Jax paced back and forth along the hospital floor. They’d taken Tara a few hours ago and so far no news from the doctors. The club was with him seated silently around the waiting room, his mother showing up with Juice shortly after he’d called them. Everyone was wondering where Mina was. Whenever things were as fucked up as this, she was always by Jax’s side. Keeping their president strong. Level-headed.

“Where’s Mina?” Juice spoke up saying what was on everyone else’s mind. The only two who knew were Tig and Chibs.

Jax’s eye shot up to Juice’s causing the already nervous man to look at the ground. “I can’t get a hold of her.” The blonde answered lowly. He was a wreck without her next to him. All he wanted to feel the warmth of her body against his. To take in her scent and feel the rush of calm over him. Since finding Tara unconscious and bloody on his kitchen floor he’d been losing his mind. Things had finally seemed to settle down, she was going to take his boys to a safe place, he was going to be with Mina – then he found Tara half dead on the floor and Mina thought he’d cheated on her.

“Do you think Lin got ahold of her too?” Bobby’s gruff voice broke Jax out of his thoughts.

Fuck! He hadn’t thought of that. He’d been all over the place with her and now she was a target. He stood up in a panic to go towards the door. “I’m going to find her.”

Chibs grabbed his shoulder pulling him away from the door. Standing in front of the blonde man blocking his way. “You’ve done enough Jackie boy. I’ll find her. You need to stay in case anything happens with yer wife”

Jax’s eyes grew dark in anger as he shoved his VP’s hands off of him. “Take Tig with you. If anything happened to her it’s on your heads for opening your mouths. Bring her back here, I need to know she’s safe.”

Tig looked between the angry men and pulled Chibs away, going out the door. The young president turned to the confused gazes the rest were giving him. Ignoring it all, he took an empty seat by the door, resting his head in his hands. Gemma got up from her seat next to Nero and quickly made her way over, running her hands up and down his back. “Want to tell me what that was about?”

He grunted as he sat up, leaning back in the chair. “She came with Tig to the motel, I guess I was taking a while talking to Tara and they thought we were fuckin’.” He shook his head staring at the ground.

“Were you?” Gemma asked.

“No.” He looked at her, seeing the disbelief in her eyes. “I couldn’t do that to her.”

---

Mina stared at the ground while her sister blabbed on about how right she was. What did she expect? She took another sip of her glass and stared into the cup. She was so hurt. Betrayed. After all she’d done for him. What a fool she was thinking it would be anything different. What hurt even more was that HE was the one to want this relationship. He was the one who made promises. She was the idiot who fell for it.

“At least we’re leaving, honey. You’ll never have to be near him again.” Adrianna said as soothingly as possible to her silent sister. She hadn’t spoken a word since she got home but from the tears and near empty bottle of wine, Adriana knew her sister was hurting. “I’m leaving in the morning to go look for a place. I was thinking Atlanta? You like big cities it’ll be a nice change.”

Still, Mina said nothing. When she found out Chris had been cheating on her she had burned all of his clothes, threw anything that was his out of the window, but she couldn’t bare to go inside her room where Jax had his clothes. She hadn’t lost a boyfriend, she’d lost a best friend, and that hurt more than any of this. “I’ll go.” She finally spoke out. She did need a change. Getting out of Charming would clear her head and Atlanta was big enough to help.

Adrianna left after a little while. Her phone had been ringing nonstop and she knew it was Jax. Every time it lit up all she would see was a photo of the two of them pigging out on her couch. She threw it onto the smaller sofa and curled up on the couch to get some sleep when pounding on her door scared her. She peeked down the stairs when she heard Chibs’ and Tig’s voices calling for her to open up.

With an eye roll she made her way down the stairs, opening the door to the two of them. “Yes?”

Chibs put his hand on the doorframe as Tig leaned on the other end. “We need you to come with us doll.” Tig said, slowly as to not anger her. They’d seen the extent of what she could do with a bat.

Mina crossed her arms over her chest and let out a laugh. “You’re fuckin’ with me right?”

Chibs shook his head. “‘fraid not. Tara was attacked. You might be next.”

She scoffed and went to close the door. “I think I’ll be fine. The Prince can manage without me.”

Chibs put his hand to keep the door open and Tig shook his head. “Don’t make this hard Mina. We need you to come. This isn’t about Jax, it’s about keeping you safe.”

She rolled her eyes at the two before walking upstairs to grab her jacket. This was so ridiculous. The fact that she even had to be near that man made her skin crawl, but dying wasn’t worth the risk.

---

As the room had fallen silent again, Gemma had wrapped an arm around Jax’s shoulders, rubbing his back. It wasn’t the same. It did nothing for him. The waiting room door open causing everyones eyes to it in hopes of it being a doctor but the sight they saw was even better.

Jax jumped up as quickly as he could running over to the slender brunette, taking her hands in his, “Babe..” he began but she wasn’t having it.

“What happened?” She cut him off, looking up into his tired eyes then at the rest of the club with one man she remembered was there when they killed Clay.

He gripped her hands a little tighter, needing to feel her. “I went to my house after Chapel. She was supposed to be there finishing up with the lawyer. I had told her she could go anywhere she wanted with the boys, to keep them safe..” He put one hand over his eyes to keep from showing tears. Mina’s heart fell seeing him like this but she kept quiet, distant. “When I got there I called out her name but no one answered. Her car was still outside, thats when I stepped closer to the kitchen and saw her laying on the ground with a pool of blood around her head.”

“Jesus Christ.” Mina whispered, removing her hands from his and placing them on her head and taking a deep breath.

Jax tried catching her gaze but she refused to meet his eyes, pulling her head away when he tired to lift her chin. Putting his hands in his pockets he sighed. “Mom said she saw two chinese guys driving past the house when she went to clean.”

Mina’s eyes immediately flew to Gemma’s. Something didn’t add up. A deep look of regret behind those dark eyes told the woman there was more to it.

“Wha… what did the doctor say?” Was all she was able to get out, her eyes still locked with Gemma.

Jax sighed again, running his hands over his hair. He didn’t know what to do with them. She’d never reacted so cold towards him. Whenever they were together, they’d always be close with their hands all over one another. He just needed to explain everything to her. Let her know it wasn’t what she thought, but she wasn’t having it and he couldn’t get his head wrapped around what was going on as it was. “They haven’t told us anything. She’s been in surgery for hours now.” He whispered as he went to have a seat.

She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest looking around the room full of tired faces. “I’m going down to the cafe to get everyone some coffee.”

“I’m coming..” Jax stood up again but Chibs shook his head.

“Nah brother,” The man stood “I’ll go. ” Jax looked at Mina then at Chibs slightly annoyed. He needed time alone with her, to let her know what had happened. He watched Chibs and Mina proceed down the hallway and leaned his head against the door.

---

“Thanks.” Chibs said, stirring some sugar in his coffee. “For not makin’ a scene.”

Mina looked down at the cups they’d already filled. “Yup..”

“He said he didn’t do anything lass. He came out looking for you.” He continued.

She chuckled under her breath. “Do you believe that?”

Chibs paused for a moment, taking a good look at her. “Jackie cares for you a lot, dearie. That I believe”

Lifting her eyes to finally meet his, she bit the bottom of her lip. “I let it get too far. I know the man he is, hell he was cheating on Tara when I met him.”

He shook his head, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve never seen that boy as straightened up and focused as he is with you. He has direction. A purpose. He wouldn’t fuck that up and neither should you.”

Lifting the tray with the coffee she lowered her eyes to the ground. Nodding silently they made their way back. He said he didn’t do it. Chibs had never lied to her. Hell, Jax had never lied to her. It didn’t matter anyway. She didn’t need this. The hurt she felt inside was more than she’d ever dealt with and that scared her.

They headed upstairs where everyone continued to sit in silence. Mina had a seat next to Bobby and Tig whole Jax sat with Gemma across from her. She didn’t miss the looks from them. A look of sorrow from Jax and one of resentment from Gemma but that wasn’t her problem.

---

Jax stared at Mina the entire time. She refused to meet his gaze. He’d never experienced anything like this. This feeling of being completely alone in a room full of his family and it was all because of Mina. The attachment he had to her.

He noticed the eye contact between her and his mother. There seemed to be so much anger and hate going on between the two but he couldn’t get why. His mother was the one to push him towards her – tell him what a good old lady she would be, and Mina was the one who was on his mother’s side when Tara tried to frame her. Now the tension in the room was unbeatable.

Mina’s phone ringing broke the silence in the room. He watched her get up to walk out the room. The graceful way her body moved drove him crazy with a need to touch her, but every time he’d try it was like he set her skin on fire. He felt like her asshole ex he’d gotten rid of for this exact reason but it was all a misunderstanding if she’d even let him explain.

He watched his mother walk out after her and he didn’t like the vibe she was giving off so he got up to head out there when the door opened again and the doctor came in.

“Mr. Teller?” he asked looking up from his clipboard.

“Yeah.” Jax cleared his throat looking at the doctor nervously.

“Mr. Teller, your wife had serious trauma to the head. She’s going to need to stay here for at least a week so we can keep a close eye on her while she recovers. You’ll be able to see her once she wakes up.”

Jax nodded at the doctor relieved that she’d okay. He needed to get her out of here as soon as possible. This only confirmed how much danger she was in. Who knows what could have happened if the boys were with her.

---

Mina got a call from Adrianna that her flight was all set for tomorrow morning. When she hung up she turned to see Gemma standing there with her arms crossed. Putting the phone in her pocket she mimicked Gemma’s pose, standing up straighter.

“Goin’ somewhere?” Gemma stepped closer.

The younger woman locked eyes with her, “Ain’t none of your concern.”

With a smirk, the older woman stepped even closer, closing the distance between them. “You really thought you were something special to him? Thought he’d leave his high school sweetheart for you? The mother of his kids?”

Mina smirked and looked into those dark eyes “Probably best he didn’t otherwise I would’ve ended up in Tara’s place. Ain’t that right Gemma?” The quick flash of black in the woman’s eyes was enough to confirm everything Mina suspected. It all made so much sense – everything Tara was trying to accomplish. It was to escape from Gemma.

Gemma’s smirk quickly turned into a scowl but before she could speak, Jax came over to them. “Everything alright?”

She looked from him to Gemma then back at him. “Yeah. I gotta go. Hope everything’s alright with Tara.” She turned around and walked down the hallway, desperately needing to not be near him.

“Mina wait!” Jax yelled as he ran behind her.

“What, Jax?” She continued walking, keeping her arms crossed over her chest.

He grabbed her arm making her stop to look at him. Huffing to catch his breath, he looked down at her eyes. “Please, just hear me out. Nothing happened with me and Tara. I didn’t sleep with her babe.”

After yanking her arm away from him she searched his eyes. She wanted to believe him and deep down she did, but knowing the type of man he was – she didn’t know if she had it in her to always wonder. Hell she’d always come second to the love of his life, the mother of his children, this wasn’t meant to be.

Noticing her silence Jax shook his head. “Look if this is about the chinese, they’re going to pay. I won’t let them get to you babe.”

Mina wanted to bite her tongue so bad but she couldn’t “Open your fucking eyes Jackson. This wasn’t the goddamn Chinese. The only person who wanted Tara dead was your mother.”

He froze but she saw the anger in his eyes. He couldn’t believe his ears. After all the shit his mother had been through with Tara. She’d never do something like that to her. “You think my own mother would attack my wife?” he seethed. “That asshole was right, this isn’t about your thinking I cheated. This is about your being afraid of commitment, letting anyone but that psycho sister close to you.”

She took a step back from him. A knowing but hurt smirk of her face as she scoffed. “Two days ago she was your ex wife and we had a future.” She shook her head looking down for a moment as he realized the mistake in his wording. She looked back up at him. “I don’t care what you believe. This isn’t about me and you. If you leave those boys or Tara anywhere near your mother while she’s getting better, they’ll never make it out of here. If that’s still even in your plans.” She took a deep breath and looked away. “Bye Jax.”

He watched her walk away, still taken aback by her words. He couldn’t believe that his mother would do it. No, it had to be the Chinese like she’d said. It was the only logical explanation. He stared at her for a moment, replaying their conversation in his head. How could he be so stupid to call Tara his wife when he was with Mina, when he loved being with her. Then it hit him that she had said bye. She never said bye. It was always a ‘see you later.’ He didn’t know why that hurt him as much as it did.

As badly as he wanted to go after her, he knew he had to stay at the hospital for Tara. It really got him thinking about leaving the boys with his mother though. He knew how overprotective she could be and having her near them when Tara was recovering, it would only make matters worse. Once he went back to the room, he had Ratboy go follow her. He wasn’t going to risk anything happening to her regardless of if she wanted to be with him or not. They’d talk again after she had time to cool off.

---

After spending the night at the hospital, the doctors told Jax to go home. They’d call him as soon as she was awake. As hesitant as he was, he agreed as he was desperately in need of a shower. He’d called Mina a few times but she’d ignored his calls. He went home to see the boys still asleep with Brooke passed out on the couch. He smiled and threw a blanket over her before heading to the bathroom.

Before he could even take off his shirt, his phone rang and he saw it was Rat. “Yeah?” He answered, looking at himself in the mirror noticing the bags under his eyes.

“Jax, Mina’s at the airport man. I followed her here.” Rat spoke through the phone.

He threw his shirt on immediately. “What do you mean she’s at the airport?! Where’s she going?!”

“I don’t know brother. She had luggage with her and everything.”

“Shit! Find out what gate she’s at. I’ll be right there.” He hurried out the door after hanging up the phone, getting onto his bike and heading for the airport.

Everything was running through his mind. He couldn’t lose two best friends in a matter of months. Mina had become like air to him. He needed her to survive. Had he gone to far last night? Fuck that was probably it. She already had trust issues, throwing them in her face wasn’t the best thing to do.

He got to the airport as fast as he could, running to the gate Ratboy had told him to only to be stopped by security. He could see Mina past the sensors about to board. He tried screaming her name but it was no use, she was already gone. Throwing his hands over his head, Jax felt his eyes sting with unshed tears. He’d lost her. Fucked everything up and now she was gone.