Hell Has A New Name

19

Juice was surprised for a minute, he expected her to say no. He took a second to collect his thoughts, not actually having a question prepared.
"Um, oh okay. Let's see." He lay back on the bed beside her, hands folded over his chest.
"Are you afraid of me?"

She laughed, an actual laugh, he would have been insulted had he not been so relieved.

He grinned, turning his head to look at her. "That's a no then. Got it."

"Did you always ride?"

She rolled her eyes.
"No, I do it against my parents wishes."

He nodded. "I'm no good at this. Sorry."

"That's okay. So how'd you meet your boyfriend?"

He tensed up.

"He's uh... he's not my boyfriend Amber. It's complicated." She looked at him confused.

"I mean, I can't tell you much about it. Don't worry about it okay."

"Okay. No problem. I'm gonna turn in okay? Get a shower, some rest and we can head out in the morning."
She patted his arm and scooted off the bed.

The next morning Juice woke up to his phone ringing, he had three missed calls all from Tully. That was odd, the man didn't do that, he felt panic rise in his chest.

"He-hello?"

"Holy shit Ortiz! You tryin to give me a heart attack!" Tully blared through the line, but Juice could sense his relief. He called him Ortiz and not some random nickname, he must not be alone.

"No, I was asleep. It's only 7am. Shit, it's what 4am there. What's going on?" He was concerned, he didn't know why, but if it upset Tully it must be serious.

"Yeah, I've been waiting to call you till it would be morning there. Yesterday some shit went down I guess with the Sons. Turns out Teller is dead, the Scot is in charge. Some of the guys are inside now, we have good business. As you know, far as they're concerned I followed through with the green light. Happy and some giant of man Q-tip or some shit have been asking around, bout you."

Juice couldn't think. Why would they ask about him, he was dead. All of his shit was being handled by a nazi pretending to be his sister and he had no more link to the club. "Q-Tip? Quinn?" He sounded very confused.

"Yes Quinn, but I don't see how that's of any importance. They're wantin to know about you. Don't know if it's just curiosity or if they suspect something. The sheep shagger called a meet with me today."

"Sheep shagger?" He huffed our, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Baby boy, you are focusing on the wrong parts here. The Scot, I'm meeting with the Scot and I'll find out what they want. If they find out your alive, there's gonna be a price tag on my head. I can't protect you if I'm dead. I need to know where you are, all your stuff is in storage, we're going to move it again. I don't want any trace of you."

"Tully, whose with you? I can hear them."

Tully sighed. "It's my right hand baby. He has the info, had to be here when I called. You know how it works. The AB isn't exactly happy with me, but I'm making them money, my place is fine."

"I'm in Kentucky. Leaving today, heading to Nebraska. Should be there in a few days."

"I'm detouring you baby. Do not go to Nebraska. Don't, the Sons found my baby girl, she's being transported to Charming now."

"Tully I'm confused. Why would they take her? Why would they ask about me? Did someone fuck up?"

Tully sighed deeply, Juice could hear something unfamiliar in his voice. "Yeah baby. Someone on the payroll sold out to a higher bidder. The Sons that are locked up want info, want to see proof that you're dead. The AB knows you're not. The Scot, isn't all too happy with me for following Jax orders. I can't run, but I don't break a promise, and I promised to protect you. My girl will be fine, she doesn't know anything, they will eventually turn her loose. She doesn't play by our rules baby, her absence will be noticed."

Juice felt his heart drop, this was a nightmare. The Sons knew he was alive, they wouldn't be asking if they didn't already know. Chibs was pissed, but he'd told him to swallow his gun, he would still take out the green light. For some sick reason, Juice felt worried about Tully. He had never heard the man sound anything other than calm, but fear was not something he ever expected to hear. That chilled him to the bone, there was really no way he could help him. All of this was his fault, even in death he was still fucking up.

"Okay so, they think I'm alive. What do they want as proof? You fucking stabbed me, there has to be surveillance of that. Even if it's been deleted I bet I can hack it and find it. I bled out on the floor. The medics pulled me out, no one would have known you didn't get the artery. There would be surveillance of me in the morgue too, from right before your guys zipped me up and sent me out. I can mess with the files, get it to you." He was spinning off in a panic.

"Juice... Ortiz! Baby!" He growled as loudly as he could trying to pull Juice back.
"You're spiraling, breathe. If you want to do that that's great, send it to my guy. He will contact you with info. The nurse here likes me, she's got your records all spiffed up for the Scot."

"Okay, that's good. Yeah." Juice breathed, trying to relax. "So where do I go in the mean time?"

"Anywhere you want too. You're a free man. Don't come here, and don't go to Nebraska. You may not hear from me for a while, I'm trashing the burner so they can't trace anything. I'll call you as soon as I get a new one, my guy will contact you about he surveillance."

"Okay. Thanks for the heads up. Be careful Papi." He was nervous, if they killed him, he'd be truly alone. No one in the AB would help him without Tully's say so. His stuff would be gone, his money cut off. He'd be more fucked than he already was. He didn't want the monster to die, as much as he did want him out of his life. He couldn't handle the guilt that Tully would die because of him and not shit he got himself into.

He lay back on the bed working out a plan to hack Stockton and get the video. He was as good as dead, documents existed, even a fucking grave. He didn't know who was buried there, but it was his headstone. His heart was racing, he had to figure a way to right all the wrongs and no more bodies drop because of him. He couldn't handle being responsible for any more deaths. He couldn't handle Chibs being sucked back into his drama, after he tried to help and Juice had just betrayed him like he had. Chibs didn't deserve that, he'd experienced too much loss and hurt, Juice didn't want to be the cause of any more. Fuck it if he couldn't even die right.