CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

Jax's mouth is hot against mine as our tongues slide against each other, his hands running up and down my back sliding lower towards my waist band with each pass; he's just slipped his hands under my shirt when there's a sudden thumping knock at the door.

He detaches his lips from mine and swears softly, panting slightly "Yeah?"

Opie's voice calls through the door "Sorry bro, they're about to sit down and need you."

Jax sighs and meets my eyes as I pull out of his embrace muttering "Duty calls."

"Sorry Darlin'." Jax says, tugging his kutte back on his shoulders.

I shrug and readjust my shirt "It's okay."

He wrenches the door open, startling Opie who was leaning against the wall opposite, he turns to head down the hall but pauses when I call his name and looks back towards me.

I cross the room in several steps and wrap my arms around his neck, tugging his head down and kissing him hard, sliding my tongue into his mouth and over his once before pulling back with a smile "I'll be waiting."

Jax's eyes take on a slightly glazed look as Opie whistles "Why don't I get goodbyes like that?" He looks down the hall at Donna who's standing in the doorway of the room next to the one we've been given.

Donna shakes her head "You don't get goodbyes like that cause we've been together far to long for you to need them."

Opie shakes his head and pouts at Donna who giggles and crosses the hall to him and jumps into his arms, kissing him hard on the mouth before leaning back in his arms and smiling "Better?"

Opie nods and kisses Donna again while Jax shakes his head "And I thought you were coming to get me for something important."

Donna and Opie pull apart and Opie blinks a couple of times "Right. Important. Table."

Opie sets Donna on her feet again and kisses her on the lips quickly "Table, gotta go. Love you."

Donna shakes her head "Love you too baby."

Opie and Jax walk down the hall and turn a corner, disappearing from sight. Donna crosses the hall and brushes past me into the room we've been given, looking around she shakes her head "Did you even start unpacking before you accosted him?"

I giggle "Nope. Where would the fun in that be?"

With Donna talking I quickly unpack the backpack, setting the clean outfits on the desk jammed in the corner of the room. Jax's jeans and shirt for the following day and two outfits for me, one for tonight and one for the following day and my travel toiletry bag which is currently bulging with both mine and Jax's stuff are set out. Folding the empty backpack I drop it beside the desk and sit on the chair.

"So what do we do now?" I ask looking at Donna.

She shrugs "Choices are we stay in here and talk or go out to the bar and find someone to talk to."

I smile "Yep, pretty much."

Donna raises her eyebrows at me and I giggle "It's five o'clock somewhere. Besides that, we've been on bikes the past two hours, I could use a coffee."

"Laced with something?" Donna asks as we leave the room, locking it behind me I slide the key into my jeans pocket.

"After being denied getting some, hell yes." I reply as we follow the path the guys took heading down and around the corner and further down into the main room.

There are not many people around the room, but neither Donna nor I were expecting many people around. There's a few people hanging around and one woman who was sitting in the corner jumps to her feet as we come in and crosses the room to us.

"Hi you all disappeared before I could come see you. I'm Maggie, Vince's Old Lady." The perky strawberry blonde standing in front of us is a new face, but she explains that in her next sentence "Didn't meet you last time you were through, I home with sick kids. Can we get ya anything?"

Donna and I both nod "I'm Sarah, that's Donna and yes, we'd both love coffee...lots of coffee." I say, shaking the outstretched hand.

We're led through to the kitchen and I watch as Maggie starts a fresh pot of coffee after empting the one that was there into three cups, she points to the fridge and the huge canister of sugar on the bench and says "Doctor away."

I grin and take a couple of mouthfuls of the black liquid needing, no additions from in the kitchen. As soon as Donna has added sugar to hers we head back into the main room and I duck behind the bar, finding it set out almost identically to the Redwood bar I find the whiskey and pour a shot into both mine and Donna's cups before holding it in Maggie's direction. At her nod I tip a little into her cup as well and set the bottle back where I found it.

We're all quiet till Maggie has us settled back at the table in the corner, I look around wondering for a second how we missed her when we came in, the table she's set up at is right by the door so she can see everyone who comes and goes.

We fill in a time chatting quietly and drinking several cups of doctored coffee. Just before 530 Donna and I both head to our rooms and get changed while Maggie disappears into Vince's room to do the same.

With only limited space I didn't have much of an option of what to wear, the low heeled boots I've been wearing all day have been paired with a short black skirt and a white shirt with 'Asphalt Angel' written across the front.

Reappearing 15 minutes later we all settle back onto the chairs with fresh coffee and continue talking. As the clock clicks closer to 6pm I learn that Vince filled Maggie in on my issues with crowds, which I'm both grateful for and annoyed at. Maggie obviously reads the expression on my face and holds up her hand "He only told me so I'd be aware if you suddenly vanished tonight. You two being here is a big deal for him, and the charter. The only way it would have been bigger is if Clay and Gemma were here."

I nod, my temper sufficiently dampened but its Donna that finally cools my temper completely "Sarah knows that everyone is looking out for her, she just has a hard time accepting the amount of people who love her."

I poke my tongue out at her and drain my coffee, setting the empty cup down I stretch in my seat as the sound of chairs scraping comes from the inner sanctum of the clubhouse. The double doors swing open shortly after and a stream of patches comes out, the four Redwood trailing all the Fresno members.

Donna and I both get a nod as Opie and Jax walk past, straight to the bar and the first beer of the night, prospects head outside and fire up the huge grills almost identical to the ones in Charming and music gets turned on and cranked up.

It seems that the music and flames were the cue for the half naked women to appear, before the first slab of meat has come off the grill the lot is full of half dressed women and unfamiliar faces, I spot Dani as she walks in not long after the first round of beers are finished and raise a hand in a wave. Continuing my search around the room my glance between Donna and Maggie isn't missed and the searching look for Jax doesn't go unnoticed either.

Donna jerks her head towards the door "He went outside."

I nod and pat my hip just to check that the key is still there, the lack of Jax near me coupled with the numerous unfamiliar faces has my stress level slightly higher than normal. The fact that none of the Redwood sons are in sight either isn't helping.

Maggie and Donna exchange a quick glance and Donna quietly says "Would you mind going and finding Jax, or Ope?"

Maggie nods once and jumps to her feet, the gathered people parting as she strides towards the door.

Minutes pass before she comes back a half-smile on her face and a plate of food in her hand, as she slides back into her seat she glances at me and then Donna "Jax and Opie are on the way in, they're at the grill getting food. You should have heard the shit they were getting about being whipped; they'll be another 2 minutes."

True to her words less than 2 minutes later Jax and Opie walk through the door with plates in hand and head straight for us. Jax drops the plate he's holding on the table in front of me, scoops me out of my chair and sits down, pulling me into his lap all in one smooth movement. My arms wrap around his neck as he adjusts on the seat and pulls me close to his chest, burrowing his nose into my hair.

His presence is enough to make me relax, the smell that's always around him helps more than I would have thought, the feel of leather under my hands settles my heart rate back to completely normal in mere moments.

"Sorry Darlin' got caught up talking outside." Jax says, running his hand up my arm "You okay?"

I nod against his shoulder "I'm good now. I would have been fine, but I couldn't see any of you."

Jax nods and tangles his fingers in the ends of my hair tugging lightly "We'll make sure someone is in sight all night, k?"

I nod again and giggle at how silly I feel, but it's easy to feel silly with Jax right there. Pulling my head off his shoulder I look over at our table mates and bite back a gasp of shock when Vince stares back at me.

"You alright?" He asks quietly.

I nod "Yeah, sorry. Drama seems to follow me wherever I go."

Opie chuckles "You ain't wrong there."

Donna elbows him and he shrugs unapologetically which makes me laugh, which also breaks the tension at the table.