Hope all of you are having a fabulous August, here's chapter 21 of Something to Somebody Else!
She sighed. "Timothy, the lab doctor, said he was assaulted by a really big guy and he tied him up and left him in the supply closet. He took his lab coat and I'm assuming pretended to be the lab doctor today. They played us the surveillance tapes but all they had on camera was the man's exit, with a woman and a toddler. The man had Juice over his shoulder, Jax."
Jax's jaw tightened. "Wait, what?"
"The cops are going to put an APB on the car they saw them driving, a black SUV with no plates, and also for the female and the child, the guy who had Juice over his shoulder, and Juice."
Jax rubbed his face and sighed. "What sense does it make for Juice to be caught up in this?"
"I don't know, I don't understand who would take Juice, a woman, and her child. Such an odd combination. There isn't a common denominator. But it looked…weird." She stared at the floor for a minute, remembering the video footage, then glanced up to Jax's puzzled face.
"What do you mean it looked 'weird?'" He questioned, leaning forward in his chair.
"I mean it was weird. There was no gun to her head, or the child's head. There wasn't a gun at all actually. This man just had Juice over his shoulder and they all walked out. No sign of struggle or force or anything."
Jax paused for a moment, pondering a few thoughts and then stood up, heading towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Tara hopped off the edge of the desk to follow him.
"I'm gonna go talk to my good ole pal Unser." He muttered, walking out of Tara's office and heading towards the staff meeting room.
Peaking in, Jax slipped in quietly while Wayne finished up jotting down notes from speaking with Timothy. When the doctor was done explaining every possible detail he could think of, he got up and left and Unser turned to Jax.
"I want to see the tape."
"Son, I-"
"Show me the tape, Wayne." His voice low and cold, with a fair warning that he wasn't going to ask again. Unser sighed and walked over to the door and closed it before pressing play on the DVD player.
Just like Tara said, a clip of Juice being carried out on a larger man's shoulder alongside with a woman and a small child. Snatching the remote from the chief of police, Jax rewound it and paused it when the 4 were all on the screen at the same time and stared at it.
No way…
"What is it?" Unser stepped forward towards Jax. "Do you know him?"
Hesitating, he let out a disappointing "no." Sighing, Unser sat down in the chair Timothy had been sitting in and stared at Jax for a moment, watching as he studied the screen.
"You know someone in that picture. What is it you're afraid of that will happen if you tell me? Don't you want to save Juice?"
"Of course I want to save Juice!" Jax spun around and snapped back. "What kind of question is that? I'm not afraid of anything."
"If you wanted to save him you have to give me something to work with. For Christ sake Jax let me do my job!"
Jax sighed angrily. "Can you just give me a couple hours? Let me figure this out and I'll fill you in. If you can give me that time I promise I'll keep you in the loop. Please just don't do anything without letting me know."
That was the politest he's ever been to Wayne, and the chief of police was taken back by the tone of the young man. "You've got 2 hours." He glanced from his wrist watch to Jax.
The Charming prince nodded and headed out of the room. Tara stopped him as he neared the main door.
"What happened? Do you know who it was?" The panic in her voice was rising as she glanced around the lobby. Jax shook his head.
"I don't know, I'm gonna go and try to figure some of this out. Stay out of trouble and out of sight, I don't want this to happen to anyone else." He kissed her forehead and walked out to the parking lot, making his way toward his bike. Glancing from his bike to Juices', Jax started his motorcycle and headed towards Diosa.
What is Victoria doing here? Whose child is that? Why was Juice secretive about her being back? After all she's done to him…I can't believe it. I'm gonna beat her face in if something happened to Juice. How does Juice even fit into that? The dude carrying him was obviously the muscle, but were him and Victoria on the same team? Or were they both here at the wrong time and got sucked into this together? Was that guy after Victoria and Juice tried to defend her? Is this a club attack or a personal attack for Juice? Are they looking for something from the Sons? Jesus. So many questions and not a single answer. Hopefully Lyla can give me somewhere to start.
Cutting his usual travel time to Diosa in half, Jax made it there in new record time and hopped off his bike once he got into the parking lot. Walking in, he ignored a few 'Hello's' from some of the girls at the front desk while he made his way to Lyla's office. Without knocking, he stepped into the open office and she looked up from her computer work. "We need to talk." Jax closed the door behind him roughly and took a seat.
"Well hi to you to, Jax. What's up?" Her voice shy and sweet as Lyla sat back in her chair.
His stern tone let Lyla know he was here strictly on business. "What ever happened to Victoria?"
Everyone who knew Victoria knew about her past with her taking off with Juice's money and never coming back. Victoria wasn't really welcome in Charming, but the escort service girls became really close working together and that's why Victoria headed back to the girls first. She knew they wouldn't turn her away.
Lyla paused for a second and looked down, knowing that when the woman showed up at Diosa's yesterday it was a big flashing sign that read 'trouble.' Jax picked up on Lyla's look and tried coming off a little less mean.
"Look, you're not gonna get her into any trouble that she hasn't brought upon herself. I just need to know where she's been staying or who she's been staying with."
Lyla liked to stay out of these things, fighting wasn't her scene. Jax had a soft spot for her, there was just something purely genuine about her and there weren't many people like that anymore.
Lyla sighed. "She- she was here yesterday, with her baby." She paused, nervously glancing down to her intertwining fingers.
"Her baby?" His eyes widened at the thought of that woman being a mother. Lyla nodded.
"What was she doing back here?"
Looking back at Jax, she continued. "She just popped in unexpectedly. I guess she came in earlier yesterday but I wasn't around, so she convinced the girls to let her stay in my office and wait for me. When I came in, she had pulled out this sob story of how she was in trouble with her old dealers and needed some cash. I didn't have anything to give her, I've just had to pay sports fees for Piper. She wanted Juice's number, said they needed to talk. He came by last night for a few minutes, but I heard him yelling and then he left. She told me that Luca, her son, is Juice's. But I don't think he didn't believe her either." She let her voice trail off, looking a little ashamed that she didn't believe Victoria.
Jax's face tensed as Lyla watched the vein in his neck almost pop. "That makes sense." He muttered to himself.
"What makes sense? Is everything okay?" Concern and worry taking over her tone.
Jax sighed to himself. "Juice got kidnapped earlier today from Saint Thomas and the surveillance tape shows him being carried out by some big guy, followed by Victoria and a kid. But the boy and Victoria aren't being forced or anything. They're just walking with the guy who had Juice. So I'm thinking they were all that the hospital together for a reason. Like a DNA test. The hospital found the lab doctor tied up in a closet."
Lyla's eyes widened. "Oh my God…Jax I had no idea she was going to do all that."
"It's okay sweetheart, no one knew. But if you know where she is or how to get in touch with her, I'm going to need that information."
Lyla rummaged through the papers on her desk, pulling a yellow sticky note from the bottom of the stack. "This was the address of where she was staying. Some run down motel. I can see if one of the girls has a number for her." She stood up, running out to the front and talking with the girls as Jax looked at the sticky note.
Bill's Motel? I've been there before, the place is a shit hole. Too small to keep someone hostage. Not a good place for a child either.
Lyla came back in momentarily and handed Jax another small piece of paper with a phone number on it. "They said it was a track phone and that Victoria mentioned a few times she was low on minutes. So the phone might not be in service. I'm sorry Jax I wish I knew more, like why she was doing all of this to begin with." A frown washed over her small face.
Jax shook his head. "No, no, this is a good start. I'll keep you updated. Thank you for all your help." He pulled her into a hug and kissed her head. "If she calls or shows up again, give me a call."
She nodded as Jax let her go and walked out of Diosa. Pulling out his phone, he called Rat. After ringing a few times, Rat answered. "Sup prez?" Rat's voice rang through the speaker of the cellphone.
"We've got a little problem. Juice was taken from Saint Thomas this morning, cops are all over it. I convinced Unser to give me some time to deal with it. The only person in the surveillance tape that looks familiar is our dear old pal Victoria." The sarcasm flowing out of his mouth followed by an eye roll.
"She's up to something and she's clearly got the muscle to take down Juice. I'm leaving Diosa now, Lyla had a motel address for her. I'm gonna go check that out, I want you to touch base with Hap, see where he is and how far away he is from the run I sent him on this morning. Fill him in and I'll meet you both back at the clubhouse soon. Just don't say anything in front of my sister."
Rat was silent for a moment, letting everything process. "Alright boss, you got it."
Ending the call, Jax climbed back onto his bike and headed towards Bill's Motel.
Back at TM, Rat was puzzled sitting on a bar stool as his fingers ran over the touch screen phone searching for Happy's name. These things didn't get easier no matter how many times you have gone through it for any member of the club. Once one of your brothers gets taken, it's a whole new ball game.
"I would rather watch paint dry instead of going over my notes right now." Sam spoke up from the table, her arm supporting her face as she stared at her notebook.
Trey stood up, stretching out his arms and legs. "I can't sit here any longer. This is melting my brain."
"There wasn't much to melt…" Rat mumbled from his seat.
Trey looked over surprised. "Well…that was rude."
"Just being honest." Smirking, Rat sat back in his chair at the bar but spun around to face them.
"Rat can we go for a walk or something? I need to get out and breathe some fresh air." Standing up, Sam put her hands on her back and stretched.
"Uh I don't think Jax would like that. But you can go outside and walk around the lot for now. Just don't leave."
You didn't have to tell them twice, as the two were out the door by the time Rat finished his last sentence.
"Kids…" he muttered to himself as he poured a small shot from the bottle of Hennessy that was behind the bar. Reaching for his phone again, he took the shot and then hit the call button on Happy's name. After a few rings, Hap picked up.
"Yeah?" Happy never answered with 'hey' or 'hello.' It was too formal for him. 'Yeah' got the job done.
"Jax called. Something happened to Juice, he got taken from Saint Thomas. He wants to meet us back at the clubhouse. How far away are you?" The line was quiet for a second and then a frustrated sigh fell through Rat's speaker.
"I'm about 10 minutes away. I'll be there as soon as I can." With that said, he hung up and left Rat sitting on the curb out front. Rubbing his hand over his face, he took a deep breath and walked over to the door to make sure Sam and Trey actually stayed in the lot.
"Ahh, the outdoors. Smells so….perfect." Trey watched as Sam sat down in the grass off to the side of the lot and tucked her arms behind her head as she laid back.
Plopping down in the grass, Trey laid next to her and took a deep breath. "This is really relaxing after a boring day in the books. Not gonna lie, I miss the commotion around here. It's too boring for my liking."
Sam chuckled. "I for one don't miss the crazy. It's always an extreme crazy and I'm all set with that."
"I'm surprised you're not use to the crazy situations by now. This club's been your life."
Sam paused for a second, squinting as she stared at the clouds passing them by. "They really sheltered me from it. There were days where my brother had gone on runs and not come home due to complications with whoever he was going to meet and my mother would tell me he was staying at a motel for the night to avoid driving back while he was tired. That's the one thing this family seems to be good at, keeping secrets." She smirked to herself, referring to the secret Jax kept about killing Alvarez's sister.
"Why would they keep that stuff from you?" Curiosity running through his tone. "It'd be crazy if something happened and you had no idea because you thought he was 'at a motel.'"
Sam nodded and then laughed to herself. "One time, Clay got caught up on a run or something, I don't quite remember exactly. But Happy came in and just spilled the news as he was asking questions about it. Like 'anyone hear anything on Clay? Is he still alive?' And then I realized my mom had lied, again, about something that happened. Then it became a thing with Happy. He'd just accidentally mention things I wasn't supposed to know about, in front of me."
Trey started laughing. "No way. I don't see that fella ever having a caring emotion in his body. His name is HAPPY and he doesn't smile!"
Sam looked up from her pile of grass to Trey with a smile. "That's how they all are around here. They're completely heartless on the outside but have hearts almost made of gold on the inside. You can't act all sensitive in a motorcycle club. They'd make you ride a scooter." She paused for a minute, rolling her fingers around in her pile of plucked grass.
"I don't know." She sighed. "I guess Gemma doesn't think I'm tough enough. She's got Jax thinking like that too. "
Trey turned onto his left side to face her, though she was pulling grass out of the ground, avoiding eye contact.
"Tough enough? Are you kidding? You came to save me when you had the chance to run. You fought Marcus Alvarez. And you seem to have the balls to step up to Jax every now and then. That's tough to me. I think your mom needs to lay off the weed and get her thoughts together." He flashed a smile.
"Right?" Sam smirked. "I really think they view me as a delicate flower because I think differently. I'm more passive than they are. I'd rather avoid the dangerous road because I don't want to lose anyone along the way. And then when I'm faced in a bad situation, I can't help but be a little afraid and that's what makes me different from them. I can't hide my fear like they can. Which makes me the vulnerable one." She scoffed to herself quietly.
"I think that's a crock of shit. You went toe to toe with Alvarez that day, hanging in there the entire time. I know you were scared, I remember seeing that terrified look on your face. But you stuck it out and you didn't give up. If your brother or any of them try to ever tell you they're not secretly a little afraid when stuff like that happens they're lying to you." Trey flashed her a smile and she let one escape from her lips.
Motorcycles driving into the parking lot broke up their conversation as Happy and Jax rode in at the same time. Trey stood up and held out his hand to help Sam up. Grasping his hand, he pulled her up and she dusted herself off as they walked back to the garage together. When they had walked in, Happy, Rat and Jax were standing in a circle talking to each other.
"Anything on Juicy? Do we have a plan to get him back?" Happy questioned.
"Get Juice back from where?" Sam spoke up walking towards the guys, concern and worry taking over her voice.
"Uh…" Happy stared at Jax and Rat.
Jax let out a frustrated sigh. "Seriously bro? Every time."
He turned to Rat for some help and Rat shrugged. "Cat's out of the bag."