Spark (Black Legion MC Book 1) (8 page)

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 take 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.

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CHAPTER ONE

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 without 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.

“Bet this one thinks it’s the other way around.”

Jax started to step forward when the doe suddenly bolted. Leaping over a fallen tree, the animal scampered off into the distance, and she joined in Jax’s laughter as he turned her around to face him.

“Still out of danger,” he promised.

“I hope you can keep it that way.”

As soon as she saw his smile start to fall into a frown, she reached under his chin and cradled his jaw, pulling him closer for another kiss as she fondled his hair.

“Just watch me, Lena.”

She sighed in delight at the feel of him lifting her off the ground, and as he carried her back to the bike, her body nearly back on the seat, Lena slipped to the ground and kissed his neck.

“Can I ask you for something first?”

“Anything, Lena. Although we really shouldn’t take any more time.”

His fingers trailed up her skirt, and Lena moaned at the feel of hand on her thigh when she reluctantly shook her head over her shoulders. “Not that. Not that I don’t want to.”

“Then what, Lena?” He waited as she licked her lips.

“A drag, Jax?” she asked.

Jax cocked his head to the side as he shifted back from the place where he stood. “Thought you only really liked the smell?” he teased.

“Right now my nerves say otherwise.”

He drew a stick from the pack and lit it fast, inhaling around the embers as he handed her the smoke. “Can’t have that,” he continued. “Let’s hope this calms you down.”

Pulling on the cigarette, she choked at the smoke pouring down her throat and barely stifled a cough when his eyes flashed over a fresh smile.

“Same old Lena,” he said.

“In some ways. But not all.”

Puffing again, she started to hang her head when he lifted her face to his eyes and stroked her cheeks. “You were with me,” he started. “You were only ever with me. The rest of it just doesn’t matter. Not to me.” His soft lips touched her brow, and she let the smoldering cigarette fall to the soil as he breathed into her neck. “Not to us.”

The sound of that felt right, and she kissed his nose as she patted his cheek. “We keep moving?” she asked.

“Glad we’re on the same page.”

The woods continued to race by when more and more of the sky came into view. Despite the asphalt suddenly racing underneath them, Lena saw nothing but open fields and the stars just starting to poke through the sky. Nothing that even suggested the cover they needed most, and just when she was on the verge of fearing Jax had miscalculated and taken them somewhere far more dangerous than Deerfield, her eyes fixed on a small structure well off the road.

Jax turned towards the sight, and Lena narrowed her eyes as a small house came into view. Passing the domicile, Jax brought his bike to a stop near the edge of a rickety shed and stepped away slowly. His arms were tender as he helped her off the chopper, and after he hid the bike from view, he returned to her side and took her hand. “We’re here,” he whispered. “Now we can rest.”

Exhaustion wafted over her in waves, and Lena snuggled close to his side. Sleep seemed the sweetest thing, and she could almost feel the sheets drifting over her body when a shadowy figure hit the porch.

“No, Jax!” she screamed. “We have to go back. Someone’s here!”

“Relax, Lena. It’s okay.”

She still muttered and moaned as he pressed his chest to her back and forced her eyes forward.

“Just Artie,” he whispered. “See?”

The bald man lumbered off the porch and awkwardly brushed his hands against his jeans as he struggled to smile. “All secure,” Artie said. “Main roads were way quicker.”

“But you weren’t followed, right?” Jax asked.

“So what if I was? Just a joyride. I’m not the one with a mark on my back.”

Lena tugged on his sleeve, but Jax kissed the top of her head and clenched his jaw. “That’s why I took the back way,” Jax said. “And the place is all good?”

“All good,” Artie echoed with a nod. His eyes softened at the sight of Lena, and she managed to keep her eyes steady as he touched her cheek. “You’re safe here,” he assured her. “At least for tonight.”

But would that be long enough? What about tomorrow and the next day? She started to ask Jax for the next step when he pushed away from her and seized Artie’s arm.

“You gonna buy me more time, right,” Jax pressed.

“I wasted a whole fucking day securing the perimeter!” Artie insisted. “What more do you need?”

“A chance,” Jax said. “I need Lena protected so I can make my way to the other side.”

Sensing the trace of a sneer in Artie’s stare, Lena started to cower when the bald man’s face softened slightly and he patted Jax’s back.

“She is pretty,” Artie said. Lena folded her arms across her chest and flinched as he stepped to her side. Thinking his designs mean-minded, she wondered why Jax wasn’t leaping to her defense when Artie just pinched her cheek with a grin. “Kind of get why you would go to all this trouble.”

Lena relaxed as Artie turned away, and she hurried towards the house when her ears perked at the sound of Artie’s whisper.

“You sure, Kid? Sure this is the right call?”

Her eyes locked on Jax’s, and he nodded with a smile. “For her, I’d do just about anything.”