Hey! Chapter Two is up and I hope you all like it! Reviews are greatly appreciated as I'd love to know what you all think. Of course I don't own any SOA or it's lovable characters, that honor goes to Mr. Kurt Sutter and FX. ENJOY and review!
Mackenzie woke with a sense of panic. She looked around trying to remember where she was and how she got there. Her ribs were throbbing along with her head, to make matters worse, someone started pounding loudly on the door. Jax Teller walked out of the bathroom, fresh out of the shower, and the events of last night started coming back into focus. She shook her head, questioning how she could have been so reckless. The pounding continued as Jax threw Mackenzie a shirt from his drawer and her jeans she wore yesterday. "Jesus, hold on a fucking minute!" He yelled at the door as he pulled his jeans on while walking over to open it. As soon as he turned the knob, the door flew against the wall, narrowly missing him.
"Don't tell me to hold on Jackson Teller! Clay has been waiting on you for half an hour out at the warehouse, and you're shacked up in here with some piece of ass?" The woman verbally assaulting Jax startled Mackenzie at first with her abrasive tone and wild eyes, but Mackenzie didn't take kindly to being called a piece of ass by some stranger. Jax put his hands up in front of his chest to back the woman off, "Mom, calm down. I was just about to leave. You can't come barging in here like I'm a kid that's late for school. Mackenzie this is Gemma, Mom, this is Mackenzie." Mackenzie tried to match Gemma's glare as Jax ushered his mom out of the room.
He scrambled around the room getting ready as Mackenzie watched him from the side of the bed. Just as he was about to walk out of the door, she noticed him throw on a shoulder-holstered pistol followed by his vest. Her eyes widened, as she hadn't noticed that the night before. He met her gaze and paused at the door.
"Look, I gotta go. You can use the shower in there if you want. Don't worry about her. Just try to steer clear. I'll be back later if you want to stick around." With that, he left, closing the door swiftly behind him. Mackenzie inhaled deeply and looked around the room. She walked over to a corkboard above a small desk and found a cute picture of a couple of little boys, one blonde headed and one dark headed. She picked it up and turned it over, in faded ink she found, Jax and Opie. Smiling, she put it back exactly where it was and kept looking around. There was little more than provocative calendar girls and furniture left to see, so she settled on a shower to clear her mind.
After a long time spent just standing in the searing water, Mackenzie's nerves had subsided. She grabbed a towel hanging on the door and started drying off when she heard loud voices in the distance. Throwing on a clean pair of jeans and a tank top from her rescued bag, she made her way to the bar, putting on her boots as she walked. The voices grew louder as she got closer to the bar, making it easy to listen without feeling like she was ease dropping.
"Look, I don't care who you banged. They guys aren't here and you aren't welcome so turn your ass around and get out." Jessie was yelling from behind the bar at a messy looking blonde girl in short white shorts and a black crop top showing off her midsection. She was standing with one hand on her hip and the other waving a finger at Jessie.
"Who are you to say I can't be here? You call Tig! He'll tell you I can be here. We have a connection." She screamed. Mackenzie looked at her with amusement as she came around the corner. "Who are you? Are you the reason I can't see my Tigger?" The blonde was becoming hysterical at this point, walking towards Mackenzie quickly. Jessie threw her hands in the air and came out from behind the bar.
"Becky, Tig told you he didn't want you around here. That's Mackenzie, she doesn't even know him, so just go, you can try and call him later if it's that important to you." Jessie said in a calming tone. Becky, however was in no mind to be calmed. She threw herself at Mackenzie, fists flying about. Mackenzie kicked Becky's outer thigh hard, knocking her off her three-inch heels and onto the floor. She screamed and threw her bag at Mackenzie in a last ditch effort to win an already lost battle. Mackenzie picked up the bag and walked over to the blonde struggling to get up. She reached down and grabbed her under the arm, hoisting her to her feet and handed her the bag.
"If you come at me again you'll have more than a bruised thigh. Go home and sober up, then maybe you can try calling Tig." Mackenzie added a sympathetic smile at the end, feeling sorry for the mess of a girl she was leading out of the door. Becky sobbed and nodded as she walked out to her car.
Mackenzie walked back to the bar, shaking her head, and sat down. She heard slow clapping coming from the other side of the room. She turned and saw Jax's mom Gemma sitting in the corner sipping from a steaming mug, half smirking at Mackenzie. She stood and made her way to the bar, causing Mackenzie to tense up a little from their earlier encounter. "Well, well it seems you aren't a weak piece of ass at least. Where'd you pull that out of?" Gemma smiled, pulling up a seat next to Mackenzie. "I used to be a cop." Mackenzie said as she stood up and left.
Mackenzie walked out of the gate and headed down to a diner she had passed yesterday on her way out of Charming. It would be a long walk, but she welcomed the solitude. An hour or so after leaving Teller Morrow, she sat down in a booth and waited for the server to take her order. There were few patrons seated here and there, but she could feel their eyes on her. She reached up to brush her hair from her face and remembered she hadn't covered up her bruise. The server didn't meet Mackenzie's eyes as she took her order.
It was the first time she'd ever been out in public without covering her bruises. Somehow, it didn't bother her as much as it would have in Texas, or maybe she just didn't care about opinions anymore. After eating and paying, she started walking back to the clubhouse. A couple of blocks down from the diner, she heard the distinct sound of motorcycles coming down the road. She stopped and watched as they drove by. One rider in the front of the group of ten or so pulled over, followed by two more.
"Hey, do you want a ride?" Jax asked, taking off his sunglasses to look at Mackenzie in the eye. She bit her lip and shook her head. "Come on, darlin', what's the worst that could happen?" Mackenzie rolled her eyes and climbed on behind him, gripping him tight around the waist, acutely aware of the bulk of his holstered pistol.
They pulled into Teller Morrow and Jax backed his Harley in between two others in a line by the clubhouse. She was just giving him his helmet back when Gemma called out for him to come into the office. He slapped Mackenzie on the ass as they parted ways, him to the office and her to the clubhouse. She laughed and swatted playfully at him, relishing in the fun she had long missed having.
She entered the bar and caught the tail end of Jessie's recap of the early afternoon's event. A curly, dark haired biker with a rough goatee walked up to Mackenzie and gave her a tight hug. She inhaled sharply from the pain in her ribs. "Ay, Tig let her go brotha! She's a little banged up from the wreck." Chibs said slapping Tig on the shoulder. Mackenzie whispered a silent thank you to Chibs and laughed as Tig released her.
"You don't know how crazy that bitch is. I'm in your debt for getting rid of her! I changed my number after I broke it off and I doubt she'll want another ass kicking from you." He said, finishing his praise off with a swig from his beer. Mackenzie smiled and assured Tig it was no big deal. Just then, she saw Jax coming up from behind Tig looking serious. He caught Mackenzie's eye and motioned for her to follow him.
Curious to see what changed his playful mood, she followed him into his room. He was sitting backwards in the office chair, his elbows propped up on the back with his fingers laced. Mackenzie's smile faded as she slowly closed the door. She leaned her back against the doorframe, giving Jax time and space. "You need to tell me what you're doing here. You said you're running from your old man, but what cop runs from somebody?" Jax's blue eyes bore into Mackenzie as he waited for a response. She shook her head, keeping her eyes on a piece of carpet that had a small cigarette burn in it. She had asked herself the same question months ago, up until she resigned from the force. It was embarrassing, and a sensitive subject she had never spoken to anyone about. She had the sense the club wasn't completely on the up and up, so she understood his need for interrogation.
"I'm not a cop anymore. I haven't been for a few months. You can go through my bag, I don't have a gun or a badge or even a cell phone. I'm here in particular by accident, nothing more." She raised her eyes to see Jax's soften slightly as he pulled her bag over to him. She gave him time to be satisfied with the contents before moving to sit on the bed.
"That still doesn't explain why a cop, even an ex-cop wouldn't just have the guy hauled off and stay in Texas." He said with a cautious tone. Mackenzie pulled her knees to her chest and exhaled slowly. The more people knew about who she was and who she was running from, the more likely he would find her, but it didn't look like she had a lot of choice this time, and she had started to like Jax.
"It explains it if the guy was the mayor's son. I filed a restraining order and it disappeared from our records. I filed charges and they were dismissed for being incorrectly submitted. The one time I lost control and broke his nose, I was given a sudden two-week suspension without pay for a supposed investigation into a traffic stop involving a seat belt violation. It didn't matter that I had my jaw broken and new bruises every week, he was heir to the city throne and I was just a rookie cop. So, I quit the force a couple of months ago and slowly pulled money out of my savings so he wouldn't notice. I bought a car with cash and I left while he was out hunting with his dad." Mackenzie worked to catch her breath from the emotional toll it took to open up to someone about something she'd been dealing with alone for over two years. She didn't risk looking at Jax for fear of his disgust. She heard him get up and shuffle about for a minute before sitting beside her on the bed.
"Look, darlin'," he said calmly, "I'm not the shiny white knight. If that's what you're looking for then I can help you get a car or something and head on up to Washington. I'm not going to lie, I like you being around and would like it if you stuck around, but all I know how to do is outlaw. You wouldn't have to worry about me or any of the guys hurting you. But you being a cop, ex or not, can't bleed into this. You got to leave that shit behind or you'd be a liability. " he paused and let Mackenzie process his warning for a minute. "So what's it going to be?"
She looked at him, thrown of by the sudden decision she was faced with. She had joined the force to have an exciting career, to be honest she never saw it as a battle against evil for her, just excitement. She knew she didn't need Jax's protection to stay out of Bryan's reach, but rather enjoyed his company. She had thrown caution to the wind the night before and it had paid off ten fold, so maybe it was time for a change.
"I'm not a liability and I'm not planning on going anywhere for a while." She said, testing out a small smile on him. He returned her smile and stood up. "I would still like help finding a car though, and maybe a job." Jax laughed and nodded.
"We'll see what we can do, darlin'." He grinned and walked back out to the bar, leaving the door open for her to follow. She took a deep breath and stood up, following Jax back into the world of bikers and crazy blonde girls looking for some Harley rider named after a Winnie the Pooh character. She couldn't help but smile.