Chapter 7
Juice and I have been together for a couple of weeks and things are going pretty good. I spend most nights at his house and last week he told me that the club has partnered with Luann in her porn business. Riding with Gemma, we head to Cara Cara to see Luann and when we walk in, I see Juice and Chibs talking to a couple of girls and one of them has her arms around his waist and his arm is around her shoulders. I stop in my tracks. Gemma sees it and the looks at me. "You gonna let that happen?" she asks. I shake my head and turn to walk back out the door. Seeing Lyla leaving, I ask her "Can I get a ride?" She nods and I get in her car and leave.
She drops me off at the clubhouse and I grab a bottle of jack and head to the ladder. I am still up there an hour later and I've already emptied the bottle. Climbing down, I walk in and grab another bottle before heading back to the ladder. I go to climb back up but an arm goes around my waist. I look to see my brother pulling me from the ladder. "Let me go Ope." I say sadly. "You're drunk." he says. "Your point?" I ask, pulling away from him. He turns me to face him and sees that I've been crying. "Head up. I'm right behind you." he tells me. I nod and head up the ladder. Once on the roof, he asks "Why are you crying?" I shake my head no. "Nope. Don't work like that. Remember? We don't keep shit from each other." he tells me. I feel the tears start to fall again. "I was stupid Ope." I say sadly. "Why do you say that?" he asks. "I honestly thought one man would only want me. I actually thought someone would fucking love me. How could I have been so stupid?" I ask. "What are you talking about?" he asks. "I was with Gemma at Cara Cara. Had Lyla give me a ride here. Juice was standing there and one of the girls had her arms around his waist and he had his arm around her shoulders and he was standing there laughing. I'm so fucking stupid Opie?" I ask and start sobbing again. A few minutes later, we see Juice and Chibs pull onto the lot. Opie stands up and before I can say anything, he's headed down the ladder.
I see Opie walk over to Juice and get in his face. I see Juice run his hand down his face and Opie points his finger in Juice's face before walking away. Juice walks inside and a couple of minutes later I hear him come up onto the roof. He goes to speak and I stop him. "Don't. Just...don't." I say as I get up to head to the ladder to head down. "Princess…" he starts. "Don't." I say before walking by him and getting on the ladder. I walk to my dorn and lock the door behind me and I lay on the bed and sob. I should have known better.
The next morning, I get up and head out to the main room to get coffee. I see Gemma sitting there. "How you doing baby?" she asks. "I'm good." I tell her. "Bull shit." she tells me. "I'm good Gemma. I just should have known better but I do now." I tell her before walking out of the kitchen with my coffee. I head out to the playground and sit in one of the swings. I'm looking down at my coffee and I don't hear the footsteps walk up. "Hey." he says. I just shake my head. "What?" I ask but don't look at him. I know if I look up at Juice, I'll start crying again and I won't do that. "Can we talk?" he asks. "Nothing to talk about. You got what you wanted and moved on. No big deal." I say. "That's bullshit. Would you just listen to me please?" he asks. "Fine. What do you want to say?" I ask. "I'm not seeing her. She's an old friend. That's it." he tells me. "Okay." I say. "Are we okay?" he asks. "Juice, you were my first. I honestly thought that I had found someone that wanted just me. That I would finally be enough for someone. That someone would fucking love me. But seeing that shit? Made me realize that I was fooling myself. But don't worry. You and your old friend don't have to worry about me hanging around anymore." I tell him, standing up to walk away. He grabs my wrist to stop me. "You're the only one that I want. I shouldn't have let her hang on me like that but Mallory, you're the one I want." he says. "No I'm not." I say, pulling my wrist from his grasp and walking back to my dorm and locking the door. I sit on the bed and sob knowing that I was a fool to think that he would love me. I won't make that mistake again.
