Roots Run Deep

Chapter 24

Being at CaraCara meant Katie was much closer to Charming than usual. Instead of spending her time at her new apartment, Katie was spending her evenings at Jax's. Waking up alone, she tiptoed down the hall to find him asleep, still in his clothes, in Abel's room.

"Hey," she woke him gently. "You're gonna be sore if you sleep here all night."

"Huh?" He slowly opened his eyes. "Oh, yeah, thanks. You waiting for me?"

"I fell asleep waiting for you," she giggled. "It's fine. I should have gone home anyway, I was just so tired."

"I like having you here," he said, grabbing her waist and spinning her around to face him. Jax wore a cheeky grin, his fingers kneading her hips, as he looked her up and down.

"You're laying it on thick," Katie laughed.

"Just because you can see through it doesn't mean it's not working," he winked.

"Oh it works," she sighed. "Too fucking well, Teller."

Jax kissed her, his fingers still on her hips as they walked to the bed, their tongues tangled. Katie knew every time they had sex or each time she spent the night they were both digging their hole a bit deeper.

"Remember when we met?" Jax asked her, seconds after they climbed off one another, still sticky with sweat.

"Mm hmm," she practically moaned, satisfied and sleepy.

"You said you knew me, we were the same, charming whores who knew how to get what we wanted out of people," he repeated her theory back to her.

Katie rolled over, resting her chin on his ribs, "Yeah. I wasn't wrong, you know."

"I know," he chuckled. "I was just wondering what are you getting outta me?"

"Hey," she leaned up on her elbows. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" He asked, slightly offended by her answer.

"No," Katie said quickly. "I mean I'm not doing that, I'm not working you to get something.  I really do like you and shit Jax, we are incredibly compatible sexually."

"Yeah we are," agreed wholeheartedly.

"Are you feeling self conscious? That why you brought this shit up?"

"Nah," he sat up, back against the headboard. "Just wanted to double check before shit goes further."

Katie smoked, looking up at him dreamily from the pillow. "I don't have to ask, not that I wouldn't be concerned, but the whole finding a mutually beneficial way to keep me from having to see clients kind of proved it."

"Glad your self esteem isn't suffering," he joked, getting out of bed, still naked, and heading toward the bathroom.

"Never," she yawned, rolling over again. By the time Jax returned to his bed she was passed out with a tiny smile on her lips.

—

*A few weeks after starting at CaraCara*

"I'll do it," Katie assured Luann. "I can type it up real quick."

"Thank you," Luann laughed. "I know it's faster but I was so used to doing the bookkeeping by hand I just hate the computer shit."

"I get it," Katie shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Don't stay all night," Luann chided as if she were Katie's mother.

"I want to finish it, I'm not going to be here tomorrow so I should just get it done."

Luann gave Katie a quick hug and scurried out the door. Locking the deadbolt, Katie headed back to the office and got to work on payroll and invoices.

Despite Luann's orders, Katie ended up curling up on the futon in the office and sleeping rather than make the drive home, exhausted, with strained eyes. She awoke hours later to the smell of smoke and loud male voices from outside the office.

"Holy shit," she whimpered, seeing the flames dancing wildly. "Holy fucking shit." Grabbing her phone she called 911, staying hidden in the office until she was sure the men were gone.

It was still dark out, although the sun was on its way up, when Katie got out with the help of a firefighter. Soot stained her face and clothes, her hair had been singed and her eyes were burning from the smoke but she was incredibly lucky.

Wearing an oxygen mask, Katie sat inside an ambulance while a paramedic checked her over and cleaned the few tiny burns she had on her legs and arms from the way out.

As she sat there, her chest aching from the smoke, Jax, Bobby and Opie arrived. Seeing him walking toward the building brought intense comfort to Katie and he didn't even know she was there.

"Jax," she wheezed, hanging out the ambulance. "Hey!"

"Kate?" He hurried toward her. "Are you okay? What the hell happened?"

"I think so," she coughed. "Someone was here last night, assholes lit the place up, Jax. I was so fucking scared."

Despite the look of absolute rage on his face he held her tenderly and spoke softly. "You're alright now, I got you. I'm sorry this shit happened, babe."

"You gonna find out who?" She asked in a whisper

"I will," he promised her. "You tell the cops what you saw?"

"No," she swallowed hard. "I know better, besides I want you to handle those assholes."

"They want me to stay overnight, just to be sure."

"You should, I'll go with you, just give me a minute." Jax kissed the top of her head and walked back to the others. "Clay's first on my list."

"Why?" Bobby asked with concern.

"He didn't want this and he doesn't want her around," Jax explained.

"So he tried to kill her?" Opie asked incredulously.

"No," Jax huffed. "No one knew she was here, I didn't even fucking know."

"Whatever shit you got with Clay isn't gonna boil over into this," Bobby said grimly.

"Guess we'll figure it out," Jax huffed. "I'm going to Saint Thomas with Katie, make sure she's alright, then we'll move on this."