A/N - So I've basically been an SOA-junkie this weekend and overloaded. It'll be back to every other day after this one so next update will be on Tuesday. Jax is beginning to realise he doesn't have as much control over his club as he thought he did... Thank you so much for the last couple of days, it's been a real blast! Enjoy, reply, let me know how you think these boys ought to be punished (ooh-err! I can think of a few things ^_^)

"I told you not to touch her."

Tig looked up with a hopeless expression as Jax paced back and forth in front of him. He was sure Clay had never looked so stressed before in the job, maybe it was just because he had never been faced with something so difficult.

"Prez, I swear. She and I have been getting on, flirting, whatever, since the second we met. You guys left and she just jumped me. I couldn't get her off, she was forcing her tongue in my damn mouth."

Jax rolled his eyes, it was just like Tig to be the one to give in. "You and your desperation to get your dick wet has destroyed our relationship with Nero and Diosa. You've cost us business."

"I'm sorry," Tig said, his hands flat on the table. "You know me, man, you know I never wanted this. I just get, you know, urges when a pretty bit of pussy's in my face. But she freaked out, she was so cool about it and then just took a bad trip."

"She's a rat," Jax muttered, tugging at his beard thoughtfully, only half-listening to Tig's words. He suddenly had a more dangerous problem on his hands. "She's a risk."

"More than one rat," Tig replied, glancing towards the clubhouse. He lowered his voice as he added, "Chibs, man. He was acting real shifty earlier. Come on, what little princess would go skipping to her Daddy to tell him she got high and landed in hot water with some guy she met without a little encouragement?"

Jax pulled at his nail with his teeth, it was a valid point. Chibs had a clear attachment to Nina, it would sure explain his shitty mood that following morning as well as his subsequent disappearance between their trip to Diosa and Nero's visit to the clubhouse.

"Don't," Jax said bluntly, he didn't even want to hear it. He trusted Chibs far more than he ever had Tig, but now, Tig's few words had started to fill him with uncomfortable doubt. Chibs hadn't been on the lot since this morning, his bike was conveniently still in one piece. Tig shifted the bag of ice from his jaw and tossed it back to Jax to hold to his nose. Jax chuckled darkly as he adjusted it on his face. "Tell me the truth, Tig. What happened?"

Tig looked him square in the eye. "We were both high and we fucked, Prez, that's it. Then she freaked out and hid in the goddamn corner."

Jax frowned, still not one hundred per cent convinced. "You sticking to that?"

"It's the truth," he said. He was so sure, so completely obsessed with that being the real order of events now. "She's fucking deluded."

Jax didn't answer, he simply didn't know what the truth was any more. 'He said she said' wasn't a safe way of operating, JT's manuscript had warned him of that. It wasn't easy being king, there were too many lies and too much self-preservation. Tig knew what would happen if he admitted fault, he risked being extricated.

"She's got no proof of anything," Tig said staunchly, trying to hammer it even further home to Jax. "She's lying, Nero's been looking for a chance to get out for way too long, I think. Seems too convenient. Don't you think?"

Every word threw Jax into a deeper spin, his suspicions were a mess. Right now, there was no trust at all. He had no idea which way was up, his head was aching trying to piece it all together. This was not what he had expected when he'd taken on the badge. External politics he was good at, it wasn't personal but this... this was.

"You crossed a line," Jax said, falling back on the only solid fact he truly had. "I told you not to touch her. You should have just pushed her off."

Tig nodded, all he could do was play along to Jax's lead. "Next time, Prez, I swear. And I'm sorry," he added, his blue eyes sparkling with the first honest thing he had said. Jax pulled him up by the forearm and gave him a rough hug, clapping his palm against his back with an almighty slap.

"Leave it with me, this shit's gotta come to the table and I'll deal with it," he said. Tig nodded and walked out of chapel, a grateful sigh escaping his tight chest as he left Jax to sit in his silent chapel.

Jax kicked his feet up and spun the gavel around and around in his hands. None of this was what he wanted. They needed the business with Nero, it was their only legitimate source of income and it was part of his end game. He sighed, just when he thought he had control of everything. He contemplated texting Tara, he could really do with her advice right now but the last thing she'd respond well to was advice about the woman she'd slapped in the face the night before. Jax groaned as he tried to focus.

There was still a piece missing. Tig was right, there was no way Nina would have gone to Nero alone, not without some emotional support. Someone had made her, told her it was the right thing to do. Chibs was a viable option, but Nina had no reason to trust Chibs or talk to him about anything. They'd been friendly, sure, he'd heard Juice ribbing Chibs about it a couple of times but that meant nothing.

Chibs' Harley roared as he pulled into the lot and Jax paced out to meet him. By the time he got out, Chibs was standing, his hands in his leather jacket pockets as he stared in dismay at everybody's bikes. Smashed glass and mirror littered the floor, every single motorcycle in the line was ruined.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," he said, glancing up to see his President approaching him. "What in Christ's name happened here?" Jax didn't answer, wondering if Chibs might volunteer anything. Chibs ran his hands through his hair before adding, "Is everyone alright?"

"Tig's broken a tooth, spitting blood, a little smashed up but he'll be fine," Jax said coolly. Chibs didn't even flinch, he just nodded slowly.

"Aye." He was silent for a moment before he added, "Piss someone off then, did he?"

"You tell me." Jax lowered his voice as he put his hand on Chibs' Harley. "What did she say to you?"

Chibs took a deep breath before he answered. He had spent the last couple of hours with Nina at his place, keeping her calm, settling her in to stay for a few days. He had bought her some groceries and settled her in front of the television with the remote and a bottle of wine. He knew everything would come around, there was no doubt that when Nero left that cafe, he wanted some vengeance.

"He attacked her, Jackieboy," he muttered coldly. Jax shook his head.

"You don't know that."

"You saw her!" Chibs snapped, irritated that Jax would even say that. "You washed the blood off her damn back with your own bare hands. That was not a woman who was freaking out after the thought. He hit her and he forced himself on her, and you know it."

Jax swallowed, he had tried to block the specifics out of his mind but now he realised he needed to keep them clear in his memory. "You made her tell Nero, didn't you?" he asked. Chibs nodded.

"She's his little girl. If someone laid a goddamn hand on Kerrianne..." He didn't need to finish the sentiment, Jax knew he'd want the same for his own children. "We bring them into this life, Jackieboy. They're our responsibility. We were meant to be looking out for her."

"You should have brought it to me," Jax muttered, doubt now spreading through his head. Chibs shook his head.

"What would you do? Take it to the table? Or sweep it underneath it?" His eyes were accusatory as he said it. "Why are you protecting him? He's a sick man, we all know that, but this isn't who we are. It's not what we do. We're not pirates. We don't rape and pillage and steal."

"I need him," Jax suddenly snapped. "For Pope, I need him alive. Nero nearly fucking killed him, Chibs. We could have lost a shitload more than just Diosa."

Chibs took a breath, there were plans he didn't know and this was a story he had no part of. "She needed someone in her corner. I'd do it again in a heartbeat," he said staunchly.

"Then you're a rat and a traitor too." Jax's eyes looked grey as they roamed over Chibs' face. "This club is about support and friendship and family. You're meant to have my back, your brothers' backs."

"I do," Chibs muttered, offended that Jax would accuse him of any sort of disloyalty. "But I won't let that girl suffer for him to get his rocks off."

"Why'd you even care?" Jax demanded, it was insanity to him. Chibs pressed his lips together and took his glasses off, perching them on his head.

"I like her," he said quietly. Jax laughed at him.

"What, you fuck her too?" He continued to chuckle until he saw the look in Chibs' eyes. The mirth in his expression disappeared almost instantly as his mouth grew dry. "Jesus Christ."

"A couple of nights ago," Chibs confessed, honest instantly. "I tried to find her a hotel after the party, she had to stay at mine and we..." He swallowed. "I don't take a lot of women to bed, Jax, you know that. I've got an old lady, I'm just waiting to get her back. She just, she reminds of Fiona, from the days before Jimmy." He could feel his heart swelling with every word. "She wouldn't have slept with him, high or not, not of her own accord. We were already planning to go home together last night before the Irish pulled us away."

There it was, the piece that was missing. Jax's breath caught in his throat, despite every warning, Chibs had given in to the damn girl first. He tried to keep his head on as he suppressed the roar in his body. "I told you to stay away from her."

"It wasn't your call to make," Chibs muttered icily back. "All you did was throw down a goddamn gauntlet for Tig and use her as bait. He was always going to eat her alive, you just made it a thousand times worse because you can't get over the idea of your Mom screwing a 'spic pimp. You can't control everything, Prez. That's not how this works."

Jax swung at him in rage but Chibs dipped to avoid it. He rolled his eyes as he got back onto his bike.

"I don't need this, Jackieboy. I'm trying to help you."

"You can help me by giving me that damn patch," Jax snarled, his voice full of hate as he said it. Chibs was smart, he always knew exactly which pressure point was the right one to push. It made him a loyal ally but a fatal enemy. Chibs laughed and flicked his switchblade from inside his jacket, sliding it easily beneath his wonky stitching to remove the Sargent badge. He tossed it at Jax's feet.

"You better find someone else who has your best interests at heart, brother," Chibs said calmly. "Because right now you're running out of friends."