raised eyebrows and all—and she seemed to get the memo, even putting a hand on his face for good measure to silently reassure him. Well, it was a start.
"Hey there, Allie," Gemma greeted them warmly. "Looks like you got yourself into a little fender bender, huh?"
"Hi Mrs. Morrow," Allie replied sheepishly.
"Don't worry, sweetheart," she put a hand on Allie's shoulder as she spoke. "We'll take care of everything for you."
"Thanks, Mrs. Morrow." Allie bent her head down a little.
Then his mother turned her attentions to Ava and he felt himself chewing on his bottom lip in anxious anticipation.
"You must be Ernest's niece—I'm sorry, it's been so long since I've seen you, I barely recognized you," Gemma said with no hint of cattiness or false sincerity and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Hello, Ava—nice to have you back."
Ava smiled slowly, her eyes carefully trained on the hard woman in front of her. "Nice to see you again, Mrs. Morrow."
She said that last part like she was a little uncertain of the title and then he remembered that, eleven years ago, his mom's last name was still Teller. Still, she recovered well from her surprise as they stepped deeper inside the office. When Gemma's eyes pieced through him with curiosity, he was suddenly uncomfortable standing in the same room with both Ava and his mother. He decided he'd lingered in the office long enough. The air was clear and his mom was going to play nice-that was all the reassurance he needed to get the hell out of there.
"Well," he winked playfully at the three women standing around him. "I think you ladies got it from here. I'll be in the shop if you need me."
With that, he high-tailed it back to the safety of the shop. About ten minutes later, Ava and her cousin were out of the office and headed back to the Corolla. Allie was waving back to him with a wide smile as Ava shook her head but when he caught the tiny smile spreading across her face, he figured she couldn't hate him that much if she was looking at him like that now. Maybe his initial assessment of her reaction to his proposition was, in fact, the correct one: she wasn't nearly as offended as she had acted.
When he turned back to the office, he almost yelped in surprise when he saw Gemma's unreadable face staring back at him, a hand jutted out on her hip and the other tightly clutching her glasses. Sometimes, there really wasn't anything that could scare him more.
"Hey, Jax," she called out to him, her voice even and measured. "Can I see you in the office for a second?"
Shit. He'd been an idiot for thinking she'd let him off easy.
When he walked into the office, he felt like he was ten years old again and about to be scolded for breaking one of his dad's tools—his mom was standing at the window with her hands perched on her hips and he felt himself swallow nervously.
"Yeah, Ma?"
Gemma turned on her heel, an irritated look on her face. This probably wasn't going to end well.
"You wanna explain to me what that was all about?"
"What?"
She huffed in annoyance. "Back there—with Darby's niece…what the hell was that?"
He frowned and his eyes followed Gemma's out of the window, almost taking a step back when he realized Gemma's gaze was still carefully trained on Ava and Allie as they discussed something outside of her car.
"I don't know what you're talkin' about, Ma."
Gemma's eyes narrowed ever so slightly and her lips pursed out in frustration. "You couldn't keep your eyes off of her the entire time you were in this office with her just now. Care to explain that?"
He shrugged and decided it would be easier for himself in the long run if he was just answered this question honestly. "She's attractive. You can't blame me for lookin', Ma."
"Is that what you boys were doing down at Lucky's Wednesday night? Just looking?" Her right eyebrow was arched up into her forehead and he felt his insides twist under the weight of her glare.
"Shit," he exhaled with a grimace. "It was just all in good fun, Mom—no one did or said anything stupid, not even Tig."
"And I'm supposed to believe that you had no other reason for going down there? That all you wanted to do was just 'have some fun'? I think you're throwing that phrase around a little too loosely, Jackson. "
"Mom—"
She held a finger up to silence him. "Keep your distance from her, Jax. I've seen that look on your face before and it's never led you to anything but god damn trouble. This time though—this time the risk isn't worth the gain just for a little 'fun'. I don't care what you say—pussy, even revenge pussy—ain't worth that shit."
He held up his hands in defense, not at all like how he'd been backed into a corner. "Give me a little credit here, alright? I haven't done anything to provoke Darby—he's the one who blew up the warehouse, he's the one who's been tryin' to start shit—not me."
"Right—and screwin' his niece behind his back, not to mention having one over Eric Miles, would feel real good, wouldn't it? Especially since Clay put a lid on retaliation?"
She'd read him like an open book.
"I'm not that stupid, Mom."
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Sure, you aren't."
"Mom—"
"Listen, Jax, we all know Darby is just looking for us to make one wrong move, one little push and it could mean all-out war. We can't be responsible for bringing that into town—not after everything we've built here. No matter what happens, Jackson, you need to keep your dick in your pants when it comes to her, alright? Be smart here—it's not all about you, Jax."
"Thanks for the memo, Gemma." He shot back bitterly.
She frowned and brought a hand to his cheek. "I wasn't trying to upset you, Jax—you think I want to see you lying in the street with a bullet in your chest? Or Clay? Or anybody else?"
"I know, I know," he smiled gently into her hand.
She brought her hand back to her hip and looked back to the window with a sigh. As Ava and Allie drove off the lot, she shook her head sadly.
"I can't help but feel sorry for those two girls though," Gemma murmured. "I can't even imagine having Ernest Darby as my uncle, let alone my father—what life must be like in that house…I guess it's a good thing Ava's back in town—at least for Allie's sake."
He nodded slowly—he'd been thinking about that himself ever since that night at Lucky's. They were the only two women left in Darby's family and he didn't really want to think about what that meant. Ava had told him she came back to town to look out for Allie and he had every reason to believe that she was going to everything in her power to keep Allie safe from her father.
And as he headed back into the shop—needing to both get back to work and clear his head—he couldn't stop himself from wondering...who was looking out for Ava?
As Ava turned into her uncle's driveway, she felt the familiar anxiousness pulling at her insides. Every time she even came into this neighborhood, she felt completely sick to her stomach. The house itself was a whole other story. Nothing but memories waited for her there—her aunt's warm smile in the kitchen, her mom and her aunt having coffee at the table, playing with Allie as a baby. But all those paled in comparison to the darker, uglier memories that were housed within these walls. It was difficult to uphold her carefully constructed defenses whenever she walked down the main hallway.
All they needed was five minutes, she reminded herself. At least that was what Allie had promised her. For a moment, she contemplated just waiting in the car but then thought better of it. And of course, Uncle Ernest was waiting for them in the doorway, dirty wife beater and all.
"Where were you ladies all day?"
He was pretending to be nice—she knew this tone. He wanted something.
"Hey dad," Allie pushed out brightly, putting on just as much of an act as him. "I…um…I might've gotten in a little fender bender today."
He exhaled loudly, an annoyed, grim line pressing across his lips. "Great—how much is that gonna cost me?"
"I'll pay for it, Dad," Allie explained quickly. "It was my fault—I was on my phone and I shouldn't have been…I know all that. They said it would only take a couple of days—"
Her uncle's eyes narrowed into black slits and Ava immediately swung into survival mode.
"Who said?"
"She said she's going to pay for it—you don't have to worry about it. It's not your problem," Ava cut in, quickly pushing Allie past her red-faced father and into the house.
"Like hell it's not—you took that pile of shit to Teller-Morrow, didn't you?" He didn't even wait for either of them to answer. "What have I told you? Never give those fuckers any business—they'll rob you blind. You can't trust them to give you a fair price on anything—"
"Uncle Ernest," Ava cut him off. "Your insurance company told Allie to bring her car there because they were the closest and the cheapest. What else was she supposed to do? Besides, like I said, you're not paying for it. Let it go."
After letting out a slew of curses, he turned on his heel and stormed into the kitchen. She waited uneasily in the living room as Allie scurried into her room to pack a bag.
"Ava?" Her uncle called from in the kitchen. "You takin' Allie somewhere?"
"She's going to stay with me for the rest of the weekend," she called back, not wanting to venture into the kitchen for fear he might actually try to extend this conversation.
In light of the car accident, albeit minor and not being paid for out of her uncle's check book, she didn't trust her uncle alone with Allie. She'd promised her that her dad had never been physical with her and maybe that was true but Ava knew how well her uncle played emotional warfare and wasn't about to take the chance.
Unfortunately, he sauntered out of the kitchen as he scratched his neck, beer in hand. "Oh…I see. Well—I need you to come to the fight tonight."
She immediately shook her head—she'd purposely asked Ray to schedule her at the bar so she would be unavailable. "I can't…I'm working until close tonight."
Her uncle nodded slowly and she felt a cold shiver shoot down her body when she realized what the look in his eyes meant. The cold, calculating—almost menacing—expression emanating from his eyes was one she was very familiar with.
"Tell Ray you won't be able to make it in tonight—you need to be there. Miles and Teller are in the ring and we've got a lot of money on the line with this one. You need to be there."
She didn't even need to guess why. Once again, he was going to push her at Eric Miles tonight—whether it was for comfort or celebratory purposes remained to be seen.
"I told you—I'm working. Maybe if you'd given me a little more notice I could've—"
"Well," her uncle cut in, a hard glare steeling into his eyes. "If you're busy tonight, maybe Allie should go instead. After all—if you're working, you won't be at the house anyways tonight. She might as well go watch her dad reap a shit-ton of money when Miles knocks Teller down."
Somehow, she had a feeling it was going to be the other way around. But then the weight of his words swarmed around her and the room began to feel a little smaller. It was a struggle to breathe as she dared to meet her uncle's maliciously triumphant grin. His objective was clear—one of them was going to be Miles' reward for his performance tonight and it was either going to be her or her sixteen-year-old cousin. And she knew Allie wouldn't be able to figure out how to get herself out of this potentially dangerous situation.
"I'll find someone to take my shift." She murmured softly.
"There," he grinned back to her. "That wasn't so hard, right? Make sure you're at the ring by 10:00 tonight or I'll send someone back to the house to get Allie."
She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. When she and Allie walked into her house about a half hour later, her hands were still shaking.
"So you're not going to work tonight then?" Allie called from the second bedroom, which, for all intents and purposes, was really her bedroom.
She frowned from the living room and bit her lip, wondering how much Allie had heard. "Uh…yeah. Why do you ask?"
"I heard you on the phone with your boss before," Allie shrugged when she appeared from the hallway. "Can we go to a movie or something if you're gonna be around?"
She shook her head with a sad smile. "Your dad asked me to go to the fight tonight so I guess that's what I'm doing instead. Rain check on that movie."
"Oh...is that why you were acting weird when we left my house? You looked really pale, Ava. And you were really quiet…it was kinda scary." Allie said quietly as she sat down next to her on the couch.
The last thing she wanted to do was alert her cousin to what she'd signed herself up for that night. So she just shrugged. "Nah…you know I just don't like being in that house."
Allie nodded slowly. "Okay…hey, but at least you get to see Jax Teller with his shirt off tonight. I heard he's freakin' ripped and he usually wins too…he is so gorgeous."
"Yeah, well, I guess that's my consolation prize for missing out on that movie with you," she threw back with a genuine smile.
"You know he was asking me about you today," Allie offered lightly, coyly avoiding eye contact with her. "It was so lame—here I was so excited to be alone in a tow truck with him and all he wanted to talk about was you."
She just dramatically rolled her eyes but when she registered the dangerously mischievous look in her cousin's eyes, she knew to be worried. "Oh shit…what did you tell him?"
"Why were you acting so weird around him today at TM anyways?"
"Stop changing the subject, you brat," Ava demanded with faux-sternness. "What did you tell him?"
"Well," Allie started thoughtfully. "We talked about him leaving you a big tip at the bar, he told me he thinks you don't like him very much…I called you stuck-up and he defended your honor…yep, I think that's about it."
Ava stared at her cousin for a moment before shaking her head. She'd be willing to bet her next paycheck that only about half of that was actually true, if not twisted to serve Allie's purposes.
"You're ridiculous and completely full of shit. But you already knew that."
"Whatever."
When Ava arrived at the ring, the bare field was already jam-packed with beat-up, rusty cars and rows of motorcycles. She'd purposefully arrived at 10:00 on the dot and was a little disappointed to see, even from the distance of where she'd had to park, that the match hadn't started yet. But that also allowed her to take her time in sauntering up to the makeshift boxing ring—it was interesting to see everyone on their respective sides, very much like how the two rivals functioned outside of the boxing ring as well.
She'd half-expected to see police cars staked out on her way in but remembered that Samcro and the Nords were smart enough to hold these little parties outside of Charming's city limits. But she knew this wasn't going really be a party. These Saturday events were really just organized fist fights that they bet on—civilized excuses for beating the hell out of one another. If anyone else was going to be in the ring tonight, she would've been dreading every single moment spent in this field—watching guys beat the crap out of each other was not an ideal evening.
But she couldn't help the budding excitement spreading through her stomach—she hoped Eric got his ass fucking handed to him. All she had to do was contain her elation and pray Jax landed every punch he threw. Hopefully, she was in for some excellent entertainment tonight.
If she was being completely honest with herself, she knew this nervous anticipation was about more than just seeing Eric getting pounded into the ground. As much as she hated to admit it, Jax hadn't been far from her thoughts since that very eventful, stressful first shift at Lucky's. It wasn't so much the risqué proposition at the end of the night—that still, even though she knew it should, didn't really bother her all that much—it was the ease with which she'd been able to talk to him that set her off balance. What had started out as a harmless flirtation somehow morphed into a genuine conversation and even leading up to his slyly, thinly veiled suggestion, she'd had no problem being honest with someone she probably shouldn't been so honest with. Still, she couldn't quite wrap her head around it but she had a feeling that Jax knowing how she felt about her uncle and Eric wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was more like a small victory.
As she edged closer to the crowd, there was still no evidence that the fight would be starting any time soon so she took her time in walking over to the Nords' designated area. The divide was pretty severe—leather cuts on one end of the ring and white wife beaters on the other. It was an interesting contrast, one that had she not been forced to align herself with one side over the other might have been a fun exercise in observation. They were respectful of each other's space but it was easy to see that neither trusted the other. Eyes were carefully trained on the forms from across the ring and when eye contact was made, it was uneasy and fueled by competition.
By the time she approached the rusty, slightly dirty small row of bleachers on the Nords' side, her uncle had zeroed in on her presence and was already yanking her deeper into the crowd before she had a chance to say or do much of anything. He eyed her up from head to toe and when his black eyes narrowed on her outfit, she knew she'd achieved yet another small victory.
"Couldn't have taken the time to make yourself look decent, could you?" Her uncle snarled at her as he dragged her to the front end of the bleachers.
She tried to mask her smirk by biting her lip and didn't really care if she succeeded or not. She'd taken great pains in choosing an outfit that was the exact opposite of what she was expected to wear—black skinny jeans and a plain grey V-neck T-shirt. The jeans were tight enough and the T-shirt just low enough that it was still an easily sexy outfit—and she'd curled her hair in loose waves and taken time with her makeup just for good measure. It just wasn't the skin-tight skirt and non-existent top that the girls around her were wearing. For a moment, she wondered if she'd miscalculated—this outfit made her stand out like a sore thumb and she wasn't sure that was exactly what she'd intended. She'd just wanted to prove to herself and her uncle that she wasn't some plaything that could be tossed around like a toy doll.
She'd play by rules but she'd find as many ways to bend them as she could.
With that thought propelling her on, she settled into the seat in the front row that her uncle had pushed her in. She warily glanced at Eric, who was sitting a mere three feet away from her as someone bent over him to wrap his hands in white tape. His lips curved up into a grin and she suddenly felt dirty. She was going to have to shower tonight for sure to wipe away the slimy, creepy feeling his smile set into her. It was unnerving—and it made her feel sick to her stomach. Her heart sunk when he jumped up from his chair and sauntered over to her with a cocky swagger.
On Jax, the swagger suited him and, for whatever reason, was kinda sexy. She suspected some of that stemmed from the fact that he rode a motorcycle. But on Eric, it rang false—like he was trying too hard to be the tough, menacing leader of the pack and it was unconvincing at best. If anything, it just fueled the loathing she already felt for him.
She instinctively recoiled when she felt his arm slide around her shoulders and winced when her eyes connected with his ugly, hateful tattoos.
"I'm glad you made it, Ava," he was leaning down to her ear now even as she inched away from him. "It's gonna be one hell of a fucking show tonight."
"That's great," she pushed out through clenched teeth. "Good luck."
He was staring back at her like he had expected something more from her, like she was supposed to do something else. But that wasn't going to happen because she had zero intention of letting him do anything beyond the way he was touching her now. And even that was difficult to swallow. She subconsciously fingered the tube of mace in her purse and hoped she wouldn't have to use it on him tonight. She knew all she had to do was wait it out…just wait for one opening, fulfill whatever 'duty' her uncle wanted her to do, and then she'd be out of there.
Luckily for her, one of her uncle's men pulled him away so that he could finish his preparations. It was that moment that she chose to allow her eyes to wander across the ring and she practically jumped when her eyes connected with Jax's searing blue ones. He was seated almost directly across from her as Opie carefully wrapped his knuckles with white tape and his eyes remained rooted to hers with an intensity that sent a fluttering of shudders through her stomach and…shit, did he just wink at her? When his mouth twisted up into a sexy, cocky lop-sided grin, the fluttering rose up in her chest and she had to bit her lip as her own lips curved into a smile as a silent response. His grin just widened.
A few moments later, a loud whistle pierced through the air as Jax and Eric stepped into their respective sides of the makeshift ring. She listened with a little amusement as the chubby, curly-haired man in a Samcro cut read out the list of rules—it reminded her of the movie "Fight Club", which she supposed was fitting considering the circumstances and that Jax looked a little like a young Brad Pitt. All the rules were practical and logical though…no biting, no kicking, no weapons. The only surprise came when the chubby guy reminded the fighters that if the fight went on longer than an hour, it would be called off for the night and the two fighters would automatically be drafted the following Saturday to finish the match. She wondered how many times that had happened in order to force a rule like that.
Jax was bouncing up and down on his heels and stretching his neck from side to side…and then she took in the finely-tuned, hard muscles in his chest and she felt herself bite down on her bottom lip. His hair was tied back and his jeans were slung down low on his hips, exposing a good chunk of his white boxers. Eric was pounding his fists together to warm up from his end but he might've as well not even been in there—there was only one person in the ring she was focusing on. As Jax and Eric started circling each other, she was given a clear view of the Reaper tattoo on Jax's back. It should've scared her just as much as Eric's tattoos but it didn't.
She waited along with the rest of the crowd for someone to throw the first punch when Eric suddenly lunged forward, swinging his first around to connect with Jax's jaw and his head jerked back violently. She jumped at the loud crack and winced when Jax spat out blood on the dirt at their feet. There were loud cheers erupting from behind her but she could still hear the shouts of encouragement from Samcro's side—no one was really sitting anymore and she quickly stood to blend in a little more.
It didn't take Jax long to retaliate—when Eric tried to swing again, Jax easily dodged the blow and landed a quick one-two punch right into his jaw. Another round of cheers and jeers rang out from the crowd as the fighters continued to circle each other. It was amazing—she'd known Jax had some brawn underneath the plaid flannel he'd been wearing on Wednesday night but she'd never have guessed it was quite like this. The way he moved around the ring—there was an athleticism there that she hadn't expected and on some level, there was something predatory about it as well. And his sweat-sheened, rippling muscles in both his arms and his back were a sight to behold.
For every blow Eric attempted, Jax matched with equal intensity and neither showed any signs of slowing as they advanced on each other from inside the ring. It was clear they'd fought each other before—Jax easily anticipated each swung fist and Eric easily kept up with him, matching him in stamina. How much longer could they continue this way? They had already taken a short break and now time was called for another.
It was exhilarating in a way she hadn't expected. Just waiting to see what was going to happen next—who was going to hit who and how many times was Jax going to connect his fist with Eric's jaw? She had to admit…it was difficult not to cheer right along with the Samcro side every time Jax advanced on Eric, so much in fact that she had to shove her hands in her pockets to keep from clapping. She had a feeling that would be skirting along her uncle's tolerance for misbehavior a little too much.
Finally, mercifully, the curly-haired guy jumped into the ring and called time, getting in between the two fighters as he blew his whistle.
"That's it," he called out above the roar of the crowd. "Time! Both fighters get back to your ends—we'll pick this up again next Saturday—double or nothing, fellas!"
Another loud cheer erupted from around the crowd and she couldn't stop herself from grinning when Jax turned back to his cheering section and flexed his arms in triumph. They yelled and cheered right back at him. She didn't even hear the reaction Eric got from where she was sitting. She watched as Jax slid out from underneath the ropes, wiped himself with a towel, and took a long swig from a water bottle. Even that stirred something in her stomach that had her biting her lip.
Suddenly, she felt a cold hand grip her elbow.
"Take this over to Teller," her uncle commanded into her ear as he pushed a beer bottle into her hands. "Give him our congratulations on being able to keep up with Miles tonight…tell him he won't be so lucky next Saturday."
He nudged her forward before she even had a chance to respond and with a deep breath, she started the short trek from the Nord end of the ring to the Samcro end, clutching the beer in her hand for dear life. She knew she was venturing into some serious unpredictable territory here—what was her uncle doing? Was he dangling her out in front of them like a piece of meat? Or was he just sending her to do his dirty work for him? She had a sinking feeling it was a little bit of both.
Either way, she was grateful this wouldn't be the first time she'd be interacting with Jax. She would be hyperventilating into the beer bottle on her way over to him if she hadn't. It was difficult to ignore the stares she was getting as she weaved in and out through the Samcro cheering section. Women in tight jeans and tattered shirts with heavily layered makeup eyed her up like snakes coiling to strike. The men stared at her with equal parts surprise, confusion, and lust. Neither reaction was a pleasant one.
By the time she found Jax, he was perched on the third row of Samcro's bleachers—still shirtless—and chatting with Opie, his arm slung around a sleazy-looking blonde with bad highlights and slightly glazed over eyes. Jax's head turned casually in her direction, then back again to say something to Opie, and then his gaze snapped back to her with wide, disbelieving eyes. His eyes seemed to burn into her as she continued to walk towards them and by then, Opie too had realized she was quickly approaching them.
Jax seemed to straighten a little when she finally got there and she realized she needed more than a moment to gather her bearings. So she pressed a smile onto her lips and held out the beer to Jax.
"Courtesy of my uncle," she explained. "As a congratulations to you for 'keeping up with Miles', as he said."
An easy, cocky lop-sided grin slid onto Jax's lips and she had to concentrate on the task at hand to keep her emotions in check here. When he reached out to take the bottle from her, the light graze of his fingers over hers sent goosebumps down her arm.
"Thanks, darlin'," he tossed back lightly. The blonde underneath his arm narrowed her heavily-lined eyes at him before turning her glare directly onto her.
For a moment, she almost completely forgot there was something else she was supposed to do here.
"And…um…I'm also supposed to tell you that you won't be so lucky next Saturday…which I highly doubt." Her eyes widened when she realized what had came tumbling out of her mouth and she wanted to clamp her hand around it.
His blue eyes sparked back at her as he untangled himself from the blonde underneath his arm. "I take it you liked what you saw, huh?"
"Of course she did," the blonde at his side purred into his ear. "Who wouldn't?"
His eyes flicked back to the blonde for a moment. "Go find something to do, Wendy."
Wendy pouted at him for a moment before realizing he was serious. Her eyes widened a little before morphing into dangerous black slits. As she slid out from the bleachers, Wendy's eyes shot right through her with a murderous glare before she stepped away from the bleachers and into the crowd behind them. At some point, she realized, Opie had slipped away from them too and now they were as alone as they could be, given the throng of people surrounding them—Jax perched a little above her eye level with a smirk spreading across his face and she had to bit her lip one more time that night.
"You did pretty well in there, Jax," she started finally, crossing her arms over her chest in subconscious self-defense. "I didn't know you had it in you."
His head tilted a little to the side as he watched her carefully, his mouth twisting up in the same direction as his head. "Yeah, you did, Ava…and now you just get to watch it all over again next Saturday."
"Looking forward to it," she offered with a small smile.
"Good," he nodded in satisfaction and took a pull from the beer bottle. "When are you workin' at Lucky's again? I've been thinkin' I need to pay my new favorite bartender a visit."
A shot of heat rushed into her cheeks and for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was back in high school again, talking to the guy she had a crush on by the bleachers after his football practice. But this was as far off from high school as she could possibly get and this situation, if she allowed it to go any further, would quickly become dangerous in more ways than one.
"I think your girlfriend is pissed at you," she quickly shifted the subject as she saw Wendy fuming out of the corner of her eye.
He just waved it off. "She's not my girlfriend, darlin'. Wait…you're not worried about a little competition, are you?"
She pursed her lips in agitation—in the little time they'd actually spent talking to each other, he already seemed to know just what buttons to push. At this point, she figured it was best to just answer his initial question and ignore his previous one. "I'm working Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Wait…you're not planning on stalking me, are you?"
"Somethin' like that, yeah," he winked.
She just rolled her eyes and shook her head, which did nothing but earn her yet another cocky—albeit sexy—curve of his lips.
"Well," Jax continued, leaning forward a little more on his elbows. "I'm looking forward to seein' you at the bar—probably not on Friday, though."
"Oh darn. And here I was so excited to know you'd be annoying me during all three of my shifts this week. Guess I'll just have to settle for two."
He laughed again and shook his head. "Good to know you'll be keepin' me on my toes then too."
She grinned back at him and cast a careful glance over her shoulder. Her uncle currently had his back turned to her and seemed to be in deep conversation with a few of his wife-beater clad men. Maybe this was the opening she'd been waiting for all night. Now all she had to do was figure out how the hell to get out of this place without anyone asking unnecessary questions. When she turned back to Jax, he was appraising her behavior carefully.
"Gotta get back, Ava?" He asked quietly.
"Uh…I think this is actually my cue to leave…he's not looking so I better get out of here while I have the chance."
He frowned and looked over her head to get a better view of the Nords' side of the ring. When his eyes darted back to her, they were filled genuine concern.
"Everything alright on that end of the ring?"
"It's fine…I'm fine," she said a little too quickly as she looked over her shoulder again. "I just…don't feel like being anyone's consolation prize tonight, if you know what I mean."
He nodded slowly. "Well, if you're lookin' to make a clean getaway…if you sneak out behind our bleachers and walk down by all our bikes, you can blend in a little more by that tree line. He'll never see you."
"Thanks, Jax," she replied shakily. "I appreciate it…"
He nodded again with a small smile. "Don't worry about it. You better get a move on before he starts to wonder why you're not back yet."
"Okay," she bit her lip as she started moving towards the back end of the bleachers. "Thanks again…see you later."
He waved softly as she kept moving and from the corner of her eye, she saw him lighting up a cigarette. Then his head was turned again as he watched her sneak out from behind the bleachers and walk briskly towards the long line of motorcycles. She was trying her hardest not to run—even though she wanted to—that would most likely attract some unnecessary attention on either side. He hadn't been exaggerating—the bikes were all parked along a shadowy tree that made it easier to stay out of view.
As she got closer to the rows of parked cars, she had a moment of sheer panic. If her uncle turned his head at the right moment and saw her attempting a sneaky exit… there were too many ways all this could go south. Screaming at her in front of all those people, grabbing her by the back of the neck and forcing her back to the Nords, pushing her at Eric for the rest of the night—all those possibilities scared the shit out of her. She was practically frozen in place and she just as she was contemplating completely rolling over and running back to her uncle with her tail between her legs, her gaze subconsciously flitted to Samcro's bleachers on the furthest side of the ring where Jax was still seated.
He was focused intently on her, almost as if he had been along, and even though they barely knew each other, she knew why. Then his head nudged ever so slightly in the direction of the cars, almost willing her to keep moving. And as she propelled this renewed confidence towards the rows and rows of cars parked off into the distance, she could still feel his eyes settled onto her back.
It wasn't until she was safely sitting in her car and driving down the gravel road that she was finally able to breathe again.
A/N-Sorry about the wait! The next chapter will be up shortly. Let me know what you think...your feedback has been great to read! There was a questions about Tara and I have no plans on bringing her into it. I'm not crazy about her to begin with and honestly, she doesn't fit in the plot anyways.
Thanks again to my amazing beta, dreamer-girl-reana! And thanks to everyone who reviewed/alerted/favorited!