5
Chapter 450 Trust Factor
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Scarlett noticed the car parked across the street from her store the minute Tara dropped her off. The car looked like it had been spray painteddark blue with paint from a hardware store. A man was sitting in the car.
She went inside her store and locked the door. The doors were always locked or people would wander in. A new store in Charming was a pretty big deal given how few stores there were in town.
With Sack helping her, she'd made big strides in getting the store ready to open. There were several sofas in ivory with decorative pillows made to look like large flowers. There were many small tables with small decorative objects on them. It wasn't designed to be a fancy store. She was going for a nicer rummage store with new, refurbished and hand crafted items. If someone had five dollars he could find something nice to buy. There were still bare spots she needed to fill with furniture and there was plenty of room for more eclectic decorative items on the small tables that were scattered around the store, but in two weeks she expected to be ready to open.
Scarlett had just finished placing a dozen rose scented candles poured by a local woman in colors from the palest pink to the most vivid red on a small table when she looked at the blue car again. The guy was still sitting in the car. There might be a perfectly normal reason for him to still be in his car. He could be waiting for someone. Still, Scarlett felt uneasy.
She watched as he got out of his car and went into the bakery/donut shop. He left the shop with a large drink in his hand. He sat on the edge of the car's hood and sucked up his drink while watching her shop. He couldn't have been more obvious. After some hesitation, Scarlett grabbed her phone and unlocked the store's door. She walked out onto the sidewalk and pretended to take pictures of her store. She got a few pictures of the man on his car before she returned to her shop locking the door behind her.
It was possible this could be Esai. He probably knew where Jax worked. He could have followed Jax to her store or her condo. She hesitated about sending the picture to Jax.
What would happen if she sent the picture to Jax and this was Esai? He and SAMCRO would come over and the result could be tragic. Something could go wrong and Jax could end up dead or locked up in prison for the rest of is life. Could she trust SAMCRO to handle things with Esai without screwing up?
What would happen if she didn't send the picture to Jax? Esai could leave and then go to TM where he could lie in wait to pick off SAMCRO as they left work.
Neither solution was ideal. Scarlett knew being part of Jax's life meant dealing with the danger and the risk of death or imprisonment. This was the first time she felt it. All she could think about was picking a path that would keep Jax safe.
With her stomach in nervous knots and her fingers shaking, she sent the pictures to Jax and then followed up by calling him. When he confirmed that the man was Esai, she didn't feel relief. She wasn't sure if she'd done the right thing, but ultimately she had to trust him to be smart about how the MC handled Esai.
After finishing the call, she took her hand gun out of her handbag and put it in the front pocket of her khaki green pants. She didn't need to make sure it was loaded. Her guns were always loaded.
As she bent her head to put her handbag back in the desk drawer she kept it in, there was a rattle at her door. There he was, Esai at her door. She walked to the door.
"Sorry, we're not open," she said keeping her voice calm. She could fake it when she had to.
"I just want to buy that beautiful glass vase with the yellow glass rose."
"We're not open," Scarlett repeated.
"My mother is sick and she loves yellow roses."
"I'm sorry that your mother is sick," Scarlett said coolly, "but the store isn't open and I can't sell you anything."
He gave her a smile. He was attractive and he was the kind of guy that was used to women giving him what he wanted when he turned on his charm. In that respect, he was a lot like Jax.
"Look, I'll just hand you four twenties and you hand me the vase and flower. You don't need to wrap it up or give me a bag."
She wasn't taken in by his charm because she knew his end game. He was going to kidnap her and hold her for ransom or to trade her for Jax. That was the only reason for him to turn up at her shop.
"No," she said firmly.
It was like flipping a switch. The attractive charming man changed into this angry, ferocious, maniac. He began shaking the door violently.
"Let me in," he said in a deep growl.
He had completely lost control. He seemed desperate and that made him even more dangerous. She noticed there was a gun shaped bulge in the front of his black windbreaker.
That changed things. He could use the gun to shoot her or shoot his way into her shop and force her to go with him at gunpoint. Scarlett did what she was trained to do. She pulled her gun from her pants' pocket and stood with her feet shoulder width apart with her weight equally distributed. Her left hand was out cupping her right hand that held her gun, her finger curled around the trigger. Her eyes were locked onto his hands. She could still hear her weapons instructor telling her to forget the face, it won't kill you; watch the hands.
"Keep your hands where I can see them or I will shoot you," Scarlett said her voice was clear and steady. Inside, Scarlett was scared. She'd never had to shoot someone before and facing an actual person was different than shooting targets, but she didn't show her fear.
Esai looked at her before turning and running for his car. Scarlett watched as he got in his car.
And then she noticed SAMCRO had arrived. She wasn't sure she had enough courage left in her to watch. She wanted to hide her eyes until it was all over because she couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to end badly for Jax and SAMCRO.
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Author's Note: Thanks to the kind readers who have been so encouraging while I'm recovering from my accident and been unable to write as many chapters. I'm slowly getting back into it.