A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! I do read each and every single one of them. Mcllwain, I do not have a teenage boy around me but my hubby often acts like one. Does that count? LOL
Chapter 18
It was late Sunday night and Jax and Tara were sitting on her porch. Well if you could call this small step before the concrete slab a porch. But he didn't care. He was wrapped around her and that was the most important thing to him. They spent the entire weekend together and he was reluctant to let her go. "We can crash at Piney's again."
"We stayed there last night." She laughs, remembering how Jax tried to have sex with her on the couch. "Besides, my dad might look for me tonight." In fact, she was willing to bet he would be raging after her being gone all weekend. No one to clean the house and cook for his worthless ass.
Ignoring her last comment, he continues, "We can stay at the clubhouse."
"You have to go home and talk to them sometime, Jax." She knew he was avoiding Clay and Gemma at all costs. "She's your mom and you love her."
He didn't want to talk about them. Gemma and Clay were both traders as far as he was concerned. "I think you are awful eager to get rid of me." He pouts, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"I am not!" She assures him, turning in his embrace. "I want to stay with you." She kisses him. "Again. All night."
"Okay." He looks towards the area he knows is her bedroom.
"You can't stay here, baby." Oh God, the thought makes her cringe.
"Why?" Clearly, he's not going to be deterred. He runs several small kisses from her neck up to her lips. She pulls away from him, "You know why." But she won't meet his gaze. They've never really talked in depth about her father but she knows he's heard the rumors. Everyone has heard the rumors.
Before he can find a filter between his brain and mouth he asks, "Does he hurt you Tara?" Just the thought of her being hurt by a man, any man, makes him sick.
Everyone has heard of that infamous Knowles temper. The school counselor warned her that she may have inherited that temper when she got in trouble for fighting Emily Duncan. Apparently, loyalty to a drunk father was frowned upon no matter what the circumstances were. "Not the way you're thinking." She replies softly but doesn't meet his gaze. "But he'll flip the hell out if he knows you're in my room."
"Then we'll be quiet." He grins, liking this idea more and more. If he's here, he can be sure that his girl isn't hurt. Icing on the cake? He can be inside of her too.
At his words, her eyebrows crinkle, "Quiet?"
He laughs, "Well you were pretty loud yesterday in the shower." He teases.
"Shut up, Teller." She smacks him, even though she's grinning. She turns serious abruptly, "You don't really want to stay here. You won't get any sleep once my dad gets home."
"I don't care." He smirks.
She smacks him again. He's starting to enjoy it. "We are not having sex with my dad in the house!"
"Then we should hurry before he gets home." Jax replies, only half teasing. He's just realized he doesn't have a condom anyway and his no nonsense girl isn't going for that. "I'm kidding." He sighs in defeat. "I'll be a good boy, I promise."
Jax Teller, good? Well he was good at many things. However, she would never refer to him as a "good boy". "Fine." She sighs in defeat. "But I don't want to hear you bitching about how you didn't get enough sleep."
"Deal." He is so relieved. He definitely didn't want to be away from her tonight and going home and having to have that inevitable talk with his mother was not high on his priority list.
"And you have to head out early before my dad can notice you're here." She clarifies. Despite her trepidation there is no denying the excitement within her at the thought of being in her own bed in Jax's arms.
"Will do." He grins because he knows he's got her. She shakes her head on a smirk but tugs him by the hand through her front door and into her messy living room. The room is trashed; empty containers, dirty plates and utensils, and empty liquor bottles. She immediately starts picking up the empty bottles. He picks one up from the floor, "Your dad is a vodka man." He notes.
"Or anything else he can get his hands on." She takes the bottle from him and works her mouth from side to side in distress. "Go into my room," She nods to the hallway. "I'll be there in a minute." He wants to stay and help her but it doesn't seem wise to argue with her when her dad may walk through the door at any moment. So instead he drops a kiss to her forehead and actually listens to her by going to her room.
Tara watches Jax, taking in the sight of him in her bed. She briefly wonders if he kept his boxers on. She can't help but smile at just how comfortable he is in his own skin, anywhere. The only time she ever feels completely comfortable is with him. "You getting in?" Her gorgeous boyfriend asks. "Yeah." She grins knowing she was caught staring. She looks around and sees his SAMCRO shirt thrown over his book bag and picks it up before turning around to change. He watches her with a grin as she slips off the bra and throws on his shirt. Tara in his clothes is just about the sexiest damn thing ever. As he holds up the blanket for her to join him, he wonders how long it will take for her to lose her shyness with him.
"You found my room." She murmurs, turning the lamp next to her bed on so just the nightlight inside stays lit.
"The black walls and Fiona Apple poster were kinda a dead giveaway." He teases, running his hands up and down her arms. She lays her head on his chest but reaches her hand up to play in his scruff. She loves it and hopes he doesn't shave it off. After several minutes she looks up at him, "What?"
"I just didn't think you were serious when you promised to be a good boy." She admits shyly.
He laughs wholeheartedly and admits, "I didn't mean it when I said it. But then I realized I didn't have a condom on me." He can't describe the grin that lights up her face other than it is beautiful. She scoots as close as possible to the side of the bed before reaching under it. It takes her a few minutes but she locates what she is blindly searching her. She pulls a shoebox out as Jax grips her hip to make sure she doesn't fall. "What are you doing?" He finally asks.
"Looking for something." She answers and he leans over her to see exactly what she's doing. She reaches into the box and shuffles some things around and she holds something over her shoulder for him to grab. Once he does, she uses that hand for leverage to push herself back up on the bed.
Jax's grin is wide as he notes the condom in his hand. "Where did you get this?"
"The drug store in Stockton has them for free in there bathroom." She laughs nervously.
He wants to ask why and when she was in Stockton but he can't before a huge smile is breaking out on his face. "You know what I think this means?" At her perplexed look he teases, "That you want me as much as I want you."
She rolls her eyes but can't contain the smile on her face, "You are so full of yourself Teller." She pulls him down to her lips by the hand wrapped around his neck. "I was just being responsible."
"Yea because you want me." He clarifies as he runs a hand from her hip to higher up under his shirt. He loves the way she shivers when he hit's the spot just below her breast.
She reaches for his hardening cock. "I'd say you want me too." She replies, rather than saying the words he wants to hear.
"I do." He admits without shame. "Always." They make quick work of removing what little articles of clothing the other is wearing. Just as Jax hooks his finger around the holding Tara's panties up, he hears a front door slam. "You've got to be kidding me." He groans into the pillow next to Tara's head.
"I'm sorry." She whispers just before she hears her father shout for her. "I'll be right back." She jumps up quickly and digs into her drawers for what he assumes are pajamas. She is too concerned to be shy about her nakedness and that makes him uncomfortable. She gives him one last look before leaving the sanctuary of her bedroom.
As Tara gets busy cooking her father spaghetti at freakin' midnight she prays Jax is able to fall asleep. Her father is continuously bitching about her being out all weekend. "Dad, you said it was okay for me to spend the weekend at Donna's." She tries to keep the bite out of her voice as she reminds him.
"You weren't at Donna's." He slurs. "You were out whoring around with the Teller boy."
She gasps. Oh Christ, please let Jax be asleep. "What are you talking about?" She whispers. Seriously, he couldn't know about that.
"The whole goddamn town is talking about it." He finishes off the bottle of vodka in his hand.
"Talking about what?" She knows not to even try to have a rational conversation with a drunk but she can't seem to stop herself tonight.
"You!" Frank Knowles yells. Tara cringes, pretty sure Jax heard that as it was loud enough to wake the dead. "On the back of his bike."
She can't stop the incredulous giggle that escapes her. "Being on the back of his bike means I'm sleeping with him?" She demands as she strains the noodles.
"It means if you aren't spreading your legs for him now," He reaches into the fridge for a beer, "you will be soon." He slams the door shut. "And I won't have it. You understand me?"
"Dad!" She pleads. "It isn't like that! We…."
"Shut the hell up!" He roars. "I don't care what you are. You listen to me." He gets dangerously close to her. "My daughter will NOT be another one of Jax Teller's crow-eaters. You understand?"
Wherever the rumor came from that vodka was a cool alcohol beverage to drink because you couldn't smell it, lied…because you could so smell that shit. "Yea dad," She whispers tearfully, "I understand."
Jax wanted to run out of the room and kill that bastard. Who did he think he was talking to Tara like that? How could anyone speak to her like that? Tara was all that was good in the world. He could feel the rage building up inside of him and that was why he didn't hear his girl come back into the room. He did, however, hear the click her bedroom door locking. He hates how embarrassed she looks, "He'll pass out now." She assures him. "I ugh, I…" She lifts a bowl, "brought some spaghetti. We didn't eat much today." They had been too busy being with each other to care about anything else.
When she first started cooking, his stomach was growling it smelled so good. After hearing her father rant, he thought he might puke if he tried to eat. "Smells good." He says in part to ease the tension radiating off of her and the other because he had no idea what else to say. She brings the bowl over and sits it on her nightstand. "Look I know you heard him." She crawls onto the bed and pushes one of his long blond locks back to look into his eyes. "He didn't mean what he said about you." She says softly. She doesn't want to risk her father hearing her.
"About me?" He demands. "Tara…"
"Shhh!" She orders in a forced whisper. The fear in her eyes and she immediately looks towards her bedroom door is enough to force him to be quiet.
"Tara, I don't give a shit what your dad thinks about me." He sits up fully and cups her face. "I do care what he thinks and says about you." He kisses her softly. "You aren't just some crow-eater or whore to me, babe." He wipes a tear that escapes her eye before she can blink it away.
"He doesn't mean the shit he says when he's drunk." She sniffles before clearing her throat.
"Maybe not." He shrugs. "But it still hurts to hear it."
She pulls his hand down her cheek enough for her lips to reach his palm. She drops a kiss to it, "Thank you." She whispers.
He reaches for the bowl of spaghetti and after wrapping it messily around the fork, he offers her the bite. As he watches her chew it with a smile on her face, he makes a vow to himself. He promises to never treat her the way Frank just did. He promises to never treat her as just another hook-up. And he promises to never allow anyone else to treat her as such either.