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Howl of the Lioness.
"Although the world is full of suffering,
it is also full of overcoming it."
Helen Keller

...

Chapter Two: Making Friends

Charming, CA
May 19th, 2007

"Take care and have a nice day." The fake smile Audrey had plastered on her face faded as she watched the back of her last patron walk away from her station on the Teller Line. She took a deep breath before she moved the potted plant to the centre of her counter to indicate that this station was now closed. After she cleaned up the scattered paper and pens she slipped her feet back into her nude coloured pumps then made her way into the back room.

"Oh my god, Audrey, that last guy you had was a real piece of work. I don't understand how you do it." Her friend, Cheryl, said.

"To be honest, it took everything in me not to leap over that counter." The two women giggled before gathering their purses and heading out the back door of the building.

"Alright so I'm thinking a bottle of wine, a pint of ice cream, and a horror movie tonight?" Cheryl suggested as they made their way down the street to where she had parked her car earlier that morning. "Sound good to you?"

"As long as it's not chocolate ice cream again. Maybe strawberry this time?"

"What do you have against chocolate? It's a classic!"

"It would be the fourth pint of chocolate in row. I'm all for drowning our sorrows in wine and ice cream, but a little variety never hurt anyone did it?" She shot a playful smile at her friend as they stopped at the car.

"Well then how about Neapolitan? I still get chocolate, and you have two other flavours to choose from." Cheryl compromised as they slid into the leather seats of her Toyota Corolla. "Including strawberry."

Audrey agreed with a laugh and a nod of her head as she buckled herself in.

She had never thought it to be possible, to find the one thing she had craved for so many years, a normal life free of the chaos that followed her family like a shadow. Yet here she was on her way to the store with Cheryl Davis to pick up a pint of ice cream before the two of them settled in for a night curled up on the couch together in sweatpants watching cheesy romantic comedies and complaining about the unfairness of it all.

While a night like the one the two women had planned was still possible back home with her childhood friends and family, the lifestyle still loomed over them all. Audrey had always been acutely aware of which brother was home and which was not, or how long her father had been out the night before, and the smell of stale smoke and blood wafting through the room whenever she went to greet one of them. The life was just as present in the room as anyone else was, the only difference was that it couldn't be mentioned. It was there, it always would be, and that was simply a fact that had to be accepted.

The store at five o'clock on a Friday evening was an absolute zoo, and Audrey groaned at the sight of the check-out line, her feet were sore and she didn't want to be on her feet anymore than she had to. Cheryl was driving, making it Audrey's responsibility to pop in, and she cursed her mentally for it. At this moment she wanted nothing more than to be comfortable, to let the stress slip away with every bite of ice cream and sip of wine until it became non-existent for her weekend. This queue was getting in the way of that and she was less than impressed about it.

She quickly navigated the aisles until she arrived at the frozen foods, scanning for the tub of frozen and oh so tempting dessert that was already making her mouth water in anticipation. Audrey had been so caught up in her own head that she had failed to register the other body coming toward her, and it was only when they reached for the same item on the cold, refrigerated shelf that she realized someone else was there.

Jumping back startled, she placed a hand over her chest as she took a couple of deep breaths.

"Sorry, darlin', didn't mean to startle ya'."

With a roll of her eyes, Audrey's demeanour relaxed as she came face to face with Jackson Teller — or Jax as he kept trying to urge her to call him.

"Jesus Christ," she let out as she reached for the pint of ice cream he was now holding out to her. "You'd think with that get-up you'd make a little bit more noise or something."

Since her brief meeting with a few members of the Sons of Anarchy in the diner a few weeks ago, Audrey had managed to bump into Jax a handful of times. One of those chance encounters had been while she was at work, he needed access into a safety deposit box and she just so happened to be the only one available to get him the help that he required. He of course tried to lay on the charm, it seemed to just roll off of him in waves no matter the situation, but she knew the type too well to fall for it.

Her brothers were very similar, as were most of the men in their immediate circle who tried to get into her pants. A lot of their act was in part due to the way that they were raised and the world that all fell into, and while some of it was harmless she knew that none of it was sincere. Men like her brothers, like Jackson Teller, knew what they want and how to get it without being seen as the bad guy, and to her that somehow seemed more dangerous than those who could be outright lecherous.

"I wasn't tryin' to be quiet," he smirked back while going back into the freezer for another container for himself. "I was actually moving to catch up with ya', but you were a woman on a mission."

"It's Friday, and I just want to relax." She shrugged, "work was a bit of a bitch."

"The best of Charmin' gettin' to ya'?"

"Why some people here feel so entitled, I will never know." Audrey readjusted the strap of her purse as she turned to start making her way to the shortest line of the three open cash registers. "Didn't take you for an ice cream kind of guy." She tossed back over her shoulder as she heard him start to follow.

"It's not for me, it's for the wife."

She had to stop and turn at that, "the wife?"

Jax nodded, a bemused smile gracing his face. "Yeah, the wife."

"You're married?" she blurted out before snapping her mouth shut. Having a wife was certainly not something she had expected, especially since he had made no mention of her before now, or how he had previously interacted with her.

"You're surprised?" He mocked back, a slight chuckle coming from him afterward as he started making his way over to the check-out once more.

Audrey moved quickly to catch up with him. "Well I— you just— you don't wear a ring for it or anything." She stumbled over her words as she stood next to him in line.

He shrugged as he grabbed her container from her hands and placing it on the conveyer belt beside his own. "It's complicated."

Audrey nodded, knowing better than to ask any further questions. She was curious, sure, but his business wasn't her place regardless of how friendly he was. His marital status was personal, and if they tables were flipped she wouldn't want to offer up the same information unless it was her decision either.

"Oh, no, Jackson—"

"Jax, darlin'." He interrupted.

"Jax," she stressed with mock exasperation. While he had introduced himself as Jax, and repeatedly told her otherwise when she referred to him as Jackson, she preferred using his full given name. Ever since she saw it in the document when he popped by the bank she had thought that it sounded much nicer and less harsh than 'Jax' did. Whether he believed it or not, it suited him better, and as long as she kept running into him she planned to use it. "I can pay for that myself."

"Wasn't sayin' that you can't."

For the second time she rolled her eyes at him, "then what are you doing?"

He smiled down at her and shook his head, "Makin' a shit day better."

"No, I get that, but why?"

His phone must of vibrated in his pocket because next thing she knew he had it pulled up to his ear and his attention had been stolen before Audrey could receive an answer, which seemed to put an end to their conversation. Jax paid for both, and handed hers off to her in a separate bag before bidding her a good evening, returning to his call, and taking off. She stood at the end of the check-out perplexed for half a minute before she started walking back out to Cheryl's car.

"Well, took you long enough." Cheryl remarked as the brunette buckled herself back into the passenger seat. Though it didn't appear as though Audrey had heard her. "Hey, Earth to the space cadet! What kept you?"

"Oh, hmm?" She turned to face Cheryl, catching the tail end of the biker riding off down the street in the distance through the window. "I, uh, ran into Jackson Teller."

"Jax Teller?" Cheryl asked wide-eyed. "I saw him walk out— you know him?"

Audrey relaxed in her seat a bit, kicking her shoes off finally in the process. She breathed a sigh of relief before answering, "I've seen him around a couple times." She shrugged. "Helped him at the bank once, why?"

"You know he's part of that motorcycle gang, right?"

"Sons of Anarchy," she replied. "Yeah, I can read."

"That doesn't intimidate you?"

She tried her best not to outright laugh in Cheryl's face. Audrey understood why her friend would think that maybe she should be a little frightened or intimidated by Jax and the rest of them. From conversations she had overheard around town since arriving most were either afraid of them or held quite a bit of respect for them. Their presence proved to be pretty huge thus far, reinforced by the fact that Audrey had run into Jax more times than she had ever expected to already. Of course Cheryl didn't know much about her family tree, or history — and she planned to keep it that way — so instead of laughing Audrey shook her head, chuckled a bit and smiled.

"Should it? He's been nothing but nice to me."

Cheryl bit her lip before turning to back to start the engine. "Yeah, but they have a bit of a reputation around here."

"So?"

"They're dangerous, Audrey."

"I get that you grew up here, and you know more than I do about them, but I don't have any proof of anything they did. It's all hearsay to me — I heard from a friend of a friend, or this happened to my cousin's cousin type shit — and I'm not about to judge someone and treat them a certain way because of what others think they know." Especially not after the fact that everyone used to do exactly that to me, she thought.

Her friend scoffed, "and that is exactly the kind of thinking that gets you into trouble with them."

"I'm not looking to be in with their crowd, or best friends, or fuck… anything at all with them." She sighed, "But I don't have a reason to be rude, or scared either."

Cheryl shot her a worried glance. "Just, promise you'll be careful if you plan to keep on talking to Jax."

"I'm not planning anything," she pointed out, though Cheryl sighed in response. "Alright, alright. I promise."