Second Time Around...

✨Chapter 4✨

Avery resumed painting the lobby, but her conversation with Bobby about Jax's behavior consumed her thoughts. Although she knew he'd struggled after she left, she hadn't grasped the extent of it. Her own defensiveness had contributed to this; for months, she'd refused to hear anything about him, eventually causing people to stop trying to tell her. While part of her appreciated the silence, another part resented her lack of knowledge and control over his life choices since she went to college.

A decade later, learning about Jax's dangerous path from Bobby and Opie, two of his closest confidantes, was eye-opening for Avery. She recognized that they, along with his mother, would have intimate knowledge of his struggles. As she painted, Avery understood that their breakup had been equally painful for Jax. While she coped through work and study, he had turned to alcohol and other women, a discovery that caused her immense pain.

Before she could stop the thought from formulating, Avery caught herself wondering just how many women Jax had slept with in the past ten years. And what Bobby and Opie had said, there were countless women.

Did he remember their names?

Did he remember their faces?

Did he feel a connection with them or was it just sex?

All of these were thoughts that Avery had. And with each one, she felt herself becoming nauseous.

"Oh enough of this!" Said Avery as she threw down the roller she was using, tired of her thoughts and how much space Jax was taking up inside her head. "It's been ten fucking years. I left. I have no right to be like this."

Carrying the paint pan and rollers to the restroom, she rinsed them out and locked up for the day. While Avery might be putting the renovation of the office building out of her mind with ease, she wasn't as lucky when it came to thoughts of Jax.

"Fuck it." she said as she climbed into the cab of her dad's truck. "Only one way to quiet these thoughts and that's to talk to the man himself."

*****

"What am I doing?" Avery asked herself for the millionth time as she drove down the street that would carry her to the garage.

When she reached the entrance for the garage, she pulled her dad's truck into the lot and parked off to the side like she always had. Glancing around the lot, she noticed that not much had changed in ten years. The only new addition to the lot was a play area off to the side.
"Gemma must have had that installed for customers" thought Avery to herself, remembering how Gemma used to hate for customers to sit in the office with their small kids while they waited to have their oil changed. Even though she loved kids, she didn't like them in her space, especially when there were papers littering her desk.

Climbing out of the truck, she looked around the lot and saw a couple of the guys working on vehicles. And then her eyes landed on one very sexy, blonde, badass biker. For the millionth time in 24 hours, Avery's heart began to race. Here goes nothing...

"Vee! Is that you?" came a voice from behind her. Avery knew that accent anywhere. It was her favorite Scotsman, Chibs. Turning, Avery began walking towards Chibs. When she reached him, he lifted her in a big bear hug and spun her around just like he used to do.

"I sure missed you, lass!" He said as he put her back down on the ground and kissed the top of her head.

"I've missed to so Chibby. How's Fi and Kerrianne?"

"Both are great." He said, smiling at Avery. "How long are you in town for?"

"I'm here to stay. I'm opening a law office in the old Oswald Realty place."