Once Jax started talking, things just kept coming out. He and V. both re-dressed as he spoke. If either of them was sorry to have interrupted a good time for a sad one, neither said it aloud. Jax told V. about Tara's return to Charming, Kohn's following her, and, eventually, Tara's shooting Kohn and his finishing the job. He didn't know until the words were out of his mouth that he was going to tell her the whole story. It was a story he hadn't thought he'd ever tell anyone. She reacted in just the way he would have expected. No judgment, just understanding. In her eyes, they'd simply done what had to be done. None of Tara's guilt would make sense to her.

"Is that why Tara left?" She wasn't at all sure she wanted to go down this road, but felt like since they were finally talking, she'd better take the opportunity.

"No," Jax replied. "Tara..." he sighed, then began again. "Tara didn't want this life. She loved me, but she hated the rest of it. Hated the club."

V. nodded. It was clear in Jax's voice that he still hurt. Tara's leaving wasn't something he was over. It would be hard, V. knew, not to resent that. But she was going to try. Still, there was something they needed to get straight right away. "You know I'd be the worst possible rebound girl, right?"

Jax laughed. "Yeah." He reached out and pulled her towards him, settling her between his legs. "After Tara left the first time," he said, "I had ten years of rebound girls. I even married one. But I was always waiting for her to come back. Then she did, and we made the same mistakes all over again. I'm not waiting for her to come back now." He wrapped his arms around her. "This is about you." He kissed the side of her face, then trailed his lips down her neck.

V. squirmed slightly, then turned her face towards Jax. "So the police chief," she said. "He told me that this was a bad time, a dangerous time, for Sam Crow. Told me to be careful not to get caught in the crossfire. What does that mean?"

Jax closed his eyes for a moment. Behind his lids, he saw Donna, the shot out window of the truck, Opie kneeling over his wife and sobbing. He wanted to tell V. about it, to tell her that he knew Clay had ordered Opie's death and that Donna had, indeed, been caught in the crossfire. But he couldn't do it. He still had no real idea how to handle knowing it himself, and he didn't know where knowing was eventually going to take him and the club. Every person who knew made it harder to take the time to figure those things out.

V. looked at Jax. She could see the question was a more difficult one than she'd expected. "It's OK," she said softly. "You don't have to explain."

He looked surprised. He'd figured V. for the type who would insist on the truth. "You are not going to get caught in any crossfire," he said. "I won't let that happen."

"I know." V. smiled up at Jax.

He ran his finger along her jaw. "You're really beautiful, you know."

She laughed. "Don't change the subject, Teller. I'm letting you off now, but you know I'm going to keep asking questions, right? Nothing you do, nothing the Club does, is gonna be more than I can handle."

He nodded. He wasn't sure what she was saying was true, but he wasn't going to argue with her. If there was any woman who wouldn't be bothered by the violence of the club, it was this one. He kissed her. "Come home with me tonight?"

V. went home with Jax that night, and the next, and the following ones. Though they both worried that they were spending too much time together, ignoring other responsibilities, and not paying as much attention as they should to the danger that was just around the corner, neither of them could resist. Both Jax and V. had been around long enough to know that you have to grab your chance at being happy while it's in front of you, because shit always comes back around.

V. was sitting on the clubhouse couch, chatting with Half-Sack, when Church ended on Friday. Looking up, she saw first Jax's angry face, then Clay's. The other club members looked worried. Both Jax and Clay stomped over to her position on the couch.

"V.," Jax said, "tell Clay you don't want to do any more gun runs."

V. furrowed her brow. She thought she had made her willingness to do the runs clear last time she went.

"You already said you didn't mind doing more runs," Clay said. "The V.P. here seems to think you've changed your mind."

V. looked at Jax. "Why do you think that? I've got no problem making the trip."

Clay smiled. "See? No problem." He started to walk away.

"No," Jax said, his voice getting lower and colder. "You are not going on any more gun runs."

V.'s expression turned incredulous. "I'm not?"

"No, you're not."

V. stood up and met Jax's eyes. "And since when do you make my decisions for me?"

Now Jax looked incredulously at V. The rest of the Sons had all filed out of the Chapel and were watching. He grabbed her wrist. "Listen to me. I don't want you doing this. You're with me now. You don't have to prove yourself by going on some fucking run."

V.'s eyes shone with increasing rage. "You do not tell me what to do." She turned to Clay. "I'll make the run."

Clay smiled. "Good."

V. turned back to Jax. "Calm the fuck down."

Jax's grip on her wrist tightened. "Come on," he said through gritted teeth, pulling V. towards the hall.

"Let go of me you son of a bitch." V. hissed, attempting to pull her arm away. Jax held on, twisting her wrist painfully and pushing her towards her room.

"Why are you fucking humiliating me?" Jax hissed, pushing the door closed.

"Me humiliating you?" V. pulled her arm harder now, jerking away from Jax's grasp. "What about you treating me like a fucking child?"

Jax pushed V. against the back of the door. He stood very close to her, his face enraged. "I am not treating you like a child. I am treating you like my old lady."

"Like your old lady? Being your old lady means you tell me what to do?" V. was just as pissed as Jax. "I fucking told you, I'm not one of your stupid little whores. You don't run me."

Jax's fist hit the door just to the left of V.'s head. "Goddammit! You just don't fucking get it, do you? I'm trying to keep you safe."

"You're not trying to keep me safe! You're trying to control me!"

Jax's other hand came down to the right of V.'s head and he leaned forward, his face just inches from her's. Rage twisted his mouth. "Somebody needs to control you," he spit.

V. lowered her voice. "Is that what you want?" she hissed. "You want to control me?"

For a moment, they were both quiet, staring at each other. The tension between them seemed to fill the air, making the room heavy. They were both angry, both violent. There was something else, though. Something underlying between them beyond their anger.

Finally, V. spoke again. Her voice stayed low, her face stayed where it was. "I know you're used to women doing what you say. It's not going to be that easy with me. I think you already know that. You want to control me, you do it in here."

Jax's hand moved from the door to tangle in her hair and jerk her head back hard. He leaned in, whispering in her ear. "You sure that's where you want to go with this?" He felt her chest against him now, heaving with anger, but there was something else. She's getting off on this, he thought. The realization made him angrier, but also sparked arousal in him.

"Yeah," she hissed back at him, her mouth close to his ear. "You want to prove you're a man, prove you're in charge? Do it."

His mouth crashed into her's. The kiss was brutal, bruising. His teeth scraped her lip, his hands tangled in her hair and pulled hard. She didn't try to pull away, but kissed him back just as hard. The kiss quickly became a battle for control, their tongues invading each others' mouths, their lips pushing harder and harder against one another. Finally, Jax pulled back, his eyes still blazing. V. reached out, pulling at his shirt and cut. He grabbed her wrists and pushed her back against the door, holding her arms above her head, then kissed her again, even harder this time. She didn't fight it, just let him kiss her, reacting when she could. He rubbed his body against her, smashing her against the door. She felt his hardness, responding to it automatically by moving her hips towards him.

Still kissing V., Jax dropped her wrists and pulled her shirt off her shoulders. He pulled his mouth off hers and ripped her tank top over her head, then pulled on her bra, hard, until the clasps popped and it fell to the floor. Smirking, he grabbed both her nipple piercings and twisted. He didn't pull hard enough to pull them out, but V. moaned in mixed pain and pleasure, her head banging against the door. "Fuck!" she hissed. He dipped his head down, pulling on first one and then the other piercing with his teeth, much more sharply than he had before. He rubbed his face roughly against her tits, burning her with his stubble and nicking her with his teeth.

Finally, Jax stood back, shrugged out of his cut, and pulled his shirt over his head. He grabbed V.'s shoulders then, turning her around and pushing her on to the bed. While she laid there, he pulled off her boots, then unbuttoned and roughly pulled off her cargo pants. He sat on the bed beside her and put his hand inside her thong. Roughly, he shoved two fingers inside her. She was wet, ready. Her hips lifted off the bed as he pumped his fingers in and out of her.

"You like this, don't you?" he said, adding another finger and pushing into her harder, his hand slamming against her. "This makes you hot."

"And you don't?" she said, panting, pushing her hips against his hand.

Jax did. He was almost overwhelmed with his own arousal. But he was also very angry. Once he started being angry, it snowballed. He was mad at V., but mad too at Tara, mad at Clay, mad at Gemma, mad at the club. The more angry he felt, the harder he pushed his fingers into V. Finally, he ripped her thong off her body, pushing into her faster and faster as her hips rose up off the bed.

Jax pulled his fingers out of V., noticing an empty beer bottle on the floor. He grabbed the bottle and held it up in front of V.'s face. Her eyes widened and her heart raced. Oh God, she thought. Is he going to...her thoughts were interrupted by Jax pushing the bottle inside her, his other hand pinching her clitoris. "Oh God," she moaned. "Jax...Jax..." He pulled the bottle out, then shoved it back in, stretching her wide. Tears sprang into her eyes. She moaned, her hips rising up and slamming down against the mattress as Jax pumped the bottle in and out of her. "Oh FUCK!" She came hard, spasming around the bottle and turning to liquid on the bed.

Jax smiled, tossing the bottle on the floor. "Get up." He pulled her into a sitting position, then forced her to turn over so that she was on all fours. She struggled to stay upright, hearing him unzipping his jeans behind her, then unwrapping a condom. She tensed, waiting to feel him push into her. He grabbed her hips with one hand, shoving her face into the bed with the other. Before she could adjust, she felt his cock against her ass. "Jax," she said, her voice cracking, "please..." He ignored her.

When Jax pushed himself into her ass, V. buried her face in the bed to scream. The pain was intense, like he was ripping her in half. His pace wasn't as brutal as it had been with his fingers, or the bottle, but he wasn't gentle. After the first few thrusts, though, she felt the pressure building in her core again. Jax held her by the hips, thrusting into her over and over again. Then he moved one hand off her hips, reaching underneath her and rubbing between her legs. "Fuck, Jax, I'm gonna come again" she whimpered into the bed. Finally, she collapsed into the mattress, her knees giving out. Jax fell on top of her, his orgasm shaking him.

Later, Jax and V. laid side-by-side on the bed, quiet. Neither of them was sure what to say. Finally, Jax spoke. "I feel like I should apologize."

"Why, are you sorry?"

"No."

V. laughed. "You don't need to be."

"Was that what you want?"

V. was quiet. Jax continued. "Is that what you like?"

"Sometimes." She exhaled. "You and I, neither one of us is very good at talking about things. We're better at this."

Jax propped himself up on his elbow and looked at V. "So this was to avoid having to talk?"

V. smiled. "Wouldn't you rather fuck than argue?"

Jax smiled back. "Yeah," he said. "But you're gonna hurt in the morning."

"I hurt now." She laughed.

"You're going on the run no matter what I say, aren't you?"

"Yes."