JAX

Opie was right. I needed to come home, see my kid, and fuck my girlfriend. As I looked down to my left, I couldn’t help but smile. McKayla was lying on her stomach, all tangled up in the sheets and hugging the pillow to her face. I reached over and gently ran my fingertips along her spine. She shivered and those beautiful eyes of hers fluttered open.

“Hey.” She said softly.

I smiled and slid my hand up to her face and cupped her cheek.

“Hey.”

McKayla rolled onto her side and propped her head up with her arm.

“Did you sleep okay?” She asked me.

I nodded and kept my hand on her.

“Better than I have in a while.” I said truthfully.

Even though she’d only been gone for two weeks, it felt like a lifetime. If I don’t have to, I never want to sleep without her again. McKayla smiled sweetly and pushed herself up to kiss me. I smiled into it and kissed her back. After a few wonderful minutes, she pulled away and slid out of bed.

“I’m gonna get a shower.” She said.

I nodded and watched her make her way to the bedroom door. God she was perfect. Her hips had a natural sway to them when she walked that made me crazy. I bit my bottom lip and heard myself growl deeply. McKayla turned to look at me innocently over her shoulder.

“I think you should come back to bed.” I said to her.

She just rolled her eyes and laughed at me before shutting the door behind her. I sighed and stretched in the now empty bed. I let my eyes wander for the first time and realized that the blankets that were on the bed were not the same ones that I left yesterday morning.

“Hey babe, did you change the sheets?” I called out to her.

“Yeah, they looked pretty nasty.” She yelled back.

I didn’t say anything back. They probably could have used a change. The clock told me I needed to move my ass so I dragged myself out of bed. By the time I was finished getting dressed, McKayla was in the kitchen with Abel, wearing a shirt that I guessed she’d brought into the bathroom with her.

“Got time for breakfast?” She asked me.

I smiled and just looked at her with Abel. Her hair was still wet and hanging around her shoulder. Her cheeks were pink from the heat of the water. She raised her eyebrow at me, waiting for an answer.

“No, I gotta get going.” I told her.

She pouted and I leaned in to kiss her. My hand cupped her face and I held her close to me.

“I love you.” I whispered.

McKayla smiled against my lips.

“I love you too.”

I kissed Abel’s head before grabbing my keys and walking out the door. When I got to the club, everyone else was already there. Gemma saw me from the office and came out to meet me.

“What’s going on today?” She asked.

I shook my head and lit a smoke.

“Club shit.” I said.

She rolled her eyes and stepped in front of me.

“Hey, I’m not just some old lady here,” I cut her off.

“Yes mom, you are.”

With that I pushed passed her and went inside the club house. The guys were all hanging around the bar when I walked in. I nodded at them and we went into Church.

“Okay, we all know what’s going down today right? Jax, take Ope, Chibs and Tig down to the warehouse and pull the plug. If she doesn’t give him up, I’ll have to make a trip up to the Pen and talk to Otto.” Clay said.

We all nodded in agreement and Clay banged the gavel. They guys followed me out to the bikes and we got ready to go.

“Alright, let’s make this as quick and painless as possible. I want this over with.” I told them.

I knew they understood. We fired up our bikes and rode off to the warehouse. Luanne was in the middle of filming when we walked up. I nodded for Opie and Tig to clear the talent out of there. I made my way on to the set and up to the male actor that was about to untie a girls swimsuit bottoms with his teeth.

“Get out of here.” I told him.

He jumped up from his spot and backed away from me. The girl crossed her arms over her chest and looked passed me at Luanne.

“Jax! What the hell are you doing? You just ruined my shot!” She shouted.

I ignored her and tossed the girl a robe that was on the floor.

“Get movin’” I said.

She sighed and walked away from me. Tig and Opie reappeared and Chibs went into the office to get the books.

“Jax, what is going on?” Luanne asked me.

This time I turned to face her. She swallowed hard and instinctively touched her wrists. They had purple bruises around them like bracelets. I felt a sick twist in my gut looking at them, but forced myself not to show it.

“What’s going on is we’re done with you giving us the run around. You’re out of here. We’re pulling our funding and taking the warehouse back.” I said.

Her mouth fell open and she looked at each of us.

“Y-you can’t do that. Without this space I have nowhere to shoot from. I’ll go broke and have to go back to sucking dick. I can’t do that again Jax, I can’t!” She said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

I took a long step towards her and backed her into her directors chair.

“Then tell us where he is.” I said.

The sadness and fear in her eyes turned to anger.

“What do you mean? I did tell you!” She shouted.

I shook my head and leaned in close to her, putting my hands on the arms of the chair. Luanne sunk back as far as she could.

“You’re a lying whore. No one has been in that house in years. I’m done playing games. If you don’t tell us where he is Luanne, taking your business isn’t the worst that’ll happen to you.” I whispered.

She gulped and I saw her start to tremble.

“I’m an old lady. I’m Otto’s old lady, you can’t touch me Jax.” She said.

I smiled a dark smile at her and stood up straight.

“Oh but we can. You stole from the club. That’s a big no-no. You know what we do to thieves. Otto won’t be able to protect you.” Chibs said from behind me.

Luanne let it sink in for a moment. She knew exactly what happens to thieves. They die. A single tear rolled down her cheek and crashed onto her knee.

“He’s gone. He took the money I gave him and left Charming. I don’t know where he is now. You have to believe me.” She said without looking at me.

I studied her and I could tell she was telling the truth. I pushed myself away from her and called the guys into the office.

“What now?” Tig asked.

I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face.

“I don’t know. If he’s using cash, we’ll never be able to track him.” I said.

“What about the cops? They’re investigating the murders. What if we tip them off to Marcus? They’ll be able to find him faster than we ever could and then we can take care of him.” Opie said.

I looked at Chibs, who shrugged and nodded.

“It’s better than nothing.” He said.

I grabbed Opie by the back of his neck and kissed his cheek.

“Let’s get outta here. This place is depressing without pussy.” Tig said.

I laughed and we filed out of the office. Luanne was still in the chair with her head in her hands.

“This is what’s going to happen. You’re going to stay in business, but you give us 100 percent until we’re paid back for everything you took from us. If you try to keep one cent, you’re finished. Got it?” I told her.

She closed her eyes and nodded once.

“Bobby is gonna start doing your books to make sure we’re getting paid.” I said.

Luanne opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it. Good idea. Without another word, we left the warehouse.

“You think Clay will be alright with this? I mean we were supposed to shut this down.” Opie said.

I shook my head and strapped on my helmet.

“Yeah well, at least we’ll be making more money.” I said.

Back at the club house, I gathered everything we had on Marcus while Tig brought Clay up to speed. He caught my gaze from the bar and was glaring daggers. I didn’t say anything to him. I wasn’t in the mood for his ‘stop challenging me’ speeches.

Luckily for me, Unser was still at the station house. He was sitting on a bench outside when I pulled up.

“Christ, now what?” He said as I walked over to him.

I sat down beside him and he passed me his joint.

“I have some information that you’ll want to hear.” I said after I let the sweet smoke out of my lungs.

Unser shook his head and took the joint back.

“It better not be another body. Do you know how bad it looks that there’s been four murders in less than a week?” He said.

I nodded and handed him the folder we had on Marcus.

“That’s why I’m here. We know who did it. We know who killed all four people.”

Unser opened it up and looked through the pages.

“Okay, so why haven’t you uh taken care of him?” He asked.

I sighed and took the joint back off of him.

“He skipped town before we could. That’s why we need you.” I said.

Unser looked at me and closed the folder.

Jax, if we find this guy you have to let me bring him in.” He said.

Without hesitation I nodded.

“Sure. You get the glory of taking a murderer off the streets. No problem.”

I was lying. He knew it too. He knew as soon as they got this bastard back to Charming he was dead. But we also both knew it was the only way to clean this up. Unser sighed and stood up.

“Yeah, right. I’ll let you know if we find him.” He said.

I nodded and handed him back the joint. He shook his head and mumbled something about ‘being too old for this shit’ as he walked back in the building. I sighed and stood up as well and got on my bike and headed for the club house.

It had been a hell of a long day. But since we turned the search over to Unser, I felt a little lighter. Maybe now we could focus on normal shit, like running guns. As I pulled up to the club, I saw Clay sitting at the picnic table. Christ, what does he want now? I parked my bike and made my way over to him. I wanted this over with as soon as possible.

“Whatever you’re gonna say, just say it.” I said.

He shrugged and took a drink of his beer.

“It was a good play passing it to Unser. I would’ve done the same thing.” He said.

I raised my eyebrow and he nodded.

“And making Luanne give us 100 percent of the profit was smart.”

I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. Was this the same Clay that I left earlier today? I shook my head and started to walk towards the door.

“How are things with your girl?” He asked.

I stopped. I knew something was up now. I spun on my heel and looked at him.

“Fine. Why?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Why did she come back early again?” He asked, this time without looking at me.

I paused before answering. What the hell was he getting at?

“She had some issues with her family. Why?”

A smile spread across his face and he pulled something out of his pocket.

“You sure about that?” He said.

Now I was getting pissed. I got closer to him and put my hands on the table.

“What the hell are you getting at Clay?” I asked.

He slid the piece of paper over to me so I could read it. It was a business card. A lawyer’s business card.

“Isn’t it funny that she comes home early and doesn’t even tell you? I’ll bet she’s even been asking you to go into details about the club, am I right? Not to mention she’s met with this guy at least twice since she’s back.” He said.

I could barely hear him now. All I could think about was McKayla ratting us out. It makes sense now why she wanted me to tell her everything last night. My head was spinning. Clay didn’t say anything for a while. Finally, he stood up and put his hand on my shoulder.

“She’s nothing but a slut Crow Eater. Find out what she’s telling this guy and take care of it. Now.” He whispered.

I clenched the card in my hand and stuffed it far down into my pocket.