Spark in the Dark

Chapter 184

He went inside and a few minutes later, a waitress came out and placed her drink in front of her as well as a plate with a very large cookie on it. She smiled, satisfied with his choice, and broke off a piece to eat.

When she finished the cookie, she pulled out her phone and wondered if she should text Juice. He probably wouldn't approve of her being there and there wasn't much she could do about it since Nero was her ride. She decided to text Fawn instead to check on Ally and let her know they'd be back soon.

When Nero was ready to leave, Shawn didn't bother asking questions. Nero probably would have given her watered down answers if she had asked, but she figured some things were better off not knowing. On the ride home, Nero asked Shawn about what he had missed at the school when he walked away to answer his phone. As Shawn answered, a black van cut them off, forcing them to stop.

"Get down, get down," Nero ordered her. Shawn did her best to shrink down into the seat as bikes pulled up behind them.

"What the hell is this?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "Just stay here."

Nero stepped out of the car as a man Shawn had been told was Henry Lynn got out of the van with several of his crew members. She could only hear parts of their conversation, mostly the parts where Lynn was yelling at him, but it was enough to know what had happened.

Someone had hit his drug deal that morning. His drugs and money were gone and several of members of his crew were killed as well as the buyers. He suspected the Sons were the ones who took it down.

Nero seemed to talk him down and they came to some agreement. Nero got back into the car as everyone else drove away. Nero looked at Shawn.

"I guess you heard all that?"

"I heard enough," she told him. He pulled out his phone. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to revoke my diplomatic immunity."

Nero talked on the phone as he took Shawn home. She walked through the front door and saw Fawn sitting on her couch.

"Where's Ally?"

"She fell asleep right after she ate. I put her in her bed."

"Great. Thanks."

"You look like you've been through the wringer," Fawn noticed.

"I'm just so sick of drama," Shawn told her sister.

"Dad's club?" She guessed.

"Them and everyone they've ever met."

Fawn stayed to hang out with Shawn for awhile. Even after Ally woke up from her nap, Fawn wanted to stay and helped her sister out by making her dinner. Shawn started to wonder if Fawn was trying to make up for calling Ally a princess. Or possibly even calling Shawn by the nickname for all those years.

Juice still hadn't shown up by the time dinner was done, so the girls ate without him. Shawn put his plate in the fridge and cleaned up while Fawn spent a few more minutes with Ally. Once she was done, Shawn hugged her sister goodbye. She closed the front door behind Fawn and pulled her phone out her pocket to text Juice.

Juice didn't text back. Shawn gave Ally a bath and got her ready for bed. Just as she had for Fawn, Ally fell asleep while drinking her bottle. Shawn set her in the crib and decided to take her own bath. But even after soaking for awhile and getting dressed into more comfortable clothing, there was still no Juice. She went downstairs for a drink and sat on one of the stools to call him. She heard ringing from outside right before the backdoor opened and Juice walked in with his phone to his ear.

"Hi," he greeted her with a smile.

Shawn sighed and hung up the phone. "Where have you been? You haven't been this late in awhile."

"I was out late last night, too," he pointed out. Shawn gave him a look. "Sorry. Just club shit."

"Yeah, I get it. Your dinner is in the fridge."

"What did you do today?" Juice said and went for his food.

"Fawn came over to watch Ally for awhile. Gemma wanted me to go with Nero to check out a preschool for Abel. On the way home, he stopped at Burosky's and then we were stopped in the middle of the road by a pissed off Chinese guy."

Juice turned away from the microwave and stared at her. "What? Why would he take you there?"

"I'm guessing he thought it would be okay. He probably didn't know you guys busted a drug deal and killed a whole bunch of his guys."

"Shit."

"Is it true?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Jesus Christ, Juice."

"You knew we did this sort of shit."

"We're supposed to be getting out and you're getting pulled in even deeper."

"What am I supposed to do? Tell Jax no?"

"Yes," Shawn said obviously.

"I can't do that and you know it," Juice said and turned his back on her.

She watched him get his food and sit down to begin to eat, but Shawn wasn't in the mood to sit and have a casual conversation. She stood from her seat and began to walk out of the kitchen, but turned around as she reached the doorway.

"What happened to the guy who took his cut off and threw it on the ground? Can I get that guy back?"

"Jax's wife was just murdered. He's just trying to make that right," Juice explained.

"It doesn't matter what any of you do. Tara will still be dead. There is no making that right."

"I would the same thing if it had been you. This is what we do," Juice turned to tell her this forcefully and turned right back around.

"Well, you may have to if we stay here," Shawn said, but Juice stayed silent. Shawn scoffed and shook her head as tears came to her eyes. "Tara was right. She said you'd never leave."

Shawn turned and walked back upstairs. Juice sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He knew she had a right to be mad, but her anger had taken him by surprise. He never thought for a second Shawn would ever find out about what had happened that day. For whatever reason, instead of being understanding and trying to calm her, he had gotten angry back.

That is, until she said he was going to have to avenge her death like Jax was Tara's. In the moment, Juice replayed a moment in his head that had happened in the very room he was sitting in at that moment. Brent told him that Shawn was going to get hurt because of them. He thought about all the club's women who were hurt over the years. Donna was killed in a hit meant for Opie. Luanne was killed because the club pissed Georgie Caruso off. Tara was killed by the Chinese trying to get back at the Sons. Gemma had been raped to send them a message. Even Shawn had been kidnapped and her nose broken twice because of them.

Juice stood from his seat and followed her upstairs. She was laying on the bed with her back to the door. Juice went over to the bed and laid down behind her to hold her. He kissed the back of her ear.

"I'm sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing helping Jax," he told her. "That is never going to happen to you. I promise."