Hidden Skeletons

13

Several minutes later, Jax hung up the phone and ran a hand down his growing beard before turning back toward Angelise.

"He's on his way back," he told her. "He's gonna stop by his house before meeting us at the clubhouse later."

While he spoke, she took the time to observe his figure when she noticed the turmoil in his face, she knew that keeping this secret from Opie was taking a hard toll on him. Standing up from her seat, she adjusted Abel on her waist as she walked up to Jax before placing her hand on his chest.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell him the truth?" she questioned, once again. "I can tell him about me and my past so it's easier to explain how I know, I won't mention you."

Jax shook his head. "It's gonna turn him inside out if he finds out, especially now, I don't want to do that to him."

Angelise flashed him an understanding grin as her hand fell from his chest while Abel placed his head on the crook of his mother's head, looking up at his father. Staring down at them, Jax felt his heart swell with warmth as two pairs of identical green eyes looked back at him.

Suddenly, the loud rumbling of multiple engines were heard down the street, letting them know that SAMCRO was arriving soon.

Running a quick hand down the side of Abel's head, Jax let his gaze linger on his wife. "You got anything planned?"

"No," she responded. "I just gotta take him down to the hospital for his check up, your mom's gonna meet me there."

"Okay," he sighed. "I gotta go, I'll call you later."

Giving them both a kiss on the cheek, he made his way toward the front door. Angelise turned around to walk down the hallway when she called over her shoulder. "Say hi to Cammy for me."

A smirk took place on his face as he tried to stop himself from laughing before shutting the door behind him.

About an hour later, the guys were back at the clubhouse, in high spirits, after their meeting with the Irish. Jax was able to convince the club and the Irish to agree to the proposal Angelise suggested earlier to buy themselves more time.

Sitting around the Reaper table, Opie walked in and joined them as SAMCRO greeted him with hugs and condolences.

Clay leaned forward on his forearms and gave Opie a sympathetic look. "I haven't been able to say this yet on a club level but we're all broken up about what happened to Donna."

Jax held back a scoff as he watched Clay try to play innocent. He let his gaze shift from the head of the table over to his best friend while Clay offered up a fake report he had Trammel, an Oakland cop on payroll, make them with details framing the Mayans.

"Black Range Rover got jacked outside a bar in Alameda that same night," he read off the paper. "Turned up two days later, few miles down the road from the Mayan clubhouse house in Hayward."

Looking up at the others, Clay gave a small shrug. "I, uh, convinced Trammel to let us handle the arrest."

"I'm the one who kills him." Opie declared.

Clay nodded his head. "Agreed. You, Tig and Chibs."

"And me." Jax added while staring Clay down.

"Yeah," Opie pointed across the table. "I want Jax."

Pursing his lips, Clay took a short pause before grabbing the gavel and slamming it against the table, signaling the end of church. The guys stood up and filed out of the chapel, except for Jax, who stayed in his seat next to Clay.