Laura

Juice wrapped his arm around my waist and anchored me to his body. I'd been in town for two weeks and we had celebrated Christmas with the club. All except Opie, who had showed up for a day and then left again. Juice said he stayed on the road most of the time, only returning once or twice a week for an hour or two. I went to see Kenny and Ellie and they told me they hardly ever saw their dad. I figured I would give him time to heal.

"Baby, wake up. You have to work today. It's not Christmas anymore," I murmured. He pulled me tighter to him and wriggled his groin against my butt. I was only wearing his t-shirt and my panties and I felt how hard he was. I rolled my eyes but I was smiling. I could tell that he still hadn't opened his eyes.

"I don't want to wake up today. I just want to lie in bed with you all day and make you scream my name until your voice goes hoarse," he mumbled against my skin.

"You know I don't scream when I'm in the clubhouse," I scolded him.

"Which is why I want to talk to you about something after I make you quietly pant my name." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to the back of my neck. I rolled around to face him and kissed him softly on the lips. He opened his eyes and grinned down at me before rolling me onto my back and climbing on top of me. He warned me, "No foreplay."

Then he slid down my body and dragged my panties off. I whimpered when I felt his tongue assault my clit for a second before he slid back up my body and yanked his boxers down. He shrugged and said, "I love the way you taste. I can't help it."

Then he slid into me quickly and took me for a wild ride that had my fingers digging into his shoulder blades and my legs wrapping around his waist. I bit down on his shoulder in between panting his name and moaning. When we were done, he rolled into bed beside me and whispered, "I'm buying a house."

"You're what?" I sat up quickly and stared down at him. He was smiling so wide that it stretched his face to epic proportions.

"I want to buy a house. I don't know what house yet or where I'm going to buy it but I'm going to buy a house, Laura. And I want both our names on the lease, because if I go to jail or if something happens to me, I want you to be able to take care of that, meaning you would have access to my bank account and stuff."

I sighed. "Juice, I understand why you want to buy a house, but you can't put stuff in my name unless we're married and…."

He rolled over and opened his bedside table drawer. He pulled a small black box out of it and rolled back over to face me. He said slowly, "Look, I know that right now, we're not in a place to be married. You're in college a million miles away and I'm still working on getting stuff settled. But I want to marry you one day. I want to get started on it as soon as possible. I filled out some stuff and, after you sign, my bank account will be a joint bank account. You will still be able to have your bank account separate because I know you like to have your own, but you'll be able to access mine for whatever you need instead of me transferring money to you every month. I talked to the club's lawyer the other day and had him draw me up a will. If something happens to me, everything I own becomes yours. I even signed some papers that gives you power if I'm in the hospital. It's all worked out.

"If I buy a house and something happens to me, you'll be able to still pay the bills. I have enough money saved up to last at least three years on a house payment. I took care of everything. And I looked something up that said you're supposed to spend two month's paychecks on an engagement ring but that seemed like a lot seeing as how much I make with the club and all, so I only spent about fifteen hundred on it. Laura Moon Mase, will you marry me?"

He opened the box at that moment and a simple engagement ring sat before me. A silver band with small diamonds all around and a large, oval stone in the center. He informed me, "There's not a meaning behind it. I didn't get it because it reminded me of anything or because it would mean something special. I got it because I looked at it and thought, 'That would look good on her hand.' And I talked to Gemma and Clay and even your mom, who kicked me out, and most of them said yes. I even tried to talk to Opie but he wouldn't call me back. So, will you?"

I stared into his deep, soulful brown eyes and choked out, "Yes. God yes, I will marry you, Juan Carlos Ortiz."

He slipped the ring onto my finger and we made love again.

Juice

That ring looked damn good on her slender, tan finger. She was sitting across the clubhouse, talking to Tara and drinking a bottle of beer. Tara was clearly Jax's woman. Her eyes darted up to watch him every few seconds as he walked across the room. I was glad that Laura was so comfortable with her role. She rarely felt the need to watch me. When she did, I could feel her eyes on me but it wasn't in scrutiny. It was in admiration as I got a particularly difficult shot in pool or I lifted a box up on a shelf. If I caught her watching, I could go over and kiss her and she would grin at me.

"See that Moon's got an interesting new piece of jewelry," Chibs commented.

"Yep." I grinned. I didn't want to come right out and tell anybody. We agreed to wait until Gemma noticed. She was the queen bee. When she noticed, we would tell everybody else.

"I take it that it has to do with you circling all the houses for sale in the newspapers lately."

"I want to buy one so that she doesn't have to sleep in the clubhouse when she's here," I explained.

"Aye, the clubhouse is no place to be for a girl like Moon to be staying full time like she is."

"We're going to pick out a house this week. She has a couple more days before she goes home and we plan to get everything started. I'm only going to decorate and buy new things when she's in town. It'll be our little project." It was stupid that I was so excited but I truly was. I was a Son. I was supposed to be a tough, rough biker with a heart of steel, but I couldn't keep the grin off of my face or the excitement out of my voice. Laura Moon Mase was going to become Laura Moon Ortiz.

"Real cute, Juicy boy. You've got a lot of love for Moon."

"Yep. And soon I'm going to have a house with lots of stuff."

"You're just going to let her pick everything?"

"She knows best." Chibs laughed and rolled his eyes. It was then that I heard Gemma's cry of, "What in the hell is that, Laura Moon Mase?"

I looked up as Gemma dashed across the room in her high heeled boots and grabbed Laura's left hand. She held it up in the air, splashing beer across Tara's lap in the process, and cried out, "Is this an engagement ring? Did he finally ask? I know he planned on it but I didn't think he'd ever do it this soon!"

She grinned and nodded happily, looking over at me with eyes full of love. I crossed the room to her and took wrapped my arms around her from behind. Gemma let go of her hand and stared at us. She studied us. Laura grinned at her.

"Stay right here," she ordered. "Do not move."

She dashed away, leaving us standing in front of the club with my arms around her waist and her head tilted backwards to smile at me. Tig cried out, "What the fuck, Juice? No offense, Moon. Marriage is the worst possible thing you could do! Seriously! I tried it out once. It sucked!"

"You never tried it with Laura," I argued. "You've never been in love with a girl like Laura."

Gemma rushed over with her camera and took our picture really quick. She cried out, "As soon as Bobby gets back, we're having an engagement party! We'll double it up! He'll be back in a couple days! We'll have the best engagement party this club has ever seen! Most people just go and elope! We don't find out that they're even planning to get married until days later!"

"Come on, Gemma! Donna and Opie apologized after they did it!" Jax sighed.

"Whatever. We're having an engagement party!" There was no arguing with Gemma. She was the queen of the club and we all knew it. She was the original leader's old lady and, when he passed on, she became the old lady of the next leader. AND she was the mom of the next leader. There was no argument from anybody towards her.

"Thank you, Gemma," Laura said graciously. I nodded in agreement.

"And, of course, I will help you plan the wedding. Who do you want to have as your bridesmaids? When is this whole thing going down? I thought you wanted to wait until after college to get married to our favorite Puerto Rican boy…." Gemma grabbed Laura's hand and pulled her away from me.

I turned back to the men and they accepted me into their ranks. I got slapped on the back and Clay slipped a cigar into my hand. Everybody congratulated me and I grinned the widest I had grinned since I was patched in to the club. I had my family and Laura was going to be a part of my family.