Charming the Charming

Helen Knowles lay upon the floor, her body bruised and aching. The irony smell of blood filling her nostrils as her head swam from the hits dealt out by her booze hound boyfriend, Hoss.
It was a day that had become too common.

Gingerly she pulled herself up by the kitchen bench, sucking back a hiss while her ribs crunched under the pressure. Her knuckles were purple from trying to fight back. Helen ran her hand through her shoulder length copper curls as they began to tangle in the sticky blood around her lips.

“Oh Jesus Christ.”

Helen pulled her bag towards her and fumbled for her mobile, she had to call her sister.
The call rang out.
Must be spending the day with Jax, the only time Tara’s phone was ever off.
This made Helen smile despite the pain and she shook her head. If only she had landed such a gem of a guy.
Her eyes shut and she took in a deep breath exhaling slowly, time to peel these bloody clothes off and get on with the day.
Like she had always done.

Growing up minus a mother with the addition of a drunken father wasn’t the best life that Tara and Helen had, but they had made do.
After all, Tara had Jax and Helen had her party life.
With each day that went by she lost herself in the life, savouring every happy moment she could carve out for herself.
And this life went with her the day they moved to San Diego. Tara had been nineteen and Helen a tender sixteen. But life had ended her up back in Charming at age 25 and as events unfolded she found herself with Hoss.
Now two years later, she was nothing more than a punching bag.
Shit had to change.

Her phone rang hours later. Helen was curled up in bed but had sat her mobile close to the pillow in case her sister called back.

“Helen?” Tara’s voice came over the line.

“Could you come over?” she could feel Tara bristle at the hints of pain in Helen’s voice.

“Hoss?”

“He’s out with his crew, won’t be back till tomorrow.”

Tara took a moment to reply, “Jax is coming too, just in case.”

“Yea, okay.”

A momentary hiss of pain seethed through Helen’s teeth as Tara threaded needle and thread through a deep gash above her eyebrow.

“God damn Helen.” Jax hummed running a hand through his golden hair. “Why put up with this shit?”

“It’s what all the cool kids are doing,” her reply was filled with sarcasm.

Jax already knew the reason. If Hoss couldn’t have her, he would make sure no one would want her.

Tara snipped the thread. “There, as good as new Raggedy Anne.”

Helen leaned back in her kitchen chair, gritting her teeth against the spiking heat coursing through her limbs., “Thanks. Both of you, I hate wrecking your day like this.”

Tara gave her a lop sided smile, “No, you needed us.”

Jax sat forward. “Yeah, your Tara’s sister which makes you my family.”

“Well thank –,” Helen began but was cut off by Jax raising his hand.

“Tara pack a bag. Helen’s coming back to the garage with us.”

Helen shook her head. “No, it’s cool guys. You’ve done enough today.”

Jax scoffed, “We aren’t leaving you, Hoss might come back and want to go another round and I don’t think you could take another beating.”

Helen knew Jax was telling the truth, “It was a bit much today.”

“I meant ever. I am stopping this bullshit with Hoss right now. Go and tell Tara what you need and you both get into your car and go back to the garage. I’ll be on my bike right behind you.”

She nodded; this was not something you argued about with Jackson Teller.

Music blasted from Helen’s car speakers as Tara drove them towards the Teller-Morrow garage. Helen sat deep in the passenger’s seat with large black glasses covering most of her face. She let her hair down, long black jeans and shirt covered most of her bruises.
She hadn’t been near the garage in years. The last time had been before the women had moved away from Charming. The boys had been teaching her how to change a tyre.

Tara drove through the large side gates, parking the car just beside the entrance to the Club House. The sound of keys jangled and shut off the car, the only sounds left were that of cars being worked on and Jax coming up behind them
Helen lowered her glasses and looked out from her window inspecting her surroundings. Not a lot had changed. Just a few new faces but nothing more.
Slowly Helen grabbed her duffle bag and moved herself from the car, free arm wrapping itself around her ribs as she forced them to grind with her movements.

“Sweet baby Jesus.” Gemma’s familiar voice met Helen’s ears as she walked over from the trailers spot where she had been mulling over papers. “Jax wasn’t joking about that asshole.”

Moving her glasses to the top of her head, Helen smiled the best she could, “Hey Gemma.”

“Hey baby.” Gemma’s arms gently enveloped Helen in a hug that reminded her of better times.

She felt a soft tug at her hand as Jax took the bag from her, “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

Gemma’s hand wrapped itself around Helen’s as she limped in tow.

Tara sat next to Helen at the bar with a hand on her sisters back as Helen sat forward cradling her midsection, “I think they are more than broken.”

The sound of boots hitting the floor caught their attention, Helen’s head slowly moving to the noise.

“Juice, can you grab my med bag?” Tara gestured towards the man that had been the source of the noise.

“No, no more pain killers. Can I just please have a drink?” Helen winched straightening her back and asking the man Tara had called ‘Juice’.

He moved his dark brown eyes to Tara who nodded. “Just one and mixed with tonic.”

“Thanks.” Helen ran her hands through her hair as Juices’ tanned hand placed the glass of Vodka and Tonic in front of her.

“What happened to you?” his voice told her that Juice wasn’t a Charming local, most likely a New Yorker boy.

Her lips met the liquid and it felt good going down, “I came off second best.”

Juice’s jaw clicked. Sure he had seen more than enough beaten bodies for it not to bother him, but women? That did bother him.
Helen’s eyes followed Juice as he made his way over to a corner table kitted with a laptop and other pieces of hardware.

“He’s cute,” she quickly downed the rest of her drink, “And where am I staying tonight?”

“With Jax and I,” Tara slipped from her seat as Helen began to shake her head.

“No. No way lady. You have Abel there and if Hoss found out where I was, well you know he would damn near blow that house up with you and Abel in there. So no. Not an option. I can kip in my car.”

Her sister rolled her eyes, “Oh come on Helen he won’t find you.”

Helen pointed a finger at Tara, “That’s what I thought last time, do you really want to reset my collar bone again?”

Tara winched at the memory of performing surgery on her sister and looked down at the scar peeking out from the neck line of Helen’s shirt. “Fine, but where are you going to stay then?”

Her hands went up around her, “Why not here? There is always someone around and we can just park my car away from here.”

“What’s this?” Jax came up behind Tara and snaked a tattooed arm around her waist, her skin blushing pink as he did so.

“Helen thinks it’s a safer option for her to stay here tonight instead of our place.”

“Hoss is barking mad and would do anything if it meant hurting me. I don’t want to put that on you and your little one,” Helen pointed out which made Jax raise an eyebrow.

“I guess. I mean someone is always here at night,” he mimicked Helen’s argument.

Tara shot her biker boyfriend a look that said, "If there is any trouble you have me to answer to!"

Helen sunk deeper in her seat and smiled gingerly, “So it's settled.” She looked around again. "Home sweet home."