Alex moved Opie's Harley forward a bit and knelt down next to it. Now that most of the mechanics were back, she was burdened with less pleasant jobs, like cleaning the bikes. She immersed the sponge in the water, rubbing it along the steel. Since this wasn't very exciting work, she'd put in earplugs that were connected to her phone so she could listen to some music. The volume was low, so she would hear someone coming closer. Still she was afraid to do something wrong, today even more than the days before.

The first club meeting was just finishing up, Chibs and Opie had informed the others of everything that had happened the last months that pertaining to the club. Kozik had introduced her right before the meeting had begun, and some of the glances from the others had shown her that Miles wasn't the only one who wondered what the hell she was doing here. By the lack of facial hair, her slight build and her womanlike facials traits she looked like a seventeen year old who was quite a late bloomer. According to her fake passport she was twenty, still eight years younger than she actually was, and since Kip had only been one year older, she'd expected nobody would make a big deal out of it.

Alex sat quietly around the bar; she wasn't permitted to attend the meetings yet. Not that she had much to say if she was able to sit in though. She was still trying to figure out the dynamics between the different men. Everything they did seemed to have deep roots, ones that she didn't understand yet. Of course she could ask her sponsor for an explanation, but she trusted he would tell her the things that were really important. Watch and learn, that seemed to be the credo here. She didn't know what Kozik had told the others, maybe that she had a steady hand on the shooting range, or that she was just obedient and easy-going, but nobody had sent her away.

Alex ventured back out to the bikes when the guys started to come out of church and got back to work, she looked over her shoulder when she heard footsteps. For a moment she panicked when she saw that it was Juice and she couldn't think of a reason why he would be seeking her out. Since her head was on the same level as his crotch, she quickly stood up. In the somewhat too wild movement she kicked over the bucket of water, the contents flooding over her foot.

As a reflex she shook the water off her foot, but lost her balance and almost fell backwards. Right before she crashed into Opie's bike, which would have caused a domino-effect down the line; Juice's hand closed around her forearm and kept her on her feet. With a face glowing so red that a strawberry would pale in comparison, she looked at him.

"Thanks. I think you just saved me from a very painful death," she muttered, knowing that damaging the bikes was a crime that nobody would ever be able to forgive her for. "Sometimes I'm so clumsy..."

It was true. As soon as attractive men got involved, Alex was definitely the clumsiest person that anyone could ever think of. But that was an excuse she couldn't use now, thus she had to let him believe she was always a clumsy idiot.

She wanted to rake a hand through her hair, as she always did when she was nervous, but halfway she remembered there was no longer hair on the side. She lowered her hand, frustratingly biting the ring in her lip.

Luckily Juice laughed about her stupidity. He didn't make fun of her or make her feel stupid for her actions, and it caused a torrent of warm feelings.

He's really nice.

She started to wish that he had been kept in prison just a little longer, no matter how bad that might sound. The last thing she wanted was that smile of his to be the reason for her exposure.

"Well, I am blessed with an overwhelming appearance," he chuckled.

"Yeah, you're kinda hot." She'd blurted out the words before she realized what she was saying, and when she did she wished she could just vanish.

He probably had to deal with a bunch of weirdos every day, but this behaviour from her – when she was still trying to find her place in the club, wasn't exactly something she wanted to stand out by.

"But I bet you've heard that on a daily basis, these last few months," she added, hoping to make a joke of it.

She bit the inside of her cheek, becoming very aware of the fact that she was only making things worse. Was there even words that could make her sound even more stupid? Why not add those too... She felt herself start to sweat as his silence stretched. Juice held her glance, as if trying to figure out how the hell he should interpret her words. She knew how things were in prison, and it was easy to imagine someone looking like him would get quite a crowd, but since he'd been locked up with his friends she doubted that someone would really have bothered him.

"Well, my humor sucks," she said, in a weak attempt to defend herself. "Spent too much time with Miles, I guess. I'm glad you guys are back."

"Yeah... okay." He shook his head, frowning, although there was still a hint of a smile around his lips, as if amused by her rambling. "Well... I stopped by to ask if ya wanna put in some money to buy a wedding gift for Opie and Lyla."

"Yeah, sure..." Alex was glad she had a reason to turn her attention away from his face. Quickly she pulled her wallet from her pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill. Hopefully that was enough. She hadn't received one of those well-stocked envelopes like the others did, and she wasn't earning much here.

Juice pulled the bill out of her hand, gave her a nod and turned, heading back towards the clubhouse.

Alex picked up the empty bucket, waited until Juice was out of earshot and heaved a very deep sigh. Way to go, you just made a complete idiot of yourself, Alex.