Chapter 11.

Jax

Despite everything that happened with Erin yesterday, we still needed this deal to happen. This deal was the only way to keep my family out of Charming, and even though Erin didn't know it yet, I was doing this for Abel too. When I leave Charming I can become like a regular man. No more ducking from the cops, no guilty conscious, just a regular life with my ol lady and my kids. A life that my boys would be proud of. So, I arrived at the location to orchestrate the meeting between Galen and Galindo's guys early. This deal was supposed to be orchestrated by Clay, but I had to step in since he was still in critical condition.

"Jackie," Chibs said grabbing my attention when Galen walked in. Galen was being followed by a modest amount of his men, all in their best suits. I extended my hand out to him and he shook it, "Galen, good to see you."

"Where's Clay?" he asked ignoring my greeting.

"Something went down last night. Clay got shot," flashbacks of Opie shooting at Clay played in my mind.

"What happened?"

"We're not sure yet, they hit him at the garage. Had nothing to do with this."

"There's been a problem brewing in Oakland, this white thing," Chibs said backing me up.

"Is he gonna live?" Galen said pressing for details.

"Yeah," I nodded, "he pulled through the worst of it." Galen looked skeptical of my update but I decided to change the subject and introduce him to Galindo's men. "This is Romeo Parada."

Romeo extended his greeting to Galen and they shook hands. "This is my associate Luis Torres." Luis did the same and shook hands with Galen. However, I could tell that Galen was still weary after hearing of Clay's situation. "When will Clay be back on his feet?"

"It's hard to say right now, but we're up to speed on schedules and routes. I'll be able to talk you through everything."

"No, you won't," Galen began to smirk, "I made it very clear to Clay that the only way this deal happens is if he's running it."

"Galen we run things as a club," I reminded him. I was mentally punching Clay in the face because he caused this attitude from Galen. His need to be king only worked if he was the face of the Sons. "We can make this work without Clay."

Galen scoffed, "it's not just about making it work, it's about trust. I've little in you and even less in them," he said looking over to Romeo and Luis. "When Clay's back at the table we can discuss the deal, until then there is none." Galen didn't leave as formal as he came when he turned his back on me. I looked over at Romeo and Luis apologetically as the guys left the shed.

"Galen!" I called out to him but he didn't bother turning around. Chibs grabbed my arm, "Jackie leave it, you'll make it worse. These stubborn bastards won't hear you."

Frustration washed over me as my only way out of Charming left the room. Romeo walked up to me with his voice low, "we have to talk," he whispered. Great, as if I needed another talk about drugs I didn't even want anything to do with. I cleared the room so that it was just me, Romeo, and Luis.

"Look, I'm sorry, we really thought we could pull this off," I began, "the truth is, we're in way over our heads. I know Clay thought we could make this work, but we can't, we're not drug mules or big arms dealers. We're just small-time men, we can't do this anymore."

"I'm afraid we are at cross purposes Mr. Teller," Romeo said as he and Luis pulled out CIA badges. A wave of panic shot through my body as I realized what was going on.

"Oh sh**," I laughed mechanically. Erin was right all along.

"Otto Delaney did sell you out," Luis said, "US Attorney was going to crush this meet with RICO. We stopped them because we need this relationship to continue."

"CIA is subsidizing Galindo, we need the money from the coke and the Irish guns to do that," Romeo continued.

"You just heard O'Shay, he won't deal with me."

"Then you better make sure that Clay gets well soon because if you don't, we give RICO the green light." I sucked my teeth as I processed everything that was being told to me. I was stuck between a rock and hard place, and there was no getting out of this one.

"Do the feds have Bobby and Juice?"

"Just Munson," Luis said, "that's who Delaney gave up to establish history. He sold out Munson for a list of demands that are being handled by Lincoln Potter. Number four on that list was moving up his execution date, so he doesn't have long now. US Attorney has more than enough to indict. When things are running smoothly with the Irish, I'll do my best to get Munson clear of all charges."

I shook my head, "look whoever replaces Clay might not want this. Samcro could vote the cartel down."

"It's not gonna happen because you will be taking the reins." I scoffed as I processed what they were asking me to do. All the dreams I had of leaving Charming had fallen apart right in front of me. "Between us, if anyone else finds out, the club, your family, we'll crush your MC."

"Did you know that Clay wanted my ol lady dead? Were you the ones he hired?"

The two men looked at each other in silence and confirmed my suspicions. "He thought she knew too much about our business. We wouldn't have hurt her."

"You did hurt her!"

"We were going to debrief her, keep her in protective custody," Luis chimed in.

"I'm sorry for what happened, but we've gotta ask: is she a threat?" Romeo looked at me deeply as he asked the question. I could feel the steam coming out of my ears from how mad I was.

"No," I said flatly.

"Then why did Clay want her dead?"

"It was a family problem."

Romeo noticed my attitude change from his gruesome line of questions pertaining to Tara. "What you're thinking, what you're feeling, bury it, son. Because if Clay goes away, so do you and all your brothers. We'll be in touch," the two men left me after that to collect my thoughts. I was boiling over with anger that I even decided to show up today. Clay was such an idiot! How did he not see that we were being set up? Now the whole MC was on the line and so was my family. There was no way out of this life for me, I would live and die a Son.

I didn't even know where to go from here, how can I make things right when I was being controlled by everything that was wrong? There was no doubt in my mind that Tara would pack up Thomas and leave. Erin would probably book the first flight back home if she ever caught wind of this. I had no control over anything and the worst part about it was that I had to keep my mouth closed about the whole thing.

The only thing I did have control over was making sure that Clay never touched the gavel again. The lies he's told us, the killings he's orchestrated. My father, Piney, and almost Tara. I have had enough of his ruling and I won't be one of his subjects anymore.

I rode over to the hospital as soon as I could. Tig was there as expected and I sent him away to do a meeting with the club. Clay's monitor was beeping loudly and all I could think of doing was pulling the plug on whatever was left of his miserable life. But then he started to speak as he pulled the oxygen mask off his face.

"Son," he said in shallow breaths.

"Don't call me that," I pulled my knife from my pocket and pressed it to his throat. "The only reason I am not slicing your throat right now is because I need this deal to happen, and those prick Irishmen won't deal with anyone else."

"You gotta let me tell you," Clay fought for the chance to speak.

"No," I pressed the knife harder into this trachea, "you're done telling me anything, now I tell you. You're stepping down as president. You're gonna sit at the table, you're gonna have a vote, but that's it. You keep the Irish happy and you stay out of my damn way. If you don't, I let everyone read the letters and I let Opie tell everyone how you murdered his old man."

"Who gave you the letters?" It was remarkable that even in the face of death he was so consumed by something so stupid.

"Doesn't matter. You stay away from Tara and my mother."

"There's been a mistake," he argued. My patience had run thin with him and blood ran down his neck from my knife finally piercing his skin.

"Do. You. Understand?" my knife never let up until I heard him mutter the word 'yes.' I was still shaking with anger even when I had to pull my knife away from his throat. I wanted so badly to hurt him for all the damage he's caused, but I needed him alive to keep my club from burning to the ground.

(Dialogue pulled from Sons Of Anarchy S4 E14- To Be, Act 2)