I had little sleep that night; I tossed and turned on a bed that felt like it was made of feathers. It wasn't so much that I was uncomfortable, I was more than comfortable physically but something pecked away at my mind. My thoughts raced, the good and bad were running parallel with each other, each desperate to take the lead but neither one winning the race to dominate any decision I would make before it was too late. Of course felt stupid thinking this way, I had only met Jax less than 48 hours ago and we were certainly nothing more than passing acquaintances but deep down I knew I was leading myself down the path of no return.

Jax had a life, a difficult one at that if my knowledge of club life was anything to go by, I was supposed to be escaping from the troubles the city had brought me, yet here I found myself quite willing to take on a whole new load of stress, if he'd let me. Every time I thought of him, every time I pictured him in my mind I felt excitement like no other, nervous excitement. That couldn't be a bad thing, could it? I liked that he evoked an emotion I hadn't felt since I was a kid, vulnerability. I have always been the strong one, the one who never backs down when things get tough or hard, the one with the level head that allows me to know exactly what I should do in all circumstances. I was lost here and I kind of liked it.

"Good morning, welcome to For Goodness Cakes, how may I help you?"

I greeted every customer that came in to the shop that morning with a happy, cheerful smile. My job here was to serve and almost seduce the customers, while Lucy focused on the baking side of things. I was met with many worried customers wondering where she was, wondering who I was and where I had come from but I had managed to atleast half convince them that Lucy was fine, she just needed help and that I was a good person. Okay, I'm not sure they trusted the last part but I would work on that. For a town so small with such a sparse population, they sure were a paranoid bunch of people.

"What is it with everyone around here?" I asked Lucy when we had finally sat down for a late lunch break. "Everyone I have met today seems suspicious of me."

"This town has been through a lot over the years, no one trusts anyone around here, least of all newcomers. You'll get used to it." She shrugged off my comment as if it was the norm and I was weird for questioning it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, the urgency for which I looked at it made it clear to Lucy I was expecting to hear from someone. It was a spam text message, I couldn't hide my disappointment.

"Teller isn't calling since your night with him then?" Lucy asked as we split a batch of her freshly baked croissants.

"Since my night with him? Nothing happened, I told you that already. I got drunk, Gemma put me to bed and then I came home in morning. I barely said two words to him."

"It's never nothing when those guys are involved, Amelle. They wouldn't have done something for nothing, especially not for someone they barely know, you must have something they want." Lucy laughed to herself.

It was stupid of me but I was beginning to feel angry at her constant digging at Jax and his friends, what was it that Lucy had against the club? I knew she obviously had had relations with the Scottish one at some point but this passionate dislike felt deeper than just silly relationship stuff, it had to run messier than that.

"I don't have anything to give them; maybe I just caught them on a good day? Anyway, Jax doesn't have my number so it wouldn't be him calling anyway."

"They are trouble, Amelle. You are such a smart, beautiful girl, don't let some pretty blonde guy who looks like he should be surfing in Southern California instead of riding around on a Harley, ruin your new found independence. Be clever." Lucy didn't look at me as she sipped at her tea.

"How do you know so much about them? The Scottish one seemed to know you well when I mentioned where I worked."

"I bet he did, Chibs and I share a history that's best left forgotten about. Everyone around here knows the Sons of Anarchy, they are part of the reason the town is so fearful." If I wasn't mistaken there was a sneer when she said their name. "I wondered how long it would take before one of them tried to get their grubby mitts on you, I didn't think it would be this quickly though. I should have pre-warned you before you got here."

"I'm a big girl, I can look after myself and I can assure you that no one, least of all one of them will be getting their mitts on me; grubby or clean."

Lucy's warning was what I needed to make sure the fearful part of my brain took over, I knew I was playing with fire when I met him but I certainly didn't know to what scale. It was decided, I would avoid Jax at all costs and hopefully a new play thing would come along for him soon. Lucy didn't wait around for any more of my questions, she must have sensed there was a chance I wanted to dig deeper.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, the local Sherriff, Hector Dunbar I think he said his name was stopped by; he seemed pretty laid back for someone that held so much power. A part of me was tempted to mention the Sons of Anarchy to him to see the reaction I would get but I had to play it straight and forget they ever existed.

This is your fresh start, Amelle, no more trouble and no more bad guys.

I had made it to day four of zero contact with Jax with great success, I had seen them ride past the shop a few times but he never once tried to contact me, much to my relief. I was busying myself with work and with moving in day now here I could really get things started. Jacob turned up outside Lucy's just as my alarm went off, at 5:30am. He was here to help me move, he had stored all of my worldly possessions at his and now we could finally put them in my new place.

"This town is really quiet, how the hell are you going to last here?" Jacob asked as we began moving the first boxes in.

"Quite easily, I'm already much calmer than I was before I got here. It's soothing for the soul; you should try it some time." I struggled picking up a box I was much too weak for but I wasn't about to give in.

"No thanks, I much rather living in a place full of life and character, although I'm sure it is doing wonders for your temper."

"This place has plenty of life, trust me. I don't have a temper."

Jacob gave me a look as if to say 'are you really going to stand there and lie to my face as if we didn't grow up together.'

"Okay, but I no longer have a temper, better?" He nodded. "Good, now let's get this stuff inside and unpacked, I'm already starting to get bored of doing this."

It took us nothing short of five hours to have the place looking like a home, I still had a few boxes lying around in my bedroom because it turned out I had way more stuff than there was storage space and I just could not bring myself to deal with it today. Jacob and I ordered ourselves a Chinese takeaway and sat catching up on all that we had missed in the week we had been a part. Jacob had been my best friend for as long as I could remember, our moms were friends and we were forced upon each other at first but we soon grew to love one another. We had been to the same schools, been in the same classes and knew absolutely everything about each other so when the subject of meeting the local townsfolk came up I didn't hold back in telling him about Jax.

"Well, don't you move fast?" He laughed. "Less than a week and you are already besotted with the guy."

"Stop, I am not besotted. Besides, like I said, I don't plan on seeing him again. He's bad news according to Lucy and I am trying to stay out of trouble here."

"Clearly you don't notice how your voice speeds up when you speak about him, your cheeks go this weird shade of pink and you have this smile permanently on your face. You're besotted, Amelle." Jacob teased; right now I hated the fact that he knew me so well.

"It doesn't matter; he's in a motorcycle club, that's more than I need to know to stay away."

"So was your dad, that didn't make him a bad person."

"No, but it killed him."

"It did not, your dad died of an aneurysm that exploded while he was fucking his college-aged mistress in Florida."

"Jacob, please. Besides, if he wasn't in a motorcycle gang he never would have even met her."

"I know you don't believe that." He was right but it was all I had to latch onto. "If you're willing to be deterred by some crazy old bitter lady with a grudge against her ex-boyfriend and his friends then maybe you don't like Jax half as much as I thought you did."

"Maybe you're right."

"You're such a stubborn bitch when you want to be." Jacob said getting up. "I better get off back to the bright lights and angry people, it's getting late."

"Why don't you just crash here tonight?" I was kind of counting on him to do so; I didn't want to spend my first night alone.

"No can do, my lovely lady. I left a Papi Chulo with the hottest body you have ever laid witness to in bed this morning, you can't compete with that I'm afraid."

I walked Jacob back to his van and practically leapt on him, squeezing him as tight as I could. I was going to miss not seeing him almost every day, I felt like I was leaving home for the first time and he was my mom.

"Okay, you need to let go now." He said, prying my limbs off of him.

"You better come back soon, Jacob. I'm going to miss you."

"Ugh, do not get all emotional on me now please. A week out of the city and this place has already broken you." He blew me a kiss as he set off home.

He was right; I needed to get a grip.

I must have drifted to sleep on the sofa, watching endless re-runs of TLC's finest reality shows because when I woke up to the soft tapping noise I was still clutching my bowl of noodles almost expertly in my lap. I followed the noise to the front door, expecting it to be Jacob having forgotten something I opened it without checking who it was, big mistake.

In front of me stood the very person I had been avoiding so successfully for the last few days. I should have closed the door but I didn't, instead I stood still, bowl of noodles still in hand.

"Can I come in? It's kinda cold out here tonight." Jax asked, not waiting for my answer as he walked past me into my almost dark living room, the only light source coming from the TV.

"What are you doing here?" I only just remembered to put the bowl down.

"I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by, I haven't heard from you." Jax leant against the back of my sofa, arms folded in, what my minor in psychology had taught me, a defensive manor.

"Yeah, I've been busy. I haven't heard from you either." I felt those familiar nervous butterflies come back almost at once. I had to find a way to get him out of here and quick.

"I've been busy too. Nice place." He got up to look around; walking over to the pictures I had of my family on the side.

"It's late..."

"I can see good-looks run in your family, who are the other two?" He was holding the picture of the last time I saw my family, at an aunts wedding.

"My mom and my little sister, Kayla, she's almost 6 now."

"Cute." Jax put the picture down and began walking over to me slowly, his swagger still intact. "What's wrong?"

"I…I'm just tired, you should go." Jax was again standing too close to me, his breath tickling my face as he looked down on me because of the ever so slight height difference.

"Are you scared of me?" He asked, a frown lacing his already worn face.

"It's not…no, I-"

"You are, aren't you? That's why you have been avoiding me, it all makes sense now. I bet Lucy has told you stories, exaggerated and painted me to be the devil while she looks like the arch angel Gabriel. I get it; I'll stay out of your way."

I could have let him walk out, I probably should have but instead, without thinking, I reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the door he was about to open.

"You want the truth, Jax? I am scared of you." I watched his expression fall, as if I had just punched him in the gut.

"I knew it." He muttered.

"Not because of who you are, what you are and not because of the stories I may have been told, and for the record, Lucy hasn't told me a thing. I'm scared of you because of the affect you have on me. I don't even know you, Jax, yet every time I think about you I get nervous. I'm vulnerable around you and that scares me. I just-"

My words were interrupted by the feel of his lips crashing hard against mine; he flipped me around and pushed me up against the door. I couldn't breathe as our lips meshed together, savouring the taste of each other, our hands tangled together as he raised them above my head.

"Fuck, I've wanted to do that from the moment I met you." He whispered into my mouth as he softly broke away.

I couldn't respond, my eyes still closed, a smile crossed widely over my face. Jax took my hand and led me to my new bedroom; he laid me on the bed first, before taking his shirt and pants off and climbing in beside me. He kissed me softly on the cheek, his hand resting on my hip as I nervously anticipated his next move. I wasn't sure I wanted to do what naturally came next but I also wasn't sure I had the power to stop it from happening.

"Relax, tonight, we will just lie together."

My body curled into his, as he planted soft kisses all over my neck. It felt nice to not be pushed into something more but most importantly I felt safe, safer than I had felt for years in his arms.

"I'm not a monster, Amelle. I won't hurt you."

Hello!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I may not be able to update tomorrow because of work but I will begin working on the next chapter tonight.

If you have any questions please feel free to message me or ask in reviews.

Your reviews, favourites and following have made me one happy girl, please carry on doing so. I love hearing what people think of my work and it encourages me to get a move on with writing more if I know people are actually reading and enjoying this.

Stacey x