Chapter 6

Jax saw Nicole huddled on the ground. He ran over to her as fast as he could, Chibs not far behind. As he dropped to the floor he placed his hands on Nicole's face, forcing her to look at him.

"You're bleeding?" He said as he observed his sobbing cousin. She didn't answer. He hugged her tightly as she cried uncontrollably. He felt her lean into his chest. "Its okay...susssh. I'm here now, it's going to be okay." He whispered into her ear. "You should go." Jax said to Chibs, who was standing behind him watching himself and Nicole.

"You sure? She gonna be okay?"

"Yeah thanks man. Look don't say anything about this not until I know whats going on."

"Okay brother." Chibs walked taking one last look at the two before they disappeared out of view.

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"You okay?" Jax asked softly, wiping her hair from her face. Nicole pushed herself away from his chest taking a couple of deep breaths. She nodded her head in reply to Jax's question. "You ready to tell me what happened?"

"Darby." She whispered in a horse voice.

"What?" He tilted his head to try and regain eye contact with her.

"Darby." This time she said it loud enough and clear enough for him to hear.

"He did this?" He questioned. He was trying to keep himself calm but it wasn't working.

"Yeah. We argued."

"And he hit you?" Nicole nodded. "I'm gonna kill him." Jax spat. He went to get up but Nicole stooped him.

"Please, just leave it. Please." She begged. Jax lookde at her before sitting back down pulling her close to him.

"I'm sorry Nic."

"I was being stupid... thinking I could come back here and everything would be okay. I killed his son of course he would want revenge."

"Doesn't mean he can get away with doing this."

"Wouldn't you want revenge if someone killed somebody you loved?"

"But you did your time. You spent a year in ju-vie Nic."

"It wasn't enough." A silence fell upon the pair. Jax looked at her. She was right he would never forgive anybody for taking away a loved one.

"Oh my god, I must look like shit." Nicole said after a moments silence. She wiped her face on her sleeve.

"No... Well." Nicole slapped his chest, they both laughed.

"I'm sorry." Nicole said as the smile faded from her face.

"What for?"

"Ever since I got back all I've done is cause you grief."

"You've always cause me grief, even when we were kids you could never do things the easy way." He messed up her hair playfully as he pulled her into a headlock.

"Hey...Hey." She squealed, as she wriggled herself free.

"What its true."

"Well yes...but I'm not in the emotional state to hear the truth." Jax smiled at her. He hated that he wasn't able to protect her from all the hurt that she's suffered, she deserved more.

"God Nic when did everything get so complicated." Nicole heard the seriousness in his voice.

"Hasn't it always been for us. Tellers don't do easy remember." Nicole scooted closer to him.

"Yeah." He pulled a pack of smokes from the inside of his cut. He pulled one out and lit it, inhaling deeply. "I don't know, lately everything seems so fucked up."

"You and Tara?" She asked accepting the cigarette from Jax.

"Nah, that's about the only sane thing in my life."

"Then what is it?" Jax stared off into the distance. He couldn't tell her whole truth even though he wanted to, but he knew he needed to give her something.

"Its Zobelle, he's screwing with the club and Clay just wants to go in all guns blazing."

"But you don't agree?"

"Zobelle's not your typical gangster, he's clean Juice couldn't find anything on him. I don't think Clay's way is the right way to deal with it."

"Your the VP just explain Clay will listen to you. He's always respected your opinion."

"It's not that simple, things have changed. Me and Clay ain't what we used to be."

"What does that mean?" Jax looked directly into her eyes sensing her worry.

"Nothing just father son shit. Come on its getting late and we've spent way too much time in this place." He stood up and looked around taking in the nearby graves, before helping Nicole up.

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"Jax... is that you?" Tara left Abel's room and headed into the hallway, where she was met by Jax and Nicole.

"Hey." Nicole said shyly from behind Jax.

"Hey Babe." Jax gave Tara a kiss. "Will you look at her she's hurt."

"Yeah of course. I'll just get my bag." Tara said taking in Nicole cut lip.

Jax ushered Nicole over to the couch. He went into the kitchen and poured three shots of Vodka and a glass of Brandy. He downs one shot before carrying the rest of the drinks over to the coffee table in the living room. Nicole took a shot of Vodka as Jax knocked back a second. Tara entered the room with her medical bag, she knelt in front of Nicole so she could examine her injuries.

"I'm just gonna make a call." Jax got up and left the room.

"So what happened?" Tara asked while holding Nicole's head with one hand and treating her wound with the other.

"Lets just say..." Nicole sighed in pain as the antiseptic got into her cut. "I met up with an old friend."

"Well it looks okay its just going to leave a bruise." Tara informed her.

"Oh well another one to add to my collection." Nicole replied trying not to seem bothered by her current state.

"Seriously Nicole who did this?"

Nicole hesitated for a minute before taking a sip of the brandy. "Darby." She answered coldly.

"Was it because of Michael?" Nicole flinched at the sound of somebody saying his name. Luckily she didn't have to reply as Jax re-entered the room. Tara went to stand next to him. Nicole kept her focus on the brandy glass in her hand.

"She's gonna stay tonight can you set up the spare room."

"Sure. You okay?"

"Yeah." Tara leant onto her tip toes and kissed him tenderly.

"I love you." She whispered.

"Love you to."

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"That was Jax, he said Nicole's staying at his place." Clay said as he hung up the phone.

"He say why?"

"Nope, guess their catching up or something, but you know what that means." He walked up behind Gemma who was standing in the kitchen. "We have the house to ourselves." He wrapped his arms around her waist as he placed butterfly kisses up her neck, but Gemma pulled away.

"What the hell Gemma?"

"What?"

"What's your problem? Every time I go to touch you, you pull away."

"I'm still sore. I was in a car accident in case you forgot." Clay knocked some glasses off the counter sending them flying on the floor where they smashed to pieces. Gemma jumped back.

"Forget, how can I forget you haven't been the same since, what the hell happened to you?"

"YOU ASSHOLE." Gemma shouted trying to hold back her tears. "Get out... GET OUT."

"This is MY HOUSE." Clay took her arm in his hand.

"GET OFF ME." She shouted as she pushed him away. No longer able to hold back her tears, she broke down. She pushed pass Clay to the spare room slamming the door behind her. Clay stood alone in the kitchen shocked by his wife's reaction.

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The next morning Tara drove Nicole back home, Jax following on his bike. They walked into the kitchen to find Gemma cleaning up some broken glass. She turned around at the sound of them entering the house.

"Hey babe." She said to Jax.

"Hey Mom. Clay here?"

"No... he's... um... at the clubhouse." She replied, avoiding everyone's eye contact as she got to her feet.

"Right I'll see you all later." He walked over to Gemma and gave her a peck on the cheek "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine sweetheart." She tried reassuring him. Jax wasn't 100% convinced but he really needed to speak to Clay so he didn't fish for more information. He gave Tara a kiss to say goodbye, when he realised Nicole wasn't in the room. "Tell Nic I said bye okay."

"Sure."

"So what happened last night? Jax was a little vague on the phone." Gemma asked placing the broken glass into the bin.

"Darby hit Nicole."

"What?"

"She's okay, she's just a little shaken." Gemma ran to Nicole's bedroom. She knocked lightly on the door even though its already open. "Hey sweetheart, you okay?"

Nicole turned around as she zipped up her jeans. "I'm fine I've had worse." Nicole was trying to seem un-phased, by it all.

"Still." Gemma looked at her new bruise. Although she knew it probably hurt she knew her niece was probably hurting more emotionally right now than anything else.

"Aunt Gemma I'm fine, I just want to forget about it." Nicole grabbed a grey rolling stone t-shirt from her dresser.

"Okay." Gemma went to leave knowing Nicole didn't want to talk about it.

"Aunt Gemma." Gemma turned on her heels. "Bit random but do you still have that storage space in town?"

"Yeah... why?"

"Well I don't have enough space for the stuff that I brought from the house, so wondered if I can use the storage space."

"Sure, no problem I'll get the keys."

Gemma returned about 5 minutes later with the key, handing them to Nicole

"Thanks." She waited for Gemma to leave the room, before she pulled the bags from underneath her bed. She opened the bag that contained the money, and pulled out about $2000 placing it safely in her underwear draw.

"I'll see you later." She shouted to Gemma and Tara as she slipped through the side door to make her way to the storage unit.

"So how have you been?"

"Yeah everything's fine... but I don't know." Gemma took a sip of the coffee Tara had made. "I haven't had sex since the accident."

"Well that's to be expected. If your still sore."

"It's not the pussy its my head."

"Gemma you have been through a terrible experience, have you thought about talking to someone or even telling Nicole?"

"No way she has too much going on herself plus she wouldn't be able to keep it from Jax, them two can't keep secrets from each other, she would end up telling him eventually. And I'm not talking to no shrink. Anyway I have you." Gemma placed her hand on top of Tara's, the two share a smile.

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"We have a problem." Jax announced to the guys as he walked into the Clubhouse..

"What now?" Clays asked. He was still stressed by the previous nights drama with Gemma.

"It's... hold on." Jax pulled out his cell. "It's Hale." He told the group. "Hey what's up?"

"That info you gave me about Darby was bogus nothings going on out there."

"Right." Jax ended the call. "Now we have two problems. Hale's buried the Intel on Darby."

"So he is on Zobelle's payroll." Opie chimed in from his stool at the bar.

"Looks that way. What's the second problem?" Clay asked turning back to face Jax.

"Darby hit Nicole last night."

"WHAT... Jax why am I only hearing about this now?" Clay demanded.

"Is she okay?" Juice asked leaving his seat and joining Clay and Jax.

"She's fine, bit shaky but she's okay." Jax turned his attention back to Clay "The reason I'm telling you now is she couldn't handle it last night."

"Right we'll deal with the house tonight, right now we go pay a visit to Darby."