"A heads up that you were here would've been nice," Jax said.
"Your mom is paying me to do this. It's up to her," I said as I relaxed and started painting again.
"How long you been here?"
"A few hours," I said.
"How many's a few?" He asked with a chuckle.
"Maybe seven," I said. "Depends on what time it is now."
"Nearing 2am," he said.
"Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?"
"Shouldn't you?" He responded.
"$450 is a serious chunk of change. I won't ever see it if I don't finish this," I said.
"Mom got you down to four fifty?"
"I started at five," I said. I fell quiet once again and I continued painting.
"You need a look out? Someone to keep ya safe while you're focused on that?" Jax asked.
"I'd say no but the fact that I didn't hear you til you had a gun trained on the back of my head would say otherwise," I said. He chuckled a little in agreement.
"I could just keep ya company," he offered.
"That's fine by me Jax," I said.
We started talking about what we've been up to in the past few years. I told him about the good parts of college, leaving out certain details he wasn't allowed to be privy to yet. He told me about his failed marriage and working at T.M.
As we talked, I painted. I occasionally glanced back at him, but for the most part I stayed facing the wall and painting.
As I finished telling a college story, I didn't get a response, causing me to turn to check on him.
He'd passed out and was sleeping sitting up against the wall. I giggled a little before going back to work in silence.
I worked straight through until the morning. Jax woke up to his phone ringing, probably an angry Gemma.
Luckily I was almost finished.
When Jax finished his phone call he looked at the mural.
"That my bike?" He asked.
"Yeah, Gemma asked me to do a Harley, and I figured this specific Harley might be a good fit for the family," I said.
"It's perfect," he said. "Which is good because Gemma is on her way here with coffee."
"Amazing," I said. I finished up with some details and checked my phone.
When Gemma walked in she gasped, loudly.
"This is amazing. So much better than I could've ever expected," she said.
"Thanks," I said.
"Why'd you get a degree in business again?" Jax asked. "You could make serious money doing this."
"I'm sure there's a huge market for Harley murals," I said jokingly. "Besides, my mom may be a damn good porn producer, but she can't run a company to save her life."
Gemma and Jax laughed at that as Gemma gave me a coffee cup, which I gratefully took.
"What are your big plans for the day now that this is done?" Gemma asked.
"I'm going to have to swing by the studio and help mom out," I said. She nodded a bit.
"Hey, so don't let anyone in there. It needs to dry, like really really dry," I said.
"Yeah sounds good. We're all headed out anyways."
I got in my car and headed off to my house so I could shower quickly and throw on some clean clothes before work.
I made sure I looked presentable, but not too good cause I was not in the mood for the men to try and hit on me. I drove down to the studio and headed inside.
"Hey Momma," I said as I walked into the office.
"Where you been?"
"Gemma paid me a few hundred dollars to do a mural in the nursery down at Jax's place. Had to get it done before tomorrow. Probably gonna swing by after I'm done here and just get some finishing touches on it," I said.
"You used to make triple that and still get to sleep," she said.
"I know mom, but now I don't have to deal with any of the shit that I did as a stripper. Besides I could do that in a heartbeat again if I wanted," I said. "Anyways, I took the gig more to help out an old friend."
"So you and Jax huh?" She asked.
"Just friends Mom," I said. She didn't believe me but she had some stuff to attend to out on the floor. I sat down at the desk and drank my coffee as I worked on some paperwork. I was trying to clean this company up and run it as legitimately as I possibly could.
After a full eight hours of paperwork at the studio, I headed back to Jax's place, sneaking in with a hidden key.
I called Jax as I walked into the house.
"What's up?" He asked.
"This is your heads up that I'm at your place to finish up the mural. Should only be another hour or two," I said.
"Sounds good," he said. The line went dead so I hung up my end and stood in the door of Abel's room staring at the mural.
It was basically perfect. I started gathering supplies and looking at all the lines to makes sure they were okay. When I'd decided it was finished, I headed out, locking the door as I left.