❛ Just need to be with you. ❜

chapter eighteen.

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       AFTER JUMPING into a set of Jax's joggers, Scarlett trudges slowly down the club hallway, rubbing at her eyes and yawning. Jax had left her to speak with Ope about their plans for the following days, and Scarlett managed to get a few more hours of sleep.

She comes to the main room, her eyes rolling back into her head at the sight of every single biker asleep on the tables, chairs, bar and floor with drool and sweat covering them. She groans loudly, not caring if she wakes any of them. Her eyes scan over the messiest, her mind knowing she's gonna have to clean that up, "For fucks sake," She curses, turning her back to the horrific scene and entering the kitchen.

Yawning once more, she picks a mug up from the mess that's grown on the counter tops. She turns on her heel to head to the fridge, but she jumps slightly when she sees Gemma Teller propped up on a stool beside the sink.

"Morning," She mutters, a cigarette dangling between her fingers as she crosses her legs.

Scarlett's jaw sets as she rotated once more, giving up on her trip to the fridge as she spots the coffee pot, "Morning." She replies.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Gemma sighs, as if she's being forced to apologise, "The whole stupid argument thing."

Scarlett snorts, "Jax speak to you?"

"Why'd you think that?" She steps off the stool, her heeled boots hitting the floor.

"You don't apologise to anyone, not even your own husband unless your precious son speaks to you about it," Scarlett doesn't bother to even look at her as she speaks, her hands working to make her coffee, telling Gemma that she's not arsed to have a conversation at the moment.

"Can I ask you a question?" Gemma slinks closer, her hand raising to rest on her hip as she stands against the counter where Scarlett's preparing her drink.

Scarlett's eyes flicker closed for a moment, "Another argument isn't needed right now. It's too early. Maybe later."

Gemma rolls her eyes, "Oh, not a fight. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on," She licks her lips in annoyance to what she's about to say, "You and Jax are obviously reconnected."

"We were never connected before," Scarlett glances at the older woman.

"You and I both know that's bullshit," Gemma attempts a soft chuckle, before she nods her head out of the kitchen and into the clubhouse, "You don't know what you and Jax are. And you're not one of them."

Scarlett shrugs, not needing to look at the scene outside of the room to know what she's speaking about, "Debatable."

"Well, you may dress like some of those chicks out there, with your short skirts and never wearing a bra. But you ain't one of them really," Gemma continues, "What happens next?"

Scarlett turns around, her back resting against the counter tops and her finger fingers curling around the edge, "I don't know."

"You become his old lady?" Gemma continues to push, her eyebrows raising at the idea.

"I don't know," Scarlett snaps, "Plus, even if I did, I wouldn't speaking about it with you, Gemma Teller," She leans closer to the older woman, causing Gemma to take a small step back, "Don't bother trying to scare me away from him. It didn't work when we were teenagers, and it definitely won't work now." She pushes away from the counter, taking her coffee and heading for the door.

"I know you hate me," Gemma mutters, pulling Scarlett to a stop in the doorway, "But this isn't me being some overbearing bitch."

Scarlett clicks her tongue, "You're not convincing me so far."

Gemma ignores her, stepping closer and rounding her so they're opposite one another, "This is someone telling you the truth, the someone who took you under her wing when you were a child. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me, honey. You and Jax is a bad idea, and someone better start thinking clearly before both of you get hurt."

Scarlett's jaw clenches, but she remains silent.

"You know, you the most surprisingly smart and strong-willed person I have ever met, you always have been," Gemma lowers her tone, softening it as if she's speaking to a child, "You need to shine some of that on this situation with Jax. He's not smart enough for him to know what's right. You have to be the one break this off. Save both of you from something bad."

Scarlett swallows thickly, angrily moving closer to Gemma so their faces are centimetres away, "Stay out of our shit, Gemma. He's your son, not your boyfriend. You have no voice in his relationships." She snarls, slamming her shoulder against Gemma's as she leaves, her coffee mug still securely between her hands.

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       SCARLETT AND CAMI trudge down main street, their arms interlocked as they laugh. Camille got off work early due to more men being used in production today, and she took the rare opportunity to steal Scarlett away from the Clubhouse so they could go shopping.

"Luke propose again?" Scarlett questions, "Somewhere more appropriate."

Camille snorts, "No. Says he's waiting until I've forgotten again. Which will be never."

"He had good intentions," Scarlett sighs.

"That's always been the difference between him and the rest of the club," Cami says in agreement, "I'm glad I met him before he starting strolling around in that kutte," Her eyes flick to her best friend, and her elbows nudges into her side as they walk, "How are you and your man doing?"

Scarlett rolls her eyes, "He isn't my man."

Camille's brows raise daringly, "So if we were to walk into the club right now and see him making out with a chick, you wouldn't care?"

"I'd care," She says, "But he's not mine."

Laughing in disbelief, Camille shakes her head, "Bullshit. The girls are the studio have started bringing your name up more. Wanna know why?"

"Cause I'm hot as fuck and they want me to join the porn bis?" Scarlett's teases.

"That too, but they can't get their names out of their mouths because they're jealous of you," Camille pulls the both of a stop on the middle of the street, her hands moving to clutch at both of her best friend's arms to stabilise herself, "Jax has been telling these girl's recently that he's closed off. Closed off. Even when he was with Tara he wasn't tell chicks to leave him alone."

"Might not be with me," Scarlett shrugs her off, beginning to walk away again.

Camille jogs to her side once more, "Stop trying to deflect the fact that you and him are basically dating."

Scarlett swallows a grin, knowing that's exactly what she's trying to do. She's well aware that Jax and her are days away from becoming somewhat inclusive, but her mind doesn't want to yet acknowledge that. She's hardly come to terms with the fact that she's been having sex with her childhood best friend the past two nights.

With Camille continuing to witter on in her ear, Scarlett's eyes narrow as she spots a familiar face further down the street. Completely cutting Camille's pointless sentence off, Scarlett shouts, "Donna!"

Quickly forgetting her previous conversation, Camille's head snaps in the direction of Scarlett's eyesight and as soon as she sees their close friend, she's striding down the street to greet her.

Scarlett snorts as she watches Camille walk over. Despite her job, Cami doesn't dress like all the other porn stars that usually roam the streets of Charming. Instead, she dresses in steel toes combat boots, ripped black jeans, a black tank top and a leather jacket. Any innocent bystanders would presume she was a biker herself. Maybe that's why she dresses in such a way; to disguise herself from her real job. She probably doesn't get as recognised as much when she doesn't dress stereotypically. As she marches over to Donna, it almost appears as if she's waltzing over to accuse the poor mom of something, but when their arms wrap around each other in a tight hug, everyone's eyes flick away with relief.

Scarlett bounds over to job them, pulling Donna into a hug once she's free from Camille grip, "How you doing?"

Donna shrugs, trying to shove her hands as far into the front pockets of her jeans as they'll go, "I've been better. Me and the kids are staying at my parents."

"Opie's in the house alone?" Scarlett's head tilts in concern. Before she left, Opie never partially liked alone time, finding it slightly dehumanising and torturous. Maybe that wasn't the case anymore.

Nodding, Donna says, "Unfortunately, but I just can't be with him right now. Not after all the lies, and— and. . ."

Camille raises her hand to relax her before she breaks out into a bundle of sobs, "If you ever need some company, our house is always open for you."

Scarlett hums, "And I'll happy look after the kids for a day if you want to give your parents a break."

Donna smiles lightly, "Thank you, guys. Seriously. I know you've always been between me and Ope when we have arguments. So, I apologise."

"Hey, no, it's perfectly fine," Scarlett affirms, "You're both our close friends and we went what's best for you."

"And we'll help you with anything." Camille finishes.

Donna nods, pulling her lips between her teeth to prevent the tears from rocketing down her cheeks, "If you happen to see Jax. . .
thank him for the money he sent me this morning."

Camille laughs, nudging Scarlett roughly in the arm, "Oh, Scarlett will see him, alright. Tell Donna, tell Donna." She rushes.

Donna's confused gaze snaps between her two close friends, "What?"

Scarlett groans, glaring at Camille before saying, "I've been sleeping with Jax."

A wide grin breaks out across Donna's lips and her face lights up in excitement, "Finally!" The smile refuses to leave her face as she rocks back and forth on her heels.

Scarlett chuckles gently at her reaction before nudging her thumb towards Camille, "Luke proposed to Cami, and she said no, in front of the whole club."

Camille gasps, her fist punching into Scarlett's arm roughly, causing her to wince before laughs break out from her mouth, "You bitch."

"Hey, you revealed something about me and Jax," Scarlett smirks, "It was only fair."

Donna's hand reaches out to gently smack Camille's arm to get her attention once more, "He what? And you said what?"

"Right," Cami sighs, preparing herself to explain it to yet another person for the fourth time that day, as seen as all the girls at the studios had heard about the proposal through some of the bikers their fucking, "It's not as bad as it seems. We went to the fight together last night, and he proposed to me there. Right in the middle, while some poor dude was getting his life punched out of him in the ring. I said no, not because I don't love him, but because he proposed at a fight."

Donna nods slowly, taking in all the information, "Right, okay. But you're still together?"

"Oh, yeah, obviously," Cami reassures, "I told him to just do it another time and place, and I'd definitely say yes. Everything's fine."

"Bless him," Donna chuckles, "Look, I really have to get going. The kids have been waiting for dinner for ages," She begins to back up towards the parking lot, "I'll call you both."

"We seriously need to have our drink and shit talk session some time," Camille calls to her, "With the whole group!"

Donna nods in agreement, sending them waves, before jogging back to her car whilst they both shout goodbyes to her.

"It may be slightly awkward having both Donna and Opie at a shit talk sesh," Scarlett mutters.

Camille shrugs carelessly, "It'll make it more interesting."

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AFTER ENSURING that Scarlett was staying at the Jones' household for tonight, Jax heads down right back to the quarry where he dumped Joshua Kohn's limp body. Jax had spent the day in Oakland on a mission with Bobby and Ope, and after returning home he headed straight to the burial site, only sparing a few seconds to have a short phone call with Scarlett.

With the dark sky looming over him, Jax pulls his lighter from his jeans pocket. He flicks it open, and creates an orange flame. He watches as it dances in the air for a moment, the small heat radiating onto his face, before he clicks it shut again and reaches to his side. His hand curl around the handle of a red gasoline tank and he quickly unscrews the lid, dumping the contents over the body, head to toe and until the soil around him is soaked.

Once more, Jax reveals his lighter, this time not wasting any time as he drops it into the hole at his feet. He swallows thickly as the whole body lights up, the flames swallowing what remains of Kohn whole.

Reaching down again, Jax grabs his father's typewritten work, sheets and a couple books. The Life And Death Of Sam Crow. How The Sons Of Anarchy Lost Their Way. By John Thomas Teller, is scrolled across the largest stack of paper. He flicks through a few pages, his eyes skimming over the hundreds of words that he's spent painful hours reading. Clenching his jaw, he extends his arm and throws the documents atop of the burning corpse, but after a short moment of reflection, he's quickly shooting forward and grabbing them back from the fire.

His eyes flutter closed, and his head rolls back so that he's facing the nights sky with his father's burning work clutched in his fist. Taking a deep breath, Jax trudges back up with the bank and leaves Kohn burning in the ditch. Reaching his bike, Jax throws his leg over and figs his phone out of his phone pocket.

He runs a hand over his face to recollect his emotions before dialling Scarlett's number. His slightly shaky hands raise the device to his ear as he waits.

"Jax?" Her voice calls softly.

His eyelids fall closed again at the familiar side of her voice. He bites his lip before speaking, his mind praying that his voice doesn't crack, "Mind if I come over?"

In her room at Camille's house, Scarlett's sits crossed legged on her bed with her eyebrows furrowed in concern as she recognises the saddened tone that he's trying to hide, "Of course you can. The door's open. Just let yourself in. Jax, are you okay?"

He grunts, "I'm fine, just need to be with you."

Scarlett smiles gently, trying not to make herself worry, "Hurry up, then. I'm waiting," She teases.

He chuckles, his spare hand rubbing at his eyes to wipe away the escaped tears, "Be patient, woman."

He hears her laugh through the phone, causing his heart to swell in his chest and he drops chin drops to his head just so he can recollect his thoughts before he revs his bike, "See you in a minute."

She hums, "Looking forward to it, and don't die on the way here."

"That's never gonna happen," He soothes before dropping the phone from his ear, allowing her to hang up as he shoves the device into his pocket.

. . .

short shite chapter where nothing happens
not proof read

word count,
2586