Jax was in her closet for what seemed like an hour. He’d looked through her clothes. Picturing her in everything. The smell of her surrounding him. He just couldn’t believe he was in some girls closet. He hadn’t had to do this shit since high school yet here he was, in the closet of his lifelong crush. At least it was a room and not a tiny door.
He heard Heaton’s voice get louder and louder before he heard a door slam shut. Taking that as Heaton leaving, he made his way downstairs, unable to find Leila. “Leila?” He called out as he walked through the enormous rooms he grew more and more concerned until he heard a small noise from behind a closed door. “Lei?” He asked knocking softly on the door.
“Just a second!” She said quietly behind the door.
He heard the water turn on and off and her clearing her throat before she opened the door. Immediately noticing the redness in her eyes, he stepped in closer. “Hey.. hey what’s wrong?” He asked cupping her face in his hands as he brushed his thumbs on her cheeks.
Leila pulled away from him, pulling the collar of her cardigan up over her neck as she looked away from him.“Yeah, uhm. I’m sorry about tonight. Can I take a raincheck? It’s getting late.” She tried to force a smile.
Jax watched intently as she covered her neck with her sweater in twitchy motions, he raised his eyebrow at her skeptically. “Leila.. what’s on your neck?”
“Nothing, Jax, please.” She begged, walking towards the front of the house.
He grabbed her arm gently, turning her around to face him before moving her other hand from holding her sweater shut. Anger instantly immersed him as he saw red fingerprints wrapped around her neck. “Jesus Christ. Did he do this to you?”
Leila felt her eyes burning as tears threatened to fall again. Nobody knew about this. She’d always kept it so well under wraps, but now Jax knew. Breathing in deeply she kept her eyes lowered to the floor. “It’s fine, Jax. He’s just stressed.”
“This shit ain’t okay, Leila. He can’t get away with this.” Jax said, squeezing his fists open and closed as he looked down at her frail figure shaking in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest. He felt her crumble against him, as her small arms wrapped around his waist, digging her face into his chest. He could only imagine how long this had been going on for.
Leila took a deep breath in, biting the corner of her lip before looking back up at him. “Look Jax, this is humiliating enough as it is. You weren’t supposed to see this and I’m begging you not to tell anyone.”
“Let me help you. You could stay with me. He can’t hurt you there” He said reaching a hand out but she stepped back.
“Please go. We’ll hang out some other time.” She pleaded.
He couldn’t force himself on her and with all the anger he had inside it was best he leave. He hung his head and nodded. “Here. Take down my number. I want you to call me if you need anything.” He said exaggerating the word anything.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and took down his number, putting hers in his phone. “Thank you.” She whispered, leaning up against him, pressing her lips against his cheek softly.
“Be careful.” Jax said as he leaned in pulling her into a warm embrace. “I’m just a phone call away.”
Tossing and turning in her bed all night, Leila finally sat up, it was pointless to try an get any sleep. She was mortified that Jax had been there last night. Seen that part of her life. The only relief she had was that Jeff was out of town for the day, but she had to call Jax. She had to make sure this didn’t get out to anyone.
Looking at the clock she saw that it was barely 6 in the morning. The poor guy was probably still asleep but her anxiety got the best of her. Grabbing her phone off of the counter she hesitated for a moment before dialing. What if he thought she was damaged? Psycho? Wanted nothing to do with her? This was a guy she’d only spoken to a handful of times her entire life, more so these last two days but she never wanted to talk to anyone more.
Finding the courage she pressed the call button, listening to the ringing. She fully expected it to go to voicemail but when his voice said hello on the other end, she felt those butterflies all over again. “Uh, hi.” She said timidly.
“Leila?” He asked sounding confused. “Everything okay?”
Sensing the worry in his voice, she instantly regretted having him over last night. “Everything’s fine Jax. Listen, I really need you to promise me last night stays between us.”
A heavy sigh was heard through the phone. “I need you to tell me everything. None of that shit is okay, Lei.”
“Jax.. please. Please just promise me. It was nothing.” She begged, picking at a loose thread on her sheets.
“No. Not until i know you’re safe. I need you to tell me.” He insisted. His voice strong, demanding.
This was so not how this conversation was supposed to go, but she needed him to keep this between them. With a sigh, she reluctantly agreed. “Okay…okay. We’ll meet up for breakfast at a dinner away from Charming.”
“Okay. I’ll come get you.”
“NO.” She panicked before catching herself. “No, people can’t see a bike at my house. It’s daylight out. The diner is about 10 miles north of Charming. I’ll text you the address and meet you there in an hour?”
“Jesus Christ. You have that many people on your ass you need to leave town to do what you want?”
“Well yeah, seeing as I’m meeting with someone on the other side of the law..”
“Okay okay. I’ll meet you there.” He said. Hearing rustling on the phone she assumed he was getting out of his bed.
“Thank you, Jax.” She said softly before hanging up.
Getting out of bed she went to the mirror, in her bathroom to get a good look at the small purple marks the fingerprints left on either side of her neck, with a sigh she washed her face and started applying makeup over them as she always had.
After applying her makeup and tying her hair up in a high ponytail, she threw on a white shirt with light blue denim jeans, grey pointed toe pumps and a large light grey scarf around her neck. Looking in the mirror she made sure the scarf covered almost all of her neck just to be safe before leaving the house.
Jax had gotten to the diner first. Picking a booth in the corner to sit at, he took a deep breath to calm himself. Last thing he wanted to do was scare her away from him, but he was fuming. He always knew Heaton was a piece of shit, but to do this to his own daughter.. he was going to get his. Since last night he hadn’t been able to fall asleep. After he’d left her house he’d gone on a long ride to let out some anger but it didn’t help. Hell he didn’t know why he was even this angry. Sure, he couldn’t stand a man that would put their hands on a woman, but this felt personal.
Hearing the chimes of the diner door opening, he stood up when he saw her, waving her over to him. God she looked beautiful. Like nothing happened last night. Her movements so graceful and light, almost like she floated over to him instead of walked. With that beautiful smile on her face as she greeted him. Giving him a warm hug before sitting across from him at the booth. His eyes immediately falling to the scarf and pictured her worn, teary eyed face last night and the anger rushed through him again.
“Look, Jax. Nobody, I mean nobody can know about this.” She started but he cut her off.
“It’s not about anyone knowing.” He said harshly, quickly gathering himself when he saw her jump a little at the sound of his voice raising. “I’m sorry.” He said, taking a deep breath. “I’m not telling anyone, but I need to know how long this has been going on for Leila. This shit ain’t safe for you.”
Leila sighed, turning her head to look out of the window, she’d never thought she’d be saying this to anyone, much less Jackson Teller whose club her father despised more than anything. “I know it’s not, but I handle it Jax. I’ve handled it for as long as I can remember.”
“Leila, you ain’t gotta handle it. Nobody should be putting their hands on you.” Jax leaned forward taking one of her soft small hands in his. “When did it start?”
Staring down at their hands together, she brushed her thumb gently over his palm. “When I was a kid. When he started running for office..”
“Jesus Christ.” He lowered his head before looking back at her. “What about your mom? I know she passed but didn’t she stop him?”
“She tried.” Leila, sighed, looking up at his hard, concerned face. “He’d do the same to her.” Breathing in deeply, she forced a smile on her face. “Look, he’s not a bad guy. He just really loves his job and would never let anything jeopardize it. Appearances are everything in his world.”
“Leila how can you even say shit like that? Your dad is beating you. Don’t you get that?” He asked louder than he should have.
“Shh!” She hushed him sternly. “Jesus Jax. He’s my father okay? I can’t really complain. He’s given me everything I have.”
“So that makes it okay?!” He threw his hands up in the air shaking his head at her.
“This was a mistake.” She shook her head, grabbing her phone and wallet off the table and standing up.
Jax jumped up grabbing her hand to stop her. He looked down at her small figure as she turned to face him and bit his bottom lip. “I’m sorry. I just can’t stand the thought of you being hurt.”
Leila looked up into his baby blue eyes as his figure towered over her. “It’s not your battle Jax. You haven’t known me long enough.”
“I’ve known you my whole life Leila. Before you ever even spoke to me. It kills me knowing all of those times I’d seen you smiling and laughing were all an act.” He reasoned, motioning his head for them to sit again.
Reluctantly agreeing, she sat back across from him, playing with her nails as he watched her. “He’s not a bad guy. I lead a pretty good life Jax. I have no reason to complain.”
“Lei, you call this a good life? Just because you have nice things? You’re a grown woman with no say over your own life. You need to hide to have any privacy, your father puts his hands on you, and you have 9 people telling you what to do at all times of the day. You got away from all this – why did you come back?” He asked, his eyes burning into hers.
Looking down at her hands, she shrugged. “He said he needed me here for press. His ratings were dropping and his team said I bring them back up.”
“Son of a bitch.” He looked down at the table shaking his head. “You can’t live like this Leila.”
She shrugged her shoulders, taking his rough calloused hand in hers. “Please don’t worry. I can handle this. I don’t want you getting in any trouble with him. He hates you enough as it is.”
Giving her hands a gentle squeeze, he shook his head. “I can’t not worry, but I won’t say anything. My club doesn’t exactly want me near you either.”
Nodding softly, she took a deep breath in. “I guess this is it then.”
“What? Why?” He asked leaning in closer.
“We can’t be seen anywhere together. What are we going to do? Act like strangers in Charming then meet up in different cities anytime we want to hang out?”
“Yeah. If that’s what it takes..” He nodded, hating the thought of them becoming strangers again. This was probably the safest way anyway. With the war going on with the Mayans he couldn’t risk her getting caught in the middle.