TARA POV

"Take a breath and start walking." I repeated over and over in my head, looking at the bus schedule with my bags sitting beside me willing myself to get up, trying to hold back my tears. I never thought I would leave here…like this…with all of this anger, hurt, and resentment flowing through me.

This was my home. The town I was born and raised in. The town I learned about life and love in. The town I gave away my virginity in. The town that has him.

He ruined this town for me. He broke my heart. The vision of him in bed with the skanky bitch riding him replayed in my head…on repeat… I wish I could find the remote to my brain and change the channel, but I have a feeling it's going to haunt me for the days to come.

"You're leaving?" Donna's voice pulled me from my reverie. She stood with her arms folded across her chest and staring at me with her mouth gaped open in disbelief.

I shrug, "It's the best option, it's what he wanted."

"Fuck him," Donna hissed and moved to sit beside me, "I want you to stay. I need you."

I squeeze my eyes shut, "I can't be here and see him every day. It would hurt too much."

She sobbed, "Please. Don't. Go."

"I'm so sorry, D. You're my best friend and I'll miss you like crazy. I just can't stay. Please don't make this any harder on me." I wipe the tears away that managed to escape. 'So much for hardening myself.'

"Tara," she whined, "I'm pregnant. I can't do this without you. I'm scared. I need you, you're my person."

"You can do this; you have to do this. Don't let her guilt trip you." I hold her hand in mine, "I'm so happy for you," I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster, "you're going to be a great mother. You can do this. The MC will be there for you. OPIE will be there for you."

She cried out, "but I need YOU to be here. Please Tara, don't go…just think about how much it will kill him if you're this close and he can't fix things between you."

"Pshh. He won't care. He made sure to hurt me so much it pushed me away. He wanted it this way."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" She raised her eyebrows, "he loves you. Once his ego deflates, he's going to see how much he fucked up. I can guarantee that. You're the best things that's ever happened to him."

"He doesn't see it that way. He sees it as I'm holding him back. I'm keeping him from experiencing "the life"." I roll my eyes. "You know that's bullshit too, because all I've done is support him and his dream to patch into the club for two years. All was well and good, then out of nowhere…BOOM…everything I do or say is wrong. Fuck that and fuck him." I clinch my hands into fists. My mood swings were giving me whip-lash, flipping from wanting to work things out, to crying, to wanting to take the baseball bat under the bed to his face…or his precious Dyna…that would hurt him more.

"So stay. The perfect revenge would be letting him see how well you can carry on without him. Don't run away. Let him see you every single day moving on with your life. Treat him the way he did you. No, don't run away and let him win. Beat him at his own game." She said with a wink. "I would pay to see the lengths he will go to get you back."

I sigh.

"Just give it a week. One more week to see how things go. You can stay with me and Opie so you don't have to deal with your dad's bullshit on top of everything else. If you decide to stay, then the house next to ours is still for rent. I could get you in there with no security deposit…our landlord loves me." She giggled. "Please."

"Fine." I agree with an eye roll. "You should be a lawyer. You're pretty persuasive."

"Thank you!" Donna exclaims, jumping up and throwing her arms around my neck. "So are you staying with me and Op?"

"Yeah until we see how things go. Do you think your landlord would hold the house just until I figure out what I'm going to do? It would be awesome having you next door." I answer.

"Hell yes. I'll call right now."

I couldn't help but laugh at her excitement. The pure happiness from my decision to stick around a few more days warmed my heart. I love that crazy girl. I'm thankful to have someone that cares so much about me as my best friend.

"Come on sister," she looped her arm through mine, "let's get out of here."

"Okay." I tucked my ticket in my bag, thankful I purchased the flexible ticket so it will be easy to change my departure date once I decide what I'm going to do.

The moment we pulled into Donna's driveway my heart pounded heavily against my chest. Two bikes. Opie's and his. "Shit. I wasn't ready for this. Not yet."

"If you want, I'll kick his ass out. Just say the word." She gave me a small smile and waited for my response.

"I'm okay. I can do this."

"Damn right you can. Hold your head high. Make him regret the day he done you wrong... you know what? I've got an idea." She put the car in reverse.

"Where are we going?"

"Shopping." She grinned. "When you walk into that house and see him for the first time, that fucker's not going to know what hit him."

New outfit. New haircut. A small amount of make up to bring life back into my sleep deprived, tear stained cheeks. I felt like a new more independent… more confident…ME. It was liberating.

"Girl," Donna let out a whistle, "you're smoking. He's going to flip the fuck out."

I shrug, "he's got his choice of girls. He's not worried about me."

"Those bitches don't got shit on you, girl." She laughed, shaking her head.

They were still there when we pulled back up, a part of me was hoping he'd be gone but the more confident part of me was ready to get this over with.

"Hey babe." Donna called out when we walked into the house. She kissed him, walking past Jax and ignoring him completely. "I talked Tara into staying in town a few more days so she's going to stay here with us till she decides if she's going to stay in Charming or move somewhere else."

Jax's eyes were on me. I noticed he started breathing heavier. He stared at me with a burning intensity and licked his lips, and under any other circumstances it would have had me leaping in his arms.

I pull my gaze from him and look at Opie, "if that's okay with you. I can always go home."

"Don't be stupid," Opie gave me a 'what the fuck are you thinking' expression, "you know you're always welcome here."

"Can we talk?" Jax muttered, fighting to get his breathing under control.

"Me and you?" I ask.

He nods.

"Sure." I reply, deciding to hear his lame ass excuse for cheating on me.

He starts to pick up my bag, before I take it, "I got this."

"I can carry it." He answers.

"I know you can…but I don't need you," I pause letting my words slap him in the face, "to carry it." I add.

"I'm sorry," he whispers as soon as he shuts the guest room door, "you have no idea how sorry I am."

"No, I know exactly how sorry you are." I grimace, "You threw us away for some nasty whore. You had sex with someone else, like I wasn't giving you exactly what you wanted anytime you wanted it. You chose someone over me. So yes, I know all about how sorry you are."

"You're not making this easy." He sighed, he at least had the decency to act remorseful for his actions.

"Easy?" I scoffed.

"Yes. I get that you're mad but you're not even letting me apologize. You're being a bitch."

Nothing should have surprised me at this point but his audacity was overwhelming. "Excuse me?" I choked out. "A bitch? Did you seriously just call me a bitch?"

"No," he exhaled sharply, "I didn't mean it like that. You're just… mad. I get it and I'm sorry for everything."

I stared at him for a moment contemplating my next words, I want them to hurt him. I want him to feel the pain that I felt. "I was mad and I was hurt, congratulations your goal was accomplished."

"Babe, I didn't mean to hurt you." He interrupted, reaching out for me.

I rolled my eyes, "hurting me was your plan from the start."

"No." He interrupted again.

"If you interrupt me again, this conversation will be over. So I would advise you to shut the hell up." I hiss through gritted teeth. "You wanted to hurt me. You want to know how I know you wanted to hurt me?" I pause and he remains quiet. "One, the fact that you left the door unlocked…you wanted me to find you in there with her. Two, the look of triumph in your eyes and the smirk on your face when I walked in. There's nothing you can say to make me think any different. You know the saying a picture speaks a thousand words? It holds true. Your 'fuck you' expression said everything I needed to know." I pull my bottle of water out of my bag and take a sip, "I should thank you though."

He tilted his head to the side and squinted his eyes in confusion but remained silent.

"For opening my eyes up. I was blinded by you. I would have followed you to the ends of the Earth without hesitation. You doing this…it freed me. You made me realize that I don't need you…hell, I don't even want you." I paused taking a deep breath, I had to make him believe the lie-of course I wanted him but the sad thing is I was almost certain that I needed him. "I was going to leave town and make things easier for both of us. There's no doubt we have a lot of history together but why should I do that? This is my home too. You did this to us so why the fuck should I leave everything and everyone I love behind? No, I'll stay here, but just so we're clear…you and I are finished. We have mutual friends; we're bound to see each other frequently so I'd like for us to be civil but that's about as far as it can go." I forced a small smile in a last ditch effort to make him believe what I was saying or to make myself believe it.

The tears welling up in his eyes pulled at my heart strings, "I love you Tara."

"You can go now." I turned my back to him, so he didn't see my quivering lip, and started unpacking a few outfits.

"Babe." He said again.

"You wanted this. You got it. Now please leave." I muttered.

The door shut quietly behind me. I sunk down onto the mattress with my head in my hands.

"You okay?" Donna wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I didn't even hear her come in.

"Yeah." I nod.

"I don't know what you said to him," she paused, "but you made him cry and I never thought I'd see Jax Teller cry…without a death involved."

I shrug, "I told him thank you."

"Thank you?" She questioned.

"Yeah, thank you for opening my eyes. I told him I didn't need or want him anymore. That's pretty much the highlights."

"Well that explains it," Opie stated from the doorway, "he never thought you would be the one to walk away no matter what he did."

"Why the hell would I stay?" I growl. I didn't mean to be so defensive.

"Hey, I support you 100 percent. He knows how I feel about what he did. He fucked up, everyone knows that." Opie held up his hands to calm me.

"Sorry. Guess I just figured everyone would take his side, especially you since you've been best friends since birth."

"He is my best friend but that doesn't make what he did right. If it was anyone else he did it to, I probably wouldn't care so much but you're my friend too, ya know. Some will take his side though." Opie answered.

"Gemma." All three of us said in unison.

"She's going to be a pain in the ass." I throw my head back. I can hear her now, "a real old lady sticks by her man no matter what. They don't run away at the first sign of trouble. Maybe you're not old lady material after all."

"The matriarch a pain in the ass? No way." Donna laughed until she snorted.

"I'm gonna head out babe…go track him down before he does something stupid." Opie sighed and leaned into kiss Donna.

"So I think I'm ready to rent that house." I grin feeling more certain with my decision.

"Yeah?" Donna squealed. "Yay."

"Yeah you were right, I shouldn't give up my home because of what he did. You're here and my future niece or nephew." I lean forward and rub her belly. "I'm so happy for you by the way. Sorry I didn't say that earlier."

"Thanks I'm scared shitless, but feel a little better knowing that I'll have you next door. The whole mom thing is scary since I don't have anything to go on. My mom, well you know how she was. She made Gemma look like a Saint." Donna zoned out, thinking back to her childhood.

"You and Opie will be great parents. You're not your mom. This little angel will be lucky to have you as their mother." I hug her.

"Thank you…for everything. Especially for staying when you had every right in the world to leave."

"You said you needed me," I smiled, "and even though I know you can do this without me, we promised each other we'd be there if the other needed us. So here I am and here I'll stay. Besides, I'm grateful you talked me out of moving. I had no idea what I was going to do."

My mind drifted off to Jax, wondering what he was doing, if he was okay. It was going to take some serious effort to not think about him every waking hour of my day. Without a doubt, he's going to be a hard habit to break. I'll have to find something to keep myself occupied until I can try to get into one of the local colleges. I'll also need to try to get my job back at the diner so I can afford to pay rent and utilities on the new house. I can do this. I'm Tara Knowles, I'm independent, strong willed, and refuse to give up. I can do anything I set my mind to.