Unity

Axel

I reached up to itch my face when something tugged onto the outside of my hand. I blinked a few times, cringing away from the bright light that invaded my eyelids, before finally opening them.

I was in what was clearly a hospital room. I had wires trailing all over the place and I followed one right up to my face. I lifted my right hand, that wasn't attached to an IV drip, to touch my face and felt plastic. I had to be in the ICU for this kind of treatment. How long had I been out for?

I tried to sit up and groaned aloud at the stiff feeling throughout my spine. Regretting moving I lay back down completely and searched for the beds remote, if I couldn't physically move then surely the bed could.

The door flew open revealing Axel. He looked terrible. His brown hair looked untamed and was shooting out in different directions, his blue eyes were sunken into his face and sported dark bags beneath them. It was as if he'd aged since the last time I'd seen him and once more it had me questioning how long I'd been out for.

"Ava," he gasped, his eyes filling up with tears before he practically ran towards me and gathered me in his arms. "I thought I'd lost you." His voice broke towards the end and I was taken aback, this was the first bit of emotion he'd shown in a very long time.

I patted his back because of the mask, it had begun to dig into my face and my nose was becoming sore. He pulled make, watching me worriedly. I tried to talk but my voice sounded muffled behind the mask, I tried to pull it down but was stopped by my brother. "Don't." He scowled. "If the docs put that on you then you need to keep it on."

I rolled my eyes at him before huffing and turning back to the beds remote, pressing the button that would help me sit up. Axel sat down in the chair on my right, next to the bed and held my hand. He reached over me to grab the remote on the table beside me and turned the small TV on in the corner of the room. It was friends and when he asked if I wanted to watch this I nodded.

We were watching the episode where Rachel and Ross got married in Las Vegas, it was the part where they had drew a face on Ross to make up for the fact that he'd done so to her. I was laughing as they were drunkenly walking through the hotel when Axel interrupted me. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked, leaning forwards with his elbows resting on his knees so that he could make eye contact with me.

I nodded, turning my focus away from the tv and onto him. "Why were you going to the club?"

Uh oh. Busted. My shock must've expressed itself as his expression turned into a stern one, like a parent telling their child off. "You was going to the party?"

Even though it was a question it sounded more like a statement and I widened my eyes in fear. How had even known I was out there? I briefly remembered a leather jacket but couldn't remember the person who had helped me. I tried to edge away from him, his intense stare making me uncomfortable and I cowered away from him slightly.

"Ava! I thought we talked about this!" He shouted, standing up and throwing his hands into the air exasperatedly. I tried to pull down the mask so that I could answer him but instead he pulled my arm away and shook his head. "What have I told you? Keep it on."

I huffed and rolled my eyes, crossing my arms but being careful not to tug on any wires, I looked away and my eyes landed on the door that Axel had come from about fifteen minutes ago. Through the pane in the glass door I noticed a few men stood outside in an intense conversation, all wearing the clubs signature leather jackets.

"We're in trouble." Axels words got my attention and I looked at him in alarm, furrowing my brows. "Another gang set out a threat to all of our families a few weeks ago and we thought they were bluffing until yesterday." He paused and I groaned at him, I wish he'd stop being so dramatic and just tell me already.

"They killed one of the club members old ladies so Ace has called a complete lockdown." He paused again and if it wasn't for the mask and all the wires I'd of jumped out of bed to strangle him. "Which means that all club members and their families have got to go stay at the clubhouse."

That was the final straw and I finally ripped away the mask, my eyes nearly bulging from my skull. "Ava!" He chided, trying to pull the mask over my face as I slapped his hands away from my face.

"No!" I shouted, my voice coming out raspy as I began to cough. He patted my back roughly, his eyes also widening with panic. "Drink." I gasped, pointing at the jug that was sat across the room. Within a few seconds he'd passed me a plastic cup that he'd filled with water.

I brought it to my lips, taking small sips as it soothed my dry throat. As I swallowed the burning that I could feel in the back of my throat gradually disappeared and once I was ready to talk again I glared at my older brother.

"I'm not staying at the clubhouse Axel!" I yelled angrily. His face changed from worried to irritated within a matter of seconds but I didn't let it stop me. "I have a life, I have a job and college work!"

"You don't think I know that?" He shouted back, pacing beside the bed. "If it wasn't for me you'd be just like all the other girls parading around that place, I gave you a life Ava. I didn't want you to end up like me, like mom and dad."

His voice broke towards the end and my heart clenched at his words, I knew he hadn't dealt with our parents death. Instead he'd threw himself into the club, disappearing for days and coming home drunk. That was until I'd watched him fight a man for cutting him up on his bike and then the next day he'd got a phone call from my school because I'd gotten into a fight with a girl named Cora.

After that he sat me down and told me I'd never be apart of the Club, I'd never associate with any of them. And he was right, he had given me a life. A life I wasn't about to give up right now. I needed to carry on with it. "You're right." I told him. "You have give me a life but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop living it because some lady died!"

"You will! You're all I've got left so if you think for one second hour going to be anywhere but that building then you've got another thing coming!"

"I'm not staying in that, in that," I was struggling to find the word for the clubhouse. "That shithole." His face screwed up angrily and he made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat.

"That shit hole," he begun. "Is the only reason you have your life, the only reason why I'm alive!"

"That clubhouse is also my home." An unfamiliar voice interrupted and I spun my head round to face its owner. I gasped as I recognised his face, images of the night of my asthma attack flashing before me in my mind.