I got out of the shower to the smell of coffee. I wandered into my kitchen and saw Juice once again making breakfast. He had spent the night again, for no reason other than he refused to leave my apartment again. I smiled at his back as he bent over the stove, making eggs again. Juice took the pan off the heat and I snuck up behind him, resting my forehead on the back of his shoulder.

"Hey," Juice said as he turned around to face me. He swung his arm around me and pulled me tight for a hug. "Good morning, Miss Moody."

"Good morning," I said before pausing with a frown on my face. Juice immediately saw and asked what was wrong. I shook my head. "I just realized that I don't know your actual name. Is that bad?"

Juice raised his eyebrows at me. "That sounds really bad when you say it like that." He cracked a smile, which caused me to do the same. "And it's Juan Carlos, by the way. Juan Carlos Ortiz."

"It sounds weird considering that I've been calling you Juice this whole time." I stated.

"What's your full name?" Juice asked. "I can't remember your first name and I don't think I've ever heard your middle name."

"Suzanne Alaina Moody,"

Juice stuck out his large hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Suzanne Alaina Moody."

I laughed, taking his hand and shaking it. "And you too, Juan Carlos Ortiz. And I see you made yourself breakfast again."

"Yep, you're just lucky that I made enough for two."

I was going to say something else, but the smell of something burning interrupted my thought. I peered at the food Juice had made: none of that was burnt. That just meant...

"God dammit!" I hissed, grabbing the black hoodie that Juice had left on the counter. "I need this for a second." I opened the door and began to hurry downstairs to the restaurant, throwing on Juice's oversized hoodie to hide the fact that I wasn't wearing a bra. Juice thundered down the metal stairs after me.

The back door to the kitchen opened with a snap and I walked straight into a cloud of smoke. Coughing, I waved my arm around to clear some, and nearly knocked out Shelly at the same time. I managed to see that the smoke was coming from one f the stoves.

"What the hell happened in here?" I demanded Shelly. I saw Russ putting out what the fire had been with the extinguisher. Valerie stood just behind, facing the new cook that had been hired around the same time Cherry had been hired. The door opened again as Juice entered, and Shelly's eyes went wide as she glanced between the two of us. She was taking in his hoodie on my body and the fact that Juice was barefoot. "Shelly!"

She snapped out of it. Valerie marched up, looking furious. "I decided to have Joshua work the stove for the morning shift. He left some food on for too long and-well, you could smell the result from your apartment."

From the window I could see some customers standing by their tables and at the bar, trying to see what was going on. I looked back at Valerie. "Tell Joshua it's his job now to air out all this smoke and to scrap off whatever he ruined on the stoves. As for the rest of you, get back to work and make sure that none of the customers are freaked out." Everyone hurried to get to what I just ordered them to do.

Valerie and Shelly were muttering to one another and glancing at me and Juice. I turned away from them and headed back outside, Juice at my heels. We made our way slowly back up the stairs, but when we were halfway there, Juice grabbed my hand, which was half-concealed by the hoodie sleeve.

"Well that was a fun morning," He said. "That and I think your employees have figured out about us now."

I shrugged. "They were bound to find out. I know Valerie won't be happy; she was dead-set on me avoiding the club completely. You especially." We entered the apartment again and I began to dish out eggs. Juice grabbed his plate and cup of coffee, looking very interested.

"Why me?" He asked, but he had a smirk on his face that told me that he already knew the answer.

"Because you liked hanging out here the most," I answered the question anyway. We sat down on the couch and watched T.V while eating.

"Can she blame me?" Juice asked, just swallowing his mouthful of food. "I get free food every time I come up here."

I snorted and pretended to be offended. "So that's why you keep coming over." We ate in silence for a while before I continued speaking. "So what's this thing you have to go to?"

"It's a charity run," Juice said. His eye twitched again. Juice glanced sharply at me. "You saw the twitch didn't you?" I nodded and he sighed. "It's club business, but that's all I can really tell you."

"That's all I want to know." I said, raising my hands in a gesture of surrender.

We finished eating and I returned Juice's hoodie to him. He put it on under his cut (I had learned not to call them vests), and he accompanied me back down to the restaurant. I was dressed for the day this time but we still got looks as we passed through the kitchen and into the dining area. I held my head high and Juice ducked to the other side of the bar. He walked around to where I was standing, but now the bar separated us.

"I'll be back in like two days." Juice said. "Try not to beat up porn stars while I'm gone." He smirked.

"I don't think Luann will ever let me back into Cara Cara, so we're good on that." I said. Juice leaned over the bar and I met him halfway. This kiss was not as long as the others we had, but I could tell by it that'd I miss him while he was gone. When we separated, I patted his shoulder and gently pushed him off the bar.

"Go on now," I said teasingly. "Skedaddle. Don't leave the club waiting."

"I'll be back," Juice called over his shoulder as he left the restaurant. His motorcycle was parked out front today. I watched him leave through the glass windows, but my thoughts were interrupted by a blond woman approaching me from the right. I looked at her and she gave me a curious kind of smile.

"I have a pickup for Polly," She said. I looked over my shoulder to where the pickup orders usually sat. Polly's was at the top. As I grabbed it, I could hear Juice's motorcycle driving away.

"Here you are," I said in a friendly way. "Have a good day." I began to turn back into the kitchen but Polly slapped her hand down on the bar.

I stared at her. Polly's face went from curious to frustrated. "I'm curious, but why in the world would you be interested in a colored man?"

"Say what now?" I asked, taking a step closer to her. Polly straightened, showing that she was slightly taller than me.

"My father told me about you, saying that you seemed like such a nice girl." Polly said, sounding like a concerned choir girl. "And I'm letting you know that there are plenty of nice men in this town who are appropriate for a white girl like yourself."

I looked around to where Shelly was standing. She had heard everything too and was staring at Polly with what looked like horror. I turned back to Polly. "And who the hell is your dad to tell you all of this?"

"Ethan Zobelle," Polly said, sounding proud. "And he's always taught me that anyone with dark skin weren't worthy of someone like us."

I stared at her with anger and disgust. "Firstly, that's sick and wrong. Secondly, you do realize that Juice isn't black?"

Polly shrugged. "Brown is still dark."

I drew myself to full height, which was still shorter than Polly. But she took a step back when she saw the look of fury on my face. "I suggest you take your supremacist attitude out of my restaurant before I throw you out. And if you better not come back in here ever again."

Polly snorted. "Don't worry. I refuse to come anywhere near a place where the owner is sleeping with low-life." She turned with her takeout and right before she opened the door to leave, she turned back around to meet my eyes. "I saw what happened to your kitchen this morning. It'd be a shame if a bigger fire started in here."

She left me standing there, fury rolling off me in waves.