Runaway Princess

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Soph?" my dad asks. "Hey." I say softly. "Get in here." he says quickly. I pick up the carrier and walk into the house. My dad pulls me in for a hug and asks "Where have you been?" Without pulling away I say "San Francisco." I tell him. He looks down at the carrier and asks "Who's this?" I pick Mateo up out of the carrier and say "This is Mateo, your grandson." I tell him. "Holy shit. He's so little." He says, looking at Mateo. "He's three months old." I tell him. "This why you left?" he asks and I nod my head yes. "Baby, this was not reason to leave. You know I would have helped you." he says. "But the father didn't know and I didn't think he'd want him." I tell him. "Who's his daddy?" he asks. I look down at my hands while he's holding my son and say "Juice. We'd been hooking up for awhile. He didn't know." I tell him. "Shit. You know you have to tell him but for now, tell me where those bruises came from." he says. "This guy I was working with kept asking me out and I kept turning him down. He waited for me after work and slammed me against my car telling me to find a family to take Mateo that I was moving in with him. When I said no, he smacked me." I tell him. "We need to go to the club right now." he tells me. "Daddy." I say. "No. No one touches my kid, or my grandkid." he says before kissing my temple. "I was scared you'd be disappointed in me." I say. "Never baby. Never." he says.

A few minutes later, we pull up at the clubhouse. My dad takes Mateo's carrier from me and we walk inside. Everyone turns to see us and comes to hug me and welcome me home. Gemma looks at my son and asks "Who's this little cutie?" Gemma asks. "This is my son. Mateo Carlos Ortiz." I say and see Juice's eyes snap to mine. After a minute, dad says "You two should talk. I'll fill everyone in." I look at him and nod. Taking Mateo's carrier with me, Juice and I head to his dorm. Walking in, he closes the door and I place the carrier on the desk. Not looking at Juice, I hear him ask "I have a son?" I nod my head and say "Yes. I am so sorry I didn't tell you, Juice. I understand if you don't want anything to do with him. I won't pressure you for anything. I promise." I say. He looks at me and ask "Why did you leave?" I still don't look away from Mateo but say "When I left, I was eight weeks pregnant with little bug. I came here to tell you and you were talking to Jax. He'd just found out that Wendy was pregnant and you told him 'better you than me brother' so I figured you wouldn't be very happy about him." I say. "Can I hold him?" he asks. "Yeah." I say. I move to get him out of the carrier and say "Come here little bug. It's time to meet Daddy." I turn and hand Mateo to Juice and step back. He looks down at our son and just watches him. Mateo looks back up at him and I say "He looks just like you. Smile and all." I tell him. Juice, I get it if you hate me. If you want to be in his life we can work out something. You can see him whenever you want." I tell him. "Come here." he says. I don't move. "Come here please." he says again. I walk closer to him. He takes my hand and pulls me to him. Pressing his lips to mine softly, while still holding our son, he says "Don't leave me again." I nod as the tears start to fall.

A little later, we head out to the main room and Clay calls church. Juice hands me Mateo and kisses me softly and says "Please be here when I come out." I nod and say "We will." He kisses me one more time before heading inside the chapel, looking back one more time before closing the doors. Gemma walks over and says "Give me my grandson." I smile softly and hand her Mateo and we sit on the couch together. Once we sit she tells me "You better not leave again." I nod and say "Yes Ma."

Inside the chapel, Clay says "Tig is going to catch us up on what's going on. Looks like the Princess is having some problems." Everyone looks at Tig and he says "She left because she was pregnant and didn't think that we would be very happy about it. She should have known better than that." Tig says. Bobby claps Juice on the shoulder and says "Another son to add to the ranks." and Juice just smiles. Tig speaks again. "She was working while in San Fran and one of the guys she was working with kept asking her out. She kept refusing and he finally made a move on her. Slammed her into her car when she turned him down again. Bruises on her upper arms and you saw her face. Smacked her when she still said no. Told her to find a family to take my grandson and that she was moving in with him. He wasn't giving her a say. She came straight to my house with Mateo in tow." Tig says. "No one touches my family." Juice says. They all look at him. "We'd been together for months before she left. She's my girl. Period. And he's my kid. No one touches what's mine." he says and they all look at him smiling. "You okay with that brother?" Juice asks Tig and he says "Absolutely brother."

The guys come out of chapel and Juice and Tig walk over to me, Gemma and Mateo. "Can I talk to you?" Juice asks and I nod. I look at Gemma and she says "I got him." Juice and I head to his dorm. As soon as we are in the door, he closes it and locks it and his lips crash with mine. When we come up for air he says "Don't ever leave me again. Please." I nod and say "I won't. But Juice..." I start. "But nothing. You're my girl and he's my kid. You're my family Princess. Nothing changes that." he says as he kisses me softly. "You're staying with me." he says. "Juice..." I start. "You and our son are staying with me. Period. Tomorrow I'll have Gemma take you to get the things you need for Mateo but you're both staying with me. I'm not letting you go again." he tells me and I smile softly. "I love you Juice." I tell him. "I love you too baby." he says. We hear a knock on the door and Juice opens the door to see my dad standing there. "You staying with Juice?" he asks and I nod my head. "Tara is bring over a bassinet to Juice's house to set up until you and Gemma can go shopping tomorrow." he tells me and I nod.

A little later, after giving them all the info I had on Jake, we head to Juice's house. Pulling up in the driveway, I get out and go to get Mateo, but Juice stops me. "I got him." he says. He has two of the three duffles on his shoulders and I grab the other two and the diaper bag and follow him inside. We take the bags to his bedroom and see the bassinet already set up. I take Mateo out of his carrier and start to change him and get his bottle together. "Can you show me how to do his bottle?" Juice asks. "Yeah. It's formula. I couldn't breastfeed. Couldn't produce enough. It's one scoop for every two ounces of water." I tell him. He fixes the bottle and then puts it in the warmer that I had plugged up. Once it was warm enough, I ask "You wanna feed him?" His eyes light up and he smiles that smile I love so much.

Sitting on the couch next to him while he feeds our son, I say "He doesn't look anything like me. I don't think he got anything from me. He's even sleeping through the night already." I tell him. "Really? Don't most babies take like a year for that?" he asks. "Yeah but when I was pregnant, the woman I lived with, Martha, she told me to poke at my stomach when I stopped feeling him moving, that it would wake him up and then he would sleep when I did. I did it and he was born sleeping through the night." I tell him. After feeding and burping Mateo, Juice is holding him. "Watch this. He's ticklish on his feet. Just look at his face." I tell him and tickle his little feet. Juice sees his own smile, smiling back at him and he looks at me and says "He does look like me." I lay my head on his shoulder, while he spends time with our son. Little did I know that the next few days were going to change things.