Chapter 9: Wake Up & Bow Down
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Juice startled awake, momentarily confused by the shadows and shapes surrounding him in the darkened room. The light that crept in around the edges of the curtains told him it was late. 9:14am? The clock couldn't be right. It had been quite a while since he was able to sleep through the night, least of all sleep in without a little somethin' in his system. When he had laid down with Raniyah the night before, it was just to talk for a while longer and then leave. He flexed his stiff ankles and toes. I still have my boots on. He remembered all of his emotional admissions, but he didn't remember falling asleep. Turning over, he watched her begin to stir. She sniffed, rubbing her face before rolling over onto her back to do a full body stretch. She yawned, never opening her eyes. With her arm thrown across her face, she croaked out, "Welp, this is retro."
Juice grunted still trying to get his bearings, his sleep-deepened voice rumbled, "You broke the rules."
She turned her head to look at him, eyes questioning.
"Over under."
Raniyah snorted, remembering the one rule her mom had strictly enforced whenever Juan spent the night. He had to sleep on top of her comforter with a blanket of his own, while she kept under the comforter. Flopping her arm back across her face, she chuckled in mock horror, "Oh nooooo! My ma's gonna kill us."
Juice barked out a laugh. Turning to him she smiled softly and he studied her face for a second. We're still good, right? He didn't see anything in her eyes that set off warnings inside of him.
Ronnie sat up, tugging on her shirt, generally uncomfortable in the clothes that had twisted themselves around her during the night, "You sleep okay? You were out cold. I mean gone."
"Sorry," he mumbled, stretching.
"Don't be," she turned on the light and shot him a smile over her shoulder. "First dibs on the bathroom, unless you gotta pee."
Juice gave a sleepy smile, stretching himself, remembering their old early morning ritual, shaking his head no. "You first but don't take all day. I'm late. Again."
He watched her grab some clothes and her toiletries bag to head into the bathroom, calling her name before she shut the door, "Ronnie."
He wanted to apologize again for not contacting her over all these years. He wanted to say how it made him feel to know she never stopped caring about him. He wanted to thank her for letting him stay and tell her how he figured he only slept well because he was with her…but none of that would come out of his mouth.
She had stopped at the bathroom entrance waiting for him to speak. The least perceptive person on the planet could see a struggle going on behind his eyes. Patiently, she gave him space to gather his thoughts but when no more words came, she smiled softly and closed the bathroom door.
0.o.0.o.0
Facing herself in the mirror, she was grateful to see no signs of the breakdown she had last night. Finally being able to know what happened the last night he spent in Queens, closed a long-time open wound for her. The detestable treatment he suffered through at the hands of Hugo and the negligence of his mom shredded her heart, making her want to protect him from any future hardships till the day she died. Once Juice had talked himself out, she watched him sleep, her mind racing.
Before she turned off the lights, she had studied his face - so peaceful in sleep and tried to imagine how torturous the tension inside of him must have been when they were in school. Secrets. A secret was a terrifying thing to have in high school and his was huge. Even though he still found a way to not use the word tonight, he had been abused. Abused by a bastard of a man who made him choose between peace and his own family. Yes, his mom was party to everything that she turned a blind eye to but the brute that singled him out, knowing he had to live with it and hide it was the real villain.
Raniyah had sat in the dark on the edge of the bed, re-evaluating her memories of him under the bright light of the whole truth. My Jay. She cried silent, angry tears while she grieved for his beautiful, free spirit - shut down just when he should have been tasting the new freedom of adulthood. Realizing that he had been forced to keep his circle of friends smaller and smaller as the years went by because high school is merciless by nature. A pressure-filled building that housed thousands of unfiltered mouths and underdeveloped brains. Where rumors were handed out like party gifts, glorified then forgotten - while the shame attached was set in stone for the person of topic.
By senior year, the finesse he had to use to be his true self - bright, funny, warm…while hiding and camouflaging his foul home life was beyond comprehension. Back then she already thought his strength was admirable but now? Astounding. He was shrewd to fix a place at her house for himself to always be able to retreat to. It took him almost four years to make the final investment of trust in their friendship. Letting her in, so that she could help in her own way.
Odd things now made sense in this new light. Jay didn't date much back then and it wasn't because he wasn't cute. He was a beautiful boy. But now she could see that the way he kept the girls that continuously hovered around him at arm's length - was for his own protection. He kept Raniyah close as a buffer from the ones that talked of exclusive relationships and commitment. Back then she never questioned it. It was part of their friendship. She thought he just didn't want them for anything serious…but now she could see the choices he had to make. What kind of half-in, half-out existence was that to live in?
Settling into her pillows, listening to his familiar snore, her eyelids drooped immediately. Her brain shut down on its last weighty thought - she had Jay back in her life and she was never letting him go.
Finishing up in the bathroom, she hoped that her off-balance emotions would take a back seat until he left. She already decided that he had the right to keep the grim details of that pain private. She would omit it when talking to her mother again. He deserved his privacy and he deserved a protective, loving family and from what she had heard so far, that was what he had finally found in Charming.
But there was another hurdle for her to get over.
0.o.0.o.0.
Before Juice went into the bathroom Raniyah blurted out, "I'm supposed to check out today."
Juice stared at her like she was speaking a foreign language. "I didn't get the chance to think about it yesterday 'cause yesterday was a lot and then this morning we were late and-". She was finding it harder to look at him with every syllable. "My week is up…like in two hours."
Juice frowned, everything had been so all over the place that he forgot that her reservation was only for a week and he had wasted almost three days of that on that run. You can't leave!
Raniyah didn't know why he wasn't saying anything and her face was getting hot. "Anyway, I was just thinking that I don't have to go today. My job is still not ready for me to come in." She was twisting the daylights out of her finger and with hopeful eyes she dared to continue, "Would it be…I don't know, weird if I stayed a little longer?"
The mega-wattage of Juice's smile could have lit up a hundred cities.
0.o.0.o.0.
Juice came out of the bathroom with his white t-shirt flung over his shoulder and for the second time since arriving in Charming, Raniyah was rendered speechless. His clothes had disguised the actuality of the rock-solid muscle hidden underneath them. Simply put, his shape was disgustingly perfect and he was wearing his dark grey camo pants so low that she had to find somewhere else to look.
Holy shit! She told her brain to shut up before something stupid came out of her mouth. Too late. "Jesus, Jay!"
"What?" Seeing the look on her face, he chuckled knowingly, pausing to pose. "I'm 25, not 12, girl."
"Ew! Put a shirt on," she fussed, pretending to cover her eyes. "There's coffee."
His one-sided grin smacked her right in the heart. Her being flustered by his naked chest gave him a bit of butterflies in the gut. "Thanks. I gotta get to the clubhouse. TM is closed but we still got a few jobs to complete and then-,"
Raniyah scrunched her nose, filling in the words ahead of him. "Club shit?"
"Club shit." He tossed his shirt on over his head facing the mirror before pulling it down, giving Raniyah a full view of the workings of his muscular shoulder blades around the dip in his back.
"Are you coming back?"
Juice looked apologetic, "I don't know yet."
Raniyah tried not to show her disappointment. If the garage was closed, she probably wouldn't be able to talk to him at all.
"What are you getting into today?" he said, slipping on his cut.
"I called up front and I don't have to change rooms, just come sign a thing so they can charge my card again by five tonight - so I guess I'll just put in a request for more remote work and see what they have." She watched him re-tie his boots. "Jay?"
He looked up at her, a lazy smile in place.
"I'm glad you stayed yesterday."
Standing, Juice didn't stop himself from reaching out for a hug. "See you later."
0.o.0.o.0
Gemma sat ready in her SVU and left the Teller-Morrow lot as soon as Juice pulled in. Raniyah was just getting ready to hop into the shower when a sharp knock on the door had her pulling her jeans back on. She couldn't see anyone through the peephole, so she put on her most professional voice, "Can I help you?"
"Yeah. It's Gemma."
Ronnie took a deep breath, her brain trying to place the name. Gemma. Wide-eyed she remembered. Jay had mentioned her a couple of times so she knew she was a big wig within the club but she had forgotten why. And frankly, that alone didn't make her want to open the door. Why is she here? How come he didn't tell me she was coming? She quickly picked up her phone and dialed him but got no answer. Gemma knocked on the door again, harder this time.
The First lady of SAMCRO stood tapping her foot, waiting for the door to open - instead, the thin filmy privacy curtain in the window pulled back. She stared at the face in the window looking her over. Gemma tolerated being gawked at for a full ten seconds before she folded her arms and huffed, "We need to talk. You gonna let me in or what?"
"No."
Gemma lifted her sunglasses, her eyes narrowed to a squint. Who the hell does THIS bitch think she's talking to? "Look honey, you can open this door or I can just go get the key from the front desk. And that flimsy ass security chain ain't gonna hold shit."
The threat of her getting a key and a flashback of how it had felt finding out that Jay had been able to retrieve her reservation information, sparked anger in Raniyah. "I don't know you and where I'm from, you'd have to be the dumbest bitch on earth to open your door for a stranger at a motel."
Gemma plopped her glasses back down on her nose and gave a shoulder lift that read 'your choice' before she turned on her heel and stalked off purposefully towards the front office. Ronnie quickly put on her shoes and jacket, tucked her gun in her pocket and stepped outside, checking that the door was locked behind her.
"Hey, Gemma!" she called out.
Gemma turned around to see Raniyah standing outside her room. That's what I thought, she smirked, leisurely returning to her intended target.
Raniyah could feel her sizing her up like prey. The older woman had streaked hair in a style a little too rock n' roll for a city called Charming. The stylish shades she still had on had dark lenses, designed to intimidate and succeeding. She wore a push-up bra earning its name, jeans and a tank top a bit too tight for her age. All of it supporting an effortless stance that said 'get the fuck out of my way'. Despite how her stomach was turning, Raniyah tried to sound confident. "You wanted to talk to me?"
"We're not going inside then? Fine." Gemma stepped closer to Ronnie, intentionally crowding her, testing her nerve. Her 5'9' height plus heels to Ronnie's 5' 7" in flats put her at an advantage but Ronnie didn't back up a step. "Thought it was time I met our Juicy's little secret."
Little secret? Raniyah frowned slightly, caught off guard by the aggression in her voice. "Okay."
Her one-word answer made Gemma's nostrils flare in irritation. "What do you want with him, honey? What's your deal," she pressed. "Dating? Fucking?"
Despite knowing that this conversation wasn't going to be friendly, Raniyah was shocked that Gemma would ask her that and in such a coarse way. Recovering quickly, she answered. "Neither."
Hmmm." Gemma dug in her purse for a cigarette, lighting it and purposely blowing out the first stream of smoke just to the side of Raniyah's face. "Got a little love child back home? Trying to get daddy to come back to you?"
"What? No! I- we're not like that."
Gemma scoffed at the response, rolling her eyes. Leaning back on one hip, she looked her over again. No makeup. Dresses like a college student but not the fun kind. There was nothing 'girls gone wild' about her. Still, she had a good figure and perky tits so there's no way Juice wasn't interested. And she damn sure didn't look like this when they were twelve. "He spent the night here last night so you're something."
Raniyah's eyes widened at the fact that she knew that. Were there people watching her? Him? What the hell? "Um, he just fell asleep here. We're friends."
Gemma smirked at her reaction and the inadequate answer but hated that she didn't hear any deception in the girl's voice. "Still selling that friends thing, huh?"
Raniyah thought it best not to respond.
"Well, friend how long you plan on hanging around, not dating or fuckin'? Doesn't your man need you to come home? It's been what, seven days already? How much more catching up could you two possibly have to do?"
Raniyah could hear her phone ringing inside the room, her eyes darted that way, which Gemma caught. "We haven't talked about it yet." Lie number one. I'm staying another week.
"Hmm, you had all night but I guess you were busy." Gemma stared at her with a sly, closed-mouthed smile, fully enjoying hearing the phone beginning to ring again, knowing that her presence was keeping Raniyah from being able to answer it. "I'll let you get that, sweetheart." As she turned to leave, she fixed Raniyah with a hard glare, "Next time I come by, I expect you to open that goddamn door."
Wanting to make peace for Juice's sake Raniyah tried to sound sincere, "Look, I'm sorry about that." Lie number two. "You kinda came out of nowhere and-"
"No." Gemma leaned her face down so close to Raniyah's that she could see her own image in the lenses of the older woman's sunglasses. "It's you that came out of nowhere."
Hearing the phone starting to ring again, Raniyah gave Gemma a lukewarm smile, "Well, I know you now, so it won't be a problem."
Gemma chuckled low, turning to leave, "You don't know me for shit."
Dropping her cigarette on the asphalt and crushing it with a twist of her toes, she waved goodbye over her shoulder via one snap of her wrist and climbed into her car, slamming the door. Disney's Cruella De Vil flashed across Raniyah's mind as she backed out.
Ronnie couldn't help scanning the parking lot, looking for someone sitting in their car, someone watching her. How did she know that Jay stayed here last night? Unable to shake off the feeling of being watched, she went inside her room, locked the door, fastened the security chain and tucked the chair under the doorknob - feeling far less secure than ever. She put her hand to her chest. Jesus Christ! What was that?
0.o.0.o.0
Gemma drove in and went straight into the office of Teller-Morrow. The window overseeing the work floor banged open, "Juice!"
As he started up the stairs, his phone began to ring. Ronnie finally. Having to ignore it for now, he stepped into the office wiping his hands, "What's up, Gemma?"
"Come in," she looked Juice up and down, daring him to so much as fidget. "This Raniyah…What's the deal there?"
"There is no deal."
"Mmm-hmm."
Stuffing the rag into his pocket, he found everywhere to put his eyes except on Gemma's face. "Like I said before, uh…"
"Oh, I remember what you said," she smirked, leaning back in her office chair, shifting her reading glasses to the top of her head. "She's like family."
"Yeah!" Juice smiled his best, disarming grin, wanting to get the hell out of there. Gemma wanted to kiss his cheek and smack him in the back of the head at the same time for being so easy to read. Family doesn't make you late for church or have you floating in to work grinning like an idiot.
She stood up, moving a pile of papers to the top of one of the many boxes littering up her space. "Well then…since she's family, bring her around."
Juice's smile fell off his face and landed on the floor with an almost audible crash. Shit! He had walked himself right into it. "I, uh…".
"The party Friday. Bring her." Now it was Gemma's turn to smile. "You better get back to work, we got a few jobs with actual deadlines."
Gemma couldn't help but chuckle at the dumbfounded look on his face and the urge to kiss him on the cheek won out. "Thank you, baby." Will this one ever learn?
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A/N: GEMMAAAAAAAA! I know, I know but what would an SOA story be if she wasn't all up in everybody's business? ;) Looks like we have some new readers! Welcome! Drop me a hello! See you next chapter! *kjx*
