Roots Run Deep

Chapter 34

When Jax arrived at Jacob's, Katie was sitting on the couch clearly upset but not the blubbering mess she would have been if her father hadn't warned her against it. Her lip was swollen and the cut could not be hidden but she seemed okay considering.

Ignoring Jacob, Jax went directly to Katie despite their earlier blow up. "What happened?"

"I got a little upset," she said vaguely. "But I'm fine."

Jax turned to Jacob with a scowl. "What is this?"

"Things got a little out of control, it so I hear, and I just wanted to make sure everything's okay."

"Your son killed Clay," Jax growled. "Shit isn't okay."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jacob said, feigning empathy. "What happens to him now?"

"Nothing," Jax snapped.

"Will you move up?" Jacob asked Jax quickly. "Will you take Clay's spot?"

"Maybe," he huffed. "He's barely cold, man."

"I've worked well with Clay for a long time, we've done business and made money, I'm hoping whoever takes his role as President will be open to continuing that."

"This why you brought me up here? To sell me?"

"I would like to go home," Katie said suddenly. "Jackson, can you take me, please?"

He glanced back at her and nodded. "Yeah, come on babe."

"Just think on it," Jacob advised him. "It'll be beneficial for both of us."

Jax nodded as he took Katie gently by the arm and helped her stand. "You gonna be okay on my bike?"

"Yeah, just get me out of here," she said gripping him tight.

When they arrived back at her apartment Katie immediately got into the shower and cleaned up. When she returned to the living room Jax was on the phone. She went to make herself a drink, whisky in a cup of peppermint tea.

"Sorry," he said, joining her in the kitchen. "Unser."

"What's he saying?"

"Everything checks out, no charges," Jax sounded conflicted.

"You haven't had a second to process this, have you?"

Jax shook his head, "No."

"I'm sorry. This is my fault."

He shrugged, not agreeing or disagreeing. "You really okay?"

"No," she scoffed. "He's a psycho, literally a psycho." Katie frowned and grabbed his hands, holding them tight. "Whatever you do, Jax, don't work with him. Anything he had going on with Clay should end."

Jax's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. "What do you know?"

"Too much," she muttered bitterly. "Cut all ties with the Fieldsteins."

"All of em'?"

She nodded, "All of em'."

"Alright," he didn't fight her on it as she had hoped. "You need anything, Katie, call me."

"I love you," she whimpered. "I'm sorry."

"I love you too," he said, closing the gap between them to kiss her.  It extended longer than he had planned but he felt his heart ache at the thought of leaving her.

"Jax," she uttered into his mouth. "You gotta go."

"Alright," he sighed.

Turning on his heel he left without a glance at her and headed right back to Gemma's. There was enough to distract him for the time being and Tara was certainly available to quell his heartbreak if necessary.

When she was alone, after a hard cry, Katie sat at her desk with her note open to a clean page. She wrote "Roger Whitman" on the top of the page and underlined it twice. Below it, smaller, she screwed Clay's name as well as a few others she'd heard over the years when he talked about his time in the war.

"Alright, Rog, I'm gonna take your ass down."

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