Judas Kiss

Chapter 8.

Jax

I sat down in the interrogation room with Unser sitting across from me. Kohn and I had been arrested after I got a hold of him at Floyd's. Scumbag was getting his face shaved when I came in and slammed him into the mirror. We scuffled around for a minute before I threw him through the glass door.

Before I knew it we were out on the sidewalk as I punched the living daylights out of him. He'd managed to stab me in the leg with some scissors, which gave me a mean limp.

"Barber says you came in for a haircut. Agent Kohn attacked you with a pair of scissors, and you pushed him through a plate glass window," the ATF chick read Floyd's statement and looked at me with a mischievous smile. "Self-defense."

"That's what Floyd saw, I guess that's what happened."

Stahl grinned and shook her head, "that's fantastic." She sat down in the seat closest to mine and shot Unser a glance. "Tell me, are they all just afraid of you or do they believe that you are a necessary evil?"

"You charging me?" I asked plainly.

"No charges," Unser answered.

I then proceeded to get up but then the ATF chick stopped me. "Why does Kohn have a hard-on for you?"

"You know why," I deadpanned.

"You're right, I do," she said gleefully. "Tara Knowles, the runaway princess. You guys were high school sweethearts right?"

"Yup," I said popping the P.

"She fears for her life and then comes back to the man who she knows would do anything to protect her. Straight out of a criminal fairytale if you ask me. I wish I had that kind of pull over someone."

"You done?" I asked, not bothering to entertain her.

"Yeah, she's done," Unser said, finally releasing me. I got up from my seat and limped my way out of the police station. I wanted to make sure I saw this low-life's send-off. I wouldn't be satisfied until I saw him leave Charming altogether. For what he did to Tara, my kid's room, and my wife; he's lucky he wasn't leaving in a body bag.

I followed them on my bike until they were over Charming Lines. It might've been excessive for anybody else, but considering he should've been gone yesterday, I wanted to be sure.

I watched the car disappear down the road and passed the Charming sign. Only then did I turn around and head back to my house. Ari wasn't there, so I figured she went back to the clubhouse after visiting Abel. However, that didn't mean I was clear from getting chewed out since my mom was still inside.

She was sitting on the rocking chair in the nursery. It was clean, but I would have to get a new dresser for him. I felt bad because Ari had spent a lot of money on that dresser. Even though we were unconventional she was excited at the thought of Abel coming home soon. She was really attaching herself to him, which was good since Wendy wouldn't be up to the challenge for a while.

"Why aren't you at the fight?" she asked as she smoked a cigarette.

"Had my share for today," I placed a kiss on her cheek and took the cig from her hand.

"How's your leg?"

"It'll be okay, I'll have Ari patch me up tonight."

"Oh, where's the doctor?"

My eyebrows drew together in confusion. It was a random question, mostly because it was such an unserious injury that wouldn't require medical attention. "I don't know."

My mom let out a sigh, "Where are you going with that one Jax?"

"Nowhere," I said plainly.

"I don't believe that for a second. I've seen the two of you together, I see the way you act around her. She still got ties in you."

"You know what? I don't give a sh** what you think. What I do with Tara isn't really any of your business, Mom."

"But cleaning up piss, broken cribs, and burning your wife's nudes are? That's my business?" she snapped.

"No asked you to take this on! This house, this kid, Ari, that's my burden, not yours." I saw her demeanor change from my outburst, but I meant every word I said. So, instead of giving a bogus apology, I limped out of the room and made plans to go see my wife. But first, I needed to go and check up on a friend.

Tara was of course startled to see me, but relieved. I guess she heard all about my run-in with Kohn.

"Geez, are you okay? Hale told me what happened."

"Yeah, just wanted to let you know that Kohn's gone. I watched him leave town."

Tara squeezed my arms and leaned into me, "thank you." She was obviously grateful, but I couldn't help but hear the words of Stahl playing through my head. About Tara coming back to Charming only for protection.

"You left Chicago because you were afraid this guy was going to hurt you."

"One of the reasons," but I knew that it was the only reason based on the look on her face.

"Did you come back here because you know I'd hurt this guy? Do what the cops wouldn't do."

"No," Tara looked taken aback by the accusation, "I had no idea that he'd follow me all the way here. I didn't know you'd even still be here."

Upon hearing her last sentence, I knew that something was off. Tara knew that I'd wanted to wear the kutt since I was a kid. I never even thought about anywhere but Charming.

"That doesn't sound like you Jax," she said looking away, "sounds like your mother."

"Well, you're safe now," I said getting up from the steps that led to her door. Tara said nothing else as I limped towards my bike. Even though she denied the accusations, I couldn't help still feeling used.

I tried to keep my mind off of it when I stopped by the store to grab some Oreos for Ari. We'd both had a bad day, and I figured she'd appreciate the gesture. I also grabbed a small stuffed animal, she always liked those.

When I finally got to the clubhouse, she was waiting outside for me. Exactly where I usually parked. I smiled up at her before handing her the goods. She looked in the bag and gave me a warm smile before kissing my lips.

"C'mon, food is gettin' cold." I nodded my head as she threw my arm over her shoulder so that she could help me walk. She was caring that way, and looking at her now, I realized that I've never felt used with Ari. Which was ironic because our whole marriage was just one big favor.

She patched me up real nice and we laid in bed pigging out on Chinese food while watching Golden Girls. I didn't care about the show, so it was easy to become distracted and begin kissing her. I think getting injured won me some brownie points, because she reciprocated until we were both tired and sleepy.

I pulled her into my chest as I spooned her from behind. I kissed her naked shoulder and buried my nose into her hair.

"Jax," she said lazily.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for taking care of that guy. I know..." she paused, "I know it wasn't for me, but thank you anyway."

I propped myself up on my elbow and turned her around. "You're my wife. I'll always protect you, and I won't let some creep vandalize your picture and live to talk about it."

Ari remained silent, but I could see her eyes become glossy. I gave her a small smile before kissing her lips and laying back down behind her. I didn't know where my relationship with Ari was headed. I always figured we'd be together for a few years until she was safe from immigration. But one thing was for certain, we worked somehow. I won't claim that I get it right, but she works in my crazy, psychotic life.