Chicken was feeling guilty, at least he thought it was guilt. He should have been feeling really happy. He no longer had those Mexican bastards on his back, threatening him over the money he had owed them and despite the fact the debt was now paid, he did not feel good about it. The one true friend he had ever had, Juice had been hurt because of the beef that was going on between the SONS and Calavera's, he tried to reason with himself, that Juice would understand what he had had to do, it had been a matter of his own survival, the kid would understand, he kept trying to tell himself. He wandered about his small unkempt house and thought about whether or not he should go and see Juice. He had not looked very good when he had been thrown out the back of the van after he had been beaten unconscious and had his cut taken from him. As he tried to decide what to do he felt himself getting more and more anxious and so he headed towards his kitchen, spying the backpack that Juice had had with him, sitting on his kitchen table. Opening it he found the stimulants that Juice had been going to sell to him and digging around in the side pockets he found a big wad of cash. He started to feel a bit better and his greed started to take over and any feelings of guilt that he had felt towards his friends beating started to fade, he popped some of the pills into his mouth and headed for a 'high'.
Clay, Jax, Piney, Chibs and Opie were in a corrider near to where Gemma's room was talking when Clay glanced up and spotted Bobby and Tig with a battered and bloody Juice stumbling alomg between them coming towards them down the hallway.
"Jesus Christ...What the hell happened?"
As the three men stopped in front of them, Juice spoke up;
"I got jumped by Salazar and two Calavera's in the back of the Chicken Mans van...They took my cut."
There were a number of shocked gasps from the members and as Chibs reached forward to pull the hood of Juice's hoody back to get a better look at the damage done, he growled at the other two men.
"You let that puppet club take his goddamn patch. Where the hell were you two?"
Juice grimaced as he reached up and knocked Chibs hand away.
"This is on me, I let it happen."
Tig tried to argue that it was on all three of them but Juice wouldn't hear of it and insisted that it was his fault and no else's. Clay thought for a few moments before coming up with a plan, pointing to Chibs he told him to take Opie and the others wiith him and find out where the Calavera's were holed up, Jax stepped forward and told him, 'he would do it', shaking his head as he looked towards where his moms room was.
"I can't do shit round here man."
"Okay, you, Chibs, Bobby, Opie go take care of it, I'll stay here and wait for news on Gemma."
As they all walked off down the corrider he glanced at the bloodied Juice who was still standing in front of him and Piney, his eyes on the ground, ashamed at what had been done to him but more feeling more ashamed that he had not been able to stop them taking his cut. Juice looked up and saw his prez watching him and felt himself becoming even more ashamed and miserable, his voice breaking a little as he apoligized.
"I'm sorrryyy."
Piney reached out and pulled him towards the doors near them.
"Come on hero...lets go get you patched up."
As he pushed Juice ahead of him, Clay back handed Juice lightly across his back hitting his bruised and battered ribs, smirking as he heard the younger member gasp and saw him flinch.
"That hurt?"
Chicken woke up in his sitting room and looked around he had been flying so high and now he had come back down to Earth with a bump. He sat up trying to remember how he got there and for a moment could not remember but then it all came flooding back as he remembered Juice and what had been done to him.
"Oh God...What have I done."
He clutched his head, crying out in anguish thinking about what he had allowed to happen to the one person who had always been there for him, in the few years he had known him. In fact as he recalled the first time he had met Juice, the kid had saved him from a beating from a couple of dealers and now he had allowed some dealers to beat the shit out of him. He glanced up and looking at his coffee table he spotted his van keys lying on top of a load of his shit. He snatched them up and headed for the door, he had to find out if Juice was alright. He wasn't sure how he was going to find out but he figured that the other two bikers he had spotted running to Juice after he had been thrown out of the back of the van might take him to hospital and he knew there was a small hospital in Charming. He jumped into his van and drove towards Charming...