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

Chapter 12

"She's mine." Keith spat as Chibs paced in front of him, still on the phone. Like many sociopaths, dominance for the sake of dominance was on his list of chief motivations. Amelia was a pretty little trophy he could control, it worked well for the image he liked to project to the community and his friends as well as fed his need for control and power. "I'll do what I want with her."

Clenching his teeth as he listened to the rambling Chibs gave him a swift kick to the crotch. Juice wanted desperately to destroy Keith but Amelia was clutching him tight, she refused to let him go and he felt the same. Just the sound of this guy's voice made her tense, Juice held her closer. "Don't worry," Juice whispered into her hair. "You're good, I'm here."

"Can we go?" Finally, she looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot and skin stained crimson. "I just want to leave." Juice and Chibs made eye contact, the latter nodding to assure Juice he could deal with the arrangements for Keith.

"Yeah, of course we can. We should get you to Saint Thomas, I think it's broken." Amelia hissed as his fingers gently touched the bridge of her nose, there was no doubt her nose was broken and it wasn't the first time. After seeing the brutal photos of Keith's rage Juice noticed the slightest telltale bump, he'd never have seen it without prior knowledge but he was sure she stared at it every time she looked in the mirror. "We can get it set and they can tape it up."

Amelia shook her head, her blood still trickling down to her chest. "No, I can do it myself. I'm pretty good at it by now."

Overhearing the comment Chibs rolled his jaw as he waited for Unser to make his way to Oakland. He understood Juice's earlier words better, there was more to the story than she'd told them and he was sure she hadn't been completely honest with Juice either. There was many different secrets being held and Chibs feared the fallout of when they inevitably became known.

"No, we're doing this right; they can give you something for the pain too." Juice wanted to see her smile, wobbling a bit as he tried to stand from his awkward position without using his hands he kissed her cheek. "Besides we can't have you setting it wrong and losing your income, right? No one wants a hooker with a broken nose." It worked, but barely, she gave him a weak, crooked smirk.

Being out of Charming in their current capacity, was a risk, their cuts could draw the wrong kind of attention, from other crews and even local police. "Where are you taking her?" Keith moved to stand but Chibs growled and kicked him back against the wall.

"Give me a goddamn reason." His accent only made the words harder and more threatening. "Killing a piece of shite like you, beating on women, it would be my pleasure."

"She's mine!" He moved to stand again as Juice gently placed Amelia in the passenger seat of her rental but Chibs gripped his shirt and pulled him to the side alley. "You can't take her."

"Go on, Juicy. We'll be in touch."

"I'm sorry." Juice took off down the street. "I shouldn't have listened to Tig."

Amelia's head was back, her eyes screwed shut as she held her sweater to her nose. Really, it didn't matter, she was already covered in blood but at least she could feel like she was doing something. "He probably didn't give you much of an option, did he?"

"Not really." As he thought about Keith and the things he'd said and done, Juice sneered. "Fucking Unser, he said Keith was gone."

"I'm sure he believed it too, JC." He reached over and took her hand, holding it tight between them as he drove. "I don't want to tell him. Can you talk to Chibs? You guys seem close. My dad will freak out."

Juice shook his head, his eyes moving from the street to each mirror as he was on high alert now. Normally he'd do anything she asked but not this, it put her in danger. "I can't do that, even if I wanted to. We have to tell Tig, Chibs wouldn't keep that secret either, this is too serious Amelia."

"What's Chibs going to do?" Moving away from the Tig conversation was best, she wasn't winning that anyway. "I don't want you to do it." She could see his expression change, like he didn't want to tell her what she already knew was going to happen.

"Unser'll pick him up. Keep him comfortable."

"I don't want you to do it, you or my dad." She repeated "I know he'll want to and I can see you want to, but please don't."

"I don't think Tig's going to let anyone else handle this shit." His thumb ran over the back of her hand repeatedly. "He won't be mad, he just wants to protect you."

"Yeah, I guess I just wanted it to disappear once I got home."

"And it will, Princess, I promise you. It'll all be over soon."