Roomies ✔

10 - Intuition

Juice knew there was no point in leaving another message, but he couldn't stop himself. Somehow it relieved him a little, as if he could worm his way into her mind by sending enough thoughts to her. Again and again he saw flashes of Esai's smirk and the mocking glance in his eyes as if he knew something Juice wasn't noticing. 

Since Juice had the feeling that all his thoughts were suffocating him and the oppressive pain in his chest was frightening him, he knew he needed to talk to someone. The only other options to stop the countless dark scenarios were a bottle of booze or a handful of pills. And those wouldn't help him to find Jamie. 

But to who should he turn for help? He could call her brother, maybe Roman could convince him that Jamie wasn't as innocent as she claimed, or maybe she was secretly very skilled in some martial art so that she knew how to defend herself. He however thought there was a bigger chance that Roman would freak out when Juice told him about his gut feeling when he met her date, and he thought his shame would only mess up his brain more. 

Going to Daphne was the second thing crossing his mind. However, knocking on her door right after their fight was bruising his ego. She would probably only claim that he had feelings for his roommate, and earlier today she had already shown that she had no problems with the girl being raped. His shoulders tensed as he wondered if Daphne was part of the conspiracy. Was she so pissed about him not sending the girl away that she had decided to get rid of her herself? 

"Shit man, you're fucking crazy," he complained to himself. He was really starting to get paranoid. Rushing to the kitchen he turned on the water and splashed it into his face. He was a Son, he knew how to handle stressful situations. Finding people was his job. 

He sat down behind his laptop and hacked into Jamie's bank account to see her last transaction. The last time she'd bought something was a couple of days ago, that wouldn't be of any help. Esai would probably pay for everything, so maybe he was the best lead. 

For half an hour he studied the citizens of Oakland, but Esai didn't show up. For a moment he stared at the picture of Esai Alvarez as he came across it in the police database. The name was probably a coincidence, but he noticed he paid more attention to it than to the other guys. What if there had been a Mayan who had seen him dropping her off? Or what if her date himself was related to the club? There had been no tattoos connecting him to the Mayans, nor had he worn a kutte. But the arrogance in his eyes... – the idea didn't leave his mind. 

Still he shook off the thought. What the hell would a Mayan want with Jamie? She knew nothing about the club, she barely knew the members... Even if they had kidnapped her to get something done by the Sons, he would have heard from them by now. No – he had to think out of the box; outside the paths he usually traveled, leading straight through the world of gangs and motorclubs.

You gotta talk to someone else, Juice. Before he was really wrapped up in his chaotic thoughts. Then he wouldn't be of any help anyway. 

Despite the late hour, Juice knew he could knock on the door of all his brothers, but Chibs was the one he trusted the most. If he saw his panic, he wouldn't make fun of him. Furthermore the man had a lot more life experience than him, so maybe he could calm him down or tell him what to do. 

. . . 

After ringing the doorbell, Juice shoved his hands deep into his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting. He didn't know if he would succeed in expressing his unrest. He couldn't explain what he had felt once Esai and he had looked into each other's eyes; it was just an instinct he had developed during all the years he'd lived on the street. 

Nobody opened the door. Juice grabbed for his phone and called his brother, wishing he'd done so hours ago. It just felt like he couldn't think straight anymore.