As always, Jax took a seat in the last corner of the diner. That way he had the perfect sight to watch the beautiful brunette he had laid his eyes on a few weeks ago. He shouldn't, he was aware of that. His Old Lady was sitting at home with their two boys while he was searching for distraction somewhere else.
The first time he came here, he only planned on getting a quick breakfast on his way home but the moment he saw the brunette coming out from the back and serving customers, he knew he needed to come back.
Since then, he came here everytime he had a minute for himself. After fourteen months behind bars a lot has changed; he has changed. At first he really considered leaving with Tara and the boys and start a normal life. But the thought of leaving his club, his brothers, his family made him realize he couldn't live without them.
The kutte on his back was what he wanted since he was a little kid. Watching his Old Man riding his bike, enjoying the freedom he had; this was what he was always craving and he wouldn't give this up for a million dollars.
Why should he take the family his own sons had away? They were loved by everyone, spoiled like no other kids and all of them would give their life to protect those two little boys. But Tara's opinion on the club still hasn't changed and Jax gave up hope that she would ever accept who he was.
A few weeks after he got out of prison the arguments got worse and they were fighting on daily basis. He understood why Tara wanted to leave, she wasn't made for this life. But he wouldn't let her leave with his boys. Without them he would be lost, they were the only thing keeping him from going insane and loose himself sometimes. Tara was able to make him feel safe once, too. Sadly, not anymore.
Instead, he found peace at a diner watching a young woman like a creep. They had a few short conversations over the past weeks and he was tempted to ask for her number many times now, yet he never dared to do so, thinking about his girlfriend at home.
"So, you're here again", the brunette came to a stop at his table, a scribbling pad and a pen ready. "What can I get you today, Jax?"
The way his name rolled over her tongue blurred his mind for a second while she was flashing him that pretty smile he figured he adored.
"The same as always, darling", he gave her his famous Teller grin that always caused her to roll her eyes in amusement.
"Aren't you getting tired of our burgers by now?", she asked with a raised brow, her smile never fading.
"Nah, they're great. Why don't you get yourself a plate and sit down with me?", he inquired, his eyes searching for hers. He could get lost in those beautiful green eyes of hers.
"I don't know, Jax. My shift's not over yet", the brunette said softly. "I can't let my mom do everything by herself."
Jax glance wandered around. There weren't all too many people left. It was already late and in the middle of the week. The only people still coming in were truck drivers who wanted to get some rest and coffee. He spotted Cleo's mom sitting behind the counter looking through some bills.
"Come on, you can always go back to work if it gets too much for your Ma to handle it alone", Jax reasoned with a brief smile.
He noticed the breath Cleo was holding in for a short moment when he smiled at her. It wasn't the first time she did that. The Teller grin never impressed her much, it were his sincere smiles that took her breath away.
"Give me a minute", she told him before leaving him there alone and talk to her mother.
Briefly, the blonde woman looked over where Jax sat, then back at her daughter. Worry was written all over her face. She wasn't blind or stupid; this man was into her daughter since a while and it concerned her greatly.
"He's a Son, honey. I see the way you two look at each other, it's obvious. But you know this can't happen. What if he finds out about your brother or the other way around?", she asked in a whisper, bending over the surface so her daughter could hear her.
Cleo sighed deeply, shrugging slightly. "But I really like him, mom. He's with someone, nothing will happen anyway. Maybe it's wrong to sit down with him but talking to him is just so..uncomplicated."
Everyday when her shift was over, she snuck out of the house she shared with her mother and got either wasted in a nightclub, snoring crushed pills of any kind or she's attending illegal street races to get her adrenaline rush. When she was good enough she even earned some money sometimes.
She grew up with a criminal father, showing her the outlaw life when she was only a little child. He took her with her to meetings with his drug dealers, meth cook's and even to parties sometimes where she fell asleep all by herself in the middle of the night while her dad snored lines of cocaine and smoked his meth.
When her brother, who was eight years older, was getting behind this, he immediately told their mom to make sure she wouldn't let his sister spend more time with him. They had a dirty divorce and Katelynn had no other choice but hand Cleo over to her father every weekend.
Somehow all of this traumatized Cleo already in her childhood, causing her feelings to go crazy. In her teenage years she had learned how to suppress them, numbing the dark thoughts in her mind with pills. It wasn't serious at first but turned into a full addiction once she hit sixteen.
Katelynn studied her daughter, the almost sad look on her face when she was told she shouldn't sit down with Jax. Sighing, she reached out for her hand and smiled briefly.
"Go sit down with him", the blonde eventually said and the spark in Cleo's eyes was worth it. "But be careful, honey, don't tell him too much."
"Thanks mom, I won't", she promised, kissed her mother's cheek and told the cook in the back what Jax had ordered before she took off her work apron to hang it on the hook behind the bar and walk over to the corner where the blonde man sat.
She slipped into the booth on the opposite and lifted the corner of her mouth.
"How was your day ?", she asked, honestly interested.
The corners of his mouth twitched at her question. His own Old Lady hasn't asked this in weeks while Cleo always did when they had a chance to sit together.
"Quiet. Had the chance to spend time with my sons", he told her, sounding proud at the mention of his kids, making her heart swell. "How was yours, darlin'?"
"That sounds amazing. I'm sure they loved the time with their daddy", she replied softly. She couldn't help but almost stare at him. Those blue eyes, the slicked back hair, how he ran a hand through his beard now and then. Then she remembered he had a girlfriend and cleared her throat. "And I'm sure your girlfriend loved having you home, too."
Once he had told her he was on the road often, or had some club business to handle. He never got into detail but Cleo knew better than he thought what that meant.
"It's complicated", he stated, locking eyes with her once again. "I know what you're thinking. That I'm an ass for being here with you instead of my Old Lady, and maybe I am. But I wouldn't sit here with you if everything was good in our relationship."
She was quiet for a moment, giving his words the chance to sink in and actually think about them. "So, you're thinking about ending things with her? You don't have to answer if that's too private."
Jax shook his head slightly, shrugging. "It's fine, you have a right to know. I thought about it, yes, but I'm afraid she'll take our son with her."
"Don't you have two sons?", the brunette asked in confusion.
"I have, but only one is biologically hers. She can't take my older son but she can take our younger one. I don't want Abel to grow up without his brother", he explained and suddenly, his eyes looked tired. Not sleepy tired but more like tired of life.
"Shit, I'm sorry", Cleo said sympathetically as she tilted her head. "Isn't there a chance you could keep both? My parents had a divorce and my dad wanted to take my brother while my mom was supposed to keep me. She never wanted us to get split and the judge sided with her. In the end both my brother and I lived with her and only spent the weekends with my dad."
Jax listened carefully as Cleo told him a bit of her life. They haven't shared too many information about their families. He had only told her about his boys and Tara, sometimes he talked about his club but nothing too specific. And Cleo had only told him about the diner her mother and she owned and that she had a brother.
"I'm sorry about your parents, darling", he said with a weak smile and thanked Katelynn who brought them their plates with the burgers and fries. "I could try. It would be great if Tara and I could split on good terms without much drama but I don't think that will work."
Cleo put her elbows on the table and took the first bite of her burger, swallowing first before she answered. "It's fine, it was better this way. Why do you think you can't split on good terms? Is she a drama queen?"
He chuckled at her choice of words and shoved a few fries in his mouth, nodding briefly. "She can be if she wants to. And when it's about her kids, she can get nasty."
"Then don't let her get nasty. You have the same right to see your kids grow up together than she has", Cleo said simply and smiled at her mom who came back again with two cokes. "Thanks."
"You're welcome, enjoy your dinner", she told both of them before leaving them by themselves again.
"How old is your brother, he works here, too?", he asked to change the subject. All he wanted was to get away from the stress and drama at home, he didn't need to bother her with it, too.
Cleo tensed at his question, hoping he hadn't noticed her sudden nervousness. "He's thirty-one, and no, he doesn't work here. Only my mom and I."
"Was your mom ten when she had him or?", Jax asked with a smirk, actually wondering how old Cleo's mom was because that woman didn't look older than fourty.
The brunette was silently thanking god that Jax didn't ask further questions and laughed softly at his words.
"No, but she was a young mom. She was only sixteen when she had him and twenty-four when she had me. She did hell of a job raising us all by herself", Cleo beamed while talking about her mom. There was no one else besides her and her brother she could actually trust. Katelynn always did everything in her power to keep her kids healthy and happy.
"Your mom sounds amazing, really", he said honestly. His own mom was a bit more complicated and probably also a lot more toxic and he knew that very well. "You never mentioned your Old Man, is he still around?"
"Yeah, I still visit him every two weeks. I'm not as close to him but he's still my dad, you know?", she put her burger down and took a sip of her coke, running the tip of her index finger over the rim, almost drifting off into her thoughts. "He's..not exactly the dad a kid should have."
This was the first time she ever spoke those words out loud. They were always in the back of her mind but she felt so ungrateful now that she had said it; even though there was absolutely no reason for her to feel bad for thinking or saying those words and deep down she knew that.
"Why's that, darling?" Now it was Jax who pushed his plate aside and gave the brunette his full attention, curious to find out more about her. It was obvious she wasn't comfortable talking about her father and he wouldn't push it if she would tell him to stop asking questions.
She tried to hide the blushing by letting her hair fall more into her face but probably failed. Everytime he called her darling, it gave her butterflies.
"He's an addict and criminal. But not criminal like you and your club are, he's much, much worse", she told him, her voice soft and meekly; not how she usually was. "But let's not talk about my dad. I wanna hear more about you. What about your parents?
His features softened, once again he lost himself in her now dull eyes. Of course he wanted to know more now, but he wasn't going to force her.
"How do you know that we're criminals, Cleo?", he asked with a frown. "I never told you we were. You're listening to the rumors?"
Cleo shook her head briefly. "No, I..", she paused because she had to swallow hard. "My brother is a member of a MC, too. I know the life better than you think."
Sighing deeply, he leaned back and ran a hand over his face. This could mean a lot of trouble for both of them. "What MC?"
"The Mayans", she muttered, fiddling with the paper napkin on the table, not able to look at him anymore. "I understand if you won't come back here now that you know."
He looked at her wordless for a long moment, taking in every inch of her face. Should he take the risk and keep seeing her? Or was it better for both if he wouldn't come back?
"You want me to come back again?", he asked after a while as he stretched out his arm slowly and touched the tip of her fingers with his, causing her to shiver at his touch.
Her head shot up quickly. That one touch was enough to make her crave more, making her realize she was already falling for him.
"Yes", she hardly whispered. "I want you to come back."
"Good, because it would've been hard to stay away from you", he admitted, giving her a weak smile. The man had no idea where it would lead them, what would happen and if it would end well; but for now he wanted this.
As their fingers intertwined, both enjoying the touch, he leaned back and lit a cigarette with his free hand and slowly blew out the smoke. The rest of the evening they just sat there like this, Jax telling her a little more about his family, what happened to his father and little brother and some other random things.
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authors note; my first Jax story after, I think, two or three years. I hope you liked the first chapter. Please leave a comment if you liked it and don't forget to vote! 🖤