Chapter 28

January 1996

Stepping out of the front door and noting the dark clouds made Jax groan inwardly. He loved riding his bike and never really wanted to own a cage. However, on days like this, he wanted to punch Frank Knowles in the face. He has a long list of shit he feels the man deserves a good ass kicking for but right now, if Tara still had permission to use the Cutlass, currently in the driveway collecting dust, it would sure as shit be convenient. As always, he can feel her presence before she speaks. "Think we can make it to school and the garage before it lets loose?" His girlfriend says from behind him on the small slab of concrete that was supposed to be a porch.

"I'm thinking the Cutlass looks safer." Jax replies.

Seventeen year old Tara Knowles, doesn't even need to look at her boyfriend to know the exact mischievous smirk that is playing on his face. "Safer for who?"

Her uneasy giggle makes him angry. He feels instant anger rise through him. He hates that Frank Knowles instills fear in Tara. He's been around enough to know that the bastard manhandles her and it takes everything in Jax not to intervene. She knows this and has pleaded with him on more than one occasion, claiming she has everything under control. But Jax is nervous nonetheless, what if Frank loses control on a rare occasion when he's not with Tara? Drunks cannot be trusted and Jax definitely does not trust Frank. "Let's go somewhere!" He suggests on a whim. He'd do anything to erase that look on her beautiful face.

"But you have to work?" She didn't even bother mentioning school. Her grades were all A's despite skipping a few days a month. She was sure the teachers and principal knew where she was or who she was with at the very least but they never said anything. Not that they really needed to, their looks of pity were obvious enough. The pitying looks varied from, "Oh the town drunk's daughter, so smart yet doomed" to "Oh the biker prince's whore, she'll be knocked up any day now." But none of that mattered to Tara. She had Jax and his love and together they could handle anything.

"Screw work and screw school." He pulls her to him. "I miss you." He gives her his best longing look.

"I miss you too." They both laugh, as that sentence makes no sense to anyone else but them. It drives Gemma and just about everyone else around them crazy but very rarely do you see one without the other. To them, there was never enough time. Work and school didn't leave them much to spare nor did the increasing "errands" he was helping out with the club.

"I'm still pissed that your dad took his ride back." Jax kisses her softly. Just as Lowell predicted, six months after Tara's birthday, when his DWI was lifted, he repossessed the Cutlass.

"He landed another DWI though." Tara laughs. Vindictive or not, she was highly amused that six weeks after taking the car back, her father lost his license yet again. This time however, he was letting it collect rust in the driveway. With a classic like that, the least he could do was store it in the garage.

"A beauty like that, just sitting here…." He kisses her neck, feeling a raindrop on his cheek, "collecting rust."

He's rewarded not only by her moving her head to give him full access but a laugh, "I was just thinking the same thing."

"Mmm…hmmm." He murmurs against her with a grin. He knows when he has her.

"We should do something about that." She smiles and his grin turns to laughter.

"That's my girl."

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It seemed like a great idea this morning, when the drizzle started and the thought of sneaking off to be alone with Jax, could override all other thoughts. And for the most part she still had to agree because spending the day naked in the cold ocean with Jackson Teller was worth anything. It may be the beer and weed clouding her brain but she would even dare to say it was worth being busted, butt naked in the ocean by the cops and arrested for public intoxication and indecency. "Oh God, Jax!" She gasps, sitting up on the incredibly small cot of the disgusting jail cell. "What if we're here for a long time?" The normally calm, cool, collected Tara starts to panic. "Like Otto?"

Clearly, his girlfriend was still feeling the effects of her buzz. He knows he shouldn't find this so amusing but he does. "Otto was arrested with a shitload of illegal guns." He reminds her with a laugh. "I hardly think we're getting six years for drinking and getting laid." He tugs her back down to lay next to him.

"Oh, yeah." The words sound like some she's reached some sort of epiphany. "Why did Otto have all those guns, again?"

Again? Yea, it's not the first time she's asked this question. He's always been careful on how to answer it. Truthfully, he only told her about the guns because it was all over the Charming Gazette and David Hale would have told her anyway. But he knows his girl and he knows she won't let it drop until she is satisfied with a real answer. He only prays no one else finds out. "Probably because he was getting rid of them."

The hesitation in his voice is unmistakable. Tara wants to sit up and grill him but instead lays there, "Selling them?" She whispers.

"This is not a good place for this conversation." He warns, praying she'll drop the subject.

She had to give him that one. Discussing illegal guns in a jail cell sounded bad even in her inebriated state. "I know." She sighs, content in his embrace. "I just worry about you baby. I love you."

"I love you too." He kisses her softly. "Go to sleep. We'll probably be here for a while." At least that was the impression the arresting officer gave him. And since he wasn't familiar with the Santa Cruz PD, he would shut up and just be thankful they kept Tara with him.

"Think they'll call my dad?" Even almost passed out, the fact that he can hear the fear in her question, makes Jax want to kill something. "No, I made sure they'd call Gemma." He assured that by handing his stash over to the punk arresting them. Damn crooked cops, everyone has a price, everyone can be bought.

"Thank you." She murmurs burrowing deeper into his embrace. "You always take care of me, baby."

He kisses the crown of her head, "And I always will." He whispers back, well aware that she doesn't hear him.

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"Really?" Gemma admonishes from the front seat of her compact. "What were the two of you thinking?"

"Ma, stop." Jax pleads, his mother's bitching, is not doing anything for his headache. "We were just having fun."

"Stealing cars is what you're doing for fun now?" She demands.

"We didn't steal it." Jax grins, not sure what her deal is? They weren't charged with stealing the damn car. "We borrowed it." Sharing a look, both teens bust out laughing from the backseat. "Without permission."

"You'll be eighteen next month, Jackson." She warns , "Not so easy to bail you out after that."

"Seriously?" He leans up as they get close to where he and Tara left the car near the ocean. He sighs in relief, thank God it wasn't impounded. "The club has mug shots on the wall for Christ sake."

"Yeah, for club shit!" She pulls a cigarette out. "Not drinking and fucking in public." Jax pockets her cigarettes and throws open the door. "Hey, where are you going?" Gemma demands.

"Riding home with Tara." Her son looks at her like she lost her mind. She couldn't possibly have expected him to ride home with her.

"Thanks Gemma." Tara says awkwardly getting out of the car. "I'm sorry you had to come and pick us up." But even listening to Gemma gripe was better than dealing with her old man.

"Ah, don't mention it." Gemma smiles, almost a completely different woman then the one grilling Jax a mere few seconds ago.

They watch as Gemma drives off. "We survived our first night in the slammer together." Jax throws his arm around Tara's shoulders.

"Survived?" She wiggles around. "I guess but I'm starving and I feel gross. You drive." She hands him the keys.

"We'll hit a drive through on the way home." He shuts the passenger door once she's inside. "And head home." Gross was an accurate description for the way he felt as well. Sex and skinny dipping were fun but a shower rather than a jail cell would have been a nice follow up.

"Drive through sounds awesome." Tara kisses him when he slides into the driver's seat. "I had a good time even though we got arrested."

"You're a pretty cool chick to get arrested with, Knowles." He smiles as the Cutlass roars to life.

"Chick, huh?" He knew that word always riled her up. "Well, on the way to the drive through, you can tell this cool chick what Otto was doing with those guns."

Damn his cool chick and her smart-ass, never forgetful brain.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You boys did a mighty fine job on that bike son!" Piney grips Jax's shoulder as the crowd gathers around the location they've decided to showcase JT's bike in the clubhouse as a memorial. "Your old man would be proud!"

"Hell yes, he would be!" Clay chimes in. Gemma looks at her son with pure pride in her eyes. He was finally coming around, back to her vision for him and this club.

"Thanks boys!" Jax smirks, mainly to push the emotions down. It took him and Opie years to get this bike done with the custom rebuild that JT had wanted before his death. Finding and affording the parts he needed were a hassle he never anticipated, not to mention the time to work on it. Looking at the bike, sitting here, it was everything JT would have wanted. He loved this club, this shop, and these men who are like family. This was his legacy and for the first time in a long time, Jax felt the love for SAMCRO that had felt as long as he could remember. He shares a look with Tara, seeing the love and support pull in the glossiness in her eyes. He doesn't need to tell her what's going through his mind, as always she knows him. Knows him in a way that exhilarates yet terrifies him.

Tara pushes down the apprehension she feels. Jax doesn't need that today of all days. Right now, he needs her unwavering love and support. She'll give it to him because she trusts him. She trusts him in ways she never thought possible. Watching him make a decision standing before her, she smiles and nods, letting him know that she has his back always. I love you and I trust you, her nod tells him.

Thank you babe, his smile tells her. "Clay, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?" He asks his stepfather, never taking his eyes off of Tara.

The boys break up and head to the bar as Jax and Clay step into room where Church is held. Tara is so lost in thought that she flinches when Gemma puts her arm around her shoulders. "Is he doing what I think he's doing?"

There is so much excitement in the matriarch's voice that Tara can't help but smile. "Yeah."

Gemma had been so good lately. Taking Clay's advice and not pushing Jax into picking up a prospect patch for his eighteenth birthday, even though it went against everything they wanted for him. Holy shit, for once she listened to someone and it paid off. Staying off his back and letting him work on his father's bike with Opie had pulled Jax back into his legacy and she couldn't be more proud. "Well, come on!" She smiles at Tara. "This is going to turn into a celebration we didn't plan for here in a minute." She pulls the young girl towards the kitchen and starts ordering crow-eaters and sweet butts alike around.

Catching Clay's eyes, Tig is quick to whistle loudly and the bar patrons quiet immediately as the barmaid mutes the speaker system. "Alright fellas," Clay's voice booms. "I have an announcement! One that has been waiting for this day."

Tara can feel the excitement radiating off the crowd. Members, old ladies, crow-eaters, everyone is riveted to the two men standing at the center of attention, including Tara. Jax looks so happy standing there with his leather kutte. She meets his gaze and wants more than anything to run into his arms and feel his strength, his certainty that this is for the best. Try as she might, she can't completely lose the anxiety she feels ever since Jax told her the truth about the Otto mess. And he swore her to secrecy, saying that no one could ever know he told her, so she couldn't really talk to Donna or Gemma. Jax assured her it was a fluke thing and not to worry about him or any members. He has never lied to her and she worries that maybe his assurances were in fact the first lie he's ever told her or worse, he really believes them himself. She knows she made things worse for her sanity when she went to the library and looked up old newspapers on micro film, learning all about Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz. He was arrested during a raid where three ATF agents were killed. Shut up Tara, she admonishes herself, get it together. Jax needs you.

He wants to go over and pull Tara in his arms and give her the assurance she needs right now. He knows she's been concerned ever since he came clean-ish with that Otto mess. She's handled it like a pro though, never bitching at him or anything that the guys complained their old lady's did. He knows his girl, she's troubled, but he'll show her that SAMCRO isn't all bad. In fact, he can't wait for her to see firsthand that the pros outweigh the cons. This was her family too.

"Today, as you all know, the prince turns eighteen." Claps and hollers went up all around and Clay grins as he waits for them to die down. "And it is my honor to announce that this MC royalty," he grabs Jax's shoulder, enjoying the feel of the leather, as Jax holds up the thick material waiting to be placed on the leather "has picked up his prospect patch!" The applause and shouting is deafening to Tara, who grins as the members all gather around Jax. Soon they are all giving him a hard time, letting him know that the bitch boy is responsible for cleaning toilets and other disgusting tasks. Even enjoying the attention, he is quick to break through the crowd. He needs Tara right now but is cut off by his mother.

"Congratulations, baby!" She squeezes him tight. "I wish your father was here for this. His son…a prospect."

"Me too, mom." He whispers with a grin, his eyes solely on Tara, who is a few feet away.

"I'll sew your patch on in the morning." Gemma runs her hands across the cool leather.

"Yes, ma'am." He kisses her cheek before moving past her and scooping Tara up in his arms.

"Happy Birthday, baby." Damn, he loves that word so much more from her than his mother.

"Thanks." He kisses her cheek. "Are you ok? I know we didn't really talk about this…."

"This is what you want, right?" She grins up at him.

"It is, babe." He pulls her into his arms. "My Harley and my kutte, it's all I ever wanted." He grips her thick hair in his fingers, pulling her head back so he can look into those jade orbs. "Until I met you."

"Well you are all I want." She smiles up at him. "So I want what you want. I love you Jackson."