It was a nice movie, with no shocking things at all, making Grace wonder why her parents were so against mainstream movies. There had been a little romance in it, which unfortunately hadn't improved Faye's mood. A few minutes before the ending a doctor came in and discussed some matters, where after they were allowed to leave. Finally there appeared a smile on the girl's face; her being home would surely made things better. She gathered the few things that were around and moved to the car. The movie had kept her mind busy, but now the nerves returned to her stomach; she would have to lie to her parents about what she was going to do tonight. Hopefully they wouldn't ask too much questions; maybe she didn't even need to tell them to who she was going. "You want me to bring you home or to the clubhouse?" Grace asked.
Faye thought for a moment. "Uhm, it would be great if you could bring me to the clubhouse, I don't want to be alone," she explained. Yesterday had been hard enough, she needed some people around to distract herself.
"Sure!" Grace answered, where after they drove to the clubhouse. As she parked the car, she doubted for a moment. Should she go inside to see Juice? She couldn't wait to see him, but she didn't want to suffocate him. Plus, dinner would almost be ready at home, so she couldn't stay here long anyway. "Can you tell Juice that Adrian helped me out for tonight?" she asked, since she was sure the two would see each other soon.
"Yeah sure, you have to go home?" she asked, looking at her. Her parents probably just wanted to see her for at least a few hours. "I'll tell him. And thank you again, also for the drive." Faye pressed a kiss on Grace's cheek before she got out of the car and got her bag. Faye waved at Grace and went inside where Gemma stared at her for a moment.
"What do you think you are doing here, young lady?" the woman asked, her eyebrow raised.
"They allowed me to go home. I'm fine, really!" she told her stepmother and went to her room. The scent of cigarette smoke and alcohol filled her nostrils.
After the smoke, Faye brought her bag to her room. First she took a shower, being rather careful. After drying her hair, she put on her underwear, socks and a hoodie that was long enough to cover her butt. Although she always paid attention to her looks, she had currently an emotional low where she didn't care what she was wearing. She quickly straightened her hair with the straightener and then walked down the hall to Juice's room. Without thinking twice she went in and smiled briefly.
"Hey," she said softly, sitting cross-legged on his bed.
He looked at her in surprise and reached for her hand. "Hey, I didn't expect you here today. Are you feeling so good again that you are allowed to go home?" he asked a bit skeptical and a worried look was on his face.
"I'm fine. For the pain, I got pills and... well, with the rest, I just have to deal somehow. By the way, Adrian is helping Grace," she said , briefly squeezing the hand of her best friend.
The radiance in his eyes didn't escape her, she saw how happy he was about tonight. "Okay good. I'll have to leave. Are you getting along? If you need anything, call me, understand?" Juice looked at her seriously, after which Faye nodded briefly.
"I will. Just enjoy the evening and don't mess it up," she replied with a slight grin, though she was already scared to be alone. Nevertheless, she didn't want to destroy their evening.
"See you tomorrow!" Juice got up at his words, helping Faye to her feet.
Faye, on the other hand, gave him a kiss on the cheek and left the room again to sit down at the bar. "Hey uhm... is Happy here, mom?" she asked Gemma, nervously biting her lower lip, which Gemma also noticed.
"I don't know, just came here about half an hour ago. Why Happy?" Gemma asked curiously, slapping her daughter's hand away when Faye reached for the whiskey.
"Mom, I'm old enough and I can really use that right now!" With a desperate whine, she reached for the bottle again and poured something into a glass.
"Mhm, sure you are, sweetheart."
"I just wanted to... talk to him," she said softly and shrugged. There was uncertainty in her eyes. Should she talk about it with Gemma? "He just did a lot for me and... I really like him," she explained and then she emptied her glass of whiskey all at once.
"You wanna tell me that you fell for a club member? You know how your dad will react, right?" Gemma sighed deeply, shaking her head.
Now she really needed the whiskey.
. . .
"How was Faye feeling today?" Her mother asked as they sat around the table for dinner.
"Okay, I think. At least she wasn't crying, but it's still a lot to take in for her."
Her mother nodded, a sad expression on her face. A silence fell. Grace tried to eat her spaghetti without spilling, but it didn't take long before the first stain was on her shirt. She just felt too nervous about tonight. What if there would be too many awkward silences? She was just afraid he would find out that she wasn't as nice as he thought she was. "I'm going to a friend tonight," she told her parents without looking at them.
"Some friend we know?" her mother asked on a suspicious tone.
"Adrian," she muttered, quickly peeking at her face.
Her lips turned into a satisfied smile immediately. "How nice. What are you going to do?"
She shrugged. "Just watching a movie I think, and talk. We talked about the voluntary work I want to do and he said he would like to join me. We want to organize something with the rest of the church youth, some charity event to collect money."
That was an idea they still needed to work out anyway, so it was a safe topic. Her mother's eyes were shining, Grace had a feeling she was already planning their wedding. She swallowed a sigh. She would be so disappointed if she found out with who she was actually dating and once more it hurt that Juice would never get a real chance because of his tattoos and leather jacket.
After dinner, Grace took a shower and washed and dried her hair. A wide smile adorned her face, she couldn't wait to leave the house. In her bedroom she looked inside her drawer with lingerie. Even though they had agreed they wouldn't go further than they had done this morning, she chose the only bra that wasn't just plain black, but had pink ruffles on the side. She just wanted to feel confident and this was the less boring bra she had. Quickly she put on the garment, where after she looked for a blouse of which she let the two top buttons open. She couldn't help it, but she still thought about all the competition in the clubhouse and even though she wouldn't give him everything, she just hoped to keep his attention. And maybe... maybe he would open the buttons one by one and...
Grace squeezed her eyes. "Stop it," she hissed to herself. "That's not the kind of person you are. Just keep it civilized." Warding off whatever other fantasy, she brushed her teeth and left the house, just as nervous as this morning, as she drove to the address he had given to her.
Grace was nervously playing with her hair as she rang the bell. It didn't take long before Juice opened the door and showed her a warm smile.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey!" A little awkwardly they stood in front of each other; Grace didn't know if she should give him a hug or a kiss and in the end she just stepped over the threshold so he could close the door.
There she was, the girl that he admired so much, standing in front of him. He tried to stay cool, like always when she was around. "You want something to drink?" Juice asked, clearing his throat; his mouth felt so dry. Before Grace could answer, he laid a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her close before kissing her gently.
His soft lips on hers gave her the feeling there was a swarm of butterflies racing through her stomach. Her hands ran up to his chest as she answered his kiss and let her tongue slide between his lips. For a moment they were caught in a tender kiss and when they ended it, her forehead rested against his and they stared each other in the eye. Without having to look away from his eyes, she knew he was smiling and the knowledge that she was the one making him smile gave her an incredible feeling. "Something to drink sounds good," she answered. She pecked his lips one more time before she looked curiously around, through the door leading to the living room.
"Okay... you can look around if you want," he whispered against her lips before he went into the kitchen and filled a glass with coke. "How was it in the hospital?" Juice asked as he came back to her, handing her the glass.
Grace sat down on the couch and looked around. It was a clean, organized place without much decoration apart from some Harley Davidson related things. There wasn't much personal stuff, no pictures, no magazines, no unnecessary things which made it feel more like a hotel room than a house, giving her the impression he didn't spend a lot of time here. "Faye was doing better," she answered. "Adrian was there when I arrived, so she hasn't been alone for a long time, and she told me Happy had stopped by too." She had hesitated a bit if she could tell him that, but then she remembered that Juice was her best friend and if Grace did know about Faye's feelings for the guy, Juice would surely do that as well.
"Yeah, I saw her in the clubhouse before ‒ didn't think they'd let her leave the hospital so soon," he nodded, but it was good to know that Faye was home again, more people could keep an eye on her there. "Happy was there? Guess she was happy about that," the man smiled briefly. Maybe they would have a chance one day.
Grace decided not to keep the focus on Happy and Faye; her friend should tell him himself what had happened between them. "How was your day?" she asked, sipping from the coke.
Juice sat down next to her, resting his elbows on his knees. "My day was good... better than any other day since a while," he said honestly. The fact that Grace had been with him today made everything better. "How... was yours?"
Grace turned a bit more sideways so she could look at him while talking. "I enjoyed the movie," she said. "And I didn't find it easy to lie to my parents, but they believed that I was going to Adrian." She tilted her head a little as she looked at his face, a little worried. "You sound like you weren't very happy the past weeks or maybe even months. Something happened?" She knew it was a very personal question, but she wanted him to open up to her, she wanted to know who he was and how he felt about certain things.
"I'm sorry you had to lie to them because of me." He meant what he said. The last thing he wanted for her was to get into trouble with her parents. "But I'm glad Adrian helped you, it's nice of him." After clearing his throat Juice leaned back and carefully dragged her back with him. His fingertips glided up and down her arm. "No, nothing happened... it's just..." He had no idea how to explain his feelings, he always had had a problem with that. "It's just great that I met you, makes everything better." Juice shrugged briefly, pressing his lips together.
Grace leaned into him, enjoying his fingertips moving up and down her arm. His touch was so light it caused goose bumps. His words made her smile, he was just so sweet it made her shiver. "That sounds almost romantic," she said with a grin. "You don't think that will hurt your bad boy image?"
His lips curled up. "Oh, you're afraid my bad boy image could be hurt?" he asked teasingly, pulling her closer to him. "But yeah, I can be romantic." A soft chuckle left his lips.
Her head was resting against his chest as she looked up to him, his arm around her. It felt so good, as if she belonged in his arms. "You do? Convince me."
"Now? Nah, don't wanna hurt my biker image," he joked, chuckling softly. For a few moments he just studied every inch of her beautiful face before he softly pushed her so she was laying on the couch. He bent over her, resting his elbow next to her head.
Grace's heart jumped up. His face was really close, she could feel his warmth ‒ or maybe it was just the heat radiating from her own face. She pouted, looking up to him. "I'll tell no one," she promised.
Heat spread through his body again, the feeling of her skin under his touch felt even better than before ‒ maybe because they were really alone now and no one could interrupt them. "Mh fine, maybe I'll show you my romantic side," he smirked at her. Gently but yearning he pressed his lips on hers, slipping his tongue into her mouth.
Teasingly, she bit his lower lip. "This is not romantic, Juice, you kissed lots of girls." Caressing his cheek, she looked into his eyes. "Make me feel special." She grinned, kissing his lips briefly once again.
"Don't expect too much from me. I've never really been romantic to anyone," he said with a quiet laugh, but he was really a bit overwhelmed. What would she like? He kissed her lips briefly and let his fingertips slide across her neck to her cleavage, where he began to play with the buttons of her blouse.
"Hey, you were the one stating that you can be romantic." The way he was toying with the top button of her blouse, called up a strong feeling inside her belly. She wondered why he was doing that, because the topic made him uncomfortable or because of what was underneath it was all he could think of. She longed for his touch again, but she also wanted this to become more than just physical. "When is the last time you've been slow-dancing with a girl?" she asked. The music she had heard at the clubhouse surely wasn't fitting for romantic dances, but Grace imagined standing very close to him, her arms around his neck and looking deep into his eyes would create a different intimacy than he was used to.
"Yeah well, I think I just wanted to impress you," he laughed softly. Juice looked at her cleavage and really wanted to touch her breasts again, running his fingers over her nipples just like a few hours ago. But no, he wanted to make it right with her, showing her that he was serious about this. "I uhm... think in high school," he answered, blushing slightly. Damn, when had he turned into such a womanizer, he thought for a moment before he stood up and reached for her hand. "But we can change that." He wasn't a big dancer, but the imagination of them dancing together made him curious.
Grace took his hand so he could drag her on her feet. "I think I was fourteen," she said with a smirk. "And slow-dancing wasn't cool at all, so there was a meter between us." She laughed. "You know any romantic songs at all?" She stuck out her tongue.
"Who can possibly stay a meter away from you? Can't do that at all," he gave her his usual smirk and shrugged. "That's what YouTube is here for." He grabbed his phone and searched for a romantic song. He chose the first one he saw and put his phone aside after he pressed the play button. "Well, I hope I'm not too bad." He grabbed her hand, pulled her close to him and rested his other hand on her lower back. His forehead leaned against hers.
Grace had to chuckle as John Legend started to sing "All of me". At least he had picked a real love song. "Never thought this would be your music taste," she grinned, laying both of her wrists over his shoulders. "Well, you can't do much wrong. Just hold me close, move a bit and show that breath taking smile of yours." She bit her lip, chuckling. "And I should probably shut up." She didn't know why, but being silent made her a bit nervous. She intertwined her hands and with her thumbs she brushed his neck as she looked into his glistening eyes.
"I just chose the first song that was displayed," he grinned. "But that doesn't sound so bad." Now he wrapped both arms around her waist, his hands resting on her lower back, close to her bottom. "You can always have that smile," he winked and he thought it was pretty cute that she kept talking. It didn't bother him, on the contrary. He tarted to move slowly with her and it felt good to do something like that with her ‒ although he never thought he would enjoy dancing one day.
Grace smiled, but kept herself from talking. They danced for a while and looking into his eyes gave her a peaceful feeling. She loved his arms around her, the pressure of his hands on her back, his breathing against her skin. Before the song was ended, her eyes had wandered to that beautiful smile of his. Softly, she kissed his lips, allowing him inside. Gently their tongues played as her fingertips ran up to the back of his head.
This moment was just amazing. Everything was perfect. Her fingertips on his neck, her breathing against his skin, her scent. Juice didn't even notice when the song came to its ending.
The intensity of their kiss increased as his hands slipped underneath her blouse and stayed on her bare back. She wanted to feel his skin too, but she didn't move her hands away, knowing it would even feel better as she kept waiting, and longing, a bit longer.
"Is this romantic enough for you?" he whispered against her ear, trailing soft kisses down her neck but barely touching her skin. He didn't just tease her, it was hard for him too.
Grace breathed in sharply at the feathery light touch of his lips across her neck. "Yes," she whispered, her hands gliding away from his head, along his shoulders down his sides, until they settled on his hips. She had wanted to make a smarter comment, but all she could think of now where his lips and his hands on her back. "I just... love the way you touch me," she whispered with a dry mouth, barely noticing she said the thought out loud.
His breathing trembled at her words. Oh how much he would love to touch other parts of her body. "Yeah, you do? I would love to touch every single millimeter of your body," he whispered in a darker voice against her skin, gently biting the crook of her neck. His hands returned to the buttons of her blouse, slowly opening the first one.
His words made her knees feel weak, and even more as he started to unbutton her blouse. She laid a hand against his cheek until he looked up and swallowed a sigh. Her stomach was almost hurting because she wanted him to go on with this so badly. "Juice..." she said softly, gathering her courage. "I... I know all this is in a very early stage and I'm not asking you to become my boyfriend, but... I just... I just want to know if this," she pointed between him and her, "means that you won't sleep with other women. Even if... If I can't give you everything." Nervously she looked at him, afraid she ruined things now. But she had to ask it; if this was just fun for him, she didn't want to go to the next phase now.
Juice frowned, but there was still this typical smile on his lips. Gently, he brushed some of her curls out of her face, looking down at the girl. "Since I saw you, I only slept with one other woman, and only to keep her away from Happy. Since then I couldn't even think about any other women except you," he replied softly, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "I know you can't give me everything and I don't have a problem with that. And who knows, maybe one day you'll want this too." Juice looked into her eyes. It would be hard to wait, who knows how long she wanted to wait ‒ but he wanted her so badly.
Her chest was swelling with love as he said those words to her. Had she really been the only one on his mind, even in the two weeks they hadn't seen each other? She however didn't take him for a man who would lie about that, not now. She had expected him to sleep with others until yesterday, she just didn't want him to do it after today. But that he had kept all the women away because he liked her so much... She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling her heart beat faster. "I really, really like you a lot," she whispered, kissing his lips.
It was so wrong to lie to her, to tell her what she wanted to hear ‒ so wrong. But Juice wanted to see her smile, wanted to see how happy she was. And she probably wouldn't be very happy if he told her with how many women he had slept the past days. But at least he had always imagined that she was the one underneath him, who touched him, moaning his name. His breathing trembled as his thoughts drifted away again. His fingers under her shirt moved up to her spine. "I really like you, too," he said in a hoarse voice, deepening the kiss immediately, closing his eyes as he pulled her close.
He had already told her that he really liked her, but hearing it again filled her with warmth. Her hands glided up to his chest as they kissed, although she kept away from his direct skin. It was hard, she wanted to feel him, but she didn't think it would be good if they would spend the evening as they had spent the morning. She wanted to get to know him, wanted him to get to know her, because for a healthy relationship was much more needed than just enjoying each others touches ‒ although she loved the feeling of his fingers running up her spine, making her sigh softly against his lips.
After a while Juice broke away from the kiss, but his lips were still close to hers. His other hand stroked the skin over her cleavage and wandered down to her blouse and the buttons again. He had already gone further this morning, so she already knew how it felt when he touched her skin, her breasts.
Very lightly his finger stroked her cleavage, making her long for more. When he moved his hand to the second button, she stopped him by covering his hand with hers, even though it felt like she was betraying herself. "I don't know if we should do this," she said softly. "Again. Don't get me wrong, I love your touch. It's just, all your... contacts... with girls are like this. Touching and kissing. And I want more, Juice." She looked up to him, stroking his cheek very lightly with the back of her forefinger. "I want to know who you are, what you like, what you dislike. I don't want us to connect only physically, but also... mentally."
When he felt her hand on his, he stopped immediately, looking into her eyes. First he didn't understand, but the rest of her words made clear what she wanted, and that was okay. "Why don't you just ask me those questions, hm? I want to know you, too," he whispered, nodding briefly. A small grin formed on his lips. "Just ask me something..."
Grace hooked her index fingers through his belt loops, her thumbs following the bare skin of his stomach right above his pants. There was a playful look in his eyes that made her heart sing and she could no longer resist to touch him. Not when he looked at her like that. "Okay," she said. "I'll ask you a question and you ask me a question and we have to give honest answers. You okay with that?"
He smirked, his finger gliding down a button. "And for every honest answer I can open one of these?"
"You're not giving up huh," she said, shaking her head, softly chuckling. Part of her was glad he didn't, for she wanted him to unbutton her blouse. There was no point in lying to herself; that had been the whole reason she wore this now and that she had picked her most beautiful bra, even though the thought that he would see that made her nervous. "Okay," she answered, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "A button for a question to both of us, starting with the lowest one before you already get the jackpot." Grinning, she tied the upper button again. "Are there any topics I should avoid? Can't expect you to trust me with all you secrets so soon." She winked.
Immediately, Juice went through hundreds of questions that he could ask, but for most, she would probably stare at him with her mouth open so he decided to choose other questions. "I'm surprised such an idea would come out of your mouth, but I like it," he said with a grin, studying her briefly. "Just ask me something. If it's too private I can still say no," he winked at her, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the couch. After sitting down, he gently pulled her on his lap. "You wanna start?" He looked at her with a mischievous smile.
"Okay." Her knees were resting on the couch as she sat on his lap, his face towards him. She had to admit she was surprised too, but she just felt comfortable around him and the whole idea was just thrilling. She thought for a moment, studying his face as she thought about a question. "What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever done?"
He was excited as a little kid at Christmas when he looked at her blouse and waited for the moment he could open the first button. "Oh wow... wait a minute," he said thoughtfully, sinking briefly into his mind before looking at Grace with a grin again. "So there was a party a few years ago and I was pretty drunk. And there was a woman I liked and she was also interested in me. Well, after about an hour we disappeared in my room where I realized that there was not a woman standing in front of me." That was the most embarrassing thing he could remember, but he found it now quite amusing. "Am I allowed to open the first button now, huh?" he asked with his wolfish grin.
Grace laughed. "Wow, that must have been awkward. What did you do?" She looked into his shining eyes. "And no, you have to come up with a question first." She tapped his nose.
An almost sad look appeared in his eyes as she said no. "I stood there and stared at her... his... thing." He cleared his throat and let out a soft laugh. "She wasn't mad at me at all, it was kinda funny but in the first moment it was totally embarrassing. So, my question... Have you ever tried to take a sexy pic of yourself?"
"Did you two... still do things?" she asked, slightly blushing, but she had no idea where drunken people were capable of, and she just wanted to know it now he had brought up the topic. "I think the sexiest picture I took was one with puckered lips, but I doubt that's your definition of sexy," she grinned. He held her glance for a moment and she felt heat flowing through her veins. Would he ever ask her to take a picture like that? And even more ‒ would she do it?
"Well... yeah..." He looked down for a moment, his cheeks turning slightly red. He had never talked about it, but he had been fucking drunk and curious. "Don't tell anyone, please." Juice looked at her again, his grin was back now. "Everything about you is sexy." But yeah, he'd love to see some sexy pictures in the future. Slowly, he opened the first button, running his fingers across her skin.
His words echoed through her head. She couldn't help it, but the thought that he might have had sex with a man was just disgusting, making the good feeling now he was touching her skin just disappear. She just stared at him, part of her hadn't expected that he had really done something like that. He looked so manly, there was nothing gay about him and she couldn't help it that she was shocked. "I eh... I need a drink," she muttered, standing up and walking to the kitchen to fill her former coke glass with water.