Lungs

I woke up the next morning to find that my bed was wondrously occupied. I sighed contentedly and snuggled up closer to Juice. A sudden snore echoed from him. I nearly laughed at how even something like that, that usually irritated me so much, was now a welcomed sound.

I leaned over his chest to see the numbers on the digital alarm clock. “Shit,” I swore. I was going to be late for work.

Juice stirred, opening his eyes slowly. “What’s going on?” he asked groggily.

“I have to go,” I said apologetically.

His arms tightened around me, crushing me against his body. “No, not yet.”

“I could quit my job,” I offered. “But then you won’t get to use my discount.”

“We’ve got Happy,” he argued. “We don’t need the tattoo shop anymore.”

I patted a hand against his cheek. “Well even if I quit, I’ve still got to go in and do it.”

He groaned. “We both know you’re not going to quit. You’ve got a life outside of the club now, and you’re going to keep it.”

“A little balance never hurt anyone,” I pulled out of his arms and sat up. “Stop by if you’ve got time today. Everyone there wants to say hi now that you guys are out.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.

I pulled on some clothes and tied my hair back. I had no time for a shower. As I headed for the door, I grabbed on of Juice’s hoodies and pulled it on over my tee shirt. Ten minutes later, I was pulling up in front of the shop on Main Street in my car. The lights were already on inside, and I was officially twenty minutes late.

“How nice of you to join us,” Keith, my manager, remarked dryly as I walked in.

I grinned at him. “You’re lucky I managed to get out of bed today. I had much better things to do there, anyways.”

He gestured toward me. “Lose the sweater. We can’t afford to lose anymore business over your affiliation with them.”

I glanced down, just then noticing that the front of the black hoodie was emblazoned with SAMCRO in white lettering. I unzipped it. “I guess now that they’re back, it’ll be a lot harder to pretend that I’ve got nothing to do with them.”

“Oh please. You bleed old lady.”

I was lucky that the atmosphere in the tattoo shop wasn’t all that much different than what I was used to in the clubhouse. My coworkers were unfiltered and crass, and I liked it that way. I went into the back to grab a coffee, then joined Keith at the front desk. He was middle aged, but he acted like he was still in his youth. His head was shaved bald, and his scalp was covered in tattoos. His tongue was pierced, as were both of his ears. He smiled as I sat down on a stool next to him behind the counter.

“So how are the guys doing?” he asked lightly, taking a sip of his own coffee.

“Great,” I replied with a nod of my head. “I mean, what better way to celebrate their homecoming than with a wedding?”

“They get everything sorted out with the cops?”

I raised my eyebrows. “What are you talking about?” Somehow, I knew that he wasn’t talking about the fact that the cops had been waiting on the edge of the reserve last night in case the guys got out of control. He would have had no way of knowing about that.

Keith pointed toward the front of the shop, where wide windows faced the street. “They had a showdown yesterday with the new county sheriff. They can’t wear any patches in Charming.”

I sighed. “That explains a lot. I should have known that something was up when they already had shit to take care of.”

As I stared out through the window, the front door opened with a cheerful chime. A young girl walked in, looking hesitant and nervous. Her hands were lost in the sleeves of her oversized sweater.

“Can I help you?” I asked, hoping to sound kind.

She looked over, wide eyed. “Um, I’m looking to get my nose pierced.”

I waved her over, silently telling her to approach the counter. “You got ID on you? You need to be sixteen to get any kind of facial piercing.”

She fumbled with her purse, pulling out her wallet and holding it out to me. Instead of taking the whole thing, I slid the driver’s license from its slot. I grabbed a blank waiver from the nearest desk drawer and began filling it out.

“Marla isn’t in yet,” Keith reminded me under his breath.

I glanced over at him. “It’s a nose ring. I’ve got it.”

“I’ll supervise,” he agreed.

I could feel a sudden tension in the room. I looked up to find the girl watching me cautiously. She was listening in, and now probably thought that she was going to get mutilated by an amateur.

“Calm down,” I told her as I continued filling in the paperwork. “I’m ten months into my one year apprenticeship. Practically a professional. And as Keith just said, I still won’t be unsupervised. You’re in good hands.”

“I wouldn’t let her work here if I didn’t trust her,” Keith set his coffee mug down. He stuck his tongue out at the girl. “I was her first job.”

I snorted. “Yeah, he came at me with that tongue so I stabbed a spike through it.”

“I don’t think you’re very good at being a reassuring person.”

I laughed loudly. “Of all the things I’m good at, giving comfort isn’t one of them.” I finished filling out the form and passed it over the counter. “Fill in any blanks I’ve left and sign at the bottom. Have you eaten in the last four hours?”

“Uh, yeah,” she answered. She took the paper and pen from me.

“Prone to fainting?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Great. Let’s pick out some jewellery.”

About half an hour later, she was paid up, pierced, and on her way. I had found something that I was good at, and that was something that I hadn’t been expecting. I fit in here. I really liked my job.

“Good job,” Keith congratulated me. “Squeamish teens are a hard group to conquer. You seem to have a way with them.”

I laughed. “It’s because they’re scared of me. Try as I might, I will never be disassociated with the club. I’m a Teller, and here that comes with a certain reputation.”

“You’re also a club member’s old lady,” he reminded me.

“Yeah, but it’s just Juice. It’s not like I’m banging Happy. Now he is something to be scared of.”

“Still, even Juice just spent over a year on the inside. No one is going to find him any less threatening than any of the rest of them.”

The door opened again and Marla, the other piercer on staff, walked in. She winked at me. “You managed to close your legs long enough to come in to work?”

I smiled at her. “Poor guy wasn’t used to it anymore, he needed a break.”

She laughed appreciatively. “Atta girl. Is he coming in later?”

I shrugged. “I told him to, but I think they’ve got some shit going on today.”

“Just as well. Maybe now I won’t have to worry about you having sex in my workspace.”

“I’m not an animal,” I said with a smirk. “I’d at least take him into the bathroom.”

Marla stuffed her purse under the counter, giving Keith a gentle shove so that he would move and she could have his stool. She was in her early thirties. Her long black hair was tied back into a ponytail much like my own, but she had a chunk of neon blue in the bangs that hung over her forehead. She wore more eye makeup than anyone I had ever seen, but she managed to pull it off. Marla was single, but she had a three year old daughter who sometimes came into work with her when she couldn’t find a sitter. I had my suspicions that she was sleeping with Keith, or at least was a friend with benefits, but neither of them had admitted to it.

“I still say we should have pierced your clit hood or something before he came home,” Marla said wistfully, as if I had wasted a valuable opportunity. “It’s never too late, you know.”

“Are you kidding? I would have to let that heal. I get the appeal, but with the amount of action I got yesterday, it’s not worth the downtime.”

Her chortle echoed in the small reception area. “God, how did I ever survive here when I was the only female employee?”

I smiled fondly, but I didn’t answer. I looked out through the front window, wondering what was going on with everyone else. Everything was going to go back to normal, but now I would be completely on the outside. All I had to go on was whatever Juice decided to tell me. He’d been good about that kind of thing after the time I’d called him out on it. I was banking on that now.

I blinked rapidly as a familiar car came screeching to a halt on the street outside. David, one of our tattoo artists, came running inside.

“Lexi,” he called out as soon as he opened the door. His narrow face was flushed in excitement. “I think you might want to head over to the garage.”

“What?” I stood up and stepped around the counter. “Why?”

“I just saw a couple cops and a fire truck pull in there. Something’s going down.”

“Shit,” I swore. “I’m sorry guys, I have to go.” I sprinted into the back and grabbed my keys and Juice’s sweater. I darted back through the shop, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone as I fled.

I parked my car on the street, knowing better than to try and park it behind a fire engine. I raced onto the lot, where everyone was gathered outside of the clubhouse. The new county sheriff, Eli Roosevelt, was climbing into his truck looking smug and satisfied. The club watched as he drove off, leading the other officers and the fire and rescue crew off of the property.

“What happened?” I asked, looking around wildly for some sign of an emergency. When I took a moment to really see Juice, I grinned at him. “Thanks for cutting your hair.”

“We’ve got to go,” Juice told me in a low voice, ignoring my comment. “Jax and Opie are in trouble. Wait with Gemma, we’ll be back soon.”

“I go to work for a few hours and everyone is already in trouble?”

“You don’t know the half of it,” he muttered, kissing me on the top of the head. “We’ll talk about it later.”

I felt incredibly frustrated as everyone hopped onto their bikes and sped off. I turned around, finding Mom standing with her hands on her hips. There were a couple of crow eaters behind her, and they looked frightened. Reluctantly, I walked over.

“What’s going on?” I asked, sounding as resigned as I felt.

She sighed, putting an arm around my shoulders. “Oh, the usual. Your brother’s gone and almost got himself killed so they’re sending in the cavalry. And the new sheriff is trying to prove he’s got a bigger dick than everyone else, so he trashed the clubhouse and slammed us with nine violations.”

“He’s got a bigger dick, or he is a bigger dick?”

She smirked. “Aren’t those generally the same thing? Look out for him, Lexi, he’s got it in for us. That includes you, me, and Tara. All of our men were in Stockton together.”

I felt sick. Jax was in trouble, Juice was running off to try and help, and I was stuck here helpless. I had wanted things to go back to normal, but I had forgotten that this was probably the kind of normalcy that I was going to get.

Tara and Lyla both showed up about half an hour later. We all sat around the picnic tables outside of the clubhouse, waiting for our men to come back safe. I’d been without this kind of thing for the past fourteen months, and I kind of resented the change now. I was happy that Juice was home, but I missed the simplicity of having most of the club behind bars. I found that I was actually jealous of Lyla, which was something that had seemed impossible to me at one time. She had gotten the best of both worlds; a lot of the club had been in jail, but Opie hadn’t been. He had come home to her each night.

It wasn’t long after that the guys returned. Tara and Lyla ran across the lot to greet Jax and Opie, who seemed to have made it back in one piece. We all headed into the clubhouse together, and for the first time I was able to see exactly what Roosevelt had done.

There were gashes in the walls that looked like they’d come from an axe, and a few of the headshots that had been hanging up were broken and scattered across the floor. A layer of drywall dust seemed to have settled all over everything. Tables were upturned, and debris coated the floor. I grabbed Juice’s hand as I looked around. He looked grim as he stooped low and picked up my father’s headshot.

“I have some good news,” Tara said suddenly, breaking the dismayed silence. “We’re engaged!” She held up her left hand, placing a sparkling ring on her finger as she did.

I looked around, and to my surprise everyone seemed to be reacting positively. Smiles broke out on all the faces I saw, and there were a few congratulations being tossed around. They were all clapping. Jax kissed his new fiancée, and Juice squeezed my hand just a bit.

The worry over the state of the clubhouse was pushed aside as everyone got a drink from the bar. I had no idea why Tara’s announcement had brightened everyone’s spirits, but I wasn’t going to question it.

“Come on,” Juice pulled me by the wrist about an hour later. “We have a lot to talk about.”

As usual, I drove my car home while Juice took his bike. We met in the driveway, and wordlessly went together into the house. When Juice took off the black sweater he was wearing, I saw that he had been wearing his cut underneath it. I smiled. Of course they had found a way to wear their patches while the sheriff was completely unaware.

“Where was Jax today?” I asked, pushing aside all other thoughts to focus on what was important.

“They were just doing some routine stuff, I swear. We have a new partner in the gun trade, and they really saved our asses,” he admitted.

“A new partner? Who is it?”

He hesitated. “They work with a cartel.”

I nodded sharply. “So now we work with a cartel,” I finished logically. “This goes beyond guns, doesn’t it?”

“We haven’t voted it in yet.”

“Who wants it?”

“Jax and Clay, mostly.”

I felt my worry double. My brother and my stepfather were working together. This hadn’t happened since before I came back to Charming, and I wasn’t sure that the change was for the better. I didn’t know much about cartels in general, but I knew dealing with them was risky.

“Do you want it?” I asked softly. I was almost afraid of the answer.

“No.”

I balked in surprise. “Really? You’re not just saying that to stop me from getting mad?”

Juice’s smile was bitter. “I don’t want anything to do with drugs, Lex. The guns are bad enough, but we know how to keep ourselves under the radar. This is new territory. If the feds catch on, we’re all in a world of trouble. And no one can know. As far as I know, Clay hasn’t even told Gemma.”

I nodded. “Okay, so vote against it. Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out. We’ll be okay, Juice.”

He walked over to me and pulled me close against him. “What would I do without you?”

I closed my eyes. “Let’s hope you never have to find out.”