Sully was beaten and bloodied, his tongue flopping out of the side of his mouth as he registered her stare and formed a painful smile.
“I know I should have stayed away, Lena.”
She pulled him into her arms and gently kissed his battered face when he pushed away and shook his head.
“And you shouldn’t go making me into a hero or something,” he continued. “I was almost out of Dodge.”
That made sense. When push came to shove, this was a man who would run. He’d only stuck close to home once. And that was because of…
“You came back for me,” she said.
Artie and Brutus still held their guns at attention, but Lena forgot her place and pushed the barrels back as she stepped closer to Sully.
“He’s off limits,” she said. “And don’t you forget it.”
Brutus snorted, but Artie took the chance of ordering the other man off as Jax raced into view.
“Lena, I thought I told you not to---”
“It’s my uncle, Jax. Don’t even try to tell me that you think he’s a plant.”
As soon as the words tripped off her tongue, she imagined all the ways he could have bought a few spare seconds. Selling Jax out was at the top of the list, and she trembled against him when Sully grabbed her hands and wildly shook his head.
“That much is true, Lena. Thank you.”
He clumsily kissed her cheek and took hold of her back as he peered into her eyes.
And Brutus cocked his trigger.
“Don’t do that!” she screamed.
“Maybe he’s in it with you,” Brutus sneered. “It was some sad story.”
Lena abandoned Sully, her toes touching his as she balled her fingers into a fist.
“And you really think I would lie about that? Endure it all over again?”
Artie tried to tell him that the words were real when he shoved the bald man aside.
“Could still be a long con.”
Brutus pushed Artie back and aimed his gun again.
She saw Sully quail at the prospect of a bullet ripping through his flesh, but when he started to hang his head in surrender, Lena pushed her body over his, the tip of the gun just meeting her breasts as she looked into his eyes.
“I would never sell my family short,” she said. “I told you how I came to be here.”
Brutus smirked, the gun still in his hand, and Lena stretched to her knees and took the barrel between her lips.
“Is she crazy or something?”
All she had to do was sigh, and Brutus’ finger would go happy and send the bullet into her brain. She had no desire to die, but they needed to see she was on their side. If she were going to be an old lady, she would do it under her terms and no one else’s.
“Drop the gun.”
Artie took aim and wiped the sweat from his brow as he kept Brutus in his sights and looked like he was ready to fire. Lena was ready for a bullet one way or the other, and she closed her eyes and prayed Jax would forgive her when his sweet voice hit her back.
“Leave her alone!”
Lena heard what had to be Artie push back, but Brutus’ gun was still in her mouth as Jax’s scent wafted towards her brain.
“She might still be fooling you, too” Brutus insisted. “Don’t be an idiot!”
She pictured Jax fuming and sputtering just over her head, and she left Brutus’ gun as she pushed to her feet and flung her arms against his chest.
“He’s not! He’s the heir apparent, and he’s here to help you, you fucking fool!”
Sully raised his fists as a stray voice in the distance called him to a halt.
“What the fuck do we have here?”
Milo stepped into view and surveyed the scene carefully, his gaze settling on Brutus.
“This is her people,” Brutus hissed. “They just like keep showing up from out of nowhere. Don’t tell me that ain’t all kinds of suspicious.”
Milo nodded, and Lena swallowed as she reached behind her back for one of Jax’s hands. When she failed to find his fingers, she drank in the loneliness of a world without him and wished she had stayed inside as Milo pushed his finger to her chest.
“How about it?” he challenged. “This all part of your plan? Sway us to your side so you can pounce?”
Lena took note of the smirk in his eyes as Sully groaned at her feet. Again she tried to find Jax’s hands. But there was nothing but the night air.
“I told all of you what Eric Sties did to me,” she started. “Why would I make up a story like that if it weren’t true?”
Milo cocked his head to the side and stared to speak when his body lengthened up the ridges of his side.
“Lena doesn’t lie.”
Deprived of his gun, Jax held a jagged piece of stone to Milo’s bearded throat and wrapped his free arm around the man’s waist. Brutus cried out as he started to draw a bit of blood, but Jax kept his eyes locked on his sudden captive.
“Lena told you what she went through. And if Sully is here now…”
Jax’s voice trailed off as he stared hard at the fallen man at Lena’s feet. She watched Jax’s eyes soften as he brought Milo to his knees and pushed the jagged rock closer to the vein throbbing in the man’s neck.
“Then he’s just like me,” Jax said. “Here for her and no one else.”
Milo managed to tilt his head to the side, and he gazed up at Lena.
“You gonna make me believe this?” he challenged.
“Because this one here just wants to get back into bed with you. He’d say anything.”
Jax pushed the jagged rock close again, groaning with each move. Maybe it was the blood just starting to trickle down his throat or the thought that Milo could turn wild and hurt her, but Lena still called for Jax to stop as her uncle plowed forward and grabbed Milo’s legs.
“They found me leaving Deerfield. I… I tried to stay hidden.”
“Obviously failed.”
“But they know… or they think they know where to find Aggie Monroe,” Sully continued. “Tried to beat the truth out of me. But I… Lena…”
Sully swiftly took his niece into his arms.
“I’m only here because I heard the same story. I took off after them. Wanting to just warn…”
He shot up into Lena’s shaking arms and brought her hands to his lips.
“Uncle Tom?”
“I took the beating and waited, Lena. Waited until they slept so I could run. They won’t find me.”
Sully held her close, and Lena started to stroke his back when Brutus pushed his gun back into his holster and started to fume.
“And like this one covered his tracks,” Brutus hissed. “They’ll be here any fucking second!”
Lena felt the danger creping all around them, and she kept Sully close as she finally found Jax’s face and looked into his eyes.
“He wasn’t trying to bring this trouble,” she said. “And he’s not the problem.”
Jax studied her face and pushed his fingers to her arms. If he didn’t already think that she was up to the challenge, this moment was more than essential.
“Am I the problem, Lena?”
“Come on, Lena,” Artie started. “Don’t say---”
“All of you shut the shit up!”
Brutus went back to is gun. But instead of Artie’s temple, he squarely aimed the barrel at Lena’s eyes.
“Lena!”
Her uncle’s voice fell away as Jax pushed her behind his back.
“Leave her---”
“Troubles started when this one showed her face,” Brutus said. “Yet she has sanctuary.”
Trading on that, clinging to his words, Lena dared to pass Jax, her back still resting against his chest as she spoke.
“And for that I’m grateful. But we need so much more than pity,” she said. “Please help us.”
Brutus laughed, and she was ready for the bullet, happy she could at least die in Jax’s arms when Artie rushed forward and tackled Brutus to the ground.
“Get off, bastard!”
Jax tried to help his friend, but Lena pushed him back and stared Milo down.
“What the hell are you---?”
She just got her fingers around the man’s collar when Milo raised his hand and ordered his man to hold his ground.
“It’s up to you in the end, right?” she insisted. “You could turn us out right now or… worse. But if even half of what I’m saying is the truth then---”
“Is it just half?” Milo challenged. “If that’s the case, you put on quite a show.”
Lena vacillated between wanting to burst into tears and slap the beard from his face. Like she could make Eric’s treatments up or would even want to. But before she could speak up, take back the wrong words, Aggie sauntered onto the scene and snapped her fingers in the air.
“Girl’s not lying,” Aggie insisted. “Even if she does come from questionable stock.”
Her eyes shifted to Sully, and Lena knew her uncle’s reputation still preceded him. Aggie took the briefest of seconds to finger his bruised face before whistling back to the house.
“Place is getting to be a regular hospital at this rate.”
Viv appeared and seemed unsure of which way she should turn when Aggie rolled her neck and pointed to Sully.
“Take care of this one,” she ordered. “Something tells me he won’t be the last.”
Viv did as she was told, and Aggie narrowed her eyes as she pressed her hands to her hips.
“Watch it, Aggie,” Milo cautioned. “Even your son’s little side piece gets that I’m in charge.”
“No question,” Aggie said. “But take it from someone who knows what Eric Stiles was and still is. This man needs to be put down like a dog. I get that. My family understands.”
Aggie’s eyes moved to Jax. Lena’s heart fluttered when she felt the umbrella term cover her like a protective shield, but Milo grabbed Aggie’s arm.
“Thought we were your family, Aggie?” he asked. “Or should we just leave the whole sorry lot of you to fend for yourselves?”
At that threat, Lena felt Jax tense against her body, but it was Brutus who suddenly stepped into the fray, his gun hidden even as he dared step up to the plate.
“Don’t put her down, man,” he said carefully. “She’s been loyal all these years.”
“And I’m loyal now,” Aggie said as she shot Brutus a quick sideways stare before returning her eyes to Milo. “Are you gonna return the favor or what?”
Lena swallowed hard as she took hold of Jax’s hand, Artie bordering her other side as they waited together for the verdict. No way Milo could just turn Aggie down like she was nothing; everything else aside, even Brutus seemed firm on that point. But Milo still pushed her away and charged towards Lena, Jax moving to hide her behind his back as Milo cracked his knuckles and cocked his head to the side.
“Aggie’s vouching for you,” he started. “What will you swear on to make me buy that these are just some happy coincidences and not some power play?”
Easing away from Jax, his hand still in hers as she took a deep breath, Lena squared her shoulders.
“What do you want me to swear on?” she asked. “My life? My uncle’s?”
“Your boy here.”
Aggie started to protest when Milo waved his hand in the hair with a sharp hiss.
“Girl had no trouble talking before. Let’s see what she has to say now.”
Feeling as if the moon suddenly transformed into an unforgiving interrogation lamp, Lena swallowed and looked around the yard. The mix of friends and foes and the sound of her uncle groaning from within the house set her skin on edge. Jax started to say she didn’t need to be put through any more paces when Lena clutched his fingers tighter and lightly nodded her head.
“I’ll do you one better,” she said. “I’ll swear on my love for him. If any of this is a trick, then I deserve to be alone. No way I want that.”
She looked to Aggie and managed a smile.
“You left him because you thought it was best. Now I want to stay for the same reason. Please…”
Lena shifted her stare back to Milo, and he stroked his chin as he conferred with Brutus, Aggie abandoned off to one side as Jax folded Lena closer to his chest and Artie buzzed his ear.
“Okay,” Milo finally said. “But you’re uncle’s presence only makes the matter all the more urgent. We need to be ready for war.”
Milo looked to Jax and extended his hand.
“You gonna do this with us?” he asked.
Jax didn’t hesitate as the grabbed the man’s arms and nodded his head.
“Time for battle,” he said. “High time.”