by Paula Cox
Maybe it was just another deer, maybe something far more sinister. She slipped into her shoes, nothing else but his t-shirt at her back as she retrieved the gun and poked her head out the front door.
Lena saw blades of grass blowing in the breeze, and she squinted at the sight of the sun creeping higher into the sky. Daylight should bring a kind of comfort, but without Jax close, she felt exposed and quickly closed the door, retreating to the sanctuary of an abandoned closed as she huddled with the gun.
His mother. To hear her uncle tell it, it was a fool’s errand if ever there was one. Aggie Monroe? Little redhead couldn’t wait to get someone else between the sheets. And her legs. Some true wife, huh?”
Sure he was five sheets to the wind, and Lena knew, or at least should have known, better to believe anything he said when he got like that. But it wasn’t just Uncle Tom. The word all over Deerfield was that Aggie Monroe got a taste a real man after her husband’s death, and she wanted Eric Stiles to take off at her side and never look back. But soon the word was that Eric kept his mind on the club and a dead man’s son.
The boy’s mother couldn’t be bothered with either, and in a flash she was gone. There were days beside the creek when Lena dared to press the point, but in those moments, Jax’ face grew hard, and the sharp line of his jaw had scared her into silence. She did nothing more than take his hand and rest her head against his shoulder.
“Jax, what didn’t you tell me?” she asked herself. “Why do you think she can help you now?”
Lena lingered in the closet for long minutes, but when the house stayed silent around her, she remembered that Jax wanted her safe and sure. And if he came back to find her cowering in a closet, he would kick himself for leaving. And Lena wanted to savor the sight of his return.
She kept the gun in her hands and left the house. Moving around the perimeter, she saw nothing but an endless expanse of grass, and she felt grateful for the lack of trees. Better to see anyone who might sneak up. But it still made her something of an open target just waiting for the next shoe to fall.
Stop it! He’s coming back. He won’t leave me now.
Clinging to that hope, Lena returned to the sheets and slowly set the gun down at the edge of the bed. If, when, he returned, she would want to feel him inside her again, his fingers surrounding her sides. And he would be tired. Probably filthy from the road. She imagined dragging him back to the shower and scrubbing the grime from his flesh, stopping only to kiss his cock and stroke him to a place where he would have no choice but to lift her from the shower floor with damp, rippling arms and bring her back to the bed. He would smile when he saw how she had prepared the place for his return, and as she folded the sheets around the corners of the mattress, Lena pressed her hands between her legs and sank back to the bed at the memory of his cock.
Lena’s stoke was slow, softer compared to the feel of him finding and claiming her cunt. But still she could almost see his eyes when she pushed deeper, and as her hips rocked against the power of her own hand, Lena arched her back and sighed at the feel of her body releasing. It was impossible; how could she want this so much after what Eric had put her through? But it was so very different with Jax. Hot to be sure, but also tender and caring, his hands gentle even as he marked her as his own. The sentence seemed long, but she felt sure that she would wait forever.
Slipping into sleep, Lena saw him come back, full of tales of triumph and assurances that they only had to make one more hard ride. In her dreams, he spoke of an even safer house and told her that nothing would ever come between them again. She felt his lips crushing into hers, and Lena saw no need to dress further as he led her away from the house. A veritable cavalry was suddenly at her eyes and their disposal, and Lena smiled into his neck when another roar hit the hair and turned her blood cold.
No… no it can’t be…
Eric Stiles dismounted and felled Jax with a single blow before he pulled her protesting body close to his chest. I’ll take her now. Want to have some more fun with her.
Lena started from her sleep with a sharp scream, and he eyes moved around the room. She took little comfort in the realization that she was still alone, but she fell to the gun again and curled her finger around the trigger. “I won’t let you touch me again,” she hissed under her breath. “Never.”
She set the gun aside for all of a second, her eyes fixed on the window until the moment when her gaze was covered by his shirt lifting up over her face. Shuddering around the space of her nakedness, Lena started to dress when she thought better of it. I need him at my back. Even without him, I like living in his skin.
Stepping through the silence and the smell of the barely-touched oatmeal, Lena started to fall back into the memory of his hands when a shadow passed across her face. Maybe nothing, maybe just a wild animal seeking shelter as the day started to turn to night. But Eric Stiles was his own brand of beast, and Lena was ready to face him head on when she stepped to the porch and took aim.
Only the wind seemed to move around her body, up her legs, and yet she still turned at the sound of something moving just a few feet away. She would ask questions later and fire hard. “Oh no…”
A tiny skunk scampered away on stubby legs in the wake of her shot and, despite the stench, Lena was grateful for the lack of spray. She still wished she had looked harder before flying off the figurative handle. What if it had been Jax, crawling back on his belly in an effort to get back to her side? She told herself she had to be far more careful with her trigger finger as she headed back to the house and locked the door behind her. He’s fine. I’m fine. I promised him that I’d wait. I…
She cleaned up their unfinished breakfast and dried her hands with a towel as soon as the dishes were set aside. Sitting at the table, Lena gripped the edge and kept her gaze on the gun. She wouldn’t be so quick to fire again. She would wait until he was back and ready to take her into his arms again. Then there would be no need for any bullet.
It felt so long without him; it seemed even longer, and when she finally raced back to the gun and felt the steel in her hand. Keeping the pistol close to her thigh, she heard a single motor creeping up the lane. It’s him! It has to be him!
Lena set the gun aside and moved to take him into her arms. She nearly felt her lips crashing into his cheeks and danced towards an approaching bike when her eyes narrowed at the sight of a hulking figure moving through the shadows. Big and broad, but not Jax. Whishing she had kept the gun closer, she hurried back to the house and picked up the pistol.
“I’m going to be here for him,” she said. “No way I’m just taking off without one word why.”
Returning to the porch, Lena took aim. Ready to fire at the first sight of any harm, she watched with carful eyes as a big man left his bike. His shoulders swirled closer as he stepped forward, and Lena kept her gaze on the target.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jax tried to speak, but only a slurred groan left his lips as he was half-carried, half dragged towards the unfamiliar house. He heard strange voices in the distance questioning his presence. But the words were not for him. Only for the giant bringing him deeper into the unknown.
“What do we got here?”
“Check out the patch, man.”
Jax was powerless to resist as his body was shoved to the ground and a hard boot pressed down against his neck. Pinned in place, he scraped his nails against the dirt and tried to listen.
“Shit! Now that for sure ain’t a good sign.”
“Well was once before, and---”
“And that’s why it’s a bad omen now.”
“So what do we do?”
For several seconds that seemed to stretch endlessly, there was nothing but silence. Even as his head throbbed and his lungs burned with each breath, Jax managed to shift his head to the side. Looking up at a hulking shadow without a face, he spoke slowly.
“I’m looking for someone. I---”
“Who the fuck said you were allowed to talk?”
Once he was inside and he heard the door slam shut behind him, there was the unmistakable click of a deadbolt going into the place. Jax tried to make sense of his surroundings. The smell of stale smoke mingled with whiskey and beer hit his eyes like a fresh punch in the face, and the eyes of the men that he was able to focus on regarded him with nothing but contempt.
And there was no trace of his mother anywhere to be seen.
In short order, he was pushed into a dark, dank room. He moaned at the feel of his head slamming into a hardwood floor, and when he tried to call out for release and make some kind on an escape, a sharp heel to his groin sent him screaming out in pain.
Rolling into a corner with no hope of any way out, a threatening man glared down at him under a face coated in jagged scars. “What did you think you were up to, bitch?” the man hissed as he spat in Jax’s face. “Just thought that you’d get the lay of the land and we’d never know that you were here?”
That was never the plan. As much as he wanted to get back to Lena and hold her close, he was here for a purpose, and he propped his body up on his aching elbows and tried to talk. “No,” he managed.
“Got some news for you,” he continued, the man punctuating his words with sharp kicks as he smirked under his scars. “Only report you’re gonna make is to your maker.”
“No!” Jax repeated as he waved his arms in the air. “I’m no spy. I’m just trying to get some help!”
“Like I’m buying that for even a second!”
Jax’s speech was stilled by a sharp crack to his cheeks, and he wheeled back, searching for a place to lay his pounding head when he felt his hair pulled to the roots. Having no choice but to meet the man’s eyes, Jax fought the urge to rip his damaged skin from his cheeks and pound his exposed nerves. That would do him no good, and again he tried to explain all of his reasons for begin there when the scarred man stuffed something soft and damp and stinking into his mouth.
“Let’s say you take a powder,” the man said as he cracked his knuckles and glowered.
Jax moaned into the makeshift gag.
“You cut into my dinner time, cunt,” he continued. “And no one gets between me and my chow.”
Pushed to a ratty mattress atop a creaking bed, Jax tried to spit the rag from his jaw when a wave of fatigue washed over him. He suddenly felt as if he was falling under deep, dark water, and the big man’s voice seemed a million miles away.
“Besides, gonna take me some time to come up with the best brand of punishment.”
Overwhelmed and needing sleep, Jax made one last effort to lift his fingers to his mouth and pull the rag away when he lost all train of thought. With no way of determining how long he drifted, Jax twisted his head at a soft hand running leisurely across his cheek. Looking up from the bed, there was Lena, bathed in a warm light. Her smile was soft and sweet as she leaned down to kiss him.
Lena! How…? Unable to leave the bed, his arms like two concrete slabs at his sides, he felt her finger tracing the line of his lips. She shouldn’t be here; how the hell had she even found him in the first place? His lips failed to work as he tried to ask the thousands of questions flooding his mind, but her kiss tender and gentle against his mouth erasing all pain. Returning her smile, he savored the feel of her settling at his side as she cuddled close to his heaving chest.
I missed you, Jax. I’ve missed you for so long.
He inhaled the scent of her hair and nodded into her neck as their eyes locked again.
Promise me you won’t be mad.
Mad? What reason would he ever have to cross with her? Trying to tell her that not one thing that had gone down was ever her fault, the sight of her leaving the bed stunned him. As he desperately watched her move across the room, the door was unlocked and pushed open. And Eric appeared at Lena’s side. No! Why is he here? What the hell does he want?
Eric laughed with menace as Lena hung her head, and he pressed her under his arm. It’s like this, kid. You done gone and got yourself bashed and thrashed. And sweet young thing here promised to be real friendly if we let her loser of an uncle draw breath for another day.
Looking to Lena with fear and questions swirling around his shining eyes, Jax fell from the bed but couldn’t make another move closer to her side. Lena!
I’m sorry, Jax. But you never came back.
Eric held her tighter to his side and licked her cringing face as he shot Jax a smirk. Could have had it all, Kid. All you had to do was learn how to share. I’d have gotten tired of her in due course.
But in this moment, he pressed his hand under her skirt. Lena’s face went blank as she endured the assault of his hands, and just when Jax felt sure he could find his way to his feet and pull her into his arms, Lena vanished into thin air. And there was nothing but Eric barring his way.
But don’t worry, Kid. I’ll pass her around to the others. Little bitch is bound to make a nice ornament. Maybe a chance at her ass will be like a rite of initiation for any new pledges.
Jax shook violently, feeling as if he were caught in the throes of an ice storm with no cover, and he tried to raise his fist to Eric’s smug face when he found himself back on the bed. His heart pounded as he tasted the remnants of the rag, and when he was finally able to pry it from his mouth, he shot up straight, his eyes racing wildly around the room. And he knew he was right back where he had started. Just a dream. But oh my God…
Leaping to his feet, Jax clawed the air as he ran to the door. Once he hit the frame, he twisted the handle around his trembling fingers, but the door would not give way. Still he kept trying, and when there was no hope of turning it open, he fell to his back and kicked hard, his voice rising to the top of his lungs.
“Let me out!” he screeched. “I’m here to give you Eric Stiles. I’m like you! I want that fucker put down!”
What if he had Lena again? What if it was already too late? The thought curdled in his stomach, pushing up his throat until he thought he might choke on it when he swallowed back the bile and the rage and went for the door again “Listen to me!” Jax screamed as he continued pounding his tight fists against the closed door. “I’m trying to find my mother, I---”
His speech was cut short by the feel of the door swinging open, and Jax tripped over his own feet as his body went flying to the cold hard floor littered with sawdust and ash. Wiping the mixture of dust from his eyes, Jax managed to make his way to his knees only to be felled by another punch to his jaw.
“Big tough buddy boy,” the scarred man said upon his return. “Need your mommy to kiss it and make it all better, punk?”
Jax slowly tilted his head to meet the man’s dark gaze, his blood boiling at the insult, and he struggled to fight back when the heel of the larger man’s boot crushed into his sides.
“Think you can fight me?” he spat. “Got another thing coming, you cunt pussy!”
Jax was dragged to his feet, and he winced at the feel of his back slamming into the far wall. As he sucked in a ragged breath through his gritted teeth, he felt a rain of fists crushing into his shoulders, the scarred man’s aim shifting every few seconds to knock into his jaw. Wheeling back, Jax’s eyes went wide at the sight of the promised knockout punch aimed squarely at his nose and, seizing what felt like his chance, Jax finally spit out the only words that might save him as he still managed to stand. “Aggie Monroe,” he choked out. “I’m her son.”
The big man stopped mid-punch and looked at Jax as if he was speaking in tongues and making total sense in the space of the same breath. “Say that again, punk?”
“Aggie Monroe,” Jax moaned. “I’m…I’m Jax.”
His attacker paused, his eyes seeing to dance around the truth of what Jax was saying and
what, if anything, he was going to do with the Intel. Before Jax could wipe away the blood dribbling from his lip, his body was tossed to the bed, and again the door slammed shut.
Curling painfully onto his side, Jax groaned through the throbbing coursing around his brain and closed his eyes in an effort to keep the room from the spinning. In his beleaguered state, he felt certain he had made the wrong call. No way his mother was here; no way she would run with a man like that. Then again, she was the one who set her cap to Eric Stiles, and maybe there was something to her leaving the man once she knew who and what he was. But to leave her son?
What the fuck? What was I thinking? Even if she’s here, she won’t help me. She never did. And what about Lena?