Jax
I walked inside Red Woody and tossed Chibs his phone.
"What he say?" He asked me.
"Not much. Just that the Russians are likely going to be working with the Cartel as their middleman for drugs. They're probably here to stay unless we do something about it. He said he'll keep us in the loop if he finds out anything." I told him almost the whole truth.
"Christ." Chibs said under his breath. I nodded at his silence. I did a quick look around the room, noticing that Gemma was still at the bar, making Nero and his son a plate. I couldn't see Charlie or the boys but I could see Happy. I knew that Charlie couldn't have been too far.
"Aye... I'll see if I can get in touch with Romeo, set up a meeting." He said to me, I patted his shoulder ending our conversation. I walked over to Gemma. She gave me a half smile and faced me. I looked up at Nero silently asking him to give us privacy.
"Let's go talk to some pretty girls, eh?" He said to his son who started grinning before they left. I picked up an empty mug and started pouring coffee in it.
"Look, I didn't invite Wendy." She said to me.
"I don't really care who invited her, Mom. She shouldn't have been there without us knowing about it." I told her.
"Funny because I remember you telling me that Wendy couldn't scare Charlie off." She told me and I rolled my eyes at her.
"I still don't think she could but if Charlie doesn't like that Wendy was there then neither do I." I told her.
"How'd you get her to stop coming around anyway?" I asked her.
"Doesn't matter. She shouldn't be coming around anymore." She told me.
"Christ mom what did you say to her?" I asked her. She waved off my words with her hand before she picked up her own mug.
"Like I said. It doesn't matter. Between me and Charlie the boys are taken care of. Wendy just would've been an extra set of hands that we didn't need." She told me as she took a long sip.
"When did you start caring about Wendy?"she asked me.
"I thought we were on good terms. I'm just trying to figure out why you stopped caring. You were the only one in her corner. Practically pushed me into letting her back into our lives then she just vanished." I told her. I watched as she let out a humorless laugh.
"She didn't just vanish, trust me. She's been around. She tried to start coming back around the same time Abel asked Charlie if she could be his mom. I didn't want to confuse him by having Wendy around. So I told her to give you more time- all of you." She told me. I let out another sigh bringing the mug to my lips. Her intentions were good but as always they complicated things more than they needed too.
"You think Abel wouldn't have accepted Charlie if Wendy was still helping take care of them?" I questioned her.
"I didn't say that. He's just went through so much. With school- the grieving he was going through. That shrink Wendy found for him said that any change in his life would impact him. Good or bad." She said. I was well aware of that. The day that I asked Charlie to stay I had told her that I needed to make sure that my sons would have another person in their life that would care for them. In my eyes Abel accepted Charlie as his mother faster than he did with Wendy. The longer she was around the more he clung to her. They both did. They both wanted Charlie over anyone, including Gemma.
"What?" Gemma asked me.
"Nothing. Just surprised that you were willing to shun Wendy so easily." I said.
"Yeah well I'm betting on the winning horse now. I love Charlie. Always have. You just make sure that you don't let her get away this time." She told me. I looked her over and gave her a small nod. I knew how she felt about Charlie. She had been telling me repeatedly over the last six months and our wedding day was no different. I got an ear full from Gemma that Charlie was the best thing for the boys and that taking her away from them would hurt their future.
"Charlie's not going anywhere." I told her. A sigh escaped my lips while I sat my mug down then walked away from Gemma towards where Happy was standing. I nodded my head at Happy as I walked around the corner. A smile came to my face seeing Charlie sitting on the couch with Thomas' head in her lap while he slept and Abel drawing in his sketchbook next to her. She looked up at me and gave me a small smile. This was easily my favorite light to see her in. I loved seeing her be a mother to my boys. Knowing she was pregnant with our child made it that much sweeter. I walked over to the empty seat next to Abel. I touched the top of his head before I sat.
"How's my little man doing?" I asked Abel. He gave me a shrug as he kept scribbling.
"I missed you." I told him, kissing the top of his head.
"Are you and momma leaving again?" Abel asked me. I shook my head and touched his head again.
"No buddy. Mommy and I are staying." I told him.
"When can we go back home Daddy?" Abel asked, I gave him a sigh knowing that I didn't know the answer to his question.
"Hopefully soon buddy. Daddy's going to try to get us home real soon." I told him.
"But until then the four of us get to spend some time together." Charlie chimed in, causing Abel to smile.
"Whatcha working on?" I asked him.
"Momma helping me with a picture." He told me. He stopped drawing and handed the book to Charlie.
"Your turn Momma." He told her. I watched as she took the book from him.
"Hand me the blue one." She said to him, instantly he leaned over grabbing her a blue crayon.
"I wanna watch." Abel told her and she let out a gentle laugh as she held the book low while she began to draw. He seemed better than he was the last time he was here when we were on lock down. I was sure Charlie was the main reason for that. It sure as hell wasn't because of me. I still had that dreadful feeling that I was ruining them. That my life was tainting them. I could tell in subtle ways that Abel loved Charlie just a bit more than me. I understood why and I welcomed it. My life constantly pulled me away from them and I let it. Since the day he was born I have been absent; one foot in the door with one foot out. I let Tara parent him then my own mother and Wendy after she died. Charlie was no different and he accepted her in that role easily. Both of the boys had been through so much. Hell Abel had to be put into therapy to help him through his grief. He had been going almost every week up until Charlie helped move us into our new house. Being out of that house changed the boy's lives in a positive way. Charlie being the stable parental figure to them helped Abel more than I ever could. I had been making a serious effort to be more involved with them since Charlie had been back. It was ironic that one of the phrases I said to push Charlie away was that I didn't like how desperate she wanted to have a family with me. But here I was desperately playing house with her to heal my wounds. Despite my efforts they both still clung to her just a little bit more than they did to me. She made them feel safe. Something that I don't think I had ever made them feel like that. I looked up at Charlie when I felt her hand on mine. My eyes met hers staring into my salvation. Her eyes left mine to focus back on the picture she was trying to create out of Abel's scribbles. Two of her fingers slipped under the cuff of my flannel, rubbing my skin softly, bringing me back down to earth. I grabbed her hand in mine, leaned over and pressed a kiss to her knuckles then her rings. Without saying a single word to me she helped ground me. I relaxed into the couch leaning my head against the top cushion. I let out a breath to help me relax more while I watched Charlie mother our sons.
"Can we let him sleep a little longer?" I heard Charlie ask. Opening my eyes I saw Chibs standing in front of the couch. I took in a deep breath trying to pull myself out of the slumber that I had fallen into.
"I'm okay. What's going on?" I asked. Rubbing my hand over my face.
"Gilando called. Set a place to meet." Chibs told me and I let the breath that I took in out slowly.
"Okay... let's go." I told him. He gave me a nod before he walked away from me. I looked over at Charlie, her pink lips held a frown as she looked at me.
"Two hours is nothing compared to you driving all night..." She told me.
"I'll be okay." I told her. I kissed the top of Abel's head.
"Daddy will be right back. Mommy is staying with you." I told him.
"Okay, love you Daddy." Abel said. I smiled and kissed his head again.
"Love you too son." I responded. Charlie stood up the same time I did. She still had a worried look on her face.
"I got enough rest." I told her as I wrapped my arms around her waist.
"I don't believe you." She said to me. I kissed her shoulder when she gave me a squeeze.
"I love you." I told her.
"I love you. Always have," She responded.
"Always will." I said back to her. It had been at least a couple of months since we had to say goodbye like this.
"You better come back to the four of us." She whispered out. I gave her a nod before I pulled away to look at her face. My hand touched her small baby bump for a second then I held the back of her neck. Keeping her in place while I took in every detail of her just in case I wasn't able to see her again.
"I will. That's a promise." I told her. I gave her a kiss.
"I'm leaving Happy with you." I told her. She tilted her head to the side.
"I'd rather him go with you." She whispered and I chuckled. My stubborn woman.
"And I'd rather him stay with you." I told her, giving her another kiss. I had every intention of coming back to her but I also didn't know where we stood with the cartel after killing Lin. Selfishly I would be willing to make any deal any trade to be able to go home to Charlie and raise our family. Somehow I felt more dangerous now than I did when I had nothing to lose. Sitting on my bike I looked around at the open field we were in. It was a perfect spot to get ambushed.
"They're here." Chibs said. I looked over seeing two black hummers drive off the road and over to us. A man got out of the passenger side then opened the back door. I stood there hands to my slide, reading to pull my gun out if needed. A short older Mexican man climbed out of Hummer followed by another one. I stood up slowly as they both approached us.
"Jackson." Romeo said.
"You wanna tell me why you killed one of my guys last night?" I asked them. I watched as Romeo said and looked over to his second hand, Medina.
"We didn't know that was going to happen." Medina said. He said it so smoothly that I almost believed him.
"You expect me to believe that? You stole our guns, killed my guy and expect me to believe that you didn't know that was going to happen?" I questioned them. I could already tell that my temper was starting to get away from me. I could hear Charlie's voice in my head telling me to calm down, 'Don't be such a hot head' She would tell me. Then I would tell her that she was one to talk. Her temper was worse than mine.
"Maybe if you hadn't killed Lin then none of this would have happened." Medina said, matching the tone of my voice.
"That was necessary." Chibs piped in.
"We heard about the doctor. She was a nice girl. Sorry for your loss." Romeo said. I tore my eyes away from Medina to look at him. He did look apologetic but underneath the mask he was putting on for me I was sure he didn't care.
"Killing Lin was an inconvenience for us... We had paid for the next few orders from Lin. When those ran out well we had to come up with another way." Romeo said. I crossed my arms over my chest.
"We were originally going to meet with you and Alvarez- see if we could get back to our old arrangement until we find someone else who can handle our full order." Medina said. That seemed like there was some truth behind it. They both waited for me to say something but I didn't. I wanted to know their full plan. I needed to know how the Russians got involved. I didn't want to show my full hand just yet. I wanted them to tell me themselves. Romeo looked over at Medina again but this time he gave him a nod.
"The Novikov Mob are the ones who ambushed your guys last night." Medina said telling me the truth that I wanted to hear.
"Novikov? Is that Russian?" I played dumb.
"Nikolai Novikov... His family has been in the business a long time. Longer than us." Romeo said.
"The CIA has been trying to get their hands on Novikov for a very long time."
"So who started it? You or there?" I asked. Already knowing the answer.
"They did. They wanted to show good faith in a mutually beneficial partnership. We didn't know they were going to get the guns from you." Medina finished.
"So what now?" Chibs asked. I could tell he was equally just as annoyed as I was.
"Novikov is here to stay. Unless he rattles enough to leave or is arrested." Romeo said. There it was the whole reason why they agreed to meet with us. The reason why we were standing here. Fuckers. I thought to myself.
"You want us to help you?" Chibs asked.
"We've worked together before. I would say it was a beneficial relationship." Romeo said. I was starting to notice that he only spoke up when he was trying to smooth things over.
"After you tried to kill my wife and sided with Clay over me." I reminded them. They both were quiet after that.
"No drugs this time. Just guns. We expect Alveraz to take up distributing for us." Romeo told us.
"Aye and what's in it for us?" Chibs asked them.
"We'll pay double for our order from you." I raised my eyebrows at that. I turned to look at Chibs who did the same as I. We both looked at each other for a moment. I decided that it was time to lay my cards out on the table.
"I also want twenty percent of the profits from the horien that you're moving for the Russians." I offered high knowing that it was going to be countered at a lower offer. Romeo gave me a sly smile.
"Fifteen."
"Fourteen." I countered.
"Twelve, plus double for the orders and we'll reimburse you for the rebuilding of your clubhouse." Romeo finally said. I looked over at Chibs who gave me a short nod.
"I'm assuming you have a plan?" I asked him. I wanted to wait on agreeing to the money until I found out how exactly we were going to make such a powerful man pack up and leave or go behind bars for good.
"We do." Medina said.
"Novikov has a daughter. Nikita Novikov, She's in her early twenties. Novikov keeps her close to him ever since her mother was killed. She's his one true weakness. He rarely lets her out of her sight." Romeo started. I gave him a chuckle and I shook my head.
"I just got married. I'm not going to seduce her." I told him and he gave me a smile. It made me feel uneasy on the inside but I would never admit it to anymore.
"We know. Charlotte is a beautiful woman, Jackson. You're lucky to have her." He said to me, Instantly my heart stilled in my chest. I no longer wanted to entertain the thought of helping them. If they knew about Charlie then she was already put in more danger than I wanted her to be.
"Nikita is also an artist. Our contact has told us that she's been applying for internships but they move too much to take one. Charlotte would be the perfect person to mentor her." Romeo finished.
"Excuse me?" I asked. My fear of putting Charlie in harm's way turned hot at the idea of hanging her out as bait.
"All Charlotte has to do is make some announcement that she's taking on an apprentice. Nikita will apply. Charlotte gains Natasha's trust. She'll get her alone and then we'll take her and use her as leverage." Medina said as it was a matter of fact. As if I had already agreed. I could feel my lip start to curl as I looked at them.
"Absolutely not." I heard Chibs say.
"It's the only way we all get what we want. The Russians will be out of your hair and we won't be mules for them." Romeo said to me. He held my gaze for a few seconds before he spoke again.
"How about twenty percent, like you asked. Plus double for our orders, plus the reimbursement and we'll also have a few agents tail Charlotte at all times?" He asked me. Money didn't matter to me at this moment. I was disgusted that he thought throwing money at me would make me change my mind.
"This isn't even an option." I told him. There was no way in hell that I was going to let Charlie anywhere near this.
"How about you go home, sit around that table and vote on it. Call me when you agree." Romeo told me.
"There's not going to be a vote. I won't have my wife near this." I told him. I could feel the rage inside of me boiling and bubbling up.
"Jackson. You've always been a smart businessman. Think about the opportunities you could have with this deal. We won't let anything happen to your wife." Romeo said, still trying to sell me with money. Chibs and I stood there watching them walk back to their hummer.
"What did they say?" Bobby asked me. All I could do was shake my head in anger. I couldn't believe that we were back in a similar situation as before. Everything that I had been trying to get us out of was just coming back to bite us in the ass.
"They want us to use Charlie as bait for the Russian's daughter." Chibs spoke for me. I let out an angry breath hearing the cartel driving away, leaving us in this empty lot.
"Oh Christ." Bobby said.