Let It Be Me

"Hey," Half-Sack said, catching Austin by the elbow. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Austin nodded. "Of course. What's up?"

"Dad said he sent you a check."

"He did. I used it on stuff for the apartment. He wrote a letter with it too, seemed pretty sincere."

"He feels horrible. He always has, but my mom is … well, my mom." He paused. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up with you too much, Aus. I only have like a month till I patch in, so I have been doing a lot of club stuff."

Austin smiled. "Don't worry about it. I stay busy with work, and hang out with the guys or Gemma."

"What about Jax?" Kip asked.

Austin crossed her arms over her chest. "What about him?"

"I mean, have you guys talked?"

"He tried to apologize when I moved last week."

"And?"

"And what, Kip?" Austin said, exasperated. "I knew better than to even let myself think Jax Teller might be interested in me, but I did it anyway. I took him all of five minutes to fuck that up."

"I'm not saying you're wrong. I was just asking."

"Thanks for asking I guess."

"Did you make that other phone call?"

Austin nodded. "No word yet."

"All right, let me know when you hear and I will give the club a head's up."

"Thanks," Austin replied, hugging him.

"You're welcome. We'll get together soon," he promised.

"Sure," Austin agreed. "I'm proud of you, Kip. I know you worked hard to patch in, and you deserve it."

He smiled. "Excuse me, it's Half-Sack now."

Austin laughed. "I just don't think I can call my brother by a name that refers to his, um, personal business."

He laughed and hugged her, promising again to see her again soon.

She was home alone a few nights later, ready to settle in with a plate of spaghetti and her favorite Jason Statham movie when someone knocked on the door. She set her plate down and checked the peephole.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath. Three Mayans stood outside her door; she didn't see guns but that didn't mean they didn't have them.

She quietly walked back to the couch and pulled the gun Gemma had given her from under a cushion. She heard a few clicks indicating they were picking the locks on the door. Keeping the gun in hand, she retreated to the bedroom.

She could hear them stomp into the apartment and shut the door behind them.

"That plate is warm," one of them said. "She's here. Find her, but remember what the guy said. We do this clean. It's only a warning."

Austin cursed again and pulled her phone from her pocket, hitting the speed dial for Jax.

"Jax," she said when he answered. "Listen, I don't want to be on the phone long, but there are some Mayans in my apartment right now. They know I'm here but they haven't …"

Someone pulled the phone away from behind her, and Austin winced. She'd been found now. She released the safety on the gun and pointed it as she turned.

"Get the hell out of here."

They all laughed at her. "We didn't come to kill you, amor, so you can put the gun down."

"I'm not putting it down till you're gone."

The one doing all the talking made a grab for the gun while another one wrestled her arms behind her.

"You're going to regret this. You mess with me, you mess with SAMCRO," Austin warned.

The talker shook his head. "We are here to deliver a message to you: Don't talk to the cops. Don't say anything to the MC. Keep your mouth shut."

Austin spit in his face. "You've delivered your message, now get the fuck out of here."

He laughed. "That was Jax Teller on the phone, right? He can't get here fast enough before we sign this message. SAMCRO can't help you now, pendeja."

.:.

Jax shut his phone as soon as the line went dead and motioned for Opie and Half-Sack to follow him.

"That was Austin, she said there's Mayans in her apartment," he explained. "I'm taking Ope and Sack with me."

"Fuck that," Bobby replied. "We're all going."

The roar of motorcycles leaving the lot started with Jax's bike and grew louder as the others started their own motorcycles and followed him to the complex.

His mind raced. He had no idea why the Mayans would go after Austin, or how they would have known where to find her. He wanted to kick himself, too. If he hadn't acted like such an idiot the night of the party, he more than likely would have been with Austin when the Mayan's showed up.

Half-Sack was right on his heels as he headed up the steps and stopped at Austin's door. He didn't need his key since the door was still open. Nothing looked amiss in the kitchen or the living room, so he checked the bathroom while Half-Sack checked the bedroom.

"Jax! She's in here," Sack called.

Jax walked to the bedroom in just a couple strides and found Half-Sack already kneeling next to Austin's body.

"Austin, wake up," Sack said, patting her cheek with his hand. "Come on, Aus, talk to me."

Austin groaned and tried to move, and relief washed through Jax's body. She wasn't dead.

"What happened?" Sack asked as he helped her sit up.

Austin shook her head. "They knocked on the door. I ran in here to call Jax, but they found me and destroyed the phone. One of them said they were supposed to keep it clean. They took the gun from me, and two of them held me while the other one knocked me around."

"That explains the bruise on her face," Chibs noted. "Where else did they hit you?"

"Kicked me in the ribs a few times."

Jax stood in the doorway while Chibs looked her over, trying to regain control of his angry breathing. All he wanted right now was to find those Mayans and do to them what they had done to Austin – times a hundred.

"Jackie-boy, she needs to go to a hospital. She's got cracked ribs, at least. Maybe a broken hand."

"What did they do to her hand?" Jax asked.

"Nothing," Austin smirked. "I got one hand loose and punched one of them in the mouth. His face was just harder than I expected it to be."

"Could have been a metal plate or something," Chibs said.

"I seem to remember Happy pulverizing the jaw of a Mayan a year or so ago," Clay spoke up. "Half-Sack, Chibs, get her to St. Thomas. Jax, Tig, you come with me. We're going to see Marcos Alvarez."

"Gladly," Jax answered. He took one more glance at Austin where Half-Sack was helping her off the floor. He was concerned for her well-being, but he would check on her at St. Thomas later. For now there Mayans that needed to be dealt with.

.:.

Once at St. Thomas, Austin checked in with the ER nurse. The nurse was able to get her right back in a room, but only with one visitor. Chibs volunteered to wait in the lobby, and Kip followed her back to the room. A doctor was in quickly to survey her injuries.

"You definitely have some rib injuries, and the swelling in your hand and wrist concerns me," the doctor told them. "I'd like to send you for some x-rays."

"That's fine," Austin agreed.

"Can you tell me how this happened?" the doctor asked, eyeing Kip suspiciously.

"I was carrying some heavy grocery bags up to my apartment," Austin lied. "Probably more at once than I should have. Was trying to get the key in the lock and I lost my balance. Tumbled right down the stairs with all the groceries coming after me."

"You were there?" he asked Kip.

"This is my brother," Austin explained. "I called him when breathing hurt and my hand started swelling."

The doctor didn't seem to fully believe her but didn't argue either. He sent her for x-rays, then promised they would get her through as quickly as possible.

"I'm sure," Kip said after the doctor left. "He just doesn't want any Sons any here any longer than necessary."

"Well thanks for expediting the process for me," Austin joked.

Austin was groggy when she came back from x-ray. The nurse explained to Kip that they had given her a pain killer after the x-ray because it generally caused more pain for patients, after having to move the limb around in different angles and positions.

"Someone will be in shortly to bandage her ribs and cast the arm."

"Thanks," Kip told the nurse. He turned back to Austin where she was laying on the bed, her arm propped on a pillow. "I'm sorry, Austin. I should have been there."

She reached out and squeezed his hand. "They would have gotten me alone at the store or something like that. This isn't your fault."

"I shouldn't have told you to call off your police watch."

"That was my choice, Kip. What happened in Carolina happened, and we can't do anything about it. Charming is my home now, and SAMCRO is all the family I've got. If I have to chance my safety to put the MC back under the radar, then so be it."

"What did they say to you?"

Austin sighed. "That some guy had sent them with a message for me – keep my mouth shut, don't talk to the cops or the MC."

Kip ran a hand over his face. "I know you just got into that place, Aus, but I think you need to go back to the clubhouse for a while."

"Kip," she groaned, the pain weakening her strong façade. "No."

"He's right," Clay said, walking in with Jax right on his heels.

"How long were you two out there?"

"We just walked in. Mayans are suddenly nowhere to be found. Tig and Happy are on it," Jax answered. "Sack's right. Until we can figure out why they targeted you, you need to be somewhere safe. We could have someone watch you, but the clubhouse is safer."

"I don't think so," Austin argued, although the drug was making her words sound weak as well.

"We do," Clay answered. "Look, sweetie, I know you were looking forward to being somewhere with a little less testosterone, but this is for your safety."

She didn't agree so much as she gave in to them. Her eyelids were getting heavy and suddenly all she wanted to do was sleep.

"I'll stick around, if that's all right. Take her by the apartment to get some stuff and back to the clubhouse," Jax spoke up.

Kip nodded. "Fine by me."

"Sack, you can come with me. Tig and Happy will need a third man, I can send you with them," Clay offered.

"Good," he agreed. He kissed Austin on the temple. "I'll check on you later."

Austin tried to smile as Clay too kissed her temple, and they left as the nurse came in to bandage her side and cast her arm. She then turned to Jax who was seated in the one chair in the room.

"I don't need you to be my hero," she said quietly.

Jax didn't say anything; Austin rolled her eyes. He wasn't going to argue with her in public, and that was fine. She had plenty of argument in store for him.

.:.

She was too out of it by the time they left the hospital to go and get things from her place, so Jax took her right back to the clubhouse. He sent one of the prospects over to Gemma's with her apartment key so that Gemma could put a bag together and bring it over.

He carried her from the truck – he had been thinking clearly enough before going to the hospital to know she wasn't going to be up to being on the back of his motorcycle – to his room in the clubhouse. He sat her on the edge of the bed.

"You all right to sit there for a second?"

Austin's eyes were closed, but she nodded. He fished in his drawers for a spare SAMCRO t-shirt. Jax turned around to look at her and took a deep breath. If he thought seeing her in a short skirt or with her hair down was difficult, this wasn't going to help things at all.

"Can you raise your arms?" Jax asked as he stood in front of her.

"This one," she said, absently raising her right hand – the one with the cast – and quickly dropping it. "Or maybe not."

"Ribs are cracked on the other side," Jax surmised. "Okay. This is probably going to hurt, but you're going to sleep for a while so you're going to want to be comfortable."

Austin opened her eyes and peered at him. "You're about to take my clothes off, aren't you?"

Jax couldn't help but chuckle. "Not if you don't want me to."

"I feel like that's a trick question."

He chuckled again before carefully removing her arms from the shirt she was wearing and pulling it over her head. He had to suck in a deep breath to keep his composure. He knew she was slender, but her curves seemed more apparent without a shirt on. He grabbed for the t-shirt and quickly but gently pulled it down over her head and cover her.

"Okay, ready to take the pants off?"

Austin sighed. "You're going to have to undo 'em. I don't even want to move right now."

"Okay. This is going to sound weird, but if you lay back, I can undo the button easier."

"More experience that way, I'm guessing," she said as she laid back.

Jax noticed how his hands shook as he undid the button and the fly on her jeans before shimmying them down her legs. He helped her scoot back to the pillow and pulled the blanket up over her.

"Here's a pillow to put under your arm, and we'll put this one under your ribs."

Austin sighed, finally settled. Her eyes opened once more to look at him. "You didn't have to do all this, Jax."

"I wanted to," he admitted, leaning over her and pushing a strand of hair off of her forehead. "Maybe you don't want me to be your hero, and I know I've been a dickhead where you're concerned. I'm going to show you, Austin, that you can trust me."

"Being with me, Jax, it's more than you want," she told him. "You can't have girls on the side, and I'm going to care about where you are. I'm going to want to ask questions – questions that if I don't ask, it's going to put a gap between us. A gap I don't know if I can deal with."

"Well, while you're deciding all that, I'm going to be here. I'm not going anywhere."

"What if I go?"

"Where would you go?" Jax asked, frowning.

But her eyes had already closed and her chest was rising in the even breaths of sleep. Sighing, Jax kissed her forehead and left the room, shutting the door behind him.