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Chapter 628 Trusting Scarlett

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Jax reminded himself that there was no hurry about dealing with Clay. He was going to be smart about making him pay for killing his father. Right now, he didn't want to think about Gemma having a hand in it, but deep in his gut, he knew she must have known Clay killed JT either before or after. He might have to burn that bridge when he came to it.

He was going stir crazy playing patient in Scarlett's condo. He sent her a text reminding her he owed her a dinner out and suggested they have dinner at the steakhouse she loved. She'd quickly accepted. At least he had that to look forward to and of course seeing Scarlett—that was always great.

When Scarlett returned from work and they were leaving for dinner, he walked around to the driver's side. He always drove when they went somewhere except when she'd picked them up after that damned crash. His hands itched to beat the shit out of Mickey Smith whenever he thought of him.

"I'm driving," she said.

He gave her a look.

"Why?"

"You're injured, I'm not and it's my van."

"I can drive," Jax protested.

Scarlett stood on tiptoe and kissed him softly on the cheek.

"I know, but I feel like driving and you look so hot in the passenger's seat."

Jax gave her another look, but he knew defeat when it was staring up at him with blue-green eyes.

"OK, but only because you added the hot part."

She grinned, walked around him and got in the driver's seat. Jax was quiet on the drive to dinner thinking over whether or not he was going to tell Scarlett what he'd learned about Clay.

The secret was too big to keep for long. He knew he could tell Opie, but Opie blew hot and cold when it came to Clay and he was never sure which Opie he was going to get. He might not even believe him and put his suspicions down to his stepdaddy issues. If he went to Piney with his suspicions, and knowing how tight he was with JT, it might lead the old man into doing something crazy like putting a couple of holes in Clay. No, when Clay paid for JT's death, it would be at his hand in some way, but it would also be smart because if he went away for Clay's murder, he'd be the loser. He wasn't going to spend the best part of his life locked away from his MC and Scarlett.

Nothing like some beer battered onion rings and a slab of rare steak to make the world a better place, Jax thought as he ate his dinner. Scarlett talked about her customers and the progress on his house, but he barely listened. His mind was still lost in thoughts of Clay.

"Uh-huh," Jax said when Scarlett stopped talking. He wasn't sure what she'd just said, but an agreeing noise seemed like the right answer.

"You haven't been listening to me," she accused.

"Sure, I have," he protested.

"What should I do about the baby then?"

Jax's heart beat rapidly as he pondered this dramatic change in his life. Scarlett was so careful about birth control. What the hell happened? While he liked to think his swimmers were Olympic caliber, he knew birth control worked in the woman's body by blocking ovulation.

"What do you want to do?" he asked carefully.

"Do about what?"

"The baby."

"I wasn't talking about a baby as you would know if you were listening."

"You're not pregnant then?" he asked confused. He probably should have made a greater effort to listen.

"Of course not. I'm just showing you that I know you weren't listening to me."

Relief flooded him. He wasn't going to be a father; it was the best thing that happened to him today.

"OK, you made your point. How about I make it up to you with caramel pecan cheesecake?"

"Only if I get my own piece," she said, "and we get it to go because I'm too stuffed to eat it now."

"Deal," he said. He was so relieved he wasn't going to be a father that he would have agreed to almost anything.

On the drive back to Scarlett's he thought over whether or not he would tell her about his discovery. She had a damned good head on her shoulders, she knew how to keep her mouth shut and he trusted her. He couldn't think of any downside to telling her. And Scarlett was smart if he were wrong about his assumptions, she'd spot the flaw in his logic.

"Jax, is something wrong? You seem different. Are you mad at me or is it the injury or something else?"

"How could I be mad at you after everything you did for the club and me? You are absolutely amazing. It's something I found out today. Let me take a long hot shower because I ache and then I'll tell you."

"That's a relief. I'd offer to help you in the shower, but I don't want to get you all stirred up since you're on bed rest."

"That's one of the many things I love about you, you're always thinking about what's best for me," Jax said before slapping her on the butt and heading for the bedroom.

The hot water sluiced off his hard muscled body. It felt good as long as he kept his back to the shower and from pounding his ribs. The pain was still getting worse, something he knew from experience would continue to happen over the next few days before he would start to feel some healing and the pain lessening. After he talked to Scarlett, he was going to take some pain meds and sleep.

Even worse than the pain from his damaged ribs was going without sex. He didn't feel up to it and that was a strong indication of just how injured he was because he always felt like having sex. It would probably be at least three possibly four weeks before he was back in action. Well, he'd get through it and not whine. He'd waited for Scarlett to recover from her back injury and survived. This wasn't going to take nearly as long. Damn that Mickey Smith!

He'd finished his shower and pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and a Sons T shirt when Scarlett walked into the bedroom.

"You mind if I take a shower before we talk?" she asked.

"Can I watch?" Scarlett didn't reply, but she laughed so Jax took that as a no. He hoped Mickey Smith was suffering worse than everyone in the MC combined.

When she returned freshly showered and dressed, she sat crossed legged across from Jax who was propped up by pillows against the bed's headboard.

"How are you feeling? Do you want me to get you some water so you can take your pain meds?"

"After we talk. I want a clear head so I make sense. I found some shocking stuff when I went through my father's stuff yesterday. Sexually explicit love letters from Clay to Gemma and it was clear they were having an affair."

"That isn't allowed. You told me old ladies are off limits."

Jax nodded.

"Yeah and JT had proof of the affair. Clay sent JT into a Mayan ambush. JT knew that Clay tried to kill him. He decided to divorce Gemma, get custody of me and take the letters and cheating to the table. Clay would have been kicked out."

"The only way Clay and Gemma could be together and for him to stay in the MC was for JT to die, right?"

"Yeah. I know you won't say anything to anyone about what I'm going to tell you except your father, but I just have to mention it."

"I get it. It's scary telling secrets."

"I called Hale yesterday and made a deal to get copies of everything on my father's accident. He wanted something in return," Jax said a flicker of a smile on his face. "He wants the MC's help with Louise's death and he gave me some leads."

Scarlett grinned.

"That's absolutely perfect."

"Yeah, we were going to do that anyway and while we're all injured and unable to work, it's the perfect time. Hale dropped off all the paperwork today. Unser did the investigation and he did a damned poor job of it. I've been told my whole life that JT's bike malfunctioned, but there's no report on the bike's condition. None of the witnesses said anything about seeing the bike malfunction. And the mechanic who always worked on his bike mysteriously vanished a short time later. I was told he crossed into the opposing lane of traffic due to the bike malfunction yet his body was found in his lane."

"I'm guessing Gemma, Clay and Unser were the ones telling the story of your father's crash."

"Yeah," Jax said shaking his head. He was angry that he'd trusted them and believed their story. "It gets worse. The truck hit my father head on and kept going. It was thought the driver was either on meth and didn't want to get caught driving impaired or didn't realize he hit a person and thought it was an animal. Turns out a witness hand wrote a statement that Unser didn't put in this official investigation. He said the driver ran down JT and he provided a partial license plate number. It matched a truck Unser Trucking owned at the time and Clay was a truck driver during Vietnam."

"Clay takes a truck from Unser, kills JT and then Unser covers it all up. It's pretty flawless," Scarlett said. "What are you going to do?"

"He's a dead man, but I'm going to be smart about it. I'm not going to let revenge land me in a prison cell."

Scarlett scooted closer to Jax and kissed his cheek.

"Good idea. Don't wreck your life and the life we could have together because then Clay will win even if he's dead. Are you thinking about taking this to the table? Wouldn't the MC kill him for murdering JT?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I have enough proof."

Scarlett bit her lip thoughtfully for several moments.

"I have something . . ." she said. Jax's cellphone rang interrupting her. He picked it up and looked at the call.

"Gemma. I better answer this, but I'll get rid of her," he said.

Scarlett left the bedroom to give him some privacy, returning when she heard him end the call.

"Clay's going back in surgery. Until I can make a move, we've got to pretend everything is OK. I'll send a message to all the guys."

"I assume you have to go," Scarlett said. Jax nodded. "I'll drive and the guys can come with us."

"What did you want to tell me?" Jax asked.

"It can wait," Scarlett said.

Jax sent a text to all the guys before getting dressed. It was going to be a long night.