Hi guys! Here is the next chapter. Sorry that it is a bit late. I actually really like the way this turned out! I want to thank my lovely readers and especially thank my amazing reviewers. I am sure that you all realize how much reviews mean to writers, and I thank those of you who take the time to do it.
Also, please let me apologize to any Russian readers I may have. Google Translate is both helpful and terrible. For your convenience, I have an English translation at the bottom.
Anyway, please enjoy and leave some love!
Tess woke slowly, her brain in a hazy fog. She kept her eyes closed against the dull headache that was still present. She had no idea how long she had been asleep, and it took her several moments to make sense of the world around her and recall exactly where she was and why she was there. Once she could recall exactly what was going on, she no longer wanted to open her eyes.
Her other senses were quite active, though. The smooth sheets and comfortable warmth that enveloped her told Tess that she had been tucked into bed. There was a scent in the room, vanilla and lavender if her nose was correct, almost as if her bastard boyfriend had lit a candle. She instinctively knew that she would never be able to stand that smell again The salty, metallic taste in her mouth told her that she had definitely bled when Lex had hit her, and she internally cringed at the thought of blood in her mouth.
Tess was not focused on any of those senses, though. Instead, she concentrated on laying still and keeping up the appearance of sleep for as long as humanly possible, so that she could listen. Without opening her eyes, she couldn't be sure, but it seemed as if the door to the room had been left open and the conversation was far too interesting to end because she had been caught awake. She could hear the men talking, or really, yelling. She couldn't be sure, as most of the conversation was in Russian, but it seemed as if something had gone wrong. Tess bit her lip to keep from grinning. She managed to restrain herself with a sharp mental reminder that her very life might depend on staying sharp.
"Chto yebat' my sobirayemsya delat?" one man said. It seemed like the same man from before. "Ya dumal, vy skazali, chto ne budut nas nayti!"
"Ya dumal, chto oni ne mogli," Lex replied, sounding more worried than he was letting on. "No eto ne imeyet znacheniya. K tomu vremeni, kotoroye oni poluchayut zdes, my uzhe ne budet."
"Alexei prav, seychas net vremeni. Chtoby borot'sya my dolzhny vybrat'sya otsyuda," said the older man. Tess was getting more and more frustrated. She had never been interested in anything Russian before, but she wished more than anything that she knew the language now.
"Da, my delayem. Chto my budem delat' s sukoy, kogda my idem?" the other man asked.
"Tess," came Lex's surprisingly defensive voice. They were talking about her."Yeye zovut Tess. Ne nazyvayte yeye sukoy."
"Akh da, ya zabyl, chto ona yavlyayetsya lyubov' v vashey zhizni," the other man said sarcastically. It was almost strange to Tess that sarcasm sounded the same, regardless of the language. "Tak chto zhe nam delats Printsessoy Tess?"
They were quiet for a few moments, but eventually the older man spoke up. "Alexei, chto vy dumayete?"
"Ya dumayu, chto ona imeyet vazhnoye znacheniye dlya SAMCRO, I poetomu ona yavlyayetsya tsennym dlya nas," Lex replied.
"O, pozhaluysta," the other man replied. "Vy nastol'ko pogruzheny v etoy kiske, chto vy poteryali iz vidu to, chto vazhno. Vy zabyli, chto SAMCRO sdelal s nami? Oni dolzhny platit' krov'yu!"
SAMCRO! She knew that name, too. They were talking about Kozik and the guys. Had they found her? Where they coming for her? That would most definitely cause some panic.
"Vy pravy, oni dolzhny," Lex replied, his anger barely restrained. "No ona ne im. Ona rabotayet na nikh i nichego ne sdelal dlya nas. Ona yavlyayetsya boleye tsennym v kachestve rychaga chem ona zhiva."
It seemed as if the other man was ready to argue, but the older man cut him off. "On prav. Ona zhivet."
The other man did not seem happy, but Tess could tell he wouldn't argue with the older man. It was easy to tell who was really in charge. "Khorosho, eto vash vybor, no kuda my idem, chtoby poyti?"
"My mozhem poyti v Oakdale. Popov imeyet mesta tam. On loyalen, i my budem v bezopasnosti v Oakdale poka my ne mozhem vyyasnit' nash sleduyushchiy shag," the older man finally replied. Tess's heart skipped a beat. She understood next to nothing from this conversation, but she knew Oakdale. It was a tiny town about twenty minutes south of Charming. She had briefly considered moving there. Oakdale. And Popov. That was a name. Popov. Oakdale. She had to remember that. The older man continued. "My upakuyem i podgotovit' vse. Alexei, vy poluchayete devochku "
"Da, konechno," Lex replied. Tess heard chairs scraping against the floor and footsteps moving in all directions, including towards her. She tensed up momentarily, before she remembered that she was supposed to be relaxed and sleeping. She took a deep breath and let out what she hoped was a believeable snore.
She heard the footsteps stop next to the bed, and for a moment, there was nothing. It nearly made her shiver to know that Lex was standing there, just next to the bed, watching her sleep. Hell, the way she figured, that would have been creepy even if they were still in a happy relationship and he hadn't kidnapped and beaten her. Thankfully, it only lasted a moment. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her.
"Tess," he said softly. "Come on. You need to wake up now."
She managed to not snap and slap his hand away, but only just. She was beginning to devise a plan, and it all hinged on her getting him to trust her just a bit. She feigned a sudden wake up.
"Lex," she muttered, faking a yawn. "What's going on? I was sleeping!"
"I know, my dear," he gave her a tight, but genuine smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Well, just great," she replied, not quite able to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "It's not like I have been knocked out, shoved in a trunk, and backhanded recently."
"I am sorry that all of that had to happen," he took her hand and sat next to her on the bed. "I didn't ever mean for you to get hurt."
"But I did get hurt," she responded, snatching her hand away and crossing her arms. "So why did you wake me up? I was actually dreaming of a warm, sunny beach."
"I am sorry that we didn't make it to the beach," he told her. "But we do need to leave here. Not to the beach, but I am sure it is an enjoyable place. There is a pool."
"Go?" she asked, her face a false mask of confusion. "Why? Where are we going?"
"We just need to get out of here," he answered her, careful to not give away any information. "It's not far."
"Are you going to cram me in a trunk again?" she asked with mock cheeriness.
He actually cracked a smile. He had always admired her pluckiness, when it didn't get in the way of his needs. "No. You will ride with me. I can trust you, can't I? I promise, I won't harm you, but you can't try anything. Do you promise?"
She didn't understand why he was being so sickeningly sweet to her. It didn't go along with the man who had arranged all of this. She managed to not roll her eyes. Instead, she just nodded.
"Good!" he grinned. "Shall we?"
The fact that he acted as if they were going on a date, and not like she was here against her will pissed her off, but she had to control herself. She knew that he wanted them out of here, and quickly, because if she had to make a guess, Kozik and the guys had figured out their location and were on their way. She knew that she couldn't stall him for long, and if she tried, he would lose his temper and snap again. What she could do was delay for as long as possible and maybe, if she was very careful, get a message to them about where to find her next.
"I need to go to the bathroom," she spoke up suddenly, plastering her very best innocent look across her face.
He immediately shook his head. "Can't it wait? We need to go."
"Well, so do I!" she replied, squeezing her knees together. "It's been a very long and strange day for me. The least you could do before we go off to God knows where is let me go to the bathroom and pee and get cleaned up. I am not sure about whatever country you are apparently from, but here I'm America, it's not quite normal to see a bleeding woman riding around in a car next to a perfectly groomed man. You will probably get a couple of strange looks..."
Lex sighed and but his lip. She knew that he was trying to decide if her her being happy was worth the time it would take for her to use the bathroom. He looked towards the door and then back towards her.
"Alright," he finally said. "I can give you a couple of minutes, but after that, we have to go."
Tess faked a smile and gave him a quick, "Thank you."
Lex took her hand again and helped her off the bed. She slid her shoes on and ran her hand along the back of her head, where she had been hit. She was still bleeding, and she felt a wave of triumph mixed with sickening pain and the warm blood hit her fingers. She looked up and saw Lex looking at her strangely.
Tess shrugged. "It still hurts."
"Well, maybe don't touch it. When we get to...where we're going, I will make sure that your injuries are treated. But for now, bathroom, and then we go."
Lex lead her from the room, and her suspicions were confirmed. They were in Lex's goddamned house. It had changed, clearly worse for the wear with a bunch of Russian men in it, but it was definitely his house. Tess took care to casually brush her bloodied hand against the wall as she gasped in false surprise.
"Lex! Is this your house?" she asked.
"Yes," he nodded. "But that's not important. Come on. Bathroom."
She followed him across the main room and as she got to the hallway that she knew lead to the restroom, she ran her hand against the corner of the wall, leaving another trace of blood.
Lex turned to her as they approached the bathroom door. "You need to make this quick, Tess. We have to leave soon."
"I will be fast, now can I please go?" she asked. "For somebody who is worried about time, you sure are spending a lot of it telling me to hurry and not letting me actually go hurry."
"Two minutes, Tess. No more. Now go, I will be in the living room," Lex said as he turned and walked down the hall. Tess waited until his back had disappeared, and breath a sigh of relief. She left a bit of blood from her hand outside the door of the bathroom before she went in and closed the door behind her. She had to work fast, because she had a feeling Lex was serious when he gave her two minutes.
Her eyes ran over every surface of the bathroom and cursed Lex's minimalist decor. It was all marble and clean, sharp lines. She quietly opened the medicine cabinet and cursed softly when she saw it empty. There wasn't a bit of clutter to be had, which was a problem for somebody who hoped she had left some eyeliner or lipstick here at one point. She groaned in frustration. She had hoped to find some kind of writing tool, but she was out of luck. As macabre as it was, she would have to use her own blood if she wanted to leave any kind of message.
Tess turned on the hot water in the sink and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked was a trickle of dried blood near her hairline, and a bruise was forming from where Lex had backhanded her. Her hair was a matted mess, tangled with blood. She looked a wreck, but Tess couldn't be concerned with that right now. She had a job to do and it didn't matter whether she looked a wreck or not. She took a deep breath and turned towards the shower. That would be the best place. She quickly and silently pulled the shower curtain aside, and ran her fingers over the cut on her head again, biting her lip to stifle the pain.
Quickly, she started the message, knowing that there was not much time or room in the bottom of the shower. She also wanted it to be as short as possible, knowing that her own pain and blood were going into composing it.
"Russians. 3. Knew you were coming. Moved to Oakdale. Popov. Please hurry. -T"
It wasn't much, but it hopefully got the message across. She didn't know why, but she knew Kozik would find it. She marked just outside of the stall with a bit more blood, before she carefully closed the shower curtain, concealing the message from Lex, and saying a silent prayer that it was seen by the right person. She turned back towards the sink and splashed water over her face. She tried her best to work her fingers through her hair and get it into a somewhat manageable state. She cleaned the blood off her hands and used the elastic from her pocket and threw her hair up in a ponytail. She looked relatively presentable, and it as a good thing, too, because a loud knock on the door had her nearly jumping out of her skin.
"Tess?" Lex called through the door. "Come on. We need to get out of here."
"Alright," she replied, willing herself to be calm. Really, though she had done the best she could to leave a trail for them to follow, there was no way for her to guarantee that they would find it. She was loathe to admit it, but she was afraid. Terrified even. She had no idea where they were going or what would be waiting for her when she got there. What she did have, though, was faith. She believed in Kozik. She knew he wouldn't give up on her; that he would stop at nothing to find her. She needed to believe that he would see her message and he would come for her. She smiled at herself in the mirror and nodded.
"Coming!" she called to Lex and flicked off the lights as she left. "I'm ready."
Opie and Chibs followed Kozik to the back room, where they kept their arsenal. If they thought the news of Tess's location would calm the other man, they had been dead wrong. They were all tense as ever. Kozik had turned nearly manic, focused on one thing and only one thing: getting Tess back. Opie and Chibs were both of the mind that they needed a plan in place before the bumrushed the Russian mafia. Kozik seemed more like he was ready to go in guns blazing.
"How many do you think we should bring?" Koz asked as he picked up a MAC-10. "I figure we could each carry 3 or 4."
Chibs turned to look at Opie, eyebrows raised. Op shook his head and spoke. "Well I agree that we will likely need firepower, but maybe we should sit down and come up with a plan first."
"Plan?" Kozik asked. "We have a plan. Go to the bastard's house, and get Tess back. Seems like a good plan to me."
"We have no idea what kind of of forces we are dealing with. There could be twenty guys there, brother," Chibs pointed out calmly.
"I don't care," Kozik shrugged. "We are going to get her back."
"Of course we are," Opie agreed. "But it would make more sense to do a little recon, call in reinforcements. We could have more guys here in a couple of hours."
"We have enough guys," Kozik argued.
"We have three," Chibs pointed out. "Me, you, and Opie."
"We have Piney too, and three Prospects. We all go," Kozik explained, as if he couldn't believe that the subject was up for debate.
"That leaves everybody else here, unprotected. It could be a trap, just what the Russians are waiting for," Chibs pointed out, glancing at the door, where Fiona and Tara and Lila stood. He was becoming more defensive by the minute. "That's not going to happen."
"He's right, Kozik," Opie said. "Gemma is calling other charters and getting people here. Let's go sit down, figure out exactly what we are going to do. We can go as soon as they get here."
"Look, you guys do what you want," Kozik startled them with the sheer determination in his voice. "I am going to go get Tess, now. She's in trouble, and I am not going to sit around on my ass and wait. I am going to get her."
With the MAC-10 in his hand, he stormed from the room, the women barely jumping out of the way in time. When he was gone, they felt more free to file into the room.
"Is he really leaving?" Tara asked, her arms crossed over her chest as Fiona and Lila made their way to their men. She looked away as jealousy overtook her.
"I think he is," Chibs replied. "And I doubt that we can do a damn thing to stop him."
"Well, Gemma hid his keys. That will slow him down for awhile," Fiona informed them.
Opie managed a small laugh and then looked over the top of Lila's head, where it rested against his chest, and caught Chibs's eye. "We have to go with him."
"Aye, we do," Chibs agreed, pulling Fiona slightly closer.
"Is that safe?" Lila voiced what every one of them was thinking.
"Is anything we ever do safe?" Opie answered her with a question.
"It's better than sending him on his own," Chibs pointed out. "If we let him go on his own, he will definitely do something reckless, get himself killed. Then, we will be one member short and the Russians will still have Tess."
"Well, he is pretty well enraged," Gemma reported from the door, announcing her arrival. "I wouldn't put it past him to destroy the entire Clubhouse looking for those keys, which he won't find." She untucked the keys from her bra and held them up.
"I will go head him off, tell him we are coming," Opie said, an arm around his wife. "Dad stays here and we take the Prospects with us. Let's leave the leather too, that way the Russians won't have any idea that they are mostl dealing with some half-witted Prospects. When the other guys show up, give them the address where we went. Tell them to meet us."
"We can do that," Gemma nodded.
"Alright," Opie said. "Chibs, load up on weapons. Prospects will take the vans. We leave in ten."
"Aye," Chibs agreed watched as the others filed out of the room and kissed his wife on the forehead, before he turned to the wall and took inventory of what weapons they had. He pulled a black duffle from the closet and had just begun shoving a couple of KG-9's in it when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Chibs turned to Fiona, who was looking up at him with a worried smile. He dropped the bag and pulled her back into his arms. She clung to him.
"Are you going to be okay?" she asked him softly after a moment.
"I'm always okay," he replied, wishing he felt as confident as he sounded.
"You always seem to be rushing off, headfirst into danger," she said, only half joking. "I need to know that you will come back to us, safe and sound, Filip."
"Don't worry over me, Love," he told her, noticeably dodging the question.
"Don't you know that it's my job? I spend most of my time worried about you," she smiled up at him, willing the treacherous, fearful tears not to fall. She had just listened to them all point out how dangerous this was, and now he was telling her not to worry.
"Fi, you know I will always try my damndest to get back to you," Chibs said, leaning her forehead against her and thumbing away her tears.
"I suppose that's all I can ask," she kissed him gently. "I love you, you know."
"And I you," he responded. "Now, if you don't mind, let's load some clips, just in case this gets ugly."
TRANSLATION:
"What the fuck are we going to do?" one man said. " I thought you said they wouldn't find us!"
"I thought they couldn't," Lex replied, sounding more worried than he was letting on. "But it doesn't matter. by the time they get here, we will be gone."
"Alexei is right, now is no time to fight. We need to get out of here, quickly," said the older man. Tess was getting more and more frustrated. She had never been interested in anything Russian before, but she wished more than anything that she know the language.
"Yes we do. what do we do with the bitch when we leave?" the other man asked.
"Tess," came Lex's surprisingly defensive voice. "Her name is Tess. Don't call her a bitch."
"Oh yeah, I forgot, she is the love of your life," the other man said sarcastically. "So what do we do with Princess Tess?"
They were quiet for a few moments, but eventually the older man spoke up. "Alexei, what do you think?"
"I think that she is important to SAMCRO, and so she is valuable to us," Lex replied.
"Oh please," the other man replied. "You are so caught up in that pussy that you have lost sight of what's important. Have you forgotten what SAMCRO did to us? They should pay with blood!"
"You are right, they should," Lex replied, his anger barely restrained. "But she is not them. She works for them and hasn't done anything to us. She is more valuable as leverage than she is alive."
It seemed as if the other man was ready to argue, but the older man cut him off. "He is right. She lives."
The other man did not seem happy, but Tess could tell he wouldn't argue with the older man. "Fine, it's your call, but where are we going to go?"
"We can go to Oakdale. Popov has a places there. He is loyal and we will be safe in Oakdale until we can figure out our next move," the older man finally replied. Tess's heart skipped a beat. She understood next to nothing from this conversation, but she knew Oakdale. It was a tiny town about twenty minutes south of Charming. She had briefly considered moving there. Oakdale. And Popov. That was a name. Popov. Oakdale. She had to remember that. The older man continued. "We will pack and prepare everything. Alexei, you get the girl."
"Yes, of course," Lex replied. Tess heard chairs scraping against the floor and footsteps moving in all directions, including towards her. She tensed up momentarily, before she remembered that she was supposed to be relaxed and sleeping. She took a deep breath and let out what she hoped was a believeable snore.