While the loud music kept most people up and dancing, Cleo got four ibuprofen pills out of the little pill box she was always carrying with her, crushed them and made two straight lines with her ID card only to snorted both lines all by herself.

She was aware of her serious addiction. The moment the pills didn't make her feel as good anymore by only swallowing them a few years back, she started snorting them. The young woman needed a bigger dose every few weeks and sometimes it scared her how addicted she actually was. People always underestimated the power simple pain killers can have over someone.

But she had learned from the best; her dad. His way of dealing with problems and hard life choices was numbing himself with drugs. Cleo was numb enough already, she did the drugs only to feel something. It was scary how something this dangerous could make someone feel so much better.

The bad influence her own father had on her was just as dangerous. Good thing was her mother had no idea what Cleo had already seen in her life while she was with him on the weekends. He had always bribed the little girl to never say a word to her mother about the parties, the drugs and fights.

He tried the same with Enrico, her brother, but he wasn't so easy to manipulate as Cleo was when she was still a child and was about to tell their mother, yet their father managed to convince Enrico with some bullshit talking to keep his mouth shut, telling him he would only worry their mother even more than she already was and it would be his fault then. That's how he managed to keep Enrico quiet.

Once her brother turned eighteen, he never went back to their father's house for years but Cleo did, even after she turned eighteen. During the weekends with him she didn't need to be careful if anyone would catch her snorting a line of crushed pills. Her father even shared his own drugs with her.

The first time she had tried Meth, she felt like she was dying. After that she had never touched it again; but cocaine was something amazing in her eyes. It helped even better than the pills but she couldn't risk snorting the drug during the week because it made her much more tired and she wouldn't be able to get up for work and keep her addiction from her mother.

"Cleo!" The angry voice of her brother caused her to open her eyes. After the pills kicked in she had leaned back and enjoyed the amazing effect they had on her. Her muscles relaxed and her thoughts grew quiet. The only thing she could hear was the loud music blasting through the nightclub.

"What ?", she groaned at her brother, reaching for the cocktail mix on her table but Enrico took it away before she could take a sip. "What the hell is your problem?!"

"Your damn eyes were closed. What if anyone put something in your drink, hm?" His anger grew as he looked into her bloodshot, glassy eyes. He knew he was slowly loosing her. Cleo became more distant over the past few months and it worried him. He blamed the drugs for it and he hated that she was slowly becoming like their father.

He roughly grabbed her chin and crouched down so they were on eye level. "What the hell did you take this time?"

Cleo didn't even bother to get out of his grip, she simply didn't care at the moment but she cared about her brother. She pushed him away on purpose since a while. Never in front of their mother, but she never returned his calls or messages knowing it was better for him not to be around her.

"Some pills, that's it", she told him with a shrug and rubbed her nose, feeling it burn from the powder she had snorted. "What are you doing here anyway, Enrico?"

The man scoffed and let go of her chin, burying his face in his hands and taking a few deep breaths. Everytime he was looking at her, it broke his heart. He still remembered the beautiful, sincere smile on her face before the drug use started. Now when she smiled once in a while it never reached her eyes, she wasn't happy. Those damn drugs messed with her mental health and got her in danger.

"I was at the diner, helping mom with some stuff. She told me you already went home so I wanted to check on you because you think it's funny to ignore all my calls", he said, his eyes staring holes into her. "You weren't home and I have my ways to find you."

"I'm sorry for ignoring you." Cleo wrinkled her nose and broke the eye contact, feeling like shit. Everything would be so much easier if her brother would stop caring about her but that would never happen. "Listen, I'm twenty-four years old, I can take care of myself."

"Oh yeah? Snorting pills and cocaine, flirting with death every other day with your street races is taking care of yourself?", he asked, his voice raised to a level even the people from the other table paid attention to them now. "You have any idea what it would do to mom of anything happens to you? Do you even think about her?"

"You and mom are all I think about, idiot!" Cleo pushed him away harshly and stood up, supporting herself on the wall since her balance wasn't at it's best yet.

Enrico stumbled back and groaned to himself. Maybe his words were chosen wrong but his sister needed a wake up call. He was by her side quickly and slipped an arm around her waste for some support.

"Déjame ayudarte, Cleo" [Let me help you, Cleo], he said with a sigh.

"Leave me alone", she snapped and wiggled herself away from him but he pulled her back with one quick move and led her outside to get some fresh air.

"I'm not going anywhere", he assured her even if it was the last thing she probably wanted to hear.

He was a bit surprised when she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. Her mood swings were horrible sometimes, thanks to the drugs. He thought about getting her a place in a rehab clinic but he also knew she wouldn't go there.

Taking in the leather scent of her brother's kutte, she immediately had to think about Jax. Everytime they sat down together she lost track of time and didn't even think about drugs. Sure, she felt the need to take them, but it was easier to wait until she finally could.

"I'm sorry", she muttered against his kutte, her grip around his waist getting tighter. "I don't want to be a burden. That's why I ignore your calls and everything."

His chin rested on top of her head as he sighed deeply, his arms meanwhile protectively wrapped around her petite body that felt cold even in the desert. She always chose this nightclub because it was far away from town. Now she was closer to Santo Padre than Charming.

"You could never be a burden to mom and me, Cleo. Why would you think that?", he asked, his tone soothing.

She lifted her head and quickly wiped her eyes to hide the tears they'd formed. "Because I'm a junkie?"

"Yeah, well, that's also my fault", he muttered bitterly. "I left you alone with dad while I knew he wouldn't keep you away from that shit."

"It wasn't your responsibility to take care of me, Enrico. Please don't blame yourself", she looked up at him with a hurt look. Suddenly, she felt nauseous and unbelievably nervous. Her body was shaking but it wasn't cold. "Sorry..", she hardly whispered and searched for the box with the pills in her clutch.

"You're looking for them?", Enrico asked, holding up the box she was desperately searching for.

Her eyes went wide and of course she tried to snatch the box out of his hand but he put them back in the back pocket of his jeans. "Those are mine!"

"I won't watch you put that shit in your body. You're staying with me tonight", he demanded and didn't leave this up for debate. While he led her outside before, he had taken the pills out of her clutch unnoticed.

He heard her swallow hard and saw the tears forming in her eyes again. She was way too addicted already and he wasn't going to wait until he would get a call that she overdosed and died.

──

Enrico dropped his sister off in the morning before the diner would open up. He gave his mother a call last night that she would stay with him so she wouldn't be worried all night.

"What are you doing?", she asked him as he got out of his car and walked around it. The night was horrible without the dose she actually needed every night but he stood his ground and made sure she wouldn't take any drugs.

"Spending the day with my family, problem with that?", he asked, a smirk plastered on his face as he swung his arm around her shoulder and leading her inside.

"Don't you have some club shit to do?", she tried to sound as normal as she could and not to obvious that he would notice how nervous she got. If he would stay the whole day and Jax would show up, it would probably end in a disaster.

"You really don't want me around, do you?", he sounded almost offended.

"Bullshit", she laughed nervously and waved it off. "Of course I want you around. I just thought you don't have time."

"You're acting weird, Cleo." Shaking his head, he walked behind the counter and greeted his mother with a kiss on her cheek. "Hey Ma, can I help with something?"

The blonde just finished tying the bow of her apron and smiled at her two kids. She had no idea what went down last night and thought the siblings just wanted to spend some time together; probably eating junk food the whole night and play video games. If she only knew the truth.

"It's nice to have you around", she said happily and brewed coffee for them and their first customers who should come soon. "And yeah, we can always use help. You can clean the tables, I have to talk to your sister for a moment."

Enrico did what he was told and left the two women alone. He was curious but he wasn't going to snoop around.

"What do you need to talk about?" Cleo took the apron her mother handed her and put it on, tying the bow behind her back.

"You haven't told me much about yesterday. About this Jax guy..", she looked at her daughter with curiosity, dying to hear something about their conversation. She saw what an effect the Samcro member had on Cleo and if he was the one making her happy, she wouldn't stand in their way even if it could mean a lot of trouble.

"I told him about Enrico, that he's a Mayan", she blurted out but not loud enough for her brother to hear it. Lying to her mother was one thing she hated, she already did that every night. At least she wanted to be honest about that now.

Katelynn was speechless for a second, putting her hands on the counter to support herself. She had no idea what that meant for her son, she wasn't all too familiar with the outlaw life like her son, daughter or ex husband.

"Why would you do that?", she inquired slightly confused.

"Because I really like him, mom. I wanted him to know so he could decide if he wants to continue seeing me. He isn't happy in his relationship. If he's really gonna break up I see a chance that him and I could── you know, might start dating in the future. I didn't want any secrets between us, with him it always feels so uncomplicated. Secrets make things complicated", she said softly, bending over the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee. "I didn't give him any information about Enrico, just that he's a Mayan and that it's up to him now if he wants this, whatever it is, to continue."

"You really do like him, hm?", the blonde asked with a proud smile. She wondered when her daughter would fall in love for the first time. The brunette had a few boyfriends but Katelynn had never seen her this excited when she talked about a man. "Just promise me to be careful, honey."

"I will, I promise", she retorted, looking over at her brother who was still cleaning all the tables. "But I won't tell him for now. If it's getting somewhere with Jax then yes, but not for now."

And she was sure Jax wasn't telling his club about her or her ties to the Mayans either. Especially not as long as he was still in a relationship.