Abigail hadn't elaborated on their encounter and neither had Juice – he felt way too embarrassed to say anything to her. Now dusk had fallen he sat at the bar, slamming drinks until he felt confident enough to go to Abigail and apologize. He wasn't very successful up to now. At least three times he had been on his way to standing up, but as soon as he had turned his head towards her, he had thought that she was answering his glance, making him back off.

Why are you so unbelievably stupid, he asked himself. The lack of a slutty dress must have given you a clue! Or otherwise her accent! Sure, her accent was nowhere as tick as Chibs' accent, but now he knew that her roots were in Scotland, he didn't understand how he could have missed it.

After another drink he decided that there was enough alcohol flowing through his veins – if he became drunk he would only make things worse. Feeling a bit dizzy as he slid off the bar stool, he looked around.

She was talking to Jax, a beautiful smile on her face, making him wish that he was the one who caused that smile right now.

Suddenly an arm landed around his shoulders. "Now listen closely lad."

Juice froze as he heard Chibs' voice.

"If ye prefer two eyes, ye better take them off my little girl."

He felt the heat creep to his face. "I – I wasn't staring."

"Then what were ye doin'?"

"Um..." A good answer didn't show up, so he just shrugged and did the stupidest thing he could have done – his eyes shot to the girl again. He just couldn't help it, it felt like his eyes led their own life. Although she was talking to Jax, he saw that she looked past him, into their direction.

Was she really looking at him? Again? No – she was probably wondering what her father was doing.

Chibs heaved a deep sigh, diverting the attention away from his daughter. "Ye one of those lads who gotta learn it the hard way, aye?"

"No," he said quickly, afraid for a beat up in the ring. "I get the message. But she's... she's just the most beautiful thing I've seen since I'm on this side of the country."

"Thing?" Annoyance was dripping from his tone.

Juice wished he could just vanish. With every word he said, he was digging a deeper hole. "No – no I didn't mean it like that!" He stumbled over his words, his cheeks were getting hot. "She's not a thing. She's a person – just a fucking hot one. Um, very beautiful, I mean," he corrected himself.

Yep – he had drank too much already. He was so dead.

"I just... want to apologize to her because I said some stupid things. Then I'll never talk to her. I promise."

"Ye promise?" Chibs raised his eyebrows. "Promises are sacred, ye know that laddie? Even when you're wasted"

Juice nodded. "I know. I really know."

He saw that Jax was leaving her alone and although it might be stupid to walk out on his sponsor right now, he took his chances before Chibs asked him what stupid things he had said to his daughter.

By the time he approached Abigail, his hands were clammy. With every heavy beat of his heart the urge to turn around became harder to ignore, but he knew he would make a fool of himself if he backed off now.

"Hey!" he said – well, he was rather yelling since the rock song that had been playing just ended.

"Hey Juice." Over her glass, she looked at him. "The restrooms were clean again, I noticed. Probably cleaner than they've ever been. Good job." She showed him a friendly smile that made his own lips curl up too – in a stupid, dreamily way.

Quickly he shook off the enchanting effect of that smile. "I uh – I wanted to apologize," he said. "For mistaking you for a croweater. I eh, I didn't know there were family members around too."

She looked pensively at him, her head tilted. "You wanna make it up to me?"

"I do," he said before he realized it. "Uh, but I think your dad is gonna kill me."

"Nah, he's always trying to scare the new guys away from me. He's just teasing, don't worry."

Juice had his doubts, but admitting that out loud would make him look like a coward. "Uh, okay. So, uh, can I buy you a drink?" he asked as he noticed that she had finished her glass.

"That's a good start," she winked.

Although he had seen that the other Sons swung their arms around girls or were holding their hands all the time, he didn't even think about doing that now.

At the bar he got himself and her a drink. She turned out to be an easy talker as she told him that she was going to college in San Francisco. As she talked about her study clinical epidemiology, her eyes were lighting up and her voice sounded more passionately than before. He just listened, taking in the way her lips moved, how her tongue flicked across her lips now and then and how she smiled most of the time.

Suddenly she tapped his nose. "You're not even listening!" she exclaimed, although her eyes were still beaming.

"Sorry," he muttered, scratching his neck as his cheeks flushed.

"You had a rough day, right? You're clearly not much of a talker today. How about a game of pool?"

"Yeah, sure." Juice managed to sound casual, although he was excited that she wanted to spend more time with him.

"So, are you a bit of a daredevil?" she asked him as she handed him a cue. "Wanna make the game more interesting with a reward?"

Juice's throat felt dry. Quickly he took a drink, although it didn't help much.

"Sure," he said with all the confidence he could gather. "Anything in mind?"

"Uhu..." Suddenly she stood very close, making him feel so hot that he needed another swig to cool himself off.

A shiver went through his body as her lips touched his ear when she whispered: "If you win, you can take me to your room and love me until the sun comes up."

The words were so unexpected that he choked on his drink. Coughing, he bent over, his hand shaking so that his drink flooded his glass.

Chuckling, she took the glass from his hand and rubbed between his shoulders until his breathing had normalized. His cheeks had to be flaming red – and confused he looked at the girl.

"You're kidding me, right?" he muttered. "Your dad will kill me."

She held his glance, there was a hint of rebellion in them. "He doesn't have to know about it, does he?"

"Um, I dunno," he muttered.

She pouted. "You already invited another girl to your room?"

"No!" he said quickly, feeling a strange sensation in his stomach.

"Good."

She bent forward to take the triangle off the table. Automatically his eyes checked out her ass, and seeing her standing this way tightened up his pants. If he won – would he really see her naked? Just like that? He couldn't imagine – there had to be a caveat.

"You want to start?" she asked as she turned around.

"Um – eh, if you win... what will be your reward?" he asked, his throat still feeling dry.

"Why? You're not motivated enough to win? You want another price? The other girls are for free."

"No I want you," he muttered. "I mean.... Um..." Actually he had no idea what he meant, he felt confused and tipsy and there was this whole other feeling as if there was fire festering through his veins which made him even more confused. "But what if you win?"

Leaning on the cue, she stepped closer again. "If I win..." Again she studied his face for a while. "If I win, I'm going to make you the hottest guy around."

Juice really had no idea what she meant with that – but it sounded good, so he shrugged. "Okay. I guess we have a deal then."

She gave him a charming smile, then she gestured him to start the game.