Raven woke up and felt better then she had in a long time. She got up and went out into her living room to find juice, right where shed left him on the couch the night before. The air mattress looked like it hadn't been touched and now that she though about it she didn't hear the pump before she fell asleep. "Did you sleep at all??" Raven asked through muffled words. "No I couldn't" he said as he closed his laptop and put it on the coffee table.
Raven wasn't stupid. Juice had been up all night on his laptop. And if she had to guess she was pretty sure he was looking into her past as well as David. She gave him a look and he could tell she wasn't buying it. But Juice knew she was too tired to do anything about it. She glared at the biker suspiciously before going into the kitchen to make herself and juice something quick for breakfast.
She had to be at the shop this morning and she doubted juice was going to stick around her house without her. "cereal or oatmeal?" Raven said. "do you have pop tarts?" he asked jokingly. He was laughing when she pulled down a box of the smores pop tarts and they both chuckled. She popped them in the toaster for him started to make herself a bowl of oatmeal. Softer foods seemed to go down easier in the morning. her throat was still sore sometimes. mostly in the mornings and at night. By the time she was done the poptarts had popped out of the toaster. She handed them to juice and put her oatmeal on a tray. She started to make her way to her room and yelled back to juice "Theres milk in the fridge if you want it" and walked into her room and shut the door. She quickly slurped up her oatmeal then got ready for work. She blended away once again at her concealer trying to cover her bruises. She tried hard to mask the pain in her eyes and the stress on her face. She painted away trying to cover up the wounds both inside and out. When she was satisfied with her make up and got dressed. Same get up as the day before. She walked out of her room and into the living room and started to gather her stuff for the day. She looked at juice and asked "ready?" He nodded and she locked up her house and headed to TM.
Raven pulled in first with juice following right behind. She parked in her usual spot and he parked his bike next to her. She got out of her car and looked over. "Thanks for looking out for me juice. I know you feel like your obligated too because you found me all pathetic… but I just wanted you to know I appreciate it. " juice blushed and stuck his hands in his pockets and nodded. "Anytime ray" was all he could get out. She hoped to god she had conveyed her gratitude but communication wasn't her strong suit.
They separated and raven clocked in while juice headed straight to the clubhouse. Once inside he found his VP immediately. "Jax, you got a minute" he asked as he walked up to the blonde prince of charming sitting at the far end of the bar. Jax nodded twords the chapel. They walked in and juice shut the doors. "That fucking phsyco has eyes on the shop jax! The reason why raven got beat down like that was because……I got too close to her when we were working on that old caddy . Raven said he showed her pictures. If he can see us but we cant see him we got a problem man!! Ive found some weird accounts linked to him but that's all I can find." Juice said exasperated. raven was in trouble but so were the SONS if this guy had been watching them. "Get some sleep juice. Well figure this shit out before you go back home with raven. You still gotta do this shit all over again tonight and I cant have you falling asleep and with this psycho watching her every move. At least not until she lets you in her bed" jax smirked. Juice gave an incredulous look and went to his dorm.
He was exhausted and just wanted his bed. He quickly stripped down and crumbled into his mattress. As soon as he laid his head down he was out like a light. The next thing he knew he was being woken up to a loud banging on his door. He looked over at his clock. Hed been asleep a solid 7 hours. He dressed quickly then went out to see who had almost broke down his door, when jax caught his eyes.
Juice moved his direction and then jax led them to one of the pool tables that nobody was around. "ive been thinking about how were going to get this piece of shit to come out of hiding. Obviously you're a trigger of his. Youre gonna have to push up on raven….. pretty hard but I don't think that'll be a problem considering your dicks been hard for her since she walked on the lot. Just trust me. Ill take care of the rest" jax looked at juice and smirked. "yea I can do that" juice stammered out.
He didn't want to use raven as bait. But this motherfucker needed to be six feet under. He wasn't good for the club. And he was ever worse for raven. But how was he supposed to come onto a battered woman? It didn't feel right. But the feelings were there. He would just have to go for it. He looked at the clock. Ravens shift was almost over. He had enough time to chug down some gross instant coffee and change his clothes before she came into the clubhouse looking for him.
Raven was a little behind closing everything up. She was distracted as hell today and her thoughts kept looping back to juice. Why did he volunteer to baby sit? She had over heard the guys always complaining about having to babysit someone or another and she just couldn't take him flirting with her seriously. He tried to charm her the way her charmed all the crow eaters. He'd flash a smile, say something too big for his britches and then blush and laugh it off. He was their favorite. She had over heard enough conversations from the sweet butts about how juice was the kindest.
"Hey!!" juice smiled as he got up from his seat at the bar and walked in ravens direction. She was still in her coveralls and had streaky black grease all over her face and clothes. "hey" she said back through a tired smile. "Ready to go??" raven asked. Juice nodded and they headed out the door. She noticed the glares from the crow eaters as she left but that was nothing new. They hated her. she was the only woman who wasn't an old lady that was treated with respect. She had a skill and was damn good at it. She was like a magician. She could get the shittiest little car to start up. Her macguyver methods weren't always "legal" but her own car was literally being held together by paperclips, rubber bands, and electrical tape. As far as she was concerned she was a mad fucking genius. She made no attempts at befriending the crow eaters. They were mean and nasty to anybody that wasn't wearing a patch. They had been from the start. She loathed a bitch with no ambition in life. The old ladies were better company anyways.
When they pulled up to her house she quickly unlocked the door and threw her bag on the counter. "I have to go shower juice. I know my body is gruesome to look at but im am soaked in grease head to toe. I cant live like this" she laughed. "There's food in the freezer, beers in the fridge and you know how to work the t.v.".
She felt disgusting. She wasn't paying attention and dumped a bucket of used motor oil right down the front of her coveralls and in every nook and cranny of her body. She got the water as hot as she was able to stand it. to break the oil down as much as she could before trying to wash it away. She had to wash her hair and body twice before her skin yeilded its slimey coat. Her shower looked like an oil slick. Raven was lost in a sea of thought as she stepped out of the shower and dried off. She got dressed and laid in her bed. She hated having to host her home. She was still healing and needed time to herself but the SONS had deemed her "worthy" of protection. And if they helped you, you didn't refuse. She was going to owe them BIG if they were able to get rid of David. And oweing the SONS was not something the people of charming took lightly. She was trading one devil for another but at least with SAMCRO she might not get her ribs broken.
She sat on her bed trying to clear her mind. When that didn't work she knew juice had weed. She told herself it was helping her heal and silently justified it to herself. She didn't give a shit anymore. She was going to break out her whiskey, smoke a couple joints, and just get fucked up enough to quiet the pain in her body and her soul. She had actual protection for once in her life and she was going to take full advantage. She scooted to the side of her bed and reached under it for the only man shes ever trusted , Jack Daniels. She rolled off her bed and walked down the small hallway to her living room where she saw juice sitting on her couch with a pizza box gnawing away at a slice. He swallowed his food and said "I don't know how to make the stuff in your freezer, I hope this is ohkay?? I figured it was soft enough that you could….." he trailed off. He wanted her to know he thought about it but didn't want to pry if she wasn't ready. "Thanks juice.. I appreciate the thought." She blushed and smiled at him as she took a plate of pizza and sat on the couch with him. She ate quickly. It was her favorite pizza delivery place and her favorite kind of pizza. It wasn't a coincidence. Everything was starting to click. "Does he… really have feelings for me…. Do I have them back?". His sweetness and patience was wearing her down. She thought about the fact that it might just be apart of jax's scheme to catch her phsyco ex. But she was smart enough to know he had to like her just a little deep down. He was just being way too nice otherwise.
After she ate she sat the bottle down in front of juice on the coffee table then moved to grab 2 shot glassed from her top kitchen cupboard. When she went back into the livingroom she plopped down next to juice on her couch and poured them both a shot. "To SAMCRO and the sacrifices you guys are making on my behalf" she said as she handed the intelligence officer a shot of jack. They each reared their head back and took the shot. Juice hissed and raven purred. The whiskey always numbed her throat and chest in just the right way. They set their shot glasses down and she poured two more. "And heres to finding a way to repay the SONS. Without you guys id be dead." She looked juice dead in his eyes before downing both shots one right after the other. Juice raised and eyebrow.
He had some inclination that raven could drink like a man but had never seen her down liquor like that. She only ever drank beer at the clubhouse. She noticed his face and said "what?". "Nothing" he said and shook his head. "So alcohols your poison tonight?". Juice asked. Raven laughed. "Well I know its probably not a good idea for you to get drunk but i figured.. I cant remember the last time I got shitfaced without having to look over my shoulder. and if I have you here I might as well get fucked up enough to take me somewhere else for a little while ya know" she looked at juice through pain filled eyes. "Yea" juice said and silence filled the room for a moment. Neither sure of what to say. She was giving him a way in. There was no use in keeping her walls up anymore. She was as vulnerable as they come. It would only harm her to shut down.
"So you do, wanna smoke this then?" he said through a toothy grin while pulling a joint out of his pocket. Raven smirked and said "Spark it". And they both smiled. Juice lit up the joint and took a long drag and handed it to raven. She took a puff and passed it back. "Have you found anything on him yet?" raven blurted out. She was feeling the liquor and the joint. Her filter was gone. "good riddence" she thought. "No we havent. Some weird off shore accounts but I cant trace them back to him. Hes like a ghost" juice let out with a little more frustration in his tone then he intended. "I could have told you that. Youre gonna have to use me a bait him, but you and jax probably already figured that out. Who're they gonna get to push up on me juicey boy?? Is it you?" she laughed through blushed cheeks. Her inhibitions gone. Could she really like juice? Raven thought to herself. He was sweet and kind but also kind of a dumbass. But truth be told her was her savior.
Juice couldn't tell if it was the liquor she was actually embarrassed by what she said. She took a few more shots while tension grew between them as juice tried to figure out what to say. Hed blow it with her if he said the wrong thing now. "Yea jax asked me to push up on you. Said I needed to trigger him again so he'll surface" juice said with a stern face hoping to god she wouldn't be pissed off she was being used as bait or think that he was playing with her emotions. " you like me for real or just for the scheme jax is running?" raven asked , eyeing juice suspiciously. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't real. I mean look at you. Who wouldn't want their chance to get close to you" juice laughed.
She looked over to juice and he moved to put his arm around the back of the loveseat behind her and looked over. "you gonna let me take care of you raven?" juice said, looking her up and down with a deadly smile. The way he looked at her made her knees weak and her pulse quicken. She leaned into him and laid her head on his chest. Resting her arm over him, bottle of whiskey still in her hand. "Yea, ohkay" was all she stammered out. She was nervous. She hadn't even looked at another man for 5 years and here juice was wanting to save her from her demons and herself.
She took another swig out of her bottle and smoked the rest of the joint with juice in silence. Juice could feel ravens tense nervous body relaxing underneath him with every swig of jack and hit of the joint she took. After the joint was gone and the bottle was almost empty juice noticed ravens breathing even out and he could tell she passed out on his chest.
"this is a trip" he thought to himself. Here was a woman that had earned her respect from the reaper crew and the queen herself through sheer physical toughness, mechanical skill and her ability to demand respect from a rowdy bunch of bikers, but right now she was wrapped around him scared. He let her doze for a few more minutes before he woke her. Juice knew her ribs would be sore if she stayed on the couch all night. he didn't try to carry her because he was afraid of hurting her.
He gently shook raven awake. "Go to bed" he said to her playfully. "Come with me" She said with a serious look. "You sure??" he Asked. "No but itd probably be nice to not sleep alone for once" she said rubbing a hand across her tired eyes. They got up off the couch and raven took juices hand and led him back to her bedroom.
Juice tried not to disturb her in her sleep. He couldn't imagine the pain she was in and didn't want to hurt her. He didn't sleep great but it felt nice to be in bed with a woman who wasn't a nameless faceless good time fuck.
