When Erica woke up next, it was morning, which took her by surprise. It was then the events from the night before bombarded her memory, and she started to shake again. The door opened slightly, "Erica, are you awake? It's me, Juice."
"Yea- yes." she stammered. She was still in the close from the night before, and she felt like a homeless person. Juice walked in with a tray for her. It had some eggs, bacon toast and what looked like cranberry juice or fruit punch. For the first time in a very long time, she smiled a real smile.
"I like how that looks on you." Juice said, startling the girl. The smile quickly fell from her bruised face. "No, no, I mean, the smile. It made you seem… less hurt." he said inadequately. "I'm sorry." He mumbled shyly.
He couldn't help but stare at the bruises, cuts and burns. She had some burns, from what he could guess was a cigarette, on her upper arms. The bruises on her neck seemed a little more older than the ones on her face. They were a greenish yellow color. The ones on her face, those were from the day or two before, he could only guess because the color was so dark, black-blue-purple in color. The scars, they were different all together.
The scars didn't go all the way up her cheeks, as Chibs' did. Hers stopped a little less than half way up, like she had forgotten to scream when they cut her. There was a mark, on the part of her shoulder he could see, as she was in a tank top, it looked like someone had shoved a knife in her shoulder. Juice felt a wave of pain and fury for this girl. She was the same age as he, but she looked older. Like she was in her mid to late thirties, and that wasn't a good thing for a pretty girl.
"I thought you might be hungry, you should eat. If you would like, you can take a shower right through there." Juice smiled and set the tray down by the bedside.
"Juice?" the small voice asked, just before he shut the door. "Would.. Would you like to uh, have breakfast with me?" She stammered out then looked down. He could see she was waiting for the rejection to come.
In her own mind, she couldn't help but think about what a fool she was for asking him to stay with her. Of course he has a girl, one that isn't a freakish mess like you are, she raged at herself.
"If you let me get myself a plate, I'll be right back and join ya." He smiled so big, he looked like the cat that got the milk bucket.
Not even five minutes later he came back with a plate of food for himself and his coffee. "You know, I should have offered you coffee, would you like some? I'll go get you a cup." Juice stammered as he set his plate down on the tray next to hers. He seemed to have the same problem as she, his words had a habit of tumbling of his mouth.
"It's fine, thank you so much." Taking a bite of eggs, he seen her close her eyes and actually enjoy them. "The breakfast, it's delicious. I don't think I've ever had breakfast in bed." She said quietly with a smile.
He smiled back, she looked so much younger, more vibrant when she smiled. He was sure, once the bruises healed, and she got to feel a little bit better about herself, he would never recognize her as the girl he and some other sons had rescued.
"Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle?" he asked after a bit of silence. It took him a minute, but he realized it wasn't that uncomfortable silence between people who don't know each other or are being pushed in each other's direction. It was a pleasant one, but he had so many questions buzzing around in his brain.
"Yea, my dad and brother were in a club when I was little. I used to ride on my dad's bike with him, it was pretty cool, I was the only girl to show up on a motorcycle to the eighth grade send off." She smiled at the memory. He couldn't help but wonder what she looked like then. Did she wear dresses? Or maybe it was all jeans and looking like a biker's daughter.
Juice laughed, "I bet that was interesting. I used to be scared to ride, but don't tell the guys here. They would never let me live it down." He grinned at her.
"Why were scared? It's like… Freedom." He could see it in her eyes, she wasn't all in the room, it was like her mind was taking her to a safe place, one that she didn't have to be so scared all the time.
"I know that now. It is so wonderful just to ride when something is bothering me. I've gone off for a couple days, then my phone rings and the stress just piles up again." Juice gave a half smile, and just as easily as he could read her, she was starting to figure him out.
"I guess your sorta the low man on the totem pole?"
"Not quite" He smirked. "That's half-sac now, he's just a prospect, not even a member yet. I'm the techie for the club. Run the monitors, keep up the security system, you know that kind of thing." He didn't want her to know too much. That way nothing fell back on her.
"It's a lot of hazing for now, huh?" She grimaced at the thought, knowing how it felt.
"Not too bad, we all harass each other, but not to the point of cruelty, and not about real problems. The guys always harass me that I'll never find a girl to call my old lady, you know? One to mark with my crow." Juice gave a half smile.
"At least you guys can keep things friendly here, it has to be so great to know that if you need something, you have people that will help you. That stand behind you." Erica said wishfully. "After my dad died, my brother just didn't want the responsibility of me, or that's what I thought. I never really gave him the chance. It was about a year after I ran away that I realized I never actually gave him a chance to get over losing dad." Erica looked down.
Juice, realizing he just got something very personal out of her, knew he had to help her. They finished their breakfast, while keeping the conversation to lighter topics, he kept thinking about how he could find out her last name. "Like I said, if you want to get a shower and stuff, it's the door right after mine. There's a lock on the inside so you don't have to worry about anyone walking in. It was just cleaned too, I promise." Juice laughed. She smiled and thanked him. Again she went to hug him, but stopped herself, and he reached out to take her hand and squeeze it gently. Just as he had done the night before.
Stepping out of the room with the only other clean clothes she had, she quickly showered and felt a little more human. Inside the room, Juice was picking up the breakfast dishes, and noticed a set of dog tags on her bag. "O'Riley, Eric D."
Moving fast he placed them back exactly as he had found them and scooted quickly out of the room. He now had what he needed and knew exactly what to do from there. As he was lost in his own thoughts carrying dishes he missed Chibs, watching his every move, including the move that had brought him out of Erica/ his room.
"What do ya think you're doing, Lad?" He asked quickly and with a hint of anger.
"I was just having breakfast with Erica, and I told her where she could clean up at." He said holding up the breakfast dishes.
"Aye," the anger seemed to vanish as he realized he jumped to the wrong conclusion. He wanted to protect the girl, it was almost as if she was his daughter, and that worried him. "Ya never offered anyone else some breakfast, now did ya?" Juice could hear the amusement in his friends voice and rolled his eyes. That had been exactly what he was talking about with Erica.
