Finding Abel

Chapter 32.

Tara

Jax had been at the hospital all night with Erin, so I only had a few hours left to cover this up. I knew that I had to get rid of all evidence pointing to me before anyone started to put the pieces together. Which only meant that I had to team up with an unlikely pair. Unser and Gemma.

I mostly needed Unser's help, but I knew that he would need a little convincing. That's where Gemma came in; if could convince her that this would mend our relationship in any way, then she'd go with it. She was desperate to take back her role in my son's life, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to do that without my okay. I'd never admit it to her face, but she was the only one I knew that could bury a secret and keep it that way until it served her.

"I just got off the phone with my guy, he's going to come to pick up the car in a few minutes," Unser said walking into the kitchen.

"We don't have a lot of time Wayne, how far is he?!" Gemma asked pacing back and forth.

"I don't know, he told me a few minutes, I'm going to trust him!" Wayne snapped. I could tell that he was under a lot of pressure with everything that was going on. He was always caught in the middle of doing something right and doing favors for us. Right now was no different.

I could tell that the situation was becoming tense, "thank you for this Wayne," I said sincerely.

"I wouldn't be thanking me yet; I still have to get a hold of that tape before Roosevelt does." Wayne turned his back to me and went back to making calls to fix this mess.

Once he left the kitchen he left me and Gemma alone. She had sat down at the table, doing everything she could to keep herself calm. I couldn't tell if this was going to be hard for her, keeping a secret from Jax. She had done it many times before when it served her, and now her secrecy had to serve someone else, me.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked her. There was no doubt in my mind that if things between us went sour, she would rat on me. But I had leverage, I held the key to a relationship with my son, as well as the heart of hers.

"Yeah," she smiled weakly, "I don't want anyone else to get hurt. I'm protecting my family." She looked me in the eyes for a moment before tearing them away. A part of me wondered that if she saw Erin's point of view would she still think the same? Margaret had sent me pictures and updates on Wendy, Henry, and the other passenger.

The older gentleman who had hit Wendy after I did was simply in a hurry to get home to his sick wife who needed her medication. He had managed to get out of the accident with only a few scrapes and bruises, he had arrived at the hospital completely unconscious after being hit by the airbag. Wendy seemed to be the one who received the worst of what the accident had to offer. She'd managed to make it out of surgery, but she was the only one who managed to break something. And lastly, Henry, the poor child had to get stitches and was suffering from symptoms of a concussion. His condition, although minor, had managed to make me feel the worst.

Henry was just a child, practically still a baby! I had never intended to hurt him; I would never hurt any child intentionally. But I knew that Erin wouldn't see it that way if she found out, because if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't take it lightly either.

"Looks like Wayne's friend is here," Gemma muttered. I looked out the window to see Wayne talking to the man who was currently towing my car. "What are you going to tell Jax when he comes home?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I'll tell him that it wouldn't start this morning and I had it towed." Gemma nodded her head not bothering to add to my excuse.

"So, what happens after this?" she asked me.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with us. Are we good after this?" her eyes were practically pleading with me. I knew that she wanted to be around Thomas, all she ever wanted was to be around her family. Gemma doesn't do well when she can't be around family.

"Yeah, we're good," I said forcing the words out. The truth was I didn't want to be around Gemma, I didn't want Gemma around my son, or my family. She was loud, judgmental, and had an opinion about everything I did as a mother and an ol lady. Not to mention the fact that she was completely against Jax and me leaving Charming, but considering my current situation, I was in no position to tell her to go away.

"Alright, I'll go take care of this with Wayne," she got up from the table and placed a motherly kiss on my cheek. I watched her leave out the door and didn't relax until I heard the rumble of the tow truck leaving with her.

My anxiety was through the roof and nothing would calm me down until I knew that I was in the clear. I needed to know that any trace of evidence from last night was completely destroyed and that I would never again have to relive this moment.

"Tara?" I jumped at the sound of Jax's voice calling me. He walked into the kitchen to lay his eyes on me and I noticed how tired he looked. "Hey baby," I said trying to act normal. "Hey," he placed a quick peck on my lips before removing his jacket.

Once he removed it, I noticed there was a small spot of vomit on his white t-shirt. My eyebrows raised in shock and he noticed my reaction. "Don't worry, it's from Henry, he threw up," Jax said tiredly, "one of the symptoms of a concussion I guess."

I shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Henry's discomfort. Vomiting was a natural symptom of concussions in toddlers but considering that I knew what led to his concussion, it made me uncomfortable to hear them.

"Is he okay now?" I asked sincerely.

"Yeah," he shook his head, "his mom isn't though."

"Oh?"

"She spent the whole night crying after she saw Wendy. It didn't help when Henry started crying and couldn't stop holding his head." Jax became silent as his mind forced him to remember the last couple of hours. "I think I'm going to go help her out today, she could use it."

"Doesn't she have anyone else?" I protested.

Jax made a face, "no, no she doesn't. I mean she had Wendy, but she's a little busy right now with being in the hospital and everything." Jax was never this snarky and sarcastic when speaking to me, but I knew that it was probably due to his lack of sleep and being overwhelmed.

"I mean..." I tried to piece my words together, "shouldn't you be doing stuff for the club today?"

"I'm sure Opie has it under control. Besides we're all trying to figure out who did this. The guys are going around today to see if they could ask some of the locals if they saw anything, maybe even try to get that video guy to cough up the tape to us before Roosevelt sees it."

"Why? What are you going to do when you find out? What if it was just an accident?"

"Leaving a screaming child in the backseat of a car at the scene of an accident that you caused isn't by mistake. I'm going to find the son of a b*tch who did this. They're not going to get away with this."

Jax removed his shirt and threw it into the laundry basket. He then pulled a clean shirt off the hanger and threw it over his head. "Do you mind if I take the car today? I have to pick Erin up from the hospital."

"Um...no you can't," Jax made a face, "because the car isn't here."

"Okay...where is it?"

I swallowed the large lump in my throat, "it wouldn't start this morning, I had to have it towed."

"Damn it," Jax cursed underneath his breath, "are you sure? I just changed the battery." I nodded my head vigorously and I could see that this only added to his frustration. "Okay, well, I guess I'll just have my mom go pick them up and I'll just meet her there. How are you going to get to work today?"

"I'll just have Unser drop me off." He nodded his head and sighed, "Okay, well, I guess I'll see you later," he went in to place another peck on my lips, but I held him still, forcing the kiss to be prolonged. When we broke apart, he ran his fingers through my hair and gave me a soft smile. "Thanks for being cool about this," he said.

"It's no problem, Erin needs all the help she can get right now." He nodded his head in agreement and broke apart for me and made his way to the door. "I love you," he said shooting me a glance. "I love you too," I said returning the phrase back to him. Once he left, I let out a huge sigh of relief. I don't know how long I'd be able to keep up with this lie, I wasn't good at keeping things away from Jax.

I used to hate Gemma for how she always managed to come out unscathed from all her lies, but right about now, I needed that same luck to shine on me.