3
Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run
Chapter 133 Parting
Jax was pretending to be asleep as the watched Scarlett through half-closed eyes. She tossed a pair of socks on the floor and then picked them up with the reacher he'd given her. There was a big smile on her face. She repeated it two more times, her smile getting bigger each time.
"Does this mean you like your present?"
Scarlett jumped, startled, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"It's in the top five best presents ever," she said.
He liked the childlike delight she got from his simple gift. There was something innocent and sweet about her, but the more he learned about her life, the more he suspected that she was the bigger, better outlaw. He was surprisingly OK with that. He was proud of her.
He was no fool. He didn't completely trust her and he wondered if her offer to pay him to drive her to therapy appointments was more involved than she told him. It was a lot of money for a little driving.
She surprised him when she agreed to his counter offer, but her explanation made sense. It was better to pay him what he wanted because her safety was worth it to her. If he didn't know about her and her father's emptying all the cash out of her psycho ex's secret room, he would have felt bad about how much she was paying him. Somehow in his mind, the fact that she'd taken a lot of money from her crazy ex made it OK.
When she told him that she needed a business to launder the money through, he was impressed. No one in SAMCRO knew how to launder money. They used some guy Bobby knew, but he had never been convinced that the guy knew what the hell he was doing or that it was a fair arrangement. He was going to get Scarlett to explain it to him.
Laundering money was serious business. The government looked at outlaw types and when they couldn't make a criminal case for anything, they went after them on tax evasion. It would be humiliating to get locked up for such a pussy crime.
"So what are you going to do today?" he asked her as he put on his cut.
"Come back here, take another round of pain medication and sleeping pills and sleep for a few more hours. I'll probably go and look at a couple of places for my décor business. There are three places in that downtown section that should work."
"You given any thought to where you are going to live?"
"I was hoping to find a place for my décor business with a place above it to live in, but stairs are so hard and painful, I don't know how good that option is for me."
"Are you staying here tonight?"
"Yeah, I've paid for a week."
"You ready?"
Scarlett switched from slippers to flip flops. It was difficult for her to bend over and put on shoes.
Jax didn't want to leave Scarlett and the haven that she had become. Being with her was a calmer, simpler life and he enjoyed spending time with her. He couldn't keep putting off the shit he needed to face from his mother to his dead almost ex-wife and baby Bela though. He had to rejoin the world.
He helped Scarlett into the driver's seat of her Corvette before climbing into the passenger's seat.
"Still dreading facing your mother?" Scarlett asked with a teasing smile.
"Damned right."
She giggled.
"If you change your mind about using an AK on your mom, I've got weapons in the trunk."
Jax guided her to his house. She had just pulled into the driveway when Gemma drove up.
"I was hoping for a few minutes before I had to deal with her."
"Glad it's you and not me."
He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the mouth.
"I'll call you tonight."
"Jax, I'm not a chore you have to do," she said coolly.
"Behave yourself today."
He climbed out of the car with his duffel bag. He tapped on the window and Scarlett lowered it.
"I think I'm going to miss you," he said giving her a last, too brief kiss on the lips.
Jax grinned at the look of outrage on her face. Point to me, Scarlett.