We're getting down to the wire. I have one more for you guys after this chapter.
Thank you all for the follows/favorites/ and especially the reviews. I cannot thank you guys enough!
For Adelise, the ride back to Charming was one of the longest in her life. Her fingers traced the note in her purse that Tig had left her with the morning after he spent the night with her in Vegas.
Club business
Long drive back
See you in Charming
- Tig
She was surprised to even get that little kindness, sitting on the bedside table right beside the phone. She smiled to herself as the other girls shared horror stories and conquests from their weekend. It was all just background noise to her. Tig cared.
Adelise and the girls took a limo back to Charming after early brunch with the director. In the end, only three girls were asked to sign. Adelise was one of the lucky ones. Maurice let her take a copy of the contract with her so that she could read over it. He told her she could have a week to make a final decision.
Eight excruciatingly long hours in the limo later, Adelise arrived at Diosa Norte. She grabbed her bags and said her goodbyes before entering the familiar building that she had since called home. Lyla, behind the desk as usual, welcomed her, asking about her weekend trip.
"It was really nice. Is Nero around?"
"He's actually busy... Jax is here."
"Oh, I just wanted him to help me go through these papers. It can wait. My room still open?"
"No one has touched it." Lyla smiled.
"Alright, thanks. I'm gonna go lay down for a while."
"Alright, darlin'."
Adelise took her bags to her room and didn't bother to unpack. She slipped right in her shower and cleaned the long ride off of her. She barely got her hair dried when she climbed into bed undressed only to doze off moments later.
Nero and Lyla were screaming across the hall, that's all Adelise remembered when she jumped out of bed and pulled on her black satin robe and ran out the door. Lyla was leaving the room, running down the hall to the lobby.
"What's going on?" Adelise asked frantically.
"God, Juice. He OD'd on Oxy's. Can you go see if you can help Nero? We're getting busy out front."
"Sure thing, hun." Adelise said, slipping into the room quietly. "What can I do?" Adelise asked.
"Can you grab that bottle on the table?" He asked.
Adelise grabbed the brown bottle, reading the label to herself. Ipecac. She took the bottle over to the Latino along with the glass of water and straw beside it.
"I'm glad to see you." Nero smiled.
"It's nice to be back. Though, this isn't exactly the welcome I pictured."
"I guess not, huh cara mia? Did you have a good trip?"
"It was productive. The jobs mine, if I want it."
"Do you?"
She paused, sitting at the end of the bed, out of Juice's field of projection. "I'm not really sure. I like it here, I guess. It's just… he offered me a lot of money."
"Makes the transition easier, huh?"
"You would think so." She scoffed. "I don't really know, he gave me all these contracts and stuff to go over. I kind of wanted your help, actually."
"I can get my lawyer here sometime this week. She'll help you out."
"I'd like that. I have a few days to make a decision." She sighed. Juice started coughing, vomiting into the waste basket again with the aid of Nero. "Did he do it on purpose?" She whispered.
"Not really sure." Nero shrugged. "Come on, Juice. Gotta get it all out. That's it."
The bedroom door opened and Gemma came into the room. "How's he doing?"
"Gotta finish drinking this." Nero said, handing him more water laced with ipecac. "Can you get a cold rag?" He asked Adelise.
She nodded, walking to the bathroom to find a wash cloth. She ran it under the tap until it was soaked and cold in her hands. She came back, squatting down beside Juice on the bed. She dabbed his sweat-soaked face, cleaning up his mouth in the process. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry." Juice whispered, deliriously. Adelise got the feeling that he wasn't apologizing to her specifically, but for something else. He was remorseful. Something had made him want to overdose.
All of a sudden, Juice gasped, jerking up and grasping Adelise by her scarred wrists. He looked at her with panicked, grief-stricken eyes. It scared Adelise half to death. Whatever it was that Juice had done, it was bad.
Nero forced Juice down by his shoulders, prying his hands off of Adelise's wrists. One he was down and semi-calm, he helped Juice to finish the rest of the ipecac cocktail, then lay him sideways on the bed. "I think I've got it here, girls."
"Alright. Come on, baby. Let's let him rest." Gemma said, waving to Adelise to get up and follow her. Adelise followed suit, walking out into the hallway to have Gemma close the door behind her. "He did that on purpose, you know?" Gemma said.
"Kind of assumed."
"Not a word of this to Jackson, none of the guys."
"Okay…"
"I mean it, sweetie. They're going through enough. They can't take this, too."
"Okay. Hey, Gemma?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"He did this because he had to do something for the club, didn't he?"
Gemma sighed, giving Adelise a good once over before she responded. "The club expects as good as it gets. You get out what you put in. Sometimes, that entails making some hard decisions. If you're expecting to stay here, be a part of this, you need to grow a thick skin. Being an old lady is almost as difficult as being a son."
"Oh, I don't think I'm anyone's old lady." Adelise shook her head.
"You sure about that, doll? Been a long time since I've seen Tig act this way about any gash without them being knocked up first."
"It's not like that. Nothing's serious."
"You just keep telling yourself that." Gemma smiled knowingly.
"I'm serious." Adelise insisted. "I got the job offer in Vegas."
Gemma stopped in her tracks, taking a good, hard look at the young brunette. "You considering it?"
Adelise nodded slowly, biting her lower lip. "I wanna talk to a lawyer about the contract. I think it's probably my best option."
"Does Tig know?"
"I haven't mentioned the offer to him. I haven't had a chance to."
"Well, if you're really thinking about this, you need to do it soon. Let him down gently. He might act all tough, but he's really fragile right now."
"Yeah. Okay."
"I'm serious, sweetheart. If you're planning on leaving, you need to tell Tig. If you run off on him, you better not expect to be able to come back."
"Basically, it's a pretty tight deal." The lawyer, Mrs. Rodriguez, explained. "The contract is for two years. They want a list of your hard and soft limits, anything you are uncomfortable with. Pay scale is basic, from what I understand. $800 for a girl-girl scene, $1,000 for a guy-girl scene, $1,200 or more for anal sex, everything is negotiable based on what you are willing to do. They want you to do at least 100 scenes for the first year and they're offering royalties 15% if you get signed onto anything that makes more than 2 million in profits. In exchange, Mr. Murphy makes 15% of whatever you make."
"Is that normal?" Adelise asked.
"It's on the higher pay scale, but it's pretty fair."
"So, if I wanted to do that, what would I have to do?"
"We'd have to write out your limitations on paper, have everything signed and notarized. If you want, we can go over it now and I can have it all done by this afternoon." Rodriguez said.
Adelise bit her lower lip, looking to her left at Nero. He shrugged his shoulders at her, his arms still crossed on his chest. "I'm going to need a little more time to come up with a list." She said quietly.
"Alright." The lawyer said, collecting the papers on the desk. "I'd suggest you be very detailed with it. Get it to my secretary, I'll draw it all up before your deadline." She pushed herself up from the table, grabbing her briefcase and shaking her hand, than Nero's. "It was nice meeting you. Good luck with your decision." She said, before excusing herself and leaving the office.
Adelise and Nero sat beside each other in silence for some time before Nero spoke. "Are you gonna do it?"
"I think it'll be good for me, to try something new, go somewhere. Just… get away."
"This is really what you want?"
"Are you still leaving Charming?" She countered.
"Juries still out." He smirked, rubbing his chin.
"You want out, the club's getting too be more trouble than it's worth. There's no place for me here, not in Charming. Maurice is offering me more money, more control, more freedom."
"Yeah, lot of freedom in that contract, mama." Nero scoffed.
"I wanna ask you something, about last night." When he didn't reply, Adelise continued. "Juice… what he did was on purpose. Something happened, didn't it?"
"Juice had a lot of heavy shit on him. He felt like he had no choice."
"You see what I mean? That's what the MC does." She whispered. "It breaks people. That's exactly why I can't stay here."
"Is that really why you're leaving?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Collette told me what happened at Diosa Del Sur before you went to Vegas... 'bout what the guys did."
"You mean who the guys did." She scoffed. "That has nothing to do with any of this. Tig is okay with my lifestyle. I offer him the same courtesy."
"Is that why you showed your ass and stormed out?"
"I misunderstood what was going on. It happens. We've since... reconciled."
"So, you mean to tell me Trager doesn't give a rat's ass that you are moving 500 miles away?"
"I think he'll understand."
"You haven't told him, mama?"
"I haven't had a chance." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"You think maybe you should? It might help you make a decision, one way or the other."
"It's too late. The decisions made." She relented, getting up from the cushy office chair and pushing it back in order to stand. "I have to get the fuck out of here."
