First thing Juice did when they returned to Charming was to disappear. He told Jax simply that he needed to check on some things, and left the lot in a blur of man and motorcycle.
His ride took him to Luann's door. He knew Grace probably didn't want to see him, but Juice had to see her. With Stahl's knowledge of his father and her threats against him and the club, he need the comfort of her familiar face.
"Juice, everything all right?" Luann frowned, welcoming him into the house.
"Yeah, everything's fine."
"Gemma said you guys were holed up in Tacoma."
"Oh, right. Just a bump in the road, Luann. They can't hold us down for long." He ran a hand over his tattooed head. "Listen, is Gracie around?"
"She's in her room. She's had a rough few days, Juice." Luann paused. "Stomach flu. Don't worry though, I've been taking real good care of her. She told me about you two, about before and since she's been back. Be careful, Juice. Grace has dealt with a lot since you left New York."
Juice just nodded and headed to the door up the stairs that Luann had pegged as Grace's. He knocked softly on the door before opening it.
Grace was in the bed, blankets wrapped all around her. She was shivering, and there was a trash can next to the bed. Water bottles littered the nightstand, as did some pills that, surprisingly, Juice didn't immediately recognize.
"The hell are you doing here," Grace chattered.
"Just got back in town. I needed to see you, Gracie, but I didn't know you were sick."
Grace snorted as she tried to sit up. He went to sit next to her on the bed, fluffing the pillows a little before she leaned back. "You needed a piece of ass."
"I told you, you're not a piece of ass," he corrected her. "And that's not why I needed to see you. I just … I needed my friend."
Grace finally made eye contact with him; she knew that look. He was panicked. "Carlos, what is it?"
He let out a shaky breath before explaining everything. He explained about ATF storming the Tacoma clubhouse, about Stahl confronting him about his father, and then told her how scared he was.
"I didn't know you were sick, and you're the only one who understands. I had to talk to you."
Grace reached out and touched his face. Here was the Carlos she knew. This man was not Juice. Oh, the lightning bolt tattoos over his scalp and the cut still fit him; they were always meant for him. But, Grace thought in that moment, so was she. They'd have a lot to overcome, and she wasn't about to give it all away at once, but Grace knew then that she and Carlos were always meant to be together.
Grace took his face in her cold hands and forced him to keep eye contact with her. "You listen to me, Carlos Ortiz. You are not that man. You are nothing about that man. You ain't gonna let him come in now and ruin what you've worked hard for with the Sons. You are going to find someone in that organization that you trust. You're going to tell him the truth – don't pull away from me, damn it. I can't tell you what to do. I don't know enough about any of this. You have to find someone you can trust to tell you what to do."
"You're right," Juice nodded, pulling her hands away from his face but not letting them go. "I'll find someone. Maybe Jax."
"Not Jax," Grace said, shaking her head. "I don't think you can trust Austin, and telling Jax is just the same as Austin."
Juice frowned. "What have you got against Austin? She's like a sister to me."
Grace explained about her dinner with Austin. "She just seems like she's in everybody's business. She thinks she's some badass."
"That's because she is," Juice chuckled. "You listen to me now, Gracie Callaghan. Austin Epps can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. She can help you figure out how to navigate around club life, or she'll throw you out on your naked-ass."
"She wouldn't."
"She's done it before," Juice snorted. "Enough of all that – I'll figure out later who I'm going to talk to. What's up with you? Food poisoning? Too much fun while I was gone? What?"
Grace squeezed his hands. If she wanted to be back where they were before, if she even wanted him to be her best friend again, she was going to have to be honest with him.
"No, I'm cleaning out."
Juice frowned again. "Cleaning out? From what?"
"Pills. When I started stripping, I had a really hard time with it. Had a bad couple of shows and the boss told me if I didn't get it together, I was out on my ass. So, one of the girls gave me these pills to help me calm down. Made it so I didn't really give a fuck about what I was doing, who was touching me, any of that. I don't take 'em all the time anymore, but sometimes when I just need to relax, I take them. Or if I'm feeling sick and I know my brain wants a pill or ten."
"I want you to be clean, Gracie. You don't need to be dipping in that shit."
"I know," she breathed. Her stomach was getting ready to heave again, maybe. "Austin caught me buying the other day and made me tell Luann so I could get clean. Can't afford to get in a center, so I'm on the Gemma Get-Clean Program. She and Luann are helping me through."
Juice declined to tell Grace that he suspected Gemma was just as likely to hand over some pills as she was to get Grace clean from them. He would keep a careful eye on her and see what developed. While her stomach attempted to empty itself again, Juice pushed his cut off his shoulders and returned to the bed to hold her hair and help her clean up the mess afterwards. He shot a message to Austin that he would be with Grace overnight if anyone asked, and mentioned that he needed to talk to her soon.
.:.
Jax leaned in the doorway of their clubhouse room and watched Austin zip up her leather jacket before shoving a new Sig Sauer pistol into her waistband. He didn't have to see her load a knife into a sheath strapped around her right calf to know it was there; it was always there, just like the gun at her waistband.
"New toy?" he finally spoke up.
She stopped messing with her hair in the vanity mirror to turn and look at him. "Well, if it isn't Jax Teller, back from his latest apprehension."
With that snide comment, she was back to the vanity, shoving things into her pockets and pushing a hair elastic around her wrist.
"Aus, what gives? What are you doing?"
She turned on her heel, crossed the room and shoved him so hard he nearly fell out of the doorway. "I'm doing what you should have been here to do three fucking days ago!"
She shoved him again but he caught her wrist. She made to slap him with her other hand, but he caught that, too. Finally giving in to defeat, Austin pulled both hands away from his grip and threw her arms around his neck.
"I was scared you weren't going to come back," she whispered. "When Gemma said they had held y'all for a few days, I was afraid something would happen on your way home. I hated it."
"I know," Jax soothed, embracing her tightly and breathing in the smell of her hair. He noticed that the dark brown at the top of her hair now faded out to a golden blonde by the tips. "Your hair is different."
"Yeah," she said, pulling away and wiping away a couple of stray tears. "I wanted to do something different, and Gemma convinced me to add some color. I guess it's the new hot thing."
"As long as you keep the length," Jax told her. "Now tell me what I was supposed to be here doing that you were about to go do?"
"Darby," Austin stated, pushing her feet into her boots. "Caught one of his guys selling to one of Luann's girls the other day."
Jax frowned. "That's not your business to take care of, Aus."
"You weren't here, so what we were supposed to do? Just let it drag out until you guys can get to it?"
"You tell me like you're doing now so we can get to it right away. But you can't be out there putting the Sons name on shit you want to do – remember what happened last time you did that?"
This time he didn't catch her quick enough to avoid a punch across his cheek. "How dare you bring that shit up! You're out there doing God knows what, and you can't tell me that our little 'full disclosure' agreement really holds one hundred percent true. Fine, whatever." She pulled her jacket off and threw it off the bed, shoving her arm into his view. "See this crow, Jax? Remember when you put that on me? I did it because I'm committed to you and the club."
He grabbed her wrist and pointed to the crow tattooed on her forearm. "I put this crow on you to show you're mine and you're protected by us, not for you to take on our burdens. It isn't your place, Austin."
She didn't say anything; Jax realized how tight his grip was on her wrist. As soon as he loosened his grip, she snagged her arm back from him, rubbing it and holding it close to her.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I just wanted to help," she said quietly, lowering to the bed.
"I know," Jax said, sitting next to her. "Did I hurt you?"
She shook her head but couldn't stop her eyes watering. Jax pulled her to him, reiterating promises that he would never intentionally hurt her. Austin nodded and wiped at the traitorous tears falling down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry I punched you. Never been one to slap though," she apologized.
"I had it coming," Jax assured her with a smile. "Come on, get your jacket."
"Where are we going?"
"I'm going to talk to Clay about this Darby thing. I'll see what I can do to convince him to let you come with me."
She shook her head. "You were right, it's not my place."
"I owe you this one. Just don't expect it to become a habit."
"I won't," Austin promised.
Jax waited for her to put her jacket back on, then pulled her close to kiss her. "I really missed you while I was gone."
"I missed you, too."
He heard the honesty in her voice, but could also detect a hint of coldness. Her mind was on the task coming their way; it was the way she did things. He understood. Sometimes in this life, they had to disconnect to get the job done.
.:.
Juice kissed Grace's forehead, and she snuggled closer to him. Detoxing was not something she ever wanted to experience again, but with him there, it was a little more bearable.
Luann knocked on the door just as they were both drifting off to sleep. "Juice, you've got visitors."
"Thanks, Luann."
"Don't go …" Grace whispered.
"I'll be right back," he promised. Heading down the stairs, he saw Jax and Austin waiting by the front door for him. Luann made herself scarce, and the two of them waited for her to be out of earshot.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were going to call it quits with her?" Austin frowned.
"Yeah, well, things change," Juice said, not able to meet the gaze of either Jax or Austin. "I've known her for a long time, Aus, and I can't just write her off."
"I get it," Jax replied before Austin could say anything else. "But listen – we need to talk to her about something."
"About the drugs?" Juice asked.
"How did you find out?" Austin frowned. "I haven't told anyone except Jax yet."
"Grace told me. I came here because I needed to see her, and she came clean with the whole thing."
"Well, we're on our way to see Darby and his guys. We need to ask her some questions first."
"I don't know, Jax. She's detoxing right now and it ain't exactly pretty …"
"Never is." Austin spoke with experience in her tone; Juice knew she must have been thinking of her mother.
Juice let out a deep breath. "All right. But don't stress her out, got it? She told me about your little dinner date, Austin."
Austin just gave him a tight-lipped smile in return. Juice followed them up the stairs to Grace's room and waited both patiently and silently while they questioned her about how she had hooked up with Darby's group in the first place, who exactly was doing the exchange with her, and anything else she might know that was important.
"They knew who I was," Grace said after thinking for a little bit. "They knew I worked at the club, I mean, and that I was connected to the Sons that way. The guy that I bought from though, said he didn't care because Darby was getting ready to take over Charming anyway."
Jax, Juice, and Austin all exchanged very guarded glances. Darby's plans to take over Charming could mean there was a war coming. With ATF already on their asses, the timing couldn't have been more terrible.
"I think that tells us enough for now. Take care, have Luann let us know if you need anything else," Jax said as he and Austin left the room.
Grace watched them go, then turned to Juice. "I didn't meant to start trouble for everyone. Did I say something I shouldn't have?"
Juice shook his head. "You don't know enough to say something you're not supposed to, Gracie. You just rest, okay? Let me worry about the rest of it."
She nodded, snuggling up to him once more. That peaceful feeling of having him next to her didn't last for long though, as another bout of nausea took over her body. Then the shivers came. Then more vomiting. Juice and Luann did the best they could, but they just couldn't keep anything in her system.
"She'll dehydrate soon if we're not careful," Luann worried aloud in the wee hours of the morning. "We have to keep some kind of fluids in her system."
Juice ran a hand over his head. "Let's see if we can get some water to stay in her. If we can't, we'll have to take her to the hospital."
"No," Grace pleaded weakly. "No hospitals. There'll be a record."
"A record?" Juice frowned. "Grace, why are you worried about that?"
"He'll find me."
Juice turned to Luann who was pretending not to hear what Grace had just said. Before he could grill the older woman, however, Grace began to gasp for air. Her chest heaved and she clawed at her throat, but the air just wouldn't come. Then the convulsions started.
"Call 911, now!" Juice yelled at Luann. He turned Grace to her side and prayed that it didn't end like this.
A/N: I can't believe it has been so long since I updated this story! This chapter just kind of came to me though, so I can't promise another update immediately.
Thanks for reading!