12 Rounds

Chapter Nine

"Oh, so you'd rather I went back to discussing Happy's oral fixation?"

She opted to ignore the crazy red-headed lady sitting in the driver's seat, rather than give into that kind of attention-seeking behavior, and slid out of the car instead. At least now, they needed to head inside the restaurant, and Jo did what she did best and charged ahead, with Happy falling into step behind her. That left Jax and Liv to bring up the rear in this odd little foursome, and he smirked down at her as he shoved his hands deep inside his pockets, walking shoulder to shoulder with her.

This was the first real chance they'd even really had to see each other since him and Happy rolled back into town - Jax had only been in the lounge for about a half hour, and most of that was while she was still onstage, before he'd gotten pulled away by some business between the Irish and the Bratva and she hadn't seen him again until her last set ended at eight o'clock. She wasn't going to think too hard about the fact that, no matter what his business had been, he'd managed to finish it all and get back in time to catch up with her when she was done for the night. Whether that was luck or effort on his part, she just wasn't going to give herself the opportunity to let it linger.

That was also completely setting aside the nagging disappointment she'd felt about the fact that he'd only seen her onstage tonight for about a half hour. Granted, it seemed like he'd gone to the lounge specifically to tell her that he was leaving, but would be back, and he'd waited just long enough until she was off the stage and making the rounds on the floor to say hello and goodbye - but still, she'd kept looking for him anyway, even though she knew it was a wasted effort.

That was also setting aside the butterflies bouncing around in her stomach when he'd approached her on the floor with that lop-sided smirk on his handsome face.

"You really weren't kiddin' when you said this place was just like that restaurant in Pulp Fiction," Jax was saying now.

They sidestepped around a car hop dressed as Buddy Holly, with Jax just getting out of the way in time to narrowly miss a particularly rushed Lucille Ball with a tray of milkshakes propped up on her shoulder. He chuckled under his breath as they turned to watch Lucille Ball scurry away and deliver those five-dollar milkshakes - and she had the laugh down and everything.

"Are these people... actors or somethin' like that?" Jax leaned in so he could murmur in her ear.

"Well," Liv just lifted a shoulder as he caught the door from Happy and held it open so she could pass through. "I'm sure some of them aren't, but this town is full of Vegas rejects and has-beens, or," she tipped her chin toward Jo right up ahead of them with a sly grin, "Hollywood rejects and has-beens."

He laughed a little too loudly at that because when Jo glanced at them from over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed into tiny green slits. And while Jax recovered as smoothly as he could by bringing a fist to his mouth to mask his laughter, Jo wasn't fooled. She really wasn't fooled by anyone, so that wasn't his fault.

"But," she leaned in to actually answer his question, momentarily disarmed when he dipped his head lower to hear her. "I think most of them are trying to be actors by working here, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean," Jax nodded, his sky-blue eyes following an especially convincing Frank Sinatra as they moved behind Jo and Happy at the hostess station. Then his gaze dropped back down to her with a cute smirk, "I've never been anywhere like this before. Great idea, Liv."

At least he seemed like he was in a better mood now that they were actually inside the restaurant, and filing down the side of a row of retro-inspired tables with "Stupid Cupid" playing in the speakers overhead. And that lasted right up until he slid into their booth, which had been pieced together from a replica of a pale blue 50s convertible. His eyebrows jumped into his forehead when Jo slid in right next to him, and that only made Happy's steps stall, leading Liv to nearly run right into his leather-covered back. But she recovered just as quickly, sidestepping around Happy, and refusing to make eye contact with Jo as she followed suit, sliding into their booth on the opposite side.