Ok, so here's the next chapter. I hope you like it.

I would really love any suggestions or comments about the story so far!

Thanks

CDMX

I could feel the tension in the room grow as Jax and I continued to stare at each other, frozen in time and unaware of the other people in the room. The memories I had tried to block out of that night came flooding back, and I felt my eyes start to fill with tears. How could this be happening? I thought I had escaped Jackson Teller and the death that followed him.

Gemma cleared her throat loudly, snapping myself and Jax back into reality. "Do you two know each other?" She asked, sounding concerned, but stern.

Jax smiled at his mother, and then flicked a warning glance at me. "Yes." He replied, "I knew her brother." He said, addressing everyone in the room, who had all began watching us intently. He looked back at me and raised his eyebrows slightly, willing me to go with his story.

I turn to everyone else and smile. I nod my head in agreement and everyone turns back to talk to each other.

My heart felt like it had stopped all together, and I turn around to take a deep breath and gather my thoughts. I felt a firm hand on my shoulder, which made me flinch. I felt Jax's breath at my ear. "Don't do anything you shouldn't." He whispered, "I will talk to you later." He let go of my shoulder and walked off to greet his family.

I felt sick to the stomach, so I excused myself and went to the bathroom. I leant on the sink and washed my face with cold water several times, and then I looked into the mirror, studying my glassy eyes and reddened face, caused from the tears I was holding back.

"Fuck." I say to myself. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck" I close my eyes sight, wishing again that I was in another one of my nightmares and this wasn't really happening.

I hear a knock at the door. "You ok, Ellie?" Asks Joel's concerned voice.

"Yeah." I replied. "I'll be out in a minute."

I heard Joel hesitate by the door. "Do you need to talk?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "You looked scared before."

I smiled to myself. It's nice to have someone who cares. "No, I'm ok." I say. "I was just shocked to see him." I wasn't totally lying. I was shocked to see him, just not for the reasons Joel thinks.

"Ok." He says. "We are all out in the dining room." I hear his footsteps leave and I sigh to myself. Like Joel had said earlier, it really is going to be a long weekend. I dry off my face and head out to the dining room, ready to pretend Jackson Teller wasn't in the same room as me.

I enter the dining room quietly, trying to avoid being noticed, but I can feel Jax's eyes following me through the room, and I take my seat next to Joel. The evening's conversations weren't too bad, and nobody seemed to hate each other yet, with the notable exception of Jax and myself. I tried to avoid talking too much, and kept my eyes down, although any time I did look up, I noticed Jax giving me cold glances.

Dinner was served around 6 o'clock, and everyone helped prepare, except Michael, which I was warned about earlier by Joel. Everyone at their dinner and continued their conversations, but I continued to avoid talking; only giving short answers when I was directly asked a question. Joel noticed something was wrong, as he kept giving me worried glances and occasionally placing his hand on my leg for support.

When dinner was finished, and everyone started to get up to help tidy up, Joel took my hand and led me into the next room, where nobody else could hear us.

"What's wrong Ellie?" He asked, concerned. "I can tell something's up. Just tell me what it is." He placed his hand gently on my shoulder to try comfort me, but I flinched at his touch, and he withdrew his hand, looking hurt and worried.

I look down at the floor. "Nothing." I begin. "I just… I… um…"

Joel turns his attention quickly to the doorway when he hears it open, and I notice his posture stiffens slightly. I turn around to see Jax leaning on the door frame.

He smiles at Joel. "I need to talk to her." He says, directly towards Joel and ignoring me. He takes a smoke and a lighter from his pocket and begins to light his cigarette.

"Not inside." Joel says, nodding his head towards Jax's smoke.

Jax looks up at him. "Alright." He says and starts towards the door on the other side of the room, which lead out to the backyard. He passes Joel and myself, and just before he reaches the door he turns his head back to us. "She's coming." He instructs, the smile gone from his face.

Joel looks back at me, with concern in his eyes.

I sigh. "It's ok." I say. "I'm fine." I try to reassure him, but I didn't sound too convincing, as he shifts his glance back to Jax, who is still waiting at the door, and then back to me.

He squeezes by hand and says, "I'll be just inside waiting. Call out if you need anything." He smiles at me, although his expression was far from happy.

Jax opens the door. "After you." He says, grinning. I step past him and onto the back porch. It's a bit cold outside, but that is the least of my worries.

Jax lights up his cigarette and looks around. His eyes find the chair swing. "Have a seat." He instructs between inhalations of his cigarette. I take a seat and he leans on the wall. Without saying a work he continues to smoke until he has finished the cigarette, then squishes the butt under his shoe. He takes a seat next to me and leans back.

He sighs. "So you really only got this far?" He asks. "I thought you would have gone to the other side of the country, considering what happened."

"I had no money." I replied truthfully. There was no point lying to him, because my lies weren't going to get far with him.

"Do you remember what I said to you before you left?" He asked.

I remembered the threats he used to scare me from coming back, and the tears started to well up in my eyes again. "Yes." I replied.

He looked over at me and noticed my eyes filling with tears, and smiled to himself almost triumphantly. "Good." He said.

My heart almost skipped a beat as I was trying to piece together what he was saying to me. I looked at him, terrified.

He laughed. "Don't worry girl." He said, "I ain't gonna hurt ya." He paused, and then added, "Yet."

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, allowing the reality of the situation sink in. I broke the silence.

"So, now what?" I ask.

He looks over at me again. "You're going to leave." He said simply.

"What!" I replied, a bit too loud. "I can't leave."

He smirked. "Why? Because you love my cousin?"

"I… no… I." I stumbled.

"You can find someone else. Somewhere else." He said.

"I don't want to move again. I like it here."

"You can like it somewhere else."

"But…" I began, but Jax cut me off.

"You don't really have a choice."

I gulped back my words.

He looked over at me. "Don't look at me like that." He says angrily. "You're the one who tried to kill me."

"You killed my brother." I said, trying to justify my actions.

Jax flicks his head towards me. I could see a flicker of sadness in his eyes before the anger returned. "I didn't kill him."

I let a tear roll down my cheek. "Yes you did." I wiped my face, and tried to hold back the rest of the tears.

"I didn't pull the trigger." Jax justified. "I didn't kill him." Jax started to raise his voice, but quickly lowered it again after a quick glance towards the door.

I looked him directly in the eye. "You let it happen." I say. I can see my comment hurt him, but he has hurt me so much more in the past.

Jax was silent for a moment as he thought over my comment. "He talked about you a lot, ya know." He said, changing the subject slightly. "Always talked about how proud of you he was. How you hardly ever left his side when you were a kid."

I stared out into the sky, ignoring Jax's attempt at softening my thoughts of him.

He sighed. "He was my friend, Ellie." He explained. "I was just as hurt as you."

I scoffed as anger flooded my body again. "He was my brother!" I yelled. "You didn't know him. All you ever did was get him killed!"

Jax's eyes flick back to the door nervously, worried that someone had heard my outburst, but then turned back to me, visibly as angry as I was feeling. "For fuck sake!" He raised his voice, but was not yet yelling. "For the last fucking time! It wasn't my fault he got shot!"

Jax glared at me, and I glared back.

Jax broke eye contact first and sighed. "This isn't what I wanted to talk about." He said, looking back at me. "By the time I leave tomorrow you will also be gone, otherwise you will not want to bear the consequences." His eyes were filled with fury, and I knew he meant what he said.

I said nothing and continued to glare at him. He grabbed my shoulder, which made me break my glare and flinch again. He laughed to himself. "Alright?" He asked, making sure I understood what he was telling me. "Understood?"

I nodded my head and he stood up to leave. He was almost at the door before I spoke up. "Jax."

He turned around. "What?"

"Who did it?" I asked.

He looked down at his shoes. "I don't know." He admitted.

He walked inside, leaving me in silence to contemplate what I need to do next. I really didn't want to leave. I felt at home here with Joel, and I don't want to be alone again. Jax wasn't as cruel as he was that night, but that is most likely because he was here, and not in the safety of his club house.

I was outside by myself for almost half an hour before something clicked in my brain. I knew exactly what I was going to do, although it was probably the second most stupid decision I have ever made, it was the right one. I would leave tomorrow, but it wasn't going to be the last I saw of Jackson Teller.