“I’m fine! I--- shit!”
Lena watched Sully wince as Viv dotted his brow with a damp cloth, her uncle’s body laid out on the bed she had just shared with Jax. Even as Viv wiped the blood away and pressed ice to his battered cheek, there was no erasing the fear writ large in Sully’s eyes as he met Lena’s stare.
“All this fuss,” he said. “It’s really not---”
“Here,” Lena offered as she sat at the edge of the bed and pried the compress from Viv’s hands. “I’ve done this before. He won’t fight me.”
Sully still started to protest, but a cock of Lena’s head and a low growl passing through her teeth put Sully in his place, and he fell silent as she bathed his wounds.
“I’m fine, Lena. Just glad I got here to warn you in time.”
“We know, Uncle Tom. They’re coming, only a matter of time now.”
His eyes grew wider as he strained to sit up and seized hold of her shoulders.
“Then what the hell you doing wasting more of your time on me?” he asked. “Get the boy, and get a move on!”
“No,” she firmly said as she eased him back to the bed and pushed the blanket over his body. “Out there, on our own… we’re targets. Better to try to stand up to him and put an end to this.”
“You really think that can happen?”
Viv’s voice turned her head away from Sully, and Lena gave the girl a weak nod as she gripped the sheets in her hand.
“I trust Jax,” she said. “Don’t you trust your brother?”
“No reason I shouldn’t,” Viv whispered. “But things were a lot less complicated before all you showed up.”
“Kind of have to second that.”
Aggie appeared in the doorway.
Looking just past her, Lena spied Jax and the men preparing to do battle. She tried to focus on their decisions as to where to plant watchmen and snipers. Anything to take the Black Legion out before they breached the perimeter. And if it came to that?
“You,” Aggie said as she pointed at Lena and ordered her to her feet. “The old man needs more ice.”
“I’ll help, Aggie,” Viv offered.
“I need to talk to Jax’s girl.”
Lena’s legs shook some as she made her way to her feet, her hand lightly patting Sully’s legs before she took her leave of the room. Once she hit the hallway, she saw Jax turn towards the sound of her movements. He bowed his head, meeting her eyes for all of a second, before all of his attention shifted to Milo’s plan.
“This way, honey.”
Aggie led her towards a cluttered kitchen, empty cigarette packs and dirty dishes dotting the counters. Picking past the mess, Lena started to open the freezer when Aggie grabbed her arm and shook her head.
“Viv already cleaned the trays out,” she said.
“Then why did you---”
“Something you should have.”
They moved to a mudroom lined with boots and discarded beer bottles. Peering through the grimy glass, Lena saw nothing but dark grass and sky. Even the breeze seemed to have come to a halt. But instead of offering some kind of comfort, Lena feared the stillness was just waiting to explode in danger before she had the chance to blink again or call out Jax’s name.
“I do remember you,” Aggie started as she moved a bucket of bottles from a rusty carton and flipped open the lid. “Pretty. But such a sad little thing. Seeing your uncle again, that was to be expected.”
“He did the best he could,” Lena said. “Man never asked to raise a child.”
“And who am I to throw stones, right?”
Lena bit down on her lip; she wanted to tell her that no risk was worth leaving Jax in Eric Stiles’ clutches. Had it been her son, she would have seen them both dead first.
“And I guess Sully didn’t muck things up too much,” she continued as she pulled small sack of burlap from the carton and let it drop to her knees. “Whatever side of the tracks you started from, looks like you’re on a better path now.”
“Thank you for that.”
Aggie stretched to feet with a covered item in her hand, and she pressed her free palm to Lena’s face.
“These boys are old school, Lena,” she said. “When Eric comes, they’ll want you to hide.”
“I’m not afraid anymore, Aggie. I---”
“And the last thing Jax needs is to worry about you getting caught in the crossfire. Can we agree on that?”
On that point, she made sense, and Lena nodded as Aggie whipped off the cover just below her hand.
“Oh! What is---?”
“Like you’ve never seen a piece before. Not if you ride with Jax.”
“That’s a fact.”
Aggie pressed the cold metal between her fingers. Remembering what it was to lay waste to other empty bottles, she took aim at the glass, the barrel looking awkwardly into the open night as Aggie opened the small sack and revealed the bullets.
“You better let me do this bit.”
Lena breathlessly watched as Aggie ejected the magazine and pushed the bullets into place. As soon as the ammo was secure in the chamber, she cautiously handed the gun back to Lena and cupped her chin her hands.
“Las thing I want is for you to have to use this,” Aggie started. “But can’t have you running to Jax if there’s trouble. Boy is bound to have his hands full.”
The gun felt heavy in her hand, but Lena steadied the piece and held it tight to her thigh.
“This isn’t want I wanted for him,” Lena said. “I just came home to see my uncle, and---”
“And you couldn’t help but cross paths,” Aggie said with a small smirk. “All kinds of history that I wasn’t a part of.”
“And you are sorry for that, right?”
Aggie firmly shook her head as she fingered the edge of her boots.
“My boy is still alive,” she said. “Do I hate what happened to you? Honey, I know all too well what it had to be like. But let’s just hope…”
Aggie’s voice trailed off as she flung her arms around Lena’s neck and pressed her lips to her ear.
“I aim to part of the next chapter, Lena.”
Starting to accept and return her embrace, Lena felt her heart calming in her chest when the night began to rumble. As soon as Aggie pushed away, Lena looked over her shoulder. The ground shuddered under their feet as the house started to stir, voices from the other room harmonizing with guns being locked and loaded.
“Aggie?” Lena whispered. “They’re coming. Eric is coming.”
“Fucker doesn’t let the grass grow,” Aggie sneered. “You good with the gun? Lena?”
She nodded slowly and watched Aggie remove her own pistol from her boot as she grabbed Lena’s hand.
“Party’s going down,” she said. “Time to take cover.”