CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile. Chocolate sauce recipe based on Nigella's one…but modified cause I like it hot

45 minutes after walking in the door the meat is sealed and in the oven, the vegetables are peeled and sitting in the sink and Jax is trying to explain to me why I should be baking them something for dessert.

I shake my head "There's ice cream in the freezer, banana's and sprinkles in the cupboard, cream in the fridge and I'll make some chocolate sauce, we can have 'do it yourself' banana splits."

Jax nods, looking like a kid who's been given free run in a candy store and I can't help the giggle. Getting back to my feet from where I'd been sitting at the kitchen table with my chequebook and emails both open I open the fridge "Give Opie a ring and ask him to pick up some more beer, you're on the last 6 pack."

Pulling the cream and chocolate out of the fridge I drop them on the bench, hunting through the cupboards finds the peanut butter, vanilla extract, maple syrup and the chilli flakes. Jax looks at me like I'm insane when I drop the tiny package of chilli on the bench but I just giggle "I'll make a double batch and only put chilli in some, but trust me it's great."

Glancing at the cream bottle I frown a little "Can you get Ope to pick up another bottle of cream. I want the unwhipped stuff though, none of that shitty fake cream."

Jax nods and heads into the living room while I make the sauce, pouring 2 cups of double cream into the pot with the 7 ounces (200g) of chocolate and the same amount of smooth peanut butter and 6 tablespoons of maple syrup it just has to have everything melt for it to be ready, leaving it on the stove for a little over 2 minutes I've set the pot to one side while I attempt to find a couple of empty jars. Finally finding two cleaned jars at the very back of the cupboard I get back to my feet as Jax comes back in "Done, they're gonna get beer and cream."

"Thanks baby."

"Are you done? Already?" Jax leans over and goes to stick his finger in the pot but I smack the back of his hand.

"That'll be hot, and I don't know when the last time you washed your hands was." Pulling a spoon out of the cup they sit in on the back of the bench I dip it in the sauce and pass it over to him watching as he sticks it in his mouth.

Jax's eyes are fixed on mine while he sucks the sauce of the spoon and pulls it out of his mouth "You should bottle that stuff."

I shrug "I could, I very well might at the ice cream store. After all it only takes a couple of minutes to make."

I sit back down at the table and finish writing the cheque for the plumbing work that was done, the invoices only having just arrived. Noting the updated balances in the little stupid gaps in the back I slap it closed and toss it back into my bag. "What time are we leaving here?"

"Well that depends on what time your lawyer is arriving." Jax says setting a wine glass in front of me and sitting down with a beer in his hand.

Scrolling up through my email I find the one from Patrick with his flight times "He's arriving in about 3 hours. He decided to come in tonight otherwise he wouldn't have been there till midday. But he's leaving at 4pm tomorrow to go back."

Jax nods "Well then we can leave whenever you want. It's only a couple of hours away."

"If we leave after breakfast we should be there by 10, you and I can meet with Patrick at 1030, we'll probably be an hour or so then we'll have the rest of the day to go shopping."

Jax sighs "I'm so excited. But if we left early we could have breakfast there and then meet this guy early and have more time."

I laugh and get back up, testing the sauce and finding it cool enough I separate half of it out into one of the jars, adding a rather large pinch to the second half left in the pot before pouring it into its jar and setting them both on the back of the bench. "We could, we'll talk with Ope and D when they get here, if we're breakfasting over there we could leave here at 6ish."

Jax shudders "Okay, let's forget that idea completely. I have no intentions of being out of bed that early."

"Thought so." I remark, cracking the oven door open and checking on the beef, the size of the roast I got means that it'll take at least an hour and a half to cook, but it's already been in the oven for 30 minutes so I toss the veges in around it and close the door again. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour. Jax, what do you think the neo-Nazi is going to do when he realises that he didn't get the building. Do you think he'll leave?"

Jax shrugs "I don't know Darlin'. I'd like to say he'd go back to whatever rock he crawled out from under but I'm not sure. I'm not holding my breath that it'll be that easy to get rid of him."

I sigh and sit back down at the table "That's what I thought. While I have no objections to buying every vacant store in town if I have to I'd rather not increase the level of property I've managed to buy in the last month."

"Wasn't Mandy finding out if any more property was on the market for you?"

I nod "She did, there's nothing else for sale in terms of commercial buildings. There's a couple of empty sections and some houses, but it's all residentially zoned."

My phone chirps from my bag and I pull it out frowning at the unfamiliar number, pressing the ignore button I send the call to my voice mail. Looking up at Jax he raises an eyebrow "You really wanna know?"

He nods so I take a deep breath and spill the story of Tara and her constant calls to me when he and her were fucking, including the latest one. Jax looks furious by the time I finish the explanation of why I will never answer an unfamiliar number or one that's not saved in the phone. "Why the fuck would she do that?"

I shrug "I guess she thought that it worked to get me out of town once before it would work again. Stupid cow. Actually, no she's not a cow. I actually like cows, they taste good."

Jax laughs and tugs my fingers "I can't apologise enough for her."

I shake my head "You can't apologise for her at all baby, what she did was out of pure desperation, she knew she would lose you to me eventually and she wanted me out of town. Why, I have no idea given that she would have gone back to Chicago anyway."

Jax sighs and picks at his beer bottle label "She wanted me to be miserable again when she left me broken hearted for the second time."

I get up and walk around the table, waiting while he pushes his chair backwards before I sit on his lap "You will never be broken hearted again, you will never be miserable because the person you love left. I promise that I'm not going to leave again."

Jax slides his arms around my waist and leans his face onto my arm "I know you're not going anywhere, and if you did I'd hunt you down and bring you back here and lock you in the basement."

"Only problem with that bro, you don't have a basement." Opie's voice comes from the door in front of us and he steps through the gap to let his wife in behind him, setting the beer and cream he's carrying on the bench he almost sticks his finger in the chocolate sauce, but the bottle cap I flicked at his head has him turning around.

"If you wish to try the sauce, use a fucken spoon. Cavemen, both of you." I don't bother telling Opie that the one he's sticking the spoon he picked up in is the one with the chilli in it and Jax's silently laughing underneath me as Opie sticks a huge spoonful in his mouth.

It takes him all of a few seconds to realise that there's a bit of kick to the sauce and he glares at me "What the fuck is that?"

I can't stop laughing for a few minutes as he opens a beer and swallows a few mouthfuls of it. Eventually managing to splutter out "Its peanut butter chocolate sauce."

Opie frowns "Then there is something wrong with it."

I shake my head, still giggling "No, the one you just tried also happened to have chilli in it. Didn't you know, I like things hot?"

Jax's fingers tighten on my side "I think you are quiet hot enough."

I turn my head and kiss him lightly on the lips "Thank you baby. Right, cavemen, out of the kitchen. But what you two can do to be so super helpful is start sorting through the stuff in the spare room for what's rubbish and what's being moved. Stuff to move, if it can, can be put in the garage."

Jax pauses in the doorframe "Shit, never thought about that."

"What?" I ask, slightly distracted by my task of handing plates, cutlery and napkins to Donna.

"Moving." Jax sounds disappointed in the prospect of having to pack up everything he owns.

"Well, you could always leave it all for Juice." I point out, setting the last fork on top of the pile Donna's holding.

"Nah, not happening. Retard can buy his own shit." Jax states going down the hall and opening the door to the spare room.