OUR UNLIKELY BABY

by Paula Cox

  “It’s why I’m here.”

  Smiling through her wrinkles, Aggie slapped her boy’s back and called out into the open space. “How about we get you a drink, cue ball.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Let me see.”

  Jax seemed shy as he turned towards her eyes, but Lena’s fingers studied the tracks of his shattered flesh as she stroked him softly.

  “Looks like it hurts,” she said.

  “It’s nothing now,” he said. “Now that you’re here.”

  The lure of his lips was more than she could resist, and she kissed him hard as he wrapped her arms around his neck. “But what if I hadn’t come?” she whispered into his ear. “Would they have hurt you?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said as he kissed her hair and curled her closer to his chest. “My mom is here.”

  And was that alone supposed to put her mind at ease? “So can you tell me you guys worked everything out?”

  “She was cutting for me before you came,” he said. “And she told me the whole story.”

  Jax’s head fell into his chest, and Lena felt his tears running through her fingers. Hating to see him so sad, she raised his face to hers and peered into his eyes. “Tell me, Jax,” she said. “What don’t I know?”

  He took her hand and sighed heavily. “It was always Eric,” he said. “Bastard had my father killed. So he could get his hands on the crew.”

  The confession in and of itself did not shock her. But Lena’s mind turned to his mother, and she gripped his hands tightly. “Then how the hell could she just leave you?” she asked.

  “Because I was next, Lena. Guess now I kind of still am.”

  Her heart shattered in her chest, and Lena pulled him into her arms and kissed his cheeks. “No. Not as long as I’m here.” She held him and whispered into his ear. “I didn’t force Artie to do everything that he never wanted to only to lose you again.”

  She started to kiss him when Jax leaned back and curled his fingers under her chin. “He sure seemed scared,” Jax said. “How in hell did you manage it?”

  “Wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Lena said. “And that still applies now, Jax.” She claimed his mouth, and he offered no resistance as she lowered his body back to the bed and winded her fingers through his hair. “I’m in this with you.” She lightly touched his bruises, and she spied a damp rag and tried to bring it close to his cheeks. “What the hell is this?” she asked as she sniffed a foul scent.

  “Careful,” he cautioned. “Don’t want you conking out on me.”

  She flung the cloth aside and returned to his side. Sighing into his shoulder, she held him close and peered into his eyes. “They tried to put you down?” she asked,

  Jax nodded, and Lena pressed him closer, wanting only to take him back into the night and run when he steadied his hand under her chin and kissed her hair.

  “But I spoke fast,” he said. “And then you showed up.”

  He started to kiss her lips when Lena held back and grabbed his face. “Artie said that I shouldn’t have,” she said. “But I couldn’t leave you, Jax.” Kissing his bruises, she stroked his bare chest.

  “Lena?”

  “But how could I even think about doing that?” she muttered. “I’m always coming back to you.”

  His arms tightened around her body, and she moaned into his neck as he ran his fingers up and down her face, his touch stopping at her eyes as their gazes met. “And I’ll come back to you, Lena,” he promised. “Took me some time to get it right. But I…. shit!”

  When he winced, Lena rushed into action. Peeling his jeans from his body, she saw his skinned knees and his bruised limbs. She was on the verge of calling for ice when she thought they were better off hidden away, and she started to kiss his limbs as she pressed her palms to his waist.

  “Thank God for you, Lena,” he moaned. “I’d rather they killed me if I never had the chance to touch you again.”

  Lena sighed as he ripped her clothes away. As soon as her body was bare at his side, she spread her legs, ready to take his cock into her cunt, when Jax wrapped his legs around hers and kissed her cheeks.

  “But you came back,” Jax said. “Not sure if you should have, but I’m so---”

  “I should have,” she said. “I’m myself when I’m with you.” She kissed her way through his protests and steadied his face in her hands. “I can be brave, Jax,” she whispered.

  “Never doubted that.”

  Again their mouths met, and Lena sighed at the feel of their limbs entwining. Despite his injuries, his cock moved between her legs, and as soon as he hit her pussy, Lena clung to his back and kissed his neck. Her teeth poked through her lips, and Lena drew him closer as she pushed his face to hers.

  “And I never doubted you,” she said. “Even when Eric---”

  “Don’t,” he said as he fell to his back and curled her closer to his chest. “I had dreams about what he might do to you.”

  “Same here,” she said. “It’s a hard thing to shake off.”

  Jax left the bed and held her wrists as he peered into her eyes. “Can’t come true,” he said. “Not again.”

  Even as Lena battled through her own memories, she focused on his eyes and patted his cheek. “It won’t,” Lena whispered. “Because we’re all on the same side now. Let me show you. Let me just make you feel better.”

  Kissing his bruises, Jax winced under the feel of her lips, and when Lena started to ask if she was hurting him, Jax shook his head and twirled her to her back. “Help me, Lena,” he purred. “I need you here.”

  “I need you, too.”

  His cock surrounded her cunt, and she arched her hips to take all of him in. The sight of his bruises saddened her soul, and Lena pulled him closer to her breasts as he kissed up her arms. He stopped at her hands and suckled her fingers. She moaned at the feel of his lips meeting hers and only pulled away from the taste of to enjoy the feel of his hands searching her flesh.

  “Should I get you some ice?” she asked as she stroked his cheeks.

  “Just come here, Lena.” He held her tight and filled her body with a single thrust. Lena cried out and gripped his back as he pounded her pussy and kissed her hair. “I’ll do anything for you,” he swore. “Everything.”

  Lena smiled at the sound of that, and he rested her head to his he released inside her. Savoring the flow of his lust, Lena held her breath until she couldn’t think of anything but the safety of his arms. Falling into his embrace, she soaked in the feel of his arms and kept him tight between her thighs as she touched his injured cheek.

  “I hate to see you hurt, Jax.”

  “Then just look at me now,” he said. “Because there’s no pain with you, Lena.”

  He kissed her quickly, and she pressed her fingers to his back as she gazed into his eyes. “But this isn’t game over,” she said. “Even though I’m here, there could still---”

  “Can’t stand to think about that right now.”

  Jax kissed her lips, and his cock hardened in her cunt. She could live like this, on this, and her body arched off the bed to feel him deeper when Jax shifted to his back and held her body to his chest.

  “I won’t run again, Lena.”

  She smiled as she played with his hair. “Thank you,” she murmured. “Safe house was no fun without you.”

  “Now it’s all coming out. And I don’t know what comes next.”

  “We’re safe now, Jax,” she said. “Because we’re together.”

  He rested against her body, and she rubbed his back as she kissed the top of his head. “If Eric finds us, he will hurt you, Lena.”

  She sensed the sadness in his eyes. “You’ve been imagining it.”

  “But you lived it. And I can’t help wanting to be there.”

  She kissed him hard as she looked into his eyes. “So just be here now,” she said. “Let me hold you, Jax.”

  His body slipped into the space of her embrace, and as she tightened her grip, she silen
tly swore she would never be separated from him again. She would do nothing but keep him close and hold his back.

  “So this is where we landed,” she said. “And you found your mother.”

  “Looks like,” Jax said. “And now I know why she left.”

  Lena wanted the whole truth, but she let Jax rest as she kissed his bruises. “Tell me tomorrow,” she said. “Let’s just rest now.”

  He obliged without another word, and Lena relaxed at his side. She had no idea what waited beyond the closed door, but she had him back, and she moved to kiss his swollen lips when the door pushed open.

  “What do you want?” Jax kept her in his arms as the scarred man spoke.

  “Let’s see if we can really make this work,” Brutus said. “Enough rest.”

  He closed the door behind him, and Jax brought Lena to her feet. “Tell me you’re ready for this,” he said. “Because I can’t do it without you.”

  She felt the same, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she moaned into his ear. “Let’s see what happens, Jax. And let’s do it together.”

  They were hand in hand. He had already lived through one loss when it came to a woman he loved. And there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen to him ever again.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Ready to move, Jax held Lena close when Brutus briefly blocked their way and starting clicking his fingers into the air.

  “Let’s get a couple of ground rules straight first.”

  Lena returned Jax to the edge of the bed and kept his hands in hers as they waited in silence for Brutus to lay down the law.

  “If either one of you makes a move that smells like a setup, we end this right here and now.”

  “But you said that---”

  “That I bought the story?” Brutus challenged Jax. “Sure as shit I did. But then she’s like right here?”

  He sneered at Lena and pulled a smoke from his pack.

  “Maybe you’re like Stiles’ new side piece,” he smirked. “How was it? You two – or should I say you three – cook this up to get a piece on our action?”

  Jax longed to add to the scars crossing the man’s face, but he held back as Lena steadied him at her side.

  “We did no such thing,” Lena swore.

  “Sweetheart, I ain’t talking to you now. This is a matter for men. Now how about you just sit there and try to look pretty.”

  Jax felt his heart race up his throat. Would Brutus break code and lay hands on her simply because she was there? No way he could do that to his mother. Or at least without Milo’s approval. But Lena should have stayed put. He almost had this in hand. Would she pay the price for making a move without his consent?

  “Boy,” Brutus continued, “you better make a real good case for why we don’t throw you to the wolves. Say the wrong thing, and I don’t care whose kid you are or what might have happened to this one here.”

  Seething as he nodded, Jax promised to do nothing but listen and speak when he was spoken to.

  “Then we’re all good!” Brutus boomed as he blew a puff of smoke into the air and slapped his thigh. “Man in charge is waiting. Let’s see how well you kids can dance.”

  Brutus left the room, and Jax painfully shifted to his feet.

  “Easy,” Lena whispered. “I have you.”

  “And that’s all you need do now,” he whispered through clenched teeth. The stunned expression on her face tugged at his heart, and Jax wished for ways and time to make it up to her. But that was not this moment, and even as he leaned on her, Jax kept his eyes fixed on the way ahead.

  “Let me handle this, Lena. They’re already suspicious. Last thing we need is for you to add to that.”

  His soul cracked as he heard a light whimper leave her lips, and he lacked the strength to look into her eyes. He still kept her close, her body suddenly hard against his side as they moved from the room and passed a horde of Silver Horses. For a split second, every man was Eric Stiles, laughing at him and ready to mount Lena at the first chance. He longed for his gun and a way to just get her out. Find his bike. Or just take Artie’s.

  “Kid…”

  Artie nursed a beer, and his mother kept watch as she softly shook her head. Aggie knew the score. She’d played the game for far longer than Jax had even lived. Daring to look at Lena out of the corner of his eye, he tried to tell himself that this was new to her. Of course she would come when she thought he was in danger.

  But now that one word equaled her presence.

  “They’re here.”

  Milo turned in his chair, a cigar dangling from his mouth as he looked briefly at Lena before turning all of his focus to Jax.

  “So, Jackson,” he stared, the sound of his voice causing Jax’s skin to crawl. But even that was nothing compared to the feel of Lena stepping away from him. He shot a furtive glance over his shoulder and saw her hugging herself close, her head lolling towards her chest as her cheeks flushed crimson and a stray tear welled in her bright blue eyes.

  “Look front, boy!”

  Jax snapped back to attention under Brutus’ order and waited for Milo to finish his thought.

  “Good old Aggie here says we should ride to your rescue.”

  Looking to his mother, Jax bowed his head in way of thanks and curved his eyes back to Milo.

  “And do you share her feelings?” he carefully asked. “Already told you the bastard needs to burn. Give me the chance, and I’ll be the one to light the match.”

  Milo snuffed out his cigar and swiveled away from his chair. Stepping from behind his desk, his gaze shifted from Jax to Lena.

  “Any man would I suppose,” Milo said. “You better not be fucking with us.”

  “No way I would do that.”

  “And you gave us the whole story.”

  “The long and short of it.”

  Milo glanced to Artie for some kind of confirmation, and the bald man’s face spoke volumes even as he didn’t utter a word.

  “You buy this?” Milo asked Brutus.

  “I did for a hot second”

  “No more, man?”

  “I’ll plead the fifth for now.”

  Milo’s eyes pierced Jax’s, and a strange smile spread over his beard.

  “To hear Aggie tell it, man’s an animal.”

  “I know it,” Jax confirmed. “Lived with it for far too long.”

  “But you only broke away when you thought she was at risk.”

  Ignoring the sudden stiffness of her body, Jax pulled Lena under his arm and held her to his side.

  “Like that isn’t a good reason?” he challenged.

  “No, it’s cause. That’s for damn sure. But I still have to wonder…”

  Jax tried to follow his line of thought as Milo’s voice trailed off, and before he could draw another breath, Milo plucked his gun from his side.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Jax asked as he pressed his hands to the air. Lena shuddered against him, and Jax swallowed hard, forcing himself to ignore her trembling as he stepped forward.

  “Put that fucking piece down,” Jax demanded. “No one threatens Lena.”

  “And there it is!” Milo exclaimed. “See, I do buy that this one has a hold on you. But what happens when it all goes south?”

  “You need to make sure that it doesn’t come to that,” Jax said.

  “But if you’re with us, you have to be ready for sacrifices.”

  He cocked the trigger and took aim at Lena.

  “Could you let her go if push came to shove?”

  “Milo, don’t!”

  Aggie charged forward, Brutus blocking her way. But Aggie would not be swayed, her chin jutting forward as she glared at Milo and spoke fast.

  “You gave me your word!” she wailed. “Told me you’d stick up for my son.”

  “Planning on doing just that, Aggie,” he assured her. “But what will he do if it’s a choice between the club and this piece of tail?”

  Jax’s heart pounded furiously in
his chest. Of course he would choose Lena, only and always Lena. But even thinking that meant he would lose their support before he even had it. Again Jax thought of running, of just trying to bust Lena out, when she stepped forward as she pressed her hand to his chest.