Kennedy's eyes snap open from another dream about Opie. Since her brother's passing, they plagued her with dreams where he was still alive or he was dying and she was trying to save him. She wished just for one night she could get a break from her misery and dream about nothing.
It still seemed unreal that Opie was gone. She liked to think he was just still in Chino because she could get by with thinking that. He was just away. But even with those five years, she never got used to Opie being gone. Now was different. He wasn't a phone call or letter away; he was gone permanently.
Kennedy is trying to figure out what that even meant to her. Opie was the most important man in her life. He was her protector–her best friend–and now he was gone and it left her with this black hole in her chest. Since Jax had told her of Opie's passing, she had this heavy feeling in her chest. It's as if there are intense pressures that never seem to go away. It's as if there are intense pressures that never seem to go away. Kennedy wonders if she is depressed because it sure doesn't feel like grief.
But she reminds herself that Opie wouldn't want her to give up or be throwing a pity party for herself. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't afford it. Donna and the kids need her to be strong. She couldn't afford to take a time out and it wasn't as if she was the only one to lose Opie.
However, just laying in bed being swallowed by her grief sounds appealing, at least for a day. It isn't as if she had anything on her agenda.
She thinks maybe she should've just allowed Jax to stay, but a part of her didn't like to look at her grief reflected in her. Looking at Jax was like looking in the mirror. She couldn't handle her pain and she sure as hell knew that she wouldn't be able to handle Jax's. Honestly, she appreciated he seemed to fall off the face of the earth for the past month.
She knows what almost happened on the roof of the clubhouse that night was a factor, but the overall situation was the driving force that kept the distance.
Still, she missed Jax for the past month.
Since she came to Charming, like Opie, Jax had always been there for her. She was sure it was downright annoying how she latched onto him. But if it wasn't for Jax and Opie, Charming wouldn't have been her home. As she thinks about it, Opie and Jax were her home and she just lost a part of her home. But she still has Jax.
For some reason, she feels things are about to get complicated with Jax.
Growing up with him and Opie, despite Jax acting like a brother, Kennedy never viewed him as a brother. He was family in a sense because of her father being a patch member and, at times, he was just her older brother's annoying best friend that co-signed on Opie's overprotectiveness. Yet, he was also someone she could talk to without worrying about disappointing her big brother. It wasn't as if she was telling him all her deep dark secrets, but he was there for her when she lied to both Opie and Piney about spending the night at a friend's house and ended up going to a party with a boy who ended up only trying to get into her pants. Jax had picked her up when she called him at 1 o'clock and let her crash at his recently purchased house when she was 17. He was the one to who she complained about Opie spending too much time with his girlfriends or how she wanted to fight some random girl in school for whatever reason back in the day.
As she grew up and discovered the appeal of the opposite sex, she could admit she found Jax attractive. She wasn't all heart eyes for him. She knew an attractive man when she saw one, and Jax knew he was attractive as well. In high school, she had to deal with girls gossiping about their fantasies with Jax or a few girls trying to be her friend to get close to him.
Kennedy was also aware of the few rumors about her and Jax, especially on the days he would pick her up from school. It was almost laughable and slightly disturbing considering she knew about Jax's revolving door of women, and it was a big put-off. She thought it was unhealthy, and it surprised her Jax didn't have any major STDs or have more mini-mes running around. Kennedy wasn't a prude by any stretch and she had a few notches on her belt, but she wasn't a hit-and-quit-it person. She needed to have some connection to the person she was letting unbutton her pants.
However, there was flirty banter between the two once she became legal. She wrote it off, as it was just Jax being himself.
Outside of his wandering dick, Jax was a very loyal man. Considering her fucked upbringing with her junkie egg donor, even at 9 years old, she felt safe with Jax just like she did with Opie and even Piney, despite their stunted relationship. There were a lot of admirable qualities that were just overshadowed by his penis-centric ways.
Kennedy doesn't know when things exactly changed for her regarding her feelings. She thinks it was when out of the blue he married a known junkie croweater. That news blindsided her. The few weeks that led up to that announcement, there had been some awkwardness between them that she was unsure where it came from. He was distant from her. At times, it seemed he couldn't even be in the same room with her.
She tried to be happy for him. Yet, when she met Wendy for the first time at a family dinner, something was gnawing at her gut and made her feel sick as she looked at Jax and his wife, especially when it came to light he got her pregnant.
It wasn't until later when she was determined that she was feeling something akin to fucking jealousy. She tried pinpointing when she genuinely cared who Jax was romantically involved with. However, Wendy kept having back-to-back overdoses,, and Kennedy's sympathy for the marriage or even caring for it became non-existent despite her feelings for Jax, platonic or romantic. Jax was an adult. He made his bed, and he had to lie in it.
It wasn't like she daydreamed about becoming his old lady, but she wasn't going to lie. If an opportunity presented itself she might consider spending a night with the infamous Jackson Teller. But Kennedy liked to think she had enough self-worth that she would probably slap Jax if he made the "one-night stand" proposition. She wasn't a fucking croweater. Still, she remembers the night of Opie's funeral when they were sitting on the roof of the clubhouse. They were so close to crossing that line and she wouldn't have cared. And she knows she should. She knows if Jax and she ever did anything, Opie would've had both of their asses. Or really, Jax would've been in a pine box.
But Opie isn't here to care or act like she has to be the Virgin Mary.
She is telling the truth when she told Jax that she was starting to hate Opie as much as she loves him.
She is starting to resent that he chose this lifestyle that has left his children fatherless and his wife a widow. Mad because he was gone. Angry at the fucking club for not having her brother's back.
It wasn't until after Opie's death that Jax had been truthful. He let it slip that a few days prior some shit went down on a drop between the Niners and Mayans and Opie's death could be connected to that.
Opie's case was getting colder by the minute and the cops didn't have much to go off of, but she knows the club did. So far, though, there was no justice she was hearing of yet. However, Kennedy has her suspicions that there is more to the picture here.
No matter what, though, she knows Opie is solely responsible for his actions. Piney groomed him for this life. When Opie patched in, they all knew the risks, and Kennedy feels they don't have the right to grieve because they all knew the risks. It was all of their faults for thinking they were invincible.
Kennedy sighs as she buries her face in her pillow. It is too quiet in the house without Donna and the kids. Kennedy knows she will need to get used to this silence when Donna eventually moves. Donna offered her the house, but Kennedy wouldn't be able to stand the ghosts that live within the walls. She also knows that she would not be able to afford it with her pay from working at the salon. She would like to have the house considering it was her brother's home, but she thinks to heal it would be best to move out on her own. Maybe she should move with Donna, and get out of Charming, but even if Charming was a backwater town and stagnant with growth and prosperity, it was her home.
Kennedy takes a relaxing shower. She plans on making herself comfortable on the couch all day and ordering a medium pizza and wings for herself. She slips on some short shorts that she doesn't know why she owns and decides to let her girls breathe and forgoes a bra. Kennedy isn't busty, but she's not small either. She can't risk wearing no bra in public, but in the comfort of her home, she ca,n do whatever the fuck she wants.
She walks out into the kitchen to make herself some brunch when her eyes latch onto the wad of cash on the countertop next to her pack of cigarettes.
Kennedy walks forward as she picks up the stack of twenties and fifties. She suspects there is probably a grand Jax has left for them to use. It's way too much, but she knows Jax will never take it back. She learned that the hard way. She learned not to argue after 6 months of him doing this for 5 years. He didn't always leave a grand per se, but there was just some cash for groceries or extra money for the kids to get some toys or new clothes.
Kennedy grabs a kitchen chair and slides it over to the cupboards and stands on it as she opens one and digs in the back, where she finds the Crisco can. She opens it and stuffs the bills with the extra money she saved for her September Fund for the kids and Donna.
. . .
For the past month, Gemma has gotten used to waking up to an empty bed. Knowing exactly where to find her husband of almost 20 years, Gemma grabs her black robe and makes her way down to the dining room.
She finds him at the head of the table, the paper in his hands, but his eyes are unfocused. Gemma has become familiar with this since the morning after Opie's death. She could admit being lost in her grief and shock and knowing Clay loved Opie as a son, she didn't think anything of it as he cried in her lap. In spite of her heartache at losing Opie, she did her duty as an old lady and comforted her old man.
However, the following morning when Clay wasn't showing anger, but complete devastation as he eyed the cup of coffee in front of him, the dots connected. Since Opie was released from Chino, he had been stepping back from his brothers. She knew Donna was behind that move and the timing of the Winston family being locked up in a facility by the Feds was a red flag for her husband.
She knows when Clay ordered the hit; it was for the best of the club. Clay needed to make those hard decisions for the best interests of the club. She knows it wasn't personal.
It hurt a part of Gemma that Clay would think so low of Opie that he would rat on the club and even more pissed that he would let that Stahl bitch twist him to doubt Opie. One small part of Gemma knows that it wasn't just Stahl that had Clay doubting Opie. It was Opie's struggling marriage that had the men questioning Opie's loyalty to the club. Gemma knows men would do anything for their old ladies. She had seen it when her son lost himself with Tara and, knowing how much Opie loved Donna and their troubled marriage since his release, she honestly didn't know what Opie would've done to save his relationship.
Sadly, Gemma could see both sides of the situation. She could justify it – rationalize it.
If her son ever found out the truth, it would gut him and she would probably lose both her son and husband. She knows the only reason Jax hasn't connected the dots was because of Wendy's overdose, which resulted in the premature birth of her grandson. Despite wanting to kill that junkie bitch, she was grateful Jax had something to steer his mind from digging into the holes regarding Opie's murder. She doesn't even want to think about the consequences of this for the club. Something like this could fracture charters and this was the mother charter.
However, she and Clay have years of experience in burying secrets. She is so used to lying sometimes she finds it hard to even recognize the truth because they feel the same about her. Gemma tells herself that her secrets are to protect those she loves. Keeping this secret buried was to protect Jax and, most importantly, the club. And luckily, no one was too interested in looking into some of the holes regarding Opie's murder, like when Piney and Jax went on their suicide mission in Oakland.
Despite her heart hurting that her baby is suffering, she is glad he is too gone in his pain for the moment to analyze and dissect Opie's murder. With each passing day, she knows as the case gets colder, it's less likely something suspicious or troubling can come to light. Gemma thinks the only bright side of this shitty situation was Jax would get deeper into the club. It would push him closer to Clay, which would help keep everything buried. She hates the thought of manipulating her son in any way, but, as a mother, she is only looking out for his best interests and she is only protecting his heart.
Gemma arrives at Teller Morrow an hour later, after a quick visit to see her grandson. Tig had shown up at the house and from the looks on her old man's and Tig's face, she surmised something related to Opie's death. It has been a month and they have made no move of retaliation, although her son drowning his sorrows in a bottle and Abel's birth could have something to do with it.
Gemma quickly makes her way out of her black Cadillac Escalade. It's Sunday and Gemma is is seriously considering cutting the hours at TM, or breaking down and hiring some office help. She wants to enjoy a full weekend with herself. She makes a furtive glance inside the garage just to get a sense of who is working when she nearly stumbles on her heels at the sight that greets her.
Gemma is taken aback by the image of her son working and not only that, but he is sober, showered, and clean-shaven. Inside, she is jumping for joy as it seems her son has realized the implication of what his grief could do to his image as VP, but she is also worried.
Jax is so much like his father. It scares her. She has worked so hard to build this club that Opie's death could unravel it all. John was such a complicated man, which ultimately got him killed. But John's blood runs through her son's veins and he inherited not only JT's brains and personality, but his heart, which was detrimental to everything she hoped for her son.
Gemma bypasses the office and walks right into the garage as she makes note of the new hairstyle he is rocking. Gone is the long blonde hair to his shoulders, but trimmed hair that is slicked back. She never even knew Jax owned hair products. The haircut makes him look older, more mature, and an uneasy feeling settles in her gut.
"Hey, baby, I didn't know you were on the schedule." She starts.
Jax's eyes move from the bike he is working on to her brown eyes that are shielded by her sunglasses. "Figure I need to start pulling my weight."
"And I see you got a new makeover, too." Gemma quips. "Didn't know you knew your way around scissors or what hair gel was."
Jax rolls his eyes. "Kennedy did it."
That revelation slightly took Gemma back, as she knows Jax hanging out with Donna or Kennedy could lead to problems - serious problems for the club.
Since Opie's passing, there had been radio silence from the two Winston women for the most part. Gemma saw more of Kennedy than Donna, as the only daughter of a First 9 member was seen doing most of the running around for the family, and last week, Kennedy had come in to get Donna's car inspected. At least Kennedy acted as if she tolerated the club and she knew Kennedy didn't have a problem with the club, for the most part. Gemma can admit with the few female members on the lot and outside of Tig's crazy spawns Fawn and Dawn, the women didn't have much to follow in terms of footsteps. Donna couldn't hide her displeasure with their existence.
"How are Kennedy and Donna?" Gemma asks delicately.
"How'd ya think?" Jax fires back.
"Well, I wouldn't know since one of them has iced everyone out." Gemma counters back. She knows one thing: she was not going to be made to look insensitive in this situation. They all loved Opie. She loved Opie like her own son and she wasn't just being an old lady, telling Kennedy and Donna she was there for them. She was telling them she was there for them as family. And Gemma had a low tolerance for being Martha Stewart and Donna, had made it very clear in the past how much she didn't accept charity. At least, Kennedy gave respect and courtesy and never turned her back on the club's or Gemma's help in the past five years.
"Can you blame them?"
Gemma narrows her eyes at her son; the feeling in her gut is making her nauseous. He is tittering on some dangerous territory. "What the hell does that mean?"
She watches as Jax completely abandons working on the bike before him and his nostrils flare at her. "Donna just lost her husband. Kennedy just lost her brother. He comes home from doing 5 years only to get gunned down what 4-5 months later. Just think what they're going through, ma, especially Kennedy."
Just like that, Gemma's Spidey senses start tingling.
Despite how much Gemma meddles in her son's life, there was one aspect she couldn't quite crack. During Opie's five-year stretch in Chino, of course, the club helped in any way they could with Donna, Kennedy, and the kids. With Jax being Opie's best friend, she knew that Jax would carry that weight personally. He would be there more than other members of the club.
For the first few months, she didn't think anything of it that Jax was spending a lot of time with the Winston women. But Jax soon became a prominent figure in the Winston household and she believed the line between uncle and father was blurring. For a hot second there was talk about Donna exercising the prison clause with Jax, but to be blunt, Donna was one uptight bitch. Unlike every other woman in Charming, Donna never gave her son a second look or even a glance. Plus, she was too locked up in her anger and grief from Opie's prison sentence.
And that only left one other woman who her son could be tapping that soon was the whisper of the croweaters.
Gemma can admit she has a soft spot for Kennedy; she did help raise the girl as Mary bailed on Piney. Piney had no idea how to raise a little girl, in this life especially. Gemma took the girl under her wing for the most part.
As a child, Kennedy was always small for her size and a little thin thing. However, puberty was in her favor. She fucking blossomed overnight. It granted her a tight little body that she knew how to use to her advantage, considering how many times she was met with a pissed Opie, and sometimes Jax, tossing out another boy brave enough to try to sneak one with her.
Besides her lack of proof, her son was indeed tapping the only daughter of a First 9 member, his best friend's sister. It was the fact that for the most part; she believed the relationship between the two was familial. There were only innocent kisses on the cheeks and hugs. There were never any lingering stares, so she thought.
That had been Gemma's first mistake. She recalls once Kennedy had her growth spurt at 17; she saw Jax's eyes wander below the neckline before he quickly corrected himself. She let it slide as her son was a hot-blooded male and even other patches and friends of the club gave Kennedy long glances when they thought no one was looking. However, what sent a red fucking flag up for her was her son's idiotic choice to marry Wendy and how their relationship changed afterward.
Besides being out of the fucking blue, she noticed Kennedy looked like she swallowed a sour lemon whenever Wendy was mentioned or brought up. Then, when the news of the pregnancy was made public, it also coincided with a small fallout between Jax and Kennedy. Gemma actually learned that nugget from Donna Winston herself at one of the few family dinners she allowed her presence at. Donna had slipped that Kennedy and Jax had a major argument that she wasn't privy to that had them talking in stunted conversations or simply not at all or he would stop when he seemed to know Kennedy wasn't there. The next thing Donna knew, Jax was becoming a father and Kennedy started seeing someone else.
Gemma really doesn't believe Jax and Kennedy were sleeping with each other under all their noses or that Jax would jeopardize not only his reputation, but Kennedy's as well. Even if her son was penis centric, she would like to believe he wasn't suicidal when it came to his reputation with the club. Despite Piney and Kennedy having a stunted relationship, Piney was still her father and Jax's brother in the club, and she would like to think her son wouldn't disrespect a well-respected member that way by treating his daughter as a sweetbutt.
Gemma is missing something, and it irks her when she was out of the loop.
At the time, she didn't think anything of it as she was too pissed off at her son for marrying a junkie croweater to really think about why he did it. It fit his MO as he always made stupid decisions when it came to pussy.
But she can play detective another time, as Jax does have a point. Opie was literally Kennedy's world. Gemma had never seen such a strong relationship between siblings. She knows for Kennedy she lost a limb or even a part of her soul–her heart. She also knows that despite how wrecked Kennedy is feeling, she is going to be strong for her family, just as she had raised her. It was almost a shame that the molding Gemma did on Kennedy in making her a perfect old lady would never be of use.
"How is she?" Gemma asks softly.
She observes her son getting a faraway look in his eyes before he eventually shrugs his shoulders. "She's hurting, Ma. You know how she is. Keep it all bottled up for the sake of others. I know being in that house by herself ain't helping either."
Gemma's brows furrow. "What do you mean?"
Jax sighs. "I guess Donna's been going to her parents a lot."
Gemma represses the urge to roll her eyes. She honestly doesn't expect less from Donna. She hates people who run from their problems.
"Maybe I'll stop by," Gemma suggests as she gauges her son's reaction.
"As long as you don't hassle her, the last thing she needs is you all up her ass." Jax ends with a smile.
Gemma feels a little better at her son's teasing tone and it causes her own lips to quirk up. "Don't be an asshole."
"Love ya, ma."
And Gemma's heart melts a little. "I love you too, baby."
"How's Little Man?"
Gemma smiles at the thought of Abel. She is glad it seems he has inherited nothing from that junkie whore. "He's doing good. Real good. He might be coming home sooner than we think."
. . .
After leaving a wad of cash for Kennedy to really use for whatever she needed, Jax made his way back to his dorm at the clubhouse, as his junkie ex was still occupying his house. His initial plan was to take a shower and start reading the manuscript. However, after taking a long, hot shower, he face-planted in his bed and fell right to sleep.
After getting a good night's sleep and not realizing how much he needed a haircut and a shower, he decided it was time to get his shit together and stop feeling sorry for himself. He needed to use his anger–his grief- and do right by Opie and his family. He couldn't do that buzzed off Jack and sitting at Opie's grave.
That was part of the reason he couldn't open or read that manuscript, because Jax knows that whatever his dad wrote would completely tilt his world off its already shaking axis.
That was how he found himself working in the garage on Sunday. He needed to clock in his hours anyway, but it always kept him busy and out of his head too much.
Thankfully, the other mechanics let him be as he worked on making legal cash and for a few hours, he was able to forget about his pain until his mother walked onto the lot.
He knows his mother means well, for the most part, but she is a little overbearing. He knows Gemma loves Kennedy, not out of the obligation of being an old lady as she is to Donna, but really loves Kennedy as a daughter. Yet, he also knows that his mother's loyalty to the club and frequent pro-club speeches could have a negative effect on Kennedy. He knows Kennedy would never outright disrespect a patch or his mother, but this situation that they are all in is a whole different ballgame.
It broke thoughts about Kennedy and his mother as he watches Clay and Tig drive into the lot. Their faces are serious, but when Clay nods his head at him, indicating him to head into the clubhouse, he just knows it has something to do with Opie.
Jax lights his cigarette as Clay slides over a piece of paper with a photo of a Latino man and his statistics.
"I had Trammel look into it. Black Range Rover got jacked outside a bar in Alameda that same night. It turns up two days later, a few miles down the road from the Mayan clubhouse in Heyward. Mac-10 casings on the floor— same kind of gun killed Opie." Clay informs the club.
Jax's cold blue eyes connect to his stepfather's as he is unsure of how to handle this news. He feels the cigarette between his fingers shake with this development in Opie's case. He commits the photo to his memory of the man, Elian Perez, who murdered his brother, but if this is the Mayans, he knows that Alvarez is the real man to blame for his brother being gone.
"There were prints on the dash." Tig elaborates on how they were able to procure the evidence.
"I convinced Trammel to let us handle the arrest." Clays adds as he looks pointedly at him.
"I'm the one who kills him." Jax declares to the club, which is met with no objection, not even from Piney, although Piney doesn't seem all that joyful about this discovery.
"Agreed. You, Tig, and Chibs." Clay says.
Jax nods his head as maybe, for the first time in a month, he can start getting some closure. Jax takes a drag of his cigarette as he looks at all his brothers and his eyes linger on the one chair that is still empty next to Piney.
"Looks like Trammel earned his pay," Piney says to Clay and Jax sees something pass between the two of them before Clay speaks.
"Also, I got word that Bobby is coming home tonight." Clay adds. "Make sure all of you guys are here."
. . .
Jax doesn't know why he thought killing that Mayan would change how he was feeling or somehow make him feel any better. Killing that Mayan wasn't going to bring Opie back from the fucking dead and it slightly peeved him how Chibs was acting, as if his anger in wanting the man to confess was irrational and that Tig shot the man in the jaw. Taking his anger and aggression on that man by tagging A on his chest just reminded him that Opie was still dead. Nothing was going to change that.
So that is why he is so fucking miserable at Bobby's welcome home party.
He is getting tired of batting away eager croweaters and he has been nursing the same bottle of beer since he arrived at the clubhouse.
Jax honestly didn't want to be at the clubhouse, but he knows as Vice President he needs to make face and at least see Bobby, but with the way the night is turning out for him, he might risk a chance going home to his house for once.
Jax is about to stand up when Piney plops down on the bench, his back to the table, with Tequila and his oxygen tank in hand.
"You start reading that manuscript?" Piney asks lowly.
Jax shakes his head, and he glances at Piney's face and the man almost looks disappointed that he hasn't.
"Gemma mentioned that Kennedy was the one that cut your hair."
Jax rolls his eyes because of course Gemma would mention that to Piney, of all people. "What are you asking, old man?" Jax says bluntly.
"How's she doing?"
Jax bites back his snarky remark of maybe the old geezer should ask her himself, but it's no secret in the clubhouse that Piney and Kennedy aren't close.
Jax doesn't want to say Piney was a little neglectful to Kennedy, but Jax thinks Piney could never get over the guilt of how Kennedy had lived for the first nine years of her life and it has severely stunted their relationship.
Piney always made sure Kennedy had clothes, food, shelter, and money, but it was Opie, him, and Gemma that made sure the girl wasn't 13 going on 30. Jax recalls one time seeing Kennedy at 12 years old, making sure Piney's bills were being paid on time. Jax had slipped that little nugget to his mother, and she had given Piney a verbal ass whooping for that.
He also knows since Kennedy was an adult stuffed in a little body since she was 10, he believes that independence was something Piney couldn't handle. Kennedy had made it very clear she didn't need him. Opie, of course, was a different ball game. But Jax can be honest and say he doesn't know why Kennedy is reserved around her father.
She doesn't go out of her way to avoid Piney, but she doesn't make an effort either. He thinks it stems from her rough childhood, but Jax knows despite how close he and Kennedy are that whatever is going on with her and Piney – it's their business.
But if he is being honest, he thinks since they both lost Opie that one of them, or Piney, would make more of an effort to see his daughter. Instead of asking him about Kennedy, Piney could pick up a phone and call or text her or ride on his little trike and see his family.
"She's still breathing," Jax replies as he gets up from the table and heads to his bike. He can see Bobby tomorrow.
Kennedy was sitting on the couch in the living room watching Rebel without a Cause when her ears perk up at the sound of a motorcycle pulling into the driveway. Realizing she is in some pretty skimpy attire, she rushes into her room and mindlessly grabs her long Aztec cardigan, and goes back into the living room, where Jax is knocking on the door.
Kennedy reaches the door where she opens it with a smile and arches her eyebrows. "It's pretty late, bud." Her smile drops when she takes in how exhausted Jax looks, and it causes her to frown. "Something wrong?" She asks as she moves so he can fully come inside the house. "Is it Abel?"
"I need to tell you something," Jax responds as he walks over to the couch and motions for her to sit down next to him. Kennedy follows him slowly as she sits down facing him. Her eyes scan over his form to see if there are any visible injuries of some sort on his body, but he looks fine as he did last night. She watches as he runs his hands through his hair before he brings his hand down over his face and leans back into the couch. He looks up at the ceiling before his eyes land on her. "I killed a man today in retribution for Ope."
Kennedy stills at that announcement. And she knows maybe she should be happy that her brother's death was finally handled. But she isn't. Despite the man not receiving their trial by a jury, she has her suspicions about Opie's sudden death regarding the surrounding circumstances. A part of her doesn't know if it is because of Donna's woes leaking onto her, but she can admit that something is off.
"I'm sorry." She hears Jax whisper.
"For what?"
"Just this shitty situation."
"It's not like it's your fault." Kennedy counters. "I can be honest. I don't know how I feel about what you did for Opie."
Jax furrows his brows at her, and she elaborates. "I knew it was coming. I know how the club works. I mean, it provides some closure, I guess, but...it's just with all the blood that has been shed...I don't want any more on your hands." She tells him as she scoots closer to him and grabs his hands adorned with Sons rings. She also wonders how violence is always going to solve anything.
Jax squeezes her hand, and she isn't surprised when he pulls her closer and hugs her.
She wrinkles her nose at his smell. "You smell like booze and smoke."
She hears him huff against the crown of her head. "Bobby came home tonight."
"Oh, that's good, but why are you here than with that pussy buffet on display tonight?" She questions.
Jax snorts, and she feels him playing with her hair. "Tired."
"You can stay here tonight if you want." She offers.
"I wouldn't want to get between you and Bob," Jax teases.
"Bob won't mind. Might even like the audience. He loves company." Kennedy jokes.
"You are something else," Jax mutters as he kicks his feet out and leans further back on the couch, and moves her so she is partially laying across him.
"You like it," Kennedy replies as she gets comfortable on top of Jax, not realizing the meaning behind the words for him.