Hello my readers! This is more of a filler chapter before we dive back into the heavier stuff that comes with S.O.A. I hope you enjoy the update!

6:18 AM:

"Mel...Mel...Move onto your back darlin'," Jax whispered in my ear before creating a trail of heated kisses down to my neck.

Still half asleep, I did what was asked of me and laid onto my back.

Jax shifted himself from lying beside me, moving in between my legs, the adjustment of his toned body barely disturbing the covers over him.

His large hands gripped each side of my navy blue lace panties, sliding the piece of clothing down my legs until they were fully removed from my body.

My eyes slowly opened as he laid down on his stomach, placing my legs upon his strong shoulders.

Jax's hungry tongue licked his lips before latching his mouth on my waxed mound.

"Uhhhh... Jax...", I breathed, pulling at his disheveled locks.

He hummed into my clit, causing the sensitive nerve to begin to throb against his tongue.

Our bedroom door was suddenly thrown open with Abel running toward our bed.

"Oh my God Abel!," I jerked my leg upward, causing my knee to connect with Jax's already bruised eye.

"Ah Shit!," Jax hissed, trying to mentally force away the newfound pain to his eye.

"What are you and daddy doing?"

"Uh, uh, we are uh.. we are playing hide and seek. Looks like I just found your dad."

"Oh, can I play!"

"Uh yeah, you go out and hide. I'll come find you," I answered, praying to any and all higher power that this idea will work.

"Okay!," Abel yelled, running out of our bedroom and down the hallway.

As soon as Abel was out of sight, I yanked the covers off of Jax.

"I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Let's just say my eye will take a little longer to heal."

"Aww, I'm really sorry baby."

"It's okay, darlin'. You're about to make it up to me, " he stated, attempting to lower his mouth onto my clit.

I immediately gripped his hair, pulling his head away from me.

"I don't think so. We cannot return to our scheduled programming. A raincheck is in order."

"Why not?"

"Did you not just witness what I just witnessed all of 40 seconds ago or did I hit you that hard?"

"Mel.."

"You can't have your way with this one, Teller," I replied as I got up out of bed and began to get dressed.

"Damn, " he huffed, laying on his back to palm his rock-hard erection.

"Oh, and next time you have the urge to go down on me first thing in the morning, you think you can find the urge to lock the bedroom door while you're at it?"

"I'll try," he teased, receiving a playful roll of the eyes from me.

"Okay, ready or not here I come Abel. You better have a really good hiding spot, " I announced as I headed down the house's carpeted hallway.

My brown eyes fell onto the wooden coat rack a few feet in front of me where I discovered Abel trying to conceal himself with his father's leather kutte.

Flashback:

It has been three weeks since my father passed.

I wish I could say it has gotten easier for my mom and me, but that is so damn far from the truth.

I peeked my head into my parents' room to see if my mom was still asleep.

She wasn't in bed or in the adjacent bathroom.

My body uncontrollably released a small sigh while I made my way downstairs since I have school in about a half hour.

As I entered the kitchen area, my eyes adverted to the living room where I discovered my mom asleep on the couch thanks to the reflection of the tv's screen.

I walked over to her, picking up the blanket she used to keep her warm off of the floor.

I draped the grey fleece blanket over her, rearranging the fabric to make sure it was evenly distributed.

My hands removed the glass from her still hand, looking into the glass, confirming there was still some whiskey sloshing in the bottom of it.

I set the glass down on the maple coffee table next to the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels.

"I love you Mel bear," Linda muttered, turning herself inward on the couch.

"I love you too."

I exited the living room, grabbing my crossbody bookbag off of the kitchen's counter.

I slid the bag off of the counter, causing a slew of closed envelopes to fall across the floor.

"Of fucking course."

I bent down, gathering the scattered unopened mail, realizing they all had one thing in common.

Each one contained a red sticker stating they were overdue.

Once each envelope was in my hands, I slid them into my bookbag, heading up the stairs to retrieve my second wad of savings.

"So nice of you to join us Ms. Torres," Ms. Taylor said bluntly as I made my way to my assigned seat, being a solid 45 minutes late to my first period class.

I didn't feel the utter need to respond, and I took out the appropriate notebook for the class once I sat down.

"Hey."

Jax looked away from Melanie to give his attention to Opie.

Opie held up his notebook reading:

Is she okay?

Jax shook his head, writing down his response.

I don't know. I hope so.

"Mr. Teller, Mr. Winston, do you need me to separate you two?", Ms. Taylor asked, wiping down the blackboard with the brand-new eraser.

"No," they answered in unison.

"Good. Why don't you prove that to me, yeah? Okay guys, open your books to page 345."

As the class followed their history teacher's request, an announcement came over onto the classroom's intercom.

"Attention all students, Melanie Torres, please report to the principal's office immediately."

Jesus Christ, what now?

Each student in the classroom "oohhed and ahhed" at me except for Jax and Opie.

I snatched up my belongings and went to the principal's office.

I saw Unser standing in the office talking with the principal of CHS.

"Hey Wayne, what are you doing here?, " I asked as I opened the closed door.

"Hey sweetheart. I hate to disrupt your school day, but something has happened."

"What is it?"

"It's your mom, Mel. She got into a pretty bad car accident about twenty minutes ago. She was t-boned by a pickup. She's in the I.C.U at St. Thomas. Come on, I'll give you a ride, " Unser offered, touching the top of my back.

I stepped back from his touch, readjusting my bookbag's strap on my shoulder.

"I.. it's okay. I can follow you."

"Who was in the wrong?, " I asked as Wayne escorted me to the appropriate hospital floor.

"Your mom ran a red light. Paramedics smelled booze on her breath as they were getting her out of the car. My guys found small empty bottles of vodka on the passenger side's floor."

I swallowed my building emotions and picked up the pace in my steps.

"Excuse me, I'm Melanie Torres. My mother is Linda Torres. Do you know which room she is in?", I asked the young nurse behind I.C.U's main counter.

She began to type some information into her computer and redirected her attention at me.

"She's in room 314E."

"Thank you.. Uh, how bad is it? I kinda want to prepare myself for what I'm about to walk into."

The nurse and Wayne exchanged a brief look.

"Your mother suffered from a severe concussion, four broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a dislocated left arm. Her current state may overwhelm you."

I nodded, making my way to the dreaded site.

I reached her hospital room, and the nurse was right.

Her current state did overwhelm me.

The building emotions devoured me whole as I walked over to her bedside.

My legs gave out and I dropped into the visitor's chair next to her bed, gently taking a hold of her left hand.

Gemma and Clay arrived at the hospital room less than twenty minutes later.

" Jesus Christ... Mel, I'm so sorry sweetheart, " Gemma stated, pulling me into a hug as I stayed seated.

"Me too."

She pulled back from the one-sided embrace and bent down next to me.

"You're gonna come stay with us until your mom is back home and healed."

"I'll be okay Gemma. Thanks for the offer though."

"That wasn't a suggestion, Mel."

"Don't try to argue your way out of this one kid. It's a fight you will lose," Clay added.

"It was worth a shot. I uh, I'm gonna go outside and get some fresh air."

Once I was outside, I pulled out the pack of smokes I snatched off of Gemma.

I headed over to the bench and had myself a seat, lighting up a cigarette from the fresh pack with a metal lighter I carry in my bookbag.

The sound of high heels came closer and closer to me.

"Ah, that's who swiped my smokes. I was ready to blame Jackson," Gemma stated, taking a seat next to me, crossing her left leg over her right.

"Sorry," I answered, handing her back the smokes.

"I'll let you slide this time given the circumstances."

"I appreciate that," I replied, taking a long pull from the cigarette, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

"Mel, I hope you are not angry or disappointed in your mother. She loved your father so much. And when you love someone that intensely, the idea of having to go on without them is unbearable. You'll see for yourself one day."

"I won't let that happen to me. I won't allow myself to love someone that much that I can't function the moment they are not on earth anymore. I can't," I sobbed, getting up from the bench.

Gemma grabbed my wrist, trying to keep me in place.

"Melanie..."

"I'm gonna head back in."

Gemma headed to the Torres' household to gather some essentials for both Melanie and Linda.

She used the spare key Linda created for her a way's back and stepped over the threshold.

She heard movement coming from the kitchen and immediately grabbed the gun from her purse.

Her finger switched off the safety and came face to face with her son and his best friend.

"Jesus Christ mom, you mind putting the gun away," Jax asked with his hands raised.

"What the hell are you two doing here?, " she asked glancing over at Opie, switching the safety on her gun back on.

"Unser gave us the rundown of what happened. So, we figured we'd clear out all the alcohol in this place for Linda's own good and to restock the clubhouse's bar," Opie stated, setting down three more bottles of alcohol he found upstairs in the master bedroom.

"That's actually not a bad idea."

"We definitely were not expecting to come face to face with as much as this though. How's Mel doing, mom?"

"As expected. She's going to be staying with us until Linda is back on her feet which is why I'm here."

"Jax, you mind grabbing Mel? Dinner's ready, " Gemma stated as she set the pot roast in the middle of the dining room table.

"Yeah, I'll go get her."

"Thanks darlin'."

Jax walked to the guest room, knocking on the closed bedroom door.

"Hey Mel, dinner's ready."

No answer.

Jax knocked once more.

"Mel?"

He slowly opened the door to find her fast asleep on the guest bedroom's bed.

The blanket he supplied her when she first came over was on the floor a few feet away from him.

He picked up the blanket, draping it over his broken best friend.

Jax shut the bedroom light off and closed the bedroom door, going back to the dining room.

"Is Mel coming? " Clay asked, grabbing him the first cut piece of pot roast.

"No, she's asleep," Jax replied, pulling out his chair to sit down.

"Okay, I'll, make her plate so she has something to eat when she wakes up, " Gemma stated, picking up the plate from the vacant spot at their table next to Jax, placing food on top of it.

3:43 AM:

I woke up, forgetting I was temporarily living under the Teller-Morrow roof.

I removed the blanket from my body and got up from the bed, releasing a loud yawn.

I honestly couldn't remember the last time I slept that hard and that well.

With the brown hair tie around my right wrist, I gathered my long locks into the opposite hand, creating a secure ponytail with my go to hair accessory.

I slipped myself out of the guest bedroom, seeing the kitchen light on.

Who the fuck is up at this hour?

My legs finally brought me to the kitchen, revealing who was up at this ungodly hour.

Jax.

"Hey, look who's awake. I had to keep going in the guestroom to make sure you were still breathing."

"Ha, sorry about that. I haven't been sleeping much, " I answered, grabbing myself a glass of water.

"Yeah, I know. My mom made you a plate if you're hungry. It's in the fridge, first shelf on the right."

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry."

"What are you doing up?, " I asked, taking a seat next to him with my glass of water in hand.

Jax sat back, moving his arms away from his kutte.

"The stitching is coming loose on my prospect patch."

"Can I see?"

He nodded, sliding the leather over to me.

I picked up his kutte, carefully running my finger over the stitching.

"Your technique is all wrong which is why the stitching is coming loose. Pass me your knife."

Jax popped open the flap to his knife's holder, pulling out the large blade.

I set the kutte back down onto the table, taking the knife from his possession.

I carefully ran the blade along the stitching, severing its hold on the leather.

"You're gonna sew it for me?"

"No. I'm gonna show you how to sew. So, when you move up the ranks, sewing a new patch will the last thing you need to or have to worry about."