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Chapter 125 Waiting in Hell

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Jax's first impulse was to jump on his bike and begin looking for Ava. He had to find her before Zobelle's guys hurt her. He kept picturing those animals tearing off Ava's clothes and taking turns with her and ripping her up. She was fragile and while she would heal physically, the mental damage would crush her. She might not ever recover.

Tig grabbed Chuckie and they automatically cleared any lingering guests out of TM and the clubhouse while Jax tried to think through how they were going to find Ava. All he had at the moment was trust that Bobby and the guys could catch up to Zobelle.

Jax's phone rang and his heart pounded hard with a mix of hope and dread.

"We lost them," Bobby said. "We're on our way to the cigar shop now. Maybe they took her there. I'll call you when we know."

Jax briefed the guys on Bobby's phone call.

"If she's not there, we need to start organizing a search. We have got to find her," Jax said.

Jax covered his face with his hands and took a couple of calming breaths. He just needed to get Ava back safely and then he would focus on what he was going to do to Zobelle and his guys.

A few heart stopping moments later, Bobby called.

"She's not here, but that mother fucker left us a message. There was a banner across the counter saying "She's Not Here" with a happy face at the end. Happy shot up the happy face. We're going to keep riding around hoping to find some trace unless you have other ideas."

"I'm still trying to figure it out," Jax said. "I'll call when I come up with something."

Jax didn't know when it happened. It was something that had just crept up on him until he realized at the worst possible moment that he was in love with Ava. She had become his world. He remembered how her eyes flashed with anger when he'd pretended to be a shark in the early days of their honeymoon and she told him he kissed like a dog and how tragic her face looked when she had vomit in her hair that night when she got drunk. He'd washed her hair and helped her and she'd been incredibly sweet.

She'd taken such good care of him when he broke his ribs even wearing a nurse's costume for him and stockings. And then she'd put on her Halloween cheerleader costume and looked sexy as hell. He remembered in New Orleans the first time they'd had sex and how vulnerable she'd been with him. Ava didn't give herself to every man that crossed her path. And now what was hers to give was being taken from her violently.

He thought he was going to lose his mind at the thought of the woman he loved so deeply being gang raped Images of her face contorted with pain and fear wondering if they were ever going to stop or if they were going to kill her when they finished with her. Was she wondering why he didn't rescue her? Jax's eyes welled with tears.

All he wanted was to find her before they hurt her. If they couldn't get to her in time, he would do everything he could to help her recover from the ordeal. With time, lots of love and patience, he would help her heal. He hoped it wouldn't come to that. He hoped they would find her in time.

"How long has it been?" Jax asked Opie.

"A little over twenty minutes," he replied.

"I can't stand waiting around," Jax said. He reached into his cut and pulled out his leather riding gloves.

"I contacted security at TB's. They are putting together some kind of plan," Opie said.

Sack wanted to do something to help, but he couldn't think of anything to say to make things better. He could see just how worried Jax was about Ava. If that had been his old lady, he'd be crazed. He reached into his cut and pulled out the Glock he'd taken from Zobelle's SUV and handed it to Jax.

"Zobelle's gun," he said.

Jax took the gun and tucked it into his cut.

"Before everything went to hell, I gave Sack a mission," Jax explained to the guys. "I had him steal a gun from Zobelle's SUV. I'm not going to use it on Zobelle. I want to tear that mother fucker apart with my bare hands. Let's head out, ride around. Maybe we'll find a lead."

"We need to stay here. For all we know, there could be an ambush waiting and she could be anywhere," Opie said. He was determined not to let Jax ride around looking for Ava. It was too dangerous and he was responsible for protecting Jax.

"I don't give a damn about me," Jax shouted. "I need to find her."

"Let me see if I can find an address for Zobelle. There should be a business license record with an address," Juice suggested.

"Five minutes and then we go," Jax said.

"We have to protect you," Opie said. "It isn't going to help Ava or the MC if we ride into a trap. We need our president."

"Ava needs me," Jax said. "She didn't sign up for this. I am going to kill that son of a bitch and his band of thugs."

"No brother," Opie said gently, "we'll kill those bastards as a club and we'll do it smart. The last thing Charming and Ava are going to need is us getting locked up."

Tig, Kozik Sack and Piney assured Jax that they all had his back and would take club action against Zobelle. Having his brothers' support meant everything to him. He knew they would help him get through this nightmare just as he would stand by Ava and help her.

As each second passed, Jax was growing more and more agitated as he thought of what was happening to Ava. And he blamed himself for bringing MC violence into her life.

This was a first to be fair. They all might be outlaws, but there were rules to it and disputes were handled among the men. Women, children and other innocents were off limits. For Zobelle to go after his old lady was unheard of. If he'd had the slightest hint that this might happen, he would have blanketed Ava in protection.

He was trying to get some emotionally distance and look at the situation more rationally. The chances of riding around and suddenly finding Ava were extremely slim. Zobelle wouldn't take have his men take her somewhere obvious. She might not even be in Charming anymore. She could be fucking anywhere. How the hell were they going to find her?

Over the years, he'd been in some tight situations from having loaded handguns pressed to his head to being in gunfights, but he had never felt such terror. He would do anything to get Ava back including sacrifice himself.

Juice came jogging out of the clubhouse.

"Bastard Zobelle used a PO box for everything. I checked with PD but Eglee isn't working. I was hoping we could get her to run a background on Zobelle and get his address through the DMV."

Bobby called to check in and report they hadn't turned up any leads and wanted to know if they should head back to the clubhouse. Jax told him to continue to look for Ava. At least if someone was out looking for her, there was a chance she would be found. He didn't know what the fuck else to do.

"Why don't I send a text to all the friends of the MC to be on the look out for Ava and if they see her, they should call me?" Juice suggested.

"Good thinking," Jax said.

Juice patted his pockets and realized he'd left his phone in the clubhouse and ran back inside to get it.

Jax thought about violating outlaw MC protocol and asking Hale for some off the record help. Hale might be able to help them locate Zobelle and even if Ava wasn't at Zobelle's house, they could snatch Zobelle and force him to tell them where Ava was being held.

Feeding Zobelle and his thugs into a wood chipper slowly, putting a tourniquet on Zobelle's dick, cutting it off and feeding it to him before killing him slowly or locking him in a box with hungry rats; those were a few of the possibilities of how he was going to kill Zobelle. He was sure Happy had would have some ideas on some slow painful ways to kill Zobelle's thugs.

"Jax!" Juice yelled urgently as he ran out of the clubhouse.

Opie put his hand on Jax's shoulder lending him support in case Juice was bringing bad news.