Coming Home

Chapter 3

Leilani's POV

I'm woken to Tara coming into the room. I had my leg in a cast laying in the bed. "So, you're getting released today. Your uncle and the rest of the club are out there, Doctor Newton is finishing your paperwork up now." She tells me, looking around the room. Feeling the tension. She sighs and sits at the end of my bed. "Look, you're young. I know you've got a crush on Jax. But you're just a kid. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Someone your age will come your way, and you will fall in love." She tells me, putting her hand on mine. I look out of the window, feeling embarrassed that we were even talking about this. Maybe she was right. It's just a childish crush, but it wasn't like I could help it. He was just so dreamy. I nodded as she stood up, walking out of the room. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding in. Someone knocks twice before entering. It was Juice, my uncle following him in. I smile at them, pulling myself up a bit. "Hey, you're awake, doll." Alex says, kissing me on the top of my head. Juice takes a seat, locking eye contact with me. He looked sad. Jax said he felt mostly responsible. That he should've been more careful and paid more attention. Wasn't his fault this club was at war. "Listen, I hate to ask you this, but for right now, I can't have you staying home alone. I figure, sell the house. We keep you with one of the guys until we can get you a place on your own or until it's safe. Gemma offered her house, and so did Jax and Tara. But I know if you want to stay somewhere other than there my place is always open. What do ya think, Lani?" My uncle asks, leaning against the wall. Either way, I knew if the mayans knew who we were. Or at least some family members. They're bound for more blood. Who's to say it isn't mine? They already ran me over with Juice. And it seemed lately, he only ever cared about my feelings. If I opted in to stay home and sulk, he'd have had a chance to fight back and keep me out of a cast generally. "Fine. But I'm not staying with you. And Jax and Tara have a lot going on themselves. And Gemma is the glue. I couldn't possibly keep her from her matriarchal powers." I State while looking at Juice. He looked at my uncle, never making eye contact with me. "Hon. He cou- he couldn't protect you the first time. Do you want to put your life in the hands of a dumbass?" My uncle questions as he rubbed his eyes. "Yes. It's not his fault. Personally, you guys went to war. He's a part of this club, the same as anyone else who's patched in. Right? Why not redeem himself?" I question, looking at Juan. He smiles, confusion stricken on himself. I only ever traded books with him now im wanting to stay with him more than people like my uncle or Jax like I thought I would've. But, if I hadn't been on the bike with him, who would've actually been there to help me however he did anyway.

Juice's POV

"Juice is gonna take you in Tara's car. Van's a little preoccupied, ya know. We'll meet up at your house later tonight to go over what we need you to do." My uncle tells me, pushing me towards the black cutless. I look up at him, confused. Why did the club need me? "What are you talking about, I'm broken, with a whole cast on my leg. What good am I to the club?" I ask, pointing to the white cast around my leg. "That's the beauty of it. You're brown enough to infiltrate the mayans. You tell them your mom was a casualty of war, and you want us hurt and have loads of info. Well, have men with locations with cuts on who will also be a casualty of war. Anything to distract the mayans while we figure out how to deal with zobelle. They'll be so focused on retaliation from us that they won't dare to think you are actually still with us." Jax retorts at me, lighting a cigarette as he walks side the wheelchair. I smile at him, giving a sarcastic laugh. "But she was. She was a casualty of war. You know who never is? You. Your family. Your loved ones. You sit there and tell everyone we're all family. But the ones you protect the most are the closest to you. Never the outlying ones, Jax. So yeah, I'll do what you ask. But the only thing I want you and Clay to do is take a good, hard look in the mirror and tell me you're good men still." I spit back, trying to stand up on one leg to get in the car. My knees buckle and give out, taking me to the ground. I'm caught by someone who gathers me and picks me up, opening the door to the car. It's Juice. Jax just looked onward, not looking at me. I turned to my uncle, and he looked down, avoiding eye contact. "Just tell me what I have to do. I'll do it." I tell them, having Juice help me into the passenger seat. "You get better first. We'll let you know. We want you out of that cast when we do so focus on recovering." He tells me, not even looking up to me. I scoff and nod, slamming the door. Of course, he takes the clubs side against reality. When was reality ever a thing for him anyway. Juice pulls away, driving towards my house. "I don't wanna go home." I tell him. He looks over at me, confused. What could I do with a broken leg. "I wanna do research. On other places, away from charming. Away from the club. Unless you're so wrapped up in them, too, you'll run and tell your precious president." I say to him, looking up. "Well, where do we go to 'research'?" I mean, there's internet these days. I can easily use it to find anything you want out." He tells me, facing the road again. "You are tech savvy?" I questioned, chuckling. He laughed and nodded. "Hey, there's more to me than this suave Mohawk, you know." He states, running his hand across the line of short hair he had. I scoffed, smirking at him as we continued the drive. He took a left four streets before the highway. "Wait, where are we going?" I asked him, scooting up while trying not to use my leg. He smiles at me. "To the best tech, you need to do research. I mean if you're serious about looking for other places. You wanna look deep, right? Need the best equipment for that. Lucky for you, I know where all the best is." He says, making a right onto a small street. Why was he willing to help me? He didn't even ask why I wanted to look into other towns. Was it possible he was distracting me until he could tell the club what I wanted to look into? Could I trust Juice for real?