Promising Young Women | Sons of Anarchy Fanfiction | Jax Teller x OC

Chapter Sixteen: Dani California

Wednesday, 3:47 pm

Jax glanced up from the stack of papers in front of him, his eyes landing on the reception desk just beyond the door. He blew out a heavy sigh and felt his shoulders droop a little in defeat - the girl sitting at reception right now was not the one he wanted to see. And as if she could read his thoughts, Camille's head turned, a hesitant expression on her face as if to say, uh, everything okay, boss? You don't usually stare at me and you're making me nervous...

He flashed her a quick, reassuring grin and then dropped his eyes back to the work on his desk. Sometimes... sometimes, he just didn't know what to do, didn't know what the fuck he was doing wrong, because every time he talked to Grace, the tightrope act became more and more precarious. One wrong move, one false word, and that would be it. She'd be gone, and he'd never see her again. Always one step forward, three steps back. Giving him whiplash left and right. Running so goddamn hot one moment, and so fucking cold the next he didn't know which end was up anymore.

Something was holding her back.

Her eyes didn't fucking lie and lately, more often than not, those beautiful seafoam green eyes shone up at him - that was all the reassurance he needed. Every once and a while, he got aquamarine too, and more often than not, that usually happened to be right around the time he breezed through the office doors with his niece in tow to make the hand-off with Lyla. The more time went on, the less he was seeing lightning-bright blue. That blue still showed up from time to time, and usually only when he was talking to her, not anyone else, but those occasions were few and far between.

All he wanted was just to be near her. To have the privilege of wrapping his arms around her and holding her close anytime he wanted. Waking up with her in his bed... right now, that was something he wouldn't even let himself dream about. Because the problem was that now, after their night on the roof, he knew exactly what it felt like to get close enough to touch, the way her soft skin felt against the bridge of his nose, the way her heady scent of sweet roses and freshwater wove itself right through every nerve ending in his body, the way it felt to skim his hand across the small of her back and press her into that wall...

It wasn't even just that. It was just her. All he wanted was her.

But for some reason, she wouldn't let herself even entertain the idea that this thing between them was real. All the things she'd told him she wanted up on that roof - someone who could give her stability and unconditional love, someone she could depend on, who'd take a bullet for her, steal the Hope diamond for her, bury a body for her, someone who would take care of her... didn't she know she was looking right at that person every time they talked? Every time they were in each other's orbit?

He could give her all those things. He was fucking dying to.

Just tell me what went wrong, princess, and I'll fix it.

And he was right in the middle of rubbing both hands over his eyes in frustration when a light knock rapped on his door. He glanced up to find his stepdad's dark eyes glimmering with amusement in his doorway.

"Aw," Nero tilted his head to the side with a smirk. "Look at this sad clown over here."

Jax scrubbed his hands over his face one more time and pushed out a rough sigh. "What do you want?"

Nero eyed him carefully as he strode inside Lyla's office and dropped into the chair sitting in front of the desk. "It's gettin' to be close to quittin' time. You got any plans for dinner tonight? Wendy's making a spread at the house if you wanna drop in - unless, of course, you've got plans with your girl," he held up a hand playfully, "What am I saying? Of course, you don't."