People were everywhere, and the amount of traffic going and out of the Teller house was insane. After the explosion, Jax and the whole clubhouse rained down on the house and there was more protection here than the damn police station. Some of the guys were outside watching the police finish with their investigation. Ava stood silently in the living room as Clay came in and told the members to collect their wives and children and spend the night at the clubhouse just to be safe.
"What about school? Tomorrow's Monday," Maddie asks her dad.
"You guys aren't going. We'll lock down the clubhouse for a day or two until we figure this shit out," Jax tells Maddie, Ava, and Abel.
"Maddie, come upstairs with me. We gotta pack supplies," Tara says giving Jax a kiss on the lips. Over the years, Tara has managed to build up a good supply of medical materials. This supply has helped all the MC charters at one point or another.
Ava sat down on the couch as she listened to the guys talking about their upcoming meeting with the Dirt-Riders. Apparently, the go-between, Kale, wants to seal the deal as soon as possible to get some security and protection from Clyte and his crew. To help make this happen, Clay asks the Tacoma president to send some members down earlier than planned. Tacoma is bigger than Charming and they have more members to spare. After the guys finish, Abel lets her know he'll take her back to Luke's so she can get her stuff.
"I can't stay at the clubhouse. I'm a minor and the clubhouse includes a bar. I can't stay there," Ava tells him getting off the couch and picking up her sweeter.
"She's right, Abel. We can't have that kind of heat on us right now. ATF will use it against us. We can have guys keep watch on her around the clock," Jax tells him.
"I'm not leaving you unprotected. Too much shits already gone down." Abel tells her.
"Luke can watch over me. He won't let anything happen. Clyte must know that you guys are on to him and he won't risk making things personal." Ava tells him putting her hands on her hips.
"We'll have guys check up on you. Just be careful and don't go off by yourself. We won't take this lightly but we can't go around losing our heads," Jax tells them.
"Come on. I'll take you home." Abel says putting his hand on her lower back. Walking out, Ava asks him what will happen when Dean comes to see Maddie.
"Right now, Maddie's safety matters. We can't have half of everyone we know stay at the clubhouse. This is just a precaution. Dean knows he can't come between Maddie and the club." He replies motioning her to get on his bike.
"Abel, who does Clyte work with? I mean, he's just a go-between, but who's the real threat here?" Ava asks him settling in on the bike behind him.
"Let's get you home," Abel says avoiding her question.
When they get to her house, Abel and Luke get into it over what should be done to keep Ava safe. After trying to calm both of them down, Ava gets up from sofa and says she's gonna take a shower.
"She'll want to go to places in Charming and out of Charming. She has people she visits. You can't keep her in one place and expect her to listen." Luke tells him smoking his cigarette. Luke's anger has only grown since Abel dropped his niece off.
"She's in this whether we like it or not. If it'll keep her safe, she'll do it whether she wants to or not. Let us handle it. It'll settle down," Abel tells him. "I'm gonna go upstairs."
As Ava comes out of her shower, Abel is sitting on the edge of her bed looking through his phone.
"Hey, you and Luke make up?" She laughs sitting on the bed next to him. Taking a pillow, she places it on her lap and rests her arms on it.
"Don't worry about it. Listen, I'm going with the guys to help out Kale. I won't be here so I need you to let the guys watch over you. They'll drive you to school and pick you up. I want you at the clubhouse as much as possible even though you can't sleep there." Abel tells her kicking off his black Vans.
"I'm safe here with Luke. Baby, you have to understand that my uncle won't just take a step back and let you take over. He gets that my life is my life, but he has been taking care of me since forever." She tells him putting her hand on his.
"I'm responsible for what happens to you. We're together and it falls on me. Some of the guys will still watch over you while I'm gone. Can you at least stay in Charming until I get back?" he asks her pulling both of them back to lie down.
"I have school and work. I can't leave. Luke's orders. Abel, how long are you gonna be gone?" She asks him.
"I don't know. We're gonna leave tomorrow so at least a week. With Garrett and Clyte, they are a part of this group out of Oregon. They're part of the fishing businesses along the coast and they transport arms through Canada up the coast. We've known about the group for a long time, but we never got involved with them. They got some heat from ATF and business has gone south. That's all I can say," He tells her placing his hand on her hip.
"Whatever I can do to help, I'm here. It's like you said, things'll settle down." She says moving close to him and falling asleep.
The Next Day…
Getting through junior year was the hardest year for Ava. It's hard to concentrate when there are other things that are more important that solving a trig problem. Walking out after the final bell rang, Ava sees Abel's truck, but not Abel behind the wheel.
"Let me guess. You're my chaperone." She says getting into the truck and looking at Ricky.
"Hello to you too. How's life?" He asks her shooting her a grin.
"It's life. You know, crazy Canadians and all." She tells him. "I gotta go to work."
"No problem. I'm at your service for the remaining future." He tells her laughing.
"All right," She tells him. As they are driving to her work, they see a progression of bikers driving by with Tacoma cuts.
"I have a feeling Charming is gonna be filled to capacity real soon," She tells him and they both laugh.
Few hours later at Clifton's
"Ava, there's a customer asking for you." Clif tells her pulling her out from the back storage.
"Going," Ava says walking to the front of the store. At the counter were three MC members she's never seen before and one woman.
"Hi, I'm Ava. Can I help you?" She asks seeing Tacoma cuts.
"Hey, I'm Vanessa. I need to pick up some stuff and Gemma said see you," Vanessa tells her handing her a piece of paper with two items on it. Telling her she'll be right back with the items, Ava goes in the back and gets the pain relief medicine and pack of needles that are written on the paper.
"Would that be all for you?" Ava asks ringing up the two items.
"Yeah, that's it." Vanessa, noticing the guys walk towards the candy aisle, looks at Ava curiously.
"Is something wrong?" Ava asks seeing Vanessa look at her.
"You're Abel's girl, huh?" She says handing her the money.
"Yeah, I am. Why?" Ava tells her handing her the change.
"No reason. Just wanted to meet the newest addition to the club, that's all," Vanessa says laughing at her.
"Yeah, that's me," Ava says seeing the guys start to walk out the store.
"Well, I'll be seeing you around, Ava," Vanessa says walking out putting her sunglasses on.
Seeing them drive away, Ava tries to remember if Abel ever mentioned Vanessa before. As she goes into the back, she remembers what Vanessa came to pick up. Tara has all the medical supplies. Why do they need more?
Her phone rings and she hopes its Abel. He told her before he left he would contact her, not the other way around. Looking at the screen, she sees its Gemma.
"Hello?"
"Hey, how are you?" Gemma asks out of the blue.
"Fine, I guess. Gemma, is anything wrong?" Ava asks worried.
"What? I can't call and see how you're doing?" She asks laughing.
"No, its..everything's okay considering." Ava replies.
"Just go with it, honey. Don't spend all your time stressing over what you can't control. Listen, some shit went down. Abel will call when he can, but until then, just do what he told you to do. It'll be a while. It's a long waiting game, Ava. He needs your support here and you need to keep yourself together. He can't worry about you and do what he's doing at the same time," Gemma tells her.
"I know. And thanks, Gemma. Hearing it from you helps a lot," Ava says.
Oregon Clubhouse…
"What the fuck happened?" Tacoma Treasurer Tyler asks putting gaze over the bullet wound in Abel's lower side to stop the bleeding.
"Asshole snuck up behind us. Got him before we could shoot him down," Quinn replies taking a swing of whiskey.
"Hey, how's he doing?" Kozik asks coming into the back room at the clubhouse.
"Shit don't look good, not at all," Tyler replies giving Abel a shot of medicine to stop any infections.
"The job's done and we got the information out of one of the workers. Kale's shipment is all set. I called Jax and caught him up. He wants Abel kept here at the clubhouse. If we can't help him, we gotta take him to the hospital," Kozik tells them.
"Shit! He's lost a lot of blood." Tyler exclaims working hard to stop the bleeding.
"The bleeding is at a minimum. It'll stop completely within a few minutes, but he's already lost a lot of blood. I say we give him two hours. If his color and temp don't improve, we gotta get him to the hospital." Tyler says feeling Abel's pulse.
Charming Clubhouse…
"Jesus Christ." Jax says smoking his cigarette sitting in his room at the clubhouse. Waiting for Tara to come in, he thinks of how to tell his wife her son may not come home.
"Jax, hey." Tara says coming in and going to stand in between his legs. "I know that look. What's wrong?"
"Abel was shot. He's alive, but Tacoma's medic says Abel's not out of the woods yet," Jax tells her pulling her into his lap.
"We need to go up there. He needs us," Tara tells him placing her hands on his shoulders.
"We can't draw attention. The job they did pissed off a lot of people. We can't move around so much yet," Jax tells her having to let her out of his hands when she gets up and starts pacing the room.
"He's our son. Jax, this is bullshit. He was shot!" Tara tells him placing her hand over her heart.
"He's safe up there. If he gets any worse, they'll take him to the hospital. Shit, I love too, but keeping everything calm is the best thing right now. It draws attention away from us." Jax tells her calmly.
"What do we tell Ava? She deserves to know," She asks him going back to sit in his lap. Her legs are around his waist and she lays her head on his shoulder.
"I don't want to tell her anything until we know that he's out of the woods. It'll make it easier on her." Jax tells her running his hand up her back.
"I can't lose him," Tara whispers in his ear.
"He's survived through hell before he was old enough to walk. He'll get through this." He tells her kissing her trying to assure her that their son will be fine.
Hey, guys! LOl here's the next part. Hope u like :) As always, reviews are much appreciated!