After taking Mina home that night, Jax had one more issue to take care of before he could rest for the night. Chris still tied up at the warehouse and Jax was going to see to it that he never bothered his girl again. He’d warned this fucker once and there were no second chances. This bastard didnt know when to cut his losses and leave so now he was getting everything that was coming to him.
He pulled up to the warehouse with Rat and was lead to the back where a sleeping Chris was tied up to a chair. Jax walked up to the man slapping his head to get him awake. Chris jolted straight as his eyes widened looking at Jax. “Wha.. what’s going on?! Why am I here?”
Jax smirked and crossed his arms over his chest, standing in front of him. “I told you to leave Mina alone and where do I find you again? This is the second time after my warning that you were around the shop.” He laughed as he remembered what Mina had done to him. “I think she’s made it clear that she doesn’t want you around either.”
Chris stared at Jax. Angry but terrified at the same time. He wasn’t really in a position to argue. “I just need to talk to her man. Stupid bitch won’t listen!”
Jax cocked his arm back and swung, hitting Chris in the jaw causing the man to yell out in pain. “She doesn’t need to listen to anything you have to fuckin’ say. Should’ve moved on when you had the chance man.”
“What are you going to do? Kill me? And then what? You and her go live some amazing life?” He let out a snarky laugh. “Do you know how fucked in the head that girl is? No you don’t! You don’t know shit about her!”
Jax’s eyes flashed dark. He may not know enough about Mina but he wasn’t going to let this piece of shit talk about her like that. He hit the man again and leaned over looking him in the eyes. “I’d be careful as to how you talk to her. It determines how quick I make this.”
Chris spit out blood on the floor. “What do you expect, Teller?” He looked up at Jax’s dark angry eyes. “You’re going to get her to marry you? Live happily ever after? That girl will never stay in one place for too long. This was never about me cheating on her. It’s just her running away when things get hard. She doesn’t do commitment. So take your own advice and move one now that you have a chance.”
Jax finished him off quickly after that talk but it got him thinking. He’d been so focused on his own issues, he hadn’t gotten to know anything about Mina. Yeah, he knew she loved to cook, her favorite movies, her favorite books, songs, hobbies, but she never talked about anything beyond that. The most she’d told him about her life was the day of she had to visit her mothers grave. He needed to know more. Pay more attention to her. He wanted to try harder to be there for Mina. No wonder anytime he mentioned being with her she’d brush it off. None of that mattered though, she was his best friend. His soulmate. His Mina. He called Lowen at 10pm that night and drove over to sign the paperwork. He couldn’t hold off any longer. He needed to give this thing with her a shot, especially after all that she’d done for him today.
Mina got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body before towel drying her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and didn’t recognize the person in the mirror. She could see how tired she looked. She wiped her eyes and walked to her bedroom putting on light grey cotton shorts and a navy cotton beater tank top. She let her hair dry naturally and pulled a fluffy grey robe over her.
While she was grabbing a beer from the kitchen, she pulled out some shrimp to defrost along with some fettuccine for dinner. She figured Jax might be hungry after the day he had, they hadn’t eaten at all. The door opened and shut as she filled a pot of water to boil. “Jax? I’m making dinner, go get cleaned up!” She yelled out the doorway.
“Jax, huh?” An angry voice caught her attention and she turned around to see her sister leaning against the doorframe.
Mina rolled her eyes and took a pull of her beer. “Always a pleasure, Addy.”
Adrianna crossed her arms over her chest and grabbed the beer bottle from Mina’s hands. “I told you to stay away from them.”
Mina snatched the bottle back from her sister and pointed her finger in her face. “I told you to mind your own business.”
She didn’t even see the slap coming as she flew back into the counter. “You watch how you talk to me. You were taught to show respect and so help me god you will. After all the shit I’ve done for you, it’s the least you could do. I’m sick of this little attitude you have going on.” Adrianna stood over her, pointing her finger at her younger sister.
Letting out a laugh, Mina wiped her lip to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. “Adrianna, get out of this house, or so help ME god, I will throw you out the goddamn window. I don’t know who made you queen, but last time I checked, I was the one who saved your ass from getting raped. I was the one who took beatings when you disobeyed mom. What did you do? Feed me to the goddamn sharks cause you were her little pet! Get the fuck out, Addy.”
Adrianna froze as she stared at her sister in anger. “How fucking dare you?! I always stood up for you! Always! It wasn’t my fault you always wanted to start shit with everyone!”
Mina grabbed Adrianna by the throat and slammed her against the wall. Her sister’s hands flew to her wrists as she held her throat tightly. “You haven’t done shit for me. I’m so sick of not having any control over my life. I thought for sure when she died, I’d be able to have a fresh start but no. You wouldn’t let that happen, would you?”
A cleared throat caught their attention and Mina looked over to see Jax before turning to face her struggling sister. She released her grip and Adrianna adjusted herself. “This is all from hanging out with these disgusting people.”
Stepping closer to Adrianna, Mina glared into her sister’s eyes. “The only disgusting person I associate with is just leaving.”
She nodded her head towards the door and Adrianna backed away. “Well good luck with whatever you have with him. We’re selling the house and moving back to Macon.” She yelled over her shoulder as she walked downstairs slamming the door behind her.
Jax looked at Mina in shock. “You’re leaving?” Mina held her stomach like the air just got knocked out of her. Just when she’d found herself a place she could stay and settle in, she hits her with this. She stared at the ground as her eyes started to water. Jax stepped closer and lifted her chin up to face him. “Mina. You can’t leave me.”
She took a seat on the chair and leaned her elbows on her knees, laying her head in her hands. She brushed her hair back after wiping her tears and staring at the ground. “She’s right. We have to sell the house.”
He kneeled down in front of her, placing a hand on her cheek, locking eyes with her. “Then you can stay with me. I’ll buy us a house, anything you want babe. Don’t leave.”
Looking into his eyes she began to tear up again. “Jax. You have Tara. Don’t make promises like that.”
Jax wiped her tear and leaned his forehead against hers. “I signed the divorce papers. I want you Mina. I need you here. By my side.” She searched his eyes for the truth and saw it. A warmth came from his begging eyes and he leaned in closing the distance between them, pressing his lips against hers. She hesitated a moment before closing her eyes and placing her hands on his cheeks to pull him closer, deepening the kiss.
He swore he saw stars as she deepened the kiss. He’d never felt anything like this. Not with Tara. Not with anyone. It was soft and passionate. It was Mina. He didn’t need to know every hidden truth behind what made her the way she was. She was his perfect Mina. It all felt so right. He placed his hands on her hips pulling her closer to his body, feeling the warmth of her body wrap around him.
Mina pulled away from the kiss slowly. She looked down in his eyes as he leaned his forehead against hers. Her soft small hand, rubbing his cheek softly as she gave a small smile. He turned his face to kiss her hand lightly. “I love you, Mina.” he whispered against her skin.
She smiled lightly and kissed his lips lightly, whispering against them. “I love you too.”
“I’m sorry you lost a man. Anything that gets in the way of the cause is just collateral damage to the IRA.” Jax said as he stood in front of Patterson, hands in his pockets.
Paterson paced around slowly, keeping her hands together in front of her. “Don’t insult me. That wasn’t just the IRA. You knew all about Clay Morrow’s transport. That’s what the wild gun chase was all about – to divert my manpower.”
“And without that diversion, you’d have had a lot more dead sheriffs.” Jax argued, a bit louder.
Paterson stepped closer to the man. “You expect me to believe that your lies and bullshit maneuvering was to protect my people?”
“Believe what you want. I did everything I could to make this work. You got your man and the shipment.” Jax nodded his head at the DA.
“Well, clearly, it didn’t work for everyone. What happened to Morrow? Why take such huge risks just to try and kill each other?” Paterson stated getting more heated.
“Look, they had 20 years of history together. Both on and off the IRA table. Now my guess is, whatever deal they had set up went bad. “ Jax shrugged innocently.
The DA scoffed. “There’s a lot of that going around.”
“I know it’s not the way you wanted it, but from what I’ve seen on the news, I delivered everything as promised. KG-9’s, IRA supplier, local dealer. I held up my half of the deal.” Jax argued.
Paterson nodded and smirked. “You’re a very smart man, Mr. Teller. I can see how you’ve risen to your rank.”
Jax nodded slowly. “Unfortunately, I inherited it. “
“Mm, we all have a destiny.” She grinned at him.
“Maybe.” Jax agreed.
“We’ll have to finish our investigation. Then I’ll decide if you kept up your end of the deal.” She crossed her arms over her chest looking at the young man.
Jax raised and lowered his eyebrows. “Yeah.” he said as he walked turned to walk off.
“Oh and Jackson?” Paterson added as Jax looked over his shoulder at her. “That new girl of yours is quite the catch. Can’t say I’ve met an outsider so loyal.”
Jax looked at her confused for a moment before his face flashed anger. “You leave Mina out of any of this.” He said warningly before walking away.
“How’d that go?” Tig asked, pointing towards the DA who was getting into a car.
The president shook his head. “She knows she got played. She also knows she got what she needed. We got to wait and see how it lands.”
Tig nodded in agreement and Chibs spoke up. “Well, I got ahold of Conner, told him to take the guns to Wahewa.”
Jax nodded. “Okay. You good?” He asked his guys and they nodded in agreement before the men headed out.
Mina had been texting Jax at every free moment. He’d let her know about the talk with the DA and asked him to meet her at the cabin later so Mina headed over there after her shift. She pulled up to see Jax’s bike missing so She pulled her car into the driveway next to a blue SUV and walked inside to see a few of the members hanging around. “Hey guys.” She spoke up catching their attention and saw Juice heading to the back room. “How is he?” she asked Rat nodding her head towards Bobby’s room.
Rat shook his head as he stood to move closer to Mina. “He’s alright. Tara’s kept him doped up the whole time so he doesn’t feel the pain.”
She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “Shit. Is that whose car is outside?”
Rat nodded and put a hand on her shoulder. “But don’t worry. She’s not going to start trouble. She’s been on a very tight leash with Jax.”
Mina quirked her eyebrow as she cocked her head to the side. “She’s not a dog Rat, there is no leash.”
Rat laughed and squeezed her shoulder. “Sure. You should go say hi to Bobby. Might cheer him up.”
Mina nodded and put her bag down on the table before making her way to the back room. Opening the door slowly, she heard Bobby grunting and frowned quickly before smiling at him once their eyes met. “Hey gramps, how you holdin’ up?”
“Gramps, huh?” He let out a painful laugh and Tara scoffed, walking out of the room, bumping her shoulder against Mina’s. She shook her head and sat next to Bobby on the bed. “Ignore her. What brings you by?”
She smiled and put a hand over his lightly. “To check on my favorite old man. “ She laughed and rubbed circles on his hand with her fingertips. “How are you holding up, hun?”
He grunted and nodded his head over to the cigarettes. “I’ll be alright, doc’s takin’ good care of me.”
Mina nodded and handed Bobby a smoke, lighting it for him before lighting one for herself. “You’ll be up and riding in no time.” She took a pull and held the smoke for a little while before blowing it out.
“You talk to Jax?” Bobby asked blowing out his own smoke.
She leaned her head back against the headboard and nodded. “Yeah, he asked me to meet him here.”
“Seems that boy needs you around a lot.” Bobby chuckled adjusting himself on the bed.
“Everybody needs somebody, Bobby. Everybody needs somebody.” She smiled down at him.
“You’re a smart woman, darlin’, how’d you end up in this hell hole?” He took another pull.
Mina’s eyes flashed dark as she got up off the bed. “I’ll go grab us some beers.”
“That bad, huh?” He laughed as he watched her leave the room.
Mina stubbed out her cigarette and walked over to the kitchen, ignoring Tara at the table while she grabbed two beers.
“He can’t drink, he’s been heavily medicated.” Tara spoke up as she stood and crossed her arms.
“He’ll be fine.” She said as she went to walk out the door.
Tara scoffed and stepped closer behind her. “Sure, cause the whore would know more than a doctor.”
Mina stopped and turned to face Tara. “I’m sorry, you seem to think a little highly of yourself here. You lost your license didn’t you? How about you take that down a notch.”
Tara’s face scrunched in anger as she stepped to face Mina. “You’re right. I lost everything because of this goddamn club. I’m just glad the same thing’s going to happen to you.” She pushed past Mina to walk outside for air.
The younger woman slammed the beer down on the table and followed Tara outside. “You seem to have a lot to say about someone you don’t know.”
Tara crossed her arms and turned to look at Mina. “I don’t need to know anything about you! You’re nothing to but Jax’s new interest for the time being. It’s happened more than once sweetheart, don’t think you’re special. When the going gets tough, Jax digs himself in the nearest available gash!’
Mina bit her lip in anger. “I’ve told you more than once that I’ve never slept with Jax! Maybe if you weren’t busy faking pregnancys and framing his family, you’d get the chance to see that. What kind of woman does that? Breaks a persons heart like that? You’re nothing but a manipulative bitch!”
Tara shoved Mina hard and pointed her finger at her. “Don’t act like you know ANYTHING about what I do for MY family!”
Mina shoved Tara and yelled over her. “You don’t have a family!”
Tara slapped Mina hard and Mina had had enough of people pushing her around. She ran at Tara and tackled her to the ground. After the women rolled around for a bit, Mina landed on top and swung hard, hitting Tara in the face over and over again as Tara tried to reach for Mina’s throat.
“What the fuck!” Rat yelled as he ran out of the cabin. The bikes pulled up and Jax almost dropped his bike running over to help Rat pull the women apart.
“Enough!” He yelled keeping his arms spread between the two women who were heavily breathing.
“You crazy bitch!” Tara yelled as she wiped blood off of her busted lip. “This who you want your boys to grow up around?!” She pointed a finger a Mina while she looked at Jax. Jax put his arms down in defeat and before he could say anything, Tara walked quickly to her car and pulled out of the lot.
He told Rat to follow her quickly before. He turned to look at Mina as the rest of the group circled around him. “What happened?” He asked, his tone louder than he’d meant it, locking eyes with her.
She shook her head and ran her hands over her face. “Not a goddamn thing.” she pushed past Jax and walked inside to grab her purse before leaving.
“Mina?” Jax knocked on the bathroom door, “Babe, come on. Let me in.” He begged but got no answer. He leaned his forehead against the door and sighed. “I’m not leaving until you open this door.” The door cracked open and he stepped inside, to see Mina sitting on the countertop wiping her eyes with a towel wrapped around her small frame. “Hey. Hey, babe, you gotta talk to me. This is the third time I’ve caught you crying.” he wrapped his arms around her, placing one hand on the back of her head as she dug her face into her neck, his other hand tracing the outline of her tattoo on her upper back.
Mina sniffled quietly and pulled away from the hug looking up at him. “I’m so sick of having no control over my life, Jax.” She threw her hands up with a fake laugh, “Hell, I don’t even have a life! All I do is work.” she put her face in her hands. “I’m losing my fucking mind here.”
He kissed the top of her damp hair, “How about I cook us some dinner, you pick a movie, and you can tell me all about it?” he lifted her chin up so she’d face him. “I’ve been selfish, babe. It’s your turn to lean on me.”
She smiled softly and wiped her eyes. “You can cook?”
He laughed lightly and nodded. “You’d be surprised.”
With a nod, she jumped off the counter and headed for the bedroom. Jax couldn’t help but run his eyes over her back, the way the towel clung onto her curves and hit her upper thigh that lead to those long tan legs. He bit his lip hard and wanted nothing more than to follow her in there, but he needed to do it right this time. Mina was something special, he didn’t want anything to fuck this up.
She pulled on a pair of skinny sweatpants and a loose vneck t-shirt, letting her hair dry naturally. She pulled on her fluffy robe before walking into the kitchen and took a seat at the table as she watched him cook. “Thank you for this.” She smiled at him.
“You do it for me all the time, least I can do.” He smiled as he flipped the pieces of chicken over in the pan. “Wanna tell me what happened with Tara?”
Mina looked down at the ground and shrugged. “I guess I could only take so much. She always has something to say and this time – I just couldn’t hold back.”
“Wanna tell me what happened with the DA?” He turned to look at her, leaning against the counter.
She looked back up at him and shrugged again. “She wanted to make me a deal for information on the Sons.”
Jax’s furrowed his eyebrows in anger and stepped closer, taking the seat next to her. “What kind of deal?”
“Doesn’t matter Jax.” She shook her head, leaning back in the seat.
He leaned forwards and pushed on. “What was the deal, Mina?”
Mina sighed and leaned her head back looking up at the ceiling before returning to face him. “She said she’d pay off all of my mother’s debt that we owe – give me a fresh start, if I gave them information on the MC.”
Jax’s eyes opened wide and he leaned closer to her. “And you didn’t take it?”
“No, Jax.” She shook her head. “I told her I didn’t know anything about the club. That we’re just friends and that if she touched my finances I’d take away her law degree.”
He was still in shock at the fact that she’d turned down a chance at a clean start. With all the problems she had, she’d gotten the opportunity to make it all go away and she hadn’t taken it. He put his hands on her cheeks and pulled in closer, crashing his lips onto hers. He couldn’t control himself at this point.
Mina kissed him back, pulling his body closer with need as he grabbed her thighs, pulling her up on his lap to straddle him. They deepened the kiss and he pushed off her robe as she pushed his cut off of his shoulders. Jax made his way down to kiss on her neck, her small moan was driving him crazy. She moved her hips over his, feeling his member hardening underneath her, leaning her head to the side as he kissed on her neck. She tugged his hair lightly, letting out a quiet moan as he bit her neck.
As he was about to pull off her shirt, his phone rang. He wanted so badly to ignore it but Mina pulled away, to adjust herself. “Fuck” he grunted as he grabbed the phone, not looking at the caller ID. “What?” He angrily answered. “What?!” He got up quickly starting to pace around the room. “I’ll be right there.” He slammed the phone shut and turned to look at a worried Mina. “Tara’s gone. She took my boys! I gotta get to my house.”
Mina froze momentarily taking it all in before going to the closet to throw on a hoodie and her shoes. “I’m coming with you.”
He nodded and took her hand, lacing their fingers together as they ran down the stairs to his bike. He hopped on and she adjusted herself behind him holding onto him tightly as he sped down the street.
They walked inside the dark home, Jax didn’t know what to think. He was furious. As he took steps around the place it was empty, toys were scattered, the drawers in the bedroom, the closet – empty. He ran to the boys rooms to find the same.
While Mina waited in the kitchen, Gemma ran inside the house, going to the boys rooms immediately. She watched with concern as she stepped closer down the hallway to listen in.
“All their stuff is gone.” Jax paced before leaning his hands on the dresser in Abel’s room. “She took my sons.”
“I saw Patterson at St. Thomas. She must’ve made a deal.” Gemma sighed, placing her hands on her hips.
Mina jumped when she heard crashing and ran to the doorway to see that Jax had thrown the shelved across the room. “Jax. You don’t know that.” She spoke up softly.
Gemma crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips with attitude towards the younger woman as Jax stared at her. “I signed the fucking papers! What more does she want!?”
Mina stepped forward and slide her hands into his. “What if she doesn’t know yet? Call your lawyer, Jax.”
Jax looked down at her trying to catch his breath while Gemma’s glare shot bullets into her. “Of course she made a deal! I have no doubt in my mind she’s been scheming since she got out!” She tried to convince her son.
Mina’s eyes locked on Jax’s, ignoring everything Gemma said. “I’m not saying you don’t have a right to be mad, but we will find your sons. Don’t sign someone’s death warrant for being a rat if you don’t know for sure. Call your lawyer, babe.”
Her soothing voice along with her pleading eyes calmed him down enough as he pulled out his phone. Gemma stared at Mina in anger and bewilderment at the effect she had on her son. Tara had taken her grandson’s. Jax should hunt the bitch down and kill her. Not wait to see what happens. Mina was too deep in his head.