When she opened her eyes she found him staring right at her. Dani blinked a few times, trying to focus on what was she was seeing. Had this actually happened or had it been a dream?
But it was definitely Jax who was lying next to her in her bed, his arms wrapped around her and his breath warm on her skin. He was looking at her, a soft smile playing on his lips.
"Morning," he spoke softly.
"Hey," Dani replied. She pushed herself upwards. Jax slid his hands off her, steadying himself on the bed while leaning in to give her a kiss.
Her first reaction was to dodge it. Her heart beating in her chest, Dani quickly threw the blankets that were covering her on the ground and got out of bed. She turned her head to look at the time and noticed it was actually a lot later than she had planned. It had been a while since she had slept as well as she did this night, and it was no point in denying that Jax had helped her with that.
She rubbed her temples with her fingers, trying to recall everything that had happened last night. From Luke to Jax, she remembered everything. How could this all have happened?
Dani pulled on her pants. "I gotta go," she told Jax a little distant. Out of all the stuff she had pulled last night, sleeping with him might have been her biggest mistake. She had given him hope, but most of all, she had given herself hope. Having his body pressed against hers had felt so right. Him stepping up to help her made her regain her trust in him more.
"To where?" Jax asked. She could sense the disappointment in his voice, which only made it even harder to leave.
"Café," Dani continued by putting on her work shirt. "I'm already late."
Jax remained silent while Dani tried to do her hair as quickly as possible. She had to get out of there before she did another thing she shouldn't. Cheating had always been regarded as unacceptable for her, but as time passed was she starting to forgive him?
"You can let yourself out, right?" she asked, not daring to look him in the eye.
When she thought this day couldn't get any worse than it already was, Gemma appeared at the café. Dani could only hope she didn't know about Jax staying over.
"Hey," Gemma spoke as she sat down on the barstools.
Dani gave her a nod, immediately placing a mug of freshly brewed coffee in front of her.
"I got something for you," she said while pulling open her hand bag to retrieve an envelope, before handing it to Dani.
She raised her eyebrows as she opened it, extremely curious what was inside. As long as it wasn't another bill to add to her growing list of things she still needed to pay off, she was happy.
"What's this?" Dani asked while her eyes scanned the piece of paper the envelope contained. It was a check which would cover pretty much everything she needed for the café.
"A loan," Gemma explained. "To help you out."
Dani shook her head. "I can't accept this, Gemma. You should offer it to the club, they'll probably need it more."
Accepting a loan would only add to her stress. Dani never liked to wait until too long to pay it off and right now she didn't have the money to do it and besides, she still wanted to get to the bottom of this. There was no way she could make a loss, not with how busy the café had been.
"They have already figured something out. You should take it, Dani. Don't wait until it's too late."
Dani knew Gemma meant well, but she couldn't accept it, at least not for now. However she knew Gemma wouldn't leave until she had come up with a good reason for declining it, so there was nothing left for her to do except tell the truth.
She leaned forward and lowered her voice, not wanting anyone to hear. "I don't think I've lost the money due to business, Gemma. I think it's stolen."
Gemma raised her eyebrows as if she was intrigued. "Really?"
"Yeah," Dani nodded. "I mean the café has been busier than before, plus the fundraiser has helped me out a lot, there is no way I could've made a loss. No way. It has to be stolen."
"Any idea who did it?" she asked.
Dani shook her head. "No, but I've called all my employees to come in after closing time, and they are not leaving until someone confesses."
"Good. You should get to the bottom of this."
"Don't worry," Dani replied. "I will."
Secretly she had been looking forward to confronting her staff all day. This needed to get settled once and for all, but she was mostly extremely curious as to who had stolen the money to begin with.
Dani's prime suspect was the new kid, Darren. She would trust the rest of the staff in a heartbeat, there wasn't one of them who she figured could've stolen it. Yet Darren was the new guy and who knows, maybe he was the one who did it.
"Thanks for coming," Dani began. The staff was seated at the bar while she stood behind it, looking each and everyone in the eye.
¨You're probably all wondering why you are here this late, so let me just cut right to the chase."
Dani rested her hands on the counter and slightly leaned forward, her heart beating fast as she was watching everyone's reactions and facial expressions closely.
"There seems to be some money missing. The numbers in the books don't add up and the only scenario I can imagine is that the money has been stolen. Now I don't want to say anyone of you did it, but if the money indeed got stolen, it has to be done by someone who has easy access to the cash register. If you know anything about it, or have seen anything, please speak up now."
Like expected, it remained silent. Dani knew it was though to speak up with all the other colleagues present, but she simply didn't have the time to talk to everyone one on one, and maybe group pressure could make the one who did it talk.
"I promise you, if you speak up now we will settle this and I won't press charges. This doesn't have to get complicated."
Everyone seemed to have their eyes fixed on the counter top, not daring to look at her. With them all not giving anything away, it was hard for Dani to see if anyone was behaving oddly.
Especially Darren looked innocent, while he had been her prime suspect. Why was no one speaking up?
"All I know is I didn't do it," Lana spoke.
"Me neither," Peter, her dishwasher quickly added.
They all seemed to speak up at once, defending themselves, telling her they never could've done it. Dani shook her head as she was trying to think. She couldn't just accuse someone of stealing it, could she?
"Okay, shut up for a moment and let me talk," Dani interrupted, a little annoyed. She had hoped to fix this matter tonight, but then again did anything ever go as planned?
"If you do happen to know something but you don't want to say it right now in front of everybody, that's okay. You can come to see me or call me any time of the day. Please help me out with this because as if money keeps disappearing I might have to fire someone to cover up the cost."
Her team had left quietly, not daring to speak among each other. Dani knew one of them had done it, it was only a matter of time before the truth would be revealed.
She locked the café after they all were gone, before turning around to head towards her car.
"Something up?" she heard Jax ask. He was sitting on his bike which he had parked in front of her café. How long had he been there?
"Nothing to worry about," Dani replied, laughing a little awkwardly. She hadn't expected to run into him here, but after everything that had happened she could hardly ignore him.
Jax pushed himself upwards and moved closer to her. Her heart started to beat faster with each inch he got closer to her, already dreading what he was going to say.
"I just wanted to talk to you about last night," he began.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna shoot somebody again," Dani replied.
Jax cocked his head to the right. "I wanted to talk about the other thing."
"Oh," Dani spoke. How could she think she could get away with it that easily? Of course he was going to bring it up again, how could he not?
"What are we doing, Dani?" Jax continued. "Do you want me or don't you want me, because you are making it really difficult for me right now."
He was right, but the truth was that she herself didn't even know the answer. Some part of her wanted to take him back right here and now, while another part of her wanted him to prove himself to her.
"I don't know, Jax," she replied, sighing softly.
He nodded slowly, his eyes sad and a little angry.
Dani knew she shouldn't have gotten his hopes up like that. It had been a mistake, yet it helped her realize how much she still loved him. She had still trouble coming to grips with him cheating, yet he had proven his loyalty to her last night. Without asking any further questions he had come over, helping her when she was in desperate need. How many men would've done that for her? Maybe he had changed, and was sincere about him telling her he wouldn't cheat again. Maybe she should give him one more chance…
"Look, Dani," he continued. "I know what I did was wrong, and I'm never going to do it again, I promise you."
He took his hands into hers, looking her straight in the eye. "If you want me out of your life just say it right here and now, and I'll never bother you again."
And that was when she knew. It was like flipping a coin to decide something for you, when you have already made up your mind in the first place. There was no way she wanted him out of her life.
"I don't want that," she spoke softly, her voice slightly breaking. "I don't want you to leave."
A/N: So, thanks for the reviews for last chapter, glad to hear you liked it :) Hopefully I can write a lot tomorrow, so I can upload another chapter. I still have a history paper to finish but I'll probably manage to find some time.
But in other news, did you see the new behind the scenes promo pictures with Charlie for season 7? He has no beard? And E! is talking about a 'clean-shaven' Jax. Not sure what to think about that tbh...
Anyway! Please leave behind a message and I'll see you (hopefully) next time! :D