CHAPTER TEN

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile. I have written the requested Cam/Happy/Happy's mom discussion, however it won't be posted till after chapter 23 as there are some bits that correspond.

Jax stops just inside the door before leaving, his helmet in one hand and his saddle bag in the other "I'm still sorry I have to leave so soon after the boy came home."

I shrug "It's fine Jax, but the sooner you leave the sooner you'll come back to me. Ride safe."

Jax drops his bags on the ground and lifts his hand to my neck, pulling me forwards "I always do babe."

Stretching up I kiss him on the lips slowly, his breath tasting like coffee and toothpaste. Leaning his forehead against mine the tip of his tongue appears and brushes lightly over his lips "Be careful, if you need anything ring Clay or Hap."

I sigh "I will baby. Maybe I'll get D to bring the kids and stay tonight with me so I'm not alone and lonely. And besides, Hap's going to Bakersfield on Wednesday."

Jax nods "I forgot. Ring Clay then. Having D stay would be a good plan babe, that way Ope won't worry about her killing Ma without him there as buffer."

"Is it that bad?"

Jax shakes his head laughing and lets go of my neck backing up and stepping down to the ground "Nah I think Don's just goin a little stir-crazy not being able to be Mommy without Grandma right there."

"Well, she's only got a week left and she'll be here. Speaking of that, we're going to San Francisco at some stage to pick out furniture for them. Maybe we'll do it tomorrow before you guys come back."

Jax shrugs and backs towards his bike "Whatever you want Darlin'. Love you; I'll ring when we get there so you don't panic."

I nod and blow him a kiss, hearing the rumble of bikes coming down the road "Seems like your companions couldn't wait."

Jax laughs as Bobby and Ope's bikes roll to a stop at the end of the drive, Donna's car behind them turning up the drive and taking the space the Nitro is still missing from. Bouncing out of the car she waves at me "Grandma took the kids away again, I thought you and I could do some more moving and making sure you've got everything for the new place. If not, we can go spend some money."

I smirk at her "Funnily enough I was just saying to Jax that you and I are gonna go shopping for your furniture tomorrow, but I can't spend any money I haven't got any cards."

Donna grins and nods, crossing to Opie's bike and giving him a kiss, whispering a few words before the three bikes leave the drive, she's pulled to a stop by Jax as she steps past his bike, he hands her one of my bank cards and says something low enough that I can't hear. Sighing as Donna climbs the stairs she wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly "Its okay S."

I squeeze her side "I know. We should make a whole day of it tomorrow, just you and me."

Donna nods and pulls me towards the door "Come on, let's go get coffee and wait for Al and Cam, I know they're on their way, Ope had to stop at TM on the way and they were just finishing coffees. Gem's taking the twins to playgroup this morning, something about you needing moral support the first time your Old Man left on a run without you."

I sit down on the chair in the kitchen "Does it get easier?"

Donna shakes her head "Not really. You learn to deal with it, you accept that they're going to be away for a couple of nights and you pray they don't touch any random pussy while they're away, but if they do you get over it."

I widen my eyes "Fuck D, you really did relax a whole lot while I was gone didn't you?"

Donna laughs and shoves my shoulder "Shut up, you're the one that told me that shit S!"

"Yeah but I wasn't an Old Lady when I told you that." I drop my head down to my arms which are folded on the table "I can't imagine this ever getting better. I mean, we've barely been married for a heartbeat. Abel's been home less than 24 hours and Jax is gone already. I really hope this isn't going to become the norm for us ya know."

Donna nods and sits beside me, setting a coffee cup in front of me "It won't be. You know how often they go away these days, very rarely. Besides, we've got Sturgis coming up next month."

"What's a Sturgis, isn't that a type of fish?" Cam asks from the doorway making me turn and laugh.

"That's Sturgeon; Sturgis is a bike rally in South Dakota next month." I say giggling "Ali-bean do you and Juice think you'll come?"

Al shakes her head "I can't, Juice told me about it but I've been talking to Terry and he's coming down for me to finish his back, which normally wouldn't bother me I'd come after I was done, but he's bringing his brothers and apparently they all want the same back so that's four brothers I've gotta do the entire thing on and one I've still got a 3rd of it to do. They're going to keep me busy for weeks."

"Hope you're charging them, and made Terry aware you're now officially off the market. Juice won't handle it if he gets overly close." I point out as her and Cam drop into seats across from me and Donna.

Al grimaces a little "Yeah I told him. Don't think it'll mean shit to him. I told Juice about it and he said he'll find out if I can hijack Hap's room to do the work so he's on hand if things go over boundaries. I would almost bet the leather and bikes will make him stop though."

Cam snorts "Dream on. It'll take a bullet to the brain for that man to stop chasing you like a dog chases a cat."

I poke my tongue out at her "Doj doesn't chase cats."

Cam and Al both laugh at me "That's cause he's too fucken big to catch up with them." Donna says making me turn my head to her and poke my tongue out again.

"Cammy, did you want to look at these houses?" I ask pulling my laptop towards me.

She nods and waits while I open the computer, the tabs I'd pulled up for the real estate company Derek contacted "Yeah, but I thought I might look for a bigger place then I need that way you guys can come visit me, and I can get roommates."

Al chuckles "So you're gonna want at least a couple, one to do the cooking, one to do the cleaning and one to do the garden?"

Cam slaps Al's arm lightly "Smart ass. I'll make sure a gardener is included in the lease, but I will hire a cleaner, I need at least one housemate who can cook." Cam looks at Al and cocks her head "You said Terry's brothers are coming?"

Al nods and narrows her eyes "Yeah I did."

"What about their sister?"

Al shrugs "I don't know, Maddie might come with them but I can't imagine doing a cross country trip with 5 brothers would be the highlight of her year if she did."

Cam glances over at me "Hold that thought."

Donna looks completely lost when Cam picks up her phone and dials a number, launching into a conversation in French that leaves the rest of us looking blankly at her.

Hanging her phone up she claps excitedly "First member of the team sorted."

"Who's Maddie and you accepted the contract?" Donna beats me to asking and Cam nods once at her.

"I rang them when I got to the clubhouse last night with Happy. They're Fedexing the contracts to me today to sign. I have to build a team of four make-up artists and 5 hairstylists in the next 4 months. And answer to the second part Maddie is Maddison, she's…" Cam's voice fades off and she looks helplessly at Al and I for a second. "…how the fuck do you describe her?" She eventually says with a laugh.

Al shrugs "Maddison is the only girl in a family of 6 children; she's also the youngest, if you imagine what Ellie will be like when she gets older. Maddie is a very girlie girl, being surrounded by testosterone and males she's very used to batting her eyelashes and getting her own way. She's also someone who was at school with Cam. She's a hairdresser though."

I laugh "Hair stylist remember Ali and god help you if you get in her way." Looking at Donna I see a slight sadness in her eyes at the lack of knowledge she has "You do know a bit about her, she and I didn't get on the greatest to start with."

Cam laughs "Stop pussyfooting around it. I was sure that first night you were going to end up needing to be bailed out, both of you. You and her hated each other, you only barely tolerate her cause of me, but don't worry I have no plans on bringing her here." Clearing her throat she looks towards the laptop "Okay, so let's look at these houses."

I push my laptop towards Cam and go back to the kitchen, putting the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen Cam makes a few noises of delight and a couple of disgust, including one comment about floral curtains and pastel carpet.

Donna gives up watching after a while and follows me through to the master bedroom where I've disappeared to with a couple of boxes "What do you need help with S?"

Pointing towards the very top of the wardrobe "I didn't touch that shit cause I wasn't sure what it was, Jax said its Wendy's stuff though. I'm kinda scared to go near it."

Frowning up at the top two shelves of the wardrobe she looks at the 8 or so boxes "Well let's just get it all down and sort through it."

Cam calls our names from the dining room and I frown, hurrying down the hall wondering if in the five minutes I've been gone they've managed to blow up my laptop or set fire to the kitchen, it wouldn't be the first time.

"I found it. The house I want to live in that is."

I lift my eyebrow "You know that you're not leasing it till you've seen it in person and till Derek's done all the checks on the street, the house and all that. Did you find a 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice?"

She nods "Yeah, and I emailed the links to Daddy. But what I wanted you for is that." She points at my laptop where she'd opened my email to send the links to Derek, the pile of unread emails is almost into triple digits and I sigh.

"Any one of them in particular?"

She clicks on the one from Charlotte "This one."

Leaning over her shoulder to read the words on the screen it takes me several readings to understand the words on the page.