6

Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run

"

Chapter 412 Partial Truth

"

Scarlett and Donna watched Jax and Opie play pool from a nearby table while Ellie sat on the couch playing Barbie and Kenny played with some toy cars.

"Do you play pool?" Scarlett asked Donna.

"I played a bit years ago."

"How about once my back is back to normal I'll find some great pool player to give us lessons. We'll get really great and then we'll challenge the guys and beat them."

"I'd like that," Donna said with a laugh. "We could ask the guys to teach us and act awkward and hopeless and then we beat them."

"That works too. We just have to beat them."

"Are you OK with that reporter flirting with Jax?"

"Jax isn't responsible for how a woman reacts to him. He didn't flirt back. I trust him. If he gives me a reason to not trust him anymore, then we're done. He knows that."

"Smart girl. If that had happened to Tara back when she and Jax were together, there would have been a fight. She was always so quick to get into cat fights. It got exhausting after awhile. Too much drama. Jax and Opie get enough drama with the MC; they don't need anymore."

"I'm beginning to get that," Scarlett said.

She planned to bring more drama to Jax's life, but of course she couldn't tell Donna that. She planned to get Clay kicked out of SAMCRO and sent to prison unprotected. First priority was finding Louise. Then she was going to focus on finding Violet's killer. She had no idea how she was going accomplish her goals, but she was confident she would think of something or her father would.

"How is Tara holding up?"

"She noticed my van was at the police department most of the day. She was worried that I was being grilled all day about Kohn. She's kind of restless because she can't go to work until the sheriffs' clear her."

"I was going to call her today and then I got busy helping Gemma watch over crow-eater and friends of the club's kids while their parents helped search for Louise. I'll give her a call tonight or first thing in the morning. Are you helping with the search tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm going to work from the police station. David wants SAMCRO to help run down leads and I'm going to help coordinate that. Are you helping tomorrow?"

"More childcare duty for me. I hope we find that poor girl," Donna said.

"Me too."

Ellie came over rubbing her eyes.

"Mommy, I'm tired."

"Go to sleep on the couch. We'll leave as soon as daddy finishes this game. It won't be long."

She nodded her head and went to the couch.

"How did you and Opie meet?"

"Charming's small enough that I knew who Opie was without having ever really met him. I graduated from high school and met him at one of the graduation parties. It was sort of love at first sight. That's when I got to know Tara. We used to double date a lot with Jax and Tara."

"It must have been tough when they split up."

"Jax went wild with chasing girls and Opie decided it would be fun to do that too. I told him that was it for me. He expected me to put up with it."

"Good for you for standing up to him."

"He was surprised. I told him he could be with me or with other girls. Not both. After three or four months of chasing girls with Jax, he came back stuffed full of apologies. He said the time apart made him realize I was the only girl he wanted in his life. He proposed a few months later."

"Have you all adjusted to his being back home?"

"It was a little rough. I got used to making decisions with him and then suddenly, I'm all on my own. That was a big adjustment and now I'm making that adjustment the other way. The kids were so little when he went away, they don't really remember him much and monthly visits just aren't the same as living under the same roof. They were kind of shy and uncertain around him, but that is fading. Opie is having to learn how to be a father all over again. It's been a lot harder of an adjustment than I thought it would be."

"You just thought it would all instantly go back to the way it was before he left," Scarlett suggested.

She didn't ask why Opie went to prison. She figured when someone wanted her to know why, she'd be told. For now, she was just being supportive of Donna.

"Yeah. Pretty naïve. It's getting better. It's just going to take a little time."

Opie carefully picked up Ellie from the couch and led Donna and Kenny to his truck.

"Are you ready to leave too?" Jax asked Scarlett.

"Sure."

"I hope you weren't too bored."

"I had a nice time. The more I get to know Donna, the more I like her."

"I'll follow you home," Jax said as he walked Scarlett out to her van.

"Just assuming that you're staying over?"

"Uh-huh," Jax said with a grin.

"It's a good thing I find you irresistible," Scarlett said before climbing into her van.

The evening had gone well. The guys were nice to her and Gemma had kept her distance, so Scarlett had no complaints. And she did like Donna. She could help her learn the MC culture from a woman's perspective and she would prefer to ask her questions than Gemma.

"You want dessert?" Scarlett asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Jax asked with a gleam in his eye.

"Warm brownie, vanilla ice cream and hot fudge."

They sat at the breakfast bar and ate their desserts. During the whole time, Scarlett was having an internal debate over whether or not she was going to tell Jax about her connection to Violet. She finally decided to tell him because he might be able to help her in her search for Violet's killer. She trusted him to keep the secret.

She waited until they were both changed for bed and were settled in to watch a Monty Python DVD.

"I haven't been completely honest with you," Scarlett began.

"Why am I not surprised?" Jax asked with a smile.

"From the day I met you," she added.

"OK that surprises me," he said sitting up. She had his full attention now.

She leaned back against the pillows on her bed.

"I know you wouldn't tell, but I have to just say the words. You can't tell anyone what I'm telling you now because if someone found out, it could get me killed."

"I'll never say a word to anyone."

"OK," Scarlett said. "I hope you aren't too mad at me. I told you about my psycho ex who sent a team for me and they killed a bunch of my co-workers. A few days later, I learned that Violet was dead. She was my stepsister."

"You didn't come to Charming accidentally."

"I didn't meet you accidentally either. After it happened, I told my father that I wanted to find out who killed her. I owed it to her."

"How did you get your father to go along with something so dangerous? Is he her father?"

"No, he isn't. He didn't have a choice about it. I was going to Charming to find her killer with or without his help."

"That sounds like you."

My father had been in Charming for about a week when I joined him. We were running surveillance on you trying to figure out the best way to meet you."

"Disguised? Different cars?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I can be close to invisible when I need to be. The day you met me, I knew when you left for work, the route you take and from there it was easy. No man can resist a woman in short shorts looking under the hood of a classic red Corvette. I just needed to make sure you were the one I caught in my trap."

"You couldn't have found a more straight forward way to meet me? Say come into TM for an oil change?" Jax said.

Scarlett found it impossible to read him. She couldn't tell whether he was OK with what she'd revealed or if there was anger simmering beneath the surface.

"I needed to make sure I met you. I talked to Violet the night I think she went missing. She was excited because she was going to meet you."

Jax rubbed his hand over his chin thoughtfully.

"I hooked up with her a few times," he admitted. "She understood that it wasn't love and it was just sex."

"I suspected the two of you hooked up."

"Not that night though. We were supposed to get together, but there was some kind of emergency," Jax paused trying to remember. "I think with some uh . . . auto supplies and Chibs and I had to go handle the situation. I didn't kill her."

"I thought you might have since I thought you were the last person to see her alive. I needed to get close to you without getting too close to you. That night when you came to my motel room trying to find out if I was the dead body that was found, I knew that you didn't kill Violet. Your concern was real and I don't think you have it in you to kill a woman. I think there's a serial killer out there."

"I wish I'd done something about Violet. She was a great girl. A day or two after she was found, we got into a turf war with a Mexican MC called the Aztec Avengers. I got caught up in that. I think you're right about there being a serial killer out there."

"I want to find the person who killed Violet."

"I should tell you to stay out of it and let me handle it. I know you won't do that. We look for the killer together so I can keep you safe. Deal?"

"Deal," Scarlett agreed.

Neither had any idea just where that search for the killer would lead them or how close the killer was to them.