"Don't let the water drag you down (Don't let the water drag you down)"- The Pretty Reckless, Under The Water

Jacko

I kept my eyes locked on her as she stood with her back against the small alcove. I could still taste her on my lips and I damn sure could feel her invisible pull in my pants. Staring at the rise and fall of her chest as she steadied her breaths was hypnotizing, but it wasn't the first time I had watched her.

Childhood Sarin had captivated me in a totally different way. Her innocence was as addicting and comforting as the sweet laugh that slid off her tongue like a melted piece of candy. But, teenage Sarin was a different type of drug. All that sweetness she held as a child had morphed into silent seduction, calling to anyone with a pulse within a hundred mile radius. I saw the way grown ass men looked at her when she was a teen and I sure the hell saw the way men looked at her now.

I wasn't the only man on that plane that had her in their sights. Heads turned when she sauntered by. Eyes travelled the svelte miles of inked flesh to those honeycomb eyes and dark brown hair with golden highlights. I could almost read every single thought in their minds as they stared at her plush pink lips.

I knew because I never took my eyes off her, no matter how hard I tried. For years, I watched her while I slept on my own bed of lies—a different woman sprawled across my chest to drown her memory from my mind. I spent my valuable time stuffing my addiction to her smile deep in an amber colored bottle while she refused to look my way for what I had done. But like any true addict, I never forgot that subtle taste she left behind all those years ago.

She crossed the aisle to our row, and a small blush coated her cheeks as she glanced up. Just that twinge of shyness made my dick twitch something fierce and I busied my hands with her discarded magazine in order to stop myself from dragging her onto my lap.

She chuckled as she took her seat, and I glanced up in curiosity. Tapping the magazine article I'd hastily thrown open she asked, "Are you a lazy girl, Jackson?" She laughed again, leaning a little closer to tease me.

I looked down at the article entitled A Lazy Girl's Guide To Great Hair and laughed along with her. Shaking my head I set the magazine in her lap. "Sometimes, Beautiful," I grinned, "we're all just lazy girls."

"There's a quiz about how amazing in bed you are a few pages past that," she teased. "Maybe that's what you're really curious about." She leaned closer to whisper in my ear, "You know you're dying to see my almost perfect score." Grinning triumphantly as I let out a frustrated growl, she motioned to the flight attendant to ask for another drink.

"Make that two," I almost snapped, catching myself at the last minute and putting on a softer little hint of a smile. It wasn't the flight attendant's problem that my dick was raring to go and the little devil beside me sure as hell knew it.

Drink in hand, I tried to focus on the whiskey and not address the elephant in the room—or rather the one who had blatantly followed us both out of the bathroom—but after several unsatisfying swirls of the liquid in my plastic cup, I looked over.

"I think we should have a chat before that happens again."

She set the magazine down in her lap. "A good chat or a Jackson chat?" she almost taunted with a smirk, but then lowered her voice to a near whisper. "Because frankly I'm tired of skirting around how we clearly feel about each other. So if this is a 'Jackson style chat' then let's just forget it ever happened."

"And what if I don't wanna forget it happened, Beautiful?"

She looked over at my still full glass and then up in my eyes. "Then we should have that chat."

Realization hit me like a ton of bricks and I swore loudly, drawing the attention of a few nearby passengers who shot dirty looks back. "I gotta leave for Florida soon as we get home. Need to deal with the Tallahassee chapter."

"Figures," she softly huffed and looked back down at her magazine.

"I ain't tryin' to put shit off." I shook my head.

"Sure sounds like it," she grumbled under her breath, causing me to sigh.

"Why don't you make the trip down with me? I don't know, maybe you can gather some information from the lingerin' club girls while we sit in church and vote. Then we can find time to chat."

"And what exactly am I listening for?"

I frowned at her request. "That's club biz."

Sarin firmly shook her head. "You can't play that card. You have to give me something or I have no idea how to steer the conversations. Doesn't have to be major ticket stuff but just enough that I can carrot dangle."

I reluctantly nodded after considering everything, and kept my voice as low as possible as I leaned closer. "Sorta can't leave out big ticket shit when you put it like that... Got word that Swampthing was found dead about three months ago." I growled at the thought that a chapter under my umbrella would hide from me any news that a President, I knew well and trusted, had been killed. That in and of itself put me on edge.

"Oh no!" Sarin cupped her mouth as a little sob broke free. Her forehead scrunched as her eyes teared up. "He... He knew my dad and always came by my booths at Sturgis to buy flower prints for his granddaughter... How?"

"No clue... But the chapter buried it for three months."

"What the hell?" she angrily responded as the disgust welled up in her eyes to match her tears.

I frowned. "I know, Beautiful. Trust me... When I demanded to speak to his Veep, they started hem-hawin' around somethin' fierce."

"Bullshit," she growled out. "Axel shoulda been on the phone with you the minute it happened and alerting the Mother Chapter. We woulda rushed down there to do something... Anything, especially for his family."

"I know... Somethin' shady as shit is going down cause it's not the only thing puttin' up my hackles."

Sarin leveled a pointed look at me. "What's riding this coattail?" She looked around the plane and then back at me. "We'll keep it strictly Vegas."

"It's gotta stay Vegas, Beautiful, least for now, but lots of money's missin' and their Veep can't conveniently answer his cell."

"Axel's missing and now their hacker wants a transfer?" She was starting to put two and two together like the fiercely intelligent woman she was. "But we got a vouch on him..."

"Yeah. Rigs vouches for Trench and I'm inclined to believe him but he's not the only vote we're makin'. Least four others want out and that concerns me."

"It should concern you, Jackson. Florida is prime territory and rival clubs have been scoping out that area for years wanting it. You lose your foothold in Tallahassee and you put a major damper in your trade route."

I stared at her in shock. "And how do you know all this?"

She chuckled and tapped her rolled magazine against her leg. "I listen. People talk a lot and when you're willing to shut up and open your ears you hear a world of information." She reached for her glass of whiskey and took a little sip, leaving a pink lipstick lip stain behind on the rim. "So if you don't want your business with the Cartel hampered then you need to get that crew straightened up... Plus if you can't trust them you can't use them."

"Smart cookie."

She went to pick up her magazine again but paused. "You don't think this whole shady club thing is tied to the raid on our guys and Levi going down, do you?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I chose the route of honesty. "Frankly I gots no clue."

"What does your gut say?"

"It says that coincidences are never coincidences and this is one of those times that assumin' everythin's not connected could bite me in the ass."

She nodded but her expression turned solemn. "Then you better clean house."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and drew her against my side as we just sat in silence for a long while, each processing the conversation we'd just had. I sipped my drink, hoping with each swallow that the answers would trail on the droplets of smokey flavor but they didn't; I had a real bad feeling about Tallahassee.

***

Kisses. That was always what dominated any reunion between Sarin and her boys. She alternated between Karson—who did his standard 'grabby fingers' in her direction, from the arms of his grandma—and Kaleb. A huge but sad smile coated her expression because she knew it was a short homecoming and once again she'd have to turn around and leave them.

Kaleb started his gibberish talk to gain her attention and when that didn't work he turned his focus on me. Reluctantly taking him from the prospect holding him, I bounced him a few times in my arms.

"Hey, little man." I looked down at him while I tried to hide my discomfort.

"Da?" He smiled up at me and I paused mid bounce.

Everyone in the room froze, including me. Sarin slowly turned her head in our direction and the panic bubbled under my surface. Then, it happened again.

"Da...da." Kaleb reached for the President patch on my cut, patting it with his tiny fingers.

I looked at Sarin as the wave of panic further ascended higher and threatened to consume me. Half expecting her to cry, half expecting some sort of anger, I braced myself. But instead of either of those, she laughed. That vibrant, all-consuming laugh of hers bounced across the small living room of her parent's place. Unsure what to do, I picked the first emotion to win out, which was clearly fear, however, the scowl that coated my face masked everything else that followed.

"I ain't your Da, kid." Passing him back off to the prospect, I made a hasty retreat out into the chilly air as I ran my hands through my unruly hair.

"What the hell's his problem?" Beast asked as I exited their house, but Sarin's reply was lost on my conveniently deaf ears.

"Fuck... Fuck..." I grumbled to myself as I paced in front of the truck and tugged at the unruly strands of dark hair. The panic still churned deep inside so I busied myself with checking our bags stowed in the backseat even though I knew for certain that everything was there. Anything to busy my hands and take my mind off what had just happened. Guilt flooded me as I softly chastised myself, "I get that Kaleb's just a babe... And Levi's been gone months... but—" I couldn't externalize the last piece, but it was there. It had wrecked my insides to the core, because for the briefest of moments, I once again felt like a replacement in a life that wasn't mine.

I searched for some excuse I could give Sarin in order to leave her behind in Northridge; to avoid a conversation about us. And more importantly, to avoid the awkwardness that I was feeling. But even through all of it, I wanted—no needed—her to go with me.

"Fuck!" I said louder than I intended.

"Probably not wise in her parent's front yard," Rigs joked as he headed over from the Nightmare Assassins' clubhouse. The contents of the bag on his shoulder clanked, competing with the birds that vigorously chirped in the trees nearby.

I continued to busy myself by making room in the back for him and TinTin. I wasn't in a teasing mood. "You got everythin' we need?"

"I got enough shit to blow a mall to kingdom come," he joked with a laugh, but when I looked over at him seriously, he sighed. "Man, someone's knickers are in a fucking twist." He shook his head and stowed his bag. "I got my computer and some extra gear in case their files are encrypted. But I'm wondering why we don't just utilize Noah? He has the skills to get through anything... Actually, the guy is miles better than I could ever dream of being."

"Because he's still a soft topic for Tin and until that vote's done, I wanna keep him outta our witch hunt."

"You realize we're far from a witch hunt... Three million isn't some missing loose change in the couch cushions. "

I nodded. "You're right. It ain't...and that's another reason. I know you vouch for him but how does three million get lost on his watch?"

"Easier than you think actually. If this club's rotten from the inside, a whole lot more than a missing Veep are in on it. My guess is—" He was interrupted by TinTin who walked over and pulled open the door with a scowl.

"Let's leave the guesses for the girls who play Pictionary and shit. We'll have answers by the end of the night once I get my hands on those fucks."

Rigs sighed dramatically. "This trip is going to be one big ass ball of fucking joy. Did you both not get enough dick tickling done to put a smile on your faces?" He leveled a playful glare at TinTin. "I can always call a certain 'Kitten' to rush down here and see if she'll finally wet your whistle before you blow off." He chuckled in jest. "No? No takers? Well she can always see how many licks it takes to get to my center then."

TinTin shot Rigs a warning glare at the mention of Tabby. "You really wanna go there with that joke?" I wasn't sure what was going on in TinTin's complicated head, but lately he'd been avoiding the topic of our pink haired resident like the plague.

"Maybe," Rigs teased in challenge as the sneer deepened on TinTin's face.

"Leave him the fuck alone and get in the truck. Sooner we're on the road the better," I ordered as I yanked open the driver's side door and slid on to the seat. My fingers drummed against the steering wheel as we waited, and each second ticked by like an eternity as I watched Beast's front door like a hawk—part in annoyance that we hadn't left and part in anticipation to see her face again.

Minutes later she headed outside, giving a final round of kisses to each of her boys. When she turned, I took a deep breath while I waited to see that smile I was so fond of, but this time it was annoyance that coated her beautiful features. Those sweet eyes narrowed and darkened the closer she got to the truck. Quietly, she opened the door and slid onto the leather seat and buckled up.

Falsely thinking I was in the clear for my earlier outburst, I looked over. "We good to go, Beautiful?"

Sarin slowly turned her head in my direction and that's when I got the full impact of her annoyance. When Sarin looked at me with judgmental eyes, it was almost like my balls made a hasty retreat back up into the safety of their preteen hiding place before they'd dropped and rendered me a man. When she opened her lips and spoke in her newfound 'mom' voice, I about became sterile.

"Depends if you're done, Jackson James... You have any more outbursts to get off your chest?" she almost scolded—her tone similar to the one my mother used to use when she'd find my stash of titty magazines hidden under my mattress. And like I felt all those ages ago, Sarin's tone rendered me an instant mess.

Clenching the steering wheel—half in annoyance of being called out, half in embarrassment—I simply shook my head and raised an eyebrow back at her in warning as I tried to regain my ground. What I got in return was a disgusted head shake as she turned to look out the window, casting one last glance towards her parent's house as we backed out of the driveway. As we rolled down the road towards the interstate all I could hope for was a fucking miracle to shine down on us. Otherwise, this was gonna be one hell of a long ass drive.

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A/N: 

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♡ Ami