Vanessa was tired after her late Saturday shift at Leather & Lace last night. She got stuck closing and didn't return home until after 3am. She was excited that she had a chance to sleep in this morning, but when her phone pinged out at 9am she wanted to scream. She forgot to turn it on silent last night, and now there was no way she was going to get more rest before her shift later tonight.

She looked over at her phone and saw that Jax had texted her. Although she was upset that she didn't get much sleep, she was happy to see his name show up.

Thought you'd like to see him up close. The text said, then a picture popped up. She looked at the picture with a huge grin on her face. It was a picture of Abel, he was still in the incubator, but his bright blue eyes were wide open, and he had a silly little grin on his face. He was all Jax.

He's beautiful. He looks just like you. She replied to him.

Thanks, babe. I'll talk to you later.

She didn't respond, she just stared at the picture of Abel, a smile still on her face as she looked at how absolutely beautiful he was.

Vanessa was not excited to be going into work tonight. It was Sunday, which meant that her shift would likely drag on due to the slowness of Sunday's at the club. As she walked into the backstage area, where she would put her belongings in her designated space, she saw a large envelope sitting on the makeup table. She picked it up and noticed that it had her name on it, but she had no idea who would send it or why.

She opened the envelope and was faced with pictures of her weekend. There was a picture of Jax knocking on her apartment door, a picture of her answering it in just her towel, there were pictures of her and Jax sitting in a booth at the diner with smiles on their faces, a picture of her and Jax riding together, a picture of them kissing, and the last picture was not of her.

She looked at it and the tears welled in her eyes. The picture was labeled 2:23 AM, Last Night. Jax was kneeling on a bed taking a blonde woman from behind, his hands were grabbing at the woman's breasts. She could see the look of pure ecstasy on the woman's face and her jealous rage flowed through her. She wanted to scream and punch things. She wanted to punch Jax. But mainly, she wanted to cry.

You're my girl.

Those three words, the words he used to say when they were kids, flowed through her head.

"I'm so fucking stupid." She whispered to herself as tears started to fall down her cheeks. Vanessa put the photos back in the envelope and shoved it into her bag, not even worrying about who sent the photos, all she could think about was the fact that Jax had been intimate with another woman, and not even 24 hours after they were together in her bed.

I don't even know why I fucking care. It's not like we're together. She thought to herself. Calling me his girl. Telling me how much he missed me. Sleeping with me. It's all just been one big fucking game to him.

Vanessa finished her shift quite early since the bar closed earlier on Sunday's. She walked back to her apartment, the envelope in her bag. She heard her phone ringing and looked down to see that Jax was calling her. It was the second call of the night from him, but she ignored it. The phone beeped and she realized that he left a message.

"Hey, babe. You've probably been busy but give me a call back." She slammed the flip phone shut and rolled her eyes at his voicemail. Probably not as busy as you've been, you asshole. She thought to herself.

She finally got back to her apartment and passed out. The lack of sleep and the emotional rollercoaster of the day weighing heavily on her.

It was Friday afternoon and Jax had been trying to get a hold of Vanessa every day, several times a day for the past five days. He called, texted, left voicemails but she never answered. He started to worry about her. Actually, he's been worried about her since she hasn't returned his calls on Sunday. He worried that something may have happened to her in town, or that whoever she was running from found her.

"You alright, man?" Opie asked him, seeing the look of defeat on Jax's face after he hung up the phone again after no answer.

"You talk to Nes lately?"

"Called her last night, she said she was fine, just busy."

"So, she answers your fuckin' calls?" He scoffed.

"We talked for like two minutes."

"Two more minutes than I've talked to her in almost five days." Jax says with a bitter tone and Opie laughs.

"What'd you do, bro?"

"What the fuck makes you think I did somethin'?"

"There's gotta be a reason why she's ignoring your calls."

"We texted Sunday morning, and then nothin'. Radio silence. I didn't do shit to her." Jax says as he starts packing up his saddlebags.

"What are you doing, man?"

"I'm going on the run to Reno tonight. She's obviously pissed at me for something, I just don't know what."

"Welcome to the world of women." They both laugh and Jax shakes his head. "You think it's a good idea to be going up there every weekend?"

"Only way I'm gonna be able to see her, Ope. She ain't gonna come back here." Jax says, he wants to continue but sees Gemma walking towards him, a hand on her hip. He still feels a little anger towards his mother for keeping the letters from him, but he's refused to mention it to her, not wanting to give any hint that he's been in contact with Vanessa again. Especially since he knows the shitstorm that would stir up.

"I'll catch up with you later. She looks pissed and I don't want to get involved in that shit." Opie walks away.

"What are you doing, Jackson?" Gemma asks with an attitude while Jax rolls his eyes.

"I'm loading up my saddlebags, what about you ma?"

"I mean, what are you doing going up to Reno every weekend? This is the third goddamn weekend in a row."

"We got runs up there, you know that shit."

"They don't need you going up there every weekend. Juice and Half Sack can handle that shit. You're VP, baby, you need to be here doing more important shit."

"Ma, I've been put on to do these runs."

"Because you volunteered, Jackson. What about your son, huh?"

"Don't worry about my family."

"Your family is my family, sweetheart. Your sick kid is laying up in the hospital not seeing his father for days because you gotta go out to Reno every weekend. And for what? To get your dick wet?"

"That's enough, ma!"

"What the hell are you doing, Jax?"

"I'm doing what's good for my club, just like you always wanted." Jax throws at her and walks away. While she stares at him, wondering what exactly he's hiding from her.

Jax knocked on Vanessa's door a few times before coming to the conclusion that she's either ignoring him or she's not home. He sees a man who is constantly itching at his skin sitting in front of a door about three apartment numbers down.

"She ain't home man, saw her leave a few hours ago." The man said, his voice shaky. "Probably working tonight."

"You got any idea where she works?" Jax asked, nodding over to him.

"You got somethin' for me?" The guy stares at him and Jax scoffs and shakes his head at the guy. He pulls out his wallet and takes a $20 bill out holding it out to him. "I've seen her up at Leather & Lace, think she's a bartender or a bottle girl."

"Alright, thanks man." Jax hands him the bill and just as he's about to leave he turns around and looks back at the guy. "She ever have any other guys coming around?"

"No, she's never really got anyone over. Keeps to herself usually." Jax nods and heads over to his bike knowing that his next stop is the bar she works at.

Jax walks inside and hears the loud music ringing in his ears. He looks up on the stage and sees a few cage girls dancing and a main girl taking her clothes off for the crowd. Jax grits his teeth at the fact that she's working in a strip club but he hides his anger easily.

He walks around, looking for any sign of her when he sees her beautiful blonde locks falling down her back. He notices that she's wearing something that he had never expected to see her in. She had on a pair of high waisted tight black leather pants that made her ass pop, a small black lace shirt, if you could even call it that, considering it looked more like a bra, and a pair of dark red leather boots that made her look at least 4 inches taller.

She's carrying two bottles of Grey Goose and obnoxious sparklers that has everyone looking over at her. As she walked over to the group of men who were sitting down on the leather couches and chairs.

The men all stared at her as she moved her hips to the music and bent down to pour each of them their preferred drink. As she handed the last man his drink, the man took the bills that he had in his hand and placed it between her breasts. Jax could tell that she looked uncomfortable as she gave a small smile and tried to walk away.

The same man grabbed her by the hand and pulled her onto his lap.

"No touching the dancers and the waitresses, remember." She stated over the music as she pointed to the sign that listed the rules.

"Aw c'mon baby."

"Sorry, no touching." She gives him another small smile as she tries to get up from his lap, but he holds her tightly taking her hand and rubbing it up and down his thigh, getting dangerously close to where she could feel that he was hard underneath her.

"If you don't want to be touched then you're in the wrong profession." He smiles at her with his teeth. Jax could see her physically gulp and try to get up again. This time he follows her up and takes a tight hold on her wrist. Jax looks on with disgust when he sees the short, stubby man is hard. "Let's get out of here baby."

"You-you're hurting me." She whimpers as he tightens his grip even more. "Stop," she tries not to make a scene as she pushes the man, "you're hurting me!"

Next thing she knows she's being pushed out of the way as Jax is on top of the man, slamming his fist into the man's face several times. Jax notices that the blood that was rushing to the man's dick, is now gushing out of his mouth and nose.

"Jax! Jax stop it!" She cries as two security guards come over and drag Jax off of the guy. Jax is still trying to fight him, causing him to throw punches and elbows towards the security guards too. "Jax, stop!" The security guards drag Jax and throw him outside, refusing to let him back in.

"Vanessa, this guy with you?" Her boss comes over and asks her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Mikey."

"Why don't you get him out of here." She nods at his request. "This shit happens again, and you'll be out of a job, kid." One of Vanessa's coworkers, Casey, brings out her jacket and purse so she can leave.

"Thanks." Vanessa grumbles, angry that Jax almost just got her fired. Casey already walked away as she realized she forgot her sneakers backstage but couldn't go get them now. Vanessa walked outside and saw Jax standing by his bike, but instead of walking towards him, she marched in the opposite direction, so she can go home.

"Nessa!" Jax yells over to her. "Nessa, I'm sorry." He says as he reaches her.

"What the hell is your problem, Jax?"

"Are you seriously pissed at me for beating the shit out of that asshole?"

"This is my job!" She yells at him, her head spinning with anger.

"He was manhandling you and touching you, Nes! You were uncomfortable, and he was being a dick."

"That comes with the territory of this job, Jax. Occasionally I have to deal with drunken assholes, and I do it because I need this money to live!"

"You shouldn't have to. You shouldn't have to deal with these assholes to make money. I can help you out, babe."

"Is that what this is? You're gonna come swooping back in and save the broken girl once again? Help the little damsel in distress who needs you to save her? News flash Jax, I'm not fucking 15 anymore and I don't need you to try and fucking save me anymore. I don't need you to protect me or to fight people for me. I can take care of myself."

"Then why the hell are you hiding, huh? You think I'm stupid enough to think that you left New York to come here because you needed a change? To live here by yourself in a shitty apartment and work a shitty job that you hate?" She starts walking away from him, angry that he's bringing this up again, and angry that he thinks that she can't take care of herself. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Home!" She yelled back.

"You're gonna walk two miles in those fuckin' heels?" He stared at her, seeing her stop for a second like she's thinking about turning around, but she keeps moving. "Let me take you home, Vanessa. Then you can yell at me all you fucking want."

She turns around and walks back towards him, knowing that her feet would be covered in blisters if she kept walking home in these shoes. He puts the helmet on her head and buckles it, a smirk on his face.

"Fuck off." She mutters as she gets on and he takes off, a small smile still adorning his face.

When they get to her apartment building, she quickly gets off the bike and tries to beat him up the stairs to lock him out, but her heels have other plans as she almost face plants into the top step. Jax gently grabbed her arm and kept her from falling.

"You good, babe?" He smiles at her and she wants to wipe that smirk off his face.

"Stop fucking smiling at me like that, I'm pissed off and you think it's some sort of joke." She says as she moves closer to her door and unlocks it.

"I'm sorry, Vanessa. I didn't mean to fuck up your job or anything. But working at a strip club, shit, that ain't you."

"You don't know me anymore, Jax." She's about to start yelling again, a fire of anger flooding through her veins.

"I know you better than you think, babe." She rolls her eyes.

"What are you doing here, Jax? This is the third weekend in a row that you're here. Why do you keep coming back? And telling me all this shit that you think I want to hear? Calling me your girl and saying how much you miss me. Why do you keep doing this to me?" She can feel the tears that are forming in her eyes. "Jesus Christ, you're fucking married and you have a kid!"

"I'm telling you all that shit because I mean it, Vanessa. I fucking missed you all these years and now I just want to be with you, babe." Jax says to her as he tries to take her hand, but she pulls away. She moves quickly to the table where the envelope is sitting inside of her purse and pulls out the picture, she looks at it quickly before she throws it in his face.

"Obviously you don't if you're sleeping with other women in Charming!" She yells at him.

"Where did you get this?"

"Why does it matter where I got it? What matters is that you're coming here saying all of this shit to me, and then leaving and probably saying it to a fuckload of other women too!"

"I'm not…" He trails off, his hands pushing through his hair. "You're the only one who I'm saying this to. Any other girl is just, fuck, it's just a way to help clear my head."

"Is that what I am? A way to clear your head until there's another bitch to come along and clear your head?"

"No, fuck, Vanessa."

"Christ, what the fuck are we doing here, Jax?"

"I didn't know you would find out about this. And you especially didn't deserve to find out like this."

"So that makes it okay?"

"I don't know. We're not even together! It's not like you're my old lady, Vanessa!" He yells at her and instantly knows that it was the wrong thing to say when he sees her face fall, causing her to look straight to the ground and nod with a clenched jaw.

"You're right, I'm not."

"Fuck, I'm sorry, Nessa…"

"No, you're right, Jax." She sighs. "I think you should go."

"Vanessa…"

"Please!" She screams at him, trying to keep the tears from falling. "Just go." Vanessa's eyes are still connected to the floor when she hears Jax's footsteps leading to the door.

"You may be pissed at me now and you probably don't believe it, but I am sorry for hurting you. If you need me, one call and I'll be here." Jax calls out to her before she hears the door open and then shut. Vanessa begins to cry as she looks at the picture that Jax left sitting on the kitchen table. Without thinking, she begins screaming and ripping the picture up, throwing the pieces around the room.

AN: Thanks so much for over 2,500 reads. That's incredible. Thank you to everyone who favorited and/or followed, as well. I want to give a special shoutout to the very few people who have left reviews. I have read all of them and it means the world seeing you guys leave such amazing comments on my work. I have worked super hard on this story, so seeing you guys review really encourages me to write even more. So thank you to the few guests, abb9109, Mookey0416, and ashlynnb14. I really appreciate your nice words.