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Chapter 508 School's Out

"

Jax was antsy. He could barely wait until it was time to leave. It reminded him of elementary school on that last day when all you can think about is getting out of school and having a whole summer to raise hell.

He and Opie had a tradition starting in kindergarten that lasted until junior high. On that last day, they would go to Floyd's after school and get their heads shaved. Funny he hadn't thought about that until now.

He escaped work a few minutes early and went to Floyd's.

"Hey, Jax," Floyd said looking up from where he was sweeping up hair from the floor near his barber chair.

There were a couple of old men sitting in chairs against the wall mostly chatting and passing the time. It was still the social center for the town despite a couple of hair salons that offered unisex services.

Floyd had given Jax his first haircut and other than a few do-it-yourself experiments, he was the only person who had ever cut his hair.

"How long for a haircut?"

One of the elderly men who was reading a newspaper put it down to peer at Jax with curiosity. This was a rare day in Charming and passed for big news in the small town.

"I can take you now."

"I don't want anything too crazy," Jax explained. "Just a little off the top, sides and a couple of inches off the length so it's not on my shoulders anymore."

"I'll just give it some shape and take a little off. I can always make it shorter."

"Sounds good."

"Heard you have a beautiful new old lady," Floyd said as he began to comb Jax's hair to assess how he was going to cut it.

Jax wasn't surprised that the news had reached Floyd's. Anything to do with the Sons was always a source of interest in town.

"Yeah, I do. Her name's Scarlett. She's opening a home décor store on Main Street."

"It's good to be Jax Teller," Floyd said teasing Jax.

It was pretty damned good to be him right now. Things had never been better on the MC front. The change from buying land and building a warehouse to using a rental house in the country was working out perfectly. Clay grumbled because he didn't like change and because he didn't like that he'd shown him up, but Clay had come around when he saw just how much smoother things were working in the new place. It was also good for the club to have a nice fat cash cushion in case of emergencies.

Now that Esai had been dealt with, he could finally relax. He knew that Scarlett was safe with Sack, but it was still a worry in the back of his mind. It was his fault that she was in danger. The MC also wasn't used to having its enemies come to Charming. Charming was the MC's haven or safe space. Now with Esai gone, that feeling of being safe in Charming might return with some time.

The new arrangements with Alvarez were bringing the MC a lot of money. Alvarez's stupidity, greed and ambition combined with his poor choice of hitmen was costing him a fortune, but now that they had made peace, relations between the clubs were great and both clubs were making money. Alvarez didn't seem heartbroken that he'd lost a son. Guess he figured he had spares. Still, it had been traumatic for Esai when he learned that his father had set him up.

Esai sang giving them all kinds of useful information on Alvarez. Right now things were good, but if they went bad, Esai's information would help them against Alvarez. Esai was dead and he never had to worry about him coming for Scarlett.

The only dark spot in his life right now was with Gemma. That reckoning between them had been a long time coming. She was too overbearing and controlling. He should have put her in her place years ago, but she'd finally pushed him too far by trying to destroy his relationship with Scarlett. She was just going to have to learn her place in his life.

Floyd did the perfect job of giving him a trim and adding some shape to his hair. It just goes to show a guy could get a good haircut from a barber without having to go to one of those unisex salons, Jax thought.

Jax returned home and jumped in the shower. He didn't like to smell like the garage and just because he was an outlaw biker; it didn't mean he couldn't have good hygiene. Not all bikers looked like Bobby or smelled like Piney.

The guys loved to give him a hard time over his appearance, but he liked to look good. He worked out to look good and to be strong to defend himself and the club. It wasn't all vanity.

He put on a clean pair of jeans and SAMCRO T-shirt from the new batch they had just got in from the T-shirt shop in town. He got Scarlett a white shirt one in his preferred size extra long, extra large for her to sleep in. She would look sexy as hell in it and even sexier out of it.

Focus, he told himself. He finished getting ready, loaded his duffle and Scarlett's gift into the saddle bags on his bike. He locked his door and was just about to get on his bike when his cell phone rang.

Jax looked at the caller ID and his heart sank a little.

"Yeah," Jax greeted Clay.

"Your mom is having chest pains. I'm going to take her to the hospital in a few minutes. She thinks she's having another heart attack."

"

Will Gemma's evil plan work?