Fly By Night | Sons of Anarchy Fanfiction | Jax Teller x OC

Chapter Two

The Charming Cafe was as good a place as any to meet. As the town's one and only greasy spoon, just about every resident had slid into one of its booths at some point, and Luann and Gemma had a standing lunch date here every Wednesday afternoon. Jax had lucked out when Gemma was able to get ahold of Luann in time to move their lunch to a late dinner. So now, as he sat beside his vice president, with his mother and club treasurer on the other side of the large booth, all they had to do was wait for Luann to show.

He didn't want this to be an ambush. He wanted Luann to feel safe, which was why he'd dragged Gemma along, and he wanted her to stay put, which was why he'd chosen a well-known, heavily-patroned town establishment that would make it very hard for her to bolt or make a scene. Luann Delaney was a lot of things and had made some pretty stupid decisions, but she wasn't dumb enough to risk her reputation by throwing a temper tantrum in public, at one of her favorite Charming haunts no less.

After they'd left Sweet Productions earlier, it was clear what the club needed to do. Church was just a formality by that point and the vote had been swift and unanimous. The only reason Jax decided to handle this situation with kid gloves was out of respect for Luann's old man. Otto was one of the best of them, if not the best, and after the club lost its first president, Otto had stepped in to help make that void in Jax's life a little bit smaller. Nothing and no one would ever replace JT - not even Clay had come close - but Jax owed Otto a debt he knew he'd never be able to fully repay.

All that goodwill only took Luann so far. She'd overstepped and taken advantage in a way he still couldn't wrap his head around. She would have to answer for that and accept the consequences.

He didn't give a shit if she liked it or not.

"She's late," his mother muttered from across the booth. Gemma dipped a hand into her flashy purse and pulled her phone out, checking for any signs of life from her best friend. When she didn't find what she was looking for, she sighed and tossed her phone back into her purse.

"She always late?" Jax asked as their waitress topped off their coffee. It was really just a poor stand-in for a beer, but he wasn't sleeping much these days anyway. A little caffeine wouldn't hurt him.

Gemma huffed a little and blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Not really. I have a feeling she might be onto me, or, onto you, is probably more like it."

"Yeah, well," Opie leaned his elbows on the table, his long face serious as a heart attack. "She's just gonna have to get over it."

Gemma blew out an exasperated breath and shook her head. "I'm not tryin' to tell you to go easy on her or anything. I'm just sayin', is all."

His VP grunted in agreement, which was probably the best Gemma was going to get where Luann was concerned. Lyla had sworn up and down she'd had no idea about any of the safety issues at Cara Cara, and when she did hear about them, it had taken a good hour for Opie to talk her down from calling Luann right then and there. They didn't need Luann to get tipped off - it was anyone's guess what she would've done had that happened. Probably would've run for the hills, taking what was left of Cara Cara - and the club's only real legitimate business prospect at this point - with her.

Jax glanced at Bobby, who'd been all but mute since they sat down at the booth. Even through his gnarly beard and soft features, he looked like he was going to throw up. Jax threw him a reassuring grin, but even that didn't feel natural. No one was going to relish this. No one wanted to have to do this. But here they were.

As if on cue, Luann breezed through the cafe's carousel doors without a care in the world. Dressed in her usual uniform of tight denim jeans and even tighter low-cut top, she lifted her sunglasses into her hair, her heavily-lined eyes searching for her best friend at their usual table. If Luann had any ideas about what this was really about, her poker face was pretty damn good. She started sauntering toward their table until her eyes finally zeroed in on the fact that Gemma wasn't alone.