She Ain't Home - Jax | #1. New Old Ladies

20 • The New House

Chapter Twenty:

It was three weeks after we'd reconciled, and Jax had told me that he needed to speak to me when I was finished work. The ominous way he'd said it left me feeling nauseous, worried that he'd decided that we weren't worth it after all, and I'd spent the day terrified.

He clocked me as soon as I walked inside of his house and I waited for the sound of running feet and claws to come, but the house remained quiet.

"Gemma took them for the night." He answered my unasked question.

I walked into the kitchen where there were a bunch of flowers, wrapped and sitting on the table, and grinned. "You got me flowers?"

"Was walking past the store and saw them, they made me think of you." He shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal, but I knew it was.

I thought back to how mama had told me about daddy buying her flowers for the exact same reason, and my heart melted. "Thank you. Although, I think you're tryin' to get into my pants, Mr. Teller."

"Darlin, we both know I don't need to try." He winked at my blush and then nodded to the table, eyes alight with humour. "Sit down, we've got to talk."

My good mood vanished and I stared at the flowers instead of at him. "Why doesn't that sound good? Why does it sound like you're ready to have a fight?"

"Because I'm not sure how you're going to take what I've got to tell you." He sat down, then pushed a beer to my side of the table. "Just ... keep an open mind, okay?"

I had a sudden reel of things that could have gone wrong in my mind, and at the forefront was that he'd gotten Tara knocked up when he'd cheated.

"Did you write Dammit about the house Maggie found?" He asked.

I raised my eyebrows, surprised by the question, but ultimately nodded. "Yeah, I went by there and looked around the day that I saw you at the diner."

Jax cringed like the day was one he would rather forget. "Was it as good as you thought?"

"Better." I said honestly, and took a large drink from my beer.

"I know that you haven't moved back in here." Jax looked around the kitchen, empty of any of my personal belongings when it had once been filled with a vase and little quirks. "But I don't want you to."

I blew out a large breath. "Ouch?"

"That didn't come out right." He shook his head. "I meant, I don't want you to move in here and have those bad memories. I want us to start somewhere new, somewhere fresh. In that house."

His explanation made me feel minutely better, but I knew something that he didn't. "It's not on the market anymore, babe. James said they had an offer that was waitin' to go through when I was there, and that was months ago-"

"It was my offer." He cut me off.

I stared at him blankly. "What do you mean it was your offer? You bought the house?"

"I knew that you loved it, I knew it was the house for us." He got up to get another round. "And I wanted you to have it when I convinced you to come back to me."

I stared at his back. "And what if I never came back? What if we never sorted it out?"

"I would have rented it out. Or, I would have gotten drunk and watched it burn to the ground." He answered without any hesitation. "I wasn't moving into it without you, darlin."

My mouth stayed shut until he'd given me the fresh drink and retaken a seat across from me. "You're a little insane, you know that, right? You bought a house just in case we worked things out. That's ... not normal."

"Never claimed to be completely sane, babe." He grinned at me. "Now, are you agreeing to move in with us, or am I going to have to persuade you with sex?"

I shook my head and closed my eyes, but I was laughing while I did it. "Did you even go and look at it in person before you put in an offer?"

"Nope. Look on your face at the photos was enough for me to know." Jax shrugged like he hadn't said something that was ridiculous.

I looked back at him. "You're insane."

"Probably." He grinned again. "But doesn't love send everyone a little off the deep end?"

♔

I finally sighed when I finished unpacking the last box. It had taken us three days, the whole club's help, and a lot of alcohol, but we'd done it.

I'd given up the home that I'd had since I moved to Charming, but I didn't feel the loss. It was more of an excited energy at moving on with my life, and starting a new chapter with the three men I loved most in the world - Jax, Abel and Larry.

Gemma looked around the large living room after Happy and Juice finished setting up the flatscreen television and nodded in approval. "This looks great, baby."

"It does, doesn't it?" I smiled at the framed photograph of our family that Jax had put on the wall.

"And you look happy." She prodded gently, giving me the opportunity to vent if I needed an outlet.

I met her eyes, smile still on my lips. "I'm happier than I've ever been, Gem. Brand new start."

"Thank fuck he found you." She wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "I didn't know how badly I needed you in my life until you came into it, baby."

"Back at you, Gem."