Chapter 3
Waking up the next morning, I am snuggled into Juice's chest just like I used to and his arms are tightly around me. I start kissing his chest and up his neck to his lips like I used to and when our lips part, he whispers "Glad some things haven't changed." I laugh softly and say "Still your favorite way to wake up?" Kissing me again, he says "Oh yeah." We lay there looking at each other. "This is still so surreal." I say. "How did they tell you?" he asks. Placing my hand on his cheek, I say "I went to the clubhouse looking for you. You had been gone nearly two days and you weren't answering your phone so I went to the clubhouse. The guys were walking out of the clubhouse and met me halfway. I asked if they knew where you were and they said you had gone into Stockton to do a job for them and when I asked when you were getting out, Jax bluntly told me you weren't. When I looked at Happy and saw his face it hit me what they were telling me. I got pissed off and went toe to toe with Jax." I tell him. He looks at me shocked because I never disrespected a club member, being the kid of one myself. "What happened?" he asks. "Jax tried to comfort me and I told him not to touch me. He told me to remember my place that I was just an Old Lady and I told him the rules didn't apply to me anymore because he had my Old Man killed in prison. He got in my face and started talking about truths coming out and so I told him they already knew about my connection to the Mayans and started spilling some truths of my own. I told them everything Juan." I tell him. "Good." he says. "Jax got in my face and before he could do anything, Happy stepped in and told him that he wasn't touching me and Jax accused Happy of fucking me too. Happy got me to leave and he came by later and told me that they had voted Mayhem." I tell him. "They told me he killed himself." Juice says. "He did. Fucking coward. Apparently there were other things that were going on other than him messing with you so he rode his dad's bike into a semi." I tell him. "Shit." he says. I look at him and he knew what I was thinking. "I don't feel sorry for him. Just a little shocked he'd take the coward's way out." he tells me.
We get up and are sitting in the kitchen talking while eating breakfast together. "I really missed your cooking babe." he says and I can't help but smile. "I missed cooking." I say. "You stopped?" he asks. "Yeah. Just started doing little things since it was just me here. But most of the time I would go to the clubhouse and Chucky would make me something. Guess he could tell I wasn't eating much and would make me sit and eat." I tell him. "You two always did take care of each other." Juice says. "He's familia." I say and Juice smiles. Kissing me softly he says "I love you Princess." Smiling I say "Te amo mi dulce." and he smiles that smile I love so much. "God I missed that smile." I say as a tear falls. He pulls me into his lap and says "I'm not going anywhere. You're my world baby. You always have been. I am so sorry we had to lie to you like that. I can't imagine what you went through." he says. "Doesn't matter. You're here now. I have you back and nothing else matters." I whisper as I kiss him softly. Placing our foreheads together, he strokes my face with his fingertips like he used to. His touch still feels the same. We just mesh together like we were never apart. "I missed this." he says. "Me too." I say. "You know what else I missed?" he asks and I look at him. "I missed hearing you talk to me in Spanish. I missed hearing you call me mi dulce. I missed listening to you talk to your mom and seeing how excited you would get when it was something you were looking forward to. I missed holding you and kissing you and just looking at you from across the room knowing you were mine." he says. I have tears falling from my eyes and say "I missed those things too. I missed how you would always say little things in Spanish when you thought I was sleeping. I would wake up hearing you say 'te amo' or hearing you call me Princessa. I missed hearing your soft snores in my ear or listening to your heartbeat as I fell asleep." I tell him and he holds me closer. We sit for a while longer before I say "I want to take you somewhere." We get up and dressed and out the door.
Pulling up to a house, we get out and walk inside. "A brothel?" he asks. "Yeah." I look at him and call out to mom. "Mami, are you here?" I look at Juice and see him smile. He loved my mom. "Kitchen Mija." she says and we walk into the kitchen but I make Juice stay out of sight. "I have a surprise for you." I tell her. She turns to face me and I pull Juice farther into the room. "Mijo?" she asks and he nods. She walks up to him and pulls him into a hug and asks "How?" She looks at me and I say "Long story but Padrino brought him to me." I tell her. "Oh my God. Mija." she says before hugging me and my tears start to fall again. She looks at Juice and asks "Are you home for good?" He nods and says "Yeah. I'm back for good." She looks at us and he pulls me closer to him and I just melt into him like I always did. "Looks like some things never change." she says and we all smile. After spending time with my mom, we head back home.
Sitting on the couch, I tell him "I need to talk to you about something." He looks at me worried and I say "I went to temple the other day and had a talk with the club." I tell him and he nods. "There was a guy sitting outside the lot and I had to tell my dad and the club who he was. Turns out they were trying to figure out who he was." I tell him. "Who was it?" he asks. "Lincoln Potter." I tell him and see him tense. "He's not after you. He's after EZ, the prospect. I talked the club into letting him play both sides. I told them everything I could think of that you told me but they might want to talk to you and get your input since you dealt with him." I tell him. "Yeah. Okay." he says. "I just want you to be prepared. I won't let anyone take you from me again." I tell him. Kissing me softly he says "They'd have to kill me first." I look at him shocked and he says "What? Too soon?" I start laughing with him and smack his chest lightly. "Asshole." I say. "But I'm your asshole." he tells me. "Thank God for that." I say.
A little later, there's a knock on the door. I look through the peephole and open the door. "Hey Hap. Hey Tiggy." I say as I hug them and let them in. "I have a surprise for you." I tell them and lead them into the living room. Juice stands up and they look at him and smile before hugging him. "Welcome home brother." Tig says. "Thanks man. And thanks for helping get me out of there." he says as he hugs Happy. We all sit down and Tig asks "How pissed are you at us?" I look at him and say "Marcus explained it. I hate that this was how it had to play out but I would rather have four years without him than a lifetime without him. At least now I have him back and he's safe." I say as I snuggle into his side. "I guess Chibs knows." Happy says. "How?" I ask. "Apparently Chibs wanted to come and check on you and saw you and the little Rican getting into your car." he tells me. "Must have been when we went to see mom." I say. "How pissed is he?" Juice asks. "He's not. I think he's more relieved. He felt a lot of guilt afterwards." Tig says and I scoff. "What?" Juice says. "I've not spoken to Chibs since the day they told me you were dead. All I could think about was your conversation with him when you reached out for help to make things right and him telling you to put your gun in your mouth and pull the trigger." I say. "Babe, it's okay. That's the past." he tells me. "I know. But I still need to have that conversation with him so I can get past it." I say. "Well, he wants to come by tonight. Is that okay?" Tig asks. "Yeah. Better to get it over with." I say.
An hour later, there's a knock on the door. Happy lets him in and when Chibs sees us, I kiss Juice and walk out to the back deck. I can't look at him. He greets Juice and they talk for a few. I hear the back door open and hear his Scottish accent say "Your Old Man said you wanted to talk to me." I look up and say "Yeah." He takes the seat next to me and I say "You know how you guys beat the shit out of each other to get right with shit?" I ask and he nods. "I need that. Not the beating the shit out of you but I need to get this out of my system so that I can get right. I have held so much hurt and hate for too long but I refused to come near you because I knew I would never have him back so it wouldn't do any good. But he's back now." I say. "And you need to have that closure to heal." he says. "Yeah." I say. "Well, Lass, I have always loved you. You tell me what you need to tell me." he says. "Once I do this, I need to know that this is done. No more hate. No more animosity. I can't live with that anymore." I say. "Agreed." he says. I take a deep breath. "I hated you. I used to think of ways to make you suffer like I was. Like he did. He reached out to you because he trusted you and respected you but you told him to put his gun in his mouth and pull the trigger. That wasn't a brotherhood. I know you thought he was a rat but you never once asked his side of the story. You didn't give a shit about the one person that looked up to you as a brother, a father, a friend. You abandoned him. I hated you so much Chibs. I prayed everyday that it was you that was killed and not him. I wanted my husband back. I needed him back. But you got to walk around free, living your life while I was here every night mourning the one person I loved more than anything. I needed him Chibs. I couldn't breathe without him. I wanted to die with him. I hated you so much." I say as the tears fall. Chibs stands and pulls me into a hug and says "I know love. I am so sorry." he says. He cups my face to make me look at him and says "I run the club different now. I make sure to hear both sides and make sure to do shite right this time." he tells me. "Good." I say. I get myself together and he asks "Are we good?" I nod and say "Yeah. Chibby. We're good." He kisses my forehead and says "Let's go see your Old Man." I smile softly and nod. Walking back into the house, I walk into Juice's arms and he asks "You good." I smile and say "Yeah. We're good." He looks at Chibs and he just nods but smiles at us and we all sit down to catch up.
Juice sits in the recline and pulls me into his lap. "You remember the time you took that croweater to the ring because she was pushing up on Juice?" Happy asks. "Cami right?" I ask. "Yeah." He says. "Yeah I remember. Ripped some of her hair out slinging her around. Why?" I ask. "She's a Diosa girl now. Helps run the front desk." he tells me. "Really?" I ask. "Yeah. She asks about you from time to time. Asks how you're doing." Tig says. "Well, you can tell her we are alive and well. She wasn't a bad chick. Just didn't know how to keep her hands off my man." I say laughing. I look at the guys and they tell us some more stories about stupid shit going on at the parties since we've been gone. Once Chibs leaves, Tig and Happy move to their rooms for the night and Juice and I head to bed. Getting into bed, he asks "Can you be quiet?" I smirk and say "I'm not the one that used to get loud." He starts laughing before crashing his lips with mine and making love to me all night long, marking me every chance he got.