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Taming Ava & Fixing Jax - A Modern Fairytale

Chapter 26 Attempted Hit

"

Ava graciously gave up her chair to Opie to let him sit by Jax along with Clay and Gemma. She ate lunch in the hospital cafeteria with Tig.

Tig told her some MC stories and she listened because she was bored and there wasn't anything else to do. The hospital didn't allow phone use. If she wanted to use her phone, she had to sneak into the bathroom. It wasn't the ideal place to play phone games, so she appreciated Tig's stories.

She found the MC world alien to her privileged one. The existence of this life of violence fascinated her a little because married to Jax or not, she wasn't part of it. She was a voyeur looking at a reality TV show. Her life with her father would continue as before except no clubbing or partying since she was technically married.

She dragged her lunch out. It was better to sit in the cafeteria than play devoted wife sitting at Jax's bedside watching him sleep.

When Gemma, Clay and Opie got a cold drink in the cafeteria, Ava and Tig went up to sit at Jax's bedside.

"Only immediate family," the nurse said.

"I'm his brother," Tig said.

The nurse looked at Ava.

"He's his brother," Ava replied.

The nurse let Tig pass. It didn't matter anyway. Jax was sleeping and his visitors were quiet. The nurse got the results back from Jax's culture and had a call in to the doctor about changing his antibiotics. He was aggressive with infections. He'd seen healthy people end up getting sepsis and having amputations done to get ahead of the infection until either they lost enough body parts or they died. It was a horrible thing for the patient and the family.

Later that afternoon, TB arrived carrying a large box of assorted cookies for the nurses and a smaller sack of chocolate chip cookies for Jax. Normally, food wasn't allowed in ICU, but Jax's nurse agreed to let him have one of the chocolate chip cookies.

"I bribed the nurses with cookies, but he only agreed to one cookie," TB told Jax when he woke up.

"Thank you," Jax said gratefully.

"How are you feeling?" TB asked.

"Better than yesterday," Jax replied.

"His infection isn't responding to antibiotics," Ava added. "Could you get a specialist to consult? I would feel a lot better if we got a second opinion."

TB was shocked at this show of concern for Jax. Maybe his daughter was starting to come around a little or she couldn't afford to pay another husband. Either way, it didn't matter. He liked Jax. He wanted to help.

"Let me talk to the nurse and see what he thinks," TB said.

Jax's medical situation was complicated by Jax being an inmate. TB didn't care what red tape he needed to cut. If he needed to get Jax better medical care, he would get him better medical care.

TB left the newlyweds alone for a few minutes. Gemma and the guys had gone back to the hotel. Gemma was mentally and physically exhausted.

"You really worried about me?" Jax asked. He took a small careful bite of the chocolate chip cookie TB had given him.

"Your nurse is," Ava replied.

TB returned.

"Your nurse is waiting for a call from your doctor before he can change your medication. If you aren't better by tomorrow morning, I'll get this resolved. Ava will help me. For now, I need to talk to Jax privately as his attorney."

"I'm his wife. Shouldn't I stay?" Ava asked.

"We're going to discuss the legal hell I'm going to rain down on the prison. Do you really want to hear a bunch of legal talk? Why don't you wait for me in the cafeteria? We should leave for the night and give Jax some peace and quiet. Shut the door when you leave. I've already explained to the guard that I'm Jax's attorney and we need to have a confidential discussion."

"OK," Ava said. She stood up, leaned over and gave Jax a kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow. Get better."

TB waited until the door was closed.

"How are you really?"

"I'm getting better," Jax insisted.

"What happened in prison? Was it just prison violence or was it a targeted hit?"

"It was a targeted hit. I was in line waiting for the phone to talk to Ava when three guys jumped me," Jax sucked down a little water from the plastic cup with the state approved paper straw before taking another bite of cookie.

Jax's face looked worse than yesterday. The bruises had deepened in color and his face was still swollen. The cuts on his hands were healing, but they were still bruised and swollen.

"Looks like you fought hard for your life," TB said.

"Yeah, but they would have succeeded except this young guard called for back up and then he broke it up and saved my life. He's a good guy," Jax said smiling thinly. "Sometimes at night, we talk. If it hadn't been for him coming along when he did, I'd be dead."

"You think the hit was related to your MC or do you think it was something else?"

"MCs usually don't have the reach to get into a Fed prison. It took a lot of money and the guys knew they were going to get caught. There are cameras everywhere. Maybe one of them will turn."

TB nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Someone's getting nervous about your appeal."

"That's what I think too," Jax said.

"Stay in the hospital as long as possible. When you go back to prison, I'm sure I can get you protective custody. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No. I'd like to live long enough to get out of prison."

"I'll check in with your nurse tomorrow to see if I need to get you better medical help, but I won't be around until the afternoon. I've got to give a speech at a trial lawyers' conference. I'll be eating lunch with the governor. I'll get his ear for a few minutes to begin telling him about your case. We should have your appeal packet ready to go next week and I'm going to call in a lot of favors and get it moved through the system at the speed of light."

"It seems too good to be true," Jax said.

"You deserve a break. You've gotten screwed by the government and your attorney. And my daughter needs a husband by her side and not in prison."

"She's something else," Jax said.

"Her mother insisted that we not spank her. She believed in explaining to her. Sometimes, you have to slap a kid's hands. I never did that. Always tried to respect her mother's parenting style even after she died. I just didn't have the patience so the nannies raised Ava."

"Yeah, I get that. She asked me if I was going to scold her or say harsh words."

"That sounds familiar," TB said standing up. "I'd be OK if you spanked her. It's kind of an old fashioned way, but if Ava won't listen to you . . . Extreme measures for extreme situations."

"I can hardly wait to get out of prison."

Jax had all kinds of plans for his headstrong bride. Ava was going to be a proper MC wife when he finished with her.

"

Author's Note: I have a new story. It's kind of a prequel to this story because the Jax in it is much more like this Jax than my other story Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run. It actually does have a plot with a twist.