In the afternoon Jax dropped by to see how they were doing. Dani expected it to become awkward, but it was far from it. Casually he had given her a kiss, his hand on her hip, before talking to Juice about the business he had attended to in the morning.
Dani and Juice had cleared up everything, leaving an almost empty café behind. The only thing that remained was the bar, a few cups that weren't broken and a couple of chairs. The rest was all gone. She had hung a sign on the door, letting her customers know it would be a while before she opened again. They had told her how bad they felt about the incident, but she doubted any of them knew how much pain the destruction of her café had caused her personally.
"I'll put this in the back," Juice said, taking the final trash bag they had. Dani nodded, before turning around to face Jax again.
And then she saw him standing there. His hand was on the door, but because it was locked, it wouldn't open. Dani held her breath when she saw him taking a step back, looking her straight in the eye.
"Jax…," she said softly, nodding towards Harrison standing on the other side of the door. He moved his body and she saw him clenching his fists when he saw who she was referring to.
"Is that him?" he asked her just to be sure, anger clearly rising.
"Yeah," Dani nodded. "I locked the door…" But it was already too late. Jax had grabbed the keys of the bar, taking angry strides towards the door, unlocking it and bursting it open.
"We're closed," he told him.
Dani followed Jax and tried to jump in front of him, but he pushed her back behind him. Helplessly, Dani looked behind her, seeing Juice had emerged from the back, also jumping forward to join Jax.
"I can see that," Harrison said with a smug on his face. She studied him closely, watching his every move. She knew he was enjoying this. He loved to see what he had ordered to have turned out so well. The café was a ruin, just like was planned. "You're face doesn't look too good."
"Shut the fuck up," Dani exploded. She wasn't going to stand there and be ridiculed.
"I suggest you leave now," Jax said. "This doesn't have to get complicated."
"Oh, but I actually wanted to talk about a business proposal with Dani," he continued, as if nothing was wrong.
"You truly think you are untouchable, aren't you?" she replied.
Harrison chuckled, probably agreeing with her. "I'll be seeing you soon."
"How about you don't come here ever again," Jax said. He took another step forward, standing straight in front of Harrison. Jax was taller than him, and Dani figured that he had to be intimidated by him.
"You cannot always protect her. Sooner or later this business deal will get done." He gave Dani a nod before turning around, casually walking down the street as if nothing had just happened.
"We have to deal with him. Call everyone together," Jax told Juice.
Dani realized what that meant. This meant the Sons would get involved in her business, they were going to risk themselves for her. "Jax, don't," she tried telling him. "It's not worth it. Sooner or later he'll give up."
"And when will that be?" Jax put his hand on her cheek, cupping it carefully. "After he beats you up a second time?"
"I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."
"No one will get hurt. I promise you."
He had taken Dani with him to the clubhouse. Although she wasn't allowed inside during their meeting, Jax had Half-Sack watching her. All the time she kept staring at the room they were seated in, wondering what they were talking about. She could only hope they weren't planning anything rash.
"I'm sorry about the café," Half-Sack told her, handing her a glass of water.
"Thanks," Dani nodded gratefully. She liked the prospect and for his sake she hoped it wouldn't take long for him to be patched in.
When she heard the door of the clubhouse opening, she expected to see Gemma, but instead she saw Ima standing in the doorway. Her heels clicking against the wooden floor as she took large confident steps inside. She was wearing a skimpy red dress Dani herself wouldn't wear in a million years, unless she was really desperate for a date.
Ima stopped in her tracks when she saw Dani sitting at the bar. Her smile transformed into a bitch face and she slightly raised her eyebrows.
"Oh god," Half-Sack mumbled, realizing where this was going.
She never liked any of the CaraCara girls, but out of all of them she hated Ima the most. Dani didn't necessarily hate Ima because she had been with Jax many times, she hated her because she thought she was the queen of Charming, and no one could touch her. She simply did not understand the world didn't belong to her.
"What are you doing here?" Dani hissed, sliding off the barstool to confront her. With her heels, Ima stood a few inches taller than she was, but that didn't intimidate her.
"I could be asking you the same," Ima replied, cocking her head slightly to the left, frowning.
"Jax asked me here."
"Well, Jax wants me here."
"Oh yeah?" Dani scoffed, not sure if she was hearing this correctly. Why didn't this chick understand the guys around here only wanted her because she was a pornstar, not because she was old lady material.
"Yeah," Ima nodded. "He wants someone who can handle him."
Dani chuckled, never breaking eye contact. "Are you serious?"
Before Ima could reply, Half-Sack jumped in between them. "Girls! Girls.. stop! If anything happens to you two, they will kick my ass."
"It's okay, Sack," Dani said, taking a step back, raising her hands. "I'm done."
"Yeah, you step away, bitch!"
Ima shouldn't have said that. Within a second Dani had shot forward, pushing Half-Sack aside, curling her hand up into a fist and letting it collide with her face.
Ima gasped, falling to the ground while Half-Sack stood by helplessly. "You two will be the death of me," he said, stepping in front of Dani again, pushing her back.
She wasn't sure why she had done it. Never before had she been aggressive, but seeing Harrison again had triggered something. No longer would she take anyone's bullshit. They had hurt her before, but no one would hurt her again.
Their fight had caught the attention of the guys. Probably wondering what the fuss was about, the door slammed open. "What the fuck is going on here?" Clay said, appearing in the doorway, but when he saw Ima and Dani he quickly called Jax. "I think this is your problem."
Jax showed up by Clay's side. His raised his eyebrows upon the sight. "What did you two do now?!"
Dani waited for Ima to explain since she had started it, but since she was sitting on the floor, touching the spot where Dani had punched her while softly crying, nobody spoke a word.
"Half-Sack?" Jax then asked, shifting his gaze to the prospect which was standing between the two of them again.
"I had nothing to do with this. They started fighting out of nowhere," he tried explaining, pointing towards the two of them.
"Jesus Christ, I leave you alone for two minutes and you start a fight," Jax said, approaching Dani.
"Well, technically, she started it."
It seemed like he was waiting for a further explanation, but Dani didn't have one. It was just a fight between the two of them, it wasn't like Jax had never been in a fight before.
"Is she hurt?" Jax asked Tig, who had kneeled down besides Ima to check her injuries.
Dani rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Whose face looks worse?"
Even though Gemma had given her a special kind of gel which was supposed to help with the bruising, they were still clearly visible, not to mention the cuts on her cheek which could leave behind a permanent mark. Besides, she hadn't even punched Ima that hard.
"She's fine," Tig replied, helping her up.
"I need to talk to you," Jax told her sternly.
Dani watched how Ima practically hung unto to Tig for dear life, acting like she just had been shot. Why was she receiving all the blame? She hadn't even started the fight and if this was a competition of whose face was more fucked up, she'd definitely win.
"Fine, whatever," Dani replied, following him to the apartment in the back of the clubhouse.
Jax let her enter the apartment first. She sat down on the bed in the middle of it, expecting to be lectured. But something quite the opposite happened.
"You really hit her?" Jax asked, a playful smile covering his lips.
"You're evidence is back there," Dani replied, not sure where this was heading. Did he like her for hitting Ima?
He leaned forward, giving her a soft kiss. "That's kinda hot," he whispered, before giving her another.
Surprised by his reaction, Dani pushed him back. "You're not mad?"
"Why would I be?" Jax said, wanting to reach down again, but Dani could stop him just in time. This was getting interesting.
"I hit her? And you're supposed to like her?"
"Let's not talk about it anymore," Jax suggested, which was fine by Dani. She let herself fall back on the bed, Jax on top of her, pressing his body against hers.
A/N: So my midterms are finally over, YAY. That means I'll get to write a lot more :) Thank you all for reading and following this story, it truly means a lot. So please review to let me know what you think about it so far! Thanks!