Juice

My phone rang with Laura's ringtone and I snatched it up instantly. I greeted her with, "I'm sorry. I swear to God I'm sorry. You're my fiancé. You're the only girl that matters to me and the only girl that will ever matter to me. I want to live in our house and have babies one day and be happy with you and…."

"Juice, you were right; I was wrong," she interrupted. "I'm sorry. You have no reason to be. I don't want to not be with you. I've spent the last few days pissed at myself."

I was surprised. I wasn't expecting her to apologize. The other brothers teased me because they never apologized to their women and I always did. They would let their women be mad at them for weeks before the issues were resolved. I couldn't let Laura go more than a week without fixing things.

"Don't be. God, don't be."

"Look, I'll never like that you sleep around but you have my permission. It's fine."

"Then so can you," I said seriously. I didn't even think about it. I just blurted it out.

"Juice, I don't want anybody but you."

"You were a virgin when we got together, Laura. I am the only person you've ever been with. You should have the freedom to experience some new things."

"I don't want to, Juice."

"Then don't. But you have the freedom to and I never want you to forget that," I promised.

"I'm going to start looking at things to buy for the house. Did you get the loan?"

"Yep and I put the down payment on it. Things are looking good. You have my bank account information. Just order whatever you want and have it sent to the clubhouse. I'll take care of the rest. I won't arrange anything until you get home. We'll do that together."

"I'll send you links to everything so we can discuss everything together."

"You don't have to do that, baby. I know I'll love everything."

"Nope. You have to agree with it before I'll purchase it."

I laughed. Clay yelled, "Juice, do you mind getting off the fucking phone and helping Chibs get this damn van into the garage?!"

"Shit. I gotta go, baby. I'll…."

Suddenly, there was an explosion. I looked over in time to see the van on fire and Chibs laying on the concrete with a puddle of blood forming around him. I dropped the phone and raced to him.

Laura

There was an explosion. There was an explosion and then the line went dead. I sat on my room, clutching the phone to my ear and crying out, "Juice! Juan Carlos Ortiz please answer me! Please! God, please!"

I started sobbing uncontrollably and leapt up off the bed. I began shoving things in my suitcase. There was a sudden knock on the door and I shouted, "It's unlocked!"

Kate wandered in and froze in her tracks. She demanded, "What's going on?"

"I was on the phone with Juice and there was an explosion and the line went dead and I don't know what happened and…." I gasped for air and Kate raced over to me. She guided me backwards onto the bed and handed me a bottle of water. She looked around at the destruction I had caused in just a few moments as I tried to shove everything into bags.

"What other numbers do you have? Who else can we call for information?"

"Opie!" I cried out. "Dear God please call Opie!"

Kate grabbed my phone and started scrolling through my contacts. She held the phone to her ear and rubbed soothing circles on my back while she waited. Finally, she greeted, "Hello, is this Opie?"

I listened to her end of the conversation intently. "No, this is Kate, Laura's friend….No, no she's fine….Well, she heard about the blast at the garage and she's really worried about her boyfriend, Juice….Okay….No do you know anything else?...Look, I won't say anything and I don't want her to have to worry. She's having a panic attack right now. Can't you just give me something to tell her?...She's thinking about coming home and she really can't miss anymore class….Yeah…..Alright….I'll tell her. Just have him call her as soon as he can with updates….If she can talk, yeah….Alright, alright! Here!"

She stuck her arm out with the phone in her hand. I snatched it and cried out, "Ope, what's going on?"

"Nothing I can tell you over the regular line. Juice is fine. Chibs is hurt. We're trying to figure it out now. One of us will call you with updates. Do not come back home. It's not safe for you."

"He's okay? Perfectly okay?"

"Yes. Calm down. Take care of yourself. Be careful, Moon."

"I love you, Ope. I miss you."

"Love you too, Moon."

Juice

As soon as the cops showed up, I knew that we were all going to county. There was no way around it. I'd just gotten Laura to calm down about Chibs almost dying and now Gemma was going to have to call her and tell her that I would be in county and probably prison. In the van, I just put my head in my hands and was sick to my stomach. I'd been in prison before and it sucked ass. It would suck ass even more now that Laura was going to have to deal with my shit.

It was a meeting for Christians. She was going to think that I tried to shoot a bunch of Christians until I was able to tell her otherwise. Fucking Zobelle. He was one step ahead of us again. Every fucking time we tried to get him. He fucked Otto over and tried to kill Chibs. We had to retaliate but Jax was right to warn us. We should have listened to Jax. Because we didn't, I was going to have to inform Laura that I disappointed her. I wouldn't be able to marry my fiancé because I would be too busy serving a fifteen year prison sentence.

When we got to the jail, booking sucked ass. As did being strip searched. There was no way I was hiding anything in my asshole. I was not up for that ever. Sitting in that jail cell, I just stared at the floor. Clay growled, "Will you calm down? Gemma will tell Laura, you'll call and explain, and Laura will forgive you."

"We just got engaged. We're working on buying a house. It's her first year at college. She just started her new classes. She doesn't need this stress and she's never going to forgive me for this." I was hyperventilating a little. Clay didn't understand. Gemma loved the club more than life. She would choose the club over Clay any day and him being in jail wouldn't bother her for a second. Laura loved me more than the club and, while she would never make me choose her over the club, she still wouldn't be happy about it.

"Laura knows how your life is. You'll be fine. Now come on. We're going out to the yard and we're going to see if we can get us some protection from someone. Maybe we can find a way to get hold of Laroy."

Laura

"Laura, wait up!" I turned to see Kevin from my Chem 134 class running up to me. His jacket was pulled up over his head to shield him from the rain that was falling in sheets. It was crazy how often it rained in Berea. Once or twice a week there would be a torrential downpour. I waited and let him catch up to me. He lowered his jacket and slid under my umbrella with me.

"What's up?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go over the concepts with me tonight at around six or six thirty. We can order pizza and eat together or something," he offered. "I just know that you understood what we went over in class today and I have no clue how to do it."

"Of course. That would be perfect for me. I get off at six. Do you want to come over to my dorm and we can work together in the study?"

"Yeah that'd be awesome. I'll see you then."

I smiled at him and he walked away. I turned to head to my writing class and my phone rang. It was Gemma. I answered, "Hey, Gem. What's up?"

"Hey, darling. What are you doing right now?" She sounded tired. Exhausted really. Gemma was always tired but she sounded even more so than usual.

"I'm on my way to my writing seminar. What's up?"

"Well, has Opie called you?"

"No."

"Oh. Well this can wait until after class. You just go to class sweetheart and call me afterwards. It's not a big deal whatsoever. Just some little club housekeeping things that need done. I'll tell you everything after you get out of class. What time do you get out of class and work?"

"Well, I have class until four and work until six. Can you call me at six?" I asked. It was weird for Gemma to call for no reason but she hadn't been acting like herself since the car wreck the night of Bobby's celebration/our engagement party. She'd been a little strange.

"Of course I can, baby. I'll talk to you then. Love you, Moon."

"Love you too, Gemma."

I hung up and shook it off and walked to class. By six o'clock, I had forgotten about Gemma calling me. I was on my way to my dorm to get ready to meet Kevin in the lobby's study when my phone rang. I was hoping it was Juice. He hadn't called me in a few days but I figured it was because he was busy. Sometimes he got so caught up in club business that he couldn't call or talk to me for a few days. It wouldn't be safe or he just wouldn't have time. I understood it. It sucked but it didn't stop me from loving him. When I checked my phone, it was Gemma.

"Hey, Gemma!"

"Hey, honey. You sound happy."

"Today's been a pretty good day. I got a research paper back and I did amazing on it so that brightened my day and one of the kids I work with made me a macaroni necklace today so that was pretty amazing."

"That sounds great, honey. Hey, I need to talk to you about something about Juice."

"What's up? Is he in trouble again? He's been trying really hard recently not to be an idiot. He really wants to prove to the club that he can be trusted to do good things."

"And he's doing really well with that. He's proving it to all of us. Especially since he and the other guys had a run in with the cops again."

"A run in? What happened?" I was worried. The cops hated SAMCRO.

"Well, they're all in county right now."

"Juice too?"

"Yes. They were booked three days ago. Opie was going to call you but he's been busy with some stuff. We're working on getting bail money for them right now. The judicial system is really fucking us over. The bail is extreme but we're talking to Oswald about it. Tara and I don't want you to worry."

I felt the first tears run down my face and I brushed them away quickly. I demanded, "How long are they looking at?"

"Two to fifteen years. Gun possession and there was an incident with a church full of people that they assumed was a gathering of ex-cons. The least they'll be in county is two weeks because we have to gather the bail. We're doing our best, honey."

"Have you been able to talk to them?"

"I was able to talk to Clay. Juice said he doesn't want to call until you're prepared for it. He said he doesn't want to spring it on you that he's sitting in a jail cell."

"When Clay or Jax call, will you get him to call me?"

"Of course. You're handling this well, Laura."

"What other choice do I have, Gemma? I knew who Juice was and what the dangers were before I got with him. Him being in jail doesn't change the fact that I love him. Doesn't make me love him any less. I know what my duties are. Let me know if you need anything."

"We will, sweetheart. Don't let yourself get too stressed out. Our boys will get out of this. They always do. You just go on like nothing happened and your Juicy boy will call you in a day or two to let you know that he's doing just fine and to tell you how much he's missing you," Gemma soothed me.

"Alright. Thanks, Gemma. I'll probably call you tomorrow."

"Okay, honey. Bye."

"Bye, Gemma."

I hung up and inhaled shakily. I gave myself a minute to calm down and then walked to the study so I could meet up with Kevin. He was waiting for me, reading his book calmly. I took a deep breath and sat down beside him with a fake smile painted on my face.