– Jax –
“Betty this is Jax, Jax this is Betty. Jax is my…” Lover, beau, sweetheart, other half, partner in crime. “Nice to finally meet you, Betty, I’m the current boyfriend soon to be husband,” I say with a smile while holding my hand out like the pure gentleman that I am. Betty slaps my hand away and brings me in for a hug, while she turns her face towards Harley and whispers loud enough for her to hear “He give good hugs, he’s a keeper” damn right I am.
Betty pulls herself back and straightens out her apron “Let’s get yous a table hmm?” She grabs Harley’s hand and turns around as she leads us to a table at the back away from the other customers, we all sit down before Harley speaks up first. “So why did you move mum? I thought you were happy at the tattoo shop” Betty smiles and places Harley’s hands in hers I remember from when Harley told me about her past that Betty was more of a mother to her than her own mother was.
“I came down here to find you, Harley, when you stopped messaging me I thought something horrible had happened. So I called an old friend and asked if they knew where you were heading, luckily for me, they did. So I packed up all my shit, sold the shop and moved down here. Brought this diner and started searching for you, you’re a very hard girl to find Harley but everyone seems to know your name”. She winks at Harley before turning to me “And I’ve also heard some interesting stories about both of you” a cheeky smile forms on her face.
“Wait so you own this place? That’s amazing but I wish you hadn’t of given up your life in order to find me, you deserve whatever you want mum you shouldn’t have to run around after me like a headless chicken, and what have you heard exactly?” Harley asks nervously, Betty smiles at Harley and squeezes her hands tighter, I place my hand on Harleys lower back and rub it softly.
“You know I’d do anything for you Harley, you changed my life for the better whether you want to believe it or not. As for the stories I’ll have to tell you later there are a few of them. Now I’ve got to get back to work and make sure my workers are actually working, get whatever you want it’s on the house” Betty stands up and starts to walk away “Mum wait!” Harley yell’s out as Betty turns around to face her “Do you want to come to my birthday party tonight? I’d like everyone to meet you” aww she’s so sweet, wait birthday party how does she know?!
“Of course, let me know the details before you leave” and with that, she turns back around and walks off “How di-” I start to ask but Harley stops me by laughing “You really expected Gunner to keep a secret like that? You’re more of an idiot than I thought” she starts laughing again, I pout and cross my arms over my chest, childish I know. “That wasn’t even my idea it was Snakes” I mumble and she laughs even harder “Oh god stop it you look like a toddler throwing a tantrum,” she says as she tries to calm down her laughter.
Once she calms herself down and wipes away her tears she turns to me and smiles, yep I’m still pouting. “Awwwwww babyyyy, don’t be so sooky I know you wouldn’t have chosen him” she says in a baby voice while turning my face to face hers, she moves her small hands up to my face and cups my cheeks squishing them together “Awww look how adorable you are, little grumplestiltskin” I scrunch my eyebrows together while her hands still squish my face and she bursts out laughing again this time so hard she snorts I burst out laughing at the snort and she stops laughing straight away.
“Don’t even laugh it wasn’t that funny you asshole” she mumbles before turning herself around so shes facing the table instead of me, she pouts and crosses her arms over her chest and I laugh even harder, I move her face to face me and squish her cheeks together just like she did to me “Awwwww kitten, don’t be so sooky I didn’t mean to laugh at your snort” she rolls her eyes and smacks my hands away “Yeah whatever” she grumbles before moving her head away.
“That’s it,” I say before grabbing her waist and dragging her into my lap she looks at me “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She raises her eyebrows at me, “Well until you change your sour mood I’m going to tickle you” her face turns cold and angry, “You wouldn’t dare” she says in a low voice. There’s a small voice in my head that’s thinking rationally telling me if I want to keep my hands to not do it, but the rest of me is saying to do it.
Before I can say anything a waitress comes up to us and clears her throat, Harley and I turn our attention to the young girl Harley tries to get out of my lap but my grip only tightens, this isn’t over kitten. “Hello my names Addie, I’ll be your server today can I get you anything to drink?” Harley looks over the menu quickly while I order “I’ll get a coke thanks” she nods and writes it down before turning to Harley “Can I get a chocolate thick shake” she says with a smile and the girl nods and walks away.
“So where were we?” I say with a smile, “Nowhere, now why didn’t you tell me about the party?” it was nice knowing you world. “Because your father told me not too,” I say simply and hope she will leave it at that “So now you’re taking orders from my father?” She questions, “Look, Harley, he wanted to do this for you who am I to tell him no? You deserve a proper birthday party, with all your family there, your real family” she opens her mouth to speak when my phone rings, “Give me a second” she nods and slides herself off my lap onto the booth seat.
I lean down and kiss her before walking away to answer my phone “Speak” I bark into the phone “Killer it’s Dino, Vegas boys want to know if they can bring a few people?” The boys in Vegas should have left already its a 4-hour drive on a good day, I walk outside and light a cigarette “They should have left already Dino, by a few how many exactly?” I take a drag and wait for his reply, “Um, like half of the Mexican cartel” he mumbles awkwardly.
“Have the Vegas boys left yet?” I take another drag, “Yeah they’re here, with them”, “Put Knuckle’s on the phone” I wait a few seconds before his voice comes through the speaker “What do ya need brother” he slurs a little “Lil ol Ricci there?” I say as I laugh into the phone “Yeah yeah yeah hold on mate I’ll get him!” Knuckle’s screams into he phone before calling out ‘Lil Ricci’ a few times that’s not what i meant at all, I hear a bunch of movment and some spanish words that I can only imagine are death threats before a deep voice comes over the speaker with a thick accent.
“Hola Killer” he also slurs into the phone “Can I trust you and your friends to not kill anyone tonight? I have Harley to deal with I dont need everyone in the damn club killing eachtoher” he laughs before replying “Si Hermano, we will try not to mattar tonight, pero sin promesas”. ‘Yes brother we will try not to kill tonight, but no promises’
“I don’t know what you said but I’m going to take your word for it, tell Knuckle’s we will be back in an hour” with that I hang up the phone and throw my ciggarette away before making my back inside. I walk to the booth and sit down to see that our drinks had come, “Sorry for taking so long” she rolls her eyes and smile “No need, I had some entertainment” she says with a smirk. “And what exactly would that be?” I say while picking up my drink and taking a mouthful, I spit it back into the cup and glare at Harley “Why did you put salt in my drink?” She laughs and kisses me on the cheek “That was my entertainment, so what was the call about?” I take her drink and take a mouthful to get the awful taste out of my mouth.
“Just some presents for you,” I say smiling, we order food and eat it while talking about everything, how her day was, how Gunner got his ass handed to him multiple times, how she found the dogs ect, “Oh and there was this one kid at the pet shop that I may have had a little fun playing with” my neck snaps to her so quickly I’m surprised I didn’t break my neck, “No no no not fun like that, just some harmless fun. He was so quiet and nerdy looking so I gave him some confidence is all”.
“I don’t care how nerdy-looking he was, you’re mine and mine only” I growl at her and she smiles at me “Oh my god you’re adorable, he was barely legal, probably has never had his first kiss, he even stuttered it was adorable. You can ask Gunner” she says while taking a sip of her thick shake, wait. “Gunner let you?!” I say throwing my hands in the air dramatically, “Yeah he thought it was funny”, I go to reply but Betty makes her way over to us.
“Now give me all the details for tonight and I’ll come over once I close up here,” I write down the address and details while Harley talks to Betty, I hand over the pen and paper to Betty before she pulls us in for a hug before sending us off, we get on the bike and make our way back to the clubhouse.
Pulling up to the compound the music is blasting, people stumbling around outside “Yeah very good surprise party, I would have never of guessed” Harley says while we walk towards the doors, the music begins to become clearer and clearer the closer we get to the doors, once we are close enough I can hear the song Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash playing inside, I can also hear people singing but two voices are louder than the rest, both of the voices sound shitfaced and then I recognise little bits of Spanish in the lyrics instead of english and I know exactly who it is.
“Ready?” I yell to Harley over the music and she nods her head, I take her hand in mine and open the doors to be confronted by hundreds of people scattered all over the place, the lights are low and theres a stage set up, my eyes follow the lights up to the stage and see Knuckle’s and Ricci up there singing karaoke.
“I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire, I went down, down, down, And the flames went higher, And it burns, burns, burns, The ring of fire, the ring of fire” he sang into the mic with a mixture of English and Spanish words, I looked over to Harley who’s jaw was on the floor at the sight of them up there.
“MI HIJA, ELLA ESTA AQUI” ‘My daughter, she’s here’ Ricci yells over the music into the microphone he jumps off the stage and sprints towards Harley as the sea of people seperate, I let go of Harley’s hand as he approaches quickly, he picks her up and spins her around while engulfing her in a hug. He pulls back and looks over her with love in his eyes “Look how much you’ve grown” he says before pulling her in for another hug.
“Lil Ricci, how have you been? Have my boys been on their best behaviours?” She asks before taking my hand back in hers, he laughs throwing his head back “Are they ever on their best behaviours? You must be killer, I’ve heard a lot about you I can only hope you’re taking care of our princesa” ‘princess’ he says while holding his hand out, I take his hand in mine and give him a firm handshake “I can promise you I am, I’d do anything for her” he nods his head before clapping his hands together infront of him “Now, time for drinks I think we are long overdue for a catch up”.