Venomous (Jax Teller)

eighteen

Bright lights made Julia's head pound in waves. She felt like they were stabbing into her eyes. She groaned and shut her eyes tight, her fingers rubbing over her temples. She nearly stumbled against a barstool on her way around the club.

"You ok?" Jax came up beside her, placing his hand on her lower back.

Julia nodded, "Yeah, lights still fucking hurt."

It had been a week since the attack. She knew she shouldn't be back just yet. She should wait a while longer until all of the post-concussion symptoms had gone away, but she was too stubborn to stay away for that long. Jax had tried to keep her away, but he could only hold her back for so long before she was able to sneak away.

Jax handed her his sunglasses, "Here."

Julia slipped them over her face, "Thanks. I'll give 'em back later. God, I feel like a douchebag wearing sunglasses inside. It's ridiculous."

Jax just smiled and kissed the side of her head, "Come on. We just gotta get through the meeting, then we'll head over to the hospital. Tara will do your check up and then we can go and see Abel."

Julia only groaned in response as he pushed her towards the chapel. She took her seat, pushing it closer to Jax's and not bothering to even glance in Vince's direction as she did so. Though she certainly felt his eyes on her. She was sure he had tried over a dozen times trying to contact her, but she blocked his number after the 5th call.

Jax took one of her hands under the table and she used her free one to keep her head propped up. She got a few odd looks about the sunglasses, but they didn't dare say anything, practically feeling her deadly glare through the dark lenses.

"How's the head?" Tig asked with a smirk.

"Fine."

"Oh, I was asking him," Tig smirked, laughing at his own dirty joke.

Jax rolled his eyes, "Man, shut up."

"His head's fine too," Julia snapped back half-heartedly.

"I bet it is."

Julia took the deepest breath she could, trying her hardest to convince herself not to jump across the table. Tig always had his head in the gutter. It was only a matter of time before he came for the two of them.

Clay took a seat at the head of the table, signaling the start of their meeting.

"So where are we at with McKeevey's cash?" Jax asked.

"Called in every marker we had. Picked up another 40 grand."

"Bobby got that gig in Laughlin. The owner fronted him the pay already. Here's 5 grand more for the pot," Tig said, slapping down the wad of cash on the table.

"We got 130."

"McKeevey heads back to Ireland tomorrow and he's gonna need his whole 200K by tonight," Chibs said.

The thought of having to get another 70 grand by tonight was making Julia's head feel even worse. They needed the money if they wanted their guns. She didn't give two shits about gun running, but it was the business, and it would be bad for SAMCRO if this fell through.

Clay stuck a cigar in his mouth, "We got one more place left to go. The porn queen."

"Otto's old lady?"

"You wanna ask Luanne for the cash?" Julia raised a brow, "I mean, she's probably got it, but it won't be easy to get her to fork it over."

"Gemma says Luanne is picking up two Gs a week just from ad revenue from her website."