Spark in the Dark

Chapter 33

Gemma had called Shawn later that day to let her know Abel had done well with his stomach surgery and was going to have his heart operated on next. Shawn had wanted to go to the hospital, but Luanne beat her to it, so Shawn had to stay at the studio instead. Jax needed Juice that night for club business, so she took advantage of her night alone by ordering Chinese and watching a chick flick before soaking in the tub with a glass of wine.

The next day was business as usual at Cara Cara, which was fine by Shawn. Even at it's most stressful, work brought a sense of calm for her. She was in control at work, even if everything else in her life was chaos.

Tig called that afternoon and asked her to go to dinner with him. They didn't spend much time together, just the two of them, but occasionally, Tig would do this as a way to touch base with her. Once she got off work, she went home to change her clothes and then drove to TM. Tig was waiting for her and she rode on the back of his bike to the diner. They mostly made small talk over dinner. Tig couldn't tell her much about what he did for the club and he didn't like to hear about her work at Cara Cara. He had a hard time knowing the things the porn stars did on screen came from ideas inside his daughter's head. He took her back to TM when they were done eating.

"Jax inside?" Shawn asked after she got off his bike.

"Should be. You heading in?"

"Yea, I'll go say hi."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later then, doll."

"You're not going in?"

"Nah," Tig told her. "I gotta go meet some of the other guys. We're doing a protection run for Unser."

"Okay, see ya."

Tig left and Shawn went inside. Jax was inside at the bar with Juice, Chibs, and Kip. They all were drinking their beers and not talking. They looked like they'd seen some shit. Shawn walked in and leaned on the bar.

"Rough night?" Shawn asked.

"You have no idea," Chibs answered her.

"I don't wanna know."

"Probably not," Jax agreed.

"Hey, Shawn? Can I ask you something?" Kip spoke up. "Cuz you're, like, a chick, right?"

"Last time I checked," Shawn said slowly.

"It's just me and Juice were talking about something earlier and I wanted another opinion."

"Oh, God," Juice said to himself, much to Shawn's amusement, and looked down at the bar.

"Plus," Kip continued, "you work in porn so you would know this stuff."

"Just spit it out, damn," Shawn told Kip.

"Is a guy shaving his, ya know, his shit gay?"

Shawn glanced at Juice, who looked like he was in pain. Jax and Chibs turned to stare at Kip.

"What the hell are you on about?" Chibs asked him.

"This is what you two talk about?" Jax asked.

"His shit as in...?" Shawn asked. She knew what Kip meant, but wanted to see how deep of a hole Kip could dig himself into.

"Like his junk, ya know."

"Stop!" Chibs yelled at him and Jax quietly laughed as he shook his head.

"It's not gay. Girls actually dig it," Shawn told him.

"Really?" Kip asked. He drank the last mouthful of beer out of his bottle and stood up. "I'm going to call it a night. See you in the morning."

Kip left the clubhouse and the others watched him leave. Once the door closed, Chibs spoke up.

"He's going to go shave his ball, isn't he?"

"Probably," Jax said laughing.

"Well, on that note, I was just coming in to say hi," Shawn told them. "I'm going to take off."

"Hey, hold up," Jax said. "Gemma's having a dinner tomorrow night."

"Another one?"

"Last one was over a month ago. Plus, she wants to welcome Sack."

"Alright, I'll try to make it. Night, guys."

"Night, Shawn," Jax and Juice said good bye to her.

Chibs left shortly after, leaving Jax and Juice at the bar. The two men sat there in silence for a minute before Juice spoke.

"So, you, Opie and Shawn. You guys always tight like that?"

Jax nodded. "Just about. There was like a whole year where she didn't speak to me, but other than that."

"She was pissed at you for a whole year? Damn, what did you do?"

"How much do you know about her?" Jax asked him. Juice just shrugged. He was afraid he'd give something away if he answered. Jax continued. "She used to be anorexic. We didn't know for a long time. She hid it well. Wore baggy clothes and shit. Tara figured it out, but I didn't believe her. So, this one night, me and her got trashed. Tara had just left so I was feeling like shit. I was drinking and convinced her to have a beer with me. She got drunk a lot easier than I did since that's all that was in her system. We started messing around. I got her shirt off and... I have never sobered up that fast in my life. I mean, she was just skin and fucking bone, man. She got pissed and stormed out. I didn't know what to do, so, I told Gemma."

"Holy shit..." Juice said, mostly to himself. Shawn had told him that she had been sick, but he now realized that she had downplayed how serious it had been. And she had never told him about her and Jax almost hooking up.

"Yea, really," Jax went on, unaware of the thoughts in Juice's head. "I've seen decomposed dead bodies with more meat on them. Everyone was scared shitless. I thought she was going to die."

Juice finished his beer and stood. "I got some shit to finish up."

"Alright, man, later."

Juice walked down the hall as if he were going to his room, but went out the back door to the clubhouse instead. He got on his bike and pulled out of the lot. Juice had to talk to her, but he had no idea what he was going to say.