There were butterflies fluttering about in Jo's stomach, and it annoyed her to no end. She was nervous, and she hated it. She hated to be anything other than cool, calm, and collected.

"Here, drink this," Emma said to her, handing her a glass of clear liquid over ice.

Jo sniffed it gingerly. "Vodka?"

Emma nodded with a mischievous smile.

"You're my kind of woman," Jo said gratefully. She downed the vodka and placed the empty glass on the table. Perhaps it was just the placebo effect, but she instantly felt better.

Ninety-five percent of the time, Jo was the epitome of cool, calm, and collected. The other five percent of the time - well, that's what alcohol was for. Jo was sixteen when she learned that a stiff drink could take the edge off of just about anything.

Emma, the fair-skinned blonde with a cherubic face, was helping her get ready again. Her personality was as angelic as her appearance, and Jo found it hard to believe she had any relation to Jax.

"Have you ever been to one of these?" Emma asked as she dabbed lipstick onto Jo's mouth.

"No. Definitely not," Jo laughed.

Emma looked Jo up and down. "Oh dear," she lamented, clutching at the skirt of her white cotton sundress.

"What's wrong?" Jo asked.

Emma's frown turned up into a grin. "You look way too good for your first sex party," she giggled. "Michael will be fighting men off of you."

Jo laughed. Perhaps the vodka had kicked in, or perhaps it was Emma's cheerful demeanor, but her nerves were finally starting to melt away. She turned and faced the full-length mirror.

Jo was wearing a strappy black dress with a thigh high slit on each side. Emma had done a dramatic cat eye, and her lips were painted a beautiful pink-nude shade. Her long dark hair was loosely curled and cascaded over her left shoulder.

Pierre probably wouldn't leave her side all evening, but that was the goal. She and Michael needed to occupy Pierre while Jax, Frank, and Corey did the rest.

Jo grimaced. Those three had the easy part. She was going to an orgy. Jo had never had sex with more than one person before, and she had never intended to, so the thought of the evening's activities made her stomach churn.

Her damn nerves were back again with a vengeance.

No, things will be fine. I don't have to do anything that makes me uncomfortable. I'm in control, Jo told herself. Right?

Jo had been in survival mode ever since she had been kidnapped. She had been "on" the entire time – always plotting, and always saying and doing the right thing. Fucking, flirting with, and charming whoever needed to be fucked, flirted with, or charmed.

It was finally starting to wear on her, but she couldn't slip up now. She was so close to the end. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel. If everything went as planned, she would be free. And that's all she wanted. She wanted to be free.

*****************************

Michael uncorked a bottle of champagne in their limo with a loud pop. The bottle fizzed and bubbled over, and he held it out at arm's length so it wouldn't spill onto their black tie attire. He grinned at his stunning date.

"Here's to liquid courage," Michael said as they clinked champagne glasses. They downed its contents, and he refilled their glasses.

"Here's to us," Jo said as she raised her glass. "I don't care what those guys say, we definitely have the harder job."

"Harder, eh?" Michael teased, causing Jo to roll her eyes and shake her head.

But she laughed, so he considered his lame joke a success. During her toast, Jo had let her tough façade break for a mere split second. It was almost imperceptible, but Michael saw it. He was a first-class conman, meaning he noticed things that others couldn't.

There was a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes that quickly disappeared, and the way she had said we have the harder job made him pause. She was nervous. She was looking at tonight like a job, which of course it was, but up until this point Jo had expertly pretended like everything was just fun and games to her. That she had it in the bag. Michael knew a lot of cocky motherfuckers, but she was probably the cockiest motherfucker of them all.

It was endearing to him that this sexy siren, the woman who had somehow managed to seduce her way into Jax's good graces, the woman who had been teasing him about the sex party they were about to attend, was nervous.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm nervous, too," Michael told her with a smile.

His smile was met with a disapproving glare. "Who said I was nervous?" Jo asked before guzzling her drink. Michael laughed at her fiery reaction, and he refilled their glasses one last time before the limo came to a halt in front of Pierre's mansion.

*****************************

Ahhhhhhh! Are you guys ready for the sex party in the next chapter?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know by voting or leaving a comment.