Fate Misunderstood

"You outta your goddamn mind, old man?"

"Go, Kozik! I'm not tellin' you again!"

Juliette rolled over onto her side, her eyes fluttering open as she listened to the muffled arguing coming from the main room of the clubhouse. She yawned softly, rubbing her sleepy eyes with her palms and she curled her arm under her pillow, pulling it closer to her chest to cuddle up to it as she sank lower under her blankets. She had only slept next to Juice for two nights but it already felt weird to not have him next to her when she woke up. Being with him was like second nature even though they weren't even an actual couple. In fact, she didn't know what they were.

There was a quiet knock on the door but she barely had time to tell the person to come in before it opened. Kozik peeked his head into the crack in the door before he slipped fully inside the room, shutting it back behind him and Juliette only raised her eyebrows questioningly as she propped herself up on her elbows. "Can I help you with something?"

He eyed her for a moment before he glanced over to the corner where the clothes she'd been wearing the day before were folded up neatly and a smirk quickly spread across his face. "You sleep naked, Jules?"

Juliette rolled her eyes at him and tossed the blankets back off her body, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and stretching her limbs as her feet hit the stiff dark carpet. "Not when I'm here. I know better than that." The plaid button down shirt she'd slept in had been found in the dresser and it belonged to one of the guys; based on the size and style, she guessed maybe her brother or Opie. She pulled the bottom hem down to make sure it covered her lace-clad ass before she stood up and walked over to the small adjoining bathroom, shutting the door behind her. After a moment, it opened again and she leaned against the door frame, looking down as she worked on unfastening the buttons that went down the front of the shirt she was wearing. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Name it," he replied without hesitation, distracted by the newly visible skin.

"Since you're apparently going out," she started, referencing his argument with Piney that she'd heard just before. "Could you stop by my house and get me some clean clothes? You won't have to dig through my dressers or anything. There's a duffel at the bottom of my closet that should have some clothes in it." She finished undoing the buttons and finally looked up at him but he was staring at the narrow path of exposed skin that went down the center of her chest and stomach. She shook her head with a slight smirk and pulled both sides of the shirt closer so that they overlapped and covered everything up before crossing her arms over her chest. "Please?"

"Uh, y-yeah. Sure. I need a key though."

Juliette stepped back into the room and walked over to the opposite side of the bed where her purse sat on the floor in the corner. She could feel his eyes on her as she knelt down to dig through it in order to find her ring of keys and when she stood back up straight to hand him the keys, she smacked his arm, causing him to wince. "What the hell was that for?" he whined.

"You're staring."

"Can't help it," he chuckled. "Have you seen yourself? Goddamn."

"You're an ass."

"I know."

"Get outta here. I have to shower." She shooed him out of the room before she went back into the tiny bathroom and stripped off the little clothing she had on before stepping into the warm shower. Since she really didn't have any plans for the day, she took her sweet time, and she didn't get out until the water started to turn cold. There was only a bottle of men's shampoo/body wash which meant she'd have to go the whole day smelling like Old Spice instead of her usual perfume but it really didn't bother her; it reminded her of Juice. She dried off before she wrapped the black towel tightly around her body, securing it at her chest before she went back into the room, but her bag wasn't there which meant Kozik hadn't returned from picking Tig up from the police department yet.

Since she didn't know how long it would take him and since the clubhouse would be practically empty considering most of the guys were in Belfast, she left the dorm room and went down the hall into the main room to have a cup of coffee. The clock in the small kitchen told her it was just after ten in the morning and her stomach began to growl since she hadn't eaten breakfast. There wasn't a single thing worth eating in the fridge so she settled on popping a slice of bread into the toaster.

After a few minutes, her toast popped up and she took a bite even though she didn't usually like it without strawberry jam. She slid up onto one of the bar stools, crossing her right leg over her left as she sipped on her coffee and the clubhouse doors opened just as she finished off her mug. The prospect just stared at her, frozen like a deer caught in headlights; he was sure he should avert his eyes considering who she was but at the same time he just couldn't look away. Kozik came in right behind him and almost ran into the kid, causing him to shove the prospect out of the way and then smack him in the back of the head to snap him out of it.

"You look good wet," he teased as he walked up to the bar.

"Thanks, but you're still an ass."

Kozik chuckled but the grin on his face didn't last long as Tig came into the clubhouse only a few seconds later. He took one look at Juliette before giving both Kozik and the prospect hiding in the corner a harsh glare. "The hell are you doin' out here in just a towel?" he demanded immediately. Any other time, he'd be making some suggestive comment, but because Kozik and the prospect were there too, he got protective.

"Oh, relax, would you? I was just having something to eat. There wasn't anyone in here until two minutes ago. How was your night in Unser's cage?"

Tig scowled at Kozik for laughing at Juliette's question before he looked back at her. "Go put some clothes on."

She rolled her eyes, taking the duffel bag that Kozik held out to her before venturing back down the hallway to the dorm room. The bag still held a fresh change of clothes like she had thought so she quickly pulled on the underwear before unfolding the jeans and stepping into them. There was a sharp knock at the door. "Yeah?" she called and the door immediately opened, Kozik slipping into the room and shutting the door behind him. She glanced over her shoulder to see who it was behind her and found him grinning from ear to ear.

He stayed silent for a moment as he watched her shimmy her hips to pull her tight jeans on but his eyebrows shot up in question when he saw the various purple marks littering the back and sides of her neck and even a few down her shoulder blades."Well, well. What've you been up to, Jules?"

"None of your business," she retorted, rolling her eyes as she buttoned her jeans and reached for her bra.

"Aww, come on now," he teased. "You really gonna hold out on me? That's not fair. Just tell me who it was."

She shook her head as she fastened the clasp of her bra before turning around to face him as she planted her hands on her hips. "It's not that hard to figure it out, Koz."

"Had to be one of the young guys. Couldn't be Jax obviously and Ope has an old lady. Had to be Juice or one of the prospects." His eyes zeroed in on the marks across her chest and down to her stomach and he smirked. "Bet none of those prospects could make hickeys like that, not that you'd even let any of them get that close to you in the first place. So it had to be Juice then. Am I right?"

"You should totally be a detective," she muttered sarcastically as she turned her back to him again and reached for the clean tank top from the duffel, pulling it on over her damp hair and adjusting the bottom hem so that it came down all the way over the top of her black jeans.

Kozik chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned his back against the door. "So you're gonna be Juice's old lady then?"

Juliette shook her head and sat down on the edge of the bed to pull on her black boots. "No. I don't know. There's too much going on right now to be thinking about shit like that."

"You wanna be his old lady?"

"You certainly are nosy today," she snapped, standing up and putting yesterday's clothes into the now empty duffel before walking over to him. He handed her the keys she'd given him to get into her house and she tossed them back into her purse. "Please don't say anything. Nobody knows except my mom."

Kozik moved over so that he was no longer blocking the door. "You told Gemma?"

"Nope," she sighed. "She saw the marks too. Figured it out on her own."

"Maybe you two should be more careful with that, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"Come on," he grinned, hooking his arm around her neck and pulling her into his side. "You can come help me work on my bike."

"Sounds like so much fun."

Juliette walked outside with him but immediately moved out from under his arm when she saw Tig's harsh glare. He was in the garage working on a truck that had been brought in and Kozik had his bike parked a little ways away, in front of the garage instead of inside it. Julie noticed Tara in the office with Chucky, the two fingered man, so she left Kozik to work on his own while she went into the office.

Honestly, she wasn't sure what to say. Tara had dated Jax a long time ago, but Juliette was only nine years old when she left Charming so she really didn't know her. Now that she was back with Jax, and apparently staying for good, Juliette felt like she should probably get to know her. Chucky scampered off to look for something, smiling politely at Juliette as he passed, and she walked past Tig in the garage through the open door to the office where Tara was sitting in the chair across from the desk. She looked up in surprise when Julie walked in but then she smiled. "You probably don't remember me much, do you?"

"Not really," Juliette replied. "But I thought it's time we changed that."

Juliette sat down in the chair behind the desk and the women started talking. It was a little awkward at first, but when they both began talking about their jobs, things became a little more relaxed. Juliette still needed to go into St. Thomas to talk to someone about working there, but with all the stuff going on there (like her mother escaping custody and feds questioning all the staff), she figured it was best to wait a few days. Tara offered herself as a reference to help her along with the process. Amidst their conversation, there was yelling out in the garage. The women had ignored it at first, but it was only getting progressively louder.

They both turned their heads to look out into the garage at Tig and Kozik, the two yellers. At first, they were fussing about a wrench or some other tool, but now they were just being assholes to each other. Tara politely excused herself when she saw a silver Prius drive up onto the lot and Juliette went outside just in time to hear Tig call the other man "Tinkerbell." She shot him a look but he just scowled and went back to whatever he was doing with the truck while Kozik shook his head and bent down to continue working on his bike. Since she had read those motorcycle repair books when she was younger (that Juice had teased her for), she was able to actually help Kozik work on his bike but when she saw Chucky go back into the office, she decided to go help him instead.

There was a phone call from Lumpy who owned the only gym in Charming that ended in Tig, Kozik, and the two prospects leaving while she and Chucky were filing papers, which meant that there was no more arguing on the lot, only the sounds of the other men working in the garage. After helping with the paperwork for an hour or two, Juliette finally went back into the clubhouse, which was completely empty.

It was weird to her; the place nearly always had someone there, whether it was club members, hang-arounds, old ladies, or crow eaters. But now she was the only person there and it felt very lonely. She wondered what was going on over in Belfast and if the guys had found out anything new about Abel; if they were safe; if they were even still alive. There were so many unanswered questions floating around in her mind and they only filled her with anxiety and worry.

She spent the next hour or so playing a game of pool by herself, then cleaning up a bit, then finally flopping down on the couch and laying her arm across her face to block out the sunlight that was beginning to give her a headache. The clubhouse door opened and Tig stalked in, closely followed by Kozik and one of the prospects, Miles. The entire left side of Kozik's face was covered in blood, his eye looked worse than before he left, and his nose was bleeding. Tig was bleeding as well, just a little less than the man beside him. They were both smiling at having had the opportunity to hit one another while the prospect behind them looked like a disgruntled parent who'd had to break up his two children fighting. They'd obviously had one hell of a fight.

"What the fuck?" Juliette got up from the couch and walked over to them to get a better look at their injuries. "You two are ridiculous," she muttered, shaking her head. "Go sit down. Let me get the first aid kit."