OUR UNLIKELY BABY

by Paula Cox

  Lena stretched up to kiss him deeper and hold his neck under her arms. “Stay,” she pleaded. “Or let’s go together right now. I can pack a few things, and we’ll head out.”

  “You would really do it, wouldn’t you?”

  Lena nodded fast, and she kissed him again as he held her closer and moaned into her hair.

  “Tell me you’re not scared anymore.”

  Peering deeply into his eyes, Lena smiled and stroked his cheeks. “No,” she said. “Never again. But if you go…”

  “My Lena.” Jax took her back into his arms and kissed her brow. “Not going anywhere else without you. He started to pull away when Lena held him close. She smiled into his neck and sighed at the feel of his hands on her back when he gently pushed her back and lowered his head. “Cutting old ties right now,” he said. “Would like to kill him.”

  Lena shuddered and clasped him closer. “Please don’t risk that,” she said. “I can’t lose you again.”

  “Same goes for me, my Lena.”

  My Lena. His Lena. “That’s all I ever wanted to be,” she said.

  “And here I thought that you just liked having lunch with me,” he teased. “We’ll do breakfast when I get back.”

  Kissing her slowly, his lips lingering, Lena held him tight and kissed his face, stopping at his ears as her voice trembled in a low murmur. “And you will come back?” she asked.

  Jax patted her face and smiled into her eyes. “Nothing can stop us now,” he said. “Will you wait?”

  Lena kissed his neck and clasped him close. The feeling of his heart pounding against her ear made her never want to let him go, but she reluctantly released him, Jax’s hand still in hers as started off the porch. “I’ll wait,” she promised. “But you better come back.”

  He laughed as he stretched forward to kiss her again. As his lips left her mouth, he shot her a smile and winked. “Before you know it,” he said. “Because I love you, Lena.”

  Her heart still buzzed at the sound of those words, and smiled into his eyes. “I love you more.”

  Watching him ride off with a wave of his hand over his shoulder, Lena held herself her close, her body buzzing under her own touch. He loved her now. He always had. And she trusted his word when he said that he would come back.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Hold up, kid.”

  Jax brought his bike to a stop when he saw Eric waiting for him with his chopper between his legs. Mitch was at his back, and as the men leered, Jax dismounted and tried to keep it cool. Maybe he had glared at his stepfather.

  “She told me the truth,” Jax said. “And if you ever so much as look at her again, you’ll have to answer to me.”

  Jax felt sure of himself on the back of Lena’s love, and his lips almost curled into a smirk when Eric pulled a gun from his side and aimed it between his eyes. “You’ll answer to this,” Eric said. “So how about you just watch yourself.”

  Tensing at the sight of the gun, Jax took as single step back even as he kept his fists in the air. “You really gonna shoot me?” Jax said. “Time was you cared about my mom. You gonna do that to her?”

  “That slit gone and run off,” Eric said. “Or can’t you recall? Think she left you here with me.”

  Jax’s heart stopped. If Aggie were here right now, he would blast her for leaving him in this man’s hands. Pushing the memoires of his mother aside, Jax still stepped forward, keeping his glare hard with each step. “Leave Lena alone,” he hissed.

  “Don’t know about that. Thinking it over, feel pretty sure that Old Sully is good for the squeeze.”

  But Lena had paid now and before. And then some. What more did he want from her?

  “Son.”

  Jax cringed at the feel of Eric’s hand on his shoulder, but he managed to look into his eyes as Eric laughed.

  “Saw your little show down by the water,” Eric said. “Care to pass the cunt around?”

  Feeling as if he could kill him with his bare hands, Jax lurched forward when Eric clicked the trigger. “Let’s say you bring her around first thing tomorrow,” he said. “I could do with some more fun.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Might be fun to see if you taught her something. Time to share the spoils, Jax.”

  As they climbed back to their bikes and laughed, Jax felt sure that this had nothing to do with Sully and his vices. Lena had paid his debt, but she had him check for the moment. Eric just wanted to scare him into bringing her back to his side like a prize for his perverse pleasure. Jax twitched and managed a nod. Let them think he would sell her out, the last thing that he would ever do to her, and as soon as their bikes disappeared around the road, he was back on his chopper and racing towards her house.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lena couldn’t sleep. But it wasn’t because of the shadows creeping across her ceiling. Jax was hers. Her eyes were at her window as she anticipated his return. Her hands were at her neck as she remembered the feel of his lips and the swirl of his arms. They had turned back time. Eric’s touch was nothing when Jax pulled her into his arms, when he kissed her softly. Her heart skipped as her eyes moved towards the window, and as soon as she saw lights poking through her window, Lena rushed down the stairs and hurried towards him for what she hoped would be a joyous reunion. After so much time apart, even these last few hours without him felt like more than she could bear. Now he was back, and she flung the door open wide, her arms open and outstretched as she made a mad dash to get back to his side.

  “Jax! I---”

  Stopping just short of touching him, Lena instantly took note of the worry lines drifting towards his emerald stare, and she held her breath as he slowly took her the hand.

  “Did you mean it when you said you would go anywhere with me?” he asked.

  As Lena nodded, she felt a sharp shiver rush up her spine, and she clutched his hand tighter. “What’s wrong?” Lena asked. “Why?”

  “Hope you didn’t take too much time to unpack,” he said as he pulled her back to the porch. Moving together through the open door, Lena turned in his hold, her hands resting on his chest as she moved for his face and cupped her chin in his hands.

  “Jax? What’s going on?”

  “No time now,” he whispered even as he took a second to lay a light kiss on her brow. “Get your gear and I’ll explain on the way.”

  He motioned for her move fast, but Lena kept her feet planted on the ground as she slowly shook her head from side to side. “Tell me first,” Lena pleaded. “You said you were going to cut ties.”

  “Believe me, they’re shredded,” he insisted, seething as he spoke. “The man, the whole club – mean nothing to me now.”

  “But this is about more than what Eric did, isn’t it?”

  “Lena we need to---”

  “Is he going to do something to my uncle?” she asked. “I can’t just leave him if it means that he---”

  “Damn it, Lena! The asshole wants to put his hands on you again!”

  Her body broke as she slumped to the steps. Jax was there to collect in her arms, and he held her as she trembled against his chest. “No way that’s ever happening,” he promised as he smoothed his hands down her back. “We’ll run right now and---”

  “And keep running?” Lena asked as tears started to form in her eyes. “What happens when he finds us? What if he does something to hurt you, Jax?”

  “I’m not worried about me. You’re the one who has to stay safe.”

  After all that they had just shared, it was the same difference, and Lena wavered between agreeing to his terms or trying to find some other way out. But was there even a way to reason with the devil as he wore Eric Stiles’ face?

  “What’s going on here?”

  Lena and Jax pushed apart as Sully appeared from the other room. Not knowing how to breach the subject with him, Jax took charge and wrapped his arm around Lena’s shoulder, his jaw fixed in a straight line as he spoke.

  “You have to let me ta
ke Lena now,” Jax started. Not a request or a suggestion, but a demand that her uncle might be wise to follow.

  “What’s with the rush?” Sully asked. “Girl just got back.”

  “To clean up your messes,” Jax accused. “Like the last time.”

  “What last---?”

  “Jax, don’t!” Lena implored him. “He doesn’t have to know.”

  “Doesn’t have to know that you sacrificed body and soul to keep him out of real trouble?” Jax spat. “High time the man knew what it cost you.”

  Sully tilted his head to the side, his gaze shifting towards Lena as he touched her arm and asked her for the rest of the story.

  “It’s nothing that I ever wanted you to know.”

  “But it’s why you really left,” Sully said sadly. “Why the light left your eyes. And it’s my fault.”

  Jax scoffed as the man started to crumble. Lena chided him to keep still, and she grabbed Sully’s hands. “I’d do it again,” she said. “You always looked after me.”

  “No,” Sully lamented as he left her hands and stared hard at Jax. “Take her then,” he said. “Look after her. Don’t let anyone touch her.”

  Jax was stiff as Sully extended his hand, but Jax still shook his head back to hers.

  “We need to go now,” Jax said.

  “But I can’t just leave him!”

  “You have to,” Sully said as he patted her arm. “I’ll be fine. Now you be fine, too.”

  Lena collected her things without another word as the men spoke in hushed tones from the bottom of the steps. Sully asked where they would hide, and when Lena returned to the conversation, Jax laid out his plans. “I know of a safe place to crash,” he said. “I’ll settle Lena there, then I’ll go for reinforcements.”

  “Reinforcements?” Lena asked, her voice almost hopeful as she peered into Jax’s eyes. “You know someone who can help us?”

  “Last person who’ll expect to see me, but the buzz has always been that my mom runs with another crew. If I offer to switch sides, that might buy us the cover we need.”

  It sounded uncertain, but Jax’s hand was strong around her arm as they headed back to his bike with Sully on their heels. Before she mounted, Lena turned to meet her uncle’s sad face, unsure if or when she would ever see him again. “What will you do?” Lena asked.

  “Might be time to take a powder myself.”

  “Promise me you won’t go near a slot machine or a racetrack.”

  “Little girl, after what you just said, think I might be sobered up for good and all.”

  At least that was something, and she held him close for a long moment as Jax brought his motor back to life.

  “I got her,” Jax insisted. “I always have her back.”

  Wrapping her arms around his waist, Lena rested her chin to Jax’s shoulder. Little by little Deerfield started to disappear into the distance. As unclear as the road ahead was, Lena took comfort in the nearness of his body, and as they hit the highway, she pressed her lips to his neck in a soft kiss.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Leaving home nearly as soon as she arrived, Lena’s mind whirled as Deerfield started to slip from her view again. No stopping for gas or to purchase a fresh pack of smokes from Mac Arnold, and she quietly hoped that Jax had taken the time to stock up on both fronts. Because they had to keep riding hard.

  And in short order, she would need a drag.

  Jax avoided the exit ramp and cut across the railroad tracks, just avoiding the gate as it started its slow descent and a train’s horn blared in the near distance. She closed her eyes and almost feared a fatal crash, but Jax hit the gas harder and winked at her from over his shoulder.

  “Got to move fast,” he said. “Can’t let even one thing hold us up.”

  Even as that made all kinds of sense in her mind, Lena’s heart still pounded in her chest as the train moved at a quick clip behind her back. Her hair whipped in the wind behind her neck, and she clung to his was waist as she lifted her lips to his ear.

  “Don’t take too many chances,” she cried over the roar of his engine. “We want to get where we’re going in one piece, right?”

  “That’s the plan, Lena. And come hell or high water, I’m sticking to it.”

  Turning off the main road, Jax slightly slowed his chopper as his tires dug into a thin strip of dirt resting under a canopy of trees. The cover of the branches caused her to feel somewhat more secure, but as they moved deeper into the woods, as Jax kept veering left then right then back again, she lost all sense of direction. If something were to happen to his bike right now, if one of his tires were to catch on a stray stone or a fallen twig, Lena had to wonder how she would even take two steps in the right direction much less make her way home – not that going back was really a viable option, but she struggled to steady her trembling hands against his broad chest as they kept drifting farther and farther into the unknown.

  “Lena?” For a split second, Jax’s palms abandoned the handlebars, and he pressed her fingers close to his heart.

  Again he started to look at her, and Lena wanted more of his eyes; it was the only familiar sight at hand. But as the bike hit a rut in the road and Lena’s worst fears seemed on the verge of coming true, she abandoned his hand and forced his face back to the narrow road. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “Just… just keep riding.”

  He kissed her fingers quickly before his entire focus was back on the way ahead. Sliding up a slope, Jax gunned the bike again as they drifted downhill, and a light scream left Lena’s lips. “It’s okay,” he promised. “I’ve done this a hundred times.”

  “You’ve had to get the hell out of a dodge on, like, a moment’s notice?” Lena asked.

  “Tested the waters a few times. Just wanted to be sure of every way out.”

  Jax offered nothing else, and Lena sighed as the road flattened again. But her mind still rolled around the idea of him always thinking of escape. Was that something new or something he failed to share with her in days gone by? Keeping her questions to herself, Lena settled into the glide and started to mind the gravel and dirt smacking against her ankles less and less when Jax finally slowed to a proper stop and dismounted.

  “Rest for a minute?” he asked.

  “Do we have the time to spare?”

  “Couple seconds won’t kill us.”

  That remained to be seen, but she hoped he was right. Curling her arms around his neck, Lena let him lift her from the bike and held him tight as she slid down his chest, her toes barely touching the ground as she gazed up into his eyes.

  “You doing okay?” he asked.

  Lena answered him with a slow kiss, and she sighed into feel of his lips surrounding hers. Jax’s hands moved up her back and, when his touch settled in her hair, she drew him even closer. All was silent, save for a few birds chirping and the breeze blowing through the trees. She shuddered against the wind, but warmth of his hold poked under her skin and swirled around her soul. Wanting more of him again, all of him, she started to fall to earth when a sharp crack pierced her ears.

  “What was that?” she asked in a quivering voice as Jax pushed her behind his back and drew his gun.

  “Stay here,” he ordered as he started to pull away from her.

  “Like hell I am.”

  “Lena, don’t argue with me.”

  “I’m didn’t come all this way with you just to get left behind in the woods, Jax.” She gripped his arm and fixed him with a sure stare.

  He started to speak, but suddenly his shoulders sagged in resignation as he patted her back. “Just be sure to stay close,” he whispered. “Where I can keep an eye on you.” Stealthily slipping through the trees, Jax kept the barrel of his gun aimed at the open air, his eyes shifting every which way as they stepped together.

  Lena saw nothing, heard nothing else, and she imagined Eric Stiles lying in wait, ready to injure his stepson or worse. What would happen to her if she fell into his hands? Her uncle barely had a leg to stand on, and wit
hout Jax’s protection, she feared that she--- “What was that?”

  Lena’s sharp cry lifted towards the branches, and she clung to Jax’s back as his finger tightened around the trigger. She could almost hear the bullet leaving the chamber when Jax pulled the gun back to his side and laughed lightly.

  “What’s the matter with you?” she asked.

  “Take a look, Lena.”

  Peering through the crook of his arm, Lena spied a frightened doe trying to make its way through the glade, its shiny hooves snapping twigs into smaller bits of bark. When the animal saw them staring at her, she seemed unsure of her next move, and Lena lifted her body against Jax’s back and smiled softly. “Here we thought someone was after us,” she said.