Author's Note :
Thank you to all those reading my story Means a lot to me. Just a warning this does still touch on a lot of mental health issues. Also dealing with r pe. If you are a victim, or feel hopeless or lost, please remember there is help out there for you.
Suicude Prevention Hotline: 988
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Thank you DuchessTiki and Legolas Girl 31 for your comments. They are deeply appreciated.
Chapter 17 - Scar Tissue
I wasn't sure how long we were there. I had blacked out so often, and been woken up so many times. I knew one thing for sure, we needed to get out of here soon. I struggled a little bit against my restraints as I saw Gemma completely passed out. One of the men walked up to me at that point, I noticed he had a tattoo on his neck before I felt something smash into the side of my head and the world faded into black again.
I woke up quickly, ready to fight. The last thing I had remembered was neck tattoo guy hitting me with something. I heard Gemma sputtering and I sat up quickly. A little too quickly apparently because my head throbbed and my entire body screamed. I was covered in sweat, dirt, my own tears and blood. I looked over and saw Gemma much the same way. She was laying down and covered with a blanket, while I was left uncovered but my clothes were thrown over me. Perks of being a queen versus a princess I guess.
I was just about to get up when we heard Unser calling Gemma's name. I had never been so happy to hear the old man's voice. I struggled to stand up and Gemma looked at me sputtering. "Way.. Wayne!" She shouted out for him and I started walking to where I heard his voice staggering as I did. I heard a few gunshots and immediately knew it was him shooting the lock on a door.I quickly got to him after that and he looked shocked.
"Oh my god…" was all he could say when he saw me. I took him back to Gemma because I knew she would need help getting up and out of here. They had done much more to Gemma than they had me. I think I was just an unfortunate victim of circumstance. They were clearly after Gemma. If they thought they were going to get away with this they were wrong. I wasn't going to let them get their way. I heard Unser say oh my god again as we got to Gemma.
"Get me out of here." Gemma mumbled and Unser and I both helped her up and I made sure she was covered as we led her out of the building. We got to Unser's car and he immediately started driving away once we got inside comfortably. "How did you know we were there?" Gemma asked Unser after we had been driving for a minute. That was a good point. I had looked over at Unser.
"Heard it over the radio. I recognized the description of your car." He replied back to her.
"Anonymous tip?" I asked him to wedge myself into the conversation. He nodded and said yeah. I sighed inwardly and sat back again.
"You guys gotta tell me something here." Unser looked almost as panicked as I felt deep down. It was a mix of rage, shame, and sadness inside me.
"Where are you going?" Gemma asked Unser and that's when I noticed we weren't heading in the direction of any of our homes, or the police department. Unser told her he was taking us to the hospital. I started to have an inner battle because I didn't think that would be a good idea. Not right now. I heard Unser ask what he was supposed to do and then I had an idea. I didn't care for the idea, but we didn't have much choice.
"Give me your cell." I said to Unser. "Please" I added looking at him and Gemma nodded toward me agreeing and Unser relented. Tara answered on the second ring, I couldn't have been happier to hear her voice. I started to tell her that I needed her, that Gemma and I both needed her. She agreed right away. Maybe she could hear the distress in my voice. We decided to meet at Tara's house. It made the most sense.
I told Tara to look after Gemma first. I needed a shower, a long, hot shower. I quickly got into the shower turning the heat almost all the way up, scorching my skin, but obviously not enough to hurt. I washed all the grime and blood go down the drain. Once I felt a little better I walked out and I heard Tara tell Unser that they were going to see our faces. I hadn't looked in the mirror yet, I was too afraid to. Afraid of what was going to be looking back at me.
I didn't yet know about the deal that had been made in Tara's living room. Gemma was in a robe and I had put on a pair of my pajamas I had left at Tara's. Unser told Tara to stay with us. Where would she go? We are in her home. Tara saw me and told Gemma she would be right back before she met me in the hall and pulled me back into the bathroom.
She started asking me about what happened. I don't know what came over me but I told her everything. Every last detail I could remember. I didn't realize until she hugged me that I was crying. I hugged her back and held onto her. "I'm going to take you guys to the hospital. We are just going to act like Abel is going. You'll sign him in, I'll say we are running more tests." I nodded and we were on our way after Gemma got dressed.
When we got there Neeta was still there. Apparently Jax had stayed at the clubhouse, or somewhere last night. He never came home. Probably for the best, we could talk about it later. We all walked in and Neeta looked at Gemma and I. I quickly went to Abel's room and picked him up wrapping him in his blanket. Neeta followed, asking Gemma and I questions. We swiftly made our exit and Tara talked to her another moment before they had both nodded.
At the hospital, we got Abel situated into the pediatric wing before making our way to where we would be expected to be, in an exam room. Tara had finished both Gemma and I's exams. Neither of us had much damage done. She started us both on antibiotics. Unser knocked on the door saying he needed to speak to us. Tara let him in after Gemma ok'd it and I sat beside Gemma on the exam table. If nothing else this definitely drove the four of us closer in a lot of ways. I was holding her hand. Unser told us that Clay was here, and that he had told him we were in a car accident. Tara offered to go talk to Clay while Unser defended his alibi. Gemma had told them that she didn't want to see Clay yet. I could understand that. The only person I wanted to see though was Jax. To have him hold me and take the pain away. "Actually they're all here, Jax and the guys."
I perked up suddenly. Gemma got angry but I couldn't have felt more energized. Tara said she would handle it but I jumped up grabbing her arm. "I want to go with you." She smiled and told me to get dressed first. I quickly hid behind a divider and put on some clothes that the hospital handed out. We were going to say that our clothes got ruined in the accident. Gemma kept Unser in the room with her as Tara and I made our way to the guys.
As soon as Jax saw me he ran up to me picking me up and holding me. I quickly clung to him but winced in pain and he let go. "I'm sorry babe. How are you feelin'?" he asked as he looked me over. I smiled and couldn't stop the tears that once again flowed down my cheeks and he held me softly. Jax looked over my shoulder at Tara "How's my mom?" Tara told him that Gemma was fine as he held me still and I buried my face in his kutte, the smell of leather and Jax comforting me.
"I have to let Clay know." Tara said and Jax nodded, I sniffled and quickly wiped my tears walking with them to the rest of the guys. Clay walked up to us quickly. There isn't much I saw Clay hustle for, Gemma was one of them though. He hugged me when he saw me checking me over, like a father would. I smiled at him before I was quickly swept away by the guys all checking me over in their own way. I was happy to have this amazing group of men who cared for me.
Clay had pulled Jax to the side for a conversation while I was with the guys and they were all asking me how I was and cracking jokes that Gemma should have let me drive. I smiled along with them until I saw Unser coming back over. "The feds raided Luann's studio. Asset seizure." Clay sighed. I knew Luann, she was Otto's old lady. I never had a problem with her, but she wasn't my favorite person. Jax had wanted to take Opie to go see Otto, when Clay told him to take Bobby instead. Jax looked at Bobby and said he would go alone.
"I'll go with him." I said suddenly. They all looked at me, ranging from shock, to disbelief. "What? I just wanna go see Uncle Otto. I haven't seen him in forever." Clay said that settled that and we all broke apart to do our jobs. I held Jax's hand as we went out to his bike. I questioned if I would be able to ride. I bit my lip and looked at him. "Jax, I don't know if I can ride. He looked around for a second.
"Stay here, I'll go get your truck and be right back" We didn't live far from St. Thomas so I knew it wouldn't take him long. I nodded and Chibs came up and sat beside me.
"I'll keep ya company lass." I smiled at him and sat down beside him on the plant divider in front of the hospital. Once Jax drove away I felt the need to start talking. To get someone's advice who was not in the situation.
"Chibs, if you…" I stopped thinking about how to word it. "If someone had done something to someone you love, would you want them to tell you? Like, even if it meant that it might bring trouble?" I looked up at him sadly and was digging my fingers into my palms. He grabbed my hand to stop me.
"Aye lass. I would." He looked at me seriously and started to really take me in, all of the injuries. "What's this about? Is it about the accident?" I shook my head. Technically it wasn't because there was no accident. I wasn't ready to tell anyone yet and when I did I wanted Jax to be the one I told. In private, where we can sit down and talk.
"Just thinking about the past" I replied and hugged him. "Thank you Chibs." He nodded, not saying anything else and I knew he would keep this between us. We had always had little secrets. The rest of the guys and I did too. We were family. A few minutes later Jax pulled up in my truck and I got in with him. We took off to see Uncle Otto.
We pulled up to the prison and Jax turned to me. The drive had been mostly quiet except for Jax filling me in on where he was and what he was doing lately. Not too much, but enough so that I was in the loop. "Stay by my side, and don't get too far away." I nodded and we got out heading inside. They made us take everything out of our pockets and searched us before letting us in to see Otto.
When we walked in there were two white guys fighting. I didn't think much of it. The guards dragged them off and Jax pulled me into his side as we walked up to Otto. He smiled when he saw me, until he REALLY saw me.
"What happened to you?" I could see the rage already filling him. Otto was the second closest to my father after Jax's dad and Piney.
"I'm alright. Just a little accident." I smiled at him and Jax briefly filled him in on what happened.
"Ma needs to take her driver's test again apparently. Old age is getting to her driving skills." This made Otto laugh for a second. "What's up with the white on white?" Jax had asked and Otto explained that "something was coming down from Mt. Whitey". After that they started to talk about Luann and her business. My heart went out to Otto. He had given everything up for the club, all he asked was that Luann was taken care of. Jax agreed Luann would never end up back in front of the camera.
I hugged Otto and we left before we could get in trouble with the guards. "I'm gonna take you back home. Ma and Neeta should be back, they were gonna meet you there." I nodded and dozed off until we got to our house. Jax woke me up softly, but I still jumped a mile high. "Sorry babe. Do you need help inside?" I shook my head and smiled at him, caressing his cheek. I leaned forward and kissed him slowly. I would need time to get used to this again. I slid out of the truck slowly and made my way inside. "See you later babe" Jax called from on his bike.
I waved and blew him a kiss before making my way inside. I walked in and immediately went to Abel's room. Gemma was asleep in the rocking chair. I walked over and gently put my hand on her shoulder to wake her up. She startled awake and I smiled softly. "What time is it?" she asked.
"It's almost 10. Sorry I got here so late. Gemma, do you… wanna talk about what happened?" She was about to open her mouth when Neeta walked in and handed me the phone. It was Jax, he said that Bobby had been shot and asked me to get ahold of Tara. I called her immediately and Gemma and I drove over (Meaning I drove my truck over) to the clubhouse. When we got there Jax saw his mom and said "Oh shit" and gently touched her face. Gemma just said yeah before Clay called him into "church".
Gemma and I walked away after we heard Bobby was going to be ok. She led me down the hall. I didn't know where she was taking me at first, and where we ended up was still a shock. We went to the roof, where I had spent countless hours with Jax, Opie, my dad, and John Teller himself. We sat down beside each other. "We don't have to let them get away with it Gemma." I said looking down at the roof below me.
"And we won't baby. We just… have to let the dust settle a bit." We hugged each other and found comfort in each other's presence. I knew we would get them back, whether we had the boys' help or not. I did know one thing though I wouldn't hold back from telling Jax for long, I couldn't stand having secrets with him. Jax came up onto the roof awhile later. He was almost shocked by us both being there. We slid over a bit and made room for him between us. He asked if we were okay and we both responded we were.
He sat down wrapping an arm around me and holding Gemma's hand before she offered him the joint that she and I were passing. He took it, letting go of her hand. We stayed there all staring up at the stars, each in our own self reflection.
