Changed Plans and Unintentional Revelations

The morning Juice, Vix and Jaci were set to fly out to 'Bama happened to be the same morning Clay announced the mandatory Indian Hills run. Perfect horrible timing. At Teller Morrow, Clay, Juice and Tig ran through the particulars of who could make the run, who was staying behind and who was hauling barrels. Juice asked to leave for a bit to break the news to Vix.

"Oh yeah. You were supposed to be going to meet the family huh?" Clay asked. He thought for second and then suggested, "Son, wouldn't you rather piss her off from a distance?"

Juice shrugged. "Crazy pissed off Vix I can handle - upset not so much." Juice smiled. "Besides my bet is her anger will be all focused on you any way."

Clay threw his hands up. "Parker Hostility, focused on me. Why should today be any different?"

********

The rest of the crew roared out on the run, leaving Tig and Juice nothing to do except mope around the garage. Juice had just returned from telling Vix that he wouldn't be accompanying her back to 'Bama. She had taken the bad news surprisingly well, after all she had grew up around MCs, she was used to the men in her life suddenly dropping everything to go on a run. Still, Juice hated to disappoint her; she had seemed so excited about taking him back to her 'old stomping grounds.'

Tig was in a brooding mood as well. Jaci had totally slipped his mind when he had first heard about the patch over party. His initial reaction was to be pissed because he would be missing the pussy parade. But now, after having a few hours to think about it, the tiny angel on his shoulder that he thought he had beat to death long ago was starting to whisper to him, even nag at him a little bit…what about Jaci? Well, what about her? He didn't have any blatant commitments to her. She wasn't stupid, she knew what kind of shit happened on a run like this. Hell, she was on a run of her own right now anyway, going to be doing God knows what down in 'Bama. Besides, this was the deal he had made with himself- Dr. Jekyll with her, Mr. Hyde with the club; that's how things had to be to work right. Why the hell was she even a thought in his head? He shook his head somewhat violently.

"You alright?" Juice stood looking at him.

"What?" Tig replied, annoyed.

"You're all shakin' your head like your having a fit or somethin'."

Tig stared at him. "Shut up."

Juice shrugged. "This is not going to be a fun couple of days, huh? You're pissed cause you're missing out on chicks. My chick is about to be on a plane flying half way across the country. It sucks, man."

Tig rolled his eyes and waited for Juice to start rambling; the kid had that look in his eye.

Juice took a hit from the joint Tig had started. "To tell ya the truth, I was really looking forward to this trip. I mean, I know her family might not be happy about her moving back and all, but they sound really cool. That family reunion is going to be insane, like tons of crazy redneck bikers."

Tig shook his head and laughed sourly. "You really don't know shit about the south do you?

Clay callin' this mandatory run saved you from an ass raping."

Juice frowned. "Why do you have to be like that?"

Tig raised his eyebrows. "What? You think I am shitting you? You'd likely get raped, murdered, skinned and strung from a tree. And if you are very lucky they would do it in THAT ORDER. They're not very tolerant of foreigners."

"Foreigners? I was born in San Fransico."

Tig rolled his eyes again, conversations with Juice seemed to warrant multiple eye rolls. "You tell them that, see how it goes."

"Well I don't think it's that bad down there anymore." Juice took a deep breath and was silent for a few minutes. "I'm just saying Vix made it sound like a good time. And if you add in Jaci having to deal with her ex-fiancé and having to keep Vix from trying to kill him it sounds like a real good time."

Tig's ears perked up when Jaci's name was mentioned.

"Wait. What? Ex-fiancé?"

Juice nodded. "Yeah, Dean. I told you about him the other night."

Tig aimed for being nonchalant. "I thought he was just a boyfriend or something."

"No, they were engaged. Dean pulled some bad shit and caused the breakup. But apparently now he is all about getting Jaci back. Vix is pissed, she hates the guy. But Jaci, I think, is more of a peacemaker you know, so that will be interesting to say the least." Juice handed the joint back to Tig. "I'm going to get some grub. You want go with?"

Tig shook his head. "No. I'm good." He was trying to wrap his brain around Jaci having been engaged. The devil on Tig's shoulder took the info and ran wild.

Well, your day just got better didn't it, asshole?

Not only are you the goddamn SAA and you're relegated to babysitting the TechWhiz and a bunch of guns.

Not only will you be on the road trip from hell, missing out on the finest whores a patch over party has to offer while even the moron Prospect gets to ride a bike to Nevada like a real man.

No, you get all of that joy while your little ray of sunshine, Jaci Parker, FUCKS HER EX FIANCE.

No wonder she has a matching tattoo with him, she was going to fucking marry the asshole.

Why'd she get all embarrassed the other night when Juice was ragging on her?

Why hasn't she moved to Charming already? She still has feelings for the guy, that's why.

Just waiting to see what happened with him before she uprooted.

Just hedging her bets.

Bitch had your head spinning for weeks now and for what? You're a fucking sucker.

Tig didn't realize he had been pacing the shop floor. He headed for his bike with a determined walk but as soon as he sat down he knew he shouldn't drive to Jaci's house. He was too pissed to talk to her face to face. He tried to make himself just sit still and think about nothing, just zone out; after a little while it seemed to work. Fuck her. He had just started walking back to the garage when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller id…it was Jaci's number. His calm dissolved and he clenched his teeth.

"What?" He answered the call rudely. Why play around?

The rudeness caused Jaci to pause for a second. "Uh, hey. It's me."

"Yeah, I got that. I can read a caller id."

"Wow, you sound as cheery as Vix does right now." When Tig didn't respond Jaci rolled her eyes on her end of the line. She was surrounded by grumpy people. "Well, anyway... I was just calling to say bye and be careful and all of that stuff. I don't think I'll get to see you before we roll out. We're heading to the airport in like two hours."

"Ahh, that's too bad isn't it?" Tig's voice was oozing sarcasm and Jaci picked up on it immediately.

"Are you ok?" She asked with a little hesitation in her voice.

"The fuck do you care? Have a good time down there in 'Bama. Tell the ex-fiancé I said hi."

Tig could hear Jaci's breathing catch. She waited a second before replying, obviously trying to keep control of her voice. "Fiancé… I assume I have Juice to thank for that little over share?" Again, Tig didn't respond so she just continued. "Well, boyfriend, fiancé…the key component to either one is EX. Is that why you've got the attitude?" She laughed lightly. "You worried about what I'm going to do in 'Bama? Tig, I assure you-there is NOTHING to worry about."

He replied flatly. "I'm not worried. I don't give a fuck what you do."

Jaci let the rude remark slide. "I'm sorry I didn't go into detail about Dean, but I didn't think you would care to…"

"Look, I don't have time for this shit. You go do what you gotta do…I'm going to do what I gotta do." Which meant he was going to fuck any bitch with a pulse as soon as he hit Indian Hills. The devil on his shoulder stood tall.

Now Jaci's anger kicked in…anger at Juice for blabbing his mouth, anger at Tig for being so damn hardheaded and not letting her talk. Damn it, she hated being blind sighted by this, she was grasping for anything to say, unprepared to fight about the subject. "So, you're going to pick a fight with me instead of letting me explain things?"

"Works for me." Tig replied without missing a beat.

Jaci let out a nervous, frustrated laugh. "This is such macho bullshit."

On second thought, he decided he wanted to hear her try to talk her way out of this one. She always had such a way with words, let's see where those words got her now. "Bullshit huh? Well go ahead then. Say whatever the fuck you want to say."

She thought for a moment. "You know what, Tig? Nevermind. I could tell you the whole horrible fucking story and completely ease your mind of any and all doubts, but since you're being such a dickhead right now, I'm going to let you and your little imagination suffer. You're in no mood to listen to me and I am suddenly in no mood to talk to you."

"Fine." He snapped.

"Whatever." She snapped back and hung up. She stared at the phone with a scowl. Screw all of …well, whatever the hell THAT just was. She would deal with that shit when she got back from 'Bama.