Ch. 9 No Jinxes

Juice sat at the clubhouse computer searching through new parts for his Dyna on a suggestion from Happy. The killer had just come down from Tacoma and rumor had it, he wanted to go Nomad to stay close to his mother. His mother who lived in Bakersfield. He raised an eyebrow, Bakersfield only sounded familiar to him because Angela had just mentioned her mom still lived there. Her mom and aunt, actually. And if he remembered right, Hap's mom also lived with his aunt. Not only that lined up, but Angela kept mentioning a cousin from Tacoma, one that traveled a lot, one that taught her how to shoot, and was a demanding son of a bitch. It all lined up in the worst way possible. "Oh shit," he breathed.

His fingers raced over the keyboard as he delved deeper into Angela's family tree. Cousins weren't listed in the national databases, but with some research on her mom or dad, he could find what he was looking for.

He went into her Dad first and came up short. It made sense, their last names didn't match. He then decided to dig into her mom. That's where he found it. On a fairly recent census, it listed Graciela Ruiz living with Elena Lowman. Juice knew better than to search Happy's files, but he did remember Kozik and Happy talking once about his mom a few years back when he was prospecting. Kozik had asked how Elena was doing. The only reason Juice remembered this was because he thought Koz was talking about Hap's Old Lady and had been quickly corrected and cut down for his mistake. Though he'd been wrong then, he was almost sure Angela's mysterious cousin was Happy now. After closing down all the windows, he pushed away from the desk and headed to his Dyna. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

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Angela was watching TV when someone knocked on the door. She'd been locking it now since her cousin had brought up the dangers of leaving it unlocked; the danger being him showing up unannounced. It wouldn't do her any good to have him barging in when she and Juice were together. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find a very pissed off Juice glaring back at her. She raised an eyebrow, she'd never seen him so wound up. "Um hey," she greeted awkwardly, a brow raised in confusion. If she wasn't mistaken, he seemed to be angry at her. "What's going on?"

He headed into the house, waiting until she closed the door before turning towards her. "When were you going to tell me the big bad cousin you're always talking about is Happy?" Juice blurted out, his voice louder than he had intended it to be. He'd wanted to go into it more stealthily, but when he was finally standing in front of her, he couldn't do it. He had to know straight answers. No beating around the bush.

Her dark eyes widened a little as a look crossed over her face that told him he'd been right in his assumption. Happy was her cousin, and she hadn't been planning on tell him anytime soon. She blinked at him, trying to find a way to answer his question that wouldn't piss him off. "I don't know."

"Do you think I'm stupid, Ang? That I wouldn't find out? I'm the fuckin' intelligence officer! This shit isn't hard to find!" he exclaimed, gesturing wildly as he spoke. In fact, it was pretty hard to find, but he was well trained in finding information so it'd been relatively easy for him. "And all this time, you acted like you knew nothin' about the club, about who we are. All fuckin' lies!"

Angela shook her head. No, she had never once lied to him. Yes, there were a few things she avoided telling him, but she had never once lied to him about it! "I didn't lie to you!" she shouted, her dark eyes fierce as they glared at him. "I never asked about the club because, honestly, I don't really care about it!"

"Then why are you with me, huh? To piss Hap off, is that it? Get back at him for making you move here?"

"No, I'm with you because I actually like spending time with you, stupid! I don't give a damn what cut you got hanging on your shoulders!" she yelled, fighting off the urge to smack some sense into him. "If I wanted to piss Happy off, I'd go fuck a Mayan for chrissakes! Not one of his brothers!"

Juice sighed, running a hand over his hair as he shook his head. That was a logically sound argument, something he couldn't fault her for even though he wanted to. Looking back over the time they'd spent together, he realized it was true. She never once asked about the club or asked to be included in its activities. She just went along with whatever he did. "Then why wouldn't you tell me?" he asked, his voice back at its normal volume.

"Because I don't want him to know! Because I like living here and I like you and I don't want him to mess things up, Juice! I love Happy, I really do. He's a great cousin and he's saved me from a lot of shit, but sometimes, I like to make my own decisions without having him up my ass about them. Does that make any sense?"

He let out a long breath, his anger deflating as he nodded "Yeah, I guess," he said, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Okay," she said on a sigh. She had to admit, it felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders now that Juice knew. There was only one person who was left out of the loop, and she didn't want him to find out...not for a long time at least. "You're not going to tell Hap, are you?"

Juice chuckled and shook his head as he took a step closer to her, his hands curling around her hips. "Definitely not," he said on a laugh, tugging her in closer. "If you're too scared to tell him, I sure as hell won't do it."

She draped her arms over his shoulders, rolling her eyes. "I'm not scared, just...hesitant."

"Yeah, sure," he teased, dipping his head to catch her lips in a kiss. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled away, a frown on his face. "Every-freakin'-time!"

Angela laughed, kissing him once more before playfully pushing him away. "Go do your shit," she said, following him to the front door. "I'll see you later."

He nodded, phone already pressed to his ear as he waved goodbye to her and headed down the stairs. She watched as he rode away, waiting until his bike was fully out of view before sighing. That had gone a lot better than she thought it would. She thought the knowledge of who her cousin was would have him running for the hills like it did to all the other guys she'd "dated" in Tacoma.

But Juice was different; he didn't take things too seriously. And while she'd always said she'd never get involved with a Son, she found that it wasn't so bad. She kind of liked that he had a life besides her. That he'd never be the doting, overbearing type of guy she hated.

She shook her head feeling stupid for even thinking about him as boyfriend potential. This was just a fling. They were just friends with benefits. Most of which she hadn't gotten to enjoy yet. Try as they might to find a moment to get it on, it was proving to be exceedingly difficult. Something always interrupted then.

Still, their relationship could only be classified as 'friends with benefits'. No amount of time spent between them was going to change that. Though she was quite clear of where they stood, a small piece of her wished it was different. She liked him...a lot. He was sweet and kind and goofy as hell, something she hadn't come across in a long time. She wouldn't mind at all if he stayed around.

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Juice trudged up the stairs to Angela's apartment, not at all surprised that the front door was open. He'd called her in advance to tell her he was coming. There was music coming from her bedroom, so he knew where she was. He took off is boots and walked down the hallway, leaning against the doorjamb and watching the muscles of her back move as she tucked clothes away into her drawers.

"Hey you," she greeted without turning around. He smirked before throwing himself, face first onto the bed with a tired groan. It was the first time he'd ever gotten anywhere near her bed, he realized with a smirk. She'd been right before; her bed was comfy as hell. "Tough day?" she asked around a laugh.

He sighed as he nodded, the knowledge that Opie might have turned rat was weighing on his shoulders. He was incredibly loyal to his brothers so the thought that one of them had turned rat made him feel awful. Adding that to all the ATF shit had every muscle in his body tensed and aching. "Massage me like one of your dead people," he requested, his words muffled by the soft fabric of her comforter. "Please?"

Her responding laugh made him smile, the weight of his day subsiding a little; being around her always made him feel more relaxed. "Gotta strip down to your boxers first," she said, smirking when his eyebrows skyrocketed up to his mowhawk.

"Ms. Ruiz, are you going to take advantage of me?" he mumbled into the comforter.

"Oh most definitely."

"Well, in that case," He grinned, pushing up off the bed and stripping down to his boxers before jumping right back on the bed, face first, "Have at it."

Her smooth leg slid over his lower back as she straddled him. Leaning forward, she started massaging the muscles of his shoulders. "Jeez, you're tense, Juice," she murmured, a hint of worry in her voice. "What's going on?"

He groaned as he felt his muscles loosen under her ministrations. "If I let you in on this club shit, you promise you'll keep it under lock and key?"

"Yeah, 'course," she said, her thumbs digging into the cords of muscles between his shoulder blades. She leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek, her breasts pressed against his back and distracting him from whatever he'd been saying. "You don't have to tell me anything, Juice. I'm here if you want to unload, but I don't expect it."

Juice smiled slightly. He felt safer telling her club stuff now that he knew Happy was her cousin. He had a feeling Angela knew more dirt on the Sons from him than she let on. "First off the ATF has been up our asses..."

"I forgot to tell you one stopped by here," she interrupted nonchalantly, her hands smoothing over his ribs. "Agent Stahl?"

He tensed underneath her, his jaw clenching. "What'd she want?"

"Told me about Esai. I think she thought it'd make me mad enough at your club to turn rat," she replied on a laugh.

"And?"

"It didn't," she answered simply. "She did hint that she knew I was hanging out with you. I told her I didn't know what she was talking about. You're just my mechanic."

Juice chuckled, squeezing her ankle with his hand. He doubted many people gave their mechanics massages like this. "Did she buy it?"

"Not too sure. She gave up after awhile."

"Good," he said on a breath. The heels of her hands worked a particularly big knot and he groaned. "Second thing is I found out something bad about one of my brothers. Made me question him. I hate shit like that."

Angela frowned, her hands smoothing over his soft skin as she pressed her chest to his back again, her head resting against his shoulder as she hugged him awkwardly. "That sucks. I'm sorry," she whispered.

She sat up again, sliding off of him to kneel beside his hip, her hands smoothing over his arm. When she got to his hand, he caught it in his own, squeezing it before he flipped over onto his back. Stretching out his hand, he set it on the back of her neck, gently pulling her face to his to press a soft kiss to her lips. She straddled him again, her tongue sliding into his mouth to massage his. He groaned, his hands sliding under her shirt and pulling it up over her head before rolling them over so he was on top.

Her hands played with the hem of his boxers as he hovered over her awkwardly. His eyes darted towards her cell phone that was resting on the dresser waiting for it to ring and straining his ears to see if his phone was ringing but there was nothing.

Angela laughed, sitting up and brushing her lips against his in a teasing kiss. "Don't jinx it, goof," she murmured, kissing along his jaw.

He gave her a grin and turned to catch her lips with his own. "Wouldn't dream of it, baby."

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