Jax, Opie, and Juice came out of the church room, and immediately headed for the door as Ana sat on a couch with Lyla, holding Abel for Tara.
"Hey there Mr. Man," she said in a baby voice, making him giggle. "All the craziness going on and you just have no idea."
Lyla laughed along with Abel that time. Ana liked playing with Abel. He seemed to be the only one who was unconditionally happy. Oh to be that young and carefree again, Ana thought as she tickled Abel's belly. Abel laughed and grabbed her hair, making her cry out and laugh at the same time.
"He likes you," Lyla said, taking Abel so Ana could adjust her hair. Tara came and took him with a smile and a thank you to Ana, and Lyla took a deep breath.
"Who are you with?" she asked. Lyla knew she wasn't a crow eater, because Tara and Gemma seemed to treat Ana better than they treated her. She had to be someone's Old Lady, and she had a nagging suspicion who.
Ana shrugged and watched from the window as Juice followed behind Opie and Jax out of the compound. She knew this was coming. Most of the crow eaters eyed her as if she didn't belong, and some of the hangarounds were eying her like she was a crow eater.
"No one, really. I'm a friend of Gemma's," Ana explained. Lyla gave her a look of amused disbelief, and knew that she wasn't really buying it.
"You came in with Happy this morning, and you two looked cozy while Clay was talking," Lyla said matter of factly.
Ana, who had been drinking water as she said that, snorted and coughed as she choked. After she recovered, she wiped her face with a napkin and laughed.
"No," she said, catching her breath. "I'm definitely not with Happy. If I was with anyone, it would be Juice."
Lyla gasped. "Oh, yeah! I remember now. Opie did mention something about Juice having a girlfriend, but I didn't really know if she was someone who hung around here. You weren't a crow eater, were you?"
Ana shook her head. "Nope. I was a teacher. I met Juice when I needed a new car..."
Ana told Lyla how she and Juice became friends, but noticed that she didn't exactly correct her when she said she was Juice's girlfriend. Did it really matter now? For all intents and purposes, she was more than his friend now. It didn't hurt to have a label on it.
Juice rode back to the garage with Opie and Jax. He could see Ana with Lyla and the kids playing with water guns behind the garage, and he spied Happy and Kozic out there with them. Opie followed his line of sight and shook his head.
"That's something else you need to settle," he said to Juice.
"I did. Her move, brother," Juice replied, grinning as Kenny got Ana in the ass with the water gun. He heard Happy yell "Nice!" and he chuckled a little as well. Opie snorted and punched Juice lightly on the back. "Come on, Juice. Let's go see what else we need to do."
They found themselves sitting at the bar listening to Chucky talk about the CaraCara fire. How it was really Weston who burned the place down, not someone in the club. After Chucky split, Jax sighed and looked at the chief and Juice.
"We may need a little help inciting Weston into making the wrong decisions," he said to Unser. Then he looked at Juice. "And you're about to want to punch me again."
"Why?" Juice asked, defensively.
Jax looked at Clay who groaned and nodded for him to go on.
"If we can't get Weston on his own by ourselves, we're going to need some bait," he said. "A young, attractive sort of bait." Jax looked at Juice knowingly.
Juice looked at Jax for a moment, confused as it all settled in. When Juice pieced it all together, it turned out Jax was right. He did want to punch him again.
"No. Oh hell no. Fuck that," Juice said, standing up immediately. Opie rose behind him, ready to hold him back from lunging at the VP. "No way in fucking hell is Ana going anywhere near that sick fuck! Why can't you use Lyla or Tara or any of the crow eaters around here?"
Clay cleared his throat before Jax could retort.
"Because Ana is newer in town than they are, and her connections to the club isn't as concrete as others," he explained calmly. "Her connections were only assumed, and I'm thinking Weston was focused on Gemma and Polly was the sole one behind Ana's firing. Weston isn't really going to know how deep Ana is in here."
Juice seethed, but he couldn't argue his way around it. No matter how much he didn't like it, he could see their reasoning behind it. He did have one condition, and they were just going to have to deal with it.
"If she says no, it's a fucking no," he finally said, storming to his dorm room. "And I swear to God, I will go Nomad if any of you fuckers try to pressure her into saying yes. That makes you no better than that asshole."
Ana came in some time later, soaking wet and laughing with Happy. That stopped when she saw Jax and Clay looking at her with tense gazes. She did a quick once through and didn't see Juice. She was pretty sure that this wasn't by coincidence, so she spoke up.
"Fellas?" she asked curiously. "What's up?"
Jax opened his mouth but Clay patted his shoulder before he could say anything. He shook his head at the vice president and gave a smile to Ana.
"Nothing, doll. Go get cleaned up, and tell Juice that you're not doing it. Case closed. He'll understand," Clay said, walking out with Jax and Opie. Happy shrugged at her as he followed them. Ana, confused as hell, shook her head and walked down the hall of dorm rooms, knocking on each one. She finally reached one that was locked and knocked softly.
"What?" a harsh but familiar voice said.
Ana was startled by how harsh Juice's voice was. "It's uh...it's me?" she said carefully.
He opened the door, and his hardened expression faded when he saw how much of a mess Ana was. "What the hell?" he asked, trying to hide his amusement.
"Your fucking friend Happy," Ana said playfully as he stepped aside for her to come in. "He got me with the damn hose."
She spied her bag on his bed and went through it for some clothes. She looked up and noticed that his smile faded and he was scowling again. Clay's words came back to her and she knew that his words were connected to Juice's uncharacteristically bad mood. "Why are you upset?"
"M'not," he mumbled, sitting on his bed and looking up at the ceiling angrily.
"Bullshit, Juan. Why did Clay tell me to tell you I wasn't doing it, case closed?" Ana asked, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.
Juice sat up immediately. "He said that?"
Ana nodded and the anger seemed to leave his body instantly. "What am I not doing?" she asked as he breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'll tell you later," he said, looking her up and down. He got off the bed, and he bit his lip and he walked toward Ana. She looked so damn sexy in her mud splattered T-Shirt, and the jeans that were so wet they stuck to her like a second skin. He could feel his cock twitch in his jeans as he admired the way the jeans hugged every inch of her. He didn't know what he planned on doing, but he sure wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to have his lips on her again.
"You could tell me now," she said, her voice faltering at the heated look in his eyes as he walked closer.
"I could," he said, touching her hip lightly and pulling her closer to him. He used his other hand to tip her face up where she could see him, and he smiled at the struggle in her face between wanting to know what made him angry, and wanting to know what he would do next.
"I think you should," she whispered, looking up into his eyes. He smirked a little before dropping his gaze to her lips.
"I really should," he replied, bringing his mouth down to hers.
Before he could kiss her, though, his phone buzzed. He rested his forehead against hers and groaned. Pulling away, Juice read the text message, and cursed.
"I've got to go with Jax, but there's a shower in there if you want to clean up. And cool off," he added with a knowing smirk. Juice kissed her cheek sweetly before grabbing his kutte and helmet. "And we should talk later."
"Yeah, we really should," she mocked him, desire still evident in her eyes. With one last teasing grin, he left the room, her words still ringing in his mind.
Ana walked into the main room of the clubhouse an hour later, feeling a lot better after her shower, and grinning at the thought of what almost happened in Juice' room. However, when she saw the looks on Tara's and Lyla's faces, she felt her good feelings fade away instantly. They were huddled around Gemma, who was on the phone with what sounded like Jax.
"The guys are going to meet with Weston tonight," Tara said in a whisper. "Jax told him someone's leaving in a body bag. Yeah," she said before Ana could ask. "Juice is going too."
Ana didn't say anything else. She heard a ringing in her ears and she felt the walls closing in on her.
Ana ignored everyone calling after her as she stormed out of the clubhouse before she lost her shit. This was so much bullshit. She was scared shitless for all of the guys, mainly because she saw fear in Gemma's eyes when she was on the phone with Jax. This wasn't going to end well. She and Juice weren't even fucking official yet, and now there was a chance that he could be dead by the end of the night. She wished they'd said to hell with Jax and fucked against the bedroom wall when they had the chance. Now she may never get that chance again.
But even without all of that, Juice's presence as a whole would be something she'd missed if he was taken away from her. Over the past year, he'd become her best friend, someone she grew to love. Now that they had a real shot of making something happen between them, this had to happen.
She heard heels clicking behind her and knew Gemma had found her. She steeled herself against the tongue lashing she knew was coming. So she was surprised when Gemma sat next to her and took her hand, instead. As Ana looked at her, she saw understanding and sympathy in Gemma's eyes.
"It's not fair," Gemma said. "I know. This is why I've been telling you to make sure you know where you and him stand."
Ana didn't speak, just nodded, so Gemma kept talking.
"We don't let them see this shit upset us, Ana. It's the way we are. We're their backbone. We fall apart, they fall apart. They need us whole, okay?"
Ana nodded again as she heard the roar of motorcycles as they pulled in. She knew Juice was with them, and that he was probably going to want to see her soon. Gemma looked back to see Clay beckoning her over and sighed.
"Just be sure you tell him before he leaves," she said, squeezing Ana's shoulder.
Ana wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Gemma was right. Juice didn't need to see her like this, especially before whatever was going down tonight happened. And she needed to tell him where she stood. She took a deep breath, put a brave smile on her face, and headed for the clubhouse, ready to let him know what was up.
Juice was looking for Ana as everyone else was saying their goodbyes. She wasn't in the dorm rooms or in the office. Her car was still out front, and Piney said she hadn't left. So where the hell was she?
He got his answer as he went outside with the rest of the guys. Ana was leaning against one of the posts holding the roof up, with a small smile on her face. He smiled back and hugged her tightly.
"I'll be okay, Ana," he whispered to her as he felt her arms tighten around his neck. She pulled back a little and smiled, right before kissing his lips softly.
Ignorning the whistles and cat calls, he deepened the kiss slightly, pushing her body to his tightly as he did. He knew without asking what this meant. She wouldn't have kissed him in front of everyone if she didn't mean it. She was his. He was hers. Nothing else at that moment mattered.
His lips brushed hers once, twice, then three more times before they broke apart, both breathing heavily. Ana smiled when she heard Happy say "about fucking time" under his breath. Juice flipped Happy off, not taking his eyes off of Ana.
"Come back to me, Juan Carlos," she said, handing him his helmet. He took it, brushing his hands against hers, his eyes still locked on her face
"Always, baby," he said, kissing her one more time, quickly. Chibs was smacking his knee and whooping as Juice passed him, with a grin on his face and a notable cockiness in his walk. He straddled his bike and kicked it on. He blew one more kiss to Ana before he followed the procession out of the lot, the feel of her lips on his still on his mind.
Ana walked with Tara, Lyla, and Gemma as they watched their men leave. Tara and Lyla both looked tearful, but Ana felt at peace. She just knew Juice would come back. Still, she was still worried, but she figured she should get used to it. Still, Gemma kissed the top of her head before saying "Let's get them all inside."
As she did, she listened as the sound of motorcycles faded away. Ana sighed as she got Opie's kids inside and locked the foor behind her. As she looked at the people who now considered her family, she felt so many emotions running through her mind. She prayed that Juice made it through all of this.
Juice sat against his bike, talking to Kozic as they waited at the barn for Weston's crew to get there. Jax came over and offered them a cigarette. Kozic took one, Juice declined. Jax nodded for Kozic to leave Juice and him alone and when he left, Jax pulled Juice close to him.
"Remember what I asked earlier, about Ana?" he asked Juice quietly. Juice nodded, remembering how angry he'd gotten and he hoped Jax wasn't about to suggest that bullshit again. "Remember how pissed you got?"
Juice nodded again, and Jax looked him square in the eye. "You use that shit tonight. When you see Weston's crew, you imagine them leering at Ana, and you use that rage to do some damage."
That wouldn't be a problem, Juice thought as he remembered how pissed off he'd gotten at Jax. That didn't even begin to touch the anger he felt when he thought about Weston trying to rape Ana, which was something he was sure would happen if they'd gone through with that plan. He gave another nod to Jax as he saw the headlights coming their way, and together, they joined the rest of their crew as they saw the trucks beginning to fill the area.
It was showtime.
Finally, I can quit playing the stupid will they or won't they. I hope you liked the dorm room scene, because that was a lot of fun to write. I could see it happening in my mind as I wrote it down, and let me tell you, it was one of the hottest visualizations ever.
I'll update again soon, just consider the two a day make up for the week I took off for Christmas and New Year's.
And stormdec23, I'm going to use that idea later. After everything calms down a little bit.