CHAPTER TEN

The lot has slowly filled up with cars, bikes and mechanics by the time that Donna pulls into the lot at 845, her face is slightly streaky and she looks upset. Her eyes catch mine as she's closing her car door and her face crumples.

I jump up from where I was talking with Al and run over to her, "What's wrong?" I ask the second I'm within hearing range.

Donna throws herself into my arms and squeezes me, "My babies."

I'm confused for a second, "What's wrong with them?" My heart is racing but my brain knows that if something had happened to the kids she wouldn't be at the lot.

"They started playgroup today."

I nod, "And?"

"I took them there, they walked in the door, looked at me and both said 'bye mommy' and ran off to play." Donna looks upset and Gemma walks over, having heard the last sentence.

"Oh baby. It's okay, they have to grow up. Did I ever tell you what Jax did his first day of playgroup?" She wraps her arm over Donna's shoulders and walks back to the office, Al and I following her.

"No." Donna says softly.

"Well, I took him in there and fully expected to have to stay around. Jax was a really mommy's boy when he was younger. He walked in the door holding my hand but the second he saw a skirt he dropped my hand and ran after it." Gemma shakes her head at the memory. "He wasn't able to write but already chasing girls."

Donna giggles, "And he hasn't stopped yet."

I snort, "Oh he better have."

Donna looks at me, her curious gaze meeting my eyes. "What happened?"

Al giggles and reaches over my shoulder, pulling my hair around my back. "Jax discovered that he wants to be a cannibal."

Donna's expression seems to be stuck in the curious look from before but she starts laughing and leans forward, resting her head on the table, obviously she doesn't remember seeing the state of my neck the previous morning, with all the bullshit I'm not surprised. "Holy fuck Sarah. Give the boy a sandwich before you fuck him next time!"

"I heard that!" Jax shouts from where he's working under the bonnet of one of the cars dropped off that morning.

Donna blushes and looks at me, "Oops." She whispers.

I shrug, "No biggie. Hap pretty much said the same thing this morning when we were talking ink."

Donna's eyes widen, her eyeballs looking like they're going to fall out of the sockets if she's not careful. "You that serious? Oh who the fuck am I kidding, you should have been inked by him when you were 15."

Al leans over, "It's not just her getting ink."

Gemma's eyes shoot to mine, obviously Jax hadn't passed on that bit of info and I consider throttling him for a second before I hear him laugh and say something to Chibs, the sound of his voice from across the lot relaxing me even over the distance. Instead of getting to my feet and going to ask for answers I look at Gemma. "He's getting ink of me. It's going to be an image of me that Al drew a while ago."

Gemma looks over my shoulder at her son then back to me, "Well it seems he's finally worked out what's good for him."

Donna nods, "Don't you mean who's good for him?"

Gemma smiles, "Yes, that too. My son is not the smartest boy, but he's finally figured out who he should be giving his love and attention, and crow to. Third time lucky."

I giggle, "I said that too. I've already told Clay and he hasn't killed him yet."

Gemma looks back to the garage bay and smiles softly, "Nope, just the opposite. I think that Clay may be over there giving Jax the 'hurt her and I'll kill you' speech."

I swing around and sure enough Clay and Jax are in the corner of the garage, Clay's expression tense and Jax's looking like he's stunned and can't believe the words coming out of his Presidents mouth.

Whatever is being said over there is obviously loud enough for Happy and Tig to hear as well, when Clay finishes talking they both nod and their comments of 'You'll answer to us too' drift across the lot.

I jump to my feet and cross the lot, walking straight between Tig and Happy. "No cupcakes for you!" I snap as I continue walking to Clay and Jax only a few steps away.

"We good?" Clay says as Jax spots me walking over, his eyes flicking to mine and I slow my steps.

"Like I said Clay, I'm not going to hurt her; I'm not going to leave her. If she wants I'll give up road pussy for her. She's your surrogate niece but she's also the woman I want to spend my life, this life, with. But you need to remember, if you hurt her again like you did yesterday I will bury you."

My face twists into a smile as Clay nods and pulls Jax into one of those man-hugs that I seem to have seen several of today already. Clay turns around and spots me standing there, "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough." I say, hugging the older biker tightly and whispering, "He's not going to hurt me, but if he does I'll come to you first, and there wouldn't be enough of you left for him to spit on if you try anything like that bullshit you pulled yesterday."

Clay nods and goes back to the other side of the bays where he was watching Miles work on his (Miles') bike, giving occasional direction when needed.

Jax stays where he is leaning against the wall and part of me recognises that with the rest of his charter around him this is probably a kind of test, I step over to him and slide my arms around his waist, the absences of his kutte is odd, but the grease and road grime that are smeared all up his arms and across the front of his work shirt are enough reason why he, and the rest of the Sons, don't wear their kuttes while doing their day jobs.

I ignore the black marks on his shirt and lean right into him, my heels barely bringing my eyes to his nose but tilting my head back I smile, "I know you're not going to hurt me. I know you love me. I'm not going to make you give up road pussy, I trust you enough that you'll always come back to me."

Jax's eyes settle on my lips, "I will." He barely whispers before closing the few inches gap between us and pressing his lips to mine. "After all, I'll be carrying a vision of you with me."

He says that just loud enough for each of the Sons nearby to hear and the only one who shows any shock is Opie, the slight twitch of his arm barely noticeable to anyone, Jax and I both catch the movement and Jax's eyes flick to Ope's face. "Problem?"

Opie shakes his head, a huge grin splitting his face and tugging his goatee towards his ears, "Not at all my brother."

Jax lets go of me, barely, as Opie wraps his arms around my waist and swings me in a circle before dropping me back to my feet, the smile still stretching across his face. "So what, where, when?"

I laugh, "What? A tattoo obviously, of me, we have yet to decide on design. Where? His arm. When? Not sure yet. You forgot who, the answer to that one is Al."

Opie nods, "And when do you go under the needle?"

"Not sure, the same time as me hopefully." Jax says, throwing his arm around my neck and kissing me on the forehead. "Go back to your girlie shit. And don't forget to tell Ma about the coffee issue."

I nod leaving them to their discussion and cross back to the picnic tables, checking the front of my shirt carefully for oil, but I seem to have managed to escape with none. Sitting back down I look up and meet Donna's eyes, she smiles brightly and I'm instantly grateful that we've managed to take her mind of her kids growing up, maybe the pitter patter of more feet would help too. "Gem, coffee machines dead."

Gemma sighs and gets to her feet, "Better go get a new one then I guess."

"Ohh, pick me, I'll go!" I say bouncing in my seat.

Gemma laughs, "Sure, but the garage is paying for it." She says heading into the office.

Al shakes her head, "Shopping, yay."

I shrug, "You can stay here, you'll get enough in LA on Wednesday."

"Fuck no, there's no such thing as too much shopping." She replies, jumping to her feet and heading towards where Juice is standing.