The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most - An SOA Fan Fiction

Chapter 5

Juice left Amelia at Tig's and after stopping home, headed for the clubhouse. Part of him, the proud alpha male side, didn't want to entertain the idea he had brewing but at heart he was a better person than that. He knew, somewhere, Amelia was too, even if she tried to hide it. Flipping open his laptop and setting himself up with a beer at the corner table, he started on his work. Maybe if he could get her pictures she'd stop with the attitude, a little gratitude could change her whole outlook. The keys clacked away as he first brought up her Denver address and went from there. Most of the guys had started drinking by that time, pre-gaming before the party. When Jax came around, looking thoroughly put out, he made a beeline for Juice.

"Hey brother, what are you up to?" He looked with intrigue but Juice turned, his chest blocking Jax's view.

"Nothing, stupid shit. I heard about Ope, that's some crazy shit. Is he okay?"

Of course everyone would have wanted to talk about that, everyone but Jax. "Yeah, just think Mae got in his ear. Give him some time with her, he'll be back." Jax frowned and readjusted the brim of his hat as he pointed to the screen behind Juice. "Stupid shit huh?" Amelia's Colorado license popped up, Juice knew he should have just kept that before when he pulled it for Tig.

"Looking into something, just kind of doing her a favor she doesn't know though. Dude," Juice paused for a split second before deciding to ask. "Amelia, what's her deal?" He spoke with a surprising confidence; it took massive amount to even ask Jax.

Already in a dangerous mood, Jax crossed his arms over his chest. "Why?" Years ago he was protective but after her troubles and the joke of a marriage Jax was keeping any guy away from her. He didn't want to have to clean up another mess.

He shrugged, unsure why he really even asked, it was none of his business. "Just wondering, I guess. No one actually talks about it."

"It's touchy." Jax relaxed, Juice was nothing to be concerned about, that was for sure. If he was told to stay away, he would. "She's got problems." He said, looking around cautiously before tapping his temple. "Had problems, whatever. You should ask her though. No one here will give you the real story, they all have their parts to add and exaggerate."

"You two?" Juice shirked back a bit seeing the look on Jax's face. "Forget I asked, never mind."

Moving from anger to disgust Jax shook his head adamantly. He didn't need that rumor floating around the clubhouse. "Hell no, she's like my sister. You need to look at her like she's yours too. I mean it, Juice, whatever you're thinking, stop." As Juice glanced back to see he'd easily gotten into her computer, thanks to the constantly connected Wi-Fi and a fairly easy password, Jax slipped away. He needed hard liquor to get over the god-awful day he'd had.

Jax's warning was certainly something to take to heart, he was their VP after all but something made him want to keep in pursuit. Maybe it was knowing she and Jax hadn't hooked up, maybe it was what he'd seen in her earlier that day, Juice couldn't put his finger on it. Knowing he shouldn't snoop was doing very little to keep Juice from going through some of her work. Everything was clearly labeled; she had folders of landscapes, some rather decrepit abandoned buildings and a multitude of other things. Juice smiled as he scanned them, picking random files and folders to go through for a peek. Just before beginning the transfer to a flash drive for her Juice came across a folder titled 'Portraits'. He smirked and opened it right away. The first few were beautiful; her bright hair, mysterious eyes and milky white skin tugged at his heart and stirred other things as well. The mischievous little smirk she'd worn for most photos was gone by the time he reached the fifth in succession.

"Fucking Christ." He cursed at the state of her, unable to bear to look at her battered and bloody face for more than a second. Juice didn't know what to do, his stomach turned as he saw the thumbnails of the next few were similar but not all the same. At first, he couldn't imagine why anyone would take such disturbing pictures but it didn't take long to realize she was protecting herself, building a case against whoever, he was assuming her husband, had hurt her. The club was packed and Juice suddenly realized how dangerously close he was to outing her, he just couldn't do that. Closing the folders so no one could see, he transferred the files. Typically, it seemed to take exponentially longer than usual.