by Paula Cox
“You really think that can happen?”
Viv’s voice turned her head away from Sully, and Lena gave the girl a weak nod as she gripped the sheets in her hand.
“I trust Jax,” she said. “Don’t you trust your brother?”
“No reason I shouldn’t,” Viv whispered. “But things were a lot less complicated before all you showed up.”
“Kind of have to second that.”
Aggie appeared in the doorway.
Looking just past her, Lena spied Jax and the men preparing to do battle. She tried to focus on their decisions as to where to plant watchmen and snipers. Anything to take the Black Legion out before they breached the perimeter. And if it came to that?
“You,” Aggie said as she pointed at Lena and ordered her to her feet. “The old man needs more ice.”
“I’ll help, Aggie,” Viv offered.
“I need to talk to Jax’s girl.”
Lena’s legs shook some as she made her way to her feet, her hand lightly patting Sully’s legs before she took her leave of the room. Once she hit the hallway, she saw Jax turn towards the sound of her movements. He bowed his head, meeting her eyes for all of a second, before all of his attention shifted to Milo’s plan.
“This way, honey.”
Aggie led her towards a cluttered kitchen, empty cigarette packs and dirty dishes dotting the counters. Picking past the mess, Lena started to open the freezer when Aggie grabbed her arm and shook her head.
“Viv already cleaned the trays out,” she said.
“Then why did you---”
“Something you should have.”
They moved to a mudroom lined with boots and discarded beer bottles. Peering through the grimy glass, Lena saw nothing but dark grass and sky. Even the breeze seemed to have come to a halt. But instead of offering some kind of comfort, Lena feared the stillness was just waiting to explode in danger before she had the chance to blink again or call out Jax’s name.
“I do remember you,” Aggie started as she moved a bucket of bottles from a rusty carton and flipped open the lid. “Pretty. But such a sad little thing. Seeing your uncle again, that was to be expected.”
“He did the best he could,” Lena said. “Man never asked to raise a child.”
“And who am I to throw stones, right?”
Lena bit down on her lip; she wanted to tell her that no risk was worth leaving Jax in Eric Stiles’ clutches. Had it been her son, she would have seen them both dead first.
“And I guess Sully didn’t muck things up too much,” she continued as she pulled small sack of burlap from the carton and let it drop to her knees. “Whatever side of the tracks you started from, looks like you’re on a better path now.”
“Thank you for that.”
Aggie stretched to feet with a covered item in her hand, and she pressed her free palm to Lena’s face.
“These boys are old school, Lena,” she said. “When Eric comes, they’ll want you to hide.”
“I’m not afraid anymore, Aggie. I---”
“And the last thing Jax needs is to worry about you getting caught in the crossfire. Can we agree on that?”
On that point, she made sense, and Lena nodded as Aggie whipped off the cover just below her hand.
“Oh! What is---?”
“Like you’ve never seen a piece before. Not if you ride with Jax.”
“That’s a fact.”
Aggie pressed the cold metal between her fingers. Remembering what it was to lay waste to other empty bottles, she took aim at the glass, the barrel looking awkwardly into the open night as Aggie opened the small sack and revealed the bullets.
“You better let me do this bit.”
Lena breathlessly watched as Aggie ejected the magazine and pushed the bullets into place. As soon as the ammo was secure in the chamber, she cautiously handed the gun back to Lena and cupped her chin her hands.
“Las thing I want is for you to have to use this,” Aggie started. “But can’t have you running to Jax if there’s trouble. Boy is bound to have his hands full.”
The gun felt heavy in her hand, but Lena steadied the piece and held it tight to her thigh.
“This isn’t want I wanted for him,” Lena said. “I just came home to see my uncle, and---”
“And you couldn’t help but cross paths,” Aggie said with a small smirk. “All kinds of history that I wasn’t a part of.”
“And you are sorry for that, right?”
Aggie firmly shook her head as she fingered the edge of her boots.
“My boy is still alive,” she said. “Do I hate what happened to you? Honey, I know all too well what it had to be like. But let’s just hope…”
Aggie’s voice trailed off as she flung her arms around Lena’s neck and pressed her lips to her ear.
“I aim to part of the next chapter, Lena.”
Starting to accept and return her embrace, Lena felt her heart calming in her chest when the night began to rumble. As soon as Aggie pushed away, Lena looked over her shoulder. The ground shuddered under their feet as the house started to stir, voices from the other room harmonizing with guns being locked and loaded.
“Aggie?” Lena whispered. “They’re coming. Eric is coming.”
“Fucker doesn’t let the grass grow,” Aggie sneered. “You good with the gun? Lena?”
She nodded slowly and watched Aggie remove her own pistol from her boot as she grabbed Lena’s hand.
“Party’s going down,” she said. “Time to take cover.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Aggie pulled Lena through the farmhouse as the sound of bikes kept moving forward. Lena saw the headlights taking shape through the windows. Hardly the whole Black Legion; Eric would have left a few men in Deerfield to keep tabs on his turf. But there was still no questioning that they were cornered, and Milo barked all kinds of orders as his men armed for action.
“Sneaky sack of shit,” he seethed. “Man and his army do not get in this house. You follow?”
Those words were for Brutus, and the scarred man nodded as he started to bolt the door. Lena watched with wide eyes as every stick of furniture was turned upside down in an effort to bar the windows, and Aggie kept pulling her towards the back of the house when Lena saw Jax and raced to hold his arms.
“Jax, please stay safe,” she whispered.
He kissed her quickly, the room rumbling around them as his fingers hit the metal at her side.
“You do the same, Lena. Don’t take the time to ask any questions.”
“I have her, Jackson,” Aggie said. “You’re with the crew now.”
Lena focused on his face as she was dragged away.
Please don’t let it be the last time that I see him. I need him too much.
She cried out as a bullet punctured an unguarded pane, and she saw an explosion of sparkling crimson as Artie’s shoulder shattered. Jax moved fast to the bald man’s side, and Artie groaned through the pain as Jax tore at his shirt and started to bind the wound.
“We should help him,” Lena said. “He got me back here---”
“So my boy could just watch you die?” Aggie asked as she kept shoving Lena away from the room. “Take the gun and just go.”
Jax nodded his consent, and Lena almost turned the corner when her eyes went back to Aggie, the woman’s nostrils flaring as she aimed her gun and stepped over the shards.
“Aggie, get back!” Brutus barked. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“Like shit it doesn’t.”
Another round of gunfire thundered through the farmhouse, and Lena crouched in a corner as Aggie kept moving through the storm like she was covered in an impenetrable force field, every bullet bouncing off the walls failing to find her flesh when Jax eased Artie to the ground and crawled towards his mother.
“Get down, Mom!” he bellowed. “Just go with Lena!”
Lena hid in the corner, her fingers nervous around the trigger as she watched the door. A small part of her almost wanted Eric t
o barge in and take aim. Aggie seemed primed to lay waste to the man, and that was something that would do every heart in the room a world of good.
“Aggie, stop!”
She shrugged Milo’s words off and opened the door, crouching in the space of the frame as she pointed into the night air.
“Face me like a man, you coward!” Aggie screamed. “Or don’t you got the stones anymore? Like you ever even had them in the first---”
The chorus of bullets grew quiet, and Lena fought her fear as she started to crawl into the room.
“Lena, don’t!”
She slapped her hand over Jax’s mouth, his lips soft against her hand as they watched Aggie steady herself to her feet and step onto the porch. Her face stayed like slate, and Lena held her breath, clutching Jax tighter when Aggie’s harsh mask expanded into a cold smirk.
“Wish I could say the years have been good to you,” Aggie said. “But time don’t lie.”
Lena felt the other Silver Horses packing heat as she huddled against Jax’s arm, hearing nothing else until a familiar, cold laugh raced up the stairs and hit her soul.
“Don’t you see in the running for any prizes either. Wife.”
Jax’s blood seemed to boil at her side, and Lena moved with him as he struggled to his feet. Armed again, Jax started to walk towards his mother’s side when he turned back to Lena and stopped her in her tracks.
“You can’t do this with me,” he said.
“I don’t want to be alone, Jax.”
“Get back in the bedroom. Try to stay safe.”
“Don’t even think I’m leaving you now,” she said.
Jax tried to object when Eric’s voice drew closer. Milo was up when Aggie rushed from the house.
“I should have shot you in your sleep! Fuck you for threatening my son and mine!”
“Mom, stop!”
“Jax, wait!”
Milo pushed her back as the men headed to the porch, but Lena would not be swayed and followed after them, feeling the trigger curl in her finger and wondering if she really had the strength to take aim at this man when Eric Stiles beat her to the punch.
“Mom!”
Lena screamed as she watched Aggie sink into her son’s arms. Milo started taking aim at every Black Legion man in his sight when Lena grabbed his arm.
“What are you---?”
“Just help him get her back inside!” Lena screamed.
Milo grunted as he followed her order, and he slammed the door shut, the crew ducking around a fresh spray of bullets as Jax eased his mother’s body into the corner, and covered her with his jacket.
“Baby,” she moaned as she touched his cheeks. “You’re still hurt. You should go and---”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
Blood poured from her temple, and Brutus shimmied on his belly towards the others as he took hold of her hand.
“Aggie, I---”
“Looks like a flesh wound,” Milo said. “But she needs to get out of harm’s way.”
Brutus stared to hoist her off the ground when Aggie took hold of her son’s hand.
“Don’t let him win,” she whispered. “Not again.”
“I won’t, Mom. I… what the hell is?”
“She’s slipping off,” Milo said. “Get her in the back, Brutus.”
The scarred man pressed Aggie to his chest, her limp arms swinging against his back as Lena took Jax’s hand.
“You go, too,” Milo said. “Can’t have you getting in the way.”
“I’m not---”
“Lena, please!”
Jax’s lip quivered as he spoke, and she longed to take him into her arms when he pushed her back and pointed towards Brutus’ departing form.
“Look after her for me, Lena. Please just do that.”
Maybe it was all she could manage; Jax would be no good to anyone if he were frantic with worry, and Lena almost welcomed the chance to not have to use the gift of Aggie’s gun on Eric as she followed Brutus into the back.
“What’s happening?” Viv asked, her knees knocking together as she stepped away from the bed. One glance at Sully told Lena he was out cold, and for a second she thought he had left her for good when Viv thrust an empty bottle of scotch before Lena’s watering eyes.
“He just kept going,” Viv said. “Nothing left for us.”
Brutus steadied Aggie at Sully’s side as he brushed a few stands of multi-colored hair from her face. Aggie kept muttering Jax’s name over and over again as he looked up at the women.
“Tell me you can patch her up, too, Viv,” Brutus said in a thick voice. “I can’t lose her like this.”
Viv scurried around the room and bit off a hunk of the sheet. What was left of the ice was melting in a rickety bucket, but Viv fought past her shudders and started to wipe the blood away from Aggie’s face. Lena’s gun banged against her leg, and even though it was not the move that Jax wanted her to make, she took a few steps closer to the window.
“Come on out, Kid!” Eric threatened. “Or the next one is for…”
His voice drifted into the darkness, and Lena was too slow to crouch to the floor when Eric’s eyes locked on hers.
“But why wait.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Get down!”
In that instant, everything transitioned to a slow motion feed, the curl of Eric’s lips into a thin smirk, the twist of his finger around the trigger, and the sound of Brutus’ voice followed by the heavy hit of his booted feet as they stomped towards her, his fingers just pulling her down as another window went out. Viv screamed as she pushed Aggie deeper into the mattress, and Brutus mirrored her movements on the ground. Even louder than the gunfire dotting the breached perimeter were the cries from the other room, Jax’s voice the loudest in the bunch as more bullets seemed to ricochet off the farmhouse’s interior walls and back again. Lena shuddered at feel of glass raining down on her hair, and she offered no protest as Brutus pulled her deeper into the room.
“Don’t make a move, Viv!” he barked up at the bed. “Stay with Aggie!”
Lena saw the girl barely nod through her tears, and Brutus roughly grabbed Lena’s face as her held her shaking body to the corner.
“Are you fucking out of your mind?” he challenged. “What the hell were you trying to do?”
“I thought I could take him,” Lena said as she eased her gun before his eyes. “Maybe take him by surprise or something.”
“Awesome plan,” he scoffed. “Now we got nowhere to hide.”
Jax burst into the room, falling to his belly at the sound of another shot, and he crawled to Lena’s side.
“Get off her!” he demanded as he tore her away from Brutus.
“With pleasure. This one here ain’t none too bright.”
Absorbing the insult, Lena watched with wide eyes as Brutus scrambled back to the edge of the bed.
“Viv? You got a hold of Aggie.”
“I… yes.”
“Then roll over.”
“Roll…?”
“Just do what I say!”
Viv obeyed, and Aggie groaned as they fell into Brutus’s waiting arms. He brought the women, one wounded and one nearly wailing close to Lena’s side, overturning a table along the way to shield the waiting bodies.
“What now?” Brutus asked. “No fucking cover, thanks to this one.”
“I said leave her alone,” Jax said. “Like one little move makes all the---”
His speech was cut short by another hail of bullets. Viv started to scream, and Brutus clamped his hand over her mouth.
Lena made no sound.
“What?” Jax asked. “She doesn’t get the talking to?”
“She didn’t open the door on this, bright boy.”
Suddenly there was silence and the sound of a motor revving to attention surround by cold, cruel laughter.
“So what was the plan, Kid?” Eric bellowed through the broken windows. “Rally the troops? Run home to mommy?”
Again ther
e was the sound of his gun firing into the air, and Jax gritted his teeth as he wrapped his arm around Lena’s waist.