Mina lay in bed staring at the ceiling. It was her day off and she dreaded having to get up. She hated what her life had become. Working a meaningless job to pay off debts that weren’t even hers. She had so much going for her at one point and now she was stuck. Her thoughts were broken as her phone rang, staring at the vibrating phone on the counter she let the phone ring through. She knew who it was, but she wasn’t ready. There was a knock on her door and she ignored that also, pulling the sheets over her head.
Adrianna unlocked her sister’s door and walked up the stairs. She knew her baby sister. Knew how hard this was for her. She walked into Mina’s bedroom to see pictures ripped all over the floor and a half empty bottle of Jack on the nightstand just like she’d expected. It happened every year on this day. She sat on her bed removing the sheets covering her face.
“Mina, we have to go.” She gently brushed the hair off her face.
“Why?” Mina turned her head to face out the window.
“Because we need to pay our respect.” She rubbed her sister’s cheek. The bags under her eyes let Adrianna know she hadn’t slept at all. Not that she needed confirmation after hearing her walking around all night. “Come on, Mina. We have to go.” She sighed pulling her arms so she would get out of bed.
Mina got out of bed and grabbed the bottle of Jack going to the bathroom. Addy heard the shower running and sighed collecting all the ripped pictures from the ground.
Mina leaned against the shower wall taking sips from the bottle as she let the water hit her skin. She washed up and wrapped a towel around her body and hair as she did her makeup before blow drying and straightening her hair. She slipped on a pair of black opaque tights with a black fitted dress over it along with her black high heels. She managed to look presentable at least. Walking downstairs she met Addy at the door before hopping into her charger.
Jax woke up early to a call from Barosky saying an inspector was coming to Collette’s later today and she wanted to meet at his shop with him and Nero. He got out of bed and looked to see Tara’s side empty then walked to the boys rooms to see them empty as well. Shrugging he took a quick shower before heading out of the house.
His first stop was the coffee shop. He couldn’t imagine starting his day without his daily dose of Mina. For the past week he’d stopped in to see her every morning. The energy she gave off got him through the day and this day wasn’t any different. When the line was extra long, she’d even make his drink and bring it to him outside so he wouldn’t have to wait. Although at this point, he’d wait hours just so he could stare. He was starting to feel like a creep but she didn’t seem bothered by it.
Walking inside he looked around the shop not seeing Mina anywhere around. Walking to the front he saw that girl again and smiled down at her. “Ay darlin’, Mina around today?”
Rachel looked up at the handsome biker in front of her and shook her head. She’d become pretty familiar with him since he started coming in everyday to see Mina. “Sorry, hun. Mina had to take a personal day.” She shrugged.
Jax’s mood dropped severely. One because he was concerned something was wrong with her and two because he was selfish and didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to see her. “Somethin’ wrong?”
Rachel always being one to spill too much shrugged her shoulders. “She wouldn’t talk about it. She looked really mad though.”
Jax frowned and nodded at the young woman. “Thanks Rach. Tell her I stopped by.”
The young woman nodded and smiled at him “Will do, Jax!”
He walked out and looked at his phone. He wanted to call her but again it’s not like they knew each other too well. He knew nothing about her. She always stayed away from the topic of her personal life. He sighed and put his phone back in his pocket heading over to Barosky’s donut shop.
Mina leaned against her car with her arms crossed. She watched her sister speak to their mother’s headstone while sobbing. They’d been there for over an hour and Mina hated every moment of it. She felt her phone vibrate and reached into her blazer jacket to pull it out to see a text from Jax. “Stopped by the shop. You weren’t there :(“ She smiled to herself and texted him back. “Wishing I was, darling. Wishing I was. :(“ It was the truth. She’d rather be there and be busy than to be here to “pay respect” to the one person she resented the most.
Adrianna walked up to her sister wiping her tears. “You’re not going to say anything?”
“Just get in the car, Addy. I need this day to be over.” She rolled her eyes getting back into the drivers seat of her car. Her sister followed and they drove to the church. They sat down in the back pews so Addy could say a prayer. Mina never understood why Adrianna did this every year. Her mother wasn’t even worth the title mother, but Addy always defended her.
She leaned back on the seat and looked up at the large cross in the front. She was never really religious but being here made her think. Think about the way her life had gone. Think about why she really hated her mother. She had every reason too. She couldn’t be in there anymore. She grabbed her purse walking outside leaning against the doors waiting for Adrianna to finish.
Jax sat at the donut shop while Collette talked to Nero. He couldn’t stop himself from sending her a text. When he felt his phone vibrate, his heart skipped a beat seeing her name. “Wishing I was, darling. Wishing I was. :(“ His smile caught Collettes attention and she leaned forward closer to him. “Wife?” Before he could answer the sound of gunshots filled the shop. He tossed Collette down onto the floor as everyone else got down as well. He peeked through the glass to see the Iranians from the other day.
As soon as the car drove away everyone ran outside. Barosky immediately called his guys to come clean up the shop and take care of his guy that was injured on the floor. Jax ran his hands over his head looking at Collette. “I’ll have one of my guys drive you back to the house.”
“No, she’ll hang out here. I’ll leave one of my men with her.” Barosky stated crossing his arms over at Jax.
“I’ll leave Juice with you. Let him know if you need anything.” Jax nodded at her.
“Am I talking to myself here or what?!” Charlie yelled over at them.
“Don’t fight over me boys. My daddy says I’m not worth it.” Collette chimed in as she walked inside.
Jax smirked looking her up and down biting his bottom lip. He shook the thoughts out of his head. What was he doing? Texting Mina lusting over Collette. He had Tara. His high school sweetheart the love of his life.
They tracked the Iranians down to the dock. Barosky and Jax stepped forward putting their arms up as the Iranians on the boat pulled out their guns on them.
“We just want to talk!” Jax yelled over to the boat.
“Put the guns away!” One of them yelled from the boat.
“It’s too dangerous, Jackie” Chibs said grabbing onto Jax arm.
“What’s the matter? Scared of a little risk?” Barosky scoffed with a smirk.
“No, It’s alright.” Jax smirked walked onto the dock putting his gun in the bin as Barosky did getting onto the boat.
Jax passed by Colette’s place after leaving his meeting with Marks. He felt like shit about leading him to Tig like that but he was a man of his word. He walked up the stairs to hear moaning coming from her room. He sighed and started to walk downstairs when he heard a familiar voice coming from the other side. He walked back up the few steps and slowly cracked the door open to find Collette riding Barosky on the couch.
He didn’t know why he was so angry about it by he was. You could say he wasn’t the sharing type but it also wasn’t right. It’s not like he was available to be anything more. Nor did he want to. He walked out and rode his bike back home. Walking inside his house, he felt his phone vibrate. He looked at his caller ID and scoffed turning his phone off after seeing Collette’s name.
Grabbing a drink from the fridge he took a sip before a piece of paper on the table caught his eye. He put the milk into the fridge and walked over to the table looking the paper over. His eyes widened but his heart seemed to sink. He should be excited that Tara was pregnant again. It would bring them closer.
Who was he kidding? They’d had sex the other night and all she did was cry. The damage was already done. At this point the only thing that would make her happy was if he signed those papers and let her leave with the boys. He couldn’t do that though. He belonged here. His boys belonged here.
He slowly made his way to Abel’s bedroom, leaning in kissing his head before going to Thomas’s room to do the same. When he made it to his bedroom, he had hoped she’d be asleep but of course she wasn’t. Sitting on the bed, she scooted closer to him. He went in to kiss her but she leaned in to give him a hug. “I love you” he whispered but got no response.
He sighed and got up off the bed, putting his cut back on. “You’re heading out again?” Tara asked sitting up again.
“Yeah,” He nodded. “I just wanted to check on you and the boys.”
Jax kissed her forehead before heading back outside. He got on his bike and drove and drove and drove. He couldn’t stand this divide between him and Tara. Of course he loved her, but he’d started to question how much. She’d continuously tried to pull him out of SAMCRO. She thought it was for the best but this is who he was. He’d never once tried to change her but that’s all she tried to do to him.
He didn’t know how long he’d been driving but when he stopped he realized he was in Mina’s driveway. Sitting on his bike for a moment he questioned going inside. If he went in, he’d surely try to sleep with her but at this point he didn’t care. He got off his bike, putting his helmet on the handlebar before walking up the stairs. He looked at the two doorbells and remembered she’d told him she lived on the second floor so he knocked on the door.
Mina was still dressed in her dress and tights from earlier. Her hair slightly messy from laying around all day but she couldn’t bother getting changed. She’d been drinking all day and after finishing 2 bottles of wine by herself she’d taken a nap on the couch for the rest of the day. Addy was out doing god knows what, she had invited her but Mina wasn’t having it.
After sobering up, she’d realized she hadn’t eaten anything all day and called to order a pizza. She walked to the kitchen to grab another bottle of wine when she heard the door knock. She’d just gotten off the phone with the pizza place so there was no way it was here yet.
Walking down the stairs she peeked through the peephole to see Jax on the other side. She opened the door leaning against the door frame confused still holding the bottle of wine by the neck. “Jax, you okay?”
He looked up to see her dressed up with a bottle of wine in her hand. “Shit, am I interrupting something?” He scratched the back of his head. He hoped to God he wasn’t. Mina was his last hope of getting some peace tonight. He also couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy that hit him when he thought she might have a date.
Mina looked at the bottle of wine then back at him. “No, sweetheart. Just drinkin’ myself to death. I ordered pizza though. You wanna come up?”
He let out a little smirk thinking she was kidding but he nodded nonetheless. “Yeah, that’d be great.” She nodded and took his hand leading him up to her house. His eyes ran down her body. He couldn’t help but look up her dress as she walked up, he could even see her lace red panties through her tights.
Mina grabbed the two other bottles that were on the table as Jax in. “Jesus Christ, Mina. You were serious?”
She looked over her shoulder at him as she walked to the kitchen. “In a way, I wouldn’t care if I was.”
“What’s goin’ on, darlin’.” He followed her into the kitchen as she handed him a glass of wine grabbing another for herself.
She thought for a moment as to how much to tell him. “Today’s the anniversary of my mother’s death. Addy makes a big deal about it.” She shrugged taking a sip of her wine as she motioned for them to go to the living room.
“Damn, I’m sorry babe.” He sat on the couch as she grabbed the remote from the table sitting down next to him.
She put her feet up on the table crossing them as she flipped through the channels. “Don’t be. Bitch deserved it.” His eyes widened, taken back a little by her cold tone. He’d never heard that from her sweet sweet voice. “What’s goin’ on with you?” She turned her head to look at him.
Jax sighed and leaned back on the couch putting his hands over his face. “My wife’s pregnant.”
Mina raised an eyebrow taking another sip of her drink. “And?”
He looked down then back up at her. “And the escort I’m fuckin’ is fuckin’ someone else.” He’d never talk so openly about this with anyone else but he didn’t know why he could do it with her. He looked up to see her looking back at him. Again, there was no judgment in her eyes. As much as he should have felt like shit but he felt a weight lifted off him. “I know I have no right bein’ mad but it’s hard to explain. It’s not jealousy or nothin’. I guess I just can’t share.”
Mina handed him the remote. “Here, put a movie on demand.” She nodded over at the tv. “So why are you cheatin’ on your wife?”
He stared at the tv. He hated that word. He knew what he was doing but to have it so bluntly put seemed to hit him hard. “I don’t know. I guess in a way we’ve been over for a while now. We were high school sweethearts you know? I’d never been more in love then I was with her. But I should have known better than to think it would last. Tara always hated this life. Always tried to pull me away.” He took a deep breath as the doorbell rang.
Mina got up and put her glass down. “Pizza’s here. Hope you’re okay with just pepperoni.” He gave a small smile and nodded. She walked down the stairs and paid for the pizza bringing it back up and setting it onto the table in front of them.
He watched her move and couldn’t get over how perfect everything about her was. How easy it was to talk to her. He put The Godfather on demand and smiled up at her as she sat down next to him. “Thanks for this.”
“For what?” She leaned forward grabbing a slice.
“Letting me talk.” He shrugged taking a bite of his slice. “Listening to me. Not looking at me like I’m some piece of shit.”
Mina shrugged and reached over turning off the lamp next to them so the room was dark. “It ain’t about makin’ you feel like shit, Jax. I don’t condone cheating by any means. Hell I won’t even answer my ex’s calls cause he cheated, but I’m no better a person than you.”
“I doubt that.” He laughed as he ate some more. He couldn’t imagine there was a bad bone in her body.
Mina leaned back on the couch, bringing her legs up under her. She ran her fingers through her hair and shrugged. “Can I ask you something?” He looked at her and nodded. “Why keep dragging this on? Why not just divorce her?”
Jax looked down at the ground and shrugged. “I don’t really know. I guess I’ve just been with her for so long, it’s just become routine.”
She put a hand over his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Sometimes routines are meant to be broken.”
He leaned back and nodded. They fell into a comfortable quiet. She’d laid her long thin legs onto his lap as she laid her head on the opposite side of the couch while he had laid back getting comfortable. They watched the movie and he’d steal glances over at her. Her beautiful face looked tired. Upset. He didn’t like it. He wanted to make her pain go away and the vibe he got off of her was that she wanted to do the same for him.
He grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together. She looked over at him with heavy sleepy eyes and gave him a small smile while she dozed off. He smiled at her, leaning in to kiss the top of her soft hand before laying back down. He’d never imagined this is how the night would have ended up. Pizza, wine, and a movie, but it was perfect. It was just what he needed. Before he knew it he’d fallen asleep on the other side of her couch, still holding her hand in his.