6
Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run
Chapter 82 Floored
For a few seconds as Jax kissed Scarlett tenderly, he forgot that she had a back injury.
"Jax, I'm sorry," Scarlett said, pulling her head away. "I can't move."
During the course of the kiss, he'd moved her off the stability ball. They were tangled together on the floor, Scarlett on top.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Don't move and give me a few seconds. My spine's all locked up. It will relax as long as we don't move and then I'll be able to move again."
"I'm sorry. I forgot for a second."
"I kind of forgot too until my spine locked up."
Scarlett dropped her head to Jax's chest and rested her head against him.
"I'm sorry I'm so defective," she whispered.
"I don't mind. You might be worth all the trouble."
Scarlett carefully moved her head so she could look up at him, her green eyes narrowed.
"Might be, huh?" she asked and gave his beard a playful tug.
"Well, I don't know yet, darlin'. You are definitely more work than most women."
"I'm sure most women look at you and immediately collapse at your feet and beg for sex."
"There's a lot of truth to that," Jax said feigning modesty. "It's so hard to go to the grocery store. Even when I wear a baseball cap and sunglasses, I still get accosted."
"It's the cut. It gives you away."
"Damn. You're right. So, that's why they still know who I am. I'm going to have to keep you around so you can help me think."
"I'll have to keep you around so you can help me walk."
"We could be the perfect couple," Jax suggested.
Jax felt tingles when Scarlett looked up at him. That last time he felt that way was with Tara. He thought it was just something that happened to high schoolers.
Scarlett kissed Jax softly almost shyly.
"I'm still not going to have sex with you," she said.
"Darlin', I'm going to make you burn for me," he promised.
Scarlett's face flushed and she caught her breath.
"In your dreams," Scarlett said when she had regained a little more composure.
"How are we going to get you off the floor?"
"If you could help me get to my hands and knees and then help me up from there. It's going to hurt no matter what."
"OK. I'll roll you off me and to the floor."
Jax carefully wrapped his arms around Scarlett before rolling her off him and to the floor being carefully to keep her spine straight.
"How was that?" Jax asked when he had rolled Scarlett off him and to the floor.
"Perfect."
"Next step?"
"Help me roll to my side. Then a pause to let my back adjust to that position. I'll bend my knees and you can sort of push me over until I'm on my hands and knees."
"Like a car that's rolled over."
Scarlett nodded. She bent her knees and Jax carefully pushed and lifted Scarlett to her hands and knees.
"OK. Now if you hold out your arm, I'll use it to pull myself to a half standing position. Then if you grab me under my arms and pull me upright, I should be standing."
A few moments later, Scarlett was standing.
"See, wasn't that easy?" Scarlett said with a smile.
"Kiss me," Jax said. "I need a reward."
Scarlett stood on tiptoe and kissed Jax lightly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her, gently pulled her closer and kissed her back. He reluctantly released her because he remembered it was difficult for her to stand for long.
"Thank you for being so kind to me about everything."
"Why wouldn't I be kind to you?"
Scarlett tilted her head to the side and looked at him.
"I always think of outlaw bikers as being tough as nails. I can see that in you, but I also see a man who is kind, gentle, patient and thoughtful. You would come to take me walking because I needed to do that for my back, but you never made me feel like a chore."
"Spending time with you isn't a chore."
"Thank you," she said and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll get the sandwiches out and we can eat."
"No, you are going to let me do everything. You are going to rest your back today."
"I normally don't let men or really anyone tell me what to do, but I'll listen to you this one time. Just you don't go thinking this will happen again because it won't."
"Scarlett until your back injury heals; you are going to be at my mercy."
"Ummm . . . I'm not sure if that's scary as hell or kind of . . . interesting."
"Guess you'll find out," he said using the Jax Teller grin that always stole women's hearts.
Jax got out the sandwiches, the plates and everything else they needed. He had a sudden realization that he'd never really even done that minor domestic chore for another person. He was used to only taking care of himself.
Scarlett sat in a chair on the deck while Jax swam in the lake. He loved being out in nature. Every year, a couple of weeks before school, JT and Piney would take him and Opie camping. They would camp near a lake.
After JT died, Piney took them camping, but it wasn't the same. Clay came the next year and that was the last year they went camping.
He could feel a peacefulness come over him. It was something that he hadn't experienced in a very long time. It felt so good to be away from Charming and even the MC.
He realized he should call and check in with Gemma, but he didn't want to get dragged back into Charming and that world. He needed this break. He decided to be a little selfish now and do what was best for him. There would be a time to deal with Wendy and the baby's deaths and the arrangements that needed to be made, but he had a few days before he had to deal with that.
He imagined how nice it would be to come here for weekends packed with swimming, barbequing and Scarlett. Until she revealed why she was so security obsessed, he was a little concerned that she might be overly paranoid. Now, he knew her worries about her safety were valid.
She was handling her dangerous situation smartly by getting self-defense training and learning to shoot a gun. He liked her mental toughness.
When he saw her bending over her car, he expected to sleep with her a couple of times and move on. He never would have thought she would turn out to be so important to him and so physically elusive.
That night, he warmed up corned beef sandwiches and they are them with potato salad. They talked and laughed, but he noticed that Scarlett seemed to move a little more stiffly.
"You're worse, aren't you?"
"A bit. Whenever you are recovering from an injury, you make progress and get setbacks. It's just part of healing. I might go to bed early, so I can take painkillers."
"You don't take them during the day?"
Scarlett shook her head.
"I can tolerate pain, but not at night. Right now with this injury, my pain level is so high; the only way I can get through the day is because I know I can kill the pain later. Sometimes that means I go to bed early and do rounds of pain medication as the pain breaks through the pain killers."
"I don't think you should sleep alone. If you fall or need help, I'll never hear you from my bedroom. I'm prepared to make the sacrifice and sleep with you to make sure you're OK."
Scarlett looked at him thoughtfully.
"Sacrifice, huh? I kind of liked watching DVDs last night with you. You really think it's a sacrifice?"
"No, I don't. I liked watching DVDs with you last night too. I do think you need me nearby in case you need help."
"I'd like to tell you that you're wrong. It's hard for me to admit that I need a little help, but you've been so amazing and you're right. You can pick what we watch. I've got DVDs in my bedroom or we can watch TV."
"I'm glad we came here. It's peaceful. I don't have a lot of that in my life."
By the time Scarlett had taken her shower, Jax was waiting for her in bed. He'd used the other first floor bedroom's shower.
They settled in to watch DVDs with Scarlett's laptop between them. Scarlett fell asleep quickly thanks to her pain med/sleeping pills/muscle relaxer combination.
Jax watched her sleep for a moment, her face lit by the soft light of her laptop. He wasn't sure how he felt about Scarlett. He knew that being with her made him happier.
It was strange for him to get to know a girl so well before making love to her. He frowned at what he had just thought. Since when did he call sex making love? What the hell? What did this mean?