A/N: If you could review & let me know what you think, it would be appreciated!'
The group slowly trickled into the clubhouse, heading for a set of doors. Serefine wanted to bolt, but Gemma's arm around her shoulder kept her from doing so. She glanced up at the older woman, a look of fear on her face.
"It's gonna be okay, baby." Gemma tried to assure the small blonde woman.
Serefine just shook her head; no, it wasn't gonna be okay because people were gonna know, which is exactly what she didn't want. Only Wayne and Gemma had ever known what happened to her before, and even them knowing had been almost too much for the woman. Now, this group of bikers were gonna know and they were gonna think she was a stupid and weak little girl.
When they were inside the room, the doors were shut and Serefine stared at the reaper table. It was the same reaper that adorned the kuttes that each man wore. The men all took a seat, Gemma moved to stand behind Clay with her hand resting on his shoulder which left Serefine standing between an older man with an oxygen tank and the giant with the beard.
Being surrounded by all of these tall bikers really made her feel tiny; the woman only stood at 4ft10 ½, and all of them were at least 6ft 1, if not larger.
"What's goin' on?" A man with wild curly hair and vibrant blue eyes spoke up and Serefine found herself almost unable to tear her gaze away from him.
"That's what I wanna know," Clay raised a brow, glancing between her and Jax.
Jax gave her a look and she knew he was expecting her to spill the beans.
With a heavy sigh, Serefine squared her shoulders and stared at Gemma, because that would be the only way she could make it through her tale without losing her shit; a familiar loving face to keep her grounded. "This is a long story boys," She warned.
"We've got time, darlin'." Clay spoke again.
Sucking in a deep breath, she braced herself as she finally, for the first time in so long, let the memories flood her mind. "I was sixteen when I met this guy, seemed like a really sweet dude, you know? He was smooth, always smiling and just being kind -which should've tipped me off, because a motherfucker that smiles that much is up to no good." She kept her gaze on Gemma, letting out a deep breath. "Went to a party one night with this guy, I wasn't drinking booze but shit started to get fuzzy, you know?"
Gemma returned the gaze, giving her a reassuring smile and that was what Serefine needed to get through this.
"Long story short, I let the guy drive me home but he ended up taking a detour -I was so fucking out of it, but I wasn't drinking. He…raped me," The word 'rape' tasted like acid, made her hands tremble but she didn't waver. "and then he beat me, before dumping me on the side of the road. Unser found me," She released a shaky breath. "took me to the hospital and tried to talk me into filing charges but I didn't want to, because then everyone would know and I couldn't handle that."
Gemma nodded for her to continue before moving away from her husband and walking around the table to Serefine. She stood behind the girl, wrapping her arms around her shaking body.
"Well, I healed physically and he wasn't around so I thought I could just pretend it didn't happen," It was hard to speak now but she had to finish, had to let this out. "I was home alone one night, laying in my bed watching TV when someone broke in…it was him and he brought a few buddies," it took everything in her not to let the tears fall. "Over and over, they wouldn't stop even when I begged, promised I wouldn't tell but it didn't stop. It went on for so long…they only left when my parents came home, after threatening to kill me if I told anyone."
"What happened?" Clay spoke in a quiet voice, staring at the girl.
"My parents found me on my bedroom floor, called Unser and made me file a report. Dude and his friends got jail time, I turned eighteen and got the fuck away from here." She felt Gemma's arms tighten around her. "Was good for a while, moved to Arizona where no one knew anything and no one could find me. Had a job, made friends…it was good, I could pretend nothing happened…" She could feel the tears sliding down her face and quickly wiped them away. "Few months ago, I started getting threatening letters at my house, then my job…someone busted my window in my car. I tried to shake it off, because there was no way that they could've found me…"
"But they did," The giant beside her guess.
She nodded and told them the rest of the story, same as she told Unser. They all were silent, glancing at her and then each other with looks of shock and anger on their faces.
"Unser wants us to keep an eye on her, take care of this problem." Jax informed them, causing Serefine to raise a brow.
"How the hell are you gonna take care of the problem? The judicial system couldn't do it."
They all shared a look as a few chuckled.
"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Just know those bastards won't hurt you again." Gemma squeezed her before letting her go.
"Can you ladies give us a few minutes so we can discuss shit?" Clay asked.
Both women nodded before leaving the room.
"Let's get you cleaned up, pretty face shouldn't be covered in blood." Gemma lead her to a kitchen, making her sit down while the older woman grabbed a first aid kit. She set it down on the counter and grabbed some alcohol wipes, gently cleaning the small blonde's face.
Serefine flinched a little at the initial sting, "Do you think they'll help?" Her words muffled.
Gemma was silent for a moment, wiping the blood off the other woman's face. "If I know my boys as well as I think I do, yeah they'll help." She pulled out some band-aids, placing them over the various cuts on the small woman's face. "Doesn't look serious, but I still say you go have a doctor look at your brain and shit."
"Sure," She snorted, hopping off the stool once they were done and Gemma threw the trash away.
"Guys," It was Jax, poking his head in the kitchen. "Votes in, c'mon." He led the two women back to the room, where they stood in the same place as before.
"Serefine…" Clay stared directly at her. "Welcome to the family," He grinned at her, along with a few of the other men.
"Thank God," Gemma whispered with a smile, hugging the girl affectionately.
"Thank you," She told them all, nothing but honesty in her tone. She was grateful that these men, who didn't know her at all, welcomed her in and were willing to handle the situation.
"Who needs a drink?" Clay asked, receiving a chorus of 'ME' from everyone in the room.
Serefine sat at the bar with Gemma, joking around and laughing. Being around the woman seemed to sooth her nerves, and the booze sure didn't hurt.
It was weird, being around the SONS that she was taught to fear all of her life; from what she could see, they were okay guys -but she'd learned in the past that the ones who seemed okay or nice turned out to be the worst, so it would take her awhile before she decided on them.
"Hey doll," An unfamiliar voice spoke behind her.
The blonde turned, seeing that it was the guy with the crazy dark hair and bright blue eyes that she'd stared at earlier. "Name's not doll."
He grinned at her, "Need another drink?"
She glanced at Gemma who was watching them with interest, "Guess I do, yeah."
He ordered her another beer, handing it over to her. "Be over there if ya need me," He winked at her before sauntering away, leaving her to stare after him.
Gemma's snort had her glancing over at the older woman with a raised brow. "Oh, shit's gonna get interesting." The older woman grinned, taking a sip of her drink before standing and walking away from the petite blonde.