1.
Skylar
Anywhere but here
"I don't want you going anywhere alone!" Jax screamed, his face getting redder and redder as our argument went on. Having Jax Teller as your older brother, an overprotective older brother, was not as much fun as you would think it would be. I didn't have many friends because they were either girls that wanted to sleep with Jax or were scared off as soon as they found out I lived and hung out with a lot of bikers. Oh, and did I mention he was over protective?
I've had a few boyfriends, nothing serious for the obvious reasons.
"I am 21 fucking years old Jackson, if I want to go to a fucking party... I WILL!" I said throwing the closest thing I could pick up, he didn't even flinch as the can hit the wall beside him.
"It is not safe." He said lowly, trying to calm himself. "You wanna go out and party? You want them to get you so they can use you against us? All because you wanna go party?!"
"Look who's talking." I sneered. "I am an adult, do NOT tell me what to do Jax."
"You're not going alone." He said grabbing my arm, I yanked it out of his grasp and marched towards the door, keys in hand. He grabbed at me again, turning me so he was inbetween the door and I.
"Juice!" Jax yelled, the newest patch member coming into the room as he cleaned his hands with a towel. "Accompany Miss Priss over here to the party she wants to go to. Don't let anything happen to her, do not let her out of your sight."
I opened my mouth to protest but a slammed door was the period at the end of the conversation between Jax and I.
"UGH!" The frustration in my body was making me shake, a quick punch to the brick wall took all of the frustration out of me and filled that empty space with pain. I cradled my hand, not wanting to look like an idiot that just fucked their hand up being stupid and walked to my jeep – trying not to cry.
Why do girls always cry when they're mad, or sad, or happy – or anything! We always cry!
I sat in my jeep, my head against my steering wheel. I didn't even want to go to the party anymore, but I didn't want Jax to win.
"uhh.." Juice said leaning on the side of my jeep, I didn't have doors or a top – there was no hiding from him. "Where are we going?"
I looked up at him, scanning him to see if he was an idiot or not. he had tribal tattoos on each side of his very short mohawk, he was potentially an idiot. I motioned for him to get in and strapped myself in, I would decide what I was doing once I had driven until my mind was clear.
I hated Jax, I really did. Not really, but... god does he make me mad. My own mother doesn't give a fuck if I'm going to a party, why should he?!
"Angrily shifting gears like that isn't good for the..." Juice started, I glared at him and he stopped in his tracks. Smart.
I turned my music up, Crazy Horse by Black Label Society drowning out everything around me. after a few more loud songs I was okay again, except for the pain radiating in my hand. It was getting harder and harder to shift, it hurt to even move my hand let alone try to grab something.
I pulled off at a lake, driving my jeep as close as I could get. I got out, taking my boots and socks off before going to sit at the end of a fishing dock with my feet in the water. I looked down at my hand, wondering how to make the pain stop.
Juice sat down next to me, looking out at the water. "You know, I come here when I need to think." He said, still not looking anywhere but across the lake.
"What is your real name?" I asked.
"Juan Carlos Ortiz." He nodded. "A name that doesn't really mean too much to me anymore, that's the old me."
"Why?"
Juice just shrugged before glancing over at me, "I left that life behind."
I nodded, wishing I could move and just restart my life. I winced as I accidently moved my hand in a way that irritated whatever was going on with it. It could very well be broken, I don't quite care yet.
"You gonna let me take care of that?" He asked, and in one movement he had shifted and took my hand into his. I winced and went to pull away but he gave me a stern look and kept ahold of my hand, being careful not to hold it too roughly.
"It's fine." I mumbled, watching him look it over. "Leave it alone."
"It's not fine." He pulled out a water bottle and poured some of the water over my hand, cleaning the blood away that had dried.
He pulled his backpack over, opening it and starting to rummage through it.
"Zip-ties... Kinky." I tried to joke. He glanced up at me, smirked and then gave a wink before going back to my hand. I noticed then that his backpack was full of first aide things, food and drinks...it had everything you would need in an "oh shit" situation. I was wrong about this one; I don't think he is an idiot.
He was cleaning out the wound on my knuckle when I pulled away, the pain forcing me to jerk out of his grasp. His hand immediately grabbed me, pulling me closer to him.
"Honey, I need you to stay still or I'm just going to make matters worse." He scolded lightly. "I know it hurts babe, but I'm almost done."
I rolled my eyes, but internally thankful for him.
"We aren't going to a party." It wasn't a question, he was stating a fact. I nodded in agreement, I didn't want to be anywhere but here. When he finished bandaging my hand we sat there and just talked. We talked about everything, our childhoods – our fears- funny stories – everything. In those next 6 hours I think I actually made a friend, a real friend. He didn't look at me like I was a child, he didn't talk to me different because my last name was Teller... he treated me like a human.
My hand had swelled, he was pretty sure I had fractured it or possibly broken it, so he offered to drive my jeep back to TM. Of course along the way he stopped at the ER, which was another 2 hours of what should've been an awful experience but he made me laugh and smile the entire time. He was truly a godsend.
When we got back to TM he made sure to be quiet so no one knew we had come back, so that no one would question me about my hand until the morning.
"Goodnight Juice, thanks for tonight."
"Anytime, babe." He smirked. "Maybe we won't break a hand next time."
"Maybe." I smiled.
What I didn't know was in that moment my life had changed, a connection had been made... a foundation laid.
