The Life of Nikki Winston

Don't Get My Hopes Up

When I woke u the next morning and stepped out into the main room of the clubhouse, I found Jax with a split lip and Tig with bruises and an odd limp. "Jesus H. Christ. What the hell happened to you two?"

"Got into a bar fight after dealing with the witness." Tig replied.

"Chibs," I called out to the man passed out on the bar top, "Take care of Jax's split lip, yeah? I'll deal with Tig." When I got a nod of confirmation from the Scotsman, I grabbed Tig by the arm and pulled him with me to the communal bathroom. "Now what the hell really happened, Tig? I know that you two didn't these kinda injuries from some guys that can't hold their liquor."

Tig sighed as I made him pull his shirt off to see the extent of the damage. "Jax and I fought after we dealt with the witness. We were supposed to kill 'em, not scare 'em off."

"Why the hell did Jax just scare him?"

"It was a seventeen year old girl."

"Shit. Okay, I can see why Jax scared her off instead of letting you kill her. But you can't fight with your brothers, Trager. I'm not gonna give you a lecture. I know you've probably heard enough of one from Clay or Gemma by now." I pressed on his bruised ribs, getting a hiss of pain in return. "Did you ice this at all when you got back?" His silence was my answer. "Dumb ass. I don't think he managed to break anything. Might have those bruises for a while though. Go put an ice pack on that and rest for today, alright." I instructed.

"Any way I can convince you to help me out with an ice bath, Nik?" Tig teased.

"Not unless you wanna die naked, Trager. Daddy would shoot your ass faster than you could get hard. Go on, ice that, ya pervert. I'm gonna check with Chibs on how much damage you did to Jax." I left Tig in the bathroom and made my way to the Chapel room where Chibs had dragged Jax to check on him.

"I told you I'm fine, Chibs." Jax muttered with his back to me.

"What's the damage, Chibby?" I asked.

"He's got a couple bruises, maybe one on his ribs. Just needs an icepack."

"Same with Tig. Stupid perv asked me to help him with an ice bath again. I guess he didn't learn from the last time Dad and Opie got on his case about it." I chuckled, remembering the day Tig first flirted with me in front of my overprotective family. "Alright. I'm gonna head to Opie's place, check on Donna. I want to make sure she hasn't been stressing that wound." I told Chibs, giving him a hug goodbye before I walked out of the room. I stopped by Opie's room to change clothes and grab my things and made my way outside to my truck. "God damn it," I muttered when I felt a hand on my wrist. "What?" Jax stood behind me with a concentrated look on his face. "What do you want, Teller?"

"Tara's leaving Charming again."

"What do you want me to do about it? I'm glad the bitch is leaving. I warned you she would, Teller. I warned you that she wouldn't stay. And I warned you that I wasn't gonna wait around to be there as a rebound pussy when she left again. I'm not gonna play this game with you, Jax. I've gotta go." I tried to pull away but Jax tightened his grip and spun me around. "Jax, please just let go. I'm tired of fighting you; I'm tired of being left on the sidelines until you need something. I'm just tired. The only reason I don't find a way out is because it would hurt too many people if I did." I sighed, trying to look anywhere but at him.

"What if you weren't rebound pussy?"

"Don't even say that. Don't. Because it'll mean a lot more to me than it will to you and I can't go through that again, Jax. Once was enough. You've already proven to me what I am to you, and I just can't bring myself to be satisfied with that. Don't ask me to, because the answer will be 'no'."