The slap across her face echoed in the silent kitchen, her lip was split she felt the blood spilling into her mouth, she ran her tongue across the cut and glared at her 'ex'. What an abusive fuck, he was. The dull light from the ceiling cast an eerie glow on the doorway. She had spent her whole left in Charming, until the day she turned seventeen and took off. Her mother was a fuck up that could barely deal with the trouble her brother was getting into and her father well that's was a different issue. They told her she had some daddy issues to resolve or some shit, that's why she had landed in this relationship with Tommy. She knew that wasn't the case though, the club made her feel safe back at home, they had always treated her with respect because of who her father was. She figured when she got out to Arizona it would be the same, she was seriously mistaken. Tommy appeared in her vision once more and he grabbed her by the back of her hair, yanking her head back harshly.

"You're sorely mistaken if you think your walking out this door."

Audrey knew he was going to do this, two years together and he never changed. This was why she had already called back home yesterday, Clay was sending a few of the guys this way. She managed to hold back her tears as he backhanded her again, this time she spit the blood on the floor. A split second later she wasn't even sure what was happening, Tommy lay face down on the floor and gun held to the back of head, she saw shaggy blonde hair and heart rate picked up for an instant. Jackson. Out of the corner of her eye she spied two other men, one she knew was Tig and the other she deducted was Chibs from talking to Gemma. Her eyes flashed back to Jax, where he smashed Tommy's face off the floor.

"You like beating women?" He growled at him, before shoving away from him, "C'mon. Why don't you kick my ass?"

Chibs untied her wrists from the back of the chair and pulled her to her feet away from Jax and hoped that this wouldn't escalate, but Tommy was a stupid shit and lumbered to his feet squaring up with Jax. Jax cracked him square the mouth an instant later, Tommy's head snapped back, blood oozing out of his mouth. Tommy launched himself towards Jax trying to knock him the ground, he was too fast for that. He side stepped, grabbed the back of Tommy's head and face planted him into the counter. Tommy staggered and collapsed on the ground, blood spurting out of his mouth and nose.

Jax stood over him, bending down slightly, "Protected. That's what she is. Touch her again. I'll cut those colors off you myself."

Tig snagged Audrey's arm and tugged her out of the room, towards the front door that's when she finally found her voice, "Wait. My bag." She managed to get out, as she pointed by the base of the stairs where a large brown bag sat. Chibs grabbed it on his way, while Tig never stopped moving. Audrey managed to turn herself around so she didn't fall, and the biker finally let go of her when they reached the curb. However Jax was there a second later, glaring at her harshly, he tossed her a helmet and climbed on his bike. Audrey froze for a second, this was all moving to fast, he wasn't the same guy he was ten years ago. He turned to stare at her as the other guys drove off, "Let's go." He said harshly.

Audrey quickly put on the helmet and climbed on the back of his bike, there wasn't any talking until they reached a small gas station about two hours out of town. She was a little frightened to get off the bike, Jax didn't look pleased with her and he was the last person she wanted yelling at her. However, her legs were beginning to cramp and she needed to stretch them, she climbed off the bike tugging the helmet off as she did so.

"Are you stupid, Audrey?"

Audrey bawked at that, "Excuse me?"

"Look what he did to you. You let him do this to you."

"Uh, no. I was tied to a chair."

"Oh okay. So that was the first time he ever hit you?"

"No."

"Exactly. Why would you stay?"

"Stop now. I'm not discussing this with you Jax."

They stood there a moment both staring at each other before he turned and walked away. There wasn't a lot that had changed about Audrey and that included her stubborn personality; Jax knew all about it since they had practically grown up together.

Tig jumped into her vision a second later, "You need anything from the gas station. Last thing we want is the police here on suspicion of one of us smackin you around."

"Is it really that noticeable?" She asked.

Tig pointed to Jax's mirror, "See for yourself."

Audrey moved around him and ducked her head down to check it out. She was startled at her face, her lip was swollen, the whole left side of her face was slightly bruised, and her eye was beginning to puff up. She sighed rather audibly and moved away from the bike an instant later. She wrapped her arms around herself to reveal the chill that was creeping over her skin; this was just terrific she looked like a train wreck. A hand reached out and snagged her elbow, she whirled around fist clenched, but it was just Jax, his expression hadn't changed at all.

"Let's go. We still have another few hours before we stop for the night."

"We're stopping." Her eyes widened, that meant she'd be sharing a room with all those guys. She may have been raised around the club, but she wasn't that kind of woman.

"Yeah we need sleep. Let's go." He repeated.

Wearily, she climbed on the back of his bike, sliding forward a bit to absorb some of his body heat. He didn't start the bike right away instead he looked over his shoulder at her, and instant later he was tugging off his sweat shirt and handing it to her. She had no other choice, but to accept it because as soon as his cut was on his was starting the bike. She was grateful for everything they had jut done for her; the jacket was too much. She had to keep the tears from spilling over as she leaned forward against his back as he pulled out of the gas station.

The road wore on and it was a wonder the guys weren't falling asleep cause she sure as hell was, just as her eyes started drifting closed she felt his hand clasp on to hers where they were at his waist. He probably felt how cold they were through his shirt. The small action sent a jolt through her, one she hadn't been expecting Jax to cause. She couldn't believe any of this, she wasn't use to someone being concerned for her. Not since she left home anyway. Finally, sleep did manage to get the best of her; well as good as you could sleep on the back of a bike. She became fully aware as they pulled into a motel, as Jax parked the bike she let go and tried to get some feeling back her fingers. Just as she mustered the energy to get off the bike, another member was coming around the corner.

"Rooms 112 and 113." He muttered trying to stifle a yawn.

She watched as Jax thanked the guy and as he headed back to his bike. She said nothing as he tossed a key to Chibs, "Can I trust that you two won't get handsy tonight?"

In spite of the time and their obvious exhaustion Tig reached out as if he was going to touch Chibs, "I don't know what do you say, honey."

Chibs pulled his face away with a laugh, "Only in your dreams." He muttered as he shoved him gently.

"Oh you know it." Tig stated with a laugh as him and Chibs headed off to their room.

Jax watched them walk away with a smirk on his face. Audrey was realizing how nice his smile was, when he turned to look at her and it instantly disappeared, "Bed time." He said and started walking.

With a slight shake of her head, Audrey realized that she was beyond tired and sore, and she wasn't going to let Jax start effecting her like this..again.