A/N: Thank you to Nikki9235, PrisonBreakfan26, Happy's Princess and Anonymous for reviewing chapter one. Thanks to the 15 followers and 11 people who have added this story to their favorites. I really do appreciated. Here is chapter two. Please read and review.


CHAPTER TWO: Birthday, College, Crossing Lines.

"Aye, there's the birthday girl," Filip 'Chibs' Telford yelled from across the clubhouse when Lacey walked in. Lacey gave him a small smile as he made his way over to her and pulled her into a hug. Chibs was her favorite Son after Jax. The loud Scotsman always had a soft spot for the young woman since he arrived in Charming from Belfast to join the SAMCRO charter. He treated her like she a daughter. Lacey wasn't a replacement for his own who he couldn't see, he just took her under his wings. He even taught her how to fight and shoot a gun despite her mother's objections. "Happy Birthday, Lass."

"Thanks Chibs."

He let her go and gave her a kiss on the cheek before going back to what he was doing.

It was her eighteenth birthday. It had been three months since her mom died. She was finding each day easier but there was the occasional bad day like Jax said there would be. Today was one of those bad days. All she wanted was for her mom to be there.

The clubhouse was empty apart from Chibs and two other members, Bobby Munson and Piermont 'Piney' Winston.

Bobby wished her a happy birthday from where he was sitting going through papers. Bobby was the secretary for SAMCRO being the only one who was really any good at paper work and handling accounts.

Piney was the co-founder of the Sons of Anarchy. He'd found the club with Jax's dad back in the late sixties. He was Harry 'Opie' Winston's father. Opie was another close friend of Lacey and Jax. The three of them were inseperable when they were young kids.

Lacey went up to the bar and took a seat on the stool next to the one Piney occupied. Piney was definitely another favorite Son of hers. She loved the old man and his grouchiness. He already had a drink in his hand and it wasn't even 10AM. "Happy Birthday, Kid."

She sighed. "Thanks."

"You okay?"

"Is Jax still in his room?" She asked ignoring the question. She didn't want to answer any questions on how she was doing today.

"I haven't seen him come out."

She gave him a small smile and kissed him on the cheek before making her way towards the back where the dorm rooms were. She got to Jax's room and walked in without knocking, not caring if he wasn't alone but relieved he was. She looked at Jax while she dropped her handbag on the chair by his desk, kicked off her shoes and got into his bed. They'd been doing this since she got into his bed when her mom had taken her over to Gemma and John's house one early Saturday morning. She was only six at the time. It become some sort of tradition with them.

She curled into his side resting her head on his chest. The scent of cheap cologne, cigarettes and motor oil filled her nose. It was one of her favourite scents. It always calmed her down. His arm curled around her waist pulling her closer. He placed a kiss to the top of her head. "Hap-"

"Don't even say it." She cut him off.

"But it's your birthday."

"I don't want it to be." She got back out of bed the bed and walked over to her handbag.

Jax looked at her confused. "What're you doing?"

"I wanna show you something." She bent down to pick up her handbag. She could feel Jax's eyes on her ass and rolled her eyes. Being friends didn't stop them from checking each other out. The two even flirted every now and then. His mom always got giddy at the thought of them eventually crossing the line of friendship, diving into something more.

She stood back up straight and turned back to him. "And it's not my ass. It's this..." She held up an envelope. "It's from UCLA."

"Why haven't you opened it yet?"

"Because I'm scared." She admitted truthfully as she sat on his bed.

"Are you going to open it?"

"I don't know."

"You won't know if you got in or not if you don't, Babe."

"What if I don't want to fuckin' go?" she asked looking from him to the letter in her hand.

"Then you'll be a loser like me, getting their GED while working in his dad and step-dad's automotive shop."

"You're not a loser, you're Jackson Teller."

"You should go to college. If its not UCLA, then it will be another one. No one I know gets this chance to go do something outside of Charming. Not like this anyway."

"One other person did." She was referring to Jax's high school sweetheart who bolted as soon as she got into medical school seven months ago. Lacey never had a problem with Tara Knowles until she did that, ripping out Jax's heart in the process. She never thought Tara would do that to him of all people. She thought the bitch actually loved him enough to stay and not make him choose between her and his family, the club.

"She doesn't understand this life. She couldn't wait for the chance to fuck off as far as she did to get away from it." He frowned. He hated when Tara was mentioned but never actually stopped thinking about her.

"I still love you and won't be going far." She kissed his cheek. "If it's not UCLA, I'm sure I can get into some community college."

"Just open that letter, it's making me nervous."

Lacey nodded finding a little bit of confidence and tore the letter open. She pulled out the piece of paper and scanned the contents of the letter.

"Well?" Jax asked impatiently.

"It's about four or five hours from here to LA isn't it?" She asked him, relieved as she read the word accepted.

"Give or take."

"I told you I wouldn't be going far."

His eyes went wide. "You got in?"

She smiled her first genuine smile in three months as she nodded her head. "I got in."

Jax reached up, pulling her back onto the bed hugging her as tight as he could without hurting her. She laughed at his reaction. "Since you don't want to celebrate your birthday, we're going to be celebrating this."

"I really have no choice, do I?"

"Fuck no! We gotta get you ready for college."


It'd been an hour since the clubhouse became packed with patch members, old ladies, sweetbutts, crow-eaters and hang-a-rounds. The loud music as well as the stench of sweat, leather, weed , alcohol and pussy was starting to get a little too much for Lacey. She was sitting with Opie and Chibs when she decided to go and hide in Jax's dorm room for a while.

After shutting the door she sat down on the bed and fell back, feeling slightly tipsy. She closed her eyes, letting her thoughts go back to her mom. She was still upset that her mom couldn't be there but she her mom would've wanted her to celebrate her eighteenth birthday and getting into the college she always wanted to go to.

"I've been looking for you." Jax's voice came as she heard the door open and close.

"Everything was getting..." She waved a hand around trying to think of another word that wasn't overwhelming. "...Blah."

"Everything was getting blah?" He laughed sitting next to her. She sat up a little took quickly, the room started spinning for a few seconds.

"I needed a break." She said looking at him and then laughed. Jax's hair was sticking out in all directions and his lips were a shade darker than their normal light pink. "Did you have as much fun as she did?"

"Don't laugh at me. I had to pry the fuckin' bitch off me with a damn crowbar when I couldn't see you anywhere." He said making her laugh even more.

He rolled his eyes and held out a bottle of beer towards her. "Shut up and drink this."

"Whatever you say Prince Charming." She said using one of her nicknames for him. She'd given him that nickname when he was sixteen. Even from a young age, Jax could charm the panties off any woman. He was also referred to as the Prince of Charming because his dad was the co-founder and first president of the Sons of Anarchy. That made Jax club royalty as he lived his fathers legacy.

"You haven't called me that in a long time." He said unscrewing the top off his beer and took a swig.

Lacey did the same. "I called you that last week."

"So why are you really hiding in here?" He asked changing the subject.

Lacey sighed. She should've known the conversation would take a serious turn. "Have you ever felt like you're alone even though you're surround by people who mean the world to you?"

"More often than you'd think."

"Is there something wrong with me Jax?"

"No." He frowned. "Why?"

"People are always leaving me. Both my parents are gone. Connor broke up with me last week. My so-called friends at school have been avoiding me since Connor and I broke up."

"Bad shit happens to good people." He put his beer bottle on the bedside table and laid back on his bed, his head resting on the pillow. "Connor's probably been feeding your friends shit stories and they're stupid if they fuckin' believe him. As for Connor, I hate the fuckin' asshole."

"You never told me you hated him."

"I disliked him strongly, now I fuckin' hate him." He sat back up and moved closer to her. "He's a fuckin' fool for letting you go. You're smart, funny, strong and beautiful. Any guy is a fuckin' fool for not wanting to be with you."

Lacey's breath hitched in her throat. She'd never heard Jax speak to her, let alone anyone that wasn't Tara, like that. She felt like she was seeing Jax in a new light as some kind of tension she'd never felt came over them. "You going soft on me Jackson?"

He pretended not to hear what she just said as he looked at her. He lowered his lips to hers in a quick but gentle kiss that lasted no longer than a couple seconds before pulling away. When he pulled back she left her eyes closed not knowing what to think about what was happening between them right now. The tension between them felt new and foreign to her. She never felt it when she was with Connor.

Her blue eyes connected with Jax's own as she opened them. The look in his eyes made her want to kiss him again and before she could stop herself, she leaned in placing her lips to his. The kiss lasted a little longer than the last one before she broke it. She rested her forehead against his, her hands gripping the sides of his loose white t-shirt. His hands were cupping her face.

"I don't want to feel alone tonight, Jax." She said barely above a whisper.

He nodded before kissing her a little harder and with more urgency as he gently pushed her back onto the bed. Everything around them disappeared as they crossed the boundary line into something a little more, neither of them thinking about what it would do to their friendship.