Finding Abel

Chapter 35.

Jax

I stood there frozen in place as Tara held her gun out. How long had she been standing there? When did she come? Countless questions played through my mind as I tried to think of ways to calm her down. But Tara looked way past the point of negotiation. She had caught me red-handed with another woman, a betrayal she swore she'd never forgive again.

"Tara," I said raising my hands in the air.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed with her gun still pointed at Erin. Erin didn't move an inch; she didn't dare to with the state that Tara was in. "How could you?" she said glaring at me, but then her eyes shifted to Erin and anger was evident on her face, "YOU SLUT! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A HOMEWRECKER!" Tara berated Erin as she waved the gun at her, but Erin remained painfully still.

"Tara this wasn't her fault, I kissed her!" I said trying to grab her attention. She looked at me with pain-filled eyes, "you were supposed to love me, Jax," her voice quivered, "I've given up everything just to be with you and you couldn't do the simplest thing for me."

"Tara," I repeated her name again.

"I SAID SHUT UP," she barked again.

Her gun was still aimed at Erin and I swallowed the lump in my throat. I couldn't and wouldn't allow Erin to die for something I had done, but I couldn't will myself to point a gun at Tara either. "Tara, if you kill her, I can't help you," I said trying to get through to her. I could see a look of shock cross her face before she returned to her previous demeanor.

"You know you used to do anything for me, I never even had to ask," she said sadly. "Just answer me this, do you love her?" she gestured towards Erin with her gun. I refused to look at Erin, knowing that the slightest glance would give me away. However, Tara was smart, she knew what a man in love looked like.

She scoffed, "of course you are, you used to look at me the same way."

"Tara, this isn't you, you can't go to jail because of this. Think about Thomas, he needs his mother," I continued to plead with her and that's when a tear escaped her eye.

"I can't control that Jax," my brows came together in confusion. "Tara, what are you talking about?" was this a suicide mission? Had something happened at work? Was she being accused of something sinister?

Before I had a chance to question her further, cop cars swarmed the complex and I heard the sound of Harleys following after them. Tara started to shake as the red and blue lights lit up Erin's living room. She was visibly scared, but she had no intention of dropping her weapon.

"COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" Roosevelt shouted from the outside. Tara inhaled a deep breath but didn't move from where she stood. "Tara, what did you do?!" I said trying to pry the answers out of her, but she didn't dare look me in the eye.

My phone started to buzz and I picked it up without even looking at the caller ID. "Jax," it was Opie, "Tara did it, she was the one who hit Wendy that night."

"What?" my shock was evident.

"One of the croweaters did a house call this morning and noticed Tara's SUV parked out in the lot. When news got out, Unser confessed and told on Tara, saying that he didn't want anyone else to get hurt. He and your mom tried to cover for her."

The ground underneath my feet felt wobbly and I felt like I was going to be sick to my stomach. When I made eye contact with Tara I thought that I'd throw up from the shock. Erin noticed my expression and then somehow the message clicked for her. She stared at Tara for a few minutes and it seemed like all of Tara's confidence had disappeared when the truth came out.

Before I knew it, Erin charged at Tara at full force, Tara too gun-shy to actually pull the trigger fell with the impact. Erin started to claw and beat Tara with so much rage, that she was screaming as she did it. As if repeating the blows were not enough to release her anger. Police began to rush in as Erin had her hands wrapped around Tara's throat, holding on to it as Tara struggled to make a sound.

It took three officers to get Erin off of Tara and even then she fought at them to finish the job. However, I couldn't move as I watched the scene unfold before my very eyes. Looking at Tara as she coughed repeatedly after her encounter sent a shiver down my spine. I looked at her for so long, but she looked unfamiliar now, like a clone of the woman I once loved.

"Jax," she said in between coughs trying to regain her composure. She had been flipped on her stomach as she was handcuffed in front of everyone. She was crying again, begging me to save her and keep her from being taken away. But there wasn't an ounce of remorse in my body as I remembered the state that Henry was in at the hospital.

"You're dead to me," I said getting up from my seat. She let out a strangled sound as she was hauled away to a cruiser. Erin was outside with the guys surrounding her, ensuring that she wouldn't go to jail for murdering Tara.

In the other cruiser, I noticed Unser sitting all alone, handcuffed like Tara. I walked over to the door and motioned for one of the cops to open it. He obliged and I noticed the look on Unser's face when he saw me. "What were you thinking?" I said lowly.

"I was thinking...that I was protecting the only people I had left." His excuse was so pitiful, so excruciatingly sad that I regretted the day that the Sons ever got in bed with him. Years of abuse and overuse of Unser led him back into the same system he let us glide through.

"Where's my mom Unser?" His face turned pale at my question, "this was the only way I could protect her," he motioned towards the cruiser a few feet away and I noticed my mother in the backseat with her head down. She'd probably only get a few years, but her betrayal hurt me the most. Even when she was free, I don't think I'd ever have it in me to welcome her back into my life.

Wayne knew what he was doing by ensuring my mother's arrest because, for people like us, the only solution for betrayal was death. And Unser's love for my mother would never allow a possibility like that.

There was so much chaos around me that when I finally got to Erin, I felt numb to everything. However, the sound of her cries was enough to reach my heart. Her hands had blood on them, most likely from her fight with Tara. "She hurt my baby Jax," she said against my chest as I held her close.

"I know, no one will ever hurt any of you ever again," I held her close to my frame as the chaos continued around us. Red and blue lights illuminated the night as we stood in our own personal nightmares.