The sky is so clear tonight;
It's so calm before the storm
All the stars shine so bright
Like the world has been reborn
-Calm Before the Storm by Darude
This chapter is loosely based on Gilead {S:2 EP:7}
I didn't mean for this to be so long, but chiz happens
"It's just a few days." He said, and those words have been haunting Marceline's mind since Kip walked out of the clubhouse.
At first, things were going fine. Marci and Jasmine helped the Old Ladies of the charter make sure their guests were comfortable and had everything they needed. Gemma and Tara were more curt with the porn-stars than Donna and the girls were, but everyone jammed into the clubhouse was taken care of. The first day passed quickly without anything extraordinary happening and Marci was sharing Kip's room with her best friend, Kenny and Ellie.
The next few days breezed by as well, but Marceline was constantly reminded of the missing Sons every time she walked into the bar. She'd see their mugshots on the wall and quietly sigh, missing all of them so much. She's been praying for their safety every night since they left and hoped that would ease her mind, but it did little to help. She was the most distracted when she was in charge of the kids and Kenny was delighted to have her to play with. Gemma, Tara and Donna were the only people allowed to leave the clubhouse to stock up on necessities and they were always escorted by Ratboy and at least 2 of the unknown Sons called in for extra protection.
When she felt like she was going a bit stir-crazy, Marci asked Piney if she could sit outside and smoke for a minute and he allowed her to, accompanied her to a picnic table himself. The gate to the lot was pulled shut and a pair of unnamed Sons were pacing it, both in possession of semi-automatic guns. While she was enjoying the sunlight and fresh air, Piney had informed her that Kozik and Phil were stationed at her house, mainly to feed Diesel, but also to keep an eye on things from outside the clubhouse. He asked her if she learned anything from the picture he gave her of Fiona and an unborn Kerrianne, surprising Marceline. She thought he was too drunk to remember what transpired that day, but apparently, Piney was skilled at putting on a drunken front. She told him about the conversation she had with Chibs and Piney had dryly joked about never being able to have that kind of heart-to-heart talk with his own son.
When the two-week mark hit, Marceline was constantly on the verge of a heart attack. Nobody updated her on what the hell was going on with the Sons and that only made her worry about every possible thing that could happen to them. She noticed Gemma and Tara leaving the clubhouse a little more often or finding a quiet place to talk on the phone, but they never said anything. Marci became restless and even started pacing in front of Jasmine and Donna, rambling her concerned thoughts about how she was terrified that her Dad and Kip were going to be taken away from her forever, how she felt like she never told them how much she loved and appreciated them.
Jasmine told Marceline to take a chill pill, which was the chronic she got from Juice before he left, and they shared the joint. When they finished it, all Marci could think about was the good vibes coursing through her entire body. She always had a lazy smile on her face and she'd giggle whenever anyone said something to her. Jaz decided to lift the spirits of everyone inhabiting the clubhouse by acting as DJ and she got everyone dancing, momentarily forgetting their worries as they had a little party of their own. She even played DJ Mert's On the Floor, her twerking anthem, and that sparked a competition to see which porn-star could out-twerk Jasmine. It wasn't surprising to see that nobody could, but one of the Cara Cara girls started pole dancing and Jaz was mesmerized, even went as far as asking for lessons.
That night, Marceline drifted off into an easy slumber and she didn't wake up in the middle of the night covered in cold sweat or panting from a nightmare about her family. It may have been the chronic she smoked, but it also could've been the fact that halfway through the night, Kip slipped into his room to wrap his arms around his snoozing girlfriend.
The Sons were released from the San Joaquin County Correctional Facility after their attempted attack on LOAN turned into a shitstorm with them on the receiving end. Opie had chased after AJ Weston, but lost him and was there to watch his brothers be arrested. He knew he had to lay low, so he stayed with Kozik and Phil and Chibs' place, downloading them on what happened.
While in lockup, the first call Clay made was to his wife to update her on what was going on and to tell her to get in contact with Elliot Oswald as soon as possible to get his help with their bail. He made sure to tell her that her son was in open rebellion against him too, having blocked his surefire kill-shot of Ethan Zobelle. Since SAMCRO helped him after his daughter was assaulted, Elliot didn't argue when Gemma and Tara came to him with their hands out. With his money, they posted bail for the Sons and could only anxiously await their homecoming.
The Sons were partially free men just a few nights later and the tension in the air was even thicker than it was at Chibs' dinner party. It seemed like each man was being pushed to one side, to continue being faithful to their current President or to try their luck with a new hand around the gavel, their Vice President. They all had their reasons for whom they picked and seemed to be sticking by them over shed blood and friendship.
When they arrived at the clubhouse and gave the all-clear on the porn-stars being safe enough to leave, the men went to take their families home. After Opie plucked his kids out of Kip's dorm and drove home with Donna, Kip slid into bed next to Marceline and wasn't at all bothered by Jasmine taking his usual position as the big spoon behind her.
~.~.~.~.
The next morning, a very flustered Jasmine was pacing back and forth in front of the table where Kip and Marceline were having breakfast.
Kip woke up before them and went out to grab breakfast for them all. When he got back, Marci and Jaz were coming out of the bathroom and his girlfriend almost fainted when she saw him. She ran over and hugged him so tightly, making him laugh into her hair. After ensuring her that he was in one piece, they sat down for breakfast and Kip, knowing what he was allowed to tell and what he wasn't, informed them that the Sons got booked for their attempted retaliation on LOAN and that Juice was admitted to San Joaquin General Hospital because he was shanked while they were detained. That was what caused Jasmine's uneasiness.
"Will you hurry up?" Jaz almost screeched at the couple.
"Would you calm down? Kip said he's fine." Marci giggled at her overly concerned friend. More than once, Kip told them that Juice was alive and well, that the most leftover damage he'd have was a couple flesh wounds, but Jasmine didn't seem to be reassured by that.
"My baby boy could be dying in somebody's hospital bed and you want me to calm down? Would Jesus calm down if Satan was trying to put the Antichrist into Mary?!" Jasmine rebutted, almost making Kip spit out the coffee he was drinking, while Marceline simply rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics. Having had enough waiting, Jaz closed up their breakfast containers and plucked the plastic utensils from their hands, ignoring their objections as she headed for the door. "Y'all can eat in the car! Let's go!" She yelled over her shoulder before walking out of the clubhouse.
Marci and Kip followed after Jasmine, being greeted with her impatiently honking the horn of Marceline's car. They finished eating in the car and Marceline had to switch seats with her best friend because Jasmine was driving like a goddamn maniac and was going to get pulled over sooner or later. She safely got them to San Joaquin General and they were directed to Juice's room, but Jaz refused to go inside, fearing that she'd find Juice in a full body cast or in a coma. Marci reminded her that the man only got stabbed a couple times, but that didn't help.
While Marceline tried to calm Jasmine down in the hallway, Kip went into Juice's room and couldn't help but smile at his friend as he sat up in bed with that dopey grin of his. He was smiling more so at the fact that Juice's head tattoos were currently hidden by his growing black hair. Why the doctors haven't let him shave it, he didn't know.
"Hey, how's our favorite pincushion?" Kip joked as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"Screw you." Juice laughed, sending a playful shove to Kip's arm. "Shit, I miss you guys."
"Miss you too, little Rican." Kip couldn't help himself, so he gave Juice a noogie and the tanned man took it with affection, laughing with his friend. "Your, uh...lady friend is out there with Marci."
"My lady friend?" Juice quoted and Kip shrugged at him. Juice and Jasmine weren't in an exclusive relationship like he was with Marceline. He couldn't say for sure that they were even in a relationship.
"She's worried about you, almost cried when I told her you were in here."
"Seriously?" Juice questioned, seeming genuinely concerned that Jasmine was crying over him, and Kip nodded in assurance.
"She cares about you, man. I know you two have got this fling going on and the going's good, but you are messing with my girlfriend's best friend..." Kip trailed off, unsure of if he should continue or if Juice got the message. Thankfully, the tanned man nodded in understanding.
"You're just doing your duty to your lady." Juice smiled.
Like Marceline, Kip was a little worried about what Juice's end game was when it came to Jasmine. If he knew his friend, then he knew that Juice wouldn't intentionally hurt Jasmine and he wouldn't degrade what they had by telling her that she was nothing more than a great lay. Kip actually noticed Juice's increased secrecy when it came to divulging information about what transpired between himself and Jaz whenever they were together. In replacement of their sexual endeavors were stories about Juice riding down to Lodi and telling Jasmine to sneak out of her house so he could take her somewhere and just spend time with her. It seemed like things were becoming serious, but Kip didn't know for sure.
Besides that, Kip considered Jasmine a friend and he liked her. She was a silly girl and he thought she shared half of Marceline's traits as did the ginger with her best friend.
Juice was folding and unfolding a piece of the blanket that was draped across his waist, something of a nervous habit backed by his OCD. He remained silent for another beat or so, then sighed. "I'm not good with relationships, but with Jasmine, it doesn't feel like that. She's not clingy or full of drama. She's quirky and funny and-"
"Bendy?" Kip suggested, breaking out into a wide grin with his friend.
"Very bendy." Juice agreed. "Putting the sex aside, she's an awesome girl. If she wants something more serious, I'm willing to do that, but only if she brings it up."
"Fair enough." Kip agreed, nodding in approval of his friend's willingness to make something serious out of his and Jasmine's almost strictly sexual contact. "You know, Marci would kill you if you just tossed Jasmine to the side, right?"
"Marci would kill me? Dude, I'm more worried about Jasmine." Juice professed and Kip raised a questioning brow at the slightly panicked look on his friend's face. "She warned me not to play her and if I did, she'd shoot my dick off."
"Girls say stuff that all the time." Kip shrugged, unphased by the threat.
Juice grabbed Kip's shoulder and pulled him closer just so he could understand the seriousness of the situation at hand. "She had my dick in her hand with her pistol to my shaft when she said it."
Both men let out an audible shudder at that, Kip realizing that Jasmine had a psychotic side. He knew, from Marceline, that T.O. had Jasmine carrying a gun for protection, but he didn't know she was comfortable enough with it to use it as a threat. He briefly wondered why Juice didn't call things off after that, but reasoned that his friend liked a woman with a crazy side or he was too fearful of what would happen to his manhood if he tried cutting Jasmine off.
Juice slid over in bed as much as the small space would allow and Kip laid next to him. Juice flicked the TV on and was happy to see that Looney Tunes was still on. They were playing a Daffy Duck special and the men watched and laughed at the classic cartoons, but Juice kept asking if Jasmine was okay because she hasn't come into his room yet. Kip just noticed that he couldn't hear the girls in the hallway and he got out of bed to go investigate, but bumped into Marceline as soon as he opened the door.
Marci was literally dragging Jasmine into the room and her friend's sneakers were squeaking on the tiled floor due to her trying to plant her feet into the ground. Her hand was covering her brown eyes and Marci stopped pulling her when she was at the foot of Juice's bed. She pried Jasmine's hand from her face, which made the girl bury her head into Marceline's shoulder, then stood behind her with her hands on Jasmine's head to make her look at Juice.
"See? He's not dead or in a vegetative state or getting brain surgery. He's fine." Marci stressed, sounding very tired or slightly maniacal from the effort she had to put in just go get Jasmine to step foot in the room.
"I'm okay, Jasmine, really." Juice assured the girl with a smile. Jasmine said nothing, just stared at Juice as if she thought she was dreaming. Her eyes were big and starry and she didn't blink when Marceline waved her hand in front of her face.
Kip went to Jasmine's side and poked the girl in her shoulder, but she still didn't react. "I think you broke her." He said to Juice with a lopsided grin.
"It's his hair. She likes it." Marceline told Kip, remembering when Jasmine told her how Damien always had short hair until he grew it out over the Summer and she loved him a little more because of it. Kip poked Jasmine again, but the girl refused to stop gawking at Juice and Marci giggled. "Give her a second, she'll reboot."
While Jasmine's brain was restarting, Marceline went over to Juice's bedside and gave him a hug, asked him how he was doing. He overshared by telling her that he had blood in his stool, which was why the doctors were keeping him for observation, but that he was fine and that he missed everyone. Finally coming out of her trance, a shiver ran through Jasmine that made her put a hand over her heart to will it to stop beating so fast.
Marceline had migrated over to Kip and was draped across his lap in a chair next to Juice's bed. The couple didn't detect it, but Juice noticed the glimmer that glazed over Jasmine's honey orbs and knew it was the same one that signaled that the girl was settling into a kinky-lustful mood.
"So, you're okay?" Jasmine purred to Juice, alerting Kip and Marceline, as she began a slow strut over to his bed. She had his entire attention and nothing could make him take his eyes off her. She trailed her fingers up his blanket-covered leg and stopped just a few inches higher than his knee, but not just yet on his thigh. "Nothing hurts and everything's working?"
All Juice could do is swallow a ball of nothing, rendered silent by how easily Jaz could tune into her inner minx. He slowly nodded and Jasmine smiled at him. Without a word of warning, she easily climbed into the bed and straddled Juice's lap, his hands shooting to her hips the second she was settled on him.
"Jasmine!" Marci scolded from beside the bed, stunned by how risqué her best friend was.
Jaz turned to Marci and was about to say something, but her attention was pulled back to Juice upon feeling how happy he was to see her. "Well, everything that needs to work is fully functioning." She coquettishly commented to Juice before turning back to her slack-jawed friend. "Marci, he needs some TLC and I'm gonna let you guess what the C stands for, but it's not 'care.'"
"We should go." Marci advised Kip was a pat on his chest. He stood up with her in his arms and she told Jasmine to go easy on Juice because he was still healing, then bid them goodbye.
With some free time on their hands, Kip took Marceline back to the clubhouse and all the Sons were there. She hugged all of them and laughed when she saw Quinn watched Sanford & Son on his phone. She spent quite some time with her Dad and tried to express how much she appreciated and loved him through tender hugs and retelling of golden memories from her childhood. Kip was watching them from the bar with a smile. They had some bumps along the line, but he was happy to see that nothing has broken the bond or the love shared between Marceline and Chibs. He's never seen the Scotsman smile so much before his daughter rolled into Charming.
Marceline was showing Chibs more of her sketches and telling him about her next apprentice appointment with Freddy when he looked to the bar to find Kip watching them. He urged Marci to go have fun with her boyfriend and that he'd show the Sons the tattoos she thought they'd like. Once he shooed her away, Kip was riding to his house to keep his promise of kidnapping Marci and never letting her leave his house again.
~.~.~.~
Early the next morning, Church had been called and Clay didn't sound like he was anywhere near a good mood. Juice felt as though he was well enough to be discharged from the hospital while the other Sons untangled themselves from their Old Ladies and managed to slip out of bed without waking them to ride to the clubhouse. They all gathered in the Chapel at their designated seats and as the only unpatched members of the charter, Happy and Kozik were leaning on the wall behind Piney's seat at the end of the table opposite to Clay.
"You all know that we're out on bail and we're spending borrowed time." Clay began with a stony tone, skipping over any pleasantries. "Rosen's been working with Elliot and doing his legal shit. He called me this morning and said we've got the rest of the week as free men, then we're getting booked."
"How long?" Quinn asked.
"Lookin' at 15 to 20 long ones, boys." Clay didn't hesitate with his answer and, as expected, he heard some sighs and the creaking of chairs as the Sons leaned back in them. He only let them have a moment to let that news sink in before he got to the next matter. "That aside, we've got the rest of the week to destroy LOAN and Jimmy'O before either of them pull some more crazy shit. It's short notice, but we gotta do what we can with what we've got."
"He's still in the States." Chibs assured his President in that gravely calm tone of his. "LOAN's probably got him tucked away somewhere, but he's still around."
That was the reason behind why Jax was so furious when they came to Chibs' homecoming dinner.
Jimmy'O was working with LOAN to destroy SAMCRO for their own reasons, assumed that teaming up would be the best way to overpower the Sons. Before they got to Gemma's, they were in Cameron Hayes' electronic store, which served as a front for his gun-dealing business, and Chibs had a gun to Jimmy's head. He was going to kill the man simply for thinking he was untouchable enough to step foot in Charming, then Cameron informed them that the green was trying to buy him out on behalf of LOAN. Jax was attempting to defuse the situation by reminding Chibs that it was broad daylight and something else, but Chibs didn't hear anything after that because Jimmy had gone and covertly threatened to harm Fiona and Kerrianne, knowing that his estranged wife was in the States.
If Jax hadn't been there to tug Chibs' arm away from Jimmy's head, Chibs probably would've been in jail. The Club didn't know about the deal Jax was making with Agent Stahl and he planned to keep it that way for the greater good. Stahl knew the Sons were headed into lockup, even called Jax the night he got out to brag about it, and thought she was going to get Jimmy O'Phelan with a red bow on his head. In exchange, she'd keep her mouth shut about her knowledge of the Sons' participation in the assault on LOAN- her testifying would likely get them all a life sentence- and she'd let them take care of that problem. Jax wanted her to keep believing that he was turning his back on his club, that he trusted her.
"Any news on Luanne?" Bobby questioned and it made Clay's face twist in annoyance.
"Bobby, right now, I couldn't care less about what the fuck Luanne's doing." He spat at the stout man just one seat away from him. "Don't you think we've got more important shit to worry about?"
"Don't you think we'll have to worry about Big Otto hounding us when we're in the same fucking block as him?" Bobby rebutted with a sharp sting of venom in his words. "He's serving life behind bars for us and what did he ask us to do? Lookout for Luanne, make sure his wife doesn't have any problems with her porn studio."
"Bobby's right." Jax agreed before Clay could snap back at Bobby and that made the older man's intense blue eyes lock on the blond, but Jax was looking around the table at the other Sons. "We put Luanne on the backburner. She's our business partner and we should've taken more care of her and Cara Cara, but before that, she's family and we take care of our own."
"Do I really need to call a vote on what our main priority should be?" Clay cynically asked the men in the room. "A retired cum dumpster's whereabouts or cutting the head off a serious threat that could destroy everything we've built the second we're in cuffs?"
"I back Clay." Tig cast his vote as soon as the choices were out. "We gotta deal with LOAN and Jimmy before we go into lockup."
Jax scoffed with a shake of his head. "Why am I not surprised?"
Tig's aquamarine eyes turned that violent shade they did when he was waiting for the right moment to turn into a psychotic demon and his gaze was fixed on Jax, who met his Sergeant-At-Arm's eyes without fear. For a long time, Jax did hold fear towards how callous and ruthless Tig could be, but after they fought after Clay ordered a teenage witness to be murdered, he found that he was no longer fearful of Tig.
"If it wasn't for your heroic act of bravery, Zobelle would be dead. The goddamn ringleader would be dealt with and that would've provoked Weston to come at us half-cocked and unorganized." Tig hissed at Jax from across the table like a pissed off Viper. "We could've killed off the rest of those neo-Nazi fucks and me and Hap could've made Weston tell us where Jimmy's hiding in 10 minutes, but because of you, we're backsliding. And now, because shit's too hot and heavy, you wanna run away from the problem just like you tried to run by going Nomad."
"Tig, that's enough." Kozik warned. He knew that when Tig was trying to get a rise out of someone, he tended to deal low-blows. Nobody said anything about Jax's decision to go Nomad since he came back to the clubhouse with his patch sewn onto his kutte. He didn't have to say anything and the Sons knew that he decided not to leave.
"You know, for a while, you had me convinced you were nothing like your old man. I had faith in you, little Prince." Tig continued his threatening taunts. He leaned over the table and Jax did too, still unintimidated, the Reaper carved into the wood the only thing separating them. "Bullshit to that. You are, without a fucking doubt, JT's son. You're a spineless coward just like him."
"And what are you?" Jax sneered at the black-haired man, his lip curling in disgust. "A bloodthirsty bitch waiting for his master to tell him what to do."
The Sons looked on in anticipation of what was going to happen next. Both Jax and Tig's dominance were clashing with one another and it was hard to tell who's was more assertive. Nobody knew for sure, but one of their chairs scraped against the floor and both men were on their feet, grabbing, attempting to throw punches and cursing at each other.
"Hey! Stop!" Kozik barked and quickly made his way to the left side of the table as Bobby and Juice pulled Jax away, keeping him pressed into the wall to keep him settled. Kozik grabbed Tig by the collar of his leather and forced him back to the locked leather doors. Sometimes, there was no such thing as being gentle when it came to Tig, especially not when he was in a hostile mood. "Back off, Trager." He gave Tig a final warning in his most threatening voice, his own SSA tone that he used in Tacoma, and Tig shoved his arm away, but Koz regained his grip and glared at Tig until he felt like the message got through.
When the steam settled and everyone was sure that Jax and Tig weren't going to try and slaughter each other, they were released and sat down. They straightened their kuttes and Jax lit a cigarette, both men refusing to look at the other.
"Two votes for going after LOAN." Clay announced to refocus on what was important. "Chibs, LOAN or Luanne?"
"LOAN." Chibs quickly answered and he kept his eyes on Jax as he did, watched as his VP pulled the cigarette from his lips to look at Chibs with those hardened and hurt baby blues. "This is more important, Jackie. This is spilled blood we're talkin' about."
"Opie."
"LOAN." The tall man answered, but Jax expected that to happen. Opie had told Jax that he needed to learn his place in the club, had constantly reminded him that he wasn't President and couldn't do the shit he wanted because he didn't have the right yet. He loved Jax as his brother and his best friend, but those things sometimes had to be put aside when dealing with club shit.
"Quinn."
"LOAN." Was Quinn's quick reply. While he was patched into SAMCRO now, he knew little about Luanne other than that she ran the porn studio. He couldn't point out her face in a crowd and he probably wouldn't even know who she was if she spoke to him, therefore, she seemed unimportant as opposed to what was lurking on the other end of the spectrum.
"Piney."
"LOAN." Clay was surprised by the older man's vote, even glanced up from the gavel to look down the table at the man. He suspected that Piney, knowing that he and Bobby wanted him to hand over the gavel to Jax more than any of the other Sons, would back his Vice President. Jax set his cigarette in an ashtray on the table and ran his hands over his face in disbelief. He was hoping that Piney would be one of the Sons on his side. "Bigger picture, kid. What'll it matter if all of you go into lockup and come out to nothing? No MC, no families, Charming overrun with white supremacists using our burned leather as their goddamn flag. They gotta go now."
Jax didn't look at Piney when he explained his reasoning, but the elder man knew that he was listening. When no comment came from the blond, Clay continued with his roll call for votes. "Half-Sack."
"LOAN." Kip decided and he looked to Juice, since he was next to cast his vote, only to find the tanned man staring at him with a confused expression.
"Juice."
"Luanne." Juice voted and he glared at Tig when he heard him scoff. Looking to Chibs, the Scotsman gave him a nod in acceptance to his answer, but it was Kip's turn to look confused. He wasn't expecting Juice to cast his vote for Luanne.
Clay hesitated for a brief moment, but with a slight shake of his head because he knew what the outcome was, said the next name. "Bobby."
"Luanne." Bobby proudly cast his vote and clapped Jax on the back in a gesture that said, 'I got your back, brother.'
"And Jax."
"Luanne." Jax said, but the loss of confidence was clear in his voice.
"That's 3 for Luanne and 7 for LOAN. Majority rules." Clay quickly banged the gavel to seal the deal and to prevent anyone from changing their vote, noticing that some of the Sons looked like they were reconsidering. "We start planning tomorrow. For the rest of the day, I want eyes and ears all over Charming. Chibs, talk to Cameron. Tig, Quinn, reach out to the Grim Bastards. Opie, start stocking up on the hottest firepower you can get your hands on. Dismissed."
With a final bang of the gavel, all the Sons stood to leave the Chapel and carry out the orders they were given. Jax wasn't surprised when Clay called Happy back into the Chapel, but he didn't even waste the time on commenting. He thanked Bobby and Juice for backing him, then went outside to mount his bike and ride home before Tara and his son woke up.
On the lot, Juice and Kip were walking to a picnic table and they both sat on the top when they got there.
"Luanne?" Kip questioned his friend, slightly pulling a face in skepticism.
"LOAN?" Juice questioned back. They both shared a short laugh and Juice nodded at his thoughts, what he suspected was Kip's reasoning behind his vote. "I don't blame you, man. LOAN seems tough as shit right now, but they're just another group pissed at the Sons. Been there, done that. Luanne's family and yeah, she's kinda greedy and two-faced at times, but family always comes first."
Kip agreed wholeheartedly with Juice on the value and importance of family. He didn't really have one before he started running with the Sons and he loved seeing how his brothers cherished their kids and wives. Now, he felt like Marceline was part of his family and he cherished her too. What he didn't agree with was putting out for Luanne when she was always so reluctant to do anything involving the Sons. She only came calling when she had a problem; she was nothing like Gemma and she even turned her back on the matriarch once or twice and they were supposed to be friends.
"This heat between Jax and Clay is getting out of hand." Kip commented with a sigh, hanging his head and rubbing the back of his neck.
While the Sons were in lockup, a fight broke out between the two and they barely looked at each other now. Their differences were starting to branch out and affect the rest of the club by making the members pick sides. Bobby was definitely backing Jax no matter what and Tig was loyal to Clay indefinitely. While they were in Church, he noticed that some of the Sons seemed to be migrating towards one side while others still seemed to be on the fence.
"They'll settle it in lockup." Juice nonchalantly dismissed. He had seniority over Kip and knew that when bad blood was boiling between two members, all they usually needed was to duke it out and things would be aces again. "About that, what're you gonna do about Marceline?"
Kip picked his head up and quizzically looked at Juice. "What about her?"
"Dude, our brothers are gonna be speed bangin' us in dark hallways for the next 15 to 20 years and they're probably gonna try to pimp us out for cigarettes. You can't tell her what's going on, it's club business, but don't you think she's gonna get a little suspicious when you suddenly go missing?" Juice reminded his friend about the lengthy sentence they were due to serve and it was like Kip ran into a brick wall, having forgotten all about it. He let out an annoyed groan and fell on his back on the table with the bottom of his palms rubbing his eyes.
Kip hadn't even thought about how him going to prison was going to affect his relationship with Marceline. Had he thought about her while they were in Church, he probably would've voted for Luanne, but that still wouldn't change the fact that in one week, he was going into lockup. He couldn't ask Marci to wait for him. That wouldn't be fair to her and he couldn't be so selfish. She was still so young and vibrant, had her whole life ahead of her. He didn't want her to waste 20 years of her life waiting for him and he sure as hell wasn't going to agree to the Prison Clause; he was sure she wouldn't either.
"What are you gonna do about Jasmine?" Kip asked Juice since he couldn't come up with any ideas about what he was going to do about his own relationship.
"Perks of not being cuffed. I don't have to tell her anything." Kip lifted a hand to look Juice and saw him smiling. "That sounds heartless, I know, but the plan is to write her when I'm in lockup and tell her that I'm gonna be in for a while. Hopefully, she'll write me back and I'll have a pen pal."
"Right, 'cause she can't maim you if you're in prison." Kip teased and Juice laughed, but sent a harmless punch to his friend's chest. He knew he was going to get shit from Kip about that gun to his dick thing for the rest of his life.
"No ideas with Marci yet, huh?" Juice asked and that provoked Kip to sigh in agreement. "The best advice any of us can give you is to enjoy the beautiful woman you have while you still have her. Just go be with her. Hug her and kiss her and tell her you love her and have sex until you pass out. Appreciate every second you spend with that girl. " Kip sat up on his elbows upon hearing how sincere and poetic Juice sounded. He wondered if his friend had smoked before Church, but remembered it was still early and the Sons had a rule of no hash before 10 AM.
They shared a look and an essay of unsaid words were exchanged between the friends. This was the first long sentence Kip was going to serve for the club, but it was going to be twice as hard because he was leaving behind someone he loved. Juice knew that Marceline was a tough girl, just like her Dad, and had faith that she'd be okay while her boyfriend was in lockup. He could already picture being bunkmates with Kip and hearing him talk about his latest visit with Marci, then the both of them swapping pictures their girls sent with their letters.
Kip and Juice shared a brotherly hug and Juice told his friend to get going. Kip didn't need to be told again and was making his way to his bike to ride home to Marceline.