I picked a REAL shit time to get writer's block huh :/ Thank you so much to my wonderful, godsent beta readers (and my little sister l o l) who helped me with this chapter 😭

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General trigger warnings for this story: Language, smut, mentions of rape, abuse, drug use/overdose, violence/death.

CHAPTER 41: NO REST FOR THE BROKENHEARTED

"Trouble in Nevada. Tig says that the Mayans got Jury and the rest of Indian Hills trapped at the Vegas clubhouse." Clay repeated the potentially harmful information to the table.

Sydney tensed up when she heard Tig's name, immediately reaching for her necklace before realizing that it wasn't there. Her breathing picked up as the panic filled her lungs, trying to keep herself under control as she felt her throat locking and her chest heaving. She transferred her worry to the first thing she could think of: Happy, who she knew was likely on his way to Indian Hills to throw the Sergeant a beating. But the distraction didn't hold much weight when she knew that he was the safest lone rider out of the bunch...

"Because of what we did?"

"We don't know anything." Clay rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Were we followed?" Opie suggested, looking to Chibs and Bobby who'd stood lookout at the cabin.

"Who would follow us?" Bobby scoffed.

"A.T.F.?" He stated as if it was an obvious explanation.

Sydney's panic attack was curbed by the tall man's theory; a theory that she needed to keep off the table. "A.T.F. followed us, didn't arrest us, then went and told the rival gang what we did in order to start more violence. Yeah? That makes sense to you?" She spoke incredulously before tossing Jax an explanatory glance. They knew one fed who would definitely do something like this, any she needed to eliminate any A.T.F. suspicion while they got to the bottom of this.

"Maybe one of the Mayans saw you while you were having your temper tantrum and called Alvarez." He retorted with a shrug.

"Hey! This was not her fault." Jax raised his voice, recognizing the irony of the situation when just the other day Opie had been defending her against him. "You saw what happened, those Mayans had no clue that they were about to be ambushed."

"Is there any way that the Mayans could've found out that we were bringin up the guns." Chibs offered up.

"Why go after Jury and not the truck?" Clay knew that there was a vital piece of the puzzle missing here. "We lay low until we find out what this heat is about." He concluded with a stern glance around the table, not worrying too much about possibly going into lockdown when no one had been hurt, the threat wasn't local, and they wouldn't be doing any gun sales until McKeevy returned on the weekend.

"We need to talk." Jax mumbled into Sydney's ear as they led the group out of the chapel.

"Ride with me." She nodded as she stalked towards the door.

Tig sat on the bed in one of the visitor's dorms in the Indian Hills clubhouse with his head in his hands and a bottle of whiskey on the ground. He cursed himself for letting his demons win, letting his doubt cloud his judgment and taint his mind.

He pulled out his wallet, ignoring the tightening in his chest as he forced himself to remove the pictures he'd placed there just weeks before. He ran his thumb over her face in the photos, the photos from the night she told him that she loved him... He felt the pinch behind his eyes and grumbled in frustration, stuffing them back into his wallet and sucking the tears back. The old Tig never would've struggled to kick a girl to the curb, but things were different with Sydney; there was something about her that could soften even the hardest of men. It'd been so easy for him to fall back into being the romantic and emotional man that he'd buried underneath the rough appearance and menacing leather kutte for so many years. He should've known that very first day that he met her when he'd seen it with Happy... But instead he was stuck experiencing it first hand.

He reached into his pocket, brushing his fingers along her necklace and feeling his heart clenching again, this time even harder. He was terrified that if he gave her enough time to hate him as much as he currently hated himself, he would never be able to get her back.

Sydney drove into her garage with Jax in tow, she was in no mood to hang around the clubhouse and face the inevitable questions that would come from everyone after her actions had made it so obvious that something was off.

Jax parked in front of the brown house, watching from his bike as Sydney removed her helmet and walked up to her front door with no regard for him or what he was doing. He scowled for a few seconds before ripping off his own helmet and jogging up the pathway after her, realizing that she wasn't intending on holding the door open for him.

"You got a nice place…" He drew out while admiring the tasteful art that lined the hallway of the modern style home on his way to the kitchen. The blonde man wasn't quite sure what he'd expected out of her house, but he knew that it wasn't this.

"Acting and looking like trailer trash is enough, if I had the whole package then I couldn't exactly call it an illusion." She moved around the kitchen to gather ingredients, hating how foreign her own voice sounded in it's lifelessness as she joked.

"Darlin… You do not look like trailer trash." Jax smirked as he tucked a cigarette behind his ear.

"There's beer in the fridge. It won't take long." She chortled and rolled her eyes, letting him know that he didn't have to stand around while she cooked.

"Are you gonna cook for me, Princess?" He flashed a cocky grin.

Sydney rolled her eyes again, moving to the fridge to grab him a beer since he wanted to stand around and gloat instead. "Well, it doesn't look like Tara will be doing much of that any time soon and I have a vacancy. Call it pity." She smiled sarcastically, sliding the glass bottle across the marble countertop of the island before turning away.

"Trouble in paradise?" He twisted the cap off with a scowl of genuine concern. It'd been obvious that something was up, but Sydney and Tig always did things less than traditionally - he hadn't expected whatever was going on with them to last longer than they were able to keep their hands off of each other.

"Somethin like that." She spoke distantly as her chest tightened at the thought, refusing to put her energy into anything other than the slice of bread that she was buttering.

"There's somethin that we aint seein here with the Mayans…" He changed the subject, sensing by her reaction that it wasn't open for discussion.

"I know." She agreed, turning to face him. "You don't think Trammel would set us up, do you? Some kind payback for his friend getting killed."

"Nah, I don't think so." The thought hadn't even crossed his mind, but now that she brought it up... "I mean… It would make sense, but why would the Mayans go after Nevada?"

"That's true, and Trammel didn't know anything about us bringing them guns." She concluded that their ally on the force was not to blame. "The only other thing that makes sense is being followed, there were no cameras or anything out there." She shook her head in disbelief.

"I know." Jax nodded somberly. He didn't want to think that Kohn was anything other than an isolated incident, but it was starting to look like a very real possibility that he might've had other corrupt partners looking to take down the Sons.

"Are you sure that Kohn is gone?"

"I was thinking the same thing, but I watched him leave town."

"Another enemy on the force?" She wrinkled her brows before turning to flip the sandwiches.

"That's where my mind is at."

"Well you know what they say… 'An enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine.'" She bit her lip, contemplating who might have a vendetta big enough about the Sons to join forces with someone as slimy as Kohn. "Hale?" She asked with uncertainty.

"If Hale could be bought, we'd have him."

"Maybe you've just been offering the wrong currency."

"I don't know… He doesn't like having us around but I don't think he would go dirty to take us down, not now, not after Kohn was stripped for doing the same thing." Sydney nodded her understanding. She wasn't completely ready to scrub Hale's name from her list of culprits, but Jax had a valid point. "I'll find out." She nodded before turning to lower the heat on the burner.

Jax raised a brow in question, but he should've known he wouldn't get an answer. He chortled, peering over her shoulder to get a look at the questionable meal that she was planning on serving him.

"The result, not the process." She snickered, nudging him backwards. "It's almost done, go sit outside." The VP bit his lip but did as he was told - snagging an extra beer from the fridge.

"Have an open mind." Sydney warned as she set the plates down on the glass tabletop of her backyard patio set.

"I'm tryin but…" Jax winced as his mind drifted back to the last time she cooked for him and it had almost killed him.

"I promise that this meal is free of any scovilles." She held her hands up in defense until he picked up the sandwich wearily and began examining it's contents. "Jackson." She sighed. "Don't make this harder on yourself. Just take a bite."

Jax bit the bullet - literally - and sunk his teeth into the toasted bread of the odd sandwich. He was pleasantly surprised, his expression of uncertainty falling immediately as the flavours invaded his mouth and shocked his taste buds by just how well they mingled together.

"Good, right?" She grinned when she saw the satisfaction overtake him.

"What even is this?" He spoke with his mouth full after taking another bite.

"Grilled peanut butter and jelly, with bacon." She replied plainly.

Jax raised a brow at her nonchalant response. He chortled when she didn't flinch under his questioning gaze, reaching for his beer and sliding hers closer to her.

Sydney unscrewed the lid from the beer he'd brought out for her. She would've much preferred whiskey - but she would save that for when she was alone, she didn't need him asking any more questions about Tig.

"Can I ask you something?" She broke the silence that they had eaten in as they stared out over the hills that rolled beyond her backyard.

Jax looked to her inquisitively before nodding as he squinted in the sun that was getting lower in the sky.

"Why can't you always talk like this? Smart, open minded, respectful." She joked.

"I don't know…" He scoffed at the jab.

"Something happens to you when you sit at that table… When you're around Clay... You become a different man - like you're stuck between who you are and who you want to be." She surmised gently. She genuinely enjoyed the company of the VP when he wasn't troubled by the club or accusing her of undermining him. As soon as anyone else was around it was like a switch flipped and he became someone different, someone blinded by hate, someone weak.

"It's the same reason that you can't talk to anybody about Tig." He looked into her green eyes with sincerity. "We both got expectations of us; things that we have to be at the table, things that bleed into who we are. There's no stopping that." He shook his head.

"Yeah." Sydney chuckled humorlessly. "I guess you're right." She nodded, not having expected an answer that she could understand so deeply. "We should try to keep our chats off the table."

"Thought that went against your little club moral compass." He brought a cigarette to his lips.

"It does." Sydney wanted to enter the brotherhood clean, but if she could pull some strings behind the scenes to help Clay and Jax see eye to eye, she would. "But in the end it will be better for the club."

"I don't think your old man will enjoy that too much." Jax couldn't help himself from pushing the envelope.

"Yeah..." She looked down at the grass below her bare feet. "We don't need to worry about that."

"I knew this had to be some breakup food." He nudged her arm with a smirk, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Figured we could both use it."

Jax should've known that he wouldn't get away with prying, unscathed. "She say anything to you about that?" He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Nah." Sydney shook her head and brought her own cigarette to her lips. "Old history's got her all twisted up."

"Yeah." Jax scoffed, switching places with her as the one wanting to do the subject avoiding now.

Tig was pulled from his self-loathing by the faint sound of a Harley outside the Indian Hills clubhouse. He tabled his sorrows, going into full Sergeant mode as he stalked out of the hallway and into the bar with his gun in hand in case this meant trouble.

"It's just one of your guys." Cherry reported from the window, her heart skipping a beat when more of SAMCRO began pouring in, wondering if this meant that the prospect she hadn't stopped thinking about would be joining them…

"One of ours?" Juice scowled, looking to Tig for an explanation before the black double doors to the clubhouse busted open.

Before Tig could begin wondering who was there and why, he got his answer when his eyes laid on the lone rider, and he knew exactly why he'd made the trip.

"What the hell did you do, prick." Happy's long strides carried him over to Tig quickly, delivering a hard punch to the Sergeant's jaw before he could answer.

"Oh come on man, I know-" Tig began pleading his guilt before he was cut off by an even harder punch, feeling the blood escaping his mouth as he was knocked back.

"I told you not to fuck her around." Happy growled, kicking him to the ground.

"I know." Tig stayed down, clutching his throbbing jaw. "I fucked up."

"You aint gonna fight back?"

"I deserve it." He shook his head.

"That's the same pussy ass reason you aint gonna fight for her." The black eyed man scoffed at the sorry excuse, walking out just as quickly as he'd walked in.

Juice looked at his battered Sergeant in horror, still trying to process what had just happened. "Here, why don't you go let him know about the Mayans, I'll get him cleaned up." Cherry tried to diffuse the situation, hoping that the sweet bald man she'd been talking to could help calm his much angrier counterpart.

Tig didn't flinch as he sat on the bed while the little brunette dabbed his bleeding wounds clean. He stared straight ahead, not caring to try and look at her tits that were practically in his face, as he likely would've before.

"This about some pussy back home?" Cherry heard what the scary tattooed man had said, but even if she hadn't, the lifelessness behind Tig's eyes would've told the story.

"My old lady." He corrected harshly.

"The girl from your pictures?" She remembered the belligerent man bragging about his old lady the last time that he had been drunk in Nevada.

"Yeah."

"Sounds messy..."

"Nah, it's not what you're thinking. They're family."

"Oh, so you've known her a while then." She surmised sadly as her hope faded. She'd been stupid to think that something could work with Half-Sack. She'd only just met him, and he was only a prospect - she couldn't just jump charters for someone who didn't even have a patch.

"Nah." Tig chortled. "She kinda came outta nowhere… Knocked me on my ass." He spoke nostalgically.

Cherry perked up at the news, maybe there was hope…

"I fucked that all up though."

"Why?" Her brows knit. The way he'd beamed about her to anybody who would listen - including the sweetbutts - only a week ago was definitely not the action of a man who'd intended on fucking things up.

"You heard what he said." Tig hung his head. Happy's words had hit him much harder than any of the punches had. He was completely right, he'd let Sydney go because he felt like he deserved to suffer.

"Sounds like that saying… 'You wouldn't know what to do with it if you got it.'" Tig wrinkled his brows. "You know it's like, you never expected to get what you wanted. Now that you have it, you don't know how to keep it."

Now her words were the ones hitting him. Tig wanted someone that he didn't have to protect, he got it. Sydney wanted someone that could handle her, she got it. The exact reasons that they had fallen in love with each other, were the exact reasons that were tearing them apart. The difference was that Sydney had pushed through because she loved him, now he had to do the same. He had to make things right.

"Thanks, doll." Tig lit up with gratitude, standing from the bed and kissing her on the cheek. "You should go."

"What? Go where?" It couldn't be…

"The prospect." Tig nodded.

"Okay." Cherry smiled. She had given him the push he needed, and he returned the favor.

Sydney sat at the diner in her usual back booth, not having the energy to cook at the early hour, or even really eat for that matter, she just knew that she didn't want to be alone with her thoughts for any longer. She was dreading the day shift at the office, the questions and looks she was going to get from everyone, especially Gemma.

"Why so glum, sugarplum?" Doreen pouted as she refilled Sydney's mug with hot coffee, knowing that something had to be off because the normally chatty girl had sat down without a peep and hadn't put in an order.

"Ah, rough night." She sipped the hot liquid in hopes of deterring any further questions from the middle-aged woman.

After the semi-enjoyable incahoots meeting with Jax had ended, Sydney drowned any feelings in whatever alcohol she could find laying around her house. Luckily, it had done the job and she passed out by 9:00 P.M. with no sadness, no nightmares, and by the grace of god - no nasty hangover.

"Why don't you call David? I'm sure he'd put a smile on that pretty face."

Sydney snorted into her coffee, shaking her head as she set the white mug onto the speckled tabletop. She had hoped to run into the cop sooner or later so that she could find out what he knew about the Mayans, but she wasn't going to give the redhead the satisfaction. She rolled her eyes playfully, taking another sip of her coffee before the door chime grabbed her attention where she looked up to see none other than David Hale standing at the hostess' booth, and Doreen shooting her a shit-eating grin. She scoffed and shook her head in disbelief before plastering the cheesiest smile she could muster up for the blue eyed man.

"Well I guess I won't be in for a boring day." David approached Sydney where she sat against the back wall by the window, the same place they had sat just weeks earlier.

"Hi Davey." She greeted, putting every last drop of energy that she had into keeping up her usual bubbliness. "You here to make a lonely girl a little less lonely?" She leant against the seatback and propped her feet up on the table.

"I would but, from what I've heard you've got quite the roster waiting to fill the empty seat."

"Oh I do." She smirked. "But none of them tickle my fancy quite like the Deputy Chief."

Hale found himself quickly succumbing to her pull even after everything he'd learned in recent breakthroughs regarding SAMCRO. He shook his head, turning his attention towards the kitchen. "To go." He nodded.

"Awe, don't tell me you found someone who excites you like I do." She pouted.

"Now that would be a tall order." He scoffed.

"That's right." She bit her lip and nodded seductively before he winked and took off out the door that he'd walked in only minutes ago.

"See I told you he would get you smiling!" Doreen squealed as she rushed over and shook Sydney's arm excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes.

Sydney pondered the encounter with Hale on her way to the clubhouse. She cursed Tig - that being the only thought she would allow herself to give him - for knocking her off of her game; if she had been in a normal frame of mind, she would've been able to get Hale to stay and tell her exactly what she wanted to know.

She couldn't tell if his reaction had been what she'd discovered to be his usual discomfort under her flirting, or if it was guilt. The more she thought, the more she felt like maybe Jax was right; he seemed too good to go dirty.

"Haven't seen too much of you lately." Gemma said by way of a hello as Sydney entered the office.

"Club's been busy." She tossed her purse onto the floor by her chair.

"How's that going?" She slid her reading glasses off and tossed them onto her desk.

"Good." Sydney squeezed her eyes shut as the short answer left her mouth. Even though it was sincere and sounded as such, she knew it wouldn't satisfy the matriarch, but she just couldn't find the energy to formulate better answers.

"How about Tig."

For fuck's sake. She knew the question had been coming, but she wished it would've come later than 8:00 a.m..

"We're over." She spoke coldly, sitting at her desk and immediately busying herself with the stack of papers in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

"What?" Gemma recoiled in surprise. For once the President hadn't privyed his wife on any of the current events in hopes of keeping her from worrying and blowing things out of proportion when he was trying to keep them contained. "Since when?"

"Yesterday."

"What happened?"

"Exactly what you said would happen."

"What'd I say?" Gemma had said a lot of things, Sydney could've been referring to anything - this was Tig they were talking about after all.

"You were right about all of it; transparency, these guys needing a woman they can control, him not being cut out for a relationship."

"I wasn't right about that." She stood from her desk and walked over to where Sydney was avoiding her gaze.

"Oh yeah?" Sydney scoffed.

"What'd he do? Cheat?" Gemma figured that would've been the only thing that Tig could do that Sydney wouldn't put up with.

"No."

"Then why did you break it off?"

"I didn't." Sydney snapped as she slammed her hands down on the desk, finally meeting the older woman's eyes.

To say that Gemma was shocked to hear that Tig was the one who had dumped her would be an understatement, but her shock was cut off by a loud Harley pulling up right outside the office doors.

The two women looked up with knitted brows when they saw Happy riding in with a little brunette on the back of his bike.

"That's not your girlfriend?" Sydney scowled when he entered the office, wondering who on earth could've earned themselves a spot on the coveted bitch bar of Happy Lowman's Dyna.

"I don't have a girlfriend." Happy hid the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "She's from Nevada, wants to talk to you." He nodded towards Sydney. He and Cherry had decided that it would be best for her to talk to Sydney about Tig. The sweetbutt wanted to help the Sergeant who had given her the courage to follow her heart, and Happy knew that Sydney was far more likely to listen to an outside source than she was to listen to him.

Sydney looked at the short girl who was chatting with Bobby across the lot, then back at Happy, seeing those wide eyes that she knew were hiding something, and there was only one thing that made sense as to why a piece of road pussy would come to Charming looking for her.

Gemma felt her heart speeding up as she watched the scene unfold, looking between Happy, Sydney, and the little tart who had dared to come here and violate the rules of the M.C. world. She watched the blonde get angrier and angrier and the room stayed silent until she eventually slid her chair back and stomped out of the office.

Happy scowled deeply when Sydney stormed past him. He thought he had been doing a good job at concealing his true intentions with his straight face, but apparently he was wrong.

"Why the hell would you bring her here?" Gemma scolded the man that most people wouldn't dare come near, without a drop of fear.

Happy flinched, being caught off guard by her wrath, he didn't understand why nobody seemed to think that the idea was as good as he did, but he knew better than to disobey an order from the queen. "Sorry." He nodded. "I'll get her out."

"No." She stopped him. "I got it."

Sydney focused on her incredibly heavy breathing - the only thing that was helping her hold back the tears - as her feet carried her to Tig's dorm. As if he hadn't humiliated her enough privately, he had to do it publicly too. She barely had any comprehension of what she was doing as she gathered all of her belongings, emptying her drawers in his dresser while her body was on autopilot. She was so focused on not breaking down that she'd finished without even thinking to look for her necklace.

Half-Sack did a double take when he saw Cherry across the lot talking to Bobby who was clearly trying to divert her attention from where he was working in the garage. He couldn't believe that she was there, let alone that she might be there for him?

"You got a lot of nerve comin here…" Cherry looked up to see a gorgeous middle-aged woman talking down to her from where she stood much taller, looking back at Happy.

"I know I'm not supposed to be here. Okay…" She didn't want Happy to get into trouble after he'd helped her. "Just let me go talk to-" She looked at Half-Sack.

"You will not be talking to anybody here. You got that?" Gemma cut her off. "Get her the hell out of here, now." She ordered Bobby who grabbed her arm and began walking towards the gate.

"But-" She pulled her arm from his grasp, looking to Half-Sack for help, but he just ignored her - knowing that he was in no position to cross Gemma who clearly wanted her gone.

"Let's go." Bobby nodded softly to Cherry, letting her know that things would only get worse if she fought back.

The Indian Hills woman hung her head, feeling tears pricking at her eyes. She'd been out of her mind to think that she could pull this off.

"Get me the hell out of here." She walked hastily behind the older man.

Gemma's heart broke for Sydney as she watched her toss her bags into the back of her car and peel out of the lot. She'd been there before, a sweetbutt getting too comfortable and thinking that they could show up for something more… She shook the painful memory away, digging up old shit would only cause more harm than it was worth.

Sydney continued her blind actions, racing through her house as she collected anything that Tig may have left there, getting back into her car and speeding back to the clubhouse, not caring if it earned her another ticket.

"Sack!" Half-Sack was quickly spun around from where he was in the middle of an oil change by Sydney who shoved her keys into his chest. "Take that shit in my backseat and put it in Tig's room." She walked away before he could ask any questions, leaving him even more stunned and confused than he'd previously been.

"That was rough." Gemma commented when Sydney returned to the office. As bad as she felt, she wasn't finished gathering her intel.

"Sure was."

"Sweetheart… Those girls don't mean anything. They need to be reminded of their place when they step out of line like that."

"It doesn't matter." Sydney shook her head. "It's like you said." She hoped that flattering Gemma would ease up the prying.

"What I said was true at the time. Things changed. I said that before I saw how much he really loved you." She hoped to convey the depth of her statement through her eyes, but Sydney wouldn't meet them. "Look… It's not easy. That shit." She nodded out the door in reference to Cherry. "I've been there, with two husbands."

Sydney looked up out of surprise by the news. She never would've expected Gemma to be victim of the consequences of the road clause.

"But they don't think like we do. They think in the moment. Tig is just upset, and the best way he knows how to deal with any kind of emotion is with booze and pussy."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" She scoffed.

"No." She smirked. "But I hope you know it aint as deep as it feels. Tig will be back and I know he will do everything he can to make you see that."

Sydney forced herself to nod, not being able to come up with a response that wouldn't open the floodgates, and she wasn't going to do that.

"Speaking of relationships… I need to talk to you about Tara." Sydney switched gears. Normally she would've preferred much more lead up to this kind of bold conversation, but the vulnerability had her feeling desperate for an accomplishment to balance the scales and she figured if there was any time that Gemma would throw her some pity answers, it would be now.

"About Tara?" Gemma scowled.

"What do you know about her and A.T.F.?" Sydney had been waiting anxiously for Jax to accuse her of telling Clay about Tara's involvement with Kohn, she hoped that this conversation would help clear her name with the VP in the future.

"Well I know she had a restraining order against him, was scared… That's why I gave her that gun. Then she pissed him off and he came after Jax."

"I need you to keep Clay clear of it."

"Excuse me?"

"I know you think that him knowing will protect Jax from Kohn, it won't." She clarified, hoping that she could pull on some of those mama bear heartstrings. "I'm helping Jax get it under control, but whatever their beef is has them blinded by each other, they can't see the bigger picture." Gemma nodded wearily with her lips pursed. "Look I know you don't like Tara, you want Clay to help with that. But anything Clay wants right now, Jax goes in the opposite direction, vice versa. This staying quiet means that I can help protect them both not only from Kohn, but from each other."

"Okay." Gemma agreed. Sydney had a point, she knew Clay was losing control over Jax, she'd been watching it happen for months. If this is what she needed to do to keep her boys safe, she would.

Half-Sack felt like he could jump out of his skin by the time that his shift in the garage finally ended. He was beyond antsy to find out why Cherry had come, and what Tig had done, and he knew where he could get answers to both.

Sydney looked up from her glass of wine when she heard a knock at her front door, wondering which of the SAMCRO women had come to grace her with their presence since she hadn't heard a bike. She sighed as she pushed herself up from the table which had become the only place she was able to sit without thinking about Tig.

"Hey." Half-Sack spoke eagerly as soon as the door opened. "I brought you some dinner." He held up the take out bag from the diner. "Thought maybe you know, you wouldn't want to cook."

She couldn't help but smile at the sweet gesture and pleasant surprise, even if she knew it was just because he was curious about Tig. "Well, at least you aren't kissing my ass empty handed." She giggled, opening the door to invite him in. "I hope you got yourself something too?" She nodded to the bag.

"Oh… Uh no I ate early. It's okay, I'm not even hungr-"

"I guess we're sharing mine then." She took off down the hallway.

"Nah Syd it's okay, you need to eat-"

She cut him off and turned around to face him as he almost crashed into her due to the abrupt stop. "If you want me to tell you anything, the least you can do is keep me company. Sound good?"

He looked at her with fear in his eyes, searching her face for an indication that this was a set up. "Uh, yeah!" He answered finally when she raised a brow.

"Good." She nodded and turned back around, her hair whipping him in the process. "So, what are we eating?" She questioned as she gathered plates and cutlery.

"Burger and fries and some pie… Doreen said you needed something sweet."

"Of course she did." Sydney snorted and rolled her eyes, grabbing two beers from the fridge and joining him at the table.

The pair ate in relative silence other than Half-Sack's awkward comments here and there about the food until he finally worked up the courage to ask what he'd been itching to know all day...

"So why was that girl here?" He tried to speak casually but Sydney could see by the way he fidgeted and scratched his head, that this was anything but a casual question.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"It doesn't." He shrugged.

"Kip." She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.

"I was with her, you know in Nevada. Kinda liked her."

"Sounds like it was more than kinda…" Sydney's heart broke all over again to find out that not only was she a victim of what took place this morning, he was too.

"It could never work though, right?"

"Right." She didn't have the heart to tell him why the brunette had made the trip… She hoped that a confident answer from someone he trusted would be enough to protect him from the harsh truth.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Sydney smiled softly. She loved that even though she knew that the poor prospect was crushed, he still smiled and had the strength to act like it didn't matter to him.

"What about Tig. You think that could never work?"

"Not anymore."

"Maybe things could be okay… You know, when he gets back…"

"Fighting with me before a run? I know the rules Kip…" She whispered, staring blankly into her beer bottle.

"Yeah… I guess so." He agreed sadly. He knew the rules too.

Songs for this chapter:

River - Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran

Ace of Hearts - Zella Day

when the party's over - Billie Eilish