Jax makes a deal with the Devil to help get him out of trouble, but in his desperation, the spoiled Prince allows himself to forget that the Devil has a price, and she always comes out on top.

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

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CHAPTER 25: FROSTED GLASS

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Sydney fidgeted in her seat as she tried to pull the hem of her cropped hoodie down to cover her bulletproof vest as discreetly as possible while she watched in the side mirror as none other than David Hale stepped out of the squad car and approached her vehicle with a pep in his step.

"Miss... Harding, was it?" The deputy recalled with a smug raise of his brow as he leaned down into the window of the visibly angry woman who he had undoubtedly delayed from getting somewhere that she'd clearly wanted to get quickly.

"Oh, Davy… You say that like I'm easy to forget. I'm a little offended." She mock-pouted with a hand over her heart, hoping that a little bit of flirting was all that it would take for errand boy to let her get on her way.

He chortled as he looked to the pavement. "You in a hurry?" His blue eyes flicked back up to meet her pale green ones which were even more captivating under the enhancement of the afternoon sun.

"Why? You wanna take me out?" She asked playfully, quickly dropping the facade that she didn't have time for when all she got in return was a discerning smirk. "I guess I'm just not used to the speed limits around here yet. You know; big city girl, small town." She shrugged. She had hoped that she would be able to talk her way out of it, but now all she wanted was for him to give her the damn ticket so that she could get on her way before shit went too far south.

"Well, something to learn about small towns is that we struggle to meet our quotas." He shrugged taunting as he watched her vibrate in her seat the longer that he kept her from wherever it was that she was dying to be. "Now that you're here, it seems we won't have a problem with that." He quipped with a wink, strolling back to his wagon to write her up.

Sydney's playful expression fell the second that he turned his gaze away from it. She'd always liked being challenged, but not when she was destined to lose. Bastard.

Hale lazily pulled up the newcomer's information, perking up as his glossy eyes landed on the red flag that appeared under her name. He clicked the nerve-tingling icon to see that she had been booked for two more traffic offenses the week prior, but he scowled when he read that they weren't automotive traffic offenses, but rather motorcycle traffic offenses. The crease in his forehead deepened as he began running through everything that he knew about the mysterious woman; moved from San Bernardino, working at Teller-Morrow, cozying up with SAMCRO, committing multiple heinous traffic offenses - some in the same day - and now riding a motorcycle? A blurry picture was starting to form, but it was a blurry picture that he knew he wouldn't be able to clarify with the constant interference of SAMCRO, and his corrupt superior. He bit his lip as he unflagged her file, burying the lead to ensure that he would be the only one who possessed that precious intel.

Sydney tapped her nails against the outside of her car door impatiently while she waited for the man who she knew was taking his sweet time on purpose before finally, he waltzed back up to her window.

"Drive safe." He told her as he passed her the folded up warning. "And I would recommend that you don't get any more tickets." His voice was firm as his jaw twitched under the pressure of his teeth being mashed together.

Sydney hesitated before she realized what he was getting at, grinning as she put her car into gear and drove off - even with the dumb haircut and big ears, he wasn't as stupid as he looked.

;

Clay, Tig, and Half-Sack began to worry as they tore down the highway towards the border - as they had been doing for over thirty minutes - and there was still no sign of Sydney. As much as they wanted to avoid the intrusive thought that had been living in the back of their minds ever since their warehouse had been torched, they all shared in the same fear that maybe the Nevada Mayans had informed their California hermanos of their updated standing with the Sons, giving them the excuse that they knew they'd been waiting on, to finally initiate a war.

Sydney sighed in relief when she finally spotted the familiar eyes of the reaper staring back at her from up ahead, leaning forward and propelling herself toward them as the harsh air at the high speed whipped against her bare legs that she prayed she wouldn't lay her bike down, and scar up during the time sensitive mission that had left her with no time to change into riding-appropriate clothing.

"Should I ride up?" She flipped her visor up as she pulled in between Clay and Half-Sack, her voice carrying over the roaring machines as they soared across the pavement.

Tig felt his ears beginning to ring as everything from the memory that he had spent years running from, rushed back to him as a similar scenario so cruelly presented itself; high speed, a bike, the highway, the woman that he loved… And this time, there was a real threat present.

"Go-" Clay began.

"No!" Tig yelled at the same time as his President, his eyes widening slightly as he realized just what he'd done...

Clay glared at the dark-haired man in a silent reminder that no matter whose dick she sucked, she obeyed the orders of the President, not the Sergeant. "They shouldn't be too far." He turned back to her, nodding up the highway.

Sydney felt each and every nerve in her body shorting out when Tig answered in place of their President - and with the wrong answer, at that. She exhaled a cleansing breath as she flipped her visor back down and willed herself to brush it off, hoping that it was just a one time slip up in the heat of the moment. The last thing that she needed was Tig starting to get protective, and the second last thing that she needed was the conflict of interest that their relationship presented, to land on Clay's radar and potentially jeopardize her seat at the table.

Jax and Bobby raced down the empty highway as the chase continued. Even though bullets were flying and lives were at risk, Jax was thrilled. This was the first time that he had been fully confident in a decision he'd made that had resulted in violence, because if the Nevada Mayans were willing to chase two lone reapers for this long, he could only imagine what they would do to Jury and the rest of Indian Hills. Now that his curiosity had been satisfied, and the bait had been set, he would be able to help them clear the threat. And his satisfaction only grew when he saw his backup arriving as Clay, Tig, and Half-Sack - who had somehow managed to borrow a bike - cutting across the median that divided the two directions of traffic, to join their convoy.

Clay snarled in frustration as he watched Sydney drive right past their target from the corner of his eye as he dragged his feet through the dirt, turning the heavy machine around. He briefly thought about chasing after her, but he decided against it - he couldn't focus on whatever second thoughts she'd let spook her, he had a crew to bring home.

"How the hell do we wanna handle this?" Jax yelled to Clay as he pulled up alongside his President. Before Clay could answer, he was startled by the sound of rapid fire behind him.

Tig pulled out his Jericho and turned around to begin firing off retaliation shots, but froze with his finger on the trigger - a crease forming above his brow when he realized that the gunfire wasn't coming from the Mayans.

Clay whipped his head around in frustration when Tig didn't fire back, wondering what the fuck had gotten into his Sergeant today, but he soon realized that he wasn't firing back because there was no need to.

Sydney swerved around the fallen Mayans with her glock in hand, and a wicked grin on her face underneath the tinted visor of her helmet. She had managed to successfully shoot out each of the enemy's tires, bringing them to the ground and ending the chase without spilling blood - something that she hoped would earn points with her VP, because it certainlyhadn't been her first choice.

Glee spread across the faces of the men once they realized what had happened, honking their horns in cheer as Sydney sped past them and led them home. "So much for 'low profile'!" Bobby yelled to his brothers with a hearty chuckle.

Sydney finally reached the compound with the rescued Sons in tow, parking her bike along the rail where she killed her engine and lifted her helmet off of her head before she was immediately scooped into Tig's arms.

"That was so fucking sexy." He growled, carnal need inhabiting every cell of his body for the extraordinary woman before him.

She laughed as he spun her around, feeling the warmth of his neck beneath her palms before curling her delicate fingers into his hair with a grin that he copied, looking up at her with awestruck eyes before pulling her towards his lips.

Clay sat against the seat of his bike as he waited for the makeout session to die down, his lips pursing harder and harder together with each second that passed when it didn't.

The entangled pair was startled by a loud honking, whipping their heads in the direction of the offending noise to see Clay wailing on his horn. "Think the rest of us can thank our princess?" He asked with a raised brow.

Tig chuckled nervously before setting Sydney back down to the pavement. "Wanna talk some more shit about my Ninja?" The cocky blonde bragged the second that her feet were on the ground, pushing Jax in the chest. "They didn't have a fucking clue that I was with you guys!"

"You been holdin' onto that?" Clay chuckled.

"Sure have." She nodded with a smile.

"You did good." He nodded. "And you make the vest look good." He added with a wink.

"I'd make a kutte look better." She quipped with a smirk.

"I never thought I'd be saved by a slanter in short-shorts." Jax grinned as he threw his arm around the shoulders of his unlikely hero.

Sydney smiled, accepting whatever praise that she could get from the VP, which reminded her… "You ain't got anything to say about how I took down their whole crew without spilling blood? You know, the Jackson Teller way." She mused.

Jax responded with a discerning smirk before he caught the warning glare that he was getting from Tig when his arm lingered around her shoulders, pulling away quickly.

"Get everyone here, you can fill us in." Clay's disappointment quickly resurfaced as he ordered Jax before turning toward the clubhouse.

Jax bit the inside of his cheek as his adrenaline began to wear off, presenting him with the reality of the stunt that his angry stepfather was clearly aware of. "Let surrounding charters know." He clapped Tig on the shoulder, successfully busying the Sergeant so that he could get some face time with the one person that he knew could help him. But now the question was, if she would or not…

Tig sat himself on top of a picnic table, resting his elbow on his knee and propping his chin up on his hand as he got to work informing all of the surrounding charters of the recent breakthrough with the Mayans so that they could err on the side of caution with their Mexican rivals. He squinted in the bright afternoon sun as he held the burner to his ear, feeling his heartbeat pick up as his brain took a few seconds to register the cause; the sight of Sydney emerging from the clubhouse after shedding her heavy bulletproof vest. She walked past him with a wink, swinging those perfect hips back and forth before eventually arriving at his bike where she bent right over it, giving him a show as she rifled through the saddlebag.

"Hey, baby." The curly-haired man blinked a few times, snapping out of his daydream to see that she was now standing in front of him, smoothing her hands up his thighs. "Have you seen my sunglasses?"

"Nah." He answered quickly, pulling his eyes away from where she was dangling herself in front of him, not letting himself subscribe to the ideas that he knew she was trying to put in his mind.

"You wanna come help me find 'em?" She sing-songed as she tilted her head with those crazy eyes and a suggestive smirk, leaning her full weight onto his lap.

"You know I'm busy, babe..." He whined with a grimace, hoping that she would have some mercy on him when she knew full well just how riled up he already was.

"Okay..." She relented, letting her expression fall to a pout as she turned away from him.

"Hey." His large hand swallowed her bicep as he pulled her back to him. "Later." He raised his brows and narrowed his eyes.

"Sure." She replied quickly with a nod.

His jaw clenched as the mock-understanding in her tone let him know that she intended to make him pay for this, grinding his teeth as he pulled his gaze to return to his task, only for it to be pulled right back as she waltzed over to his bike and laid back against the seat, kicking her feet up onto the handlebars.

"Hey Princess, you c'mere for a sec? Need to make an order." Jax nodded from the doorway of the office, stopping her from lighting the joint that she'd intended on smoking while soaking up some sun in an attempt to calm the adrenaline that she was still harbouring - because clearly Tig wasn't going to help her exercise it.

Tig snarled when she perked up at Jax's request, the sight only adding to his frustration as the exact man drooling over his woman, was the same one who had busied him to the point where he couldn't properly take care of her.

"What do you need to ord-" Sydney's question was cut off as Jax came out from behind the open door and attempted to shut it before she stopped it with her boot.

"If you close that door you are going to have a very angry Sergeant on your hands." She mused. "And I'm guessing that you've already got those hands full..." She gave him a sly once over.

"I need your help." Jax shook his head, wiping the 'deer in the headlights' look off of his face.

Sydney's amusement quickly faded as she made her way across the office, shaking her head as she sunk into her chair. "You fucking provoked them, didn't you?" She exhaled with her head in her hands.

"You don't understand-"

"You have a very small window of time to make me understand." Her sharp statements and clenched jaw had Jax thinking that perhaps he'd bitten off more than he could chew in thinking that the aspiring Son would be on his side.

"Jury was my dad's best friend." He pleaded with the angry woman. "Clay slapped a reaper over their backs out of nowhere. He lost half his club, and if I didn't do something to get him protection, he was gonna lose the other half."

"You sure that's the only reason?" She raised a brow.

Jax hesitated, covering it up with a shameful sigh and nod of his head as he lowered his gaze to the ground. "Old history doesn't mean that you can go behind the club's back. Did you think any further beyond the one thing that you wanted to accomplish?" He winced as she began spitting the harsh truths at him. "What if Bobby died? What if they went and torched Jury's clubhouse, just like they did the warehouse? What if they called up Alvarez and ordered a hit on your mother? On Tara? On your fucking child, Jackson!" She slammed her hands down on the desk. "These are things you have to think about!"

"You really do deserve a spot at that table." He chuckled humourlessly. If there was anything he had learned about her, it was that flattery was his best bet - and they didn't call him Prince Charming for nothing.

"Why are you putting this burden on me?" She growled. "I don't want to know your secrets." Knowing Jax's secrets meant that she would have to either betray him, or the club - and there was no way that she was going to choose the latter.

"I just need you to back me." He sighed. "Clay won't listen to me right now, his head is too clouded with all this bullshit." He shook his head.

"His head is too clouded?" She barked out a laugh.

Jax clenched his jaw when she laughed in his face, his patience running out and his familiarly resentful anger building towards the cocky little girl on the other side of the desk.

Sydney raised a brow and narrowed her eyes in challenge as his expression hardened, shocked by the audacity of the man who was practically begging at her feet. "You want my help? You better pack away that big boy temper." She sneered as she began rising to her feet, slowly leaning across the desk. "If you can pull your head out of your ass long enough to tell me exactly what it is that you need me to do, real nicely?" She cocked her head. "Maybe I'll consider it."

"You help me, I'll help you get patched." The Vice President stared back into the smoky green gaze that never faltered, matching her intensity.

Sydney was taken aback by his proposal. Yes, she wanted to get patched, and she would be lying if she denied that she considered his offer for a second, but she wanted to get patched the right way, for the right reason. "You tryin' to bribe me now?" She squinted as her lip turned up in disgust.

"The club needs people who think smart and quick like you do." His head shook with a sincerity that he had to pry from the depths of his ego.

Sydney ran her tongue under her top lip, not letting up on her harsh expression as she pondered the truth to his words. "I'm not lying for you." She put her terms in place.

"I don't need you to, just back whatever I say to Clay."

She turned to leave, saying nothing - deciding that she would see how things played out in church before she made any commitments. "Bring me a beer. You ruined my mood." She called behind her, bringing a smirk to Jax's face as she passed through the door.

Tig watched Sydney emerge from the office looking significantly less eager than she did when she'd entered, which helped the twinge of jealousy in the back of his mind. What happened next though, had his eyes bugging out of his head as he watched his old lady strip her top off for not the first, but the second time today as she retook her stretched out position over his bike, only adding insult to injury.

Jax was surprised when he returned from the bar to see Sydney laid out on Tig's bike once again - and with her shirt off this time. He smirked, shaking his head. She must've really been going for a reaction...

"You're already on his radar, I'd suggest you stop staring." She deadpanned without opening her eyes, reaching out her hand to receive her requested beverage.

Jax snorted, handing off the cold bottle and sauntering back to the garage, hoping that he'd chosen the right devil to make a deal with as he tried to honour his angels.

The next thirty minutes of the soothing rays, cold beer, and soundtrack of members trickling in on their Harleys had successfully calmed Sydney down after the exciting chase - and the bogus request of her VP.

"Think she's got like, magic pussy?" Juice asked Bobby as they gazed upon Sydney as she defiled Tig's bike.

"She's gotta have somethin' magic to get him actin' like that." Bobby scoffed as he watched Tig glare at her from across the lot.

Sydney smirked as she felt a shadow casting over her, knowing that it was Tig even though her eyes remained closed behind the dark lenses of her aviators. "Just the other day you wanted me to wash your bike in a bikini..." She reminded him, flinching when he ghosted a fingertip over her collarbone, down her cleavage, and over her belly button.

"Yeah..." Tig answered distantly.

"Church!" Clay barked from the clubhouse, providing a distraction that Sydney was thankful for as she swung her legs down off of the handlebars, sitting up and shaking her hair out before pulling the distressed top back over the black lace of her bralette.

"Come on, Tiggy." She eagerly held her hand out to the distraught man who took it haphazardly.

Once they entered the chapel, Sydney took the liberty of sitting in Chibs' usual seat - which happened to be right next to Tig, brushing her fingers over his thigh.

Clay, Jax, Juice, and Bobby all took their respective seats, but Sydney saw that a new face was sitting at the table today as Half-Sack walked in, getting a nod from the President and sitting before the reaper for the first time. She grinned at her friend, sharing in his excitement for the significant moment.

Clay looked to Jax expectantly as he waited for an explanation, the VP immediately shaking his head in shame. "They were waitin' for us, man. Stopped to take a piss just over the border and they ambushed us."

Sydney struggled to withhold the urge to roll her eyes at Jax's horrible delivery of what could've been a half-decent lie. She channeled the restlessness elsewhere, hoisting her jittery legs over Tig's lap where she took full advantage of Chibs' absence.

Clay looked to Bobby for confirmation, but he stayed silent with his lips pursed - a reaction that did nothing to satisfy the club's President. "You promised this would be under the radar! Now I got Mayan beef beyond the borders to worry about when our customer base is already shaky to begin with?" He bellowed.

"We need a bigger presence in Nevada if this is gonna work out." Jax shrugged, effectively sending any effort that Sydney had conjured up to help, out the window with extreme force as he made absolutely no attempt to try and hide what his true intentions had been from the beginning.

"I barely had enough manpower to come escort your asses home, and you want me to send help to another charter? Indian Hills needs to learn to protect themselves!"

Jax looked to Sydney, silently begging her before continuing to plead his case. "They need our help or there ain't gonna be an Indian Hills!" The VP raised his voice considerably in frustration when his green-eyed insurance policy seemingly fell through.

"Vegas." Sydney stated calmly. If she was going to get Jax what he wanted, she was going to do it her way.

"What?" Clay shook his head in confusion.

"Have Vegas head to Indian Hills for back up until we can gather a group big enough to head out and pitch the guns. When we get up there, we let them know that they'll be fending for themselves from then on, and that the only way they'll be able to do that is with our guns. Jack up the price since they don't know any better, lower it back down to our usual profit after a year - let them think they're getting a deal from their charitable brothers."

Even though the solution benefitted Clay, he still gave Jax a menacing glance, knowing that he had done something to push them to this conclusion. "Send them up." He ordered Juice with a nod.

"What about Mayan retaliation?" Tig asked.

"Yeah, I bet them wetbacks are all thirsty for blood after your little stunt today." Bobby looked to Sydney.

"Excuse me?" The words spilled from deep in her chest as she dropped any precious patience that she'd managed to get her hands on. "My'little stunt' ?" She spat with a sour expression, swinging her legs down from their propped up position across Tig's lap.

Clay squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled sharply through his nose while Jax and Bobby both sunk into their seats, and Half-Sack pushed his chair back slowly. Tig tried to squeeze her thigh in an attempt to calm her down, but it was no use as the toll of the day's events all came to a head.

"My 'little stunt', saved your asses today. My 'little stunt' was to get you out of whatever the fuck you stirred up in Nevada!" She waved her hands about as Tig's ring adorned hand kept her in her seat. "You want me to throw you to the wolves next time? Leave you lying dead in a ditch? I will."

"Alright, alright." Clay sighed. "Princess' got a point." He nodded, glaring at the occupants to his left. "It don't look like we got much to worry about, but just in case, I want you on guard, and you on the compound." He pointed to Tig, then to Sydney. "And when I say guard, I mean guard. No pussy." He looked between the couple like a cop scolding a pair of teenagers caught making out in a car.

Sydney smirked as more pleasant thoughts flooded her mind; ideas of how she could torture Tig throughout the night if he had direct orders not to touch her. Tig took the opposite approach, making to whine in protest, but quickly deciding against it once he saw the warning gaze from his President - the same warning gaze that he'd already earned himself once today - hanging his head and nodding his confirmation.

"We gonna talk about that $200k?" Juice floated the idea cautiously, knowing that the timing was less than ideal, but they were on a time crunch to come up with the cash.

"Not now." Clay shook his head, not wanting to worry about the hefty debt while he had so many other things weighing on his mind that he clearly couldn't offload onto his VP, as he should've been able to. "Start thinking up ideas, pulling together what we have. We'll discuss it tomorrow." He waved them off.

Tig hurried out of the chapel to begin stockpiling the weapons around the clubhouse in case of an overnight attack while Clay and Bobby quickly filed out as well, hoping to avoid Sydney's residual wrath.

"What the hell was that?" Jax sneered quietly once the two blondes were alone, his face twitching as he seethed. "Threatening and blackmailing them wasn't part of our deal." He growled.

"You should've been more clear with your terms." Her lips curled up as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"This is bullshi-"

She took a step forward, then another, then another - not stopping until she was just inches away from him. "You would be sitting pretty with shit all if it wasn't for me, so the only words that I should be hearing from your mouth are 'thank' and 'you'." He stared at her stoically, holding his ground as she got in his face. "It's the power of negotiation, Jaxy. It would do you some good to learn it, especially if you want to be President one day." Her eyes narrowed before she backed away.

Tig dropped an armload of various guns from the security surplus onto the pool table, looking up to see Jax storming out of the chapel, shoving the clubhouse door open and kicking it shut behind him. The confused Sergeant turned towards the double doors with a scowl, his confusion only deepening as Sydney emerged with a smirk. "The hell was that about?" He questioned with a raised brow as his old lady whispering in the shadows with Jax was now a sight that he'd seen multiple times today.

"The Prince ain't too happy about my idea to threaten Indian Hills." She answered as she stared at the door, rubbing his shoulder reassuringly before hopping up onto the pool table. "Looks like that means we got the clubhouse all to ourselves tonight." She mused suggestively.

"You heard what-" Tig began, stuttering regrettably as he shook his head, unable to believe what was about to come out of his mouth. "You heard what Clay said, no pussy." He tried to utter with as much conviction as possible.

"Who said anything about pussy?" She tilted her head to the side as she feigned confusion, letting Tig know that he was in for a night full of temptation.

Tig stared her down with a hint of warning in his blue gaze, determined to wipe the smug look off of that pretty face, but all he got was a smile as she beamed back at him, making him jerk his eyes away and return his attention to the pile of iron in front of him.

Sydney's lips curled up when he cowered under her gaze - an action that brought her back to the days not long ago where neither of them would give into the pressure, which was going to be the theme of her game tonight.

"Alright, well-" She jumped down and began her strut to the door. "If I'm quarantined here for the night, I'm going home to get supplies."

"Woah, woah." He grabbed her elbow, pulling her back. "Nah. You stay put." He narrowed his eyes as he looked down on her, shaking his head.

"You really think that I can't handle mysel-"

"You wanna be a good old lady?" He cut off the beginning of her smug protest, pressing a hand to her chest as he began walking her backwards, her face falling as his carefully chosen words placed a seriousness on the encounter that she hadn't expected. "Good old ladies do as they're told. Good old ladies don't toy with other men." Her back hit the edge of the bar right as the fierce words left his mouth, his eyes burning a hole into her as he put her in her place verbally since he couldn't do it physically. "Good old ladies don't disrespect their old man's ride." The fire returned to her eyes when he finished off strong. "Surely your daddy taught you that?" He squinted.

"Maybe my daddy needs to teach me." She rasped with the same challenging squint.

Tig let out a dark chuckle at her clever response, pulling away. "You ain't leavin'." He scolded, walking back to the pool table to finish his task.

"You gonna keep me entertained?" She crossed her arms, huffing in frustration.

"We'll see. Drop the attitude." He dismissed her, smirking when he heard her stomping away.

Sydney stormed down the hallway, slamming the door to his room where she ripped her clothes off and pulled one of his t-shirts over her naked form before walking back out to the bar.

Tig looked up from the guns when he heard her footsteps that were much quieter now than they had been earlier, his eyes trailing down her form that was clothed in nothing but his shirt to see that she was barefoot. "What the hell are you wearing?" He raised a brow.

Sydney bit the inside of her cheek to try and contain the laugh that she was fighting as he grew more and more annoyed. "A shirt?" She stated plainly.

"And?" He motioned to her clearly bare lower half where the black S.O.A. monogrammed shirt barely covered her ass.

"Well you won't let me leave, so I have to improvise." She shrugged.

"You have stuff in my dresser." He shook his head as she began sauntering up to him, slowly swaying her body with every step.

"I told you the other day that I needed to bring more..." She countered with a pout. "And this is comfy, baby." She widened her eyes as she rounded the pool table, looking up at him innocently.

"God, you are such a pain in my ass." He growled playfully, lifting her to sit on the table while he sorted through the various weapons.

"I'm just keeping you on your toes." She smirked as she leant back, pressing her foot to his chest.

Tig looked down at the blood red toenails against the leather of his kutte, his eyes trailing down to where she was spread in front of him: pantie-less. He quickly snapped her legs shut, not allowing his mind to even begin on the path that she wanted it on. "What if someone shows up, huh? Then what?" He nodded to her naked lower half.

"Well then I guess that would mean that you're doing a shitty job keeping guard." She smirked as he chuckled. "Why don't you just set up a tripwire? That way you don't even have to pay attention to what might be going on out there, and you can focus on what's really going on right here." She spoke with a rasp as she spread her legs slowly.

"Jax might come back." He kept his eyes averted.

"Would that really be the worst thing?" She snorted, hopping off the table to grab a drink when she realized that he wasn't going to give in - yet.

Tig's forehead creased when she spoke ill of Jax, reigniting the curiosity that she'd managed to distract him from. "What was he talking to you about?" He followed her over to the table that she and her bottle of Jack Daniels had claimed. "When I was on the phone."

"Needed help ordering a specialty part for that old Roadster." She spoke casually as she twisted the cap off of the bottle and rested her bare legs on the table top. "Didn't have the right code." She leant back against her chair, fiddling with her necklace.

"You're not tellin' me somethin'." Tig hadn't lied when he'd told her that he'd learned her body language. He knew by the way that she flicked the gold chain around, that she wasn't being honest with him.

"You sayin' I'm a liar?" She challenged with a raised brow.

"Bold move for somebody who ain't tellin' the truth." Tig scoffed, catching himself quickly as he reined in his temper. "I'm saying that I don't want secrets between us." He surprised himself by the patience that he had with the mouthy woman, a tender explanation being the last thing that anyone - including himself - would've expected from him in that moment.

Sydney took a deep breath as the guilt punched her in the stomach. "There are things that I can't tell you, and I know there are things you can't tell me. So let's just agree to turn a blind eye." She shook her head as she avoided the sincerity behind his eyes, finally understanding why relationships in this life only seemed to work under the 'ignorance is bliss' approach.

"I don't wanna be lied to by the woman I love." Tig shook his head honestly. He had been through the ringer when it came to the toll that lying took on relationships. He had only ever lied to his exes about things regarding the club, but Colleen had taken the sin and ran to the hills with it - using it as an excuse to cheat, drink, and poison the minds of their daughters. Sydney was his last chance to do things right; the first and only woman that he didn't have to lie to.

"You think that love equals transparency?" She scoffed. "I think you'd still be married if that was the case." She mused.

"I wouldn't go that far." He chuckled half-heartedly.

She returned the meaningless smile, thinking on the words that she'd spoken; transparency - the one thing that Gemma had told her that she needed in order to keep her spot in Tig's heart. She felt her jaw clench as a bitter hatred bubbled behind her belly button; the only thing that she associated with the idea of transparency as she was teleported back to her days in San Bernardino when the club would only tell her what she needed to know - and only if it benefited them. It was a hatred that she never wanted to reflect on again, and maybe Tig was the key to that. Maybe ignorance wasn't the only way that this worked - maybe Gemma was right, maybe transparency with a man willing to see through her, was. Of course there would be times where transparency wasn't an option - secrets and denial were how she survived in this life as a woman, but those tactics would only do the opposite in a relationship. Sticking to her comfort zone wouldn't work if the situations that she continued to place herself in resided elsewhere. If she really wanted to be with Tig, she had to make the effort.

"If I'm gonna be transparent with you, it has to go both ways." She met his eyes with a soft, emerald gaze.

"I never thought I could be transparent with someone, before I met you." Tig nodded, his eyes falling to the wood grain on the table.

"He provoked the Mayans." She admitted. "Insists on getting Jury protection, and thought that I could help sway the club in his favor."

"Why would he go to you?" He scowled as he tried to keep the invasive thoughts at bay.

"Knows that I'm persuasive, I guess." She forced a chuckle as she tried to ignore the accusation in his tone.

"You are persuasive." He grinned suggestively, glad that she hadn't gone on the defense over his temporary, insecurity-fuelled slip.

"Not persuasive enough, apparently." She scoffed. "I'm not sure what exactly is going on with him, but I know that it's bad for the club. So the closer I get to him, the better I can protect us."

"It ain't your job to protect us, you're not a member." Tig hadn't meant to put his foot in his mouth as he blindly reacted to the irrational worry that her statement provoked, but if it kept her away from Jax - and from putting her life at risk for him - then he could live with it.

"I don't give a shit what my job is." She snapped, unable to ignore the sting of his words this time. "The club is family, they protect their own."

"He doesn't wanna rebuild." Tig decided that now was the perfect time to use the valuable piece of information that he had been keeping close to the vest, to change the subject.

"What?" Sydney wasn't exactly surprised, per se - this had been her suspicion all along, but what she was surprised by, was his confirmation.

"Fourth of July party." He nodded. "He suggested we take the money and put it into somethin' else."

"Jesus Christ…" She shook her head. "Do you think it's just a phase? Some kind of identity crisis now that he has Abel?"

"He ain't a teenager, Syd." He shook his head. "He's a grown man."

"Could've fooled me." She snorted.

"I don't know what the right move is, but he worries the shit out of me." He nodded earnestly.

"What does Clay think?" Sydney knew that Jax had set up a permanent residence on Clay's radar, but she wondered if he'd confided in his Sergeant with his concerns, more than he had her.

"I think he hopes it'll pass, but... I wasn't kidding when I said that crossing Clay wasn't something that you want to do." He stared at her pointedly, trying to tell her with his eyes, what he couldn't with his words.

"Then what was that shit today on the escort?" She questioned with a hint of playfulness in her voice that went completely ignored.

"You could've been hurt." He shook his head dismissively as she brought up the incident that he kept trying to forget.

Normally, Sydney would've spouted off something about how everything she did in this life could get her hurt. But Tig had always known that, had always been okay with that, ever since… "Does this have anything to do with what happened in Santa Cru-"

"No." Tig cut her off, knowing that if he even thought about entertaining her theory, he would snap. "I don't wanna see you lying dead on the side of the highway because of me." He finished with as much of the truth as he could will himself to give, standing from his chair and swiping the bottle from her hands - guzzling down the numbing liquid in an attempt to silence the noise in his head before it could start.

Sydney let her eyes fall closed when he wouldn't give her the truth, even after he was the one who had said that he'd wanted transparency. She took a deep breath before pushing her chair back, the wood scraping loudly against the waxed floors of the bar.

"It's like I said." Her voice got his attention from across the room. "There are things that we can't tell eachother." She nodded softly before disappearing down the hallway.

;

Jax stormed into St. Thomas where he immediately felt the weight of his setback lifting from his shoulders, each step getting lighter and lighter as he made his way towards his son's room, stopping when he saw Tara speaking with a coworker. He felt an unfightable grin coming to his face, biting his lips as he crept up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump.

"Oh, shit." He laughed, placing his hands on her biceps to steady her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you that bad." He chuckled.

"It's okay." She laughed, relief coursing through her shot nerves as she clutched the envelope that had been brought to her from the mail room. "Thanks, Nancy." She nodded to the older woman who had made the personal delivery, turning her attention back to Jax. "I thought you weren't gonna be back for a few days?"

"Yeah, so did I." He chuckled.

Tara scowled, but she didn't care to question it as she found herself zoning out under his gaze - she probably didn't want to know the answer, anyways. "How was it?" She broke whatever tension was forming in the air between them, looking up from his lips where she hadn't realized her eyes had settled.

Jax smirked, making a show of lifting his kutte and displaying his unsoiled shirt. "Uneventful." He nodded, winking as she chuckled before making his way to Abel's room. He'd definitely come to the right place.

Tara chuckled as she looked down to the ground while he strutted down the hall, turning her attention to the manilla envelope between her fingers. She didn't think anything of it as she broke the seal, sliding out a photograph that made her blood run cold. It was a photograph of Jax and a blonde woman, an explicit photograph that she prayed nobody was around her to see as she stood too stunned to move.

She blinked as she looked over the gut-wrenching image that appeared to have been taken without either of their knowledge, her eyes sliding up to the top of the page where she looked over the even more gut-wrenching caption.

3:33 P.M., Tuesday, July 2.

It was a timestamp that should've broken her heart, but instead it only made it race, because she knew exactly who had sent the photo, and she had been right all along in fearing that he was watching her again.

;

Gemma blew out a mouthful of cigarette smoke as she sat herself down at her dining table with a sigh, placing the hat box that shouldn't have been nearly as heavy as it was, had it been containing what it was meant for, down in front of her.

She stamped out her cigarette as she lifted the lid off, rifling through the pile of handguns until she finally found it; the tiny Colt Pony. She examined the small pistol, wiping it free of her finger prints as she took a deep breath, really thinking about what she was doing. She shook her head, placing the gun back into the box as she reached for her phone and pressed #3 on her speed dial.

"Hey, darlin'. Do me a favor?" She spoke down the line.

"Sure, babe." Luann nodded, not taking her eyes off of the screen of the office special that was in its second round of edits.

"That guy who distributes your stuff... Does he still have access to that federal marshal?"

"I think so." The blonde woman nodded even though she couldn't see her. "I've been feeding his Pillsbury Dough girlfetish for years." Her words were broken up by moans in the background. "What do you need?"

;

Jax smiled as he settled into the rocking chair set up outside of his son's incubation chamber, grabbing the book off of the table that he was sure Gemma had read him hundreds of times now. He still didn't quite believe that the baby could hear him, but he was starting to understand why the idea brought her so much comfort.

He lost himself in the ridiculous pages of the children's book as he himself got invested in the story of the little boy and his paper plane, looking up to see that the baby had fallen asleep.

"I'm sorry, little man." He smiled. "I'm not as good as grandma..." He chuckled as he set the book down, making to head home for the night - his tiff with Sydney being the excuse that he needed to finally force himself to spend a night in his own house.

He sighed as he heaved himself out of the chair, a scowl coming to his face as he turned around to see a grey-haired man standing outside of the room with his hands in his pockets, watching him from the window. He nodded to the man, his confusion only deepening when the man nodded back and continued to stare, as if there was nothing odd about what he was doing.

"Can I help you?" He asked as he pulled the door open, standing in front of his son as the mystery man's gaze followed the infant through the crack in the door which he quickly pulled shut.

"That's a..." Kohn fought the emotion itching the back of his throat. "That's a beautiful boy." He nodded.

Jax nodded back awkwardly, waiting for the man to explain himself further, but he didn't, instead he gave him a curt nod, shoved his clenched fists into the pocket of his leather jacket, and disappeared down the hallway.

;

Hermanos - "Brothers"

Song for this chapter

rapuzel - Emlyn