OUR UNLIKELY BABY

by Paula Cox

  “Want to see your girl blind?” Eric asked. “Or are we in agreement.”

  Jax was ready to lose his gun when Lena slightly shook her head. Same move Aggie might have made… no. His mother ran. Maybe it wasn’t her fault, but she gave Jax no choice but to lick Eric’s boots and call him dad.

  “Answer me just one more thing.”

  He watched Eric drive Lena deeper into the dirt.

  “Speak, Kid.”

  Inhaling a deep breath, Jax threw his shoulders back.

  “If you had it to do over,” he started. “Would you have killed me as a kid?”

  Eric seemed to ponder the possibility, and as soon as their eyes met again, Jax fought the cold suddenly pouring through his veins.

  “After tonight, Kid, answer is yes. Didn’t need you getting wise and making trouble.”

  Jax bit down on his tongue with baited breath as Eric retrieved his gun.

  “So it ends now.”

  “Sure as shit does, Big Boss.”

  Falling and turning to his side, Jax fired quickly. Lena held her ears, her screams muffled against the grass as Jax rose to his feet and peered down at Eric clutching his bleeding arm.

  “Hope it hurts,” he hissed. “Far more than you ever gave my father.”

  Eric kept groaning into the grass when Jax turned his head and saw Lena struggling to crawl away from the blood staining her soft hands.

  “Lena!”

  He was on her heels, absorbing her kicks and scratches as he eased her body back to the ground and gently held her down.

  “Lena! It’s me!”

  Even as he felt her breath calming, Jax watched with wide eyes as she brought a bloody hand to his face. Choking on a sob, she shuddered and stayed silent as he pulled her into his arms.

  “Lena?”

  Chapter Forty

  “Jax!”

  Lena felt her blood pouring between her fingers as she kissed every inch of Jax’s face.

  “You came! I knew you would.”

  “Always. Forever.”

  Another stream of blood dotted her knees, and Lena saw Eric Stiles struggling to draw just one breath.

  He suddenly looked so small, and part of her wanted nothing more than to kick him where he lie and hear him groan. She nearly made the move when Jax’s shadow enveloped her form, and she scrambled to her feet to take him in her arms.

  “Jax.”

  His hold was tight and strong, and she forgot every other set of cold hands as his arms centered on her, and his lips met her hair.

  “Shhh. It’s okay now. I’ve got you, Lena.”

  She nodded into his chest and gulped back a sob as she lifted her head to find his eyes. Despite the smile on his face, there was still fear in his stare. Lena moved fast to stroke his cheeks and nodded her head.

  “I’m sorry if I scared you,” she said. “I had to get them away from everyone.”

  Her chest heaved at the thought of what could have happened, of what very neatly had.

  “I always knew you’d come,” she choked out. “But suddenly it was happening all over again.”

  Jax brought her back to his chest and smoothed his hands through her hair as he kissed her temples and found her ears.

  “Never again, Lena,” he swore. “You just stay close to me now.”

  No invitation in her life had ever sounded more tempting, and she leaned into his shoulder, thinking of nothing but hopping back on his bike and riding the hell out of this place when a clammy hand surrounded her ankle.

  “No! Get the hell off---”

  “Fucking prick!”

  Eric was down but not out, and even though Lena was able to kick away from him and clasp Jax close, her tormentor pushed his body to his elbows and laughed up at them.

  “Bet you’ll get some grateful pussy tonight,” he mocked. “From what I could smell, she’s still so fine.”

  Lena bristled at the insult, her eyes filling with tears as Jax pushed her behind his back and aimed his gun.

  “You killed my father,” he started. “Made my mom a stranger. But it all ends here. No way you get to even think about touching her again.”

  Eric laughed again, a mouthful of blood leaving his lips as he fell back to the ground and clutched his injured side.

  “Then finish what you started, Kid,” he said through a cough. “If you fucking can.”

  Jax took aim, his finger curling around the trigger, when he suddenly pulled the gun back.

  “Pussy ass cunt,” Eric hissed. “No way you ever had it in you.”

  “Maybe that’s right.”

  Jax turned on his heel and eased Lena’s shuddering form to his side.

  “You really okay?” he asked.

  “I am now,” she insisted. “Now that I see you again.”

  ***

  He kissed her tenderly, but he left her lips as he pushed the gun into her hands.

  “Jax? What are you doing?”

  “It should be you, Lena,” he said. “After everything he put you through… can’t think of anyone more worthy to end this asshole’s sorry life.”

  “That a boy, Jax,” Eric scoffed, a fresh stream of blood trailing down his chin as he clutched his chest, his eyes rolling back in his head as he looked into the chasm of fading stars hanging over their head.

  “Let a woman do your work.”

  Jax kicked his bloodied side and spit in his face.

  “If it would just make me sleep better to smoke you right here, you’d already be dead,” he said. “But… but Lena…”

  The gun was still in her hand as she felt Jax back at her side, his arms surrounding her body as he kissed her eyes.

  “Something tells me you need this more,” he whispered. “To end it for good and all.”

  Her mind flashed back to what it was to feel the man’s unwanted flesh grinding on top of her. In that moment, it felt like the end of the world as she knew it, and even Jax wasn’t enough to calm her soul. Now he knew. Now she had him back in her arms and around her heart. That should be enough. And it almost was. But Eric kept laughing through the blood pushing through his lips, and she steadied her stare on Jax and curled her hand around his wrist.

  “I need… I think I want…”

  “Better pay close attention to her, Jax. She’s calling the shots.”

  “I fucking am, you pig!”

  Lena fired four rounds into his crumbling chest. She gritted her teeth as he strained forward with a final sigh, and when his body mercifully went still, Lena let the gun fall to the grass and felt Jax’s hands on her shoulders.

  “Lena? Look at me.”

  Turning to face him, Lena nodded, her hands arms shaking as he pulled her close.

  “It’s over,” he promised. “Bastard’s never going to touch you again”

  “Because I killed him,” Lena sobbed. She wept into his chest and clung to his arms. Eric’s body grew rigid under her eyes, and she was suddenly scared that there would be a price to pay.

  “Jax, I murdered him. What happens now?”

  He kissed her brow and carried away from the scene, snatching her torn clothes as he covered her quaking flesh.

  “I’ll take care of it,” he said with a light kiss. “And then I’ll take you home.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Riding back to the farmhouse, Lena felt no fear, no need to look over her shoulder. The bodies burned behind them, and Jax assured her he would send the Silver Horses back at first light to bury what was left of the men’s remains.

  “There’s still those back in Deerfield,” Lena murmured over the roar of his bike.

  “They’ll fall in line, or they’ll go the same way,” Jax said. “Eric ain’t calling the shots anymore.”

  As soon as the farmhouse came into view, Lena spied the sun starting to poke through the clouds. The air still seemed ready to burst, just as it had when Eric and the others laid siege to the place. But now, instead of a danger that would swallow them whole given the chance, Lena sense
d too many possibilities to count, and she pressed Jax closer as she kissed his neck.

  “Jax…”

  He brought his bike to a stop and lifted her from the seat, his arms tight around her waist as he kept her suspended in the air, his lips playing around hers as he stroked her hair.

  “Did I thank you for coming after me?” she asked.

  “Did I tell you that it was a damn fool thing to do in the first place?”

  Lena slid down his body, and in her hurt and fatigue, she started to hang her head when he pushed his fingers under her chin.

  “But fucking brave, Lena. Just like you.”

  Jax kissed her gently and took her into his arms, moaning as he pushed her close to his chest.

  “Let it be the last time,” he said. “Don’t want to see anything else happening to you.”

  She silently nodded her assent as she lifted her head to meet his eyes.

  “Last thing I want to do is scare you,” she said. “Is Aggie okay?”

  “I hope,” he said. “Let’s say we go see.”

  Once they were hidden behind the walls, Lena saw the house righted. Viv sat on Artie’s lap and eased a glass of water down his throat as her fingers played about his chrome dome.

  “What happened there?” Lena asked out of the corner of her mouth.

  “Good things. I… Mom!”

  Brutus supported Aggie on his arm, the rising sun hitting the copper tones left in her hair, and as soon as the woman saw her son, she pulled him into her arms and wept.

  “My little man.”

  “It’s over, Mom,” he told her. “Eric’s done his last dirty deal by this family.”

  “Glad to hear that, Jackson.”

  They shared a short embrace, but Aggie pushed back and looked into Lena’s eyes.

  “Tell me you’re okay, too, Lena.”

  She nodded as much, and Aggie gently kissed her cheek. Lena sensed that she wanted to hold her close, and she was ready to accept the woman’s arms when Milo entered the room with a cold beer sweating between his fingers.

  “Everything is very okay!” he said as he beckoned Jax close to his side. Lena was reluctant to lose his hand, but she held still and listened hard as Jax laid out what had gone down in hushed tones, and at the end of Jax’s tale, Milo laughed and slapped the boy’s back.

  “So let’s bury the ashes and dance on the fucker’s grave.”

  A few of the other Silver Horses moved to make Milo’s words a reality as the man in charge stood toe-to-toe with Lena and pulled on his beer.

  “Isn’t it a little early for that?” she asked.

  “What can I say? Fresh out of champagne. Here.”

  Milo handed her the bottle and folded his arms across his chest as he nodded his head.

  “Not like you haven’t earned it,” he said. “You’re a lot of trouble. But it ain’t like you’re less than you’re worth.”

  Lena sipped slowly, the brew beating against her brain, and she passed the bottle back for fear she’d faint right where she stood.

  “Kind of even get why this one would give it all up for you.”

  “Give it all…? Jax.”

  “I’ll explain later, Lena.”

  “No. Right now, Jax.”

  All of her strength returned, and Milo’s laugher hit her back.

  “She’s some girl, Jax. Keep her close.”

  Turning the knob of the first door that she hoped would provide some kind of cover, Lena stepped back at the sight of Sully snoring. Had he slept through all of it? Maybe that was for the best. It was too much to explain.

  “Lena, wait!”

  “No, Jax.”

  She pulled him to a dusty closet, a single sliver of light poking through a grate in the ceiling as she wiped her face with the back of her hand and pressed her palms to his chest.

  “What did you do?” she demanded. “How were you able to---?”

  “To come after you? Real short and sweet. Told Milo that if I got back---”

  “If?”

  “Mean when. Like I was ever going to leave you out there with him.”

  She went quiet when he pushed her to the wall, his lips surrounding hers as his arms swirled around her waist.

  “I was still ready to ride forever to get you back,” he said. “Don’t you believe that, Lena?”

  Chewing the inside of her cheek, a thousand questions still niggling at her brain, Lena just nodded when Jax pushed into her and started to unbutton her blouse.

  “Just the thought that he was touching you,” Jax moaned. “And then seeing it with my own eyes. I…”

  He sniffed the musty air as he sank to his knees, his fingers just touching the hem of her skirt as he looked up into her face.

  “Tell me again you’re all right. I can’t stand to think of you any other way.”

  Lena’s fingers softened against his ears, and she followed him to the floor as she rested her head to her heart.

  “From the moment I met you,” she said. “I’m always safe with you.”

  “So no more time apart,” he said. “Lost too much time already.”

  Jax brought her quivering body to the floor. His fingers searched her sides as he reached under her blouse, and the memory of Eric’s touch faded into the shadows as soon as his hand was on her breast, cupping her soft flesh and turning her skin around his hand.

  “But, Jax. You can’t be giving Milo the club.”

  “It’s done, Lena,” he said through his kisses. He peeled the blouse from her body and rested his head to her heaving chest as he kissed towards her mouth. “Price of getting to go out and find you.”

  “No, Jax.”

  She barely held his hands in hers as she shook her head and licked her lips.

  “Don’t make me the reason for this,” she said. “I never would have come back if I thought it would cost you everything.”

  “Everything? Shit, Lena.”

  He pulled her to her feet and folded her under his arms as her he eased the door open. The Silver Horses still celebrated in the short distance, and Lena gripped his arm as he tried to bring her back into the light.

  “They must think I’m trouble.”

  “No. They think you’re brave. And that cuts every kind of way.”

  Jax scooped her into her arms and held her close as he carried her towards another room, totally abandoned.

  “This is more like it,” he said. “Queen needs the right sized bed.”

  “I’m not a---”

  “It’s all you are to me, Lena.”

  Laying her against the soft mattress, Lena kept her quaking hands at her sides as she watched him strip. His cock was ready, and Lena leaned forward to touch him. But just as quickly she held back and started to button up her blouse.

  “So if I’m a queen, what does that make you?”

  “Hoping I get to be your king,” he teased as he fell to the bed and went back to unveiling her breasts.

  “A king without a throne,” she said. “Jax, this…”

  Her hands were tentative against her face, and she sighed into his shoulder as she kissed his skin.

  “This is the last thing that I wanted for you.”

  “That a fact, Lena?”

  She nodded as he pressed her wrists into the bed and pushed on top of her.

  “Because all I ever wanted was this,” he said. “You with me.”

  He crushed his lips to her mouth, and Lena strained up to meet his kiss, daring to cradle the back of his head as he limbs locked around his thighs, his jeans falling to the floor as he kicked off his boots and pushed her back to the bed.

  “Nothing else matters, Lena,” he said as he traced the line of her lips and kissed her hair. “I’d give it all up a million times over if it meant more of this.”

  Kissing down her sides, Lena moaned at the feel of his mouth leaving her breasts, his tongue grazing her thighs when she suddenly pulled his head to her eyes.

  “Are you sure, Jax? Eric’s gone. And I’ll
leave now if it fixes things for you.”

  Pushing up on his elbow, he kissed her nose as he fondled her hair.