"Looks like our neighbor had a meltdown today.." Jax crawled under the covers, and snuggled close. In spite of the mid eighty degrees outside, Tara kept the room temp close to sixty eight, so there was plenty opportunity to keep warm at night.

" Is that the latest drama?"

" Yea, but this time she's pretty messed up. They found a video of her dancing on someone's truck outside of Skillet's. Didn't have anything on either..."

Tara felt sad for their neighbor, but the moment passed. Remembering constant accusations of the boys, the confrontations, and other drug fueled lunacy, she hoped this would be a chance for her to find the help she seemed to desperately need.

Jax reached his hand around, but she gently pushed it away.

"What...? " He seemed to plead, but she could hear the smile ...

Outside , Megan was silent, as they viewed more clips of their neighbor, who hopped from car to car, in an idiotic trance.

Abel and Tommy would have found this amusing, but the fact she was totally nude , seemed to make this episode different.

" Look, there's Ryan..." Tommy pointed out, in a group of others trying to get the woman's attention, with little success. Abel recognized a few , but he felt they were more onlookers, like people who slowed down at the scene of an accident. Noticing Megan's expression, he handed the phone back to his brother.

" That's sad, I don't wanna see anymore !"

" Does she know she's doing that?" Tommy asked.

" No...she's probably tweaked outta her head..." Megan finally spoke, with a sigh. " She and my mom were good friends, till mom got clean...I've seen her like that before..."

"Seriously?"

" Yea, they were good friends, when she was using."

Megan didn't like remembering the insanity, and fear. The men she brought over with her made it worse, and a couple of them worked for Opie.

Abel noticed her discomfort. " Let's go for a walk, I wanna go see if that guy from last year is still working at the tattoo place...come on..." He stood up, stretching, and discreetly shook his head at Tommy. " Just us..." It said, and his brother understood.

Gratefully, Megan took his hand, enjoying this. She still worried about her mother, but the meetings helped her understand what she could about addiction. She was also still getting aquatinted with the small resort town, and the beach.

"I love the smells, there's so many at the same time!"

" I used to think the same thing, but nowadays, it's the water...n maybe the board walk, but sometimes all I can think of is toffee corn and french fries..." He grinned back , feeling self conscious, but safe...it was very confusing. " I got separated from Mom one time when we first came here, but they found me at the arcade, watching the guys at the boxing machine!"

They were up on the boardwalk where the crowds were getting close.

"What's that?" Megan had no idea what that was.

"I'll show ya, it's right up there " he pointed to the arcade ahead. A small crowd of guys were cheering and heckling someone, as bells went off on the display.

" The goal is to punch the thing, and it registers your strength..it took me a few years to figure out exactly how to hit it to win, it's hard to describe tho... basically, it's how hard n quick you are..." He grinned, thinking about sex...damn, he thought, the last thing I wanna be is too quick he thought, feeling a momentary chill, then relaxing. " You mind if I show you ?"

Megan shrugged, slightly amused, as one of the men shouted at their arrival.

" Yo, dudes, it's Bloody Runs Champion, returned for a rematch - you gonna try to break last year's score?"

Abel dug into his empty pocket, and wallet. Both were empty, and Megan passed a couple singles to him, her smile making him hot and cold at the same time.

" Yea, his old lady's here t help him out...dude, shes kinda hot.." the Barker winked at her, as a few others whistled, and shouted.

"Get the fuk back, dude, she's with me " she watched his expression harden somewhat, but he turned back towards her n winked. She hadn't realized how far goosebumps could extend over her entire body till just now.

The dollar bills quickly disappeared in the slot, followed by blinking lights.

"Ok, stand back, let's give em room " the Barker motioned his arms, and the small crowd formed a wide circle, as Abel stood by, warming up.

Things got quiet as he pressed a button on the machine, and the punching bag attached to it's arm lowered ...Abel crouched slightly, seemingly tensed, wound back , and fired. With a resounding slam, Megan watched the arm jerk upwards , the counter flashing numbers...

336, 401, 487, and upwards, untill the display stopped at 765...everyone nodded quiet approval, but Abel wasn't satisfied, and pressed the button again. The arm lowered, and he paused, twisting his upper body back and around to limber up...

" Come on, Bloody Run, show us what you got..."

"Yo, is she legal? I wanna ask her out...!" Megan felt her face turn red, as Abel turned towards the voice, and answered...

"Yo, go back under your rock , ya fukin pedo !",

He swung again, with a resounding thud, the machine amplifying it's sound.

This time, the display stopped at 841...

A few jeers came from the crowd, some encouraging, a few taunts...Abel, was feeling cornered, coming close but not beating the high score flashing below his, which was 922.

" Come on, you got this , kid! "

" You can do it buddy!"

"Quit bein a pussy an punch it already!"

He glanced ad Megan, feeling cold, but then she winked back at him...

" Go ahead, punk, go for it, don't wimp out in front of her...!"

"Yo, I'm gonna ask her older sister and her mom out, bet she needs some..!"

Abel looked towards the voice, saw an for a half second stared into his eyes...crouched, leaned back and punched...a jolt of energy exploded from his very core onto it's target, as the machine wobbled and shook.

Numbers quickly flashed, 423, 557, 675, 741, 835,856,891, 899,916,926,931,933,934...

The crowd cheered as some slapped his shoulder, but all he cared was getting next to her, and glancing quickly around, the voice guy had disappeared.

"Hey! That was awesome!" She hugged him close, and felt him trembling . " Are you ok?"

He gently slipped his arm around the small of her back, and buried his face in her neck, inhaling her sweet scent.

"Yea, I'm fine..." She heard him respond, slightly muffled as he pulled her close.