by Paula Cox
Suddenly sensing a strange camaraderie with the man who had tried to do him in, Jax kept talking when Brutus pressed his hand into the air and cocked his head to the side.
“He did your girl like that?” he asked. “And you’re only here now?”
“I didn’t know,” Jax confessed. “She kept it quiet to keep me safe.”
“And now that you got the lay of the land, you’re thinking there’s another way.”
“No question about it,” Jax continued. “Maybe I didn’t see what he did to Lena, but I see it in her eyes. And I’ve loved her for most of my life. Have to help her now.”
“Of course you do.” Aggie pulled away from and stared to pinch his cheek. She stopped short at the sight of the swelling still crossing his face and folded her hands in her lap. “So let’s make something happen,” she said. On her feet and offering her hand, Jax took it slowly and basked in the feel of her fingers curling tightly around his. “We got our own chief,” she said. “And he listens to me on all things, little man.”
Aggie led him from the room, and Jax held his mother’s hand tighter and suddenly felt grateful to have Brutus at his back as they stepped through the farmhouse. The other Silver Horses still regarded him cautiously, but Viv gave him a bright smile as she pointed the way to a darkened room.
“So it’s him?” a voice asked. “After all this time?”
Aggie stepped to her son’s side, and she clung to his arms as she lengthened to her full height. “Like a miracle, Milo,” she said. “Let’s say you get a good look at my boy.”
The stranger turned around in his swivel chair, and Jax waited without words as he saw a sculpted face stretching below a fine patch of fine brown hair. The man leaned across a desk and tapped his fingers together as he looked Jax up and down. “You’re boy in the flesh,” Milo said. “Even kind of looks like you, Aggie.”
She nodded her head and gripped his arm tighter as she relayed the series of events that had brought him here. Milo listened without any eye contact, and just when Jax feared he would lose the battle before he had a chance to truly fight, he pulled away from his mother’s hold and dared to grip Milo’s collar.
“Watch it.”
Jax heard Brutus pulling a gun from his side and pushing the weapon into the open air. Even his mother’s pleas might not be enough to save him, but he kept his hands on Milo’s leather as he peered into his eyes.
“I mean you no harm,” Jax insisted. “All I want is some help.”
“Help?” Milo asked.
Jax swallowed hard before he was able to continue. “Eric Stiles needs to be put down like the dog that he is. But I can’t do this in house. Too many men are like loyal to him or scared or what the fuck ever.”
“Nathan must be rolling around in his grave,” Aggie murmured.
He turned his head over his shoulder and tried to speak up for his father’s afterlife when he suddenly knew he just couldn’t make the call. Because Nathan Monroe’s bare bones would always rattle if they didn’t make the move.
“Then it’s high time that we took it all back,” Jax said. Facing Milo again, Jax took a deep breath. “End of the day? It’s my club and my patch. And I’m fucking sick and tired of seeing it with shit dripping down all of our backs. My dad never would have wanted that.”
Aggie whimpered as she clung to her son’s back, and the pair of them turned their eyes to Milo as he stroked his chin and seemed to carefully consider the request.
“So what do you propose to do?” Milo asked.
Jax sighed in relief before he continued. “I need a crew at my back,” he said. “Firepower to take him down. All I ask is Deerfield and Lena’s safety.”
“Lena?”
“His lady friend,” Aggie offered, and Milo laughed.
“Doing all this for a piece of tail?”
Fighting back the need to pound him into the floor, Jax sighed heavily and lowered his head. “She’s the woman I love,” Jax said. “The only one I’ll ever want. So yeah. Help me have that, and I won’t fight you on the rest.”
Milo cocked his head to the side, and Jax sank into the feel of his mother’s hand and waited for Milo to render his verdict. He looked to Brutus, and the big man barely nodded his head before Milo left his chair and stepped around his desk. “Big man that gives up what he doesn’t have with one hand as he offers the world with the other.”
Some truth to that. But if he had a little bit of help, he could make all of them happy under the weight of one word. “It’s mine,” he said. “By right of birth and the patch.”
“That’s what nearly got you into all kinds of trouble,” Milo said.
“But it’s also what got me close to you,” he said.
Reaching into the heel of his boot, Jax found his knife. Aggie’s yells harmonized with those of Brutus as he pointed the tip of the blade towards Milo’s face. But just when he was on the point of slicing the man’s flesh, Jax pushed his knife into the desk, the handle right there for anyone who dared to grab it first. Milo made the move, and as he twirled the knife around his fingers, Jax knew the tip could hit his heart as any time.
“Cut me,” Jax challenged. “Smoke out all my secrets. Maybe you wanted to take Deerfield on your own. But wouldn’t it be so much---?”
Milo brought the blade to Jax’s neck and licked his lips. “Would be easier,” he confessed. “Let’s hear what you have to say.”
Milo gestured for Jax to sit before his desk, and as Jax settled in the chair, his mother’s hand still on his arm, he maintained his focus.
“I’ll tell you where he hides and everything that he had planned,” Jax started. “Up until like two days ago, he trusted me.” He lifted his gaze to meet his mother’s eyes. “Playing the right role, Mom.”
Aggie nodded as she looked to Milo.
“He’ll know it if anyone does,” she said. “Think of how much fun it could be to smoke him where he stands.”
Milo’s lips lifted into a smile at the idea, and he was on the verge of lifting his hand when the sound of a motor started to roar towards the farmhouse. “What the---?”
“Good question, Brutus. You?”
Despite Aggie’s objections, Milo pressed the knife into Jax’s back. “Maybe you aren’t being straight with me,” Milo said. “Let’s say we see who’s on your tail.”
Pressing his hands into his air, Jax focused on his mother’s eyes. Was it all about to go south right now, just when he nearly had Milo eating out of the palm of his hand? As he passed through the main room and caught the shine of a million glares, only Viv’s eyes were kind in the space of the throng, and Jax tried to think of a way to spin this if Eric were back and ready to do battle. Should he play it like he was a plant or sic the Silver Horses on his former crew with no though of blood spilling around his boots?
“Got ‘em!”
The motor came to a stop, and Jax nearly leaned into the feel of the blade at his back when he saw two burly men dragging two captive figures closer into view.
“Artie?”
The bald man fell to the ground, and he crawled through the dirt, barely managing to take Jax by the arms as he strained to his knees.
“Kid,” he croaked. “She said she had to find you. Because I---”
“Lena! Where is she?”
Pushing away from Artie, his heart stopped at the sight of Lena’s body being dragged through the dirt. There were no hands reaching up her skirt or down her blouse, and for that he was thankful. It meant they were in better company at long last. But when their eyes locked, he could still see her trembling, and Jax fell to her feet and gathered her legs in his arms.
“Stop it!” he cried. “She’s what I’m fighting for.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lena had worried during the whole ride that she might be too late, that Eric had beaten them to the punch before she had a chance to save him. Just seeing him was nearly enough to allay her fears, but as soon as she heard the click of a trigger and felt a gun at her back, she whimpe
red and struggled to find his eyes.
“Maybe it’s all a fairy story,” Brutus said. “Timing seems just a bit too precious.”
An older woman tried to protest, and as Lena felt Jax’s body dragged away from her side, she fell into his chest and hid his head under her arms as she peered up at the men that seemed ready to tear them apart at the first chance.
“Timing is everything,” Lena spat. “Looks like he needs me now.”
Fearing the end might be at hand despite Jax’s best efforts, Lena leapt up and clung to his neck. As soon as she felt him under her arms again, tears of joy and relief sprang to her eyes. Kissing his skin, she started back as soon as he flinched. And she took note of his bruises. “Oh my God,” she moaned. “What happened to you?”
“It’s nothing,” Jax assured her as he fell into the feel of her hand. “Hardly hurts at all now that I see you again.” Bringing his bruised lips to hers, he kissed her lightly when they were pulled apart again, a scarred man forced Jax to his face as he flicked a knife into his face.
“And like magic your little girl, your best friend just shows up to confirm your story?” he asked. “And what about this one?”
He kicked Artie hard, and Lena’s soul shattered at the sound of his moan. Suddenly hating the fact that she had dragged him into the breach without his wanting, Lena fell to the bald man’s side and seized his shoulders as she stared into scarred man’s eyes.
“This is my friend,” she said. “And Jax’s.”
“Sweetheart, you’re gonna have to come up with a way better endorsement if you think that we’re just---”
“We all want the same thing, boys.”
“Lena, no!”
As soon as the other bikers surrounded Artie’s chopper, she had taken care to push Jax’s gun between her legs and prayed that it would not backfire as she was pulled into a strange new fate. It was luck and nothing else that kept these men from finding her out. No. More than luck. Maybe it was something that they hadn’t pushed their hands up her skirt at the first chance. Definitely not the move that Eric Stiles would have made, but there was still Jax’s battered face and the feel of Artie shuddering under her hands.
“Lena!”
Aiming the gun squarely at the scarred man’s head, Lena inched to her feet as Artie clung to her ankles.
“I’m sorry, Jax,” he said. “I tried to make her---”
“But I’m not leaving you.” Lena’s words were only for Jax as she stepped to his side and narrowed her eyes on the strange man’s scars. “Eric Stiles raped me,” she said, surprised at the strength in her voice on account of the audience surrounding her. Lena swallowed hard as she continued. “And he needs to be stopped,” she said. “So you guys want to help us or what?”
Suddenly feeling as if she was born with a gun in her hand, Lena turned her body around the crowd and looked each man square in the eyes. She stopped short at the sight of a chiseled jaw with light brown hair, and the stranger stoked his chin. He was obviously on the hook, and Lena licked her lips as she waited for an answer when a softer voice crashed through the air.
“Think this is someone we need to listen to, Milo.”
Lena saw a tall woman with gray hair, speckled with dabs of orange stepping out of the shadows. She held her breath as the woman waved the scarred man away and pointed to his boot.
“Put it away, Chief.”
He obeyed her order, and Lena kept the gun in her hands as the woman strode towards her. She left Lena’s sign of sight and glanced down at Artie’s fallen form. “Long time no see, cue ball,” she said.
Artie smiled weakly and shook his head. “Wasn’t my idea, Aggie,” he said. “None of it.”
Lena could kick him for showing weakness when so much was at stake, but, before she could make the move, long fingers surrounded her hands. She tried to keep the gun in check when it was whipped away from her grasp.
“Mom, stop!” Jax cried.
“I know, little man,” she said. “Just have to get a look at her up close.”
So this was his mother. Seeing the resemblance, wanting to blast her for abandoning him, she clenched her fists to her side. I’ll fight her if I have to. Her thoughts came to a crashing halt when the woman touched her cheek and met her gaze.
“So you’ve been keeping my little man’s heart in check?” Lena tried to look to Jax again when Aggie’s fingers turned her eyes back to hers. “Are you the reason that he did this damned fool thing?”
Was she beaten? Did Artie have it right? Lena muttered the truth and expected a bullet crashing into her brain before she knew what else was happening when Aggie suddenly pulled her into a warm embrace.
“Then you’re a better woman than me, Lena.”
Stunned by the warmth in her hold, Lena accepted her arms and blinked through her tears. Pushing away, Aggie smiled and patted her cheek as she brought her back to Jax’s side. “We heard what he did to you,” Aggie said. “But you were still strong enough to come after him.”
Jax was close enough to touch, and Lena started to grab his face when Milo stepped between them and scanned her carefully. “Would you have really smoked us, honey?” he asked.
Was it a test? And would she pass? But when she looked into Jax’s eyes, she couldn’t lie, and she fell to her knees as she presented her bare hands. “Only if you keep hurting Jax,” she said. “I’m telling you we’re on your side.”
Milo continued to hesitate when Aggie snapped her fingers. “This one’s words are good enough for me,” she said. “And she’s already been through enough.”
Lena was about to take the opening, wanting to feel his face in her hands when Brutus pulled Aggie away and pressed his finger into her arms.
“Could still be a trap,” he said.
“You heard what Eric---”
“And I know what he did to you!” Brutus said. “What if this just brings it all back home?” Brutus kissed Aggie’s brow and took her hand. “I swore I’d kill any man that tried to hurt you,” he said.
Aggie’s face softened as she stroked his skin, but when she looked to them again, she pinched Brutus’ cheek and left his side. Taking hold of Jax’s hand first and then Lena’s, she pushed their palms together and smiled softly. “But these ain’t those people,” she said, her voice sure as she spoke. “My little man found himself a fighter, and I think it’s high time we leant them a helping hand.”
Lena’s heart thudded at the thought that they were on the verge of a new kind of sanctuary, one with ample backup, when Milo whistled his crew to attention and stepped to the center of his club. Lena took note of his swagger as he stared each man down, and the fact that they all waited for and hung on his next word made her nervous. If he were anything like Eric, she might find her body dragged into a back room and violated all over again. A quick glance at Artie suggested his plan was the right one all along. But now there was no turning back, and she squared her shoulders and looked to Milo.
“She’s right,” Lena said. “I ain’t those people. I’m Lena Sullivan. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to take a certain bastard down.”
Milo chucked, and he scooped the fallen gun from the ground and pressed it back into her hands. “Would you lay waste to all of us if I gave you the chance?”
Lena felt as if she was back at the creek, moaning into Jax’s broad chest as he stroked her sides. In the present moment, their eyes locked, and Lena sighed into face and nodded her head. “I’ll do anything for him.”
Jax smiled as he worked his way to her side. As soon as she was back in his arms, Lena told herself that everything would be alright. She just needed to be near him. Nothing else mattered.
“Milo?” The man in charge still seemed unconvinced when Aggie took his hand. “At least let me talk to you,” she said. “Let them sleep it off.”
Milo nodded at her suggestion, and Lena felt them pushed together up a creaking staircase through a swinging door. A woman appeared with short dark hair and violet eyes, and she smi
led at Lena as she brought them towards a closed door.
“I cleaned the room up,” she said. “Your room. Sort of looks like two are sticking around for a while.”
Jax flinched under her arms, and Lena moved fast to smooth the tension from his back as she sat him down on a freshly made bed. The room was dark, but at least they were together and close. She started to kiss his bruises when she heard the sound of Aggie’s voice commiserating with Artie.
“So you took care of his girl?” Aggie asked.
“Not like I had a hell of a lot of choice. Lady knows her own mind.”
Aggie peeked through the open door, and Lena kept Jax in her arms as his mother nodded. “Good match then,” she said.
