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The next morning, Jameson was jarred awake by the sound of Opie's phone ringing. She blinked hard, trying to wake up all the way. Knowing she probably wouldn't be able to wrangle Ope awake before the phone stopped ringing, she picked it up off the nightstand to see that it was Jax calling.
"Hello, big brother," she answered, a grin on her face because she knew he'd be annoyed about her answering Opie's phone.
"Hi. You two need to get to the clubhouse. Now," he said, his tone tense. It caused the grin to slip off of her face at once. She sat a little straighter up in the bed and barely noticed when Opie stirred beside her.
"What happened?" she asked, knowing he probably wouldn't tell her. Sure enough, he didn't speak again for a few long seconds.
"Just get here, Jame, and be careful on your way. Do you want me to come?" he asked, his voice softer. He'd obviously realized he'd scared her. She shook her head even though he couldn't see and glanced at Opie, who was fully awake and staring at her.
"No. I have Ope. I'll be alright," she said, and her brother told her one more time to hurry and then hung up.
"What is it?" Opie asked her as she stood and took a deep breath.
"Jax. He wouldn't tell me anything, of course, but I'm sure it's probably not that big of a deal. We've gotta get to the clubhouse, though," she said, and he nodded and stood with her. He blocked her way out of the room and she looked up at him curiously.
"I love you," he said, shocking her. He'd never said it out loud and plainly like that. Her eyes went wide and he smirked. "You don't have to say it back and we don't have to do anything about it, I just wanted to say it. I'm so fucking tired of not saying it," he told her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close.
"I love you too," she whispered in his ear, kissing his temple. "It's always been you, Ope. Always," she told him as his arms snaked their way around her waist.
He held her close for a few moments and then released her, bending so that their lips could meet. She caught him in a much more passionate kiss than he'd obviously been expecting and a small groan escaped his lips. She grinned into the kiss, biting his bottom lip.
"Shit," he mumbled against her lips, and she knew what he was going to say, but she kissed him for a few moments more before allowing him to. "We've gotta go, James," he whispered, his voice sounding almost pained. She pulled her lips off of his, looking into his eyes and nodding.
"I know," she said quietly, kissing him one more time, gently. Just for good measure, she planted wet kisses all over his face, making him laugh and swat her away gently.
"Come on, you little idiot," he said, taking her hand and leading her out of the room.
Jameson could tell immediately when they got to the clubhouse that something was wrong. Jax was sitting at one of the tables outside, waiting for them, and when he saw them coming he tossed his cigarette to the ground and approached her meaningfully. She exchanged a confused look with Opie, who just shook his head.
"Jackson..?" she questioned cautiously, and he swallowed hard.
"Isaac's dead," he said, straight to the point. She blinked hard, thinking she'd misheard him.
"What?" she asked, and Jax shrugged.
"A neighbor found him shot in the back of the head in his apartment this morning. It looks like whoever made that threat on you picked him off because they were under the impression that the two of you were still dating. They left a note at the scene talking about how the kill was for you since he beat on you," Jax explained to her, and she shook her head.
"Who else knows you were with him?" Opie asked, and she shrugged.
"Everyone, really," she said, and it was true. With how long she'd been associated with Isaac, most of the small town of Charming knew they either were together or had been together.
"Who else knew he hit you?" Opie chimed in again, and she shrugged again.
"Everyone. Everyone knew we beat the shit out of each other when we were together," she said, and again, it was true.
"Well, whoever this is, they're officially a real threat. I don't want you out of either mine or another member's sight, ever. Understood?" Jax asked, and she nodded. Jax nodded back, flashing a glance at Opie before turning and starting to head into the garage.
"Oh," he said, turning back to look at her. "Gemma's in the office. She wants to talk to you," he told her ominously, referring to their mother with a smirk on his face. He turned back around just as she raised both of her middle fingers to him. She wasn't surprised Gemma had coerced Jax into trying to get her to talk to her. They hadn't really spoken in quite a while, but anytime they did it almost always ended in an argument.
Before she could really think about it, Opie's hand was on her shoulder.
"You okay?" he asked, and it took her a second to realize he was referring to Isaac. She turned to face him, nodding.
"Yeah. He was a fucking prick anyway. It's not like I didn't know that. I never loved him, not really. I just... was lonely and stupid," she said, shrugging. Opie pulled her into a hug, sensing the ghost of a lump in her throat right away. She wasn't sure why she was almost crying over Isaac; everything she'd just said about him had been true, but she still couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Despite all his faults, he hadn't deserved what he'd gotten, and she couldn't help but feel like it was her fault.
"It's not your fault," Opie said a moment later, seemingly reading her mind like he managed to do so often. "It's not, James."
"I know," she agreed, looking around cautiously before standing on her tiptoes to give him a quick peck on the lips. "I'm going to go talk to the lioness," she said, nodding towards the office of the auto garage that was attached to the clubhouse.
"I'll be right here waiting for you, little one," he said quietly, using a nickname he'd had for her since high school. At first it had just been because of how much shorter she was than him, but it had developed into somewhat of a term of endearment. She smiled at him, nodding.
"I'm counting on it. I'll probably need patched up after she digs her claws in me," she told him, making him smile widely.
