+++

Alex is far from right on her judgment of her day. After a few rounds of sex with Jax, she was called into work on her day off because Melinda's daughter has a court hearing for custody over her kid. Jax told her he'd bring her truck by for her while she was pouring drinks but something with the club came up instead. Sig isn't at the bar unlike usual, something about checking in with a distributor so she's by herself on Half Price Saturday and it's slammed.

"Holy fuck." She mumbles under her breath as she takes a basket of fried pickles to a table of well dressed, obviously out of place, men. "Sorry 'bout the wait, y'all. We're a little short handed tonight."

"No problem, darlin." One of them says. "Thanks." She blushes at the smile he gives her as she heads back behind the bar. Alex finally gets a break from demanding customers and she drops her exhausted body on the barstool next to the liquor shelves.

The door jingles open and Opie walks in. "You alright?" He asks when he sees her sitting with her head against the wall. He leans against the bar with his elbows on the counter.

"Peachy." She mumbles, sitting forward with elbows on knees with her head in her hands. "Melinda and Sig are off tonight so it's just me."

"Holy shit."

"Hey! Can I get a drink or what!?" One of the suited men ask. He's about average height, maybe a little taller but stocky. He has red- almost brown- hair that looks like it's glued to his head with how much product is in it. A pair of round glasses hang from the front of his white button up shirt with a burgundy blazer on.

She sighs as she stands, "What can I get-"

"Rum and Coke." He snaps, rolling his eyes, bringing his hand up to scratch his clean trimmed beard.

"That's a rice watch. Rolex?" Opie comments, looking at the shiny gold piece of jewelry on his right wrist.

"Opie..." Alexandrea warns through gritted teeth.

The man scoffs. "Like I'd be caught in that garbage. Audemars Piguet." He looks at the diamond bezel. "The best of the best."

"Wow. How much did that set you back?"

"Opie..."

"Forty five G's." He winks at Alex who forces a fake smile, setting his order in front of him. "It's higher quality than a Rolex. With Audemars Piguet, I don't have to worry about the crystal falling out or the minute hand stopping." The man fiddles with the

two-tone strap around his hairy wrist.

"Huh."

The man looks down at his drink in disgust. "Are you fucking stupid? I didn't order this." He pushes it away like it has cooties.

"Rum and Coke? Yes you did." Opie bites his lip knowing this argument isn't going to end well.

"I asked for a fucking Martini. Two olives."

"We don't do that here." She chuckles. "This is a dive bar not a club. So," she forcefully sets the drink back in front of him. "Here's your Rum and Coke."

"Get me a fucking Martini and get rid of this piss you call a Rum and Coke." He tosses the contents of the glass at her. She gasps as ice hits her and falls down her shirt.

Opie immediately stands. "Sit your ass down, Winston." She snaps, grabbing a towel to wipe her face with to get a clear view of the asshole with a snobbish grin. "A martini, huh?"

"Glad to see your ears finally work under all that metal."

"A martini." She hums, turns to the shelf and grabs the bottle of good gin. She spins and breaks it over the guys head before leaping over the bar with a jar of green olives. She dumps the juice over him, throwing two olives at his face before wiping her hands off on her apron. Alexandrea ignores the looks from the customers as she uses the bar phone to call Sig to tell him she was going to miss the rest of her shift.

She hangs up and makes her way outside, sitting on the sidewalk, lighting a cigarette. Opie joins her shortly. "Still got that fire, huh?"

"Somethings don't change. 'We know what we are, but know not what we might be.' Shakespeare said that." She exhales, a cloud of smoke falling from her nose and lips.

Opie shakes his head. "You're something else. Sig called, said he's on his way and you're in a shit ton of trouble."

"Always have been, always will be." She takes a deep drag of her cigarette. "Damn, where are the cops? It hasn't taken them this long to get here before." Just as she finishes her sentence, Unser pulls up in front of them. "Nice to see you again, Wayne." She says politely as she gets to her feet.

"You know the drill." He sighs, opening the back door of his car for her. She nods and flicks her cigarette away before sliding in, shutting the door behind her. "The hell she do this time?"

"There was some asshole picking on her." Ope rubs the back of his neck. "Totally self defense." He bites back a laugh.

"I'll see what I can do." Unser sits in the drivers seat making his way down to the police station. "It's been pretty quiet here for the past few years, Alex. Where've you been?"

She scoffs. "You just assume that when all is well in Charmin' I'm not here?" He gives her a look in the rearview mirror. "Outta town."

"Figured as much." He parks his car and helps her out. He grabs her upper arm and walks her inside to the holding cell. "I'll be back with paperwork and shit." She clicks her tongue and gives him a finger gun before he walks off.

Alex sits down on the shitty bed that's bolted into the cement wall. She kicks her drink soaked sneakers off, setting them to the side before tossing her apron to the floor. "Drea, what the hell?" She rolls her eyes at that voice. "I got a call from Ope saying you got arrested."

"No I'm actually bakin' a fuckin' cake, can't you tell?" She spits as she sits back. "What do you want, Teller?" He's quiet, no idea why he suddenly cares about her. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone."

Jax scoffs loudly as he shakes his head. "What happened?"

"Leave me alone, Jax-"

"Tell me what happened."

"Unser, thank god you're back." She says in a fake whiny voice, gripping the paint peeling cell bars. "He won't leave me alone." She actually has tears in her eyes. "Can you get him outta here please?" When Wayne's back is turned to her, she gives the blonde a shit eating grin with a wink. Jax scoffs and rolls his eyes, shoving his way past the chief. "Thank you, sir."

"Dry your eyes, kiddo. You've got a long ways to go."

+++

Forty eight hours.

Alexandrea's spent forty eight hours in Unser's Cage. He's kept her company for a couple hours, brought her some food from the nearby diner and even played some cards with her. "Dean's agreed to not press charges." He says to her as he unlocks the cell.

"The fuck is Dean?" She groans out as she stands. "Do I know a Dean?"

"Dean Wilson. The asshole you hit over the head with a bottle of vodka."

"It was gin. Tanqueray, y'know, the good stuff." She picks up her shoes and apron. "Thanks for keeping me company. We should do this again sometime."

"If I see you in here again-"

"Sig'll get an earful. I know how it works." She gives him a pat on the shoulder before making her way out to the parking lot barefoot with her shoes still in her arms. "Why are you here?"

"Wow. I thought you'd be glad to see me." Jax says as he leans against her truck. "Even after I cleaned up Craig and brought him to you." She rolls her eyes at the name he gave it, walking towards her vehicle. "You look- and smell- awful."

"Rum doesn't age well outside them wood barrels." She yawns, reaching for her door handle but she's stopped by his hand on her sticky upper arm. "What?" Jax gets a look her dark and tired eyes. He says nothing as he wraps her in a hug, his chin on the top of her head. She drops her shoes to hug him back, tears forming in her throat as she buries her face in his chest. She's been too angry to cry about the situation but now she's embarrassed and humiliated. She quickly looks away when he lets her go, hiding her watery eyes. He sees them but says nothing as he opens the door for her, handing her sneakers up. She puts them on then drives back to the shop for Jax to pick up his bike.

Once she's parked at TM, Alex is greeted with whistles and applause. "Fuck off." She huffs, walking to the picnic table to snag a cigarette out of the unsupervised pack.

"You." She hears from behind her. Alex pops a hand on her hip as she looks at who the fuck is talking to her before sitting on the table. That thin haired weirdo from her first night back at the bar. "Why are you here?"

"You've just really been on my mind since I last saw you." She flutters her eyelashes, spreading her legs as she sits. "Kept thinkin to myself 'damn. I need to talk to that guy who's twice my age'."There's a snicker from Jax. "'Mmm, that guy who's obviously a horny fuckin cradle robber, mmm, I just gotta talk to him'." His face goes red as his eyes narrow at the silver fiend. "You look mad. Are you gonna hit me?" She feigns a scared look. "Leave me alone, old man." She pushes him out of her way so she can head to Jax's dorm to take a hot shower. Alex doesn't want to head home because she knows Sig is waiting there to scold her.

She kicks Jax's dorm door shut so she can strip in peace. She exhales heavily as she steps into the shower, letting the hot water run over her sticky and dirty skin. She doesn't hear the door open but jumps when the shower curtain rattles. "You doing alright?" Jax asks quietly.

"Yeah." She mutters back, pushing her hair out of her face. She looks up and he sighs at her bloodshot eyes. "I'm fine." He takes his clothes off and gets in behind her, his arms going around her waist. She has a déjà-vu moment but it ends when Jax reaches over and picks up the bottle of his generic shampoo, silently washing her hair for her. The gesture makes her tear up; she's rarely seen this caring side of him. Last time this came out was when her parents left, the two were extremely close friends at that time.

Jax steps out and wraps a towel around his waist before handing her a dry one. "I have clothes you can borrow."

"Thanks." She mumbles, lazily drying off before grabbing a shirt from his dresser. "Pants?"

"Second drawer from the bottom."

"Thanks." She says again, pulling a pair up her long tan legs. "I gotta get home."

"You can stay here. I remember the first time you got arrested and Sig gave you so much hell."

"That was not my fault." She looks at his reflection in the mirror as she dries her hair. "That cop was totally out to get me."

"Yeah because the alcohol in your system didn't make you fucking reckless-"

"I was sixteen! My mom just died and my asshole of a dad's car was sitting there and he left the keys in the ignition! Being drunk was your fault!" Jax chuckles, putting his hands on her shoulders, kissing her cheek.

"I gotta get going-"

"You're staying here." Jax says, grabbing her keys from her purse before he shoves them in his underwear.

"Like that's gonna stop me." Alex gives him a look as she slides her hand down his torso to his waistband. She pulls the elastic and lets it snap against his skin earning a yelp from the tough blonde biker. The keys hit the floor and she beats him to picking them up. "Get fucked, Teller." She starts towards the door but is stopped with a hand around her wrist. He pulls her back against him and kisses her. "What's with this? You don't kiss me like ever." Jax blushes at the comment as he shakes his head. "Goin' soft on me, huh?"

"Oh you know that's not true." She can hear the smirk on his lips as he dips his hands behind the waistband of her sweats.

The door swings open. "Jax, Clay's look-" the words die in the strawberry blonde boys throat. "Sorry." He blushes hard.

"That's why you fucking knock, Prospect." Jax rolls his eyes as he pulls away. "What?" He demands.

"Clay's looking for you. Something about Gemma." Jax sighs and leaves Alex alone.

"Prospect huh?" She gives him a smile that makes him blush harder. "Good for you, kid." She squeezes his shoulder as she makes her way out to the rest of the guys, still barefoot.

"It's Kip."

"Nice to meet you, Kip. I'm Alex." They shake hands. "I'm hungry." Her eyes land on Opie. "Shit." She dips into the tiny kitchen, hoping he didn't see her.

"Hey, you alright?" Ope asks, leaning against the doorway.

"I'm fine. No charges." She shrugs, looking into the bare fridge. "I'm hungry."

"Let me take you out."

"I look homeless, Ope." She shuts the door then heads to the bar to make herself and Old Fashioned.

"You're beautiful." He leans against the counter with a smile on his face. "You haven't changed over the last ten years."

"Bullshit." She laughs. "I have to steer clear of a magnet because of my ears and if I get a different job I'll be stuck in fuckin turtlenecks and jeans because of my-" he grabs the back of her neck and pulls her in for a kiss.

"You're smoking again." He mumbles against her lips before kissing her hotly.

There's a low whistle from behind them. "Glad to see you again, Alexandrea." Gemma forces a smile.

"Emma." She nods, throwing back her drink.

"We're doing a fundraiser at the junior high school, Taste Of Charming. You should come."

"I'll think 'bout it." Gemma rolls her eyes. "When is it?"

"Saturday."

"I'll see what my day looks like." Opie keeps his eyes down as the two women talk. They've never gotten along even when Alex's mom passed, those two were the best of friends. "See all y'all later. Emma." She excuses herself as she heads back to Jax's dorm to gather her things.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jax asks from behind her.

"I gotta leave sometime. I can't hide here forever. I can't avoid Sig." The blonde grabs her hand and spins her. "Your mother invited me to some fundraiser."

"Are you going?"

She shrugs. "We'll see what I'm feeling." She kisses his cheek then heads out to the lot, climbing into her truck.

+++

"Alexandrea James!" Sig shouts when he sees her behind the bar. "What the hell is wrong with you!? We've talked about this!"

"Hey, he's was bein' a real asshole to me." She shrugs, stacking clean glasses. "What was I supposed to do? Let him be an ass?"

"You should've called me-"

"I didn't want to interrupt you." She sighs as she pushes her hair back. Sig throws his hands to the top of his head before exhaling heavily. "I'm sorry, Sig."

He nods and gives her a hug, pressing a fatherly kiss to her forehead. "Just take the rest of the week off and relax."

"No I can't-"

"You can and you will." Alex takes a deep breath and nods, blinking back tears as she gathers her things. "You still have your job and apartment, okay? I just want you to clear your head."

"Thanks." She gives him a weak smile before heading out of the bar to her apartment.