He Use To Be A Son Of Anarchy

Chapter Twenty Two: Equal

Jax was sitting on my couch when I came back from the gas station. I closed the door behind me and went to sit next to him. I was out of breath and struggled to tell him what I had seen.

"Val? Did you run all the way back?" he asked jokingly.

"Had to get away from there as quick as possible. Guy on motorcycle," I said panting.

"A guy on a motorcycle?" Jax asked calmly. I expected him to freak out more than I did, but he seemed to be so calm about the whole thing.

"Aren't you in the least bit worried?"

He laughed gently. "Val, so many people come through here with motorcycles. If I freaked out every time I saw one of them I'd be moving every day."

"Jax, listen to me," I was getting more than a little frustrated with his too calm attitude, "It's not just any guy on a bike. I thought it was too, but then I saw the reaper on his back. Jax, he's part of SAMCRO. And not just any branch, he's from your club."

Still his expression didn't change the slightest. Now I was more confused than frustrated. Why did he care so little?

"No, Jax. This guy was scary. He was asking for info on someone. He offered to pay off the owner's debt," I tried to convey to message a little stronger this time.

"Bernie? He's a gambling addict. It was probably a bookie or something."

"Don't shrug this off. I know what I saw."

Jax sighed. He sat upright.

"Look, Val. Sometimes Sons pass through here. Maybe twice a year. I just keep my head down. Bernie has some serious debt and everyone knows that. He's done some shady shit to try and get out of it. One of that is hiding some very bad people for money. He doesn't do it a lot, but the point is he does. This all started happening a few weeks after I left. He doesn't know who I am. They weren't talking about me."

I didn't believe him. Eeven if it wasn't about him, in such a small town like this... How could no one have spotted him yet? It wasn't possible.

"It's true," he said looking me desperately in the eye. He could obviously tell I didn't believe his story.

I wasn't going to let this go, but at that moment I didn't have much of a choice. Jax might close up again. That's the last thing I wanted. I had to trust him, but how could I? Knowing him, he lies to protect, but I was not weak and I was not stupid.

"Are you sure it's nothing to worry about?" I asked. My eyes were equally desperate and scanning his.

"It's fine," Jax said and kissed my forehead.

I sat back in the couch, taking a moment to gather my thoughts. Then I remembered the other thing that happened. I still had to tell him about Terry. The small petty part within me wanted to keep it to myself. If he wasn't going to tell me the whole truth why should I? But this was my safety. Well, technically we were talking about his too. Why didn't he view them as equally important like I did?

"Terry May was at the gas station. He tried to talk to me," I said giving in.

"What did you do?" Jax asked. There was concern in his voice. Oh, so he was allowed to worry and I wasn't?

God, Val, let it go, I told myself. I was just going to make myself mad and then I'd explode. That would definitely cause him to end this – whatever this was. That was something we hadn't discussed. I mean, we slept together once. Except for him dropping by almost every day after that there wasn't really any sign of where this was heading. Would he be willing to discuss it? What did he even want?

"I told him I'd cut his dick off if he tries anything with me again," I said boldly, feeling slightly proud of myself, basking in this little moment of victory and forgetting about our undefined relationship which I so desperately wanted to define as a relationship.

Jax chuckled. "That's my girl." He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer so that my head was resting on his chest.

"How am I going to get him to stop?"

"You can't. Sheriff Green hasn't been around all week. Rumour has it he had a violent outburst after his last drunk episode and broke his hand. He's at home. All that's left to do is tell Harold May, but he'll tell you his brother is just quirky and make sure you don't press any charges."

"You say that like you've experienced this before."

Jax stroked his hand over my head. "I have. Not with them, but plenty others like them. I know how it works. Family is sometimes more important than doing your job to some people."

I stayed quiet.

"If he tries anything again I'll give you one of my knives. Then you can really cut off his dick. I'll even hold him down for you."

I didn't know if he was serious or not, but I wasn't completely put off by this strange enough. I was more focused on the fact that Jax was willing to protect me. Maybe we wanted the same thing.