Fireworks began to go off in tune with the music. Everyone was enjoying the food, the games, the shows. Her father had pulled out all the stops. It wasn’t a surprise. This wasn’t for her. This was all for a story in the paper. All for his ratings. Leila wanted nothing more than to be at her new home to set up and have a night to herself but now it was all about appearances.
Old friends had shown up. Hers and her father’s. They’d spoken about how much she’d grown, how different she was, how exciting it was to have her back. All of it was bullshit. Yes she was happy to see old faces but it was all fake. She’d moved away, had a fresh start in LA where she was normal. The friends she’d met there were real. They were genuine. It wasn’t because of her last name – they liked her for her. Now she was back. She’d been here for about an hour and still hadn’t even seen her father. Yet she knew he’d make a big speech about how glad he was that she was back and how close they were.
Rolling her eyes at the thought she excused herself from the group and moved through the crowd, looking for anywhere people weren’t. Finally she spotted a clearing by the river and took a seat at the bench. All these blurred faces. The names she’d have to remember. The plastered smiles. She leaned back against the back of the bench looking up at the globe string lights hanging above the seating and hummed to herself. Her mother would’ve found this just as ridiculous as she did. Leila’s mother passed away of lung cancer when she was 15 and since then she’d always felt a part of her was missing but she could never express that or anything to her father.
The rustling sound of leaves startled Leila, but when she turned around she saw the blonde haired man from earlier in the day. A sudden tranquility spread over the atmosphere. She’d seen him around town since she was a child but she was warned to stay away from him because of his family. Taking a look at him now, she regretted keeping away. His long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, the muscles protruding from his t-shirt.
“Mind if I take a seat?” His deep voice breaking the silence.
She hesitated momentarily after noticing the leather vest on his back but agreed politely, turning her head to look at the water, crossing one leg over the other.
“I’m Jax” He said, turning his body towards her as he threw one arm over the back of the bench.
A blush crept over her cheeks, she knew his name. Everyone knew his name but not wanting to seem like a stalker, she smiled and introduced herself. “I’m Leila.”
“What’re you doing all the way over here by yourself? Don’t you know there’s a party happening all for you?” He asked somewhat sarcastically.
Shaking her head, Leila let out a bitter laugh. “You know this wasn’t about me.”
Jax smiled over at her, “Yeah, Heaton always has a way of doing that.”
“You know I haven’t seen him since I got back?” She started, “First thing I did was go to his office and his assistants told me he was in meetings the rest of the day and they took me here.”
“Ouch.” He mumbled, unable to get out much else. He know Heaton was a dick but not to his own daughter.
She laughed quietly knowing she’d said too much. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that. What’re you doing all the way out here?”
Laughing shyly he ran a hand over his head. “Honestly? I wanted a minute alone with you. Not to sound creepy or anything. You’ve just been surrounded all night.”
Leila raised her eyebrow skeptically. “A minute alone with me? Why?”
“Just had to see what the fuss was about.” He joked.
She smiled softly at him, moving a stray hair behind her ear. “Well I’m sorry to disappoint.”
“Nah you –” He was about to speak when he heard Heaton calling Leila’s name over the microphone.
“Guess I finally get to see my father. It was nice meeting you Jax.” She got up slowly, adjusting her clothes before shooting him a smile and heading back towards the stage.
Jax watched as she disappeared in the crowd. The sweet smell of her perfume lingering behind. It took him a second to snap out of the moment they’d had. He’d finally gotten a minute alone with her. Even though in his head there would be less talking and less clothes, this worked out just as well. Least she knew his name now.
As he listened to Heaton talk about his daughter over the speakers he couldn’t help but think that she was completely different than he’d imagined. Seemed like she hated her father just as much as the rest of them. The whole thing actually made him feel bad for her. He laughed to himself at the notion. The outlaw feeling bad for the privileged girl with daddy issues.
After finishing a cigarette he made his way back to Gemma’s booth. Judging by the look on her face, his mother had noticed his disappearance. “Jackson you better have one hell of a reason for going missing on me like that. I had half the guys looking for you.”
With a charming smirk he wrapped an arm over his mother’s shoulder. “I do, Ma. It’s just nothing you’d understand.”
Loud ringing filled the room at 7AM waking Leila up from her sleep. Patting her hand on her nightstand to find her phone, she placed it to her ear, “Hello?” she murmured still not opening her eyes.
“Have you seen the paper this morning?”
“Dad?” She opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep from them.
“Yeah, have you seen the fucking paper this morning?” The irritation in his voice caused her to sit up immediately.
“No? Why?” She got out of bed, pulling on a white silk robe and running down the stairs.
“Well let me fill you in! Leila Heaton, daughter of Jeffrey Heaton caught cozied up with member of Sons of Anarchy..” He yelled over the phone.
She whipped open her front door and grabbed the paper. Right on the first page was a picture of her and Jax on the bench. “Oh god!” She mumbled, horrified.
“Do you know how bad this looks?! You’re first day back and already you fuck things up!”
“Look, dad, I’m sorry! Nothing was going on! I went for some air and he was there too.” She was telling the truth. Sure she felt a connection with him, but cozied up was far from the situation. This is the exact reason she didn’t want to be here. She heard him yelling at other people over the phone before it went silent when he hung up.
She threw her hands on her face and threw herself down on her couch. “What the fuck!” She screamed out, letting it echo throughout the house.
“Jax, Church in 15!” Half Sacks voice came through the door.
Jax opened his eyes slowly, taking a minute to wake up. He looked next to him to see a naked woman still sleeping. For a split second he got excited when he saw her blonde hair but quickly snapped out of it. He hadn’t gone home with Leila last night, which strangely upset him more than it should.
He nudged the woman next to him until she woke up and told her to get out before taking a quick shower. After throwing on a white shirt and jeans he pulled on his cut and headed out of the dorm room to the chapel where the rest of the guys were heading in.
He saw a newspaper on the table as he took his seat next to Clay. “What’s this?”
Clay pushed the paper over in front of Jax. “Guess who made the front page?”
As attention turned towards the the VP, he took a minute to read it over. “Jesus Christ. Gemma must be having a field day.”
“Yeah well, we’ll have to worry about Heaton more than Gemma at the moment.” Clay said sternly.
“Couldn’t find anywhere else to stick your dick in? Just had to be the Leila Heaton, huh? You know this puts the club on the radar what were you thinking?!” Tig chimed in.
Jax couldn’t explain the rush of anger he felt hearing her talked about that way but for the sake of keeping things quiet he calmed himself down. “I didn’t fuck Heaton’s daughter. She was sitting on the bench and i talked to her for a minute before her father gave his speech. That’s it.”
“Stay away from her Jackie. We can’t have this kind of attention in the middle of a war with the Mayans.” Chibs said.
As much as it hurt him to hear it. He looked up at the faces of his brothers who were all nodding and agreed. “Club comes first, I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it. You ain’t gotta to worry about me.”
They all nodded in approval and Clay went on to talk about the next order of business. Jax was visibly angry at the whole thing. Keeping his eyes on the paper he couldn’t help but think how good they looked together. She was beautiful. Pristine and calculated for the most part but he’d seen a different part of her last night. And he wanted more.