Memory Lane

Chapter 23. Safe Haven

Jax

I ran frantically through the hospital until I made contact with my mom. She was standing with Unser, Wendy, and Opie and I was just seeing red. Opie had called me when he heard about what happened to Desiree. Apparently, Wendy had come to the clubhouse looking for me or Tara for one of her custody speeches when she got a call from Desiree's coworker. Opie overheard Desiree's name with the word 'hospital' connected and freaked out. That's when my mom ran out of her office ordering Opie to give her a lift to the hospital.

When Unser noticed me, he gave my mother a look. She shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't call him," but I could tell she was happy to see me there. "Hey Sweetie," she said placing a kiss on my cheek. "What's going on with Desiree, have we heard anything?"

"No, she's in there with Corey, I'm pretty sure it's just a sprain," Unser informed. I looked over at Wendy who was refusing to meet my gaze. "Is this your idea of her being safer with you? Where were you?!"

"Jax, calm down," my mother said as people started to stare in our direction. Wendy scoffed at me, "in case you didn't notice, Desiree is a grown woman. She doesn't need a babysitter!"

"Oh, then what do you call this?"

"I call it, what happens to millions of women worldwide. This guy was just a regular who tipped her really well, she never said anything about him doing anything like this." I was two seconds away from blowing my fuse on Wendy when the door opened and a guy slipped out of Desiree's room. Wendy shoved past me and ran up to greet him, "Hey Corey, what's the news? Is she okay?"

Corey looked around and observed everyone in the waiting room. "Yeah, she's just a bit shaken up, but thankfully it's just a sprain."

"What happened today? Who is this guy?" Opie questioned him.

I could tell Corey was a bit overwhelmed not only by how we looked but how intimidating we were. "Look, Michael started to come to the diner as soon as she started working there. Things were fine at first, he would give her nice tips and bring his kid around sometimes. But then the tips started to get bigger and he started to leave notes on napkins and bring gifts. Flowers, chocolate, you name it. Des started to get uncomfortable with it, so she started to switch her schedule around. But he started paying one of the girls at work to keep tabs on Desiree's schedule and basically buying a seat in her section. It was only today that he got violent with her."

I clenched my eyes shut at my stupidity. I too had been paying that little weasel at her job and had I known she was feeding the enemy, I would have nipped it in the bud. No surprise that she never mentioned anything about captain psycho to me.

"What happened today?" Wendy asked.

"He came in during lunch with his kid, they didn't order anything. But his little girl gave Des this questionnaire asking her if she liked him, if she was single, and would she go on a date with him. He grabbed her wrist when she tried to leave the table. I saw him do it, and we got a lecture today about being a family, and not fraternizing with the customers. I swapped sections with her for dinner, but then he was outside waiting for her when she got off. She told him she wasn't interested in him, and that's when he started to call her a whore and was talking about not being "him," I didn't know who he was talking about but Desiree clearly didn't like it. He grabbed her again and then she slapped him. That's when he apologized and Unser came running." Corey finished the story and looked around the room.

"Look, she's really embarrassed right now and in her head. She didn't want to call you guys because she felt really stupid. I just sat in the room with her while she cried her eyes out, so don't be hard on her I guess," Corey said this before he grabbed his things and left.

My heart ached for Desiree and the room grew quiet after Corey left. Desiree had still not come out of the room, even after the doctor had left and reassured us that she was fine and only needed a brace.

"We have to do something about this guy," Gemma demanded. I knew what she meant by that and I couldn't agree more.

Wendy scoffed, "more violence? That would do nothing for Desiree!"

"That would keep her safe!" I snapped at Wendy.

"Oh, so you're just going to unalive everyone that threatens her. You think that's going to fly with her?" I was starting to get really aggravated with Wendy, and her peaceful attitude.

"So, what do you suggest we do? Do nothing? Let this guy find out that she lives with you? Pay her a visit at your front door? Or would you rather find her bloody and beaten before you choose violence." Wendy remained quiet at my words.

"Enough! I don't want to hear any more about Desiree being injured," my mom shouted, "we need to keep her safe, no matter how that looks."

"But she needs her space!" Wendy protested, "why do you think she's been working there anyway. She wants to build her own life, buy her own stuff, and not rely on everyone. She saves all her money so that she could put it towards her own place."

"Why can't she stay with you?" my mom questioned Wendy.

"She CAN stay with me, she's always welcome, but she'd rather have her own place and I support that for her. You guys come in guns blazing now, she's just going to feel incompetent of taking care of herself."

"Then what do you suggest wise counselor," I said sarcastically.

Wendy rolled her eyes, "instead of hating me, why not just be there for her and let her call the shots." What Wendy was saying wasn't wrong, but it was hard for me to respect considering our history with Abel. Her presence was threatening my son and that caused me to hate her.

However, when the door slowly opened and I saw Desiree's face my heart melted. I could tell that she had been crying and she had seemed to shrink into herself. She was holding on to the doorknob and didn't take any steps forward. I practically leaped out of my seat and stood in front of her. She couldn't meet my eyes and I could tell that she was embarrassed.

"Oh baby," I wrapped a gentle arm around her and urged her into my arms. Once she was in them, I could feel her body lightly shake. She must have been so scared and I wasn't there to protect her. I ran my hand through her hair and held her as tightly as my body allowed. "Don't worry I'm here, you're safe."