When we got back I saw Tig go into the clubhouse. I motioned to Jax that I was going in there and he went over to the picnic tables with the rest of the guys. I went and saw my dad had joined my mom at the bar inside, so I asked them where Tig had gone. They pointed to the meeting room off to the side. I went in and saw him sitting in his spot on the top right side of the table. I sat next to him in my father's chair. I took his hands in mine and leaned down to kiss his knuckles.

"Tell me. What is it?"

"You stood me up."

"I'm sorry. Something came up and I had to leave."

"What was so important that you had to stand me up? I thought we were actually getting back to where we were."

"We were. We are. I'm sorry Tiggy, I love you."

"You could have called."

"I'm sorry. I should have."

"You gonna tell me what was so important? Talk to me baby. I'm right here."

I shook my head slowly and looked down because I could feel tears forming. I blinked them away and cleared my throat. "I can't do that Tig."

"God, I've had enough of the secrets, Amelia. Either tell me or I'm done."

"Done? Done? You're done?"

"I don't want to be, but I can't keep doing this." He stood up and started pacing.

I stood up slowly and put my hands down on the table. "You wanna be done, then leave. Walk right out that door, but don't be surprised if I'm not there when you turn around."

"Goddamn it Amelia. You would throw away what we have just to keep whatever you're hiding a secret?" He got in my face. It was getting heated, like it always did when we argued.

"I don't want to throw anything away Tig!"

"But you can't tell me?"

"No. I can't. Please just trust that it's gonna be better soon. I'm getting better."

"I can't do this anymore Amelia. You're shutting me out and I can't take it. If you want out of this relationship then at least have the decency to tell me! Ya know this is why I beat hookers."

"You wanna? Do it! Come on! But I'm not gonna just lay down and take it like a goddamn hooker!"

He slapped me then. I punched him in the face. He backhanded me and I fell back onto the table. I got on top of me to hold down my hands, so I kicked him back and flipped over the back of the table. He came at me and slapped me again and again. I got some hits in and clawed at his neck. He eventually backed off and stopped hitting me.

I stood up and kept hitting his chest. "Come on badass! Fight back! Fight back you piece of shit!"

"I can't do this anymore Amelia." He pushed me back. "You're pushing me away. It's like you want us to be done."

"I'm not the one making ultimatums here, Tigger. If you really can't accept that I can't tell you, then I don't know what else there is to say." I said putting my finger in his face.

"It's not an ultimatum Amelia. I want you to talk to me. I can't handle not knowing what's going on with you anymore. You're different now. I wish you would just get over whatever this is."

"Different? Yeah I am different. I'm grown Tig. I'm not some petulant child anymore. If you can't handle that then you're the one who needs to get over it."

"Fine. I'm done." He looked so defeated and stormed out of the room and I walked to the door and yelled at him as he walked out of the clubhouse.

"Go! You wanna be done, we're done! Tig! Tig!"

I was so mad. How could he just leave me like that? I looked over to my parents and they were just standing there, slack jawed. I went back into the meeting room and slammed the door as hard as I could. I went over to the table and started slamming my fists into it over and over again. I didn't stop until I was pulled back from the table. There were arms holding mine against me. Gemma was holding me back. I was screaming and crying and throwing my hands back into her legs.

After a minute, my knees went weak and we both slid down to the ground. She was stroking her hand against my hair and shh-ing me trying to help me calm down. My dad crouched down in front of me and wiped at the blood dribbling from my lip. He was telling me that everything would be okay, but it wasn't. He left me. Tig actually left me. And it was my fault. My fault for keeping this damn secret.

"What happened?" Mom asked.

"Didn't you hear? He left me."

"Baby. I-"

"No! He left me! How could he do that?"

"He's confused, baby. It's not you. It's not your fault."

"It is. It's all my fault. It's all my fault."

"How is it your fault?"

"I pushed him away. I stood him up the other night."

"Why? Maybe if you explained it to him…"

"I can't do that. I just can't." I said standing up.

"Why? Why can't you tell us what's going on?" I looked down at my hands. "It could all be over. We could all move past this. Just tell us what's going on."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm trying to protect you! Don't you get that!"

"Protect us from what?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Amelia,-" Before she could finish whatever she was going to say we heard a loud boom from outside.

We got up and ran outside to see what had happened. A car had exploded in the lot. Everyone was running towards it, someone was hurt. I looked around at all of the faces in the crowd to find Tig. I didn't see him anywhere. I got caught up with the others and looked down at the man on the ground.

"NO!" I screamed, falling down on my knees next to him. It was Tig. "Tara!"

She came over and was listening to his heartbeat. Jax called an ambulance and I held his face in my hands. "Please baby. Please come back to me." His head was bleeding. It had smacked against the concrete. There was so much blood.

The ambulance got there quickly and they put Tig into the back of it. They wouldn't let anyone go with them because he was so unstable. The police showed up and wanted to talk to everyone before we went to the hospital. I stood next to my parents while the ambulance drove away. My dad had this look in his eye. A look I knew very well.

They had had a hard vote before they had been arrested earlier. I knew it was about retaliation for Otto. I knew that it had gotten voted down and my dad wasn't happy about it. He went over to talk to Jax while mom and I got some more information from Tara. She thought that he would be okay if they got him stable. I just went over to the picnic table, waiting for everyone to be done so we could go check on Tig. I couldn't let that be the last thing I said and did to him. I just couldn't.