Category: Flash Fiction

The bang of the gun seemed too loud.

Although Mackenzie knew it happened in a split second, it seemed like her eyes tracked the bullet’s journey as it left the gun, flew through the air towards her, then plowed into her leg.

She might be a psychiatrist and not a “real” doctor but she didn’t need to be to know that the bullet had just shattered her femur.

Everything around her tunnelled into a vortex of pain.

She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, she thought she collapsed, she thought she screamed in pain, she thought that Jax called out to her, she thought crazy Sarisa was laughing, but she wasn’t sure.

All she was sure of was the agony in her leg.

There were voices floating somewhere above her. For a moment she was confused when she was sure there were three instead of two but then she faded further and couldn’t be sure.

Black dots danced in front of her and she longed to latch onto them and let them drag her away, anywhere was better than the excruciating pain that poked relentlessly at her.

Jax.

Was he okay?

Did he get the knife?

Had he subdued Sarisa?

The questions spun in her head making her dizzy.

Someone was coming towards her, she prayed it was Jax, the blurry figure stopped and stood above her. Then it leaned down and a breath of air brushed her face.

“Can’t wait for round two,” a harsh voice whispered.

Her ability to focus came rushing back and when her vision cleared she knew the face above her belonged to the man who had raped her. He was here. In her apartment.

Panic flared inside her and it was too much for her overburdened mind to deal with. The next second she was crashing into unconsciousness.

Jax had no idea how he was going to get them out of this alive.

What to do, what to do?

He had known that Sarisa was unstable, it was one of the reasons things hadn’t worked out between them. That and the fact that she had cheated on him. Given that was the final straw he had no idea why she was now standing here in Mackenzie’s apartment with a gun trained on him screaming about how he replaced her with Kenzie.

“Sarisa, lets sit down and talk,” he said, hands held up, palms out, in as unthreatening manner as possible.

“No,” she shrieked. “Talking time is over. I begged you not to leave me and you threw me away like garbage. You said you loved me, you said you wanted to marry me. We were soulmates and you turned your back on me”

Jax half listened as Sarisa rambled, his gaze scanning the room looking for a weapon. His gun was on the counter in the kitchen, but the couch, the kitchen table and an armed Sarisa stood in-between him and it. The hallway that led to the bedrooms was closer and he wondered if he could cover Mackenzie enough to get her there before Sarisa shot him.

If it weren’t for Mackenzie he’d just rush the woman, take the gunshot and tackle her. Unless she got him in the head or directly in the heart then he would still be able to disarm her.

“Jax, the fireplace mantle,” Mackenzie whispered behind him, her hands pressed against his lower back. “I was scared after what happened to Tayla and I heard a sound the other night, I had a knife and I left it on the mantle when I went to the hospital yesterday.”

A knife.

Perfect.

Now all he needed was a distraction so he could get to it.

“I’ll keep her distracted,” Mackenzie said.

Before he could stop her, yank her back and keep her safely tucked away behind him, his crazy girl who had already been through hell once in the last forty-right hours stepped sideways.

“Lady, you are crazy if you think that Jax loves you,” Mackenzie put her hands on her hips and glared at Sarisa. “He’s mine, and he loves me.”

Shock flowed through him at her words. Not just that she was baiting an armed and insane woman, but when she said that he loved her it didn’t frighten him it felt … right.

“You can’t use your evil magic to steal my man,” Sarisa screamed, swinging the gun in Mackenzie’s direction. “When I shoot you your powers will flow out of you.”

She snapped awake as the bed beneath her moved.

No.

Not the bed.

Mackenzie wasn’t in a bed she was curled up on Jax’s lap on a couch in her apartment. Well she had been anyway.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately panicked. After everything her best friend Taylor had just been through and what had just happened to her she thought panic was probably going to be her new norm, at least for a while.

Jax was standing, and the expression on his face when he looked down at her only served to heighten her panic. When he gestured his head towards the door and she followed his line of sight her blood turned to ice.

Mackenzie’s worst nightmare stood just inside the door.

It was Jax’s ex.

In her experience there was no force of nature worse than a woman scorned. Only Jax had told her about his ex and she was hardly the scorned partner.

“Hello, Jax,” the woman singsonged. Mania unlike something she had ever seen before shone from the woman’s dark eyes.

“Kenz, go into your bedroom and lock the door,” Jax said, voice calm even though she could feel the tension in his body. He set her on her feet and nudged her towards the hall that led to her bedroom.

“No,” Sarisa shrieked. “She’s not going anywhere. You think you can replace me with her? Not going to happen. By the time the sun rises tomorrow morning the walls are going to be painted with your blood,” she growled pulling a gun from her waistband and holding it on them.

Jax moved protectively in front of her, but she knew he didn’t have his gun on him, he’d left it on the kitchen counter when they’d arrived earlier this evening. They were sitting ducks.

Mackenzie finally relaxed against him. 

They’d talked for a while, she’d cried some more, then she’d finally passed out. But a peaceful sleep didn’t come easy for Mackenzie as the reality of what happened plagued her dreams. She was shaking in his arms, whimpering, and her forehead was creased with worry lines. 

Jax wished he could ease her suffering but there was nothing he could do for her but hold her and be there for her when she wanted to talk. It didn’t feel like enough but she’d already told him that just having him here helped her. 

Whatever this thing was between them it was growing the more time they spent around each other. After his ex he’d thought he’d never fall in love again and yet here he was, wondering if that was exactly what was going to happen with Mackenzie.

She moaned in her sleep, her hands curling into his sweater, and he knew he should take her into her bedroom, tuck her into bed, but he couldn’t make himself let go of her. Jax liked the feel of her warm body nestled closely against him, her head was tucked under his chin, and his arms encircled her, keeping her cocooned on his lap. 

This sweet woman of his had a long road ahead of her but he’d be there for her, every step of the way.

Letting his eyes fall closed he must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew he was snapping awake as someone jiggled the handle of the front door.

Expecting to see Mackenzie’s mother, or father, or one of her siblings, when he saw who was standing there shock filled him, quickly followed by fear.

Jax’s arms were warm and strong around her, wrapping her up in a little bubble of safety that she hadn’t expected to feel this soon after her assault.

He started to walk and panic sliced through her. Was he leaving her? It wasn’t like she could expect him to stay with her, they’d only known each other a short time and he no doubt wanted to get home and back to his own life.

“Are you leaving?” Mackenzie asked, forcing herself to loosen her grip around his neck.

“Leaving? No, of course not. Unless you want me to,” Jax added.

“No, I want you to stay, please,” she said softly.

“I’m not leaving you, sweetheart.” Jax pressed a kiss to her forehead then started walking again, stopping at the couch where he sat, settling her in his lap and pulling a blanket off the back of the couch to wrap around her.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she sunk down against him, tucking her face against his neck. He’d stayed with her all night, been by her side while she gave her statement and endured the rape kit, he’d offered to drive her home and come up here with her when he could have left her in the street outside her apartment building. All week she’d been fighting her attraction to him, positive that after the disaster of her last relationship she would never give her heart to another man, and now she wasn’t so sure.

Her life had just been tossed upside down in the most traumatic of manner, she was in no place to be making decisions about anything of important, and yet she knew in her heart she didn’t want Jax to go.

Mackenzie didn’t even process what she was doing, it was like she was on emotion overload that it catapulted her into a place where her feelings became so crystal clear that she couldn’t not act on them. Her hands curled around Jax’s neck, drew his face down, and kissed him.

He hesitated for a moment, and she knew he was worrying about taking advantage of her while she was vulnerable, but she had never been more sure of anything in her life. She needed something good, something pure to override what had happened to her.

The kiss was sweet, soft, tender, it touched her down deep inside, in a place she’d thought had been ruined beyond repair by the betrayal of her ex.

Everything was going well, Jax was keeping things gentle, non threatening, and she was into the kiss, and then all of a sudden she wasn’t.

She didn’t remember the attack but she knew it had happened, and all of a sudden these images were flashing through her mind.

On a sob she shoved him away. Jax’s green eyes grew wide, but he smiled and brushed his fingertips lightly across her cheek.

That made things worse. “I’m so sorry, Jax,” she said as fresh tears filled her eyes. “I wasn’t trying to play games, and I’m not playing hard to get, I wanted that kiss, I did and then …”

“It’s okay, honey,” he assured her, drawing her back into his embrace. “You’ve just been through hell, you don’t need to make any decisions right now. I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, lets just see what happens when it happens.”

He was being so wonderful, and she was so grateful that he was here. Snuggling closer she laid her head on his chest, above his heart where the steady beating lulled her towards sleep. Minutes later she drifted off, tears still trickling down her cheeks.