Firefly

Chapter 35

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--

That evening, after Amelia and Juice pried themselves out of her bed, she went to dinner with her family again and Juice sped off to meet with Chibs. The moment Amelia laid eyes on her uncle he looked like a different person. There was a menacing darkness in his eyes and everything he said seemed to have sinister undertones. She sipped her drink and wondered how far Juice had gotten if anywhere at all.

"Juan Carlos is nice." Helen said with less enthusiasm as she had the night before. "How well do you know him?"

Amelia slowly swallowed the bit she had just taken as she rolled the tone and question around in her mind. She raised her glass to her lips and shrugged before taking a sip.

"We've been together for a little less than a year, I guess. We split up for a little while though, so I'm not sure if you count that."

"But how well do you know him?" Max asked again. "You could be with someone for years and not know who they really are."

"Yeah, I can see that."

The remark barely registered. It was comical that Max was confident enough to threaten a man like Juice and feel there'd be no repercussions. Sure, Juice was different from the others but he was not going to let anyone come to him like that, he was a Son and, different or not, that meant something. It must have been his show of kindheartedness that gave Max the illusion of Juice's weakness. That was what Amelia saw, his kind heart and the goodness in him, but she could now see how dangerous Juice could be, Hale and Tyler being prime examples.

"We're just concerned." Helen was rigid, she refused to make eye contact but she pressed on with the topic.

"Concerned about what exactly? Do you think you know something about him? Please, if you do, don't play cryptic games." Relaxing back against the chair, Amelia crossed her arms over her chest and eyed them both.

"We know the type." Max said softly. "He's trouble and we worked hard to keep you out of trouble."

"He's not trouble."

"You don't know him." Helen finally looked up from her plate. "What he's capable of, you have no idea."

That was the thing, she did know and she chose to stay with him despite it all. "I know JC and he's not trouble and he'd never hurt me." Amelia closed her eyes and sighed heavily, her face was growing hot from the intense back and forth. She steadied her breathing before slowly opening her eyes. "I don't want to fight. He's a good man, leave it at that."

--

When Juice arrived at the clubhouse he was crushed by Chibs' excited and exuberant hug. He'd been around much less than usual and Chibs was really starting to miss his young friend. Their age difference didn't matter, Juice and Chibs were close since he'd been prospecting and now he looked to Chibs as a father figure.

"Juicy Boy!"

"Hey brother!"

"You find some sweet gash and you're gone. We miss busting your balls."

They walked through the entryway and from behind he bar Chibs offered Juice whisky and beer, he chose the latter. "It's just been now, I'll be back. I'm here for some advice though, it's club and Meels related."

"Shite, Juicy," Chibs gave him a disapproving look. "What did she get into now?"

Juice shook his head. "It's not actually about her. Do you know a Max Shawcross? Did he ever have any dealings with the club?"

"Shawcross," Chibs twisted the ends of his goatee. "No, not as long as I've been here."

It wasn't surprising. When Desiree had been living in Charming Chibs was still in Ireland. He'd been over more than a few times but Juice doubted it was ever long enough to know much.

"What about Helen or Desiree Graham, they're sisters. You ever hear anything about them or anything?"

Chibs burst out laughing. "Shite, Desi Graham."

"What about her?" Juice leaned forward. "How do you know her? Who was she?"

His lips turned into a wicked smile. "One of the whores, wasn't around for a while but she was memorable."

"She was a crow eater?" He asked astonished.

"Aye, a nasty one, Juicy. You were still in nappies, I didn't even patch Redwood yet but she was still all over it." Chibs spoke proudly of his previous conquest. "I think she held a record."

Covering his face, Juice felt the urge to vomit as he realized the enormity of the issue. "So what, she fucked everyone?"

"Aye, at least." Seeing how Juice was handling the information, not well at all, Chibs pushed his whisky aside and leaned closer. "What's going on?"

Juice looked up at Chibs, his face was drawn and his eyes cloudy. "Desiree Graham is Amelia's birth mother. She was adopted by Helen and Max Shawcross, that asshole threatened me yesterday and told me he knew all about SOA. I'm trying to figure out how and I just connected the goddamn dots."

"Bloody hell," Chibs covered his face. "She could be any of their kids." He said. "Clay, Tig, Bobby, I don't have to go on."

"Yours," Juice added darkly. "She doesn't even know that, she has no idea her mom had anything to do with the club. She doesn't want to know who her birth father is but my problem isn't paternity, it's Max fucking Shawcross and how much he knows about the club. He's clean, I dug into everything but now I know it's Desiree."

Slinking down against the wall, Chibs took a long gulp straight from the bottle. "What's your next move?"

"Your next move," Juice corrected. "I'm not going to chat up this random woman I don't know. You need to ask her what she told that asshole. He might not know shit and he might know a lot. I'm not splitting up with Meels and that's all he's gonna want."

Chibs' upper lip twitched as he grew more and more annoyed with the situation. "Trouble."

"This isn't her fault." Juice snapped.

"Alright," Chibs punched Juice in the arm. "Don't take it so seriously, we'll figure it out.

"This stays here," Juice knocked on the sticky bar, "Between us for now. It's more fucked up than I thought and I don't know how I can't tell her this shit."

Chibs took a long gulp of whisky and hissed as he swallowed. Lexi was still in the apartment, hiding as he instructed, and he knew this was even worse than Juice was thinking. "I guess it looks like we're taking a road trip."