Jaide looked mildly disturbed as she looked around the room. On one hand, this is a part of Scarlet she had never gotten to see before. Not just the Queen running around wrecking shit, but the girl that Josie used to be before she had come to Oak Hills and became Jax and Jaide's property. By the time they had become friends, Scarlet had introduced herself as that instead of Josephine, and everyone respected that. That was something Jaide had never understood about the 'dead naming' thing. How fucking hard was it to call someone what they wanted to be called no matter how you felt about their identity? Every gangsta from Haven City to New York knew what a fucking street name was and how much weight it carried compared to your legal name. And what about those parents that named their kid one thing and then called them a nickname that had nothing to do with their real first name? Then again, Jaide had Named Jax. Scarlet had named herself. And it was a name that had fit.
The energy of the room was weird and made Jaide squirm a little as she watched her girlfriend take that baseball bat to the little altar that her father had set up. It was almost as if Jaide could feel the ghost of all the loneliness and pain that had been felt in here. The room was very clean, the only real dust being on the stuffed animals and the dolls that were taller than either of her brothers could reach. Jaide knew that Joseph hadn't done the cleaning himself. That wasn't a 'man's job'.
"Scar, our clock is running up, and this is supposed to look like an accident..." Jaide softly mumbled and picked up the bag Scar had dropped on the floor. Even though she understood how cathartic it probably was to get all this out of her, she knew how easy it was to lose oneself in the rage and anger. And who knew if anyone who would call the cops had seen them pull up. This wasn't the most well thought out plan of their lives after all.
Scar stopped swinging and turned to look at her best friend in the whole wide world. Their bond ran deeper than lovers; they were besties and that meant that Jaide and her took turns keeping each other calm, cool and sane in equal measure. And as angry, and as hurt as Scar was, she understood that Jaide was doing her part to keep her on track. "Yeah, come on, lets head out..."
Shane and the other boys that had come with Rico nodded as Scar came down the stairs with a hard: "We're wrapping up here boys. Scatter once we get to Kate's." Rico would dump the other vehicle once he was done setting the place on fire.
If I could get another chance
Another walk, another dance with him
I'd play a song that would never ever end
How I'd love, love, love to dance with my father again, ooh
Joseph was looking pretty bruised by now but the boys had given him the dignity of sitting him up in his favorite chair, blood dripping down his chin from a broken nose and probably a few broken teeth. He weakly looked up at his daughter as she knelt in front of him with nothing but pity in his eyes. "I was going to let you live, you know. Give you the same threat I know Kate gave you to stay away from me. Be the bigger woman, let you slowly die alone in this house with nothing and no one who loves you... We did love you once, you know. And we would have loved you if you had just been less of a piece of shit! But then I realized, you're not worth the oxygen."
"I gave you
EVERYTHING after she died. You acted like it was our fault she was gone. You made me take care of the boys by myself when I was barely old enough to take care of myself! I had to do good in school, I had to be an active part of the church, I had to raise my brothers and cater to a needy, overworked asshole of a father who was more interested in drinking his beer and staring at a picture of a dead woman than he was in loving his own children.
THE CHILDREN SHE GAVE YOU, YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" Scar screamed in his face, making him flinch and a tear roll down her cheek.
"Even now, on the cusp of this, you can't even look me in the eye and say you're sorry, can you? You can't apologize for the things you put me through, the ways you made me feel and the weight you had put on my shoulders. That's okay, I don't need you to, Joseph. Because those pressures and that weight and those chains you made me drag around? Those are what made me the Queen I am today. My brothers will never want for a single thing in life. Whatever they choose to do, they'll have my unconditional love and support. They'll have everything you never gave us, because I've learned what it is to be a mother now. I know what it is to grow a life and be responsible for it truly now, and I won't let them down the way you let me down."
For some reason, Jaide thought this was going to be more brutal to watch, but like Jax she had the same contempt for the shitty ass father that had given her the second best thing in her world. While Che had his faults and wasn't always the best father, he had at least shown up for her in her time of greatest need. Even when she disappointed him time after time after time, he had accepted that he was her father and it was his responsibility to at least give her a fighting chance when no one else had.
Scar looked back at Jaide. "I want your extra side arm, not your main gun, baby. Something you don't care about losing," she held out her hand.
Jaide pulled out the gun she had stolen from Kate, numbers filed off and she handed it to the love of her life. "It's one of Kate's, fully loaded."
"We only need one bullet, isn't that right dad?" Scar said softly as she took the gun and put it in his non-broken hand. Joseph's eyes met hers in an understanding of what her words really meant. There was no escape. But good Catholics didn't kill themselves; that was a one way trip to Hell even if you were an otherwise pristine person. What she asked of him was more than just his life, it was a his soul. Jaide shivered realizing where Scar was taking this.
"You're in a lot of pain without her aren't you? Always have been. So maybe it's time that you took yourself out of the world and into the afterlife? It'd be a mercy."
"No heaven, suicide," the old man mumbled through a broken jaw.
"You don't deserve Heaven, father." Scar hissed at him and then helped him lift the gun hand to his temple. Joseph shook his head but then he felt her finger slip onto the trigger with his and apply a little pressure. And for a brief moment, he wondered if it really was suicide if she was the one who forced it upon him. That was his loophole. Perhaps death wouldn't be so bad then, if he had even half a shot of seeing his wife again. He had no doubts his daughter would take care of the boys; she always had done it better than he had.
Jaide saw Scar hesitating for a moment when her eyes met his again with a different sort of calm and acceptance in them. Not acceptance for his daughter, but acceptance for death. Selfish and narcissistic until the end. She stepped forward and put her hand on Scar's shoulder and gave a light squeeze. That squeeze was all the red haired queen needed to do the deed. That bit of assurance that she was doing the right thing in the end.
Those stormy blue eyes didn't even flinch as she squeezed his finger and the trigger at the same time, blood splattering across the wall and splattering just enough to pepper her face. Jaide just smiled sadly.
When I and my mother would disagree
To get my way I would run from her to him
He'd make me laugh just to comfort me, yeah, yeah
Then finally make me do just what my momma said
Later that night when I was asleep
He left a dollar under my sheet
Never dreamed that he would be gone from me
Kate looked up as the front door opened and Shane led in another red headed kid that she had never seen before. Jude immediately rushed over to Michael and gave him a hug. "You found her!" he whispered with relief before handing Michael the duffle bags that the girls had collected for them. "Do you think they'll let us stay with her?"
Michael hugged Jude tight and turned with teary eyes to look at Jaide as she walked in. "Where's sissy?" he didn't even answer Jude's question because he had no clue how all of this was going to go down. He knew they had a lot of people trying to help them though and that Scar had a lot of people that loved her.
"She needed to walk the day off, she'll meet us at the house," Jaide assured him and looked at Kate with the silent question of their next moves.
Kate looked irritated, which meant she was probably a little too close to sober for her own comfort. "Take my car and get all four of the kids down to the house. I'll catch up in a few minutes, Rory and Ken are probably already there waiting on us, Michael will give Jude what to say to the authorities whenever they actually do fucking show up," Jaide took the keys that Kate had offered and looked at Izzy. Before she could ask: "I already put her carseat in the back. I figured there was a chance she'd be passed out by the time you guys got back."
JJ was already getting himself in the back seat when Jaide came out with Izzy and the two boys. "Someone's in a hurry to get home!" Jaide tried to change her voice from worried to humorous, worried about what level of trauma this was going to do to JJ and the baby... And if CPS got involved... Jaide shook that thought from her head for now since she couldn't easily reach her gum, even if she had any left.
Once the car was packed up Jaide took it easy getting down to the house, just to not wake the baby girl up.
Rory's car was already there when they pulled up and Rory was immediately greeting them. She didn't acknowledge the gap of time since she had last seen Jaide, she simply took Izzy from Jaide with a kiss on the cheek. "Let's get everyone inside and the little one in bed, then we'll run everyone through the gameplan. Where's Jax?" Jaide cursed when Rory asked the one question no one had thus far.
She knew he was still in his 'work meeting' and it made her grimace a little bit. It was a look Rory knew well when it came to Jax. "Right," Rory nodded and lead everyone back into the house.
If I could steal one final glance, one final step
One final dance with him
I'd play a song that would never ever end
'Cause I'd love, love, love to dance with my father again
Scar showed up just ten minutes before Jax did, silently walking upstairs without acknowledging anyone and knowing she needed to shower off as quickly as possible. She didn't want Jaide to see her bloody knuckles. Luckily Jaide was occupied ordering pizza and trying to get the boys fed while Rory talked them through how to handle a lot of big questions that would be thrown at them.
The room felt different somehow, though as Scarlet gazed around nothing was actually out of place; the dresser was still a disaster with Jax's shit spilling over onto her side of the countertop. Laundry baskets were downstairs because Jaide had intention of doing all the house laundry the next day. The pinups of Scar and copies of centerfolds of Scar, Calli and a few other friends were all still there. The bed was made the way she had left it that morning. Everything was in its place, or at least a rough estimate of a regular spot. She wandered over to her drawer and pulled out a small vial of clear liquid, before taking the dropper and dropping two under her tongue. A little LSD would help her ease up and act normal, as insane as that sounded.
It wasn't the room that had changed, it was Scarlet herself that was no longer the same person she had been when they had all woken up that morning. A few people had told her that killing someone changed you. Some killings were more traumatic than others. Some people, like the Ramages, were just born killers. Scar was never one of those people though. At one stage Jax had expressed hope she would never have to personally pull the trigger on someone. Something about "retaining her humanity".
But some things were worth killing.
Of all those who had given her advice over the years; from experienced murderers like Kate or Gayle, to those like Monica or Ken who had only caught bodies when they absolutely needed to and to defend those they loved, or even the random Regs that told stories to pretty bitches to try and impress them... not a single one of them had committed patricide.
Her clothes were dropped into a garbage bag that Jaide had left up there so they could burn their clothes and any evidence with it, and then Scarlet stared at herself in the mirror across from the bed. The strategic placement solely for the enjoyment of her and Jax watching themselves fuck. There were a few specks of blood on her face, but other than that she looked just as gorgeous and as unblemished as ever. The absolute porn star, the absolute fuck toy for her man. Would he see this as a crack in that porcelain perfection that they had strived so hard for them to achieve?
No. He wouldn't. Because like every other crack she had hidden from him since his prison stay, Scarlet would patch it and paint over it before he ever saw her break. And this time, she would paint it better than ever, gluing the pieces back together with some better adhesive. Jax would never know what this had done to her.
Scarlet stepped into the shower and blasted it as hot as it could go. Jax and Jaide loved to joke about her scorching hot showers, but today she took it to the extreme, scrubbing her soft skin until it was red and nearly raw. Scraping off any influence her dead father had over her. Her long hair was washed twice, just to make sure there was no blood splatter left over in it that she couldn't see. Every surface, every crevice was scrubbed and exfoliated until she was brand new skin that had never known a world with him in it.
When she stepped out of that shower, she felt clean in a way she hadn't known was possible. Her limbs felt almost weightless as the drugs kicked in and she found herself smiling as she picked out a new outfit and put on a little make up. Not looking overdone, but the make up made up part of the mask she would have to put on for her family and most especially her King.
Sometimes I'd listen outside her door
And I'd hear how my mother cried for him
I pray for her even more than me
I pray for her even more than me
I know I'm praying for much too much
But could you send back the only man she loved?
I know you don't do it usually
But dear Lord she's dying to dance with my father again
Every night I fall asleep and this is all I ever dream
Kate was sitting on the front steps smoking a cigarette in jeans and an old flannel that was clearly three sizes too large to be hers. She knew Jax was going to be pissed. Even if he had never told her, Kate knew her son well enough to know that he would have done far worse than what Scarlet did to the man. Even now, she knew that he was only honoring an unspoken code because she had made the moves she could to protect Scarlet, and her own family. That was precisely why she had made her open threat and made sure word got out about it. It forced him to hold back and not just storm over there with a bunch of the boys. Even if it was a bad idea, Nicky, Ty and the crew would have jumped in like behind Jax just to beat a man who abused his own children.
So many people thought that Kate was a dumb ass, but where it counted she had plenty of brilliance. But Benjy and John had been the better planners. Kate just did as she was told, and sometimes went rogue and needed to be reigned back in. That was the Ramage in her. And Jax's apple did not fall very far from the tree.
"Hey baby, everyone's inside. I'm heading out in a few. The bitches will explain everything when you get inside..." Kate sounded tired, the type of tired one got when they had seen more life than they had planned and more bullshit just meant more bullshit and nothing more. She stood up and did something uncharacteristic; she pulled him in for a hug, ignoring the smell of Di Capri pussy on him. "Take care of Scar. I'm going to be out of town for a couple days this weekend. Jaide said she'd run the store for me."
Inside was a different energy; Izzy and JJ were watching TV in the living room and the sounds of the Lion King could be heard from the front door. Jaide looked up at him as he walked in, sitting on the steps across from the door like she was guarding access to the upper floors.
"Fuck." Jaide cursed, staring at him like she just realized the biggest fuck up in the worst possible while shoving her thumbnail between her two front teeth nervously and staring him down. Not only had none of them called him to even get the okay for this shit, but it had taken Scar far longer to walk home than it realistically should have and Scar's entrance hadn't been rainbows and sunshine. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
"That's a lot of fucks," the red headed boy that walked past casually with a plate of pizza stopped and looked at Jax before squinting his eyes. Without even a moment's worth of hesitation the kid stepped forward and puffed his chest in that way that future gangstas tended to do. "You the dude who fucked my sister?"
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