CHAPTER 14: "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles (seriously, one of the best songs written!)
SUMMARY: Tara must face a fact she has always known…
NOTE: This honestly turned out to be MUCH longer than I planned….
DISCLAIMER: I owe NOTHING! All characters belong to Mr. Kurt Sutter.
TIME: April - June 1997
April 1997
~TARA~
Dear Miss Tara Knowles,
On behalf of the Admissions Committee of the University of California, Davis, we are pleased to announce you have been accepted into our campus. We look forward to seeing you this upcoming Fall…,
It was her fourth and final acceptance letter. Tara had received an acceptance to UC San Diego just last week. UCLA had sent theirs only a few days later, with Berkeley just one day behind.
It was strange, but she didn't feel a jolt of enthusiasm running through her body as she had believed she would. Davis had been her first college of choice—the closest university to where she lived. Why wasn't she feeling giddy about this letter?
As she let out a heavy sigh, she heard rattling on her window.
She turned to see a confused Jax looking at her through his regular entry.
Swiftly, Tara placed a book in front of her UC Davis acceptance letter. She didn't know why, but she didn't want to tell Jax she had been accepted just yet. Not until she figured out why she was acting so weird about all of this.
Tara walked over to the window and unlocked it.
Jax slid inside the room. "Why'd you put the lock?"
Intuition. Tara had a feeling when she saw the UC Davis letter. She wanted to make sure she was completely alone when she opened the envelope and read the contents inside it—that included Jax.
Of course, she couldn't tell him this, though. "I didn't. Must have been my dad again."
Jax gave a curt nod that satisfied his confusion. He reached down and kissed her.
It was a nice save on Tara's part. Her father had been known to lock the window—even though there was no use for it. Tara always unlocked it. Tara figured the reason her father did this was his way of letting her know he knew her boyfriend used the window to sneak it. Still useless, of course, but it was the most Tara's could do to express his dislike for the relationship between his daughter and the outlaw.
"Ready?" asked Jax.
She nodded and grabbed her keys.
/
/
~JAX~
Jax jumped through the window and extended his hand to help Tara out of her room.
The two made their way out of her backyard and to Jax's bike.
There was a party over on 8 Mile Road that they had been invited to a few days ago. Tara had just finished with midterms and wanted to celebrate before her finals overtook her time.
Jax was more than happy to agree with her. The MC had taken up so much of his time this month. They were battling with the Mexicans again. They were trying to do business with some gangsters that purchased from SAMCRO. It had gotten bloody.
Jax had believed that after two years with the club, he would have gotten used to the dead bodies. It hadn't. It was still hard to swallow, even though he himself had only physically killed three people. His brothers had done much worse, but it was still three people too much.
As they connected to I-5, Jax did his best to brush away the image of the latest body count of that weekend.
It wasn't until he felt Tara's grip on his waist that Jax realized he was going 90. He knew Tara trusted him fully when she rode with him, but he never went above 80. He liked going fast with her, but he liked to be safe with her as well. Especially on I-5 this late at night. The freeway didn't have that much light-posts—made it more difficult to see a piece of a tire on his lane.
He decreased speed immediately and felt Tara's grip loosen as well. However, he could now feel her eyes on him. Shit. He knew she was worried now and suspected something was up with him.
They came to 8 Mile Road and got to their destination a few minutes later.
When they got to the party, Jax made sure he parked a little bit away from the crowd. He knew Tara was going to ask questions. He didn't plan on telling her everything, but knew he couldn't very well tell her nothing either.
"What's up?" She asked as she took off her helmet.
He turned to her and gave her a shitty-ass confused look.
She arched her brow and cocked her hip to the side. She didn't want bullshit from him and if he gave it to her, he was in for a fight.
He caved…a little. "Shitty weekend."
He stood there, not wanting to give more information than that.
She wasn't satisfied, but she also looked as if she didn't want to push him either. "Want to talk about it?"
He just shook his head slightly. He looked away from her, because he was lying. Yes, he wanted to talk about it. He wanted to scream out how twisted his world was and how much he hated it. How it made him feel like a complete monster. Like a soulless fucker. But he was scared the truth about him would only scare her away. Hell, if he could barely handle it, there was no way Tara could.
Tara walked slowly over to him.
He stood still because he knew what was coming. And he needed it.
She gently placed her hands upon his cut. She gripped it and gave it a tug.
He felt his weight fall into her. Her forehead caught his.
Tara always knew when he needed this. When he needed to pass the burden and pain away.
They stood like that for a few minutes until he leaned in and kissed her forehead for a long moment. She would always be his place to land and he was grateful.
He took her hand and led the way to the crowd.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a group of girls making their way towards him and Tara. Jax recognized a few of them. They flirtatiously smiled at him and seemed to be devouring him with their eyes. As always, Jax liked the attention and couldn't help a smile from appearing on his face.
As the girls got closer to him, Tara clutched to his arm.
Jax saw the girls look away from him to Tara. Their smiles immediately faded and they seemed to change their course.
Jax turned to his girlfriend as well and saw that she wore a most fierce scowl on her face. One that would have even made him retreat away from her.
He found it cute how quickly she became jealous and possessive. He couldn't help but be turned on by her powerful demeanor. As long as she just kept it on her face. He hated seeing the rest of her body becoming that physically powerful.
Jax remembered seeing Marie Reynolds the day after Tara beat the shit out of her. He had to admit that it scared the shit out of him the damage she could make. And it hadn't stopped with Marie either. Ever since Marie's incident, the amount of fights Tara would get involved in had increased. And she tended to walk away from those fights with fewer scratches.
"Promise there won't be any pissing contests tonight?" he said to her as the group of girls hurried past them.
Tara wasn't even going to pretend she didn't know what he meant by that. "You're one to talk. No more than six months ago were you still boxing every weekend at TM."
Jax shook his head. "That's different. That's to show your physical strength—how much you can take and who shouldn't mess with you."
She didn't miss a beat. "And that's exactly what I'm doing. You call yours boxing matches; we girls call it catfights. It's all about the same thing: showing others how much you can take and who shouldn't dare mess with you."
He let out a heavy sigh. Yeah, she was going to fight again tonight. He should have parked the bike closer. Faster getaway for when the cops showed up, too. Tara always tended to fight right as the cops made their appearance.
/
/
May 1997
~TARA~
Before she knocked, she took a deep breath. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous, it was just a meeting with her old high school teacher.
"Come in," called out the voice from within the room.
Tara opened the door and saw Mr. Abel sitting on his desk. Junior year came flashing back to her as she looked into the room.
Mr. Abel, looking the same as always, smiled at her. He stood up. "Tara. Come on in."
She smiled at her old teacher and greeted him with a hug. "How are you doing, Mr. Abel?"
"Very good, thank you." He motioned for her to take a seat in front of his desk, which he had already prepared for her.
She took it and for the next few minutes they exchanged pleasantries, catching up a bit on each other since their last meeting (which had been more than 6 months ago). After graduation, Tara and Jax had made it a point to visit Mr. Abel once a month, but in the last half-year, there had been little to no contact. On occasion they exchanged emails, but that was about it. Tara had thought about him last week and decided to send him an email asking to meet with him on some advice.
"What can I help you with?" Mr. Abel asked finally.
Tara took a deep breath. Her nerves were coming back again. "Um, well, I wanted to get some advice on…where to go to for school."
He leaned back and simply stared at her, allowing her to talk to him at her own pace.
This relaxed her a bit. She explained to him the four universities she had selected and how they all accepted her. This didn't seem to surprise Mr. Abel.
"You've been the best student I've had the pleasure to teach, Tara. All teachers who had you here agree with me. UCLA, Davis, Berkeley, and UC San Diego looked at your application and saw the great potential—of course they're choosing you. But that's not the problem, is it? You're left with the: 'which one do I choose'?" he guessed.
She gave a short nod. "I thought I wanted to go to Davis, or even Berkeley, for that matter. But, I don't know. Lately, I've just been feeling this…" She struggled to get the words out. "I don't know what it is I'm feeling, actually. I can't explain it, as hard as I try to figure it out. But something just tells me…."
He was right—as usual. She was struggling with selecting the right university. But hadn't she had her heart set on Davis or even Berkeley? Why was she finding San Diego and LA so tempting all of a sudden?
Mr. Abel just stared. "Have you talked to Jax about this?"
She kept her eyes on her lap and shook her head.
"Donna?"
She shook her head once more.
He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it.
Tara had a feeling she knew what he had been close to asking. She was glad he quickly remembered before speaking. She too forgot sometimes that Rachel was gone.
He was quiet for a few seconds. "I can't imagine what you've gone through, Tara."
His words seem to come out of nowhere to her. She was confused at first.
He leaned into his desk and held her stare. "It's not easy losing a best friend. Especially in the way you lost yours."
Tara tried to swallow down the knot that had suddenly formed in her throat. She never spoke about Rachel out loud. Not even with Jax.
"I've known you for years and know you to be pretty private. The only people I've seen you open up to have been Jax and Rachel."
The name brought tears to Tara's eyes. She tried to blink them away.
"I can see how losing her has led you to be confused…angry."
Tara's eyes snapped up. Did he mean to say…? Did he know? Had he gotten wind of the fights she had gotten into? How violent some of them had turned?
His eyes told her yes. "My father died when I was about 10. Car crash. It came out of nowhere. One day, we were playing ball, and then a week later, he was lying in a hospital bed and was gone." He was silent for a while, allowing the words to sink in. He was telling her that he could relate. "I know how it feels like, Tara. The confusion. The anger. The silence can drive you mad. I remember lying in bed, with all these…negative thoughts running through my head. I hated everyone. Everything. The world. God.
"And I couldn't get away from these feelings. The house I lived in was a constant reminder of what was no longer in my life. The pictures on the wall told me my father would no longer be watching football with me anymore. He wouldn't be there for when I graduated high school. Wouldn't be there for me when I fell in love for the first time. I was on my own.
"And he had been my best friend. I told him everything. Now that he was gone, who was I to talk to about my problems?"
Tara didn't realize she had been crying until she felt her hands wet from tears.
Mr. Abel walked over to her side and slid an arm around her. "Does it feel like you're alone? Like an emptiness has filled you?"
Yes! That's exactly how she felt! She felt…nothing.
Mr. Abel took a seat in front of her, on his desk. "I can tell you that you're not alone, Tara, but it wouldn't do any good. You're going to continue feeling this way until you're ready to move on. And who the hell knows when that would be? Five months from now? Five years from now? Only time can tell."
She looked up helplessly at him. "What should I do?"
He shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know." Again, he was quiet for a while. "But I think you know."
She frowned at him. No, she didn't. That's why she had emailed him. She had no idea what she should do—where she should go. Davis? Berkeley? She needed advice—that's why she was here in his office.
He could read her. "Yes, you do know. You've known since you set foot in this town as to what you should do to keep yourself happy."
Tara sat there for a few moments, repeating Mr. Abel's words in her head and she suddenly no longer felt empty. Instead, she felt sadness. Yes, he was right. She knew what she needed to do.
And she hated it.
/
/
~JAX~
She had been acting weird all week.
Quiet. Reserved. Only spoke when asked a direct question.
It was scaring the shit out of him. He tried asking her what was wrong, but whenever he would start asking the question, he quickly changed his mind.
He knew.
He had a pretty good idea what was going through her head. And he knew once he heard the words, their relationship was going to be in serious jeopardy.
So, he held her more. Breathed her in more. Placed his lips upon every inch of her he could reach.
He wanted to hold on for as long as possible.
/
/
June 1997
~TARA~
She wanted nothing more than to rip the damn packet in pieces. She never knew that a Welcome packet from a university would make her feel as sickening as this. She always thought once she selected a university, she would be thrilled. But she hated it. Was repulsed by it.
She could feel her eyes start to sting. Before she allowed herself to get enveloped in the sadness, she turned over to the anger. That was a feeling much more manageable. She was used to anger; she welcomed it more.
Tara got off from her bed, grabbed her eyes, and drove off.
She didn't have a destination. She didn't care where she arrived, as long as it contained alcohol. Fuck. She had forgotten her fake I.D. Dammit, that only leaves one place.
She got to the bar in a couple of minutes. There were a few people gathered around, but not too many. It was a Wednesday night, which meant the only ones around were the town drunks. Thankfully, Tara's father was at home. She wouldn't be bumping into him here.
The bouncer at the door knew her and allowed her in. The bartender was also friendly with her, so she didn't get harassed about ordering a few shots.
"Don't you think you should pace yourself, darling?" came a very husky voice at the other end of the bar.
Tara snapped her head in that direction, ready to snap at the asshole to keep his nose out of other people's business. However, she saw it was Piney smiling at her.
She returned the smile and grabbed the next shot. "How you doing, Piney?" She downed the Tequila.
"Better than you, by the looks of it," he responded, eying her hands as they reached for the next shot.
If Tara didn't respect and like Piney the way she did, she would have made a snapping comment about how if she were a male and taking shots, he wouldn't be judging her in the way he was now. Seriously, just because she sported a vagina didn't mean she needed to stay home and cry when she was having a bad day. However, she kept her mouth shot.
Some minutes rolled by with nothing taking place in the small bar. There were still only 15 people inside of it and the music tuned everything out.
But then, the bells on the door went off. Tara turned and found three women in their mid-20s walk inside. They weren't dressed slutty, but they weren't dressed casual either. One wore a long pencil skirt with a red top that outlined her curves. The other woman wore a little black dress and had some deep, red lipstick. And the final woman, who was right at the center of the three, wore a black miniskirt and blazer. She didn't have much of a figure, but did have killer legs. Tara could sense all the men in the room begin to slobber over the sight.
Ugh. Annoying females was the last thing she wanted around her at the moment. As long as they didn't giggle like a bunch of schoolgirls, Tara was sure she could restrain herself from getting too annoyed with them.
As the women made their way to an empty booth, one of them whispered something to the other two, which caused a rupture of giggles.
Tara let out a deep sigh. She thought too soon.
/
/
~JAX~
"You know there's no dealing in Charming," Jax spit out as he gave the guy on the ground another hard punch. "Especially to twelve-year-olds!" A good kick to the thigh. Close to the dick, but not directly at it. Jax wanted to get his point across.
He was pissed at the little fucker on the ground. Once he got wind of dealings going on to some junior highers, Jax immediately volunteered himself to trace down the piece of shit. Scum that messed with kids, Jax had no problem dealing with. He was glad to put those fuckers in their place and never felt guilty about it.
The guy clenched his stomach and thigh, letting out a groan. His hand went inside his pant. Jax figured he was massaging the bruise that would eventually appear the next morning. Jax leaned over, ready to punch the fucker in the face and cause more pain.
However, the man hadn't reached inside his pants to rub his thigh, he had taken out a tool. Jax caught what he was doing and backed up.
He wasn't very quick, though. The asshole had managed to slice Jax across the chest. Jax could feel a wetness on his skin—blood. Shit. He really needed to stop wearing white t-shirts. He needed to take Opie's que and ear all black. The red was going to leave a nasty stain.
Before Jax could react on time, the guy took another shot. The small knife landed on Jax's outter thigh.
Jax let out a yelp of pain, but sucked it up and reached over to grab the guy by the collar. He pulled the fucker to his feet and took a good swing at his face. Jax felt his fingers get a little numb. There had been a crack and Jax knew the guy had a broken nose now. Good. Jax brought down his fist one more.
After several more punches, the fucker was pulled away and dumped on the side of the road they were on. He was beaten badly and warned by the Club to move out of Charming by next nightfall.
The MC arrived at TM a few minutes after.
Jax parked his bike at his regular spot. He looked down at his t-shirt, red-stained by both his blood and that cracker dealer. He needed to change out of it and see how much damage the fucker had caused. The stab on his head didn't hurt too bad. He was limping a little to take as much weight off it as possible. Thankfully, Chibs was still around and could patch him up in no time.
As Jax made his way to his room, one of the hang arounds came up to him. "Hey, Jax. Piney's been calling you from Orwell's. Says it's urgent."
Jax forgot about his cuts and went over to the phone. Piney never called him unless it was urgent.
Opie had overheard the hang around and followed Jax to the phone.
The hang around handed Jax a piece of paper with Orwell's phone number on it. Jax dialed it. Whoever answered the phone, Jax asked to talk to Piney.
"Hey, kid," came Piney's voice.
"What's up?" Jax got straight to the point.
"You might want to come down here. The future doctor is here. She seems to have had a long day and came here alone. But now...there are three other females here."
Jax cussed and hung up the phone. He hurried his way outside.
Opie was on his heels. "What's up?"
"Tara's about to get into a fight."
Opie said nothing and followed Jax towards Orwell's Bar.
At first, Jax had found Tara's inner-fire attractive as hell. A few cat fights made her sexy as hell. However, this year, the fights were escalating. And while before the chicks had asked for the beatings, lately, Tara seemed to pick fights with innocent girls. All they had to do was look at Tara wrong and Tara would go nuts.
It was another thing that was scaring the shit of Jax.
He kicked up his speed.
/
/
~TARA~
The girl below her gave another cry out for help. Her friends were huddled up in the corner, crying themselves. The men were too either too stunned to react or too fearful. They knew the girl doing the beating was Tara Knowles, Jax Teller's girl.
Tara took another swing at the chick that was trapped between her legs. There was a crack and Tara knew she hit bone.
She was about to take another swing, but she suddenly felt strong arms around her.
"Tara! Tara!"
They were tugging at her, but she continued to pound her fist into the girl's face. She couldn't stop. Didn't want to stop beating on the fake redhead.
However, she had no choice. Whoever had pulled her off was much stronger than her.
The girl got to her feet and ran off, her friends hurrying behind her.
Tara turned towards the man who had pulled her away, only to find her favorite shades of blues staring at her.
For a split second, her stomach turned into mush as it often did when she looked at Jax, but then a different kind of feeling took over her stomach. She felt it churning.
He looked at her, and the way he was looking at her made her feel uncomfortable. She had never seen him make that face at her before. It was like he was looking at her like she was a stranger. Someone he didn't know.
Tara looked down, ashamed he had caught her this way. However, her guilt quickly vanished as she saw the red marks along his t-shirt. Fear was the next emotion soaring through her.
Jax caught her eye. "I'm fine," he said under his breath.
He didn't look straight into her eye when he said this, though. He was lying.
Lies. Still, they made their way through their relationship.
She knew Jax was now upset at her. He placed a gentle hand on her arm. "Let's go for a ride."
She didn't respond, but made her way out of the bar.
/
/
~JAX~
He drove for a good thirty minutes, trying to make sure that his emotions were in check. He wanted both of them to have gathered their thoughts before they spoke to one another. After almost two years together, Jax knew well enough to know when they needed a breather. The two of them shouting at one another never benefitted either one of them.
Jax found an abandoned park in Lodi. There wasn't much lighting, which he believed would help them talk to one another a little easier. He could never be fully honest with Tara when she held his eyes. The darkness would allow him to lie to her if needed to. He was sure she was going to ask him about his bloody shirt and his limp. He wasn't going to tell her the full story.
Jax headed towards the small, manmade lake that was located at the center of the park. He took a seat by a tree. There was little to no light there. Perfect.
She sat several yards away next to a much thinner tree.
Jax couldn't help but be reminded of that time in Mokelumne a couple of years ago. It had been then and there that they had fallen in love. They had revealed things to each other of their past—things they weren't too proud of; things that hurt them, damaged them.
After that day, Jax had promised himself to do everything possible to keep his and Tara's relationship solid. She had become the most important thing to him during that hike in the ghost town.
However, here they were two years later, feeling not close to each other, but distant.
He wanted to fix it—needed to fix it.
The pair of them were silent for several long moments; each thinking the same thing.
It was Tara who broke the silence. "What is it that you do, Jackson?" she asked with a small voice.
He heard fear in that voice. It made his stomach turn thinking that anything about him made her feel that emotion. Made him sick.
He couldn't answer her. He knew he should, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Please," she pleaded. "I need to know."
"Doesn't matter," he said in the darkness.
He heard a sniffle. "It does to me."
His defensive wall was up. And he hated that it was with her. "Why?"
There were a few seconds of silence. Perhaps she was trying to figure the answer herself. "Because I want to know everything about you."
Images of the people he had killed crossed his mind like some movie strip. Blood. Emptiness. "No, you don't," he answered honestly.
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" she challenged. She was pissed now.
He looked up at her from across the room. The darkness between them weighed heavily. "Tara…my world…" He shook his head; he couldn't think of the right words to say that wouldn't make her be disgusted with him. Words that wouldn't make her run to the hills from him. "It's full of chaos. Destruction."
She was silent for a while, allowing him to continue. When he wouldn't, she spoke up. "Then why are you in it?"
He held her eyes. "It's all I know. They're my family. My world. I was born inside of this."
Tara shook her head. "There's more out there, Jax. I don't see why you always sell yourself short. You're smart. Intuitive. You could be so much more—anything. Why don't you see that?"
It tugged at him that she believed so much in him—that she saw more in him than he saw in himself. But she didn't understand—couldn't because she wasn't a part of what he grew up around. "That's not my world, Tara. This one is it, the one I'm living in."
Tears began to make themselves known. "So, you're not even going to try? You're just going to…let me leave?!" Her voice cracked at the end of that accusation.
This confused him. "It's just Davis, babe. We won't be that far away."
Tara shook her head. "It's much farther away, and you know it. Once I leave…I'm not sure I can come back."
There, she said it. Said the words that had been haunting him for months. He didn't want her to leave, but he also didn't want to keep her here against her will, either. "You leaving has nothing to do with me."
It took her a few seconds for her to give a response. "No, me staying has everything to do with you," she said in a small whisper—he barely heard her. He could hear her hurt and anger and fragility. She was saying words he knew she hated to be true.
He was holding her down. He always knew this, but it felt different when he heard her admitting to it. He couldn't be angry with her. He could only have one emotional response for this. "I'm sorry."
Silence came again.
"Fuck you," she finally let out with a lethal tone.
He was thrown off. "What?"
She got to her feet and walked over to him, staring him down. "Do you know I'm willing to stay here for you?! Here! A town that suffocates me?! I could have left two years ago, but I didn't! I did that for you! All I ask of you is to at least consider—and you won't even give it a thought! So, fuck you! Fuck all of your 'I love yous' and 'I'm sorrys' because at the end of the day, they don't mean shit!" She began to walk away.
He got to his feet himself, equally as pissed as her. "Hey!"
She didn't stop. "Fuck off."
Was she seriously thinking what he thought she was thinking? Him leave Charming? Why would that be crossing her mind? She knew—knew—he couldn't! Didn't she?
She continued to walk away from him.
No, they needed to talk about this. He took a hold of her arm and pulled her back.
She turned to him and he saw it coming. He saw the arm rise and could have stopped it from coming at him, but he let it happen. He wanted her to hit him.
She packed a good punch; it stung like shit. And seeing her reaction, he could tell it stung her as well.
"I'm sorry," she said, looking absolutely horrified with what she had just done.
It wasn't the first time she had hit him—she had done it before whenever their words got too heated, but she never looked this horrified.
Tara shook her head in disgust. "Dammit! This is exactly why I can't stay here, Jax! I'm—I'm becoming something I don't like."
"It ain't the first time, babe. This has nothing to do with the town…." He didn't want her to think she was turning into a monster—she could never.
Tara's tears were back. "I've never punched you before! Slap, yeah—and I'm not proud of them either! And how do you explain a few hours ago? Jax…the way you looked at me…." She sobbed.
Her words made him freeze. He looked at her a certain way? Shit.
She stared him in the eye. The look in her eye held so much fear. "It was like you were looking at a monster."
He shook his head. "No, babe."
"That's what your face said. You've never…looked at me like that before."
He took a step close to her. "Tara, listen to me."
She was shaking now.
He pulled her close and caressed her face. "Babe."
She tried to hide her face, but he wouldn't let her.
"Look at me."
She forced her eyes open.
"Nothing—absolutely nothing—could ever make me not love you."
She could hardly see through all the water in her vision. "How can you love someone who doesn't love herself, though?"
Shit. She really was disgusted with herself, wasn't she?
Before he could say anything in response to that, to assure her she was the best person he knew, she continued talking. "I can't stay here, Jax. I…hate it here. What it does to me—" A sob made its way out of her. "I feel like I can't breathe. Like gravity is pushing me down—keeping me stuck here. Jax…I can't stay."
He just looked at her, feeling more afraid than ever in his life. She was slipping quicker.
She looked away from him. "I'm going to UC San Diego. I declined Davis and Berkeley."
A lump in his throat formed and he swore he felt the blood drain out of him. I. Declined. She rejected them, not the other way around. She wanted to leave…was going to...
She slowly turned to him, forcing herself to look him straight in the eye. "I can't stay," she said again.
She turned her heel and ran off.
And he watched her go. He stood. He watched her go. And she took his heart, his soul with her. His center left him.
Date: June 13, 2015
AN: Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me to continue on with this story. I really don't want to completely abandon it because I have enjoyed exploring these two Sutter characters. Please, continue leaving your wonderful reviews. I welcome all constructive criticism.
Just ONE more chapter left...and then a small epilogue.