CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED

Photo of Jax in the shower on Photobucket...crash the page Now. :-) Yay for Sons tonight!

It's pitch black when Jax comes in the door again "Babe, I brought you some toast."

The smell that comes with him is not just the toast he's carrying, but gun powder, both fresh and burnt, dirt and something I can't pick and decide not to when taking a deeper inhale makes my stomach twist uncomfortably.

"Not hungry baby, but thank you."

Jax crosses the room and turns the bathroom light on, the light spilling out illuminating the room slightly, enough that I squint and blink rapidly for a few second but not enough that it makes my eyes feel like I'm looking at the sun, coming back to the side of the bed once he drops the plate on the dresser. "If you're not eating then at least drink some OJ."

I sit up slowly, taking the open bottle from his hand and drinking a few mouthfuls "How are you feeling?"

I shrug, setting the bottle back down "I'm not sure. I don't think I'll be vomiting again, thank fuck for that, but I still don't think cooking or eating anything is a good idea."

Jax nods and stands up, shedding his clothes "You won't be cooking anyway. Ma won't let you till you're back to 100%. She feels horrible that you got sick cause of Taste of Charming."

I pick up the juice and drink a little more before sliding back down the bed "At least it was only me. It would have been catastrophic if more people got sick. Guess that teaches me for waiting till the end of the day to eat anything. I think that hotdog had been sitting for hours."

Jax shudders and steps into the bathroom, leaving the door open while he showers. Returning to the bed wrapped in just a towel he slides in beside me and pulls me to his side "I really am glad you're feeling better. You had me worried for a while."

I lean my head down and kiss his chest slightly "Sorry baby. I guess when I get sick I do it well don't I?"

Jax nods, kissing my forehead softly then curling his arm tighter around my shoulders "That you do. Just look after yourself."

I giggle and nod, my cheek sticking to his skin slightly "I'll try. No promises though."

In the morning I actually feel human, after showering and getting dressed Jax seems happy enough when I manage to eat a single slice of toast and have a huge glass of juice. He waits for an hour after I finish before grinning and saying to Opie that he's ready to go. Opie, Jax, Piney and Hap disappear somewhere on their bikes, the gate only opening wide enough for them to leave before it's closed again.

A little after 10 Clay, Bobby and two of the Nomads leave as well while everyone else hangs around inside the clubhouse, after the previous night and Gemma's quiet muttering to Clay after breakfast about the smoke level in the room there had been an order sent up that any smokers had to go outside, and Donna and I had both sighed in relief, with the kids in the room neither of us had been impressed about the level of smoke. Clay had gone one step further and declared the space from the door to the boxing ring, and the posts of the roof as a safe area outside, with the cover provided by the overhang he was okay with us going out there, until he'd ended up with the twins hanging off his legs and he'd said we were fine to go outside, as long as we stayed well away from the gates. The twins had headed straight for the swing set, Donna and Kip behind them while Gemma and I walked slowly over with Abel, Tig a few steps behind us.

When the gates open later that afternoon all eight bikes that had left return, the tail end bike is barely through the gates when it's being closed again. Jax parks his bike and comes straight to my side, bringing the same smell I hadn't been able to identify the previous day, I'm still completely unaware of what it is, but today it's much stronger but thankfully my stomach doesn't want to revolt like it did the previous night.

When he leans down and kisses my mouth with a barely whispered "Hi." Escaping my lips before he claims them I instinctively react, pressing my body against his chest, my heels lifting off the ground so his neck isn't bent as far.

I lose myself in his kiss, the fact that there are over 2 dozen Sons standing around us fades into the background as Jax's tongue slides over mine, one of his hands cupped around my face, the other pressed into the small of my back holding my tightly to him. Feeling his arm suddenly move away from me I pull back a fraction, my face colouring when Tig and Happy both cheer, Opie's chuckling voice reaching my ears.

"Finally. Clay's been trying to get your attention for 5 minutes bro." Burrowing my head into Jax's kutte he laughs, running his fingers through my hair.

Letting me go he lifts his head and glares at his brother over my shoulder without saying a word till he and Ope both crack up laughing. Looking down at me he presses a kiss to my forehead, smiling slightly "Glad you're feeling better. See you later babe. And don't go anywhere."

I nod, salute with a grin and spin on my heel, heading towards Cherry and Lyla who have spread out the order books of clothes, the dockets from the booths which had finally arrived while I was sick and are currently in the process of being installed.

"So did we work out how to do the clothing side of things?" I ask as I sit back down.

Cherry shakes her head, looking down at the layout I'd had drawn of the store "If we left two of the booths out then you've got space for one rack. But then you're going to end up with the clothes having a food smell clinging to them."

I frown and flick the page around to face my before slapping my forehead and looking up at the "It's so simple that I'm surprised I didn't think of it days ago."

Cherry and Lyla both look at me with confused expressions, Lyla eventually widening her eyes, shaking her head and saying "What?"

"Upstairs. The store has two levels. I was planning on turning the upstairs into storage or an apartment but in the meantime it'll work to run Sugar out of it. And that way we've got Sugar and Sweet being run from the same place. It'll save manpower cause then Uncle Clay only needs to have one Son watching one store, instead of two watching two stores."

Cherry looks over the pages again "Yeah it would work. Would you want to run it as one business or two with it being in the same building?"

"Two for finances is easier, it's all already set up that way. There is no way to do an external entrance to Sugar unless we turn the back entrance into another door, but that means people have to go right around the block. I'll ring Elliot and get his guys working on putting a door up, and hanging both signs." Looking up at them I can see that they're both a little apprehensive "It's only a temporary measure till I sort out with the insurance company whether it's cost effective to rebuild Sugar. If it doesn't work then I'm not going to push."

Lyla sighs and nods, picking up one of the catalogues that had arrived "I think we finally managed to sort a deal with these guys. We pay nothing for shipping provided that the order is over 2 thousand…"

Two hours later we fold up all the magazines, close the laptops and gather the bits of paper spread all over the desk. "So we're actually good to open Sweet in two weeks?"

Cherry nods, standing up and stretching her back "Yep. Clay refused to let the booths be installed till the fire and security systems were working, they were finished last week. The fittings inside will take about 4 days to get in place and fastened properly according to Bob."

Picking up my phone I shove it in my pocket "Yeah Elliot said, apparently it takes 3 days for the glue that's holding the booths together to cure and completely set then they have to manoeuvre it all."

Lyla lifts the stack of clothing magazines and order books "I'm just happy they could put the door up and get the signs both hung on such short notice. I've already been going nuts with nothing to do, much longer and I think I would have begged Luann for my old job back."

Miles looks over from where he's sitting and shakes his head "No you wouldn't."

Lyla rolls her eyes at us but turns and smiles sweetly "Of course I wouldn't have honey. I'm just kidding."