𝖍𝖔𝖑𝖉 𝖒𝖊 𝖙𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙

𝖔𝖓𝖊

friday night, charming, california

"lina, we need more beer!" the sound of hunter trager's drunken voice made its way across the room, snapping his longtime girlfriend out of her trance as she leaned on the bar in the clubhouse. the music was bumping and there was booze and pussy everywhere, a real good time in the eyes of the bikers that occupied the teller-morrow compound most of the time. if was honest, she found it equal parts comforting and repulsive, but it took a special type of person to get comfortable in a place like this.

samcro was there her whole life, though, so she had all the time in the world to settle in. when she was born, her father was one of john teller's best mechanics. while he wasn't a part of the club, he was still a part of the dysfunctional family built by the club. when her mother took off, she was only four, and that left warren herveaux no choice but to bring her around. lucky for julina, gemma teller didn't let that garage raise a little girl, and she ended up at the teller house playing with jax and opie more than she would've liked. and even with things getting as chaotic as they could, she had to admit she still loved every second of the life. well, maybe not fetching beers, but you get the gist.

the slim woman snuck behind the bar and tried to ignore everyone laughing, making out and shouting profanities, grabbing a cold bottle for hunter, who she could see plopped down on the couch across the room with two women around their on either side of him. her blood started to boil as she narrowed her eyes, letting them trial up their primarily silicone bodies, reminding herself why she felt so grossed out at parties like these. hunter was another one of those playdate buddies from her childhood, seeing how he was tig's son. for some reason, he was always around more than his daughters, not that julina could say she minded since she always thought they were a little too much to handle. and by the time lina hit puberty, she knew he liked her.

"julina herveaux, i'm gonna marry you one day."

julina could remember it like it was yesterday. she and everybody else out in the yard that day could also remember her laughing at him, which of course made her laugh now. if you were to ever tell her that she'd end up an old lady, she wouldn't have believed you. for lina, old ladies were strong women like gemma teller or luanne delaney, and for some reason, she just never saw herself like that. and when she did catch herself dreaming about a biker, it wasn't hunter. of course, here we are, so thoughts like that don't exist anymore. that was over ten years ago by now and a lot had changed.

as she started to make her way back through the people, she felt her feet tangle up in one another and her shoulder accidentally bump into the aforementioned biker she used to dream of. for as long as lina could remember, teller had every girl in charming drooling over him, so it was hard for her not to jump on the train herself. but again, that was in the past too. or at least that's what she liked to tell herself. when she started dating hunter in high school, it was like she forgot about jax until he started going around with tara. lina was happy. so she never could understand why it pissed her off so bad. she even convinced herself that she was just looking out for her friend, and tara gave her a bad feeling, but deep down, she knew it was still that childish crush she had on him. when he moved on with wendy, she couldn't use the same excuse she did with tara and just forced herself to be happy for him.

"slow down darlin'," the blonde male laughed, now standing right in front of her. out of habit, lina looked up to meet his blue eyes and felt her breath catch in her throat. she could feel how dumb she looked, and she hated it, so she forced herself to speak. "sorry, jax," she started with a small chuckle, finally breaking their eye contact and looking down, "i wasn't paying attention." she admitted, to which he laughed at again. "don't worry, jules, i know you have two left feet." he teased, and she instantly felt a hot blush fill her cheeks. the feeling she got from this minimal exchange of conversation reminded her of the guilt she felt back in high school. it jump started her train of thought and she forced herself to pick her eyes up from the floor, this time not focusing too much on jax himself, rather than his vicinity. "very funny." she rolled her eyes playfully. as she did, she caught a glimpse of her boyfriend, who was now only a few feet away from her. "i have to go bring this over to the king before he has a fit," the brunette nodded her head over at him, picking fun at the slight god complex hunter always had.

as she tried to take her next step, julina suddenly felt a hand grab onto her arm. it made her tense up, jax was touching her. "hey," his voice was gentle, but he wanted her attention. and boy, did he get it. she found herself locking eyes with him again, this time she swore those damn things were sparkling. "i like talking to you, don't be a stranger." she couldn't tell if she was delusional or not, but she was pretty sure he sent a wink her way with his invitation.

no, he couldn't have. they've been friends forever and he knew she and hunter were serious. hell, she can't even count on one hand how many times hunter's gathered up the boys to beat on some random losers that have hit on her in the past. it was probably just done out of habit, she knew he'd been laying it on a little thick with the ladies lately, what with all the stress surrounding wendy and abel, but hopefully, things would start to turn out alright for him. abel was finally home and tonight's guest of honor, and wendy was as far from that precious boy as gemma could get her. she even heard tara was back in town, so she guessed things really were looking up for jax.

she shook all the thoughts racing around her head when she approached her spot on the couch; hunter's lap. "takes that long to get a drink and ya can't even open it for me?" his words would've sounded harsh to anyone else, but they honestly didn't phase julina anymore. she knew being a dick was pretty much just genetics for hunter, and more often than not, he was only teasing her. with the slight shift of her leg, she was comfortable, and it seemed like every other woman glued to the leather upholstery migrated about two feet from the couple once she was. it actually made her smile a bit, but she didn't get too cocky. her honey eyes scanned the room now that she had a better view of it all, genuinely smiling now. everyone had a smile on their face or another face on their face, and her heart melted to see everyone happy; even if it only was for the night.

she wore that smile until her eyes landed on a familiar head of blonde hair. the dulling of a smile wasn't usually something that came to mind when julina thought of seeing jax, but it wasn't about him. it was about who he was with. who he was kissing. she was madder at herself for caring, and for that reason, she pried her eyes away from jax and tara's direction as fast as she could. she felt his callused hand wrap around her upper thigh now that he'd used what seemed to be all his strength to get the cap off the glass bottle he was now sucking on like a baby. "what were you and jax talking about?" hunter's sudden question caught her off guard, still not really in the right mindset. "what?" she furrowed her brow before realizing he meant the brief encounter they had on her way over. they were right in front of him, he obviously saw it; not that there was anything to see. "oh," she remembered, letting her tense shoulders fall back into their natural stature. "yeah, that was nothing. just got in his way." that wasn't necessarily a lie, but what was she supposed to tell him? that she got butterflies every time she talked to jax? one of his closest friends and his vice president? not going to happen.

"of course you did, clumsy." her boyfriend teased, squeezing her leg before completely snaking his strong arms around her small frame, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "i love you." he always told her he loved her like he was saying it for the first time, and that's how she knew he meant it. one last time, she looked across the room for jax. he had tara wrapped up in his arms in a similar way she was cuddled up with hunter, and he was looking at her too. the eye contact didn't bother her so much this time, for whatever reason, and it seemed easier for her to look away, letting her nuzzle back into her boyfriend's arms. "i love you too."