On the ride home, Roxanne took a closer look at the bandage. It was dark blue, after all, so it wouldn't get dirty quickly. She test-moved her fingers and hand and winced.
"Dang, that really hurts!"
"'Don't move it then,'" Tig said dryly, glancing over at her for a moment. "Shouldn't the anesthetic still be working?"
"What anesthetic?" she replied casually, and he shook his head.
"Now I don't know whether to think you're crazy or to be impressed. Did Tara at least prescribe you something?"
"She gave me some pills. But I don't want to use them yet. I need to be clear-headed for what I gotta tell you."
Tig glanced over at her again inquiringly, but said nothing in response.

Sounded kind of threatening. Anyway, he was curious and wondered what could be so bad to tell him that she had to really get over herself to do it.

"My real name isn't Roxanne Boone," she finally began when they had made themselves comfortable on the sofa. She, at least, looked like she was about to jump back up at any moment and was downright tense.
"I know," Tig interjected, and she looked at him, puzzled.
"You know? How? Since when?"
"Basically from the beginning." He recounted how he had gone through her things and also found her getaway cash. "It was already obvious to me by then that you had a dark secret, or at least a serious one."
"And why didn't you bring it up to me?" she wanted to know, and he shook his head.
"You've just been frantically avoiding revealing too much about yourself, and it wasn't any of my business, after all. You don't really have to tell me now, either, if you don't ..."
"You should know," she now interrupted in her turn. "But I don't know how to begin."
"Maybe start with what your real name is," Tig suggested with a smile, eyeing her. He couldn't think of any other name offhand that might fit her.

"Abigail. Abigail Wiggins. That is ... or was my maiden name, anyway. I was married," she continued. "Actually, I still am, my still-husband hasn't signed the divorce papers yet. He was ... is violent. That's why I left, with a new identity, so he won't find me." She took a deep breath before continuing.
"What did he do to you?" Tig asked, outwardly calm, while inside he was already starting to feel furious. "That scar on your side ..."
"I'll get to that. It's best I start at the beginning. We met when I was twenty-five or twenty-six, he was three years older. Well-trained, good-looking, classical mother-in-law's darling. At least that's how he came across. Charming, polite, he carried me on his hands, as they say." She shook her head. "I was totally in love, and when he wanted to marry me after only six months of dating, I was thrilled and of course I said yes. Stupid! So stupid! And then after the honeymoon it started creeping up on me, I didn't even realize it at first and I thought he was just interested and wanted to be a part of my life. He constantly asked where I was or where I was going, with whom, for how long and at some point he started calling after me and it soon degenerated into outright surveillance. When I brought it up repeatedly, he first denied it, then he got mad and made me out to be the bad one and it went on and on. It was a real psycho terror, he started to alienate me from my family and friends, and at some point he successfully persuaded me that I was only imagining things, that he only wanted the best for me... Until I didn't trust my own judgement anymore.
Gaslighting at its best. He had manipulated me completely. I don't want to talk about all the details now, but ..."

"You don't have to!" Tig assured her. Basically, he had already heard enough and understood completely that she had wanted to put it all behind her. The guy had to have been a total psycho.
"It sounds kind of trivial now, too, when I tell it but ... you have to experience it, I guess. When someone gets on you so badly that you completely doubt yourself ... Anyway, it got so bad that he followed or 'accompanied' me all the way to my former workplace and if it had been possible, he would have permanently monitored me in the garage to make sure I didn't talk too much to my workmates. Fortunately, my boss intervened, at least that's what I thought. At home I was told that I was having an affair with him, and that's when he hit me for the first time. Of course, he immediately apologized tearfully and wordily, I forgave him, stupid as I was, and so it went on. The proven carrot and stick and it did not take long until he had managed to systematically destroy me and my self-confidence so that I hardly knew who I was at all. I don't know how else to explain it. And it got worse and worse. One evening it escalated because of something just trivial that he came at me with a knife in the kitchen and thank God the neighbors noticed this time. I woke up in the hospital, he was already arrested by then, that was years ago by now and I haven't seen him since."
"That goddamn asshole!" Tig struggled to stay calm, the urge to destroy anything almost overpowering. "What happened next?Didn't you have to testify in court?"

She shook her head. "I didn't need to, my lawyer did. The verdict was basically a joke. Reduced culpability and so on and so forth ... The guy is a lunatic, but fifteen years for a psychologically destroyed life ... It took me years to get over all this therapeutically and to change mysef. Basically, I was the perfect victim. Always being friendly and nice, a people pleaser, saying yes and amen to everything and letting myself be bullied. I really didn't want to be like that anymore and when I decided to escape to some place far away, Abigail had to 'die'. That didn't work out, but at least she'll be missed. Anyway I think so, no idea if my family even cares, they are or were totally on his side. Always like „That cannot be, he 's such a nice guy and if so, it must be your own fault ..." I had to listen to such things from them, until I had completely cut off the contact. All in all, the entire planning took a while but I had time, at least that's what I thought. A few days ago I got a call from my contact, who was supposed to call me only because my still-husband was released early from jail. Don't ask me how he managed to do that. Favorable social prognosis, whatever. As I said, he is a master at pretending, everyone must have fallen for his nice, sweet, remorseful scam! Even the experts, who should know better!"

"So that's the reason you're so rattled?" Tig concluded. "You're scared?"
"Yes." She looked at him urgently. "I'm scared shitless! On the one hand, I don't think he'll find me, he doesn't have any clues but on the other hand ... I'm more than aware of what he's capable of and who knows what kind of guys he met in jail! At the first moment I was about to pack my things and leave, but I don't want to. I want to stay here, with you, and no longer be on the run!"

"Hey!" Tig hugged her and pulled her close. "You're not alone anymore. You've got me, the club, we're taking care of you. Nobody's gonna hurt you!"
After she finally took a pill after all and dozed off a bit snuggled up against him, Tig was already picturing all the things he was going to do to this bloke if he'd really show up here. He had to ask Roxy a little more about him. What his name was, what he looked like ... maybe they'd find him before he even set foot in the state. Unfortunately, the Sons' arm didn't reach all the way to Florida, but surely something could be done.
He would definitely bring this topic up at the next Church.

"How should I address you now, anyway?" he asked as they sat at the kitchen table having coffee and breakfast the next morning. "I could, in theory, call you Abby right now."
"Yes, in theory." She shook her head. "Same as before. Like I said, Abigail's dead, and I don't want to resurrect her either. Not in any way! Just be glad you didn't know her or me as her. And in some way that sounds schizophrenic! Anyway, it's all pretty embarrassing, ain't it?"

"It ain't. I totally understand you. What's the guy's name?"
"Chester." Roxanne screwed up her face. "That should've given me some thought, what kind of name is that?! At least he can't help that, though. Chester Vaughn."
"What does he look like?"
"Why do you wanna know? Are you gonna hunt him down?"
Tig shrugged seemingly indifferently. "Better we find him first than he finds you, no?"
"He'll have changed his appearance for sure, he ain't stupid. But I'm sure he won't drag me straight outta my house," Roxanne was sure. "I mean, I'm already scared but I don't wanna have to look around every time I make a move now either!"
"But the boys and I will keep our eyes open! There's no way I'm gonna let anything happen to you!"

That evening at Church, Tig brought it up right after they had covered all the other important stuff.
"Yeah, there's one more thing," he said when Clay asked if there was anything else important to discuss. "It's about Roxy." Tig told it all, limiting himself to the bare essentials but even that was quite enough to leave his club brothers stunned. Women weren't always treated well by all of them but to pull something like this ...?
"What kind of sick shit is this?!" Piney finally brought it to the point and everyone nodded in agreement.
"What else?" Jax asked. "Does he have her also ...?"

"I don't know," Tig interrupted him, it was more than obvious what was meant. "She didn't say, I didn't ask, I don't wanna know. Otherwise I would really freak out! There ain't much missing as it is!"
"But we'll have to wait and see," Clay said appeasingly. "Keep your eyes open, the town is still small enough so if someone new is suddenly sneaking around here, it'll be noticeable. And if he really shows up here, we'll give him an appropriate reception, making it clear that he's to stay as far away from Charming in general and Roxy in particular as possible."
Tig nodded darkly. "Just let him show up! I, for one, am looking forward to it!"

Even though it was absolutely unlikely that this Chester bloke would show up tomorrow or the day after, Tig inspected the trailerhome regarding security and what he saw or rather didn't see, he didn't like at all.
Neither was it particularly sturdily built - it was a trailerhome, of course - nor did it have any anti-burglary devices on the windows or the door. The lock could be picked in seconds, provided you knew your way around and were skilled enough, and if you were a brute, you could still kick in a window or the door.

"I hadn't thought about that until now," Roxanne admitted when he confronted her. "Well, I have since it became real and I panicked, but at least I have a gun and I've already put it in the nightstand by now."
"Well, at least. But maybe it's better if you move in with me for a while." Tig had already thought about it, and even though he would be happy to have her around every day and every night, he wondered if it would work. They still barely knew each other and he didn't really want to get involved in anything that close again.

"Are you serious?" Roxanne asked, eyeing him as if she could see his concern. "Maybe we'll totally get on each other's nerves after a few days."
"Could be," Tig agreed. "But maybe we won't. And I could take better care of you."
Take better care of you, echoed in Roxanne's head, and more or less unconsciously she went defensive inside. Chester had also come to her with this argument at some point, that he was 'just trying to take better care of her' and it had eventually degenerated into nasty stalking.
That's exactly what she told Tig now, and he shook his head.
"It was and is absolutely not meant that way!"

"I know I don't want to imply that to you either but ... still, I can't," Roxanne said. "If we ever consider moving in together, it would be because we'd want to, not because we'd have to. You could temporarily move here, though," she suggested then, grinning. "If it gets to be too much for you or me, you could just escape to your place."

"That's right! That would be even better! The clubhouse apartment would be another opportunity," he remembered. "After all, you're one of us now!"
"But that's only in case of extreme emergency." Roxanne snuggled up to him and breathed a kiss on his neck. "One needs one's privacy, after all. Whereas sometimes ..."
She didn't get any further, because Tig silenced her with a long demanding kiss and then she couldn't and didn't want to talk for quite a while anyway.