Chapter Text
With an elbow propped up against the bar inside Diosa Norte, Jax raised the cold beer to his lips before taking a deep pull from it as he listened to Nero. For the past fifteen minutes, he’d been running over this previous month's profit margins and the projected income for the coming month, but truthfully Jax was only half-listening to the numbers Nero was rattling off at this point after he'd heard the Sons’ share of the profit. Because how the hell did Nero expect him to just sit here and focus on a goddamn thing with all the girls walking around eyeing him while they cleaned Diosa and prepared to open for the evening?
Jax sat relaxed at the bar, his legs casually stretched out in front of himself and crossed at the ankles, his eyes darting from the papers Nero was running a finger over to a woman who was bent in half wiping down a table across the main room. He could see straight down the front of her shirt as she cleaned and it was taking all of his willpower to keep switching his attention back to Nero. But as a blonde strode past him and sent a suggestive wink in his direction, Jax found his eyes following her across the foyer next, a lazy grin spreading over his lips as his attention lingered on her ass in those tight jeans. Head tilting to the side, he admired the view with a quiet, appreciative hum.
“Suppose you're not that invested in the business side of things today,” Nero commented, lowering the papers in his hands to the bar counter.
Jax’s gaze shifted back over to Nero, his lazy grin growing a bit wider at having been caught staring at the girls instead of focusing on business. He shrugged a shoulder in response before gesturing his beer bottle around the room.
“C'mon man, we're surrounded by pretty women,” he pointed out. “You think I can focus that closely on math right now?”
Nero shook his head at Jax, but the faint smile tugging at his lips betrayed his lack of genuine irritation. “Shoulda figured as much, ese,” he replied. “Next time I won’t schedule our business meetings to coincide with a full house so you don’t get distracted from what’s actually important.”
A low chuckle rumbled out of Jax, his grin still plastered across his lips. “Maybe you should, old man,” he teased back. “Should know by now how easily distracted I am by a pretty face.” His gaze swept around the room again, the corner of his lips still curled upwards. “Especially when there are so many of them.”
Nero gathered up the papers on the bar, stacking them together as Jax’s gaze continued to wander around the room as he watched the women cleaning and running back and forth with laundry from the bedrooms in the back. Beside him, the faint smile gradually fell from Nero’s mouth, his lips thinning out into a straight line as he gathered up the paperwork. As a brief quiet settled between the pair of men, the growing silence and the contemplative look on Nero’s face eventually caught Jax’s attention.
“Something else we need to discuss this afternoon?” Jax questioned, drawing the beer up to his lips again. “You look tense.”
Nero let out a deep sigh, his hands taking far too much care to straighten the stack of papers that held his focus. “Well, there was one other thing I needed to discuss with you today,” he admitted, sounding reluctant. “Kinda time sensitive with Lyla switching over to produce at Redwoody, too. We both know she can’t keep helping me out ‘round here, so I need someone to replace her. Someone that can handle the administrative side but also run the front of house when we're open. Someone we can trust to keep quiet about what's goin' on here, which means I can't exactly just…put up a help wanted sign in the window.”
Sensing the serious switch in topic, Jax straightened up in his chair and leaned forward, his forearms resting on the bar counter as his brows knitted faintly together. He jutted his chin at Nero, his grin no longer present. “What’d you need to discuss then? Hiring a girl to replace her?”
One of Nero’s hands ran across his mouth in hesitation, his focus still on the papers in his hand. Jax instantly caught the way he was stalling, his eyes narrowing marginally in the continued silence. Teeth beginning to gnaw at his bottom lip, Jax had a gut feeling that Nero was holding something back from him. There was something he wasn’t saying.
“Already found a girl, actually,” Nero began slowly, his attention finally shifting from the papers in his hand back to Jax. “She…was sort of brought to my attention by some of the other girls working here when I said I was lookin’ for someone.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jax asked, still cautiously eyeing Nero. “Brought to your attention by the other girls why? Cause she’s got experience running something like this?”
“No, that’s not why, ese. Let’s just say she’s from a difficult situation, alright?” Nero explained carefully to Jax. “This girl…she needed a safer environment. But she might also need a little…extra protection in return. You feel me?”
Jax’s head tilted a little to the side, one of his blonde brows raising up onto his forehead. “No, not exactly,” he answered. “Sounds more like you’re bringing in someone who’s gonna cause trouble for me and my guys. Extra work which requires time I don’t have. That what you’re getting at?”
Nero’s head shifted back and forth as he made a face, clearly trying to downplay the situation. Jax only straightened up further in his chair as he felt his irritation beginning to grow. He had enough to deal with as the Sons president right now while trying to get these new business ventures set up. He didn’t need extra work being thrown his way–another goddamn task to delegate or another problem to solve.
“Eh, I mean, maybe a little bit more work,” Nero admitted carefully. “Just at first.”
Jax’s face fell, a scowl spreading across his features. “Spit it out, Nero,” he snapped. “Who the hell do you wanna hire and why the hell is she gonna be a pain in my fucking ass?”
Nero raised both of his hands in a placating gesture at the obvious edge in Jax’s tone before he shifted in his chair further towards him. The severe expression didn’t disappear from Jax’s face as he waited impatiently for Nero to continue, his mouth set in a hard line and his shoulders squared and tensed.
“She’s a working girl from the streets,” Nero told him. “From what the girls here were telling me, she’s been trapped in a situation with this piece of shit pimp out in Stockton for years. Years, Jax,” He shot Jax a pointed look before he continued. “She’s wanted outta that life but she never had the chance and he’s never let her leave–”
“What the hell do you mean she hasn’t been able to get out?” he asked, cutting him off as he leaned closer to Nero along the bar, his brows drawing together in confusion. “You mean to tell me there's some scumbag pimp out in Stockton that wouldn’t let this girl leave? Kept forcing her to work for him?”
Nero nodded firmly at the question, the look on his face grim. “Yeah, ese,” he replied. “That’s exactly what I mean. Calls her his prized thoroughbred according to a few of the girls here that know her. She’s wanted outta that life for years but never had an opportunity. Never had some place to go.”
Jax’s hand gripped the neck of the beer bottle tight in his fist, his eyes dropping to the dark glass. What disgusting motherfucker forced a woman to keep selling her body against her will? For years? That thought alone had him wanting to get on his bike and go find this prick just to crush the dipshit’s skull in himself with his bare hands.
“The fuck is his name?” The question came out of Jax like a snarl, his eyes still fixed on the beer in his hand. He wished it was the guy’s neck he was squeezing instead of the glass bottle. “The piece of shit forcing a woman to keep selling herself against her will. The fuck is his name?”
“I’ve heard of him before, he’s been in the game for a bit,” Nero told him, cautiously eyeing the anger on Jax’s face. “Goes by Hades on the street. Thinks it makes him seem terrifying and untouchable.” Nero paused to roll his eyes at the notion before he continued. “He’s a jackass, though. Treats his girls like shit. Doesn’t protect them from clients, beats them himself if they piss him off, takes most of their money and leaves them with scraps. I mean, this poor chica has been living on the streets for awhile now, Jax.”
There was a desperation to his tone and an almost pleading look on his face as he spoke, one that Jax had never seen on Nero before. Clearly he’d been affected by this girl’s story, whatever it was. And if Jax was honest, he was already starting to feel affected by it himself considering the rage currently twisting itself around his insides.
“And I know we’re supposed to discuss business decisions and make them together as partners, but what was I supposed to do, Jax?” Nero asked him desperately. “Just turn my back on helping this girl get away from this shithead? Leave her on the streets to endure this piece of shit's abuse?”
Shaking his head at the question, Jax’s gaze returned to nearly burning a hole in the beer bottle clutched within his death grip. “No,” his dark voice replied. “You shouldn’t.”
Nero shifted in his chair beside Jax again, still a bit tense. “Good, because I hired her already,” he confessed. “Lyla was out picking her up from Stockton now. They should be back soon.”
A frustrated sigh passed between Jax’s lips as everything Nero said began to gradually settle in his mind. Nero had already hired whoever this girl was from off the streets and she was on her way to Diosa now. He’d have to circle back as to why she might require more work from the Sons, but if she was capable, then maybe he could toss a few prospects at whatever the underlying issue was just to keep Diosa running smoothly and Nero off his ass.
“She trustworthy? Can she handle running things then?” Jax asked after a moment, looking back over at Nero beside him. Jax could still feel the burn of anger in his chest at this girl’s situation, a muscle jumping in his cheek with how hard he was still clenching his jaw, but he tried to brush that away for the moment. “The math and shit that Lyla did? Pouring drinks? Charming the clients or whatever?”
Nero nodded at the questions, the papers in front of him entirely forgotten on the bar now. “Yeah, she’s a smart girl,” he told him. “Met her yesterday myself with Lyla. Bit rough around the edges, but I’m sure she can watch the language for a few hours while she’s working.” Nero chuckled, clearly recalling his encounter with you. “She can be a little, uh…crass and vulgar.”
That piqued Jax’s curiosity. Rough around the edges? Needed to watch her language? Who the hell was this girl Nero was bringing in from the streets?
“How rough around the edges are we talkin’ here?” he asked curiously. “She even gonna fit in at Diosa with all the other girls?” Jax gestured a hand at all the women still wandering around tidying up the building for the evening.
An amused grin pulled at Nero’s lips in response to his question, something almost mischievous twinkling in the man’s eye. “She may be somewhat of a feral stray, but I think she can learn to adjust to life indoors, if y’know what I mean.”
“You're describing the new girl as a feral stray?” Jax clarified, a skeptical look on his face. “You're hearing yourself, right? You want some feral stray running the front of this place? Greeting all the rich pricks looking for expensive, pretty pussy?”
Nero shrugged lightly, the amused grin still spread across his lips. “Trust me, she'll work out just fine. But what d'ya expect, man? She's a hooker from the streets of Stockton. And I mean from the streets. She was living on them. Of course she’s gonna be a little rough around the edges, ese. But she’s good, and that ain't the sorta thing she's gonna be doing here anyway–sleeping with clients.” Nero’s grin faded, a stern look of warning replacing it as he held Jax’s gaze while pointing a firm finger at his chest. “So you and your guys better not get any ideas about this one. She's strictly “off the menu” here. Alright? She doesn’t wanna do that anymore.”
“Don't think that's gonna be an issue from the way you're talking about her, Nero,” Jax told him with a shake of his head, his anger briefly forgotten at Nero’s absurd assumption that he would try to sleep with you. “A feral, stray, homeless ex-hooker with a mouth on her? Doesn't exactly scream sexy to me. Maybe Tig, but that's probably it, man. Don’t think you really gotta worry about us.”
A laugh fell out of Nero as the grin returned to his face, the amused noise once more piquing Jax’s curiosity. What the hell was so funny about that? It was as if Nero didn't believe that he wasn’t interested in you, but Jax damn well knew no girl off the street was going to make him care how “off the menu” she was. He had standards.
“Yeah, alright, Jax,” Nero replied with a light chuckle. “Just remember you said that in a minute.”
Outside of Diosa’s main room, Jax could hear the sound of car doors closing in the parking lot. Judging by Nero’s comment and the look still on his face, he guessed that was Lyla showing up with this mysterious, tragic stray of his. Admittedly, the more he learned about her, the more he was finding himself curious–but he wasn't about to confess that to Nero. Or the fact that he was wondering what exactly was about to step past those doors in a moment with the way the older man's eyes were glued to his face as if he was waiting specifically for Jax’s reaction.
Though Jax didn't have to wonder long before he heard Lyla's voice coming from just outside the large, black doors.
“–settled for a night before he was going to show you what you’d be doing–”
Seconds later, the black door swung open to reveal Lyla's familiar figure as she continued speaking to whoever was behind her. Jax didn’t catch the rest of what she’d been saying, though; he’d only just managed to nod a greeting at Lyla before you stepped inside the building. In that moment, time itself felt as if it had stopped moving as Jax's eyes instantly locked onto you.
You were not the girl he expected to see after Nero’s description.
Jax had expected someone rundown and dirty, someone who looked hard and worn from living a rough life on the streets. Maybe some girl who was missing a few front teeth and half her hair tangled or torn out. He expected someone that he’d brush off without a second glance. What he hadn’t expected was the stunning woman who’d appeared in the lobby.
You looked nothing like a homeless ex-hooker from the streets of Stockton. You looked much more like something that had walked straight out of his goddamn dreams, better than any of the women he’d ever seen hanging around the clubhouse or Diosa or even any of the other charters’ clubhouses. You were…something different entirely. Everything else in the room had completely faded to the background as his eyes ran over you and your body in those revealing clothes.
You looked like a goddamn angel that made a man want to do all sorts of sinning.
But then Jax’s eyes noticed the injuries marring your body and his expression hardened, his fist curling tight in his lap. There was blood dried around your lip, which looked split and a bit swollen–as if you'd been hit in the face recently. The timid, nervous way in which you'd glanced at Nero and sent him a hesitant smile before uncomfortably ducking your head, as if you didn't want the damage to your face to be noticed, seemed out of character from the rough around the edges woman Nero had just been describing. But that wasn't all Jax had caught when he looked at you, and apparently Nero had seen it, too.
“What happened to your arm, chica?” Nero called out, concerned.
“Hades.”
Your response had been simple and quiet, but so full of anger and malice that it made Jax’s skin crawl. The tone of your voice only added to how badly he wanted to kill the son of a bitch that had clearly bitten your arm like that. Like a fucking wild animal tearing into you. The mark looked fresh and irritated–and disturbingly deep for teeth marks. There was a sick feeling roiling inside of Jax’s gut telling him there were probably more marks like that hidden beneath your clothing. The thought caused his lip to curl back in a silent, disgusted snarl.
“I didn't have anything with me when I picked her up,” Lyla told Nero apologetically before she shot you a quick sympathetic glance. “I was going to bring her to the room she's staying in here and get her cleaned and settled for the night.”
“Yeah,” Nero agreed, nodding back at Lyla. “Yeah, take her back and let her get comfortable.” His attention shifted to you next, his tone softening noticeably. “I'll check in with you later, chica. Don't worry about a thing tonight, alright? You just relax and get settled into your room.”
Jax watched as you nodded, a tight smile briefly passing over your face before it vanished. Something unexpectedly twisted in his chest at the sight before you were following Lyla across the foyer and down the hallway that led to the various rooms in Diosa that were used for entertaining clients. His eyes lingered on you until you were out of sight, his teeth grinding together in rage at the marks on your body–the clear abuse you’d recently endured.
“That would be the new girl,” Nero said quietly, breaking the tense silence that had fallen when you’d disappeared down the hall. He gave Jax your real name before he continued. “That shithead pimp of hers called her Persephone, though. You know why?”
Jax’s fist clenched tighter in his lap when he heard the name. He vaguely recalled the Greek myth from back when he’d been in high school, well before he’d dropped out and joined the Sons. “Cause Hades trapped her in hell, right?”
Nero nodded solemnly, his lips set in a straight line. “Guessing this Hades asshole thought it was smart,” he replied grimly. “His prized whore kept trapped in the hell of his making.”
“Take it he ain’t gonna be too thrilled she left?” Jax questioned between gritted teeth, his gaze finally leaving the hallway and shifting back to Nero at the bar beside him. “That where the extra work from the Sons factors in here? Protection?”
Nero nodded again in response. “Yeah, that’s exactly it,” he answered. “This guy, Hades, he ain’t just gonna let her walk away, y’know? If he finds out she’s staying at Diosa, he’s gonna come with some of his guys and cause problems. She was his favorite girl. Told me herself he ain’t just gonna let her walk away easy.”
Jax’s hand released his death grip on the beer bottle, running his fingers over his lips as he let that sink in, the roughness of his beard scratching at the pads of his fingers. Disgust and fury grew within him at those words–“his favorite girl.” You were some sick bastard’s favorite girl to whore out for profit and abuse to his own liking. Jax felt like fucking vomiting at the idea of how you’d been treated, the way you’d been viewed. Sure, Nero and the Sons made money off of the girls at Diosa, but it wasn’t the same thing. The girls here kept most of their earnings, they were treated with respect, and they were kept safe. And there was absolutely no fucking way Nero or him would ever force one of the girls to stay here if they wanted to leave. What you’d endured–how you’d been treated–was repulsive.
“What kinda trouble are we talkin’ about?” Jax asked Nero, his jaw set firm.
Nero expelled a rough sigh, his eyes darting towards the hall you’d disappeared down before he focused back on Jax. “She said he’d cut her tongue out if she ever left him,” he answered slowly. “Told her he'd make her a useless whore if she ever tried to run on him. So I’m guessing…something of the violent nature, ese.”
Unbridled rage ignited like a wildfire within Jax’s chest at those words. What disgusting monster would mark a beautiful thing like you in a cruel way like that? Who would hurt you just for wanting your goddamn freedom?
“She’s got no place to go, so I told her she could stay at Diosa for now until she can afford a place of her own,” Nero continued. “Thing is, once we close, she's gonna be here all by herself at night. I know we got decent security, but I was hoping maybe you could have some prospects watch the place on and off at night. Take turns or some shit. Just for a couple of weeks until we know this jackass isn't coming for her.”
Jax nodded silently at the suggestion, still processing the whole situation. It would add more to the Sons’ plate for a couple of weeks, but he already knew in his gut that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he'd found out something had happened to you that he could've easily prevented.
“Yeah, I can do that,” he murmured, eyes focusing on the hallway again.
Nero silently observed Jax for a minute, taking in the way he was staring down the hall like he was expecting to catch a glimpse of you again. The ghost of a smile flickered over Nero’s face when Jax glanced back over at him.
“What?” Jax asked, brows furrowing faintly together. “The hell you lookin’ at me like that for?”
Nero shook his head, that hint of a smile still present. “Nothing, ese,” he answered. “But since she’ll be helping with the business side of things and you might have to work with her a bit, maybe you can meet her in a couple of days. Once she’s had a chance to get situated here and settled in. Might be good for her to meet the man in charge of keeping the girls safe, too. That good with you?”
Jax’s eyes dropped back down to his bottle of beer on the bar counter, a handful of thoughts racing through his mind as his index finger traced the line of the label. “Yeah,” he murmured. “That’s good with me. Got some club business I should head out and deal with anyway.”
“Alright,” Nero agreed, rising up from his chair at the bar. “Then I’ll introduce you to our new girl in a couple of days.”
Jax rose up from his chair as well, bringing his beer up to his lips and downing the rest of it. As he set the empty bottle back down, he focused on Nero one last time.
“I'll figure something out with the prospects later,” Jax informed him. "Have them keep an eye on the place starting tonight. She'll be safe here, man. You can promise her that.”
“I'll pass along the message,” Nero replied. “I'm sure she'll appreciate it.”
Jax gave the man a single nod before he turned, making his way towards the exit of Diosa. But as he pushed one of the large black doors open, the afternoon sunlight pouring inside of the foyer, Jax hesitated in the doorway. Glancing back over his shoulder, his eyes once more lingered on the hallway you’d disappeared down as the image of your face and that split lip flashed through his mind again.
What the hell was your story, and why the fuck did he suddenly want to hear it?