Chapter 7: Doin' Dirt, Getting' Paid And Miss Loretta
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*Hey, girl.
Ronnie's smiled at her phone seeing Jay's text.
*Hey, Boy! U good?
*Yeah. U?
*Of course. I'm sitting innocently in my room. U the one out there doin dirt.
Juice bit down on his grin. She is such a smart ass. He looked over his shoulder at the guys pouring into their meeting place. He knew he didn't have much time.
* Im a angel
*BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Juice couldn't stop the chuckle that bubbled up. His phone buzzed again before he could respond.
*Can I call you?
*Not a good time. wanted to check on u.
Her phone pinged twice more with texts on top of that one.
*Gota go.
*Call u tmrw
She'd be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed that he couldn't talk for a while.
*OK later
He never responded.
0.o.0.o.0
They pulled into the parking lot a full day early. The drop had gone off without a hitch for SAMCRO and their buyer changed their pick-up to a day early to throw off anyone who planned to make a problem for them. Normally they would have stayed in Indian Hills and partied but Clay had new business brewing in Charming and wanted to get back asap. Old Ladies, girlfriends, siblings and kids - all crowded around them while they dismounted. Within minutes their homecoming festivities were in full swing. With beer in hand, Trina in his lap and one of the newer sweet butts, Zoe rubbing his shoulders, he looked around the clubhouse. Seeing all his brothers laughing and having a good time made him smile - he loved his club, his family. Juice never dwelled on the fact that he didn't have anyone special to come back to. It didn't bother him - it was just the way it was, and he wasn't the only one. Prospecting had been rough, it had been difficult to stay focused with his hippity-hoppity brain. Clay and Tig pushed him to his limit. Jax stayed on him constantly. All the other prospects he started with eventually fell by the wayside. If Chibs hadn't decided to take him under his wing and provide some real direction he would probably still be a prospect. Back then, Juice saw women as a distraction from his prospect duties, so he never got into keeping up with any woman long enough to call her a girlfriend and he was nowhere near having an Old Lady. But coming home this time, he was looking forward to seeing someone and it felt…different. Nice.
Hours later, the party was too loud and too crowded for the level of exhaustion he felt. He had already taken Trina to the back to let off some steam, and later, Zoe. Now he just wanted a shower, a gallon of water and a 12-hour nap. He was considering going home instead of staying the night there at the clubhouse because Trina was being pissy over Zoe not taking the heavy hints she was dropping that she wanted Juice all to herself. And Zoe was trying too hard to keep his attention. I need a break. He kicked Trina off of his lap, shrugging Zoe's lingering hands off of him and went outside to make a call.
There were people scattered outside in little groups, taking up all the benches and tables. Juice wandered closer to the gate, lighting a cigarette before pulling out his phone. Crap. It was past midnight. He didn't want to disturb Ronnie, so he sent a text instead.
*Hey girl.
*Ur blessing worked. Back safe. Call u tmrw.
While he finished his cigarette, he looked up at the clubhouse, feeling no desire to return to it. Yeah, I'm going home.
As soon as he parked in front of his house, he felt his phone buzzing. Juice walked inside, locked the door and reset the alarm system before looking at it.
*Hey Boy. Glad ur back.
She's up! Juice's face broke out into an excited grin. He glanced at his keys, considering going over to her room right then, knowing he wanted to see her. But then again he was covered in road dust and smelled like two-day old sweat and pussy, so he nixed that idea, texting her back.
*Call u in 20? or no?
*yes.
Juice grabbed two bottles of water and hustled to the shower.
0.o.0.o.0
Raniyah had been smiling to herself ever since getting his last text. Being in Charming and not being able to see him got old quickly. There was only so much work and niche shopping she could do and she didn't feel safe traveling outside of the town. She'd taken a freelance editing job from a company she'd worked with right before she arrived so that helped occupy her time but she was antsy, hence not being asleep when his text came through.
She had a bass-y mix by Chill Music Lab playing out of her laptop when her phone rang. "Heeeey, Boy!"
Juice's chuckle came across the line, making her smile stretch wider. "Hey, girl."
"Where you at?"
"My place."
"Oh, okay. How was your…trip? Wait. Can I ask that?"
Juice made a face on his end, "Yeah you can. And it was fine. Quiet, which is good."
A comfortable silence passed. Juice let out a long exhale, he was truly glad he came home. He needed to be clean and hydrated and away from any stimulus to give the constant noise in his head a chance to diminish. He leaned back against his headboard, still in a towel, letting the ceiling fan blast him dry. "So, what did you find to do?"
"Shop, work, eat. Shop, shop. Eat, eat, eat." Juice enjoyed the light giggle she always used, on another girl it might sound contrived but it was as much a part of Ronnie as her dimples. "Seriously," she continued. "Don't leave me again, I probably gained ten pounds. Oh! And Sherrrry says to tell you hello."
Juice frowned, "Who the fuck is Sherry?"
Raniyah cracked up, "Jay! She is gonna be so hurt!"
"Who's Sherry?"
"The waitress!" Juice searched his brain for a moment before Raniyah made it click for him, "Blueberry muffin?"
"Oh shit!" Juice snickered, chest bouncing. "I forgot about her."
"Aw! She's gonna be devastated."
"I've seen her before, I'm sure I'll see her again."
Raniyah was giggling up a storm, "Oh you will! Especially since the last time I went in she asked if we were dating. I told her I was your sister. You should kiss me next time we go in! Fuck her whole brain up!"
"Dammit!" Juice had lit a cigarette and Ronnie's rabbit trail had him laughing and choking on his own smoke, dropping ash on himself. "First, gross! Second, that would be around town in ten seconds! You here to mess up my reputation?"
"Let the rumors begin, you incestuous freak!"
They were both laughing in fits, yelling over each other into their phones, and trading insults.
"That's disgusting! Nasty ass!"
"Me?! You're the one tonguing down your own sister!"
"Fuck you!"
"See?! See?! There you go! Flirting with your relatives!"
"Pervert!"
"I love you, brooootherrrrr!" She sang back.
"That's fucking gross!" Damn, I missed this. Juice guzzled some more water still chuckling, while her giggles wound down, "You're crazy. Hold on a sec."
He got up to find some drawers to put on and popped four aspirin in one gulp, turning off the light before crawling back into bed and picking the phone back up. He was tired as hell but not ready to end their call. "Okay. So…what exactly do you do for work?"
Raniyah snuggled down into her strategically stacked pillows, happily surprised by the question. So far they had only skimmed over life-specific topics like that. "I love my work but you'd think it's kinda boring," she started.
Juice lit another cigarette and closed his eyes, trying to remember the last time he had an actual conversation with a woman over the phone just because. "So what? Tell me anyway."
0.o.0.o.0
Raniyah woke up late but smiling. Talking to Jay last night was the kind of thing she had wanted to do ever since she found out the address to the clubhouse. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror smiling around her toothbrush. She was almost embarrassed to see the level of happiness in her own eyes. She got dressed wondering if he was awake yet, her eyes drawn time and time again to her phone. Maybe I'll just send a text. She was so excited, it felt like carbonation under her skin. Today he was supposed to be coming to visit her right after work and she had a surprise planned.
Not too far away, Juice's phone was buzzing up a storm when he opened one eye. He felt like he had just gone to sleep but the amount of sun creeping in around his blinds told him that it was later than he felt. Ah, fuck! Church! He snatched up his phone, saw the time and winced.
"Yeah?"
"Where th'hell are ya, ya lit'l shite?!" Chibs' voice barked into his ear. "I been callin' ya!"
Juice smiled - even when Chibs yelled it sounded like a melody. "I'm comin'. Ten minutes out."
"Move yer arse, boy!" Juice could hear Tig adding his two cents in the background, so just he hung up. Good thing I showered last night. He was dressed and out the door in less than five minutes with his cheeks full of mouthwash, spitting just before slapping his helmet on and speeding off.
When Juice arrived on the lot, he ran full speed into the clubhouse, not even waving at Gemma who was outside smoking, her glare hidden behind sunglasses. But he knew it was there. As soon as he walked in, Tig blasted him.
"That better have been the best goddamn pussy in the world, shithead!"
Juice gave a weak nod to Clay and sat down, contrite. "Sorry."
He could feel Tig's daggers coming at him from his place near the head of the table but something in Jax's smirk let him know all was actually alright.
Clay cleared his throat, "Now that Princess here has graced us with her presence, let's get to the most important thing. Indian Hills. You did a great job." Clay looked around the table. "It was clean and you busted ass getting the stuff moved into storage. The gods must have been smiling on us boys…not only did they move their pick up date but they decided to dump the Long Beach boys and give us their business. It's light but it's regular and regular cash is good."
A buzz began in the room as they all looked at each other not knowing what that meant for them. A smile spread across Clay's sizable face as he slapped a heavy leather bag onto the table and began shooting fat white envelopes across the table at each of them.
"Yeah!" Chibs shouted. And the room broke into rowdy laughter as they all hooted and whistled, banging their fists on the table.
Lastly, Clay tossed a much slimmer one at Half-Sack leaned up against the wall, who caught it and stood there shocked.
Clay pointed at him, rumbling, "You earned it. Don't spend it all on the first pair of tits you see."
Juice looked inside his envelope and grinned at the number of bills nestled there. This was the biggest payday he'd had since becoming a patched member. He was more frugal with his money than most of his brothers but looking at this he intended to splurge on something frivolous for once. He looked across the table at Chibs who winked. Juice shook his head still not believing it and hollered along with the rest of his brothers.
0.o.0.o.0
Juice was still high from the exchange at church that morning, his buzz feeding the width of the grin on his face when he arrived at Raniyah's door. When she opened it, he immediately opened his mouth to start talking but she put her finger to her lips. He frowned while she yanked him in and pushed him down on the bed. She sat next to him in front of her laptop, putting her finger to her lips again for him to be quiet.
"Okay, Ma? You know what? I think I fixed my camera. Hold on."
Juices' eyes bugged out of his head. "Your mom?" he whispered.
Raniyah flashed him a grin, "Yep, I got it! Hold on!" She pressed the video button and moved closer to Juice so both of them were on the screen. "Look who I found!" she yelled.
Her mom squinted trying to focus on their images. When she recognized Juice she gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh! Oooooh!" Her eyes grew impossibly wide. "Raniyah! Juan? Juan, is that you?" Without waiting for the answer, her face crumpled and she covered her mouth again, crying.
"Hey, Miss Loretta," He smiled into the camera and Ronnie's mom disappeared from the screen. They could hear her sobbing as she paced somewhere off-camera, her volume going in and out.
"Oh, my God!" Her wailing choked them both up. "Thank you, Jesus! Oh, thank you for this day!"
"Ma come back!" Ronnie laughed, wiping away tears. "Ma!"
Plopping back into her seat, the older woman leaned so far into the screen they could only see the top of her head in the camera. "Juan? Juan Carlos Ortiz, you devil! Where have you been? Let me see you! So handsome! So grown up! Oh, my heart! Ronnie why didn't you tell me?!
"I wanted to surprise you," she grinned.
"YOU ARE A HORRIBLE DAUGHTER!" Ronnie cracked up, her mom was going a mile a minute, "Oh, Juan and your hair! What did you do to your beautiful hair?"
Juice had no words. He stroked his hand over his nearly shaved head, his smile absolutely radiant.
"Where have you been, sweetheart?' She had situated herself properly in the frame again, clenching her fists, holding them close in front of her chest, "My God! I could just squeeze you! Ro, squeeze him for me!" She ordered and when Raniyah didn't move, her mom yelled, impatient, "Right now!"
Ronnie wrapped her arms around his shoulders wiggling him, yanking him back and forth for her mom's entertainment, and giving him a loud smacking kiss on his cheek.
"Hey!" Juice protested being jerked around but loving it.
"Like that ma?"
"Yes! That's from me, baby. Okay?"
Juice shook Ronnie off and nodded, a full dopey smile on display. Raniyah's mom had reduced him to the skinny adolescent he once was. For Raniyah, watching her mom interact with him was overwhelming. She didn't think it would be so emotional and her mom's showing of open joy and elation was everything she had wanted to be able to do herself when she first saw him.
"How I've prayed for today. I prayed and prayed!" Loretta kept wiping her eyes but the tears kept spilling over. "Oh baby, how have you been? Are you alright? Raniyah, is he alright?! Do you need anything? What do you need? Tell me!"
Juice sniffed, deeply affected by the woman who had always welcomed him into her home so lovingly. Her reaction to seeing his face was unlike anything he could have ever anticipated. "I'm okay, Miss Loretta. I really am. It's good to see you."
"Oh! Listen to you! 'It's good to see you'," she mocked his low tenor. "So grown up! Such a man!" Her voice was thick with emotion, "Mijo, I'm looking at you and it's a dream." She shook her head slowly, her hand reached forward as if she could touch him through her computer screen. "It's a dream."
Juice didn't bother with hiding his tears, smiling. "For me, too." I just didn't know how much I wanted it.
She sat back with her hand over her heart, "Sweet boy, how I have missed your smile."
That was all he could take, Juice quickly nodded and got up. It was too much. He stepped over Raniyah's feet and strode out the door.
Ronnie watched him go, mouth open in surprise. "What's happening?" Her mother asked. "Where did he go?"
"Ma, I don't know. I- I think this is just a lot."
"Oh." She took a deep breath. "Is he alright? Really, alright?"
"I believe he is, ma. But it's been a long time. I kind of-," She couldn't tell her mom about ambushing him at the club just yet. Hearing about his affiliation with a motorcycle club would only make her worry. "I don't know everything yet, Ma." Raniyah's eyes darted to the door, again and again, she assumed he was leaving and wanted to hurry up and catch him. "It was harder for him than it was for us, you know? When I know more, I'll fill you in."
"You tell him I love him, Ro."
"I will. I gotta go. Love you, ma."
"Love you, baby. And thank you. I'll be smiling all day."
Ronnie blew kisses to her mom and disconnected. She closed her laptop and opened the door, not expecting him to be standing in front of it.
0.o.0.o.0
When Juice escaped Raniyah's motel room, he had wanted to leave but his hands were shaking so bad he knew driving wasn't safe, so he squatted down outside her room, wiping his face roughly, taking deep breaths to pull himself together. Jesus Christ! She's just a nice lady from your past, man! But she wasn't just some nice lady, she was Miss Loretta. She was the woman who had said yes a hundred times to him staying for dinner and sleeping over. The woman who bought him shoes for his ever-growing feet on his birthday and Christmas for four years straight. The woman who kissed his cheek goodnight if she was still awake by the time he and Ronnie settled down. And the same woman who held his chin in her hand, telling him how proud she was of him the year he joined the Boys and Girls Club ping pong team and they won first place - when his own mother couldn't have cared less.
Her outburst of tears had sent him into a tailspin. For all the times he wondered about how Ronnie felt about him leaving school and Queens, he never consider how or if her mom was thinking about him, too. Standing up, he tucked his anxiety-numbed hands under his armpits to warm them faster, intermittently shaking them to get his circulation back. After a moment, he was feeling more in control of himself. He sniffed hard and loud, embarrassed as all out when he heard the door open behind him.
"Jay? Are you okay?"
Juice turned around, unable to even fake a smile.
"I finished up with her. She said to tell you she loves you."
God, he wished Ronnie would just stop talking. He couldn't absorb anything else. She was killing him with all this concern and gentleness and softness. That wasn't what he needed anymore. He wasn't that kid anymore. He had a different life now and he had earned his place in it. He was chosen to be a brother to strong, powerful men and it was more than enough for him.
What I need right now is a drink and a joint and to pass out until tomorrow. Juice felt in his pocket for his keys, "I gotta go."
Ronnie's face read panic, "But you were coming to hang out with me today."
For fuck's sake! Don't look at me like that. Juice looked away from her down the walkway, frustrated. She had blown the lid off of his carefully packed box of emotions and it was unsettling, to say the least.
"Couldn't you stay? Just for a little bit?" Her eyes were pleading. She let a tiny smile press her dimples in, "No more surprises. I swear."
Defeated, Juice stepped forward before his frazzled brain could talk him out of it. Raniyah stepped back out of the way, watching how his shoulders slumped. That his mouth was open slightly because his tears had left his nose stopped up. She didn't know what was going to happen next, but she was at least assured when he took off his cut, that he wasn't leaving. That was enough for now.
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A/N: Thank you for reading the new chapter. I know it was long BUT there was no way to break it up and have it be as fun for you, so *shrug* *grin*. Welcome new readers! And you guys peeking in for every update are the best! I'm having a good time...are you? More Juice reveals in the next chapter! See you soon. *kjx*
