❛ You stay with me. ❜

chapter forty five.

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     A COUPLE HOURS LATER, Jax rounds up a conversation with Piney and Bobby in the Cara Cara office. With a burning cigarette hanging between his lips, he pulls open the door, ready to leave until Piney has one last thing to say.

"How's Scarlett doin'?" The older man questions, with slightly furrowed brows.

Jax spins around to face him once more and he lowers the cigarette from his lips as his face contorts into confusion. All the guys know that Scarlett's doing much better since her father, so he can't be asking about that. Jax doesn't say anything and just raises his brows, waiting for Piney to elaborate.

"Well, I heard that Gemma clocked her and broke her nose, or somethin'," Piney explains with a short shrug.

After hearing his words, Jax's face falls and his eyes flutter closed before he turns back towards the door and begins to leave, muttering under his breath, "Jesus christ."

Ignoring the pleas for a conversation with him from a few of the porn stars, Jax strolls through Cara Cara with a quick bounce in his step as he wishes to get back home as soon as possible. He can only imagine the hundreds of scenarios of why Gemma punched her, and he hates to imagine how Scarlett took it after the shit down in the basement.

He reaches his bike and swings a leg over his bike before his phone begins to ring. He clenches his jaw, hoping it's not someone who's gonna hold him up. He digs the device out, only to see Camille's name on the screen. His brows crease before he answers, "Yo. What's up, Jones?"

Across town, Scarlett is strewn across the sofa snoring her head off whilst Camille stands in the kitchen tapping her foot with her phone glued to her ear. She listens to Jax's greeting whilst she keeps her eyes on Scarlett in the other room like a concerned mother.

"It's Scarlett," She states.

Jax releases a sigh, thankful that Scarlett isn't completely alone, "She at yours?"

"Yeah," Cami hums, "Look, Jax—"

"I'm on my way," He cuts her off as he snaps his phone shut and buries it back into his pocket before throwing his helmet on and backing out of the parking lot.

On his bike, it only takes Jax roughly five minutes to arrive at Jones' house and after shoving his helmet off and kicking the stand down, he makes his way up the porch steps. As he reaches the door, Camille pulls it open, knowing that he would've let himself in either way but she'd rather him enter quietly.

"Jax," She speaks quietly before he can enter the living room, "Your mom clocked her across the face, fucked her nose up. She walked from town centre to here then had a fucking panic attack in my arms on the floor," She hisses in a hushed tone, "I thought you said she was getting better!"

"Fuck," Jax sighs, running a hand over his face as he feels a huge sense of guilt for not being with her as she suffered, "She was getting better."

"I think it reminded her of. . . what happened," Camille suggests, "She was shaking and her fucking sobs, Jax. Oh my god. I've never heard anything like them. Does she have those attacks a lot?"

Biting his lip, Jax nods, understanding how horrific it is hearing Scarlett's pain and not being able to take it from her, "She usually wakes up and has one immediately. Thanks for calling me, Jones," He says, "Where is she?"

Curling her arms around her body, Camille nods her head simply to the living room before taking a step back and allowing him to enter the room. Taking soft steps, he turns the corner and immediately his eyes lock onto Scarlett as she snores quietly with a bowl of popcorn balancing carefully on the edge of the sofa.

He kneels down in front of her, his expression falling as he notices the bruising around her nose and the strip laid across the bridge. He removes the bowl of popcorn and places it on the coffee table before moving a gentle hand up to her face. He brushes a curl  of her dark hair away from face before biting his lip, seeing the tear stains on her cheeks.

"Scarlett," He whispers, and slowly her eyes flicker open. For once, she doesn't bounce away from his touch or look at him like she doesn't know who he is. This time she sees his face and smiles warmly. His lips tilt up to return the expression but he can't fully reciprocate the happiness as all his eyes can focus on is the additional bruising to her nose. The bruises from her nose and only just started to fade and now his mother had left her with another, "Hey," He strokes her cheek, "What happened?"

"It was just something stupid," She speaks groggily, "I came up behind her on the street. Took her by surprise and she clocked me. It was an accident."

His brows crease and his hand falls from her face as he studies her carei fully, trying to figure out if she's being truthful, "That's a solid shot to the face."

"It was an accident, Jax," Scarlett repeats as she slowly pushes herself up into a sitting position with her legs down off the sofa.

He bites his lips as he shuffles over to rest his arms on her legs and look up at her, "Me having full disclosure with you works both ways, you know?"

She smiles gently, noticing his concern for her and she hums, "I know," She says but his brows raise, "I know. It was an accident. If it wasn't, I would've clocked her right back. You know that."

He purses his lips, knowing that she's correct. That hasn't be one instance when she's been punched and hasn't delivered the same back to the person unless it was accidental, "Okay," His rubs her thighs, "Jones told me about how you turned up at the house. What caused that?"

Always knowing that that question would fall from his lips at some point, Scarlett sighs and moves one of her hands down to play with the SONS rings on his fingers, "It was the all the blood," She explains in a quieter voice and uses her free hand to motion towards her face, "And the feeling of being punched. It reminded me of. . ."

Jax's hands raise to cup her cheeks, as he understand exactly what she's trying to communicate, "I know. I'm sorry mom clocked you. I'll have a word with her," He says, "How you feeling now?"

"Much better," Scarlett replies honestly, "Camille and I watched a movie before I fell asleep."

"In. . . pyjamas," Jax grins as he eyes flow down to look at her attire and he removes his hands from her face to touch the material hung over her torso.

"Yeah, well my clothes had blood on them so. . ." She shrugs, "I should probably get changed before we leave."

"That'd be a good idea," He agrees before standing his crouched position. He offers her his hand and pulls her from the sofa before nudging her gently out of the living room. He follows behind her and his hand reaches down to tap her ass before he moves towards the front door while she goes to the stairs. She whirls around to look at him with raised brows, "I'll wait on my bike," He explains, pulling the front door open, "See you, Jones!" He shouts down to the kitchen.

"Bye!" She calls back, not bothering to show her face as she sits at the kitchen counter messaging her boyfriend.

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     SCARLETT SITS BEHIND Jax on his bike, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist as they speed through Charming main street. She's now dressed in a pair of Camille's black jeans and a black t-shirt, as seen as her best friend's closet is made up of all dark colours.

Jax spots something in the distance, and he slows the bike to a stop to get a better look from afar. Scarlett peers over his shoulder at the scene, watching as A.J Weston, the same man Gemma and Scarlett had ran into before they parted ways, is joined with two other men as they march towards Clay, Tig and Opie whilst they leave the barbers. Opie is the first to step forward, offering himself for a street fight.

Knowing nothing good will come of this interaction, Jax looks back at Scarlett. He's about to tell her to get off, but she's already throwing her leg off the bike. She pats his back once she's off before moving back to the sidewalk and he restarts the bike and heads over to his best friend.

Scarlett watches with narrowed eyes as Jax slides between the two groups and starts speaking to his best friend about how a street brawl is never the answer. Until, suddenly, Weston pounces forward and sends a large shove to the side of Jax's bike, causing it to topple over and go crashing to the floor. Knowing how much he adores that bike, Scarlett's eyes widen and she's soon quickening her pace.

"Son of a bitch!" Jax roars, sending Weston flying and smacking into the tarmac road roughly. He then drags him back off the floor by his shirt and runs him over to the nearest car before pressing him against the side of the vehicle so that he's able to land more sufficient punches to Weston's face.

Shoving her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, Scarlett strolls over, watching as Tig and Opie take on the other two men who had been accompanying Weston. She comes to a stop, her lips pursed as the Sons batter around the three men with kicks and punches continuously.

So much for a street brawl is not the answer.

Under stands outside of the barbers with his phone in his hand and his mouth hung open. He glances over at Scarlett and the both of them just shrug at one another, no exactly sure of what to do.

Scarlett knows the Sons are violent when necessary but this seems slightly over the top, and knowing that Jax was the one who started the harsh attack, makes her feel slightly ill.

The wail of sirens echo through the streets and Scarlett knows that all six men are about to be locked up. Releasing a sigh, she decides she doesn't want to be present to watch Jax and her friends get shoved into handcuffs, she spins on her heel and decides to walk the rest of the way home. Jax is too busy delivering punches to even notice her disappearance and as she walks past him, grimacing at the sight of seeing him beat relentlessly upon a man in the middle of public.

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     IT'S MUCH LATER when Jax is finally released and wraps up with Club business. It's dark outside and as he enters the house, none of the lights are on except the dim one in the nursery. He wanders down the hall and enters his son's room. He pauses in the doorway, watching in admiration as Scarlett carefully lays Abel in his cot, whispering sweet words to the small boy. She's obviously just finished feeding him as a half empty bottle of milk sits on the table by the armchair.

"How was your second home?" She's the first speak, sensing his presence by the door, "Cosy as ever, I'm sure."

It takes him a moment to figure out that she's talking about the jail cell.

Sighing, he enters the room and leans against the drawers whilst she backs up and lowers herself down onto the comfortable armchair in the corner, "You doing okay?" He questions, ignoring her previous comment. He notices that the strip is no longer placed across the bridge of her nose, and her shoulder has a fresh bandage on, "How's the nose and the shoulder?"

"Sitting here with him. . ." She nods towards Abel, completely ignoring his question, "Really made me wonder how I fit into all this," She finally looks directly at Jax.

His brows crease, recognising the frustrated expression on her face, "What'd you mean?"

"The violence, the other girls, your goddamn mother," She rolls her eyes in frustration before biting her lip, "This isn't normal."

His lips tip up in an attempt to calm her, "What's normal?"

She ignores him, "Something bad is gonna happen, Jax. To him," She looks at Abel, "To you," Her eyes flick back to Jax, "To us. After my da— Robert , I'm
not sure I can live with this constant fucking feeling."

From her shaky words, Jax soon realise how serious she really is. He frowns gently, and watches as her fingers fiddle in her lap. Hating seeing her with such a tight anxious expression on her face, Jax sighs and says, "Wait here," He directs before pushing away from the set of drawers and leaving the nursery.

Slightly unsure of where he's going or doing, Scarlett's brows furrow but she decides to follow his instructions and doesn't bother following him through the house like a noisy woman. Instead, she raises from the armchair and stands back beside Abel's cot. His eyelids are slowly flickering closed and she smiles down at him happily, admiring how adorable he looks as he tries to fight sleep to keep his eyes on her.

A moment later and Jax re-enters but Scarlett doesn't bother to move until the blonde's hand brushes against her waist before taking ahold of her hand. She sends one last cheeky smile to Abel before allowing Jax to pull her down by her hand onto the sofa.

She looks up at him curiously and noticed how he's not holding a large binder. She's seen him reading it on several occasions, either up on the clubhouse roof or in his dorm room. He's mentioned previously that it belonged to his father, but thar's all she knows about the mysterious brown binder he seems very attached to.

"My dad wrote this before he died," Jax explains, his eyes staring intently back into hers. Her brows raise in surprise, never having thought that John Teller would've written anything, especially something as large as that, "It's his vision for the club, and what went wrong and how to save it. I'm gonna get us out of all of those things that you're afraid of," He says and Scarlett's lips part as she's not entirely sure of what to say, "You stay with me. I promise. . . you'll find your place," He slowly passes the binder over to Scarlett, laying it on her lap.

She stares down at the brown leather cover, noticing the Reaper engraved into the front. She runs a gentle hand over it before pulling it up, revealing the first aged page that's tinted yellow over time.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SAMCROW.
how the sons of anarchy lost their way.
by John Thomas Teller.

Once she's read those short yet meaningful sentences, she slowly turns her head to look back at Jax, who just simply nods at her, giving her permission to look further. Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Scarlett moves onto the next page and Jax watches her carefully as her eyes intently scan the dozens of words. He can clearly tell that she's take in every single word and she's genuinely interested and intrigued by his father's lines.

Jax never removes his eyes from her face, as he knows exactly what she's reading due to how many times he's read and re-read the entire thing. As his eyes slowly study her face, he realises he's never loved her more.

. . .

i have nothing to say other than,
sorry for the lack of updates

word count,
2654

never proof read