The Long Ride Home// Jax Teller Fan Fic

Chapter Two:Past lives

"That's two million." Tigs said as he finished counting, the large stacks of cash laid across the conference table like some large lottery. Paige felt her stomach churn as she looked at the money, money that she was just grabbing and stuffing into bags just two days before. She had no idea that's how much she was taking; all she knew is that she was in the shit now.

"Where did it come from?" Clay asked looking at Paige, her heart racing as now all her skeletons were going to be laid across the table. She looked to Clay's wife and Jax's mother Gemma, her eyes giving her comfort in the moment. She was a hard ass and a bitch, but to Paige, she was her rock in this moment of uncertainty.

"I was a con artist, the decoy mostly, but I was still part of the hustle." She said feeling the sting of her father's hand slapping her cheek, something she wasn't expecting.

"I raised you better than that!" He yelled, stepping back as Gemma moved in front of him, the room becoming noisy. Her father had never hit her before, but then again things had surly changed.

"Did you? With all the shit you are involved in? Don't you dare pull that shit dad!" Paige yelled as she held her cheek.

"He has a right to be mad Paige. You leave here for over a decade, then show back up with two million in cash and a child that no one knew about." Gemma retorted, her voice calm but stern. Paige looked around the room at all the lives she had now put in danger, her heart filling with guilt and regret.

"Fine—If it's too much then I will take Xavier and leave." She said walking towards the door, only to be cut off by Tigs.  She turned back to everyone before finally speaking, her cheek stinging in pain."I left to get away from the embarrassment of being second fiddle, and I stayed away to keep you safe. I blacked out a tattoo that reminded me of my family in order to keep you safe! I have don't more for this club than any of you combined and now that I come to you for help—you prosecute me." Paige yelled pushing past Tigs and going out the door, slamming hard into Jax.

"What's goin on?" He asked as everyone followed Paige out in to the clubhouse. She scooped up Xavier from the floor, holding him close as tears fell from her eyes. She was soon surrounded by all of them, with the exclusion of Jax and Clay. He was no doubt explaining to Jax what Paige had been up to, something she wasn't sure she was ready for him to know.

"You ain't goin nowhere sweetheart. You and this sweet boy are family, you and him can stay here in the clubhouse in the empty room." Gemma said pointing to the small room down the hall. "Jax is in the other one, so you will have protection."

"I don't wanna be near her." Jax spewed as he walked back into the main room, earning a small smack from his mother. Jax stepped back and adjusted his leather jacket, something he always did when he felt out of control.

"Trust me baby—this isn't an arrangement I want either." Paige hissed. "You didn't even make me come." She retorted as she walked past everyone and down the hall, hearing the giggles and snickers from the guys.

Walking into the room and seeing the bed and bathroom made her smile, but seeing the pictures on the walls made it worse. They were of the club, the old days when she was still a kid and Jax and her could stand to be in the same room. She sighed as she looked away from an old picture of her and Jax eating ice cream on the roof of the club, a memory that now felt tainted.

"Look at all these old toys." She said as she found a box of mega blocks on the floor, no doubt from when Opie's children were little. That was the one person she hadn't seen yet, which was strange since he and Jax were practically brothers.