5

Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run

Chapter 314 Soul to Soul

"

Scarlett slept for a few hours and, thanks to her concoction, Jax slept for almost six hours straight. He'd lost a lot of blood and hadn't rested like he should on Monday. Today was really the first day of his recovery.

She'd checked his temperature with Tara's forehead gun style thermometer. It was 2/10 of a degree above normal. She thought it was a normal variation, but she would check it again in two hours.

He was catching on that she was drugging him. Tomorrow, she would start putting most of the sleeping meds in his food. He needed at least three more days of bed rest. He could walk around but he needed to rest most of the time. He had to take it easy until the stitches came out.

Scarlett spent the time while he was sleeping sitting outside on the deck reading and enjoying the last of the summer when she decided it was time to check Jax's temperature again. He was awake and sitting up.

"How do you feel?"

"Pretty good," he said.

Scarlett looked at him skeptically. She grabbed the forehead thermometer device and took a reading.

"It's like a radar gun for your temperature," Jax said.

"That's a good comparison. Your temperature is up 2/10 of a degree and this is the second time."

"I'm just naturally hot," Jax said with a grin.

"Conceited. I thought maybe I was raising your temperature," Scarlett said tartly.

"OK. I'll agree with you. What time is it?"

"It's a little after 7. You hungry for dinner?"

"Yeah, I could eat."

"Ham or Meat loaf?"

"Ham."

"Good choice. It has a brown sugar Bourbon glaze. It's so good; they sell it for an ice cream topping only they add pecans. I got some for dessert. I was thinking warm brownies, vanilla ice cream with warm brown sugar Bourbon pecan topping."

"You are the woman of my dreams."

"All I have to do is feed you for that honor?"

"That is the true way to a man's heart."

"I feel so unappreciated," Scarlett complained. "What about all my nursing skills?"

"You wouldn't be giving me stuff to get me to sleep, would you?"

"Who me?" Scarlett asked.

She left the bedroom and went into the kitchen to heat up their dinners. They ate outside and then spent a few hours just relaxing on the deck. Occasionally, they would walk Jax on his crutches and Scarlett with her back injury.

After they each had a shower and she had changed his bandages, it was time for the long delayed fight. She was propped up in bed by pillows. Jax was sitting next to her.

"It's time we talked," she said.

Jax got out of bed coming to sit around on her side of the bed facing her, taking care not to put too much pressure on his stitches.

"I know I was wrong."

"You aren't skating out of this that easily."

"I didn't think so," Jax said.

"I just don't understand why. My dad told me that sometimes men's hormones get all worked up and they just react without thinking."

"I couldn't put it better myself."

"I need to know why."

"I was going to drop in on you when I saw that guy get out of his car. I saw you in the doorway of your room waiting for him. I thought maybe he was dropping something off to you. I circled the block. His car was still there. I circled the block and each time, I got angrier and angrier. By the time, I knocked on your door, all I wanted to do was pound him into paste."

"Did you really think that I would sleep with some guy after we agreed to be exclusive?"

He reached out and brushed his thumb across her face gently as he looked into her deep green eyes.

"I know that I'm lucky that you're with me. You are beautiful and sexy as hell with this mix of innocence. You're smart, funny and charming. Of course, I'm going to fight to keep you with me."

"If I didn't want to be with you, I wouldn't be with you. I don't think jealousy is romantic. I don't think jealousy shows love." Scarlett looked down at her hands and thought about the once big diamond she used to wear on her left hand. Her engagement ring had begun to feel like a symbol of her psycho ex's ownership.

"Your psycho ex was possessive," Jax guessed.

She nodded still staring at her hands.

"I don't think he even loved me. I was just something pretty he could have around like a painting. I never flirted or even remotely did something that could be interpreted as cheating, but he was always accusing me of things and going off on me. When you came to my room and began to punch Scott, I just had flashbacks to everything that I had been through with my ex. All I could think about was getting away from you. Pushing you away and never seeing you again or running away."

"For awhile, not long," Jax added quickly, "I blamed you for not immediately telling me who the guy was. I didn't even give you a chance to do that before I started punching on the guy. It didn't help that you were half undressed."

"He put needles in my low back. I needed to pull my shorts down a little for that. He's not some guy off the street. He has training and he's licensed."

"I should have trusted you. I should have realized that there was an explanation. It's like your father said. My hormones got the best of me and I didn't think; I just reacted. I've never felt jealousy before."

"Don't feel it again. I'll never cheat on you. I'd break up with you first."

"I would never cheat on you either."

"Jax, if you ever cheat on me, consider us broken up. No second chances. No tearful reconciliations. I am not going to fight for my relationship with you because I shouldn't have to. We should be together because we love and trust each other. If you would rather be with someone else, go, but you'll never get back with me though."

"How could I ever want another woman? I don't think I can even completely handle you," he said with a smile.

"That's the right attitude. There's another thing. Your mother was trying to stir up trouble between us. She told me that you and Tara were talking intimately while I was getting you water. Something about first love."

"I'll talk to her."

"You don't need to. I told her I knew she was trying to poison my friendship with Tara and hurt my relationship with you. I also told her that if she didn't want her relationship with you to suffer, she should find a way to get along with me."

Jax laughed.

"That's telling her."

"I meant it. If she tries to interfere or spread poison, you have to punish her by seeing her less or she will never learn."

"I like that. Punishing Gemma for bad behavior. That might work."

"It will as long as we keep her out of our relationship."

"Gemma was always stirring shit up with Tara. I should have done more to help her with Gemma."

"One last thing. You hurt me so deeply when you punched Scott. I told you that I hadn't been with anyone in over three years. How could you think that I had some guy in my room for sex? Did you think I was lying to you? How could you believe I would lie to you about something like that?"

Scarlett's eyes were full of tears as she remembered how she'd felt when he stormed into her room.