by K. J. Dahlen
The door to the clubhouse swung wide open and banged against the wall with enough force to shatter the door handle. For several beats, I sat still on my bike. Thinking perhaps Bruno had forgotten something. I’d expected him to call out to me.
Just as I was about to question what he wanted, he held his phone up to his ear. “Marco? What’s the story with Viper? Any updates?” Bruno questioned, as he watched me from the doorway and raised his right hand in the air to say goodbye. “When can I get into the jail to see her?” On that question, his eyes went to me.
Truth be told, I’d already begun to feel pressured for results.
I walked the bike out of its parking spot, then strolled it a ways to not drown out his call. No need to piss him off further. I pulled the throttle and sending it forward, and out onto the highway. Heading out, I already thought of what lieutenants I would be calling to form a kill squad.
This wouldn’t be a fight, it would be an assault pure and simple. A raid to clean out the dirtiest nest of roaches that existed in this territory…And they all hid in Tijuana.
Chapter Six
Chloe
Jax’s eyes were half open and absent of their usual light. He looked pale, his lips dry and cracking, looking nothing like those that I had once fallen in love with and kissed. His body was still in the same position as before but now his head was titled facing my side but he looked away from me, as though exchanging glances with somebody I couldn’t see.
Mournfully, I studied his exposed skin; it was full of cuts, bruises and abrasions then I stared at the freshly stitched gash down his left cheek. My body literally hurt just looking at him. Unconscious. Broken. Undone. As I stroked the unbroken skin of his right cheek lightly, my hand trembled.
Still unconscious from the morphine the doc had given him, I got the feeling the medication was feeding on him, and stealing away what strength he had left in him to fight.
Dust and dirt peeled from Jax’s body as I washed him down with a small cloth and warm water. I wished I could give him something to eat but there was nothing I could do until the doctor brought him around. I swallowed the lump in my throat. If I lost Jax now, my universe would forever have a hole in it in his outline. My chest felt constricted yet empty. I couldn’t lose him. The beacon of my life. There, ever since I’d been a child, then there for the woman I’d become. Hell, he’d made me a woman in many ways.
Leaning down closer until I could feel his warm breath against my skin again, I inhaled the scent of Jax…Cigarettes, cologne, and time worn leather – a sexual mix that always sent my heart raging in my chest and warmed parts deep inside of me. Now, though I could smell other scents. Blood and pain…if pain could be a scent.
The heat he’d shown me. The love I felt when around him, no matter what had been going on. He was my other half. If I knew how to pray, I would.
There had to be something that could heal him faster. Some treatment besides knocking him out cold like this. I felt desperate to help him. I didn’t know how. I could only stay by his side. Until—I shivered. Until he was better. I emphasized to myself. Until he was well…Back to the man, he was.
“Jax…it’s going to be ok,” I told him, my voice trembling. If Jax could hear me, I had to reassure him.
I knew his life was a dangerous one. I’d known this from the start. I went in with eyes wide open. I started not to care. I knew none of this would have happened if he hadn’t been doing that deal for Bruno. Yes, I had a lot of simmering rage against that man. If I ever saw him up close, he’d better hope he was fast enough to stop me from attacking him.
“Two hundred thousand dollars,” I repeated to myself in a broken voice.
TWO-HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS… my mind shouted. The price for Jax’s life. Yes, this was the way I saw it. He wouldn’t have been in that lot if it hadn’t been for that.
Jax was worth more than money. Not that fucking Bruno would know the damn difference. He didn’t love him the way I did. He should have protected him, but no, he was too busy counting his goddamn drug money. Well, I fucking hope he chokes on it!
Jax was worth fighting for and fight I would.
“I’ll be right back.”
I jumped suddenly when the doctor spoke. I’d forgotten he was in the room. He certainly interrupted the murder in my mind. The murder I suddenly wanted to commit to those who’d hurt him. Yes, Jumper was at the top. He was the one who’d tried to take me out. Now, he may have taken Jax out.
I shook my head. NO! He wasn’t gone. He will make it through.
The doctor turned the handle on the medical room door, opening it.
“Alright,” I said over my shoulder.
He stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
I turned my gaze back to my man. Everything inside of me ached for him. I slid my lips over his, but I held myself back, afraid that once our lips collided, I’d never let go. I wanted to hold Jax’s body as tightly as I could to keep it with me…keep him with me, but I didn’t want to hurt him. Caressing his hair with my thumb and staring at him with sleepy eyes, I whispered into his ear, “I’ll always be yours, no matter what.’
I reluctantly tore myself away from him. I didn’t want to, but I needed to call my mother while I had some privacy. Reaching into my pocket, I retrieved my phone. It took a few seconds for it switch on, before I punched a single digit into my speed dial and placed my cell to my ear.
The phone rang for a single tone before she picked up…“Chloe? Pumpkin? Where are you? Are you ok? Tell me what’s happening?” she asked her voice frantic.
Keeping my words calm, I told her, “I’m with dad, mom. I’m fine.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Can I see you? I want to see that you’re ok?” The phone bleeped, telling me that she was already requesting video from her end.
Not really wanting the video, I let the phone break contact with my ear and switched the call to video chat. The video exchange started before I had a chance to pull the phone upward and align it with my face, and the camera caught Jax for half a second.
Mom gasped, “Oh, dear god. Is that Jax?” Her eyes went wide and she cupped one hand over her gaping mouth. Completely horrified, her stare was unblinking. She started to tremble, as her voice went hollow. “W-where are you? What happened to him?”
I didn’t know how to tell her but I had to say something. “Jax has been shot and it’s bad, mom… real bad,” I told her, my voice raw.
I heard the sickening sound of my mother gasping and shrieking at the same time, as though she was about to erupt into floods of tears, “O-oh god! I-is he—dead?”
“No! No, he’s not dead,” I responded abruptly. I did what I could to keep my voice calm. “No. Someone shot him in the back. Bruno found him in the parking lot at Balboa Park. Someone wants him dead mom, and I can’t let that happen,” I answered in a low, secretive tone. “He’ll recover, but he needs somewhere safe to do that,” I told her, not full believing my own words.
“Where have you taken him? Why didn’t you bring him home?”
“Like I said, it’s not safe, and he needs a doctor on call 24/7. Dad brought us to Border Patrol.”
“Border Patrol! Chloe I’m not having you—”
“I’m safe here. Jax is safe here,” I said, cutting her off. “We’ve got Dad to protect us, and I trust that he will.” I could see now that made her happy.
A smile played on her mouth. That was the only moment that she smiled
“Nobody can know where we are.”
Her eyes burned into mine as she nodded. “Stay safe, pumpkin.” She rubbed her hand over her mouth, fighting tears. “C-come home soon.” Tears dropped out of the corner of her eyes. She loved Jax like a son. All those years of his constant kindness had won her over. Even if she didn’t want me with a biker, she loved Jax a lot and couldn’t help the tears she shed over him.
I knew it would take her a few days to get over the shock. I stared back at her and tried to smile as now my tears had
started again. “I’ll call you again soon, I promise.” I tapped the phone and sat with it cradled in my lap while sighing…I felt so tired and so hopeless.
I hadn’t noticed that the doctor had come back into the room, so I was startled when he called out, “I need to bring Jax around, so that I can perform further testing.”
I turned and looked at the man, who peered at me through his wire rimmed glasses. I nodded politely and then paused, “Hold on…further testing? For what?”
The doctor stopped in front of me. His breath smelled tart with citrus, “To see where the bullet has hit him. Jax may need surgery.”
“You won’t find anything; he’d already been into surgery.” I shrugged.
Sighing, he took off his glasses. “And the doctors told you he wouldn’t need any more?”
I got the impression the doctor was hardened to the sight of death. He was just an emotionless soul in a medic’s body. If Jax did die, I was sure he would have a one-way ticket to hell.
I didn’t respond. Instead, I stared at my man on the bed again. An anxious feeling crept into my chest; I’d been trying to avoid reality but in my heart knew he was right. I felt my vision blur as tears came into my eyes. Jax was very weak. Suddenly, I wondered that if he did survive would he be the same person? Would he be able to walk? Talk? Work? I worried that Jax would remain an empty hollow shell of his former self. The thoughts and fears threatened to overwhelm me…if I let them. I needed to try to focus on just getting him well.
The doctor reached into a wooden cabinet on the wall and pulled out a packet that contained a syringe. Next, he went to a fridge I hadn’t noticed before that sat under the worktop at the back of the room and took out a small bottle of something with an old fashioned, hand written label in elegantly swooping letters.
It made the hairs suddenly rise on my arms.
He turned his back to me, obscuring my view of what he was doing. I heard the tearing of the plastic packaging and him fiddling around before he turned back to me, a syringe filled with a measure of clear liquid from the bottle and antibacterial wipe in his other hand.
I felt instantly dizzy and lightheaded as the doctor injected Jax into a vein on his upper arm before I had a chance to turn my head and eyes away. I was lucky not to have fainted, perhaps because it was done so expertly. A lightning quick injection and he was done.
“How long will it take to come into effect?” I asked.
His shrug told me he didn’t much care.
I supposed it made no difference to him how long it took just as long as he was paid. Part of me started to wonder why this man had wound up an MC Doctor in the first place. I wondered whether Jax would have been safer in the ICU at the hospital. Who knew anything about this doctor? He was probably not qualified to treat a hamster.
I spun around on my chair to watch him. When he opened the door, he let in the sweltering afternoon heat from outside into the cool temperature inside. The sound of bike engines and chattering voices from somewhere far off outside drifted in. As the door closed behind him, the blind on the tiny window on the door rattled in the breeze. I got to my feet and twisted the toggle that hung from the top of the blind to close it.
Finally, it was just the two of us again...
I settled back down onto my chair beside Jax’s gurney. Dropping my head against his chest gently, I breathed him in deep. Only three thin layers of material separated our bodies. Suddenly, I ached for Jax. Closing my eyes, I wished that my man would wake and wrap me in his arms so we could be together… close.
I ran my hand up his muscled bicep and squeezed gently and his muscle tensed in response. I swallowed heavily. Feeling his body come to life beneath my touch, I tore my body away from him to look at his face. Jax’s eyelids slowly blinked open. Though his body was weak and damaged, his emerald green eyes sparked with life. As though his tremendous will to live was winning his battle. Somehow, his eyes held my gaze with strength.
Leaning in to him, I kissed his lips, allowing my tongue to slip into his mouth. I kissed him gently at first, then roughly as he began to respond. Only Jax and I existed in that moment.
Breaking contact with his lips, I said, “Somebody looks pleased to see me.”
His lips moved in a very slight, painful smile.
I was sure he could see the hunger in my eyes as I saw it in his. And with the doctor out of the room, there wasn’t anything holding us back from taking what we wanted.
“I want you, Chloe,” he murmured.
I tugged aside the bed sheet to reveal his body, still dressed in his hospital gown. Kissing him again, I couldn’t help my hand, drifting downs his stomach and onto his inner thigh. His body twitched as my fingers slid under his hospital gown and up to his cock. It was ready for me. I slid down one inch and then back up and he groaned my name.
Take it slow, he’s weak. I reminded myself.
I moved his gown upward some more and got up from my seat so I could slip his cock into my mouth. I licked up and down and then wrapped my lips around it. The moan that escaped his lips told me he liked what I was doing. Looking up his face, I was transfixed by him as he watched.
Jax’s body became more active as the medication started to kick in. He gripped my hair as slid up and down his cock and the gurney wheels started to squeak excitedly beneath us.
“Fuck,” he growled, gripping my shirt with his other hand and pulling it upward to reveal as much of me as he had the strength to expose.
I unclipped the back of my bra with one hand and as I fumbled to pull my shirt and bra over my head I knocked Jax’s water glass that sat beside him on the floor and broke it, but I didn’t stop. I moved my mouth back to his cock and moved into him again.
Thrusting my mouth down his shaft, deeper, and faster, while my tongue flickered on his tip, I no longer worried that Jax would crumble at my touch. His hand stayed locked into a fist in my hair. Up and down, I moved my mouth over the entire length of him until my jaw ached. Until he quivered. Until he gulped for air and sweat popped up on his skin. Until his cock swelled and released into the back of my throat.
He sighed and murmured, “Chloe,” as pleasure took over his body.
I moved back to the chair beside him, gently pulling the sheets over Jax as I went. His previously pale cheeks now had a warm, healthy flush about them. I leaned down to his mouth and my tongue snaked over his lips one last time, taking with every bit of his essence into my mouth.
I laid my head on his shoulder and caught my breath, as Jax trailed his fingers down my hair for several minutes until it slowed to stop. I tore myself away from his body and watched his satisfied face as he closed his eyes, exhausted.
Rubbing a hand up and down Jax’s arm, I soothed him, dreaming of a fresh start away from this together. I felt a moment of peace. He looked so much better than he had before. I put my bra and shirt back on and swiped my hand through my hair then tied it up into a ponytail with the scrunchy I had from my jeans pocket.
Through the gap under the door, I heard heavy pair of biker’s boots striding my way. I should have known that the peace wouldn’t last.
My heart began to race. I hated that sound. They reminded me of Jumper’s footsteps. The footsteps got closer and a sickening feeling washed through me. I squeezed Jax’s hand, clinging to the tips of his fingers.
Jax stirred but his eyes didn’t open. He was exhausted.
The door handle turned sharply. I whipped my head around as the door flew open and I flinched. The person who stood in the doorway was a big man looked to be about double my age with dark, serious features, and balding, brown hair. By the looks of it, he wasn’t the kind of guy you could get along with easily, but the patches on his jacket told me he was one of my dad’s MC club members, so I assumed I would be safe enough in his presence.
It only took two steps in my direction for his enormous body to reach me. He lurched forward toward my face. “Now, sugar, I wanna lay down some ground rules…” He announced, spitting in my face
as he spoke. “You don’t give anybody our address; you don’t talk to nobody. Am I clear?” He snarled.
I stood up on shaky legs and placed my hands on my hips. “Don’t you plan on telling me who I’m talking to? And my name is Chloe.”
Rolling his eyes the man told me, “I’m Phil. The guys call me Axel. I’m VP of Border Patrol.”
I said nothing and this silence made him frown. I took my time responding because I didn’t want to tell him more than I needed to. “Listen. I’m Dagger’s daughter, and he has allowed me to stay here,” I said. I’d already just told him more than I was comfortable with.
His face remained like stone. “Our club’s bylaws are clear. We don’t allow walk ins, and that’s what you are sugar, a walk in. Even your father ain’t above club law,” he growled.
My skin prickled.
He noted my fear. “Here’s what you do,” he said, more gently this time, “You’ll follow our rules as long as you stay here. That’s an order, girly.” Then he turned to the door.
My throat choked to a whisper, “Of course.”
He hissed one final word, “Good.” Before walking out, closing the door with a slam.
I sat back in my chair, stunned. I don’t know what I was expecting from dad’s brothers at Border Patrol. It’s not in the nature of people in an outlaw MC club to be kind; it’s in their nature to protect what’s theirs. No matter the cost. I should’ve known that. If I wanted respect, I was going have to earn it.
I stared at Jax, lying underneath the white hospital bed sheets again. He was still. He was so very still. I wondered whether everything we’d just done might have been a bad idea. I still felt it was the best thing for him. I did feel hope for the first time when he showed strength and determination.
The fear took over again. What if Jax would suffer a long, slow, death? I started thinking this could be long and drawn out before Jax’s heart stopped beating and my entire world went black. Suddenly, it occurred to me that perhaps Jumper’s whole mission was to make me suffer. Isn’t that what a monster like him feeds off of? Deriving his energy not from the blood he sheds but the suffering he causes. Pathetic. Sick and twisted.