Walk Away from the Son
Parker Sister Saga continues – Season 2 of SoA
Chapter 5- Matches & Gasoline
By BG and Reaper
**Oh my sweet lord, this is the chapter that did not want to be written. Oh how we struggled and Juice staged a damn coup… but alas here it is. We hope our struggles were not for naught because just as in "real life"… some shit just has to be worked through.
** And as for Juice – it is HARD at best to get a mental picture of him the likes of this … so praise be screen captures… take a peek at the pic of "MAD JUICE" at Tignation in our photo album or on our author profile at FF before you proceed, if you want to share a bit of our inspiration, that is. **
XXX
Tig shook his head and swallowed his gulp of beer. "If the IRS comes knockin' on my door, someone's ass is grass, man, is all I'm sayin'."
"And why would that happen?" Juice asked from where he was sitting at the bar with his ever-present lap top.
"Because the woman who hates my fucking guts is doing my damn taxes; wonder if it's too late to call H&R Block?" Tig pondered. "At least they'll go to the audit with me, says so on TV."
"Aww, Tigger… you don't think Jaci would go to court for ya?" Chibs asked with a chuckle.
"Shut the fuck up... having her involved in our taxes is the Mother Load of bad fuckin' ideas, man."
The current tax talks were interrupted as Half Sack wandered in, looking dejected.
"What's the matter Prospect, you look as if you just watched Ol' Yeller go down with the Titanic." Chibs remarked as he turned to look at the Prospect.
"Clay says I ain't got time to go to college." Half Sack answered quietly.
"That sucks dude, but he's sorta right… college is time consuming as hell man. Vix ain't got a spare second." Juice took a drag off his cigarette. "What'd chya want last night anyway? I got your message at like two-thirty this morning."
If possible at all possible, Half Sack suddenly looked ten times worse than before. "Well I um…"
The others stopped what they were doing and listened intently as Kipp dished about seeing Vix at the restaurant with Connor.
The three men stared at him. Chibs eyed him carefully, "Are you sure, Prospect?"
Half sack nodded. "That I saw her- YES. That I heard what I heard ABSOLUTELY… that I missed a bunch of the conversation – YES." He shrugged. "I don't know; what I DID hear left very little to the imagination."
Juice slammed his laptop shut and was flexing his jaw as his anger and shock grew. His voice was tight. "She's mentioned this Connor guy before...this makes sense. Mother Fucker! I KNEW there was something going on!" He pointed a finger at the Prospect. "Tell us exactly what you heard." Juice was already jumping to conclusions in his mind. "This is very fuckin' important, Sack."
Kipp couldn't hide his nervous twitches. He was uncomfortable with having to be the bearer of bad news. He felt like he was betraying the friendship he'd developed with the Parker sisters since they'd arrived in town, but the loyalty and need to protect a future brother outweighed that. He nervously scratched his head, pulled at his plaid shirt and cringed as he informed, "Ok…I definitely heard him say something about fucking him and blowing his two best friends."
"Dude said that in the middle of a restaurant? Loud enough for you to hear in the next booth?" Juice questioned with disgust on his face.
"Yeah...sorry, man. Vix completely laughed it off though."
Juice waved off that comment. "And she was flirtin' back?"
"A little." Half Sack replied, holding his fingers a smidge apart for emphasis.
Tig started to laugh and shook his head. Juice glared at him, not thinking any of the news was funny in the least. Tig blew out a breath and smirked, "Brother…you got PLAYED.
This is the exact fuckin' reason you don't bother having an old lady. They fuckin' stab you in the back!"
"Did Jaci cheat…" Half Sack started to ask with a frown on his face.
"She wasn't my fuckin' old lady, numb nut." Tig corrected with a glare and a pointed finger. "I'm just sayin'…Vix can't spare a second? Seems like she's finding a few for the Professor. Good way to cement an A... maybe an A+ depending on her oral ability."
"Tig!" Chibs warned.
"What? You saw how fuckin' chummy Parker was with those college guy douchebags at the bar that night." He looked to Juice. "Maybe the professor isn't the only one you gotta be worried about."
Chibs sighed, taking in all the accusations but he had to admit it didn't look so good. He shrugged, "It took Jaci all of ten minutes to give number to one of them. And they flocked right to Vix."
Juice slammed his hand down. "Goddamnit! I KNEW there was something going on!"
"None of this makes sense though. Vix is totally into you, dude. Maybe you should call her and talk to her ya know?" Half Sack interjected.
"Why? So she can LIE to 'em?" Chibs asked incredulously. Juice stared at the Scotsman. Chibs shook his head, "Brotha, what do people do when they get caught? They LIE."
"Fuckin' A right!" Tig agreed. He started mocking in a high pitched tone, "Oh, Juice…I swear there's nothing going on…"
"Damn it." Juice hung his head. "You're right, you're right."
Chibs thought for a moment and then added, "Hell, maybe SHE isn't the problem. Maybe the teacher needs to be told to back off."
Tig nodded and adds his two cents. "Either way, the bullshit stops. If there's nothing going on … now he won't pursue. If it IS her, she ain't gonna want a guy with a jacked up face. Your message gets through loud and clear."
XXX
An hour later, Juice walked out of the clubhouse wearing jeans with a flannel shirt thrown over one of his favorite skull tees and ball cap. Chibs waited for him in black pants and a dark colored hoodie. Chibs took one last drag from his cigarette and nodded at him, "You got his address?"
Juice nodded coldly and replied, "School of Hard Knocks is now in session." Chibs tossed his cigarette butt and they got on their bikes, heading out for the canyon to pay Professor Connor a visit.
XXX
The next morning:
Vix awoke to the chords of a familiar song blaring out of her clock radio, her hand was about to slap the snooze button when the realization of what today was hit her. She sucked in her breath as Stevie Nicks began singing…
Well I've run through rainbows and castles of candy
And I've cried a river of tears from the pain
I tried to dance with what life has to hand me
My partner's been pleasure… my partner's been pain
There are days when I swear I can fly like an eagle
And our desperate hours that nobody sees
My arms strechted triumphant on top of the mountain
Or my head in my hands, down on my knees
Sometimes it's a bitch… sometimes it's a breeze
Sometimes love's blind… sometimes it sees
Sometimes it's roses… and sometimes it's weeds
Sometimes it's a bitch… sometimes it's a breeze
She shook off the trip down memory lane and flipped the switch, silencing Stevie. She grabbed her cell phone and walked down the hall to the bathroom. As she flipped open the phone, she was saddened but not surprised by the lack of call or message from Juice. She typed a quick text and then tossed her phone on the vanity and pulled her t-shirt over her head. She stepped into the shower, her mind singing the jingle from the commercial for COAST, Open your eyes with Coast. She thought to herself, hope this soap lives up to all the hype, I'm gonna need help keeping my eyes open today.
XXX
Juice had been so amped up from the prior night that he'd hardly slept and now he found himself trying to parlay his fury into something constructive. He'd been doing odd jobs around TM since an hour before dawn. Currently the radio was blaring as he went about emptying the oil vats. He wasn't consciously listening to Steven Tyler and the boys from Aerosmith sing, but the devil on his shoulder was rocking out to the song…
You think you're in love
Like it's a real sure thing
But every time you fall
You get yo' ass in a sling
You used to be strong
But now it's "ooh, baby please"
'cause fallin' in love is so hard on the knees
In his pocket, his cell phone chimed. He wiped his hands and retrieved it. He slid it open and saw that he had a text from Vix. Despite his best efforts not to, he pushed a button and read her message. He turned and whipped the phone against the cinderblock wall sending pieces scattering to the four corners of the garage.
There ain't gonna be no more beggin' you please
You know what I want and it ain't one of these…
Across the garage someone switched the radio off. Juice turned around to find Chibs standing there. "You get any sleep at all, brother?"
"Not really."Juice mumbled. "But I'm fine."
"If you say so." Chibs replied with a yawn. "What that phone ever do to you?"
Juice shrugged and Chibs knew the kid was still reeling. "Why don't you and me roll on out to Lumpy's, get some food in us, huh?"
"You go ahead, I'm not really that hungry." Juice said and turned back towards the oil vat. Behind him Chibs shrugged and switched the radio back on as he walked out of the garage.
I'm Jonesin' on love…
Yeah, I got the D.T.s …
We say that we will…
Yeah, but there ain't no guarantees.
I majored in Love, but in all minor keys…
Cause fallin' in love is so hard on the knees.
Juice sighed and then killed the radio as he walked by. "Hey, dude-wait up!"
XXX
A little conversation, a little more action…all this aggravation ain't satisifactioning me." Elvis sang as Jaci's phone rang. She grinned and answered. "Hello, Mr. Munson."
"Morning, Miss Parker. How's your day goin'?" Bobby asked sweetly.
"Well, considering Piney just dropped off an actual shoebox full of random medical receipts and told me 'good luck, you'll need it', I'm saying my day is shit."
Bobby chuckled. "Yeah…I heard you won the privilege of doing all of our taxes this year."
"You say that like there were actually other candidates."
"Probably not so much. Oh, speaking of, Chibs was going on and on about expecting a huge ass refund just so you know."
"Chibs is going to sorely disappointed." Jaci said as she finished reviewing a credit report at her desk.
"Ha. Well, enough about that shit. Don't know if you've heard through the grapevine, but I got a new gig as head accountant of the porn studio here. Thought it was going to be a piece of cake, but I'm drowning in an explosion of files and bullshit and need some expert assistance. I know your plate is full…"
Jaci groaned. "Bobby, my plate and cup and every other damn thing runneth over right now."
"Sorry…I sorta need the help today. Making sure we're making a profit ASAP is damn high on the SAMCRO priority list." Bobby explained and then added, "Pretty please…with a cherry on top?"
Jaci started looking at her client schedule for the day. If she put off doing some paperwork until tomorrow and lied to the office receptionist saying she was off meeting a client she could cut out of work around 1pm. She relayed the time to Bobby and then hung up. She frowned at her phone, remembering something Tara had mentioned the night before and called the good doctor.
"Hey chick…quick question. You said there was a little showdown at Cara Cara the other day. What was that about?"
Tara blew out a breath. "'I think Bobby's working over there now and Luann didn't like it. Gemma went to talk to Luann and Clay told her to keep her nose out of it, didn't want her hanging around there. Tig was there…asshole stood like an INCH from me. Creepy bastard."
"Well shit." Jaci replied. "Bobby's calling me for help. I'm not looking for an ass chewing from SAMCRO upper management. Believe me; the last place I want to be is at a porn studio!"
"Yeah, well beware of the talent over there too. One of them has her eye on Jax and was ALL in my face. Grade A bitch."
"Which one?" Jaci asked with a frown.
"Skinny blonde named Ima. I don't think THEY like outsiders."
"Mmmph, well I'll be sure to be extra nice to her." Jaci replied sarcastically and Tara wished her luck.
XXX
Pick up, come on pick up Rachel chanted in her head. On the fourthring, when all hope of reaching Vix in real time was almost lost, she heard her chirp into the phone "Hola, chica." She laughed and added, "What's up, Rach?"
Rachel and Vix had fast become friends, she hated like hell to think she could possibly be gambling that friendship away in revealing to Vix what she had heard and suspected, but then again, would dishonesty and avoidance of fact serve that friendship any better? "Hey girl, you on campus yet?"
Vix scoffed. "Been there and left already. Had Intro to Marketing at ten and just left Business English. Gotta go back in a while for Statistics and Probability." She groaned. "I'm headed to Study Hall as we speak, you wanna meet me there?"
"I can do that." Rachel nodded and shifted her VW in reverse.
"See ya soon." Vix replied and hung up.
XXX
Jaci made her way over to Cara Cara Studios that afternoon. She parked out front and called Bobby to get him to meet her at the door. He laughed at her and assured her the talent wouldn't bite her and to just come on inside.
She walked through the front door and felt like a fish out of water. She took in the sights; people painting and building sets, girls walking around half naked, huge cameras being rolled around…the whole place was a flurry of activity.
Luann spotted her and walked over. "You look a little lost. What are you doing here?"
"Um…I'm looking for Bobby." Jaci replied with a slight wince.
"Oh I get it, calling in the professional to tear through my shit huh?" Luann rolled her eyes.
"I'm just here to help Bobby get organized. I'm not auditing anything or sticking around longer than I have to." Jaci reassured as she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail.
Luann jerked her head toward an office. "He's in there." She took a closer look at Jaci, dressed in sleek black slacks and a tight light blue dressy t-shirt and cocked her head. "You know…slap some glasses on you and you've got a certain naughty teacher, lawyer kind of vibe going…you ever wanted to make some real money…"
Jaci caught her drift and laughed. "Oh NO WAY! You're talking to the wrong sister, Luann. Vix is the completely extroverted, more likely wannabe porn star. Me…not so much. But thanks for the offer…I think." Jaci headed for the office. She spotted Juice watching a scene being set up but he didn't notice her. She slipped inside the office and shut the door behind her.
XXX
Rachel walked into Big Daddy's Bar and Grill, removed her sunglasses and let her eyes adjust to the change in lighting. She nodded towards Larry, who was on his normal perch at the end of the bar. "Hey, Last Call."
"Damn you!" Larry mumbled before draining the glass in front of him.
"Nice to see you too." Rachel laughed.
"Oh I am always glad to see you but would be even happier to see you five minutes from now." He held up a $5. "Here, give this to your partner-in-crime." She was just about to take the bill, when he rescinded it. "How did you make such good time with all the road work and construction?"
Rachel grinned. "I'll never reveal my secrets. If I did then every Tom, Dick or LARRY would use them and I'd lose my edge."
Larry chuckled and handed her the money. "We wouldn't want that now would we?" Hee nodded towards the private back room. "You know where to find her."
Rachel took the money and smiled at Corbin, who had suddenly surfaced by the bar. "Hey, Big Daddy. Can I get a bottle of Bud? "
"You may. You want your tried and true onion ring accompaniment?"
Rachel thought of the task at hand. "Nah, not today, just the Bud and another of whatever Vix is drinking."
Corbin chuckled. "That would be a big ol' glass of Southern Sweet Tea, says she needs a clear head for her next class. I told her I don't know how clear her brain will be after the sugar rush."
"That sweet huh?" Rachel asked.
"That crap would put fur on your teeth." Larry mumbled. "Diabetes in a glass."
"MAMACITA!" Vix's voice boomed from the head of the hallway. "How long you been here?"
Rachel held up the five dollar bill. "Long enough!"
Vix smiled. "HA! THAT is the reward for my little experiment in the Relative Frequency of Occurrence theory."
"See what your TEA did, Corb?" Larry said with a shake of his head. "Stick with alcohol, sweetie. The sugar's got ya acting crazy."
Vix laughed and the girls disappeared into the back room. They had no more than sat down in one of the big corner booths when Rachel cleared her throat. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that judging by your demeanor you haven't heard the news round campus?"
"There always seems to be somethin' goin' on. What's the latest cause honestly I am so wrapped up in trying to understand this Statistics and…"
"Connor is in the hospital."
"WHAT? When? What happened?" Vix fired questions with concern in her voice and on her face.
"I've had three classes this morning and I heard damn near the exact same story in all three so it's gotta be solid. And well, you know Johnny Bates? Even he's heard and God bless him but he is so far out of the loop that if HE's heard a rumor it must be true."
Vix nodded. "Ok so spill, what happened?"
"Apparently Connor and his teacher's pet du jour were coming back to his place for a bit of boom-boom when two guys jumped him. Seems to have happened very quickly. Rumor has it he'd gotten out of the car to open the garage because his opener doesn't work and these two guys appeared out of nowhere. Connor and one guy got into a rather intense verbal exchange and the dude started throwing punches. Connor got in a few good lick but then this dude started wailing on Connor, punch after punch after punch. The other guy was apparently acting like a look out. The chick doesn't even think they two guys realized she was inside the car."
Rachel took a breath and continued. "The chick watched the whole thing. After the dude beat Connor to the brink of brain damage, he threatened to come back and cut out Connor's eyes. Then he spit on him and walked away. The other guy, the one on wing man duty, laughed at the battered heap that was Connor and kicked him in the ribs for good measure before following the first dude up the driveway."
Vix's eyes were wide. "Holy fuck! So did they call the cops and shit?"
"After the dudes left, the chick climbed out of the car. Connor was way fucked up, face was a bloody mess, his jaw might have been broken 'cause he couldn't even talk. She called 911, all Connor did was groan and moan and try to shake his head."
"Damn…that's fuckin' awful." Vix said with a shake of her head.
Rachel winced. "That ain't the end of the story. And um, don't know how to make this NOT sound bad so I'm just gonna say it…in all these versions the guys responsible for the beat down were bikers. They left the scene on Harleys."
Vix rolled her eyes. "Stupid assholes. This shit happens all the time, a few dumb asses make a bad name for the rest of us." She noticed the odd look on Rachel's face. "What?"
"Aren't you like deep in the 1-percenter community?"
"Whatever. Besides what does that have to do with…?" Vix sat up straighter. "Hey…I'm not messing with Connor."
Rachel held up a hand."I'm not saying that you are but don't you think it's odd that YOUR professor gets beat down by random bikers?"
"You might really want to watch your dirt slinging. THAT was STRICTLY school related." Vix fired back.
"Does Juice know that? You said yourself Juice has been acting odd and is jealous over every little thing."
"Juice doesn't even know where I went. I haven't had time to even see him since then. I can't believe you would hang this on him." Vix spat and tried to keep her anger in check
Rachel sighed. "I'm sorry sweetie, but I'm not the only one who is going there. Connor was well liked, people are pissed off that this happened. And I'm not a big believer in coincidence but like I said, it is a really fucking HUGE one that Connor happens to bet beat to the brink of brain damage less than a day after you happen to, as innocently school related as it may have been, go to dinner and a movie with the guy. AND the ass whoopin' is seemingly handed out by bikers, a community to which you have ties"
Rachel held up her hand again. "And before you even say that you don't advertise that aspect of your life, I know that. But in the short time that you've been taking classes, Juice has made an appearance on campus a hand full of times. Your quick little meet ups for lunch and that time your lap top wouldn't start up. And we both know how that campus has eyes everywhere. Like I said, everyone is pointing the finger everywhere and sure as shit someone is gonna recall that you're dating a guy who rides a Harley."
She stopped talking for a moment and watched Vix's face. "Look no one wants ME to be fuller of shit regarding all of this than MYSELF. But what kind of friend would I be if I didn't at least let you know? "
XXX
Bobby was seated at a desk completely covered by papers and boxes. He grinned up at Jaci and waved his good arm around, "Welcome to Complete Disarray! Just jump in anywhere."
Jaci grimaced and sat her car keys down on the window ledge. She milled around the small office, poked around in various boxes and leafed through piles of paper. "My OCD does NOT like this. If I start twitchin', pay me no mind." She frowned at Bobby, "What kind of system was she using?"
"I believe she went with the ever popular Chaos system of Accountancy." Bobby teased.
"No shit." Jaci muttered.
For the next hour, the pair sorted and tried to organize all the mess into some semblance of order. Bobby had done a pretty good the day before but having another set of eyes on the files was a huge help. Jaci rolled her shoulders and announced that she needed some caffeine. "They have a Coke machine in this place?"
He nodded. "Got all sorts of shit in the break room down the hall. Help yourself."
Jaci headed out in search of something to pep her up and returned fifteen minutes later. Bobby cocked his head. "You get lost?" She shook her head and smiled as she sat down. He rolled his eyes, "Go ahead I know you're just dying to do it, make your bitchy comment about the porn stars."
"I don't really have one." She shrugged. "Luann must have told someone I was an accountant 'cause a chick just cornered me in the break room to ask if anal beads, stiletto heels and ass-less chaps can be deducted as WORK EXPENSES." Bobby busted out laughing, especially since Jaci looked a bit weirded out by the conversation. She shook her head. "I was just thinking if I could put MY brain into that chick's body, I could take over the world." She laughed and cracked open her can of Red Bull, muttering, "I would kill for a body like that."
Bobby looked at her over his glasses. "Um, you obviously haven't noticed but you DO have a body like that. Well minus the freakazoid porn size Triple E knockers. But those would look weird on you." He held his hands up to his chest. "Ya know, too top-heavy and all outta proportion and shit."
"Thanks, Bob." Jaci smirked and took a drink of her energy drink. She rubbed her forehand with the palm of her hand; as was the norm lately, she had a headache. Too much work and worry and not enough sleep. The last couple months of Abel's hospital stay, a new job, Vix's illness, Nord drama, being with Tig, being broken up from Tig, buying the salon, Vix's schooling, being pulled in every direction for favors…everything had happened too quickly. Separately, the events would have been hard but with them all in a row Jaci spent most of her time feeling like a giant was standing on top of her shoulders. "I need a vacation really soon or I'm gonna end up choking somebody."
Since he got back into town from his little two month Federal vacation, Bobby had noticed Jaci seemed a bit edgy even verging on bitchy sometimes. He waggled at finger at her. "You got a lot of anger. You still boxing with the Prospect?"
Jaci scoffed. "No who has TIME for that?"
"Find some time; you need to blow off some steam."
"Tried that…went to shoot some pool at a bar…ended up in a screaming match, remember?" Jaci mused, "According to Vix, I just need a really HUGE bag of weed."
Bobby grinned and held up a finger. "I can make that happen." He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a joint. He held it out to her and waggled it playfully.
She shook her head. "No can do. I stay clear of anything smoked, snorted or shot. Family's too prone. I'll just hit the bottle a little harder tonight."
"Not too prone to alcohol?" Bobby asked.
"At least it's legal." Jaci retorted. She knocked back the rest of her energy drink and stood up. "Enough bitchin…back to work."
She walked to the stack of files she had been rummaging through and making notes about. She frowned and scanned around her work area. "Shit…I lost my pen." She shuffled some more papers as Bobby tossed a cheap Bic her way. She caught it but had no intentions of using it. As a self proclaimed nerd, she was VERY particular about her pens and had brought one from her office for this very occasion and she would find it. There would be no work until then. "Maybe I had it in the break room. Be right back."
Jaci walked quickly to the break room and found a few girls hanging out there. She scanned the counter tops and her eyes landed on her pen…in the hand of one of the girls. She stepped closer and watched the skinny blonde doodling on a napkin just as one of the other girls asked, "Hey Ima, what are you wearing to the wrap party tonight?"
The name instantly clicked in Jaci's head. Ima…this was the chick that had gotten in Tara's face. Jaci plastered a fake smile on her face. "Oh great…you found my pen!"
Ima turned her head and snorted at Jaci as if she was total scum. "My pen now…we have a finder's keeper's policy around here."
The instant disrespect, cocky attitude and smirk from Ima went all over Jaci. She hadn't wanted to be stuck this hell hole of a place all afternoon and she was all out of patience especially with a skank who had already started shit with her quasi sister in law. Her temper flared. Ima looked like a stuck up bitch that was very used to just pouting and throwing a tantrum in order to get her way in life and Jaci hated her on general principle.
With a lightening quick movement, Jaci yanked the pen free from Ima's hand. "FYI-your little policies don't apply to MY shit."
"I was using that!" Ima hissed.
Jaci frowned at her and decided to drop the passive aggressiveness and just be blunt. "You fuck for a living, what the hell do you need a pen for?"
Ima dipped her head from side to side. "To sign my five digit paychecks every month. But you wouldn't know anything about making that much money would you, honey?"
Jaci shook her head in mock sadness. "Nope… same way I don't know anything about having trains ran on me or having stray objects rammed up my ass. Guess you're the expert on all of it. Congratulations!" She smirked and tossed the cheap pen to Ima. "There ya go…for all those huge paychecks. Jaci went to stroll out of the break room and stopped at the door. "Oh and Ima? My brother in law, Jax? Keep your hands off him."
XXX
Vix leaned against her car in Big Daddy's parking lot. She was supposed to be heading back to school for her last class of the day but she couldn't seem to make herself budge. After hearing about Connor's beat down from Rachel, she had tried to call Juice to feel him out about the incident but her call had went straight to voicemail. She had waited for a few more minutes, smoking and pacing and then tried to call him again. This time her call was obviously rejected, it jumped to voice mail after only one ring. Vix frowned at the phone, pissed that he was ignoring her. The message prompt beeped and she seethed, "Hey what's with the cold shoulder? Been trying to talk to you for at least a day and a half. Now who's neglecting who?"
She punched the END button on her phone and yanked opened her car door. Screw school, she was going to Teller Morrow to find Juice. He's supposedly off beating down her professor and now he wouldn't take her calls? Something was very wrong.
Vix made it to Charming in record time and had spent the entire time mulling over the last few days in her head along with all the junk Rachel had told her. She didn't want to believe that Juice had had anything to do with Connor's attack but his lack of contact with her was not making her feel warm and fuzzy about the situation. She roared into the TM lot and swung her car into a parking spot. She jumped out of the car and looked around, not seeing Juice's bike. She started walking toward the garage.
Tig spotted Vix as soon as she pulled onto the lot. He tossed the wrench he was using, wiped his hands on a shop towel, and narrowed his eyes has he walked out to meet her.
"What the fuck are you doin' here?" Tig growled with annoyance.
"Where's Juice?" Vix asked. She ignored his attitude; he was perpetually rude to her since his breakup with Jaci.
"Not here." Tig replied vaguely.
Vix gritted her teeth. "I can see that. Where is he?"
Tig looked at her with complete distain. "Not your fuckin' concern anymore."
Vix frowned. Tig was being more hostile than usual, it was very clear that something was up. She didn't want to believe it, but maybe Rachel's rumors had been right. She swallowed hard and asked Tig point blank, "What did he fuckin' do?"
"He did what he fuckin' HAD to do…what you PUSHED him to do." Tig spat back. "Did you really think he'd let you punk him out like that?"
Her stomach dropped at Tig's blunt words…she knew it was all true. In some sort of freak jealous rage, Juice had beat the shit out of her professor. Her worry morphed into anger in a second. "Where the fuck is he? Tell me!"
"At the porn studio." Tig blurted out without fully thinking his response out. He had wanted to hurt Vix by telling her Juice was hanging out with porn stars but instead he just gave her anger a target.
She turned on her heel and rushed back to her car. She fired up the engine and squalled tires as she peeled out of the parking lot.
Tig watched Vix leave and his shoulders slumped. "Goddamnit…here we go again." He looked back at Kipp who was watching the scene from deep in the garage. Tig let out a loud whistle and pointed at him. "Let's go, Prospect!"'
XXX
After another hour of working, Jaci frowned at the ledger file she was holding. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by files and quickly crawled to her feet. "Bobby?"
"Mmmhmm?" He replied from his position of being hunched over the laptop at the desk.
She pointed to the line item on the ledger and looked at him cautiously. "I think we might have a little problem."
Thirty more minutes of digging verified that they did in fact have a problem…a very big problem. Luann had been keeping two sets of books and had been apparently skimming profits for years.
"Shit." Bobby spat as he slammed the laptop shut. "Fuckin' sneaky bitch. What the hell am I supposed to do about this shit?"
Jaci sat on the corner of the desk and winced. Skimming money from an MC enterprise was a very big, serious, dangerous no no and she already wished she hadn't been there to find the fraud. She stood and shrugged. "I'm gonna quote a little Pulp Fiction here…I'm Paul and this is between ya'll. Honestly, Bobby…I'm not saying shit to ANYONE about this. You handle it however you think is best. Anybody asks me, I'll play dumb as a rock."
"Yeah?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah…absolutely. I didn't see shit." Jaci assured and Bobby nodded. "Cool for me to hit the road?"
"Yeah, get out of here. Thanks." Bobby replied as a sudden influx of noise was heard from outside the office, it sounded like muffled yelling.
The pair frowned at each other and Jaci opened the office door.
XXX
Vix was seething with rage by the time she drove the seven miles out of town to the Cara Cara studios. How could Juice be so stupid? How could he believe that she would cheat on him? She slammed the car into park and bailed out without even shutting her door. She stalked up to the entrance of the building but didn't go inside. She spotted a stack of two by fours left over from the building's construction. She grabbed one and heaved it into the front door. After a moment or two, nothing had happened so she grabbed another piece of wood and started hitting the side of the building with it. That finally got someone's attention.
A heavily made up Barbie doll looking woman stuck her head out from the front door. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Is Juice in there? Biker, Mohawk, head tats?" Vix yelled. "Tell him to get his ass out here NOW!"
The girl rushed inside and nearly crashed into Juice, Chibs who were going to earn their keep as studio bodyguards and were headed to check out the noises outside. The girl waved her hands around wildly. "There's some funky blonde crazy chick out there screaming for you, Juice."
Juice and Chibs exchanged a look. Chibs cocked an eye brow. "I knew she was gonna find out but shite, man. That rumor broke the damn land/speed record."
Juice rolled and cracked his neck."Yeah well… when you got the inside track to the douchebag's whereabouts, shit ain't got to flow all the way down the hill."
Luann rushed over from looking outside and snapped. "Vix is losing her shit in my goddamn parking lot. You gotta do something! We had enough of a Jerry Springer show here the other day!"
"Yeah and who started THAT?" Chibs retorted with a roll of his eyes.
Luann scoffed and held up her hand. "Just deal with the Psycho Parker sister." She stormed off muttering, "Shit never changes around here I swear to God."
Bobby and Jaci had walked into the main studio area just in time to see Luann talking to the guys and then the guys storming outside. Jaci frowned. "What's up?"
"Dunno." Bobby said started toward the front door. He held out a hand toward her. "Stay put for a sec." She nodded and watched cautiously.
XXX
Chibs pulled his sunglasses down from his forehead on over his eyes as he stepped outside. He smirked at Vix who was about to heave another two by four toward the building. "We have a door ya know."
"I'm not walking into WHORE LAND!" Vix yelled as she dropped the section of wood.
"Why not? You could probably run for mayor." Juice quipped sarcastically.
Vix jabbed a finger in Juice's direction. "What did you do, Juice? Did you beat down Connor?"
"Is that his name? Sorta hard to introduce yourself with a broken jaw I guess." Juice spat back with an evil grin.
Bobby stepped outside and saw Juice and Vix squared off in front of each other. Oh shit. His eyes went wide and he ducked his head back inside the studio. "Uh, J…you might want to come here."
Jaci rushed to the door and was shocked to see the heated argument between her sister and Juice. Bobby and her walked around the back of Juice and stood to the side. "Whoa! What the hell is going on?" Bobby just shrugged as the others ignored her question.
She didn't get a chance to ask any more questions as Tig and Half Sack roared into the parking lot on their Harleys. They had gotten caught at a stop light and had fallen behind in trying to catch up to Vix. Jaci's head was on a swivel, switching from the developing screaming match in front of her to the guys walking up.
Tig was off his bike in an instant with Half Sack trailing slowly behind him. He spotted Jaci as he slammed his helmet onto a handlebar. He cut a path directly towards her, completely ignoring Juice and Vix for the moment. "Why the hell are you here?You two move in a fuckin' pack?" He pointed to Jaci and yelled, "What the fuck did I tell you? I said to stay the fuck away…"
Bobby threw his hands up and stepped in front of Tig, blocking him from getting to Jaci. "Whoa whoa whoa! I called her. The files here were a damn mess. I needed help. You're the one that has a problem with her, the rest of us still like her just fine!"
Tig nodded. "Yeah I bet you do."
"Oh don't even go there asshole!" Bobby snapped.
Kipp walked over to stand next to Chibs. The Prospect glanced with wide eyes as World War III broke out around him. Juice and Vix were in each other's faces, Tig was yelling at both Bobby and Jaci. Oh this is NOT good, really not good.
Jaci had had enough of Tig's attack on her and his stupid rules of where she could and could not go. Her adrenaline was starting to pump from all the craziness of the moment. She looked around from behind Bobby, feeling brave. She leveled her eyes on her ex. "'Fuck you, Tig. Don't even talk to me. The goddamn world doesn't revolve around you."
"Fuck YOU, bitch." Tig hissed as Jaci skirted past him and headed toward her sister to get to the heart of the argument going on a few feet away.
Subconsciously everyone had chosen their side in the fight. Jaci stood next to Vix, the guys all stood directly behind Juice, except for Bobby who stood off to the side by himself.
"This is crazy!" Vix exclaimed.
Juice shook his head. "No it's not- I don't like people taking what's MINE."
Vix frowned. "Take? What? No one took anything! It was dinner and a movie and it was school related. This jealousy shit is UNFOUNDED! I didn't do… "
"Yeah, suddenly EVERYTHING is school related." Juice smirked. "Bet if he knocks you up it'll be a worker's comp claim for him."
Juice faced Vix. "It all makes perfect fucking sense now." He mocked her in a feminine voice. 'I've got class, I can't come over, I've gotta study, see ya tomorrow'." He switched back to his voice, which was angrier than anyone there had ever heard it. "Blah blah blah BULLSHIT! It was ALL bullshit! You were dodging' me so you could fuck your goddamn teacher. Who needs to study when you're suckin dick for an A?"
Jaci and Bobby listened to Juice's accusation with shock. They shot a look to each other. Bobby raised an eyebrow as if to ask did she do that? Jaci frowned and shook her head slightly as if to answer no way! Internally, Jaci held the tiniest bit of doubt about her little sister's innocence, knowing Vix's past tendencies with guys. But for now, she would have Vix's back completely. They would worry about the details later.
"Well go try fuckin' him now! He ain't so pretty anymore!" Juice yelled at Vix. Tig and Chibs laughed the mental picture of Connor's bruised and broken face.
Vix screamed, "I DIDN"T FUCK HIM!"
"I heard VERY differently." Juice hissed.
"From who?"
Juice sorta glanced in Half Sack's direction. "He SAW you with him!" Vix followed his gaze and suddenly everyone was looking at the Prospect.
Half Sack started fumbling. "It looked real bad, Vix… you at dinner with him. I heard a lot of the conversation and…"
Vix threw her hands up. "AND? AND NOTHING! You don't know shit! What the fuck did you hear that made you come running to him?"
"Don't answer that!" Juice snapped at Half Sack. "Heard it once already, don't want to hear it again. Doesn't matter."
"The fuck it don't! Whatever he said made you and your boys beat down an innocent guy to the brink of brain damage! And you didn't even have the common sense to ASK ME!" Vix screamed.
"Why…so you could LIE to me some more?" Juice spat, Chibs nodded along, recognizing his own words coming from his friend.
Jaci decided it was time to stop the arguing and accusations. Her head was spinning with all the back and forth. It was all just chaos, no one was listening, everyone was just screaming. She pushed in between Juice and Vix and started pushing her sister gently backwards. She leaned in close to Vix and said evenly, "Vix, calm down. You're making yourself look crazy at this point. Let's just…"
Vix cut her sister's plea off. "Oh ya'll ain't seen crazy yet!'
Jaci hissed and continued to walk her sister backwards. "Trust me; we're getting there REAL damn fast. CALM DOWN."
Tig glared at Jaci trying to talk Vix down. He looked the sisters up and down. Jaci was dressed for work, Vix sported tight jeans, a vintage Wonder Woman baby doll tee, a chunky black belt with a big ol' belt buckle that said 'COCKY' and she was wearing old school shell-toed Addias sneakers so white and shiny they rivaled Jax's for newness looking. Tig called out, "Nice belt buckle, Parker. Cocky hmm? Still feelin' that way now that you're busted? Maybe you need one says WHORE."
Jaci glanced over her shoulder in Tig's direction for a half second. "Can it with the whore shit! You don't know what the fuck you are talking about."
"Whatever, you're just as bad as she is!" Tig laughed. "I saw you with those college boys. You're probably running through half your office too! You give it up to Rosen yet?"
Vix and Juice started yelling at each other again as Jaci turned her complete attention to Tig. She leveled a finger at him. "I'm 1000% SINGLE. I can do WHATever and WHOever the fuck I want! You have yourself to thank for that so don't bitch about it now!" She glared at him for a moment then went back to trying to get Vix under control. "Vix, please…let's just go. Let everybody calm down…"
"Hey, you probably helped her didn't ya, J?" Juice shoved at Jaci's back with his fingertips."Huh? Did you help her sneak around on me?" He shoved her a bit harder.
Jaci's frustration level was peaking. Her head was throbbing as she kept one hand on Vix's collarbone and half turned, pushing Juice's hand off of her back. She hissed, "Get your hands off me. And fuck you... I help her do anything. But you know what…you're pointing the finger so hard at her, what about YOU? Who are you fuckin'? I know for a fact your boys would set that shit up. Chibs has a goddamn directory, fuckin' SAMCRO pimp."
"Prime stock in our stables." Chibs called out with a chuckle.
"Oh my god, will everyone shut the fuck up?" Bobby said with a shake of his head.
"Sometimes the truth is hard to hear." Tig mused with a smirk.
"Truth? What the fuck would you know about that?" Jaci asked as she craned her head to look at him. "You're completelyfull of shit."
"And you're a frigid bitch." Tig shot back. Since he had stepped foot on the parking lot, he was completely caught up with the frenzy of the moment and couldn't stop the rude shit from pouring out of his mouth. Being ruthlessly mean came so easy to him.
Jaci stood stunned by Tig's harsh words. Her mouth dropped open for a second and she couldn't even think of a good comeback. After everything they had been through, that was how he saw her? What kind of sense did that make? She settled for just shaking her head and focusing again on Vix.
Juice glared at Vix. "Is your little friend Rachel helpin' you too?"
"Juice, just stop it. You guys are getting nowhere with this." Jaci pleaded.
She was doing too good of a job of pushing Vix further down the parking lot and Juice was tired of her interfering. "I'm not talking to YOU!" He yelled and shoved Jaci so hard that she actually slammed into Vix.
Bobby took a step toward Juice. "Juice…fuckin' cool it!" Jaci stepped to the side of Vix and looked back at Bobby, wondering how the hell to stop the madness that was quickly picking up steam.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" Vix screamed as she took two steps and shoved Juice in the chest with both of her hands as hard as she could.
Juice half stumbled back a step and immediately threw up his left hand back in reaction…right into Vix's face. The rings on his hand connected with her cheek in what amounted to a backhanded slap that was damn near heard around the world.
Silence suddenly blanketed the parking lot as everyone stood perfectly still. It was as if time just froze for a few moments. The Prospect hands moved from his mouth to the top of his head, the grin on Chib's face fell flat, Jaci's mouth fell open for the second time and Tig's eyebrows shot up in morbid amusement. Vix frowned and tentatively touched her cheek.
"Goddamnit, Juice!" Bobby exclaimed and started toward the Parkers.
Juice held his hands out, realizing what he had done. He started sputtering regrets. "Oh shit. Vix, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"
Vix glared at him, finally finding her voice. "Fuck you."
"Come on, Vix." Bobby reached out toward Vix, trying to soothe her.
Vix waved Bobby off and stared walking backwards, shaking her head. "Nah, you know what? Fuck this shit, man. I was found guilty without even being questioned. Y'all jumped to crazy conclusions and decided to mark me a liar. Pretty much slapped a big ol' Scarlet Letter right here." She slapped her chest with both hands. "Then you go kick the shit outta an innocent guy. I'll probably get kicked the fuck outta school if they can tie me to that. But that may have been your goal, right?"
She glared at Juice. "If you weren't gonna be supportive why'd you even go along with it in the first fuckin' place? You may have found your niche in life and that's cool. You're in the MC and a mechanic and I had NO qualms with that. I didn't realize ME finding MINE would lead to such shit. You are so fuckin' paranoid about me bettering myself and thinkin' that I am gonna wake up and want more than you and this town have to offer. Well here's some irony for ya… you may be the one who opened my damn eyes to that because I've had my fill of this shit!"
Juice listened to Vix's rant and felt his adrenaline start to kick up again. He wanted her to STOP yelling and let him apologize but here she was screaming again. All of a sudden, he didn't feel so confident in the choices he had made and embarrassment flooded over him. But the bad decisions didn't stop. Instead of begging for understanding, he thought about the guys standing behind him and how he must look like a fool and he yelled back to try and save face. "We ain't got to worry about that any more… there ain't no more WE. I don't date whores!"
Vix spat back, "Well there ya go then!"
Bobby finally decided to shut the drama down. "FUCKING STOP IT! EVERYONE calm the FUCK down!" He didn't often get so riled up and everyone took notice. He pointed to Juice, "Back off! Quit being an asshole!" He pointed to Jaci, "J, get your sister the hell out of here."
Jaci nodded and took Vix gently by the hand. "Come on, you've said your piece. Let's go. It's over." Vix went without a fight, she was all fought out. After a few steps though, she turned and yelled at Juice. "Oh and thanks for the goodbye souvenir, asshole!" She pointed to the bleeding cut on her cheek and turned back around and walked along next to her sister.
Tig couldn't resist a parting shot. "Fuckin right, it's over! Pack your shit and get the fuck out of our town! The BOTH of you!"
Jaci looked back and saw Tig laughing and slapping Juice on the shoulder, as if to congratulate him on his horribly stupid behavior. "FUCK YOU, TIG!" She yelled.
Juice and Jaci locked eyes for a second and she pointed a finger at him. "HE shouldn't be your role model, Juice! For anyfuckingthing! But I guess you're gonna learn that the hard way!"
"I can't drive, J." Vix whispered as Jaci put her hand on her back. Jaci noticed the complete look of devastation now blooming on Vix's face and just nodded her understanding. She didn't miss a beat and opened her passenger side door for Vix, as if that was their escape plan all along. Her little sister climbed inside and slammed the door shut.
"Bobby? Can you drop the Charger at our place later?" Jaci called out to the only Son remotely on her side. "You're the only one here she…WE… trust. Keys are in it." Bobby nodded.
XXX
Jaci jammed her key into the ignition with a shaking hand and then sped out of the parking lot and hung a right, headed back toward Charming. She shifted gears with force and shook her head trying to comprehend what the hell had just taken place. She was shocked that the guys could seemingly turn on them so easily. She expected shit from Tig but to have Chibs and Kipp siding with him was just crazy. And Juice! What the fuck had happened to Juice? Normally he was like a cute, retarded puppy but somehow he had grown into a foaming at the mouth crazed Pit Bull.
"What the fuck was that, Vix?" She asked and glanced over at her sister. Vix had her arms crossed over her chest and just stared straight down the road, not even answering the question.
Jaci swallowed hard and blink her eyes as she tried to suck in a deep breath. The top of her head felt tight and there was a pain shooting through that felt like someone had rammed a knife in her skull. Her biceps felt weird as well, they weren't really hurting but something didn't feel right. She tried to just focus on driving and pushed the car into the next curve.
"Pull over." Vix said quietly.
"What?"
"Pull over…I'm gonna be sick."
She didn't want to just pull over on the side of the road, leaving Vix to the ditch, so she wheeled into the next parking which happened to belong to the high school football stadium. Just has the car stopped, Vix flung the door open and hurled several glasses of sweet tea onto the pavement.
Vix stumbled out of the car and over to a cement parking bump, where she sat down. As Jaci came around the back of the car, Vix pointed a shaky finger and grimaced, "I might have hit your car a little."
Jaci waved her off. "I've changed your diapers, chick. This is nothing." She sat down beside her younger sister and wrapped an arm over her shoulder, squeezing her just a bit. "You ok?"
Vix hung her head and took some deep breaths but nodded. "Just need a minute."
"Take all the time you need." Jaci replied. She could use a few minutes herself, her headache wasn't letting go and she was beginning to get a bit worried about her arms feeling so weird.
XXX
"Holy fuck. What did I do?" Juice asked as he paced wildly in Bobby's office inside Cara Cara. All of the guys had crammed in there after the Parkers had fled the scene.
Half Sack blurted out an answer to Juice's obviously rhetorical question. "You back handed Vix across the face and almost knocked her on her ass." He gave a worried and sick look to Juice.
Juice shook his head. "I didn't see her. I swear to fuck didn't. I. .. I just reacted. I flung my arm and …"
"You don't have to explain SHIT." Tig said as he stepped in front of Juice to stop the kid from pacing. "Someone gets in your face and pushes your buttons; its goddamn instinct is to shove back. Besides the bitch deserved it; she needed knocked down a few pegs." Tig jabbed a finger at Juice to make his point. "Step up like a man… get knocked down like one."
"TIG!" Bobby hollered. "He don't need any lessons in being an asshole. He's held top ranking in that class for a while now." He shook his head in disgust as Juice glared at him "And congratulations, Juice- you just aced the final exam."
XXX
Vix finally felt alright to ride and the girls loaded back up into the car and headed for home. "You know what song I woke up to this morning and then have heard NO LESS than three times today?"
Jaci shook her head, not even wanting to guess, but given what just went down with Juice, she decided to let Vix ramble. "Not a clue."
"Sometimes It's a Bitch." Vix answered.
Jaci groaned. "Oh christ, Vix please tell me you are not gonna make some parallel and say Mama was communicating with ya from the goddamn grave."
"Well don't you just think it is odd that I heard THAT song THREE times on THIS VERY DAY. You know what today is… I was half tempted not to get outta bed this morning. Maybe I'd be better off if I hadn't."
Jaci pulled the car over yet again. This had to be the longest seven mile drive in history. "Listen to me, I know today is the eighteen year anniversary of Mama being gone, but just because you heard to song that she played no less than NINE THOUSAND times in the days leading up to her death, it does not mean that…"
Vix cut her sister off midsentence. "I know her and Daddy were gonna bust up, right? Maybe not back then, I didn't cause I was seven years old but NOW? Shit yeah... the headless horseman coulda seen it coming and he aint' got no head or eyes, J"
Jaci just rubbed her forehead. "Ok, for arguments sake we go with your crazy communing with Mama theory. What exactly would she have been trying to tell you?"
She looked out the window and a ramble of her own tumbled out. "I'm not convinced they woulda stuck it out either had she not died. BUT IF THEY BUSTED UP it would have been HER fault. She sprinkled the poison with the drugs and the booze. And IF we are calling spades by their names… she was a bit of a whore. I know she's my mama and I am thankful that she gave me life… and she gave me you and Wendy cause thru her we got Abel. BUT that is about damn it. She did a shit job at mothering when she was alive, Vix. I find it really hard to believe that she got her crap together enough to be a wealth of help on the other side."
Vix sniffled. "I'mnever gonna survive this Crazy Town. It eats people up and spits them out. I thought I was tougher than all of this..."
"You are, sweetie. You don't know how strong you are, ok?" Jaci soothed. "You helped me thru the worst of my shit and so it goes that I will help you. And if it makes you feel any better. I'm not completely convinced that there is nothing left to salvage from the Wreck of Vix and Juice. I know shit just got really crazy but if you just take some time…"
At the sound of his name, Vix started to cry which was a damn unsettling sight. "I think you can stick a fork in us; we're done."
Jaci shook her head and figured her need to get Vix home in a hurry if the waterworks were starting. Hysterically crying was done best alone in your own bedroom…Jaci knew about that first hand. She turned the car back on and both girls stared at the radio as Stevie Nick's voice streamed thru the speakers.
Sometimes it's a bitch
Sometimes it's a breeze
Sometimes love's blind
and sometimes it sees
Sometimes its roses
and sometimes its weeds
Sometimes the picture just ain't what it seems
You get what you want but it's not what you need
Sometimes it's a bitch
Sometimes it's a breeze
Vix gaped at the dashboard, taking big gulps of air. Jaci reached over and hit a preset for another station. Both felt goose bumps rise on their skin.
To Be Continued…