Mackenzie woke up to find herself alone in Jax's bed. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. In the distance she heard a lot of shuffling and thumping. She got dressed quickly, borrowing one of Jax's shirts and headed out towards the bar. She raised her eyebrows as she saw the sons carrying bags and heading out towards the door. Jax stopped when he saw her and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Sorry, I was going to leave a note or something but we're in a hurry. We gotta make a run. I should be back Sunday afternoon." He leaned down and brushed a quick kiss on Mackenzie's cheek before walking out to his bike.
She sighed as she heard the motorcycles roar to life, pull out of the garage, and then fade off into the distance. She was about to go back to sleep when Gemma walked in with a little blonde headed boy on her hip. Mackenzie knew it was Jax's son immediately. They had the same eyes and mischievous smile.
"Mind watching him for a couple hours?" Gemma asked as she pulled her sunglasses off. Her tone seemed to make the question more of a demand than a request, but Mackenzie just nodded and took the boy. "Here's his bag. It's got some toys and stuff." She shot Mackenzie a half smile and walked out of the club.
"Well, I guess it's just you and me, little man." Mackenzie said smiling down. "You sure are big! How old are you?" Abel looked up at her and held out his hand, raising two fingers up. Mackenzie smiled and sat him down.
"Swing?" Abel asked looking up at Mackenzie with a toothy grin. Mackenzie laughed and nodded. Abel led the way out to the swing set over to the side of the lot and climbed up in a swing, waiting patiently for Mackenzie to push him.
As she pulled the swing back and let it go, much to Abel's amusement, she winced at the ache on her side. It wasn't a sharp pain anymore, but she was still reminded of that night Bryan came home angry that she had been out with her friends.
She frowned, pushing the swing for Abel and thinking about Texas. Bryan hadn't known it but when she came home that night, she had been seeing her friends for the last time before she was planning on leaving. Bryan accused her of cheating and telling them it was his fault they fought.
"We were just having dinner and a drink. We didn't even talk about you!" She yelled back as he threw a beer bottle against the living room wall. He had jumped up out of his chair and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. "So I'm not even important enough to talk about? I guess you had your boyfriend with you, fucking whore."
Mackenzie had stopped pushing the swing and Abel had come to stand by her leg. He pulled on the hem of his dad's shirt and looked up at Mackenzie.
"Don't cry! You can swing." He said sticking out his bottom lip and hugging her leg. She smiled at how sweet and innocent Abel was and sat in the swing, pulling him up in her lap. Abel laughed with joy as they swung higher than she was comfortable with pushing him alone in the seat.
A couple of hours of playing and a nap later, Mackenzie was getting their sandwiches from Jessie and carrying them out to the picnic table. Abel followed her and beamed as she let him carry her bottle of water and his juice. They sat together at the table and ate lunch as Abel told her all about his grandma's house. He was telling her about the birdies when he suddenly stopped talking and moved closer to Mackenzie's side. She looked down and wrapped her arm around him.
"What's wrong, Abel?" She raised his head up worried that he had choked on a piece of sandwich. His eyes were wide and doe like. He was looking out towards the garage. She followed his gaze and her heart stopped. She jumped up and grabbed him up in her arms and ran into the club. Jessie was wiping off the bar but stopped when she saw Mackenzie's pale face.
"What's wrong? Is he okay?" Jessie said as Mackenzie handed him to her. Mackenzie didn't say anything in response; she just nodded her head. The door to the club opened swiftly and Mackenzie felt sick. Bryan was standing in the doorway, smiling. Jessie looked at Mackenzie, confused as to what was going on.
"Sweetheart, I'm so glad I found you." Bryan said with sarcasm dripping from each word. Mackenzie backed away from the bar to keep Bryan away from Jessie and Abel. Jessie was staring at Bryan as he advanced towards Mackenzie slowly. She slowly reached behind the bar and grabbed her cell phone, bringing up Jax's number.
"Bryan, you can't be in here." Mackenzie said, trying to bluff. "These guys are going to be back any minute and they don't know you. I don't want them to hurt you." She said, trying to smile. Her bluff didn't work.
"Don't worry, we won't be here long." He said sharply as he lunged at Mackenzie, catching her by the arm and slamming her bad side against the pool table. She cried out and bent forward. Abel started crying as Jessie yelled for Bryan to leave. He ignored her and grabbed Mackenzie by the back of the hair and yanked her head up close to his face. She spit into his eyes and stomped down on his shin. He yelled and let her go just long enough for her to grab a pool cue.
He recovered and looked at Mackenzie as she stood there with the pool cue held back like a bat. "What are you going to do with that? Hit me?" He mocked her as he stalked forward. Mackenzie was about to swing when she heard the unmistakable sound of a handgun being racked. She looked past Bryan and saw Gemma standing behind him, a pistol pointed at his back. He hadn't missed the noise either.
He turned around slowly with his hands out to the side. He laughed a little and turned back to Mackenzie.
"Lady, you aren't going to shoot me any more than Mackenzie is going to hit me." He said with a laugh. He took another step towards Mackenzie when the gun went off.
He fell forward, gripping his calf that was bleeding from Gemma's shot. He yelled and turned towards Gemma.
"If you don't drag your sorry ass out of here, the next one's going through your heart." She hissed at him. He paused for a minute before standing up slowly. He held his hands above his head and limped slowly past Gemma and walked out to his car. Jessie walked back out to the bar from the kitchen, looking back and forth between Gemma and Mackenzie. Abel was hiding his face on her neck.
"I'm sorry Gemma." Mackenzie said shaking. She blamed herself for bringing Bryan to Charming somehow. Gemma shook her head and laughed darkly.
"This isn't on you, sweetie. You can't out run crazy." She said with a grin as she took Abel from Jessie and headed back to the dorms. She came back a few minutes later to find Mackenzie righting the knocked over recliner. "Hey, don't worry about doing that. The guys can take care of it when they get back." She said laying a hand on Mackenzie's shoulder. Mackenzie jerked away and continued straightening the furniture. Gemma shook her head and looked over to Jessie.
"He's asleep. Did he see anything?" Jessie shook her head.
"Not really, Gemma. He heard yelling and cried and hid his face in my neck. I shot a text to Jax and we went back into the kitchen." Jessie said, frowning over at Mackenzie who was putting the pool cue up. She then walked over to the bar and grabbed the towel and sanitizer bucket Jessie had been using earlier and got down on the carpet.
Mackenzie was still scrubbing at the blood when Jax burst through the door followed by Chibs and Juice. He looked at Gemma and then to Mackenzie.
"We couldn't get her to stop. I told her they're carpet squares that we can just replace." Gemma said looking down at Mackenzie with pity. Jax walked over to Mackenzie and put his hand on her back gingerly. She shuddered, but continued scrubbing.
"Darlin, stop. We don't give a fuck about the carpet." Jax said softly, taking the blood soaked rag from Mackenzie and pulling her up to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her for a hug and she screamed in pain. Jax let go quickly and caught her shoulders as she sank to her knees. She put her head on his chest and inhaled deeply. There was a faint whistle to her inhale.
Jax cradled her head to his shoulder and raised the t-shirt up with his free hand. Her ribs were a deep purple and the right side of her chest didn't really move as she breathed. He winced and looked back at Chibs and Juice.
"Shit. Juicy, go get tha van and some blankets." Chibs said, walking over to Jax and Mackenzie. He had spent a few months as a medic back in Ireland and knew she wasn't well.
"Jax she's gotta get to the hospital. Now." He said helping Jax stand her up slowly. She winced and cried out in pain again before going limp in Jax's arms.