Leila slowly slid down into the water, letting the heat ease her muscle as the smell of soap and candles took over her senses. She rested her head on soft towel along the edge of the tub as she sank in deeper and took a sip of her wine. The privacy her home provided finally allowing her to let her guard down as tears began to fall down her cheeks. She’d hid her pain long enough. From one meeting to the next, to having to attended the conference, to being asked about Jax. It was to much. Now, in her home, sitting in the comfort of her tub, she could let it go.

Charlotte had packed all of Jax’s things before she’d come home and left his returned house keys on the table in the hallway. When she came home, emptiness surrounded her. A void of the love they’d fought so hard for. He did this. He took it all away.

 

Cheating was a deal breaker from day one. Jax knew that. He knew how she loathed her father for betraying her mother. How could he turn around and do this to her? It was clear then that this didn’t mean half as much to him as it did to her. He had told her about Tara. How she was his first love. How he didn’t date anyone for over 10 years after she left. She should’ve known. How could she have been so blind?

 

Her heart ached. Her soul hurt. The betrayal of it all was greater than any physical damage she’d ever endured., but Leila knew her self worth. She was smart. She was kind. She was strong. Jax made his bed. That couldn’t be forgiven. She couldn’t let his choices break her. She’d allow herself tonight – only tonight – to let this all out before she sucked it up. He no longer deserved to see her cry. He no longer deserved to see her weak. He no longer deserved her.

 

She rinsed off in the tub, drying and changing into a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top before washing her face of the salty tears, before letting her hair down and walking down to the kitchen to grab a tub of ice cream.

 

When she walked downstairs her kitchen light was on. A moment of fear set in before she stepped closer to see Jax leaning against the kitchen counter, arms folded against his chest as he stared down at the ground. He lifted his head when he heard her enter and she could see the fresh tears streaked down his face, but she couldn’t feel sorry for him. This wasn’t her mistake.

 

“How did you get in?”

 

She asked coldly, crossing her own arms over her chest expecting an answer. Jax stood straighter, letting his arms drop by his side. His eyes wandered across her body before setting back onto her face.

 

“You’re locks ain’t hard to pick.”

 

“Great. I’ll have new ones put in in the morning. Now get out.”

 

“Leila – please. Just – just hear me out.” He begged, taking a step towards her but she took a step back.

 

“I don’t want to hear you out. Nothing you say can take back what you did, Jax.”

 

“I know, I know that. I just – I owe you an explanation.” He looked in her eyes and when she didn’t protest, he took a deep breath and continued. “I was on my way home. After the day we’d had, I was ready to just hold you until we fell asleep, but on my way, Tara called. Kohn was at her house. He’d tried to rape her and she shot him.”

 

He paused to gage her reaction but she just stood there, stone faced.

 

“When I got there, I told her to call the cops but then he started calling her all these names – I … I don’t know what came over me. I shot him. Point blank in the head.”

 

Leila dropped her eyes to the floor. A wave of anger and disgust came over her.

 

“Then what? You just had sex to celebrate? We’ve had everyone looking for Kohn and you killed him? For what? Your ex girlfriend’s feelings? Because he was calling her names? You murdered someone, Jax. She had a self defense claim. You committed murder because you didn’t like what he had to say.”

 

“It wasn’t that simple, Leila!” He defended. “He would’ve killed her. He would’ve been locked up for a few years then come right back. She needed my help!”

 

“So that’s supposed to make all of this okay? You just get to fuck every damsel in distress that comes your way? First the bitch you pick up in Nevada. Now Tara? Was I just apart of that list too? You just get a fucking hard on for women in abusive situations? Does that make you feel like a knight in shining armour?!”

 

She couldn’t fight back the tears this time. Her emotions getting the best of her as she looked up at his hurt expression. Like he had any right to be hurt.

 

“I never fucked the girl in Nevada! Babe, it wasn’t like that. You know I love you more than anything in this world. You know you’re different! You’ve always been different!”

 

Wiping her face, she stepped back. “I thought I knew. You showed me today that I was nothing more than just another notch on your belt. Just a fucking pawn for your club.” She shook her head. “Get out, Jax.”

 

“Leila -”

“GET OUT!” She screamed causing him to freeze.

His eyes met hers in hopes of finding some sort of sympathy but she offered none. Lowering his head, he turned around and walked out of the door. She walked over, making sure to deadbolt it before sinking to the floor, her back pressed against it as she broke down once more.

 

Sleep had proven to be useless. After tossing and turning for hours she decided to go for a drive. Changing into a pair of black leggings and throwing on a black workout zip up, she tied her hair up in a high ponytail and got in her car.

 

How did things go so wrong? One day they were happy as can be, planning for Abel’s return home, the next day he cheats on her. With Tara of all people. The woman who’d broken his heart all of those years ago. Now she’d come running back bringing all of this drama and he’d welcomed her with open arms.

 

How could she have been so stupid to think he’d ever pick her over Tara? Clearly she’d still held a special place in his life. She’d even volunteered to “save” Abel just to get back into Jax’s life.

 

“Manipulative bitch.” She mumbled under her breath.

 

The car came to a stop and Leila found herself in front of the hospital. Throughout all of this chaos, Abel was the innocent one. She’d gotten so attached to him that this would be the hardest part. True was – Abel wasn’t her kid. He was Jax and Wendy’s son. No amount of love and care would change that.

 

In her head, Leila debated going inside but she couldn’t fight it. It would only make this harder, but she needed to see him.

 

Walking inside the hospital, she made her way to the third floor where Abel’s room was. It was quieter than usual. Just a few night staff walking around. It was just what she needed. She walked down the hallway to his room,

 

“Leila?” A woman’s voice caught her attention and you turned to see Sarah, the nurse who had been taking care of Abel. “It’s almost 3 in the morning, what are you doing here?”

 

Leila sighed, looking through the window at the sleeping baby boy then back at Sarah. “I have to see him.”

 

Sarah noticed the worn out look on the blonde’s face before looking around for any sign of a supervisor. “Go ahead.” she nodded.

 

She offered a grateful smile before going into the dark room, the only lighting was the hallway light coming through the window. She took a seat, pulling it close to the baby’s crib before she leaned her arms on the edge of it, watching him sleep peacefully. Since he was no longer in the incubator, she got to place her hand in his, rubbing his soft skin with her thumb as his fingers curled around hers.

 

Resting her head in her arm, she closed her eyes, singing to him softly as his hand held onto hers.

 

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine;

You make me happy, when skies are gray.

You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.

Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

 

---

 

Jax opened the doors to the dorms, members of other charters had already started to flood the clubhouse. After the attempt on Clay’s life the other charters had been called. Clay wanted to bounce out the Mayan problem with them before they decided on any retaliation. He had disappeared for a long while yesterday, went in for questioning with Unser and when he returned, he was calling all the west coast charters

 

He made his way towards the kitchen when he heard Clay speaking to Gemma.

 

“She won’t answer the phone, I tried her and her little lap dog. Neither of them picked up.”

 

“Shit, numb nuts really fucked us over on this one.”

 

“What’s going on?” He said, pulling his shirt over his head as he walked into the kitchen.

 

He looked between his mom and Clay expecting an answer but they just exchanged looks before Clay grunted for Gemma to answer him.

 

“We can’t get in touch with Leila.” She said.

 

“We need to know where we stand on our deal.” Clay stood.

 

“She don’t owe us anything.” He argued, getting more and more upset.

 

“Have you gotten a chance to talk to her?” Gemma stepped over to him, placing a hand on his back.

 

“I tried last night. She threw me out. Didn’t want nothing to do with me.”

 

“Well you better fucking fix that. With the moves we have planned, we’re going to need her on our side.” Clay pointed his finger in Jax’s face before turning to Gemma. “Head to city hall. See if you can find her there.”

 

Gemma nodded, giving her son a kiss on the cheek before walking out of the small kitchen area. Clay turned his attention back to Jax and nodded his head out the doorway.

 

“Lets get this shit show started.”

 

All the men went into church. They gathered around the table with the Charming charter sitting in their seats. Clay took a look around at each one of the men before taking a deep breath and leaning forward.

 

“What happened in last night, can never happen again. Not just someone trying to off me, but bodies dropping in Charming ‘cause of us. We still need to hold up our end of the deal and maybe our insider will hold up theirs.”

 

He turned his head to look at Jax, narrowing his eyes before looking back at the men.

 

“We had nothing to do with the hit on the Nords.” Tig commented.

 

“Mayans went after Me and Darby, all right? Different targets, same war. We fire back – we can’t stop the blow back from hitting home.”

 

The men around the table continued and Clay continued.

 

“I sat down with Alvarez.”

 

Eyes shot up to him. The crowd murmuring amongst each other.

 

“What? Just the two of you?” Tig questioned.
“Where?” Jax asked.

 

“Unser’s cage. We – uh – discussed our outstanding issues. Made a deal.”

 

“What kind of deal?” Bobby put out his cigarette, leaning forward.

 

“We sell them guns, they settle all their beefs with us. Any territory hassles. Any business disputes. It all lands in our favor.”

 

“You made that call without a vote?” Piney huffed from the other side of the table.

 

“I set it up.” Clay defended. “We vote now. If this thing passes, we all sit down with the Mayans in our own territories, you work stuff out. Take the win.”

 

After questions they had were brought to the table but ultimately the vote went through. It was clarified that whoever tried to kill Clay would be handled by and outside charter. They selected Happy and it seemed to calm Tig for the time being. With a deep breath, the president banged the gavel and the party started again.

 

Gemma pulled into the lot before she walked to the guys who were gathered on one of the picnic tables outside. Clay gave her a kiss before sitting her on his lap.

 

“Any word from Heaton?” He asked, causing Jax to look up at her expectantly.

 

“Turns out they’re Both in Washington for the weekend.” Gemma let them know.

 

“Washington state? Why?” Juice asked.

 

“Washington, D.C.” Gemma corrected. “Her assistant wouldn’t give me any more details. Kept her mouth shut pretty good.”

 

“When did they leave?” Jax asked causing the rest of the men to look at him, glaring.

 

“This morning.” She answered.

 

“Fucking great.” Clay growled.

 

Jax lowered his head. He had no right to be asking where she was. After what he did to her, she had every right not to speak with him again, but damn, it did not sit well that she was that far away from him. Across the country for Christ’s sake.

 

“You still with us?” Clay looked over at him.

 

Once Jax nodded, Chibs continued talking, “Cameron was supposed to kill that piece of shit Hefner before Monday.”

“Hefner’s squeezing the Irish for more payoff cash.” Juice added. “So he’s gonna intercept the cargo.”

 

“How’s that our problem?” Tig asked.

 

“It’s not a problem. It’s a gift from the Irishman.” Chibs corrected.

 

“Look, we take out the port commissioner, he’s going to give us back the 200k we just forked over. Plus a month of free guns.” Juice spoke up again.

 

“Our warehouse rebuild is crushing us.” Bobby reasoned.

 

“Murder for hire? Clay asked. “That’s dirty business.”

 

“it’s not about money.” Piney addressed the table. “That asshole killed McKeavy. Michael was a friend of mine and yours and your dad’s.” He said looking at Jax. “He went back a long way with SAMCRO.”

 

“What do you think V.P.” Clay asked Jax.

 

“I agree with Piney.” He nodded. He had to prove his loyalty to the club somehow. He’d fucked up more than allotted for one member. “McKeavy was a friend and I think we owe it to the Irish.”

Clay thought it over for a few minutes before they agreed. After finding out how Cameron was going to do it, he put Bobby, Opie, and himself in charge of getting it done. He needed to do this. 2 kills in the same week weren’t going to be easy. Murder for hire made him sick to his stomach regardless of who it was for, but this was for the club. He needed to be taken seriously again.

 

They headed back inside to the bar to see Gemma staring at the TV, arms crossed over her chest. They all looked to see she was watching some bullshit entertainment show.

 

“Ma, what’re you watching?” He asked, grabbing a beer from behind the bar.

 

“They mentioned something about the Heaton’s.” Gemma said, not looking away from the TV.

 

The guys stepped around to see the screen switching to an image of Leila and Jeffrey at the airport. Leila’s face was covered by her sunglasses as they showed images of her boarding a plane..

“First family of San Joaquin county, Jeffrey and Leila Heaton boarded a 5AM flight to Washington DC this morning. Sources tell us that they’re headed to celebrate ATF Director, David Berkley’s 30th anniversary in office. The event will be attended by some of the most powerful people from our country’s capital to that Mr. Berkley for his years of remarkable work. Charming Tonight correspondent, Tina O’Reilly will be updating us live from DC in the next half hour.”

 

“Well, guess we know what they’re doing in DC.” Bobby broke their concentration.

 

“Damn. It really must suck having your whole life televised.” Juice shrugged his shoulders, looking around at the men before returning his gaze at the tv.

 

Jax stared at the bar top as the TV went on about other gossip stories. Juice was right. It did suck but Leila always handled it like a champ. She was adamant about her privacy and everyone around her had a tight lip. That was good when it came to their relationship and the strings she pulled but on a day to day basis, everyone was always so interested in what she was doing. The only upside to this was that he could keep track of her, even if he couldn’t see her in person.