#oc dakota lowman

[drabbles-mc]

All For You

Juice Ortiz x OFC (Dakota Lowman)

Juice Ortiz & OFC (Diedra Lowman)

Inspired by the Week 1 Prompts for @the-slumberparty: bouquet of flowers & diamond necklace

Warnings: 18+, language, alcohol

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: The way I want to build a whole universe just for Di, Kota, Juice, and Happy. I wish I had the time and the mental bandwidth. Little snippets will have to do! Enjoy this fun lil valentine's fic!

SOA Taglist: @espieviolet99 @littlekittymeow @chibsytelford @juicyortiz @anditsmywholeheart @i-just-read-stuff @garbinge @justreblogginfics @buckybarneshairpullingkink @paintballkid711 @jitterbugs927 @fanfic-n-tabulous @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @beardburnsupersoldiers @choochoo284 @artemiseamoon @nessamc @narcolini @darqchilddaydreamz (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Juice carefully extracted himself from the bed. He managed to untangle himself from Dakota without waking her, although that wasn’t the most difficult thing to do since she was probably the heaviest sleeper that Juice had ever met. She let out a small grumble when he pulled his arms from around her, but she didn’t wake.

He gently shut the bedroom door behind him as he stepped out into the short hallway that separated the two bedrooms from the rest of the apartment. He tip-toed past the door to her sister’s bedroom, not wanting to be responsible for waking her up either. He let out a small sigh of relief when he stepped into the space where the living room and the kitchen met, the only semblance of a divider between the two sides of the apartment was the counter that more often than not served as their dinner table if they weren’t eating in front of the TV.

Turning, he looked up from the floor and into the kitchen. His eyes widened and he gasped quietly when he saw Diedra standing in the kitchen, her back to him as she set the coffee pot to brew. Even though she hadn’t turned around to look at him, she still shook her head. He couldn’t see it, but there was a bit of an amused smile on her face.

She glanced back over her shoulder. “Coffee?”

He nodded, sitting down at the counter rather than trying to linger in her space. “Yea, sure. Thanks.” He paused, offering her a lopsided grin when she turned around to fully face him. “Was worried I was gonna wake you up, but…”

Diedra chuckled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry about that.” She saw the apprehension on his face so she clarified, “Because I’m pretty much always gonna be up before you anyway.”

Juice relaxed a bit at that. “Right.”

“Good thing you’re dating the one Lowman who actually sleeps in.”

Juice laughed quietly as he watched Diedra grab two coffee mugs from the cupboard. “Yea, good thing, because sleeping habits were why Happy and I never worked out.”

Diedra laughed as she shook her head. “Sometimes I forget that you can be funny, Juicebox.”

He nodded in thanks as she slid his mug across the counter to him. “Shit, Di, that’s like one of the only things I still have going for me at this point. You can’t forget that.”

She leaned against the counter across from him, hands cupping her coffee mug. “My bad,” she said with a smile.

There were a few beats of silence between them, and Juice desperately wanted to feel at ease about it but he didn’t, not fully anyway. He struggled less now than he used to with the nagging belief that Dakota’s sister was constantly plotting his murder. They weren’t exactly friends, and Juice didn’t know if they ever would be, but Diedra didn’t seem to have a big problem with him. He would take that as a win.

But in moments like that, when it was just the two of them without the buffer of Dakota, or Happy, or the chaos of the clubhouse, Juice still felt like he was squirming in discomfort. And she wasn’t even trying to make him do that anymore.

“Big plans for next week?” Diedra asked. She hadn’t ever been a fan of the holiday, but she knew for a fact that her sister was.

The question caught Juice off-guard. He took another sip of his coffee. “Big plans?”

She cocked one eyebrow. “Valentine’s Day?”

“Right! Right.” Juice knew that. Really, he did, but he always felt like he was taking some sort of test when he was talking to Di, and he was terrible at tests. “Um, yea, yea kind of.”

“Was worried you forgot when Kota didn’t come home giggling and squealing about you asking her.” She said it with heavy sarcasm but gun to her head she couldn’t deny that it was nice to see her little sister in a happy, fairly stable and somewhat normal relationship.

“Asking her? Asking her what?”

She took a sip of her coffee. “You know, to be your valentine or whatever.”

“I have to ask? She’s…I’m…we’re dating.”

Diedra was on the brink of cackling with amusement. “Dude, have you met my sister? Of fucking course, you need to ask her.”

“But she’s my girlfriend!” He sounded genuinely bewildered.

Diedra shook her head as she tried not to keep laughing. “Doesn’t matter. Gotta ask.”

She watched as Juice dropped his face into his hands and shook his head. All of the overthinking that he’d been doing about the actual day, and he missed the memo about even asking. He felt like he had just gotten booted back to square one.

Di felt something that felt like pity for him. “Look, it’s not like my sister is all that high-maintenance. She’ll be stoked with whatever. You could get her one of those cheesy valentine’s cards they make for kids to hand out at school and she would be hyped. Just,” she finished her coffee and set the mug in the sink, “make sure you do it.” She walked around the counter to grab her bag and her keys. “I’m heading out. Kota say if she needed anything?”

Juice shook his head. “She’s all set.”

Diedra nodded before offering a quick goodbye and heading for the door. Juice sat at the counter, taking his time as he mulled over what Diedra had just said to him.

When he finished his coffee, Dakota still hadn’t woken up. Despite the urge that he had to just go and crawl back into bed with her, everything that Diedra said was still playing on repeat in his head. So, instead of taking the lazy route of going back to sleep, he got up from the stool that he had been sitting on and made his way over to the refrigerator.

He went back and forth between a few different ideas for a minute. Making breakfast was a simple enough task. He’d done it a million times for himself before. He and Kota had definitely cooked together too. But now he was doing it while also overthinking everything that was going to be happening over the next week.

He rifled through the cupboards and fridge as he went back and forth on what he wanted to make. After weighing more pros and cons than any sane person would, he finally settled on French toast. It was low risk, high reward, and that was something that he could get behind.

With minimal struggle and almost no mess, Juice got through almost all of the cooking before Dakota woke up. He hadn’t heard her footsteps when she left the room and walked towards the kitchen, but the yawn that she let out as she crossed the threshold gave her away.

She walked over, still not fully awake, and leaned against Juice’s back. She rested her forehead in the space between Juice’s shoulder blades as she wrapped her arms around his middle. She felt Juice’s laughter before she heard it.

“Morning,” she mumbled against the fabric of his t-shirt.

He chuckled, placing one hand over hers for a moment before shutting off the stove and taking the last of the food off the stove. “Good morning.”

He felt the kiss that she lazily pressed into his back before she pried herself away from him. Stepped so that she was standing next to him instead of behind him, she looked at all of the food in front of her. Reaching, she swiped a piece of bacon off the plate next to all the French toast.

“What’s all this?” she asked.

Juice looked at her and laughed as she popped the bacon into her mouth. “Looks like you already know.”

“Yea, but, like,” she walked to the other side of him to grab a coffee mug for herself, “what’s it all for?”

“For you,” he answered simply.

She laughed, but there was a soft, happy look in her eyes. “You’re a sap.”

He shrugged, grinning. “Maybe.”

They sat at the counter, enjoying their quiet morning and breakfast for two. It was far from the first time that the two of them got to simply just exist like that, but no matter how many times it happened, Juice still found himself a little bit in awe of it all. He had never really considered himself the type of person who was cut out for that kind of thing, who would be allowed to have it. And he certainly never thought that Dakota was the kind of girl who would be interested in being with him like that. But there they were. And it never got old.

Juice finished off the coffee that was in his mug before saying, “There was something that I wanted to ask you.”

Dakota’s eyes widened, clearly curious. “Okay?”

“Would you, um,” he didn’t know why he felt nervous asking—it wasn’t like it was a question that she was likely to say no to, “would you want to be my Valentine this year?”

A cheesy grin spread across her face as she nodded. Leaning over, she kissed him on the lips. “I would love that, Juan.”

He had the same starry look in his eyes as he did the first time Kota ever kissed him. He finally nodded, forcing himself to speak. “Alright, yea, cool.”

Dakota laughed as she hopped off her chair to get herself another cup of coffee. “Yea, very cool.” She poured coffee into her mug before scooping in an unreal amount of sugar. “What’s the plan, anyway? For Valentine’s Day?”

He shrugged nonchalantly but there was a tiny smirk pulling at his lips. “I had some ideas.”

“Keeping me in the dark?”

“Surprising you sounds a lot better.”

She laughed, nodding as she walked back over to him. “I guess it does.”

As the days went by after that, Kota felt like every time she came back to the apartment there was always something waiting for her. They were small things—a card, her favorite snack, t-shirts of Juice’s that she had been trying to steal from him for weeks but never successfully took from his house. She wondered how he was always managing to sneak in and out and leave things for her without being caught. Anytime she asked Di about it, she just shrugged it off and claimed that she didn’t know anything about it. Dakota wasn’t sure how true that was but she wasn’t upset about it.

The closer it got to Valentine’s Day, the more intricate the gifts became. One night when Kota got home from work, she walked into the apartment and the first thing she saw was a beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting on the counter in the kitchen.

She looked over to Diedra, who was sprawled out across the couch in the living room, laptop rested on her stomach. “When did these get here?”

Di lifted her eyes from the screen, glancing back and forth between her sister and the flowers. “Loverboy dropped those off a couple hours ago. I told him I was very upset that he hadn’t gotten anything for me this last week.”

Dakota laughed as she walked over to get a closer look at them. She dropped her bag on the chair before standing on her tiptoes and slowly turning the vase to be able to see all of the flowers. The sunflowers and roses looked so vibrant together. Dakota lightly traced her fingers along some of the petals.

It took a moment for her to realize that there was a holder and a small card sticking out of the flowers. Her smile grew as she carefully plucked it to read. She was on the brink of giggling as she read Juice's handwriting. It always seemed to toe the line between elegant and messy. He was a few scribbles away from doctor's handwriting territory.

“Pack a bag and a dress tonight. I’ll be over tomorrow after work for the next adventure. –Juan"

She read it over a few times, gnawing lightly at her bottom lip as she did. Finally, she looked back at her sister. “He say anything to you about this?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I also didn’t ask.”

Dakota chuckled. “Right.”

She stared at the flowers for another moment longer before grabbing her bag and heading towards her bedroom. She flipped the light on and tossed her bag over onto her mattress. Without even bothering to change or take her shoes off, she knelt and pulled her overnight bag out from underneath her mattress.

Picking that up and dropping it on top of her bed, she unzipped it so that she could start putting clothes inside. She paused, confusion flashing across her face when she saw the jewelry box sitting inside the bag.

Reaching down, she picked it up and shook it next to her ear. She finally popped it open, her eyes growing wide at what was inside. Dakota had never been a diamond necklace kind of girl, and Juice knew that. If she had any doubts about that before, the beautiful gold chain staring back at her definitely wiped away any concerns that he didn’t pay attention.

She also noticed another small card with the same unique handwriting. “Maybe something that goes with this?” She laughed as she took it out of the box and latched it on. It fell nicely over her collarbone, the metal smooth and cool to the touch for now. She decided to leave it on while she packed up her things for the mystery trip Juice had planned.

It was late when Diedra finally decided to start getting ready for bed. Rather than going right to her own room, she walked and lingered in the doorway of Dakota’s. She rapped her knuckles lightly against the doorframe, causing her sister to look up from her phone.

Diedra nodded towards the bags on the floor. “Running off on me?”

Dakota laughed, shaking her head. “No, no.” She set her phone to the side. “I guess, um, I guess Juan has a night away planned. Told me to pack a bag.”

“Bringing some sort of knife or something with you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Di.” She paused. “But, yea.”

They both laughed and Diedra nodded in approval. “Good.” She pushed herself off the doorframe. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Dakota nodded. “See ya.”

It was creeping later into the afternoon when Diedra rolled onto the compound. The trip to Happy’s house had been pointless since he wasn’t home, but when she saw all of the bikes parked outside, she also saw his. She swung the car door shut and started making her way across the lot to the clubhouse.

Just as she was walking into the building, all of the guys were walking out of the chapel. She quickly scanned the looks on each of their faces—it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that whatever had been discussed and decided during church wasn’t sitting right with anyone. She didn’t feel bad for them, never really did. They all signed on for this so her pity was basically non-existent.

She saw that Happy was still talking to Jax and Clay. While she was waiting, she flagged Juice down and waved him over. “What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “Club shit.”

She rolled her eyes, not only at the vagueness of the answer but at the repetitiveness of the situation. “Always is.” She paused, looking at Juice’s face a little closer. “Shouldn’t you be going to get my sister for your big vacation?”

He sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before shaking his head. “Can’t. We gotta—”

“What?” she cut him off.

The sharpness in her tone made him flinch. “I know, I know. I gotta call her. But they said—”

“Who’s they?”

“You know.”

She shook her head. “You can’t do that to her, Juice.”

“I don’t want to, but I can’t just—”

“Yes, you can.” She stepped in a little closer to him, her voice hushed but still cutting. “I don’t give a shit what these guys said they need you for. Club’s got a full roster, right? They can find someone else to do it.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“You guys all love sayin’ that shit but I think it really is that simple.” She saw the debate resting on the tip of his tongue and didn’t let him get started on it. “Listen, you’re like, the first person Kota has dated in a long time that’s not a complete fucking asshole. I’m not going to let Clay, or Jax, or whoever the fuck is calling the shots these days, turn you into one.”

He knew that he shouldn’t be as shaken as he was, but there was always something about Diedra that was inherently terrifying. She was scary when she was in a good mood, let alone in situations like this.

“Wh-what are you gonna do?”

She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. You know me—I love any reason to have a fucking problem with Jax.” She saw the way that he was torn, almost stepping away to leave, almost stepping back towards church. She nodded in the direction of the door. “Go.”

“Right, right.” He mumbled out a quick thank you, although he wasn’t sure how thankful he was going to be about any of it when he got back. That was a problem for future him now, though. And also apparently a problem for Diedra.

Happy walked out of the chapel first, instantly clocking the way that Juice was scrambling towards the door. He walked over to Diedra, nodding at where Juice had just been. “Where’s he going?”

“He’s got some shit to do,” she answered nonchalantly.

Jax had been close enough to overhear their conversation. “He’s got shit to do for the club,” he interjected. “Fuck. He can’t just take off.”

“Well,” she shrugged, “he did. So, guess you can sort it out with him in a couple days.”

Jax narrowed his eyes at her. “What the hell did you say to him?”

“That if he had other shit to take care of, he should go do it, because you guys have enough people here to do whatever needs doing.”

“Di, are you fucking—” he stopped himself short, shaking his head. “Who’s gonna take care of it? You?” he said with a scoff.

She stepped closer to him. “Me? Sure. Or, maybe,” her eyes dropped down to the flash stitched into his kutte, “the fucking VP could handle shit for once. Just an idea.”

Jax shook his head. It was written all over his face that he was on the brink of combusting. Turning to Happy, he grit out, “Get this,” he gestured to Diedra, “under control.”

Happy’s expression didn’t really change much. He didn’t say anything to Jax, waiting until the man walked away before turning back to his daughter. “What’s going on?”

“What?”

“Juice. Where’d he go?”

“Didn’t you hear?” she asked sarcastically. “He took off.”

Happy knew that Juice wasn’t the type to just book it on the club. Either a sense of obligation or fear always kept him in line. “Why?”

“Kota.”

Happy’s brows drew together. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Diedra couldn’t help but to laugh. “It’s fucking, it’s Valentine’s Day, Dad.”

“Today?”

She laughed again. “Tomorrow.”

“Hmph.”

Diedra rolled her eyes, but she still had a smirk on her face because she knew what was going to happen. “Still wanna go get him?”

Happy sighed. “No.”

She clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s what I thought.” She walked around so that she was behind the bar, grabbing a bottle of beer for herself and holding one out to Happy. “Sit. Something I wanted to talk to you about.”

Back at the apartment, Juice felt like he had to catch his breath as he stood outside the door. He adjusted his kutte slightly before running his hands back over his head. After a few seconds, ones that seemed to stretch on longer than they should have, he reached forward and knocked.

In no time at all, he heard the clicking of the locks on the other side of the door. He didn’t know why he felt so jittery. The hardest parts were over—he had the girl, and he ditched the club. It should’ve been smooth sailing from here on out.

Dakota pulled the door open, looking as excited and as beautiful as Juice had ever seen her. Even though she was just in jeans and a t-shirt with her leather jacket, Juice could’ve sworn that he felt his knees start to buckle.

He finally forced himself to clear his throat as he leaned against the doorframe. “H-hey.”

“Ready to roll?” she asked with a smile.

He nodded. “Yea.” He watched as she reached out and tangled her hand with his own. “You?”

“Yea!” She tugged him into the apartment while she went and grabbed her bag. She lifted it up off the ground and slipped the strap over her shoulder. “Was starting to get nervous for a minute there,” she said with a laugh.

He shook his head, flashing a small smile as he reached and took her duffle bag from her. “C’mon, like I would ever leave you hanging.” He chuckled as she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He could feel his face get hot as he busied himself adjusting the bag on his shoulder. “Nice necklace, by the way.”

She laughed, dragging her fingers along the gold chain of it. “Thanks. Got it from this pretty cool guy I know.” She followed him out the door, turning around and locking it behind them once they were out in the hall. Turning back to him, she asked, smile still bright, “So, do I get to know where we’re going now? Or is it still a surprise?”

Juice laughed, shaking his head as he gestured for her to walk down the stairs. “Oh, yea, no, it’s definitely still a surprise.”

She shook her head, laughing the entire way down, “Of course it is.”

[drabbles-mc]

randomly getting hit with inspo to write for one of my many ocs is just!! the best feeling 😌

getting into the Lowman Family Zone on this Sunday evening

[drabbles-mc]

fic authors self rec! when you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. (if you feel like it, no pressure.) spread the self-love 💜

ahhh thank you so much!! 🥰

i'm gonna try to pick fics from a smattering of different fandoms 👀

- Just One Week (Horacio Carrillo x F!Reader), Narcos

- What Did You Do? (Mikey Berzatto & Richie Jerimovich), The Bear

- You Should Probably Leave (Bishop Losa x F!Reader), Mayans M.C.

- Pretty Boy (Juice Oritz x OC Dakota Lowman), Sons of Anarchy

- Even if You Don't (Benny Cross x Johnny Davis), The Bikeriders

thank you again!! xo

[drabbles-mc]

Ok I saw this floating around and NEEDED to ask you.

Fic Authors Self Rec!

When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written. Toot your horn! Tell us what YOU like about them, then pass this on to at least five other writers. (no pressure.) 😊

omg you sent me this and i was like "I'm gonna answer that asap!" and then i didn't 😂

but, whenever i do these i try my best to pick fics from across different fandoms. so here we go, in no specific order!

- Small Price to Pay (Takeshi Kovacs x F!Reader)- I've really enjoyed everything that I've written for Altered Carbon, I just love the characters and the world. But this fic in particular I really liked getting into the descriptions of what Reader was feeling and going through, how it all manifested in their relationship with Tak. They're both such a mess and I love them

- Pretty Boy (Juice Oritz x OC Dakota Lowman)- You know meeeee i love any excuse to write Juice and i love all my OCs like they're my children and best friends. But this one really has a special place in my heart since it was the debut for these two. Plus i just really love the vibe of their dynamic in this, and the fact that we get to see Di in this too.

- Last Resort (John Wick x GN!Reader)- This was my first John Wick fic and it was so much fun to write!! Idk I just loved the testy dynamic between the two of them. I loved the begrudging respect between them and the history that's there that neither of them really take the time to get into much at all. I love how he knows that they'll have his back even if they don't make it easy on him. It also taught me how much fun it is to write fics that take place in their whole world.

- No Good Time For This (Sydney Adamu x Richie Jerimovich)- You already knooooow that SydRichie was gonna make it on here!! I just love them. I love their potential and the back and forth between them. I love that their similarities just as much as their differences are what make things so chaotic between them sometimes. And while I usually love some good antagonism between them, I did really enjoy the two of them being able to lean on each other in this fic. I like that it was the two of them vs. Carmy rather than them versing each other. Thinking about them always, as you know 😂

- Round-Trip Ticket (Steve Murphy x OC Cassandra Oliviera)- I still remember when I sat down to write this fic. I remember how easily I got swept up in everything about these two. I wrote this fic for a smut challenge but it ended up being almost 8k of story that yeah, had some smut in it, but really everything about their dynamic and journey together was what really had me going hard in the docs. Their story spans over such a long stint of time and they both go through so much, together and apart, and I just absolutely love them. I still be thinking about them sometimes 🥰

thank you for this!!!! i always love going back and perusing through all of my fics 💖

[drabbles-mc]

Me? Avoiding work and making some of my fave ocs using picrew?? It’s more likely than you think 😅

Diedra Lowman & Dakota Lowman on top, Tawnie Trager & Chris Teller on the bottom

I just. Love them. 🥺

[drabbles-mc]

OC Moodboard: Dakota Lowman

“I have my mother’s mouth and my father’s eyes; on my face they are still together.”

[drabbles-mc]

Me?? Working on a Christmas cookie themed fic starring the Lowman Sisters and Happy and Juice?? Its more likely than you think!

Ho ho ho and merry domesticity 😂

[drabbles-mc]

tay pLEASE i’m obsessed with the lowman girls!!!! thank u for bringing them into our lives💞💞

You're so sweet!!! I'm so glad you love them as much as I do. Hoping to write more for them soon! xo

[drabbles-mc]

Just Fine

Jax Teller & Platonic!OFC (Diedra Lowman)

Inspired by Day 27 of the July Prompts: cherries

Warnings: language, alcohol

Word Count: 1.2k

A/N: I’ve really been wanting to write more for my girl Di, but since I don’t have her paired with anyone I’ve been trying to figure out ways to write fics for her character outside the multichap that I’ve been working on. Saying that her and Jax have a platonic relationship is a bit of a stretch but oh well lmao. I just love her and her whole attitude, and I think the dynamic between her and Jax is going to be interesting the more I work on it. There’s no bigger, deeper meaning to this one--just a little exercise for me and my OC. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! xo

SOA Taglist: @garbinge @masterlistforimagines @adela-topaz-caelon @mijop @chibsytelford @xladymacbethx @i-just-read-stuff @kkim120 @everyhowlmarksthedead @toni9 @unicornucopia-fuckers @shadow-of-wonder @punkgoddess-98 @paintballkid711 @black-repunzel99 @lexondeck @jitterbugs927 @mrsstevenbuchananstark (If you want to be added to the taglist, let me know!)

They were all kicking back outside the clubhouse after a long week. The lot was dark and things were quiet, so they were all just taking the time to soak it up while they could. The number of empty beer bottles on the picnic table and the ground surrounding it was steadily increasing, but no one was getting rambunctious.

Diedra’s car whipped onto the lot and she parked dangerously close to all the bikes just to make the guys sweat it out a little bit. She had never come close to damaging them, but she also knew that it got under their skin a little bit and she got some twisted enjoyment out of it.

Hopping out of her car, she grabbed the container that she’d been snacking out of all day and made her way over towards the picnic table. When she didn’t see her father, she sighed, knowing that she was going to have to get roped into a conversation with everyone and it wasn’t really at the top of her list of things to do. As she got closer, she was hoping that her sister would see her and save her from addressing the whole group, but there was no such luck to be had.

“Kota,” she spoke up as she stopped a few feet from the table.

Kota looked over at her, tearing her attention away from Juice as she averted it to her sister, “What’s up?”

“Dad here?”

She shook her head, “Still out with Clay, I think. Why?”

Sighing, she shook her head dismissively, “Doesn’t matter. I’ll just hang here till he gets back.”

“Somethin’ we can help you with, darlin’?” Jax asked as he turned to face her.

She narrowed her eyes slightly as she responded, “Don’t do that. Not with me.”

He laughed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yea you do. You’re not that slick, Jax. Hate to break it to you. And, regardless,” she plucked a cherry out of the container, separating it from the stem and popping it in her mouth, “what I need help with is way above your paygrade anyway.”

He ignored the little jab she sent his way, “You just carry a container of cherries around with you all day?”

Diedra looked over at him, eyebrows raised, “Not all of us have a diet that’s exclusively alcohol and nicotine, Teller.”

“I think it serves me just fine,” he smirked.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head before spitting the pit out, launching it across the lot, “Of course you do.”

Jax always took some delight in trying to get under her skin a little bit. He never wanted to push it too far, because he was afraid of her almost more than he was afraid of her father. But seeing her get a little annoyed and heated was always entertaining to him. And she made it so easy.

“Bet you can’t tie the stem with your tongue,” he nodded towards the container in her hands.

She cocked one eyebrow, “Bet you can’t tie the stem with your tongue,” she mocked, “What are you, ten?”

He shrugged, smirk still plastered on his face, “Still bet you can’t.”

Dakota tried to stifle her laughter as she watched her sister pluck another cherry off the stem, pelting the fruit at Jax before putting the stem in her mouth. She had no idea why her older sister was even bothering to entertain the discussion, but she wasn’t going to insert herself into the middle of it either. The pissing contest that went on between the two of them all the time was one of her favorite sources of entertainment when they were all at the clubhouse together.

“Make yourself useful and eat that,” Diedra said to Jax, who had caught the cherry right before he hit him on the cheek.

Jax chuckled, but did as Diedra asked. He watched her curiously, wondering if she was actually going to do it. While he waited, he spat the cherry pit out dangerously close to her feet. The glare that she shot him wasn’t lost on him, but he didn’t comment on it as he waited.

While the two of them were locked in their staring contest, Clay and Happy rolled back onto the lot. Neither Diedra nor Jax seemed to pay it much mind, if they even noticed it at all. Dakota noticed immediately, though, and wanted to know how it was going to go when Happy realized what was going on. She gently nudged Juice and nodded in the direction of the two men who were quickly approaching them. He tried to bite back the smile on his face, and the other guys sitting at the table with them didn’t miss the small interaction between the couple, either.

Diedra pulled the cherry stem out of her mouth, and it was tied in a perfect knot. She flicked it in Jax’s direction so it landed on his lap, “There you go.”

“Shit,” he laughed as he plucked it off his jeans, “Would you look at that? Guess you do have some skill.”

She scoffed, “Please. If you think that’s impressive, I feel bad for all the girls you drag back to your dorm. Send ‘em my way—I’ll get ‘em right.”

“What else you holdin’ out on us?” Jax egged her on.

“Wouldn’t you love to fucking know,” she shook her head at him.

“Di,” Happy’s gruff voice cut through their conversation as he looked back and forth between her and Jax, “What the hell is going on?”

“Nothing,” she shrugged, “Just killing time with the VP while I waited for to get back.”

Happy turned and looked at Jax, eyes boring into him, “Better watch it.”

“Yea,” Diedra piped in with a smile, “Psycho runs in the family,” she looked back to her father, “You got a minute?”

Happy put his focus back on his daughter, “Yea,” he nodded towards the clubhouse, “We can talk inside.”

Diedra nodded and started walking towards the clubhouse doors. Before she got too far from the table, she turned around and tossed the container to Jax, and out of instinct he caught it before it could catch him in the face, “Take those and try to make yourself less of a disappointment, hm?”

Dakota laughed as her sister and her father disappeared into the clubhouse. Jax tossed the container onto the surface of the table, shaking his head as he did. Dakota couldn’t contain her amusement at the whole situation. She always wondered if Jax thought that Diedra was just playing a very intense game of hard to get, or if he actually knew she wanted nothing to do with him and didn’t care. Either way, she waited for Jax to look over at her before she spoke, “She’s always gonna get the last word, you know that, right?”

“A disappointment?” was all he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Dakota laughed, “That’s all you got out of all that?”

“He’s just afraid that she’s right,” Juice piped in with a laugh.

Clay was looking between all of them, a lost expression on his face, “What the hell do you guys talk about when we’re not here?”

[drabbles-mc]

for the game (if they weren't asked yet) 🦴🌸🏖

Ahh thank you for these!

🦴 - Something you hate to/will never write: I will NOT write redemption arcs for cheaters. If someone cheats in a fic, you will never see me writing them making things okay or winning their partner back. Nope. Won't do it. It's a very personal, very bitter part of me that decided that a long time ago when I got back into writing again 😂

🌸 - What’s your favorite AU?: I am a sucker for a good College AU. There's just something about it, man. I'm working on one with EZ and its just good for the soul haha

🏖 - Share a funny scene in one of your WIPs: Ooo okay okay this is from a little "5 and 1" high school AU fic with Jax Teller and my OC Diedra Lowman:

She waited for him to say something first, but when he didn’t, she looked over at him as they made their way towards the front doors of the school, “Have fun on your own tomorrow, Jackson.”

He chuckled, “It’s, uh, it’s Jax.”

“Yea,” she fished her car keys out of her pocket before flashing him a smile, “I know.”

He wanted to say something more, but she strode off towards another girl who had waved to get her attention. Jax watched as the two of them talked for a moment, each of them laughing before they started walking towards the parking lot.

“So, don’t look, but that guy is definitely watching us,” Dakota spoke to her sister as they made their way towards their car.

Rolling her eyes, Diedra laughed, “I’m sure he is.”

“That’s Jax, right?” Kota spared a quick glance over her shoulder at him, only to see that he was just turning to head towards his own car. When Diedra nodded in response, her little sister gave her shoulder a nudge, “He’s cute.”

Diedra scoffed, “Not cute enough.”

The idea of high school Jax getting into trouble with her just makes me so happy. 😂

[drabbles-mc]

Getting Comfy

Juice Ortiz x OFC (Dakota Lowman)

Inspired by Day 25 of the August Prompts: string lights

Warnings: flufffffff

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: It’s been a minute since I’ve written for these two, but the soft feelings I got with this prompt just felt very right for them. Love them. 🥰

For other Juice x Dakota stories, go Here

SOA Taglist: @masterlistforimagines @garbinge @espieviolet99 @mijop @chibsytelford @thanossexual @bruxasolta @i-just-read-stuff @be-my-dear @bport76 @unicornucopia-fuckers @buckybarneshairpullingkink @shadow-of-wonder @punkgoddess-98 @paintballkid711 @black-repunzel99​ @lexondeck​ @jitterbugs927​ @fanfic-n-tabulous​ @mijagif​ @frattsparty​ @winchestershiresauce​ @bellisperennis0​ @crowfootwrites​ @redpoodlern​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​ @mveggieburger​ @xeniarocks​ @choochoo284​ @littlekittymeow​ @beardsanddetectives​ @juicyortiz​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @passionatewrites​ @narcolini​ (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, let me know!)

As soon as he unlocked and opened the door to the apartment, he could hear the music coming from her bedroom. He smiled despite the exhaustion weighing him down, toeing off his boots and making his way towards the source of the music. The apartment was almost completely pitch black except for the light flooding out of her room, so he had to assume that she had no idea how late it was, or how long she had been doing whatever it was that she was doing in her room.

When he got to the doorway and looked in, he tried not to laugh. He immediately realized how she lost track of time—her entire room was rearranged. It seemed like she was putting the finishing touches together, hanging up string lights that ran along the edges where her walls met her ceiling. The precarious balancing act that she had going on in order to accomplish the job would’ve made Juice worried if it hadn’t apparently been working so far.

She had one foot braced on her bedframe, the other on her nightstand, and she was still standing on her tip-toes in order to loop the lights over the little hooks that she’d placed around the room for them. Juice kept his mouth shut, not wanting to say something and scare her, causing her to fall. He covered his mouth with his hand in an extra attempt to keep quiet, covering up the sickly-sweet grin on his face in the process.

“Ha!” Dakota laughed proudly as she hung up the last of the lights. She didn’t move from her awkward position for another few seconds, taking the time to admire her work. Stepping back so she was completely on the mattress, she let herself drop so that she was lying on her back and looking up at the ceiling. Propping herself up on her elbows, she looked over to Juice, “It’s rude to stare and not even say hello, y’know.”

He laughed, crossing the threshold into her room, “Didn’t realize that you heard me over the music,” as he said that, he reached and turned down the volume on her speaker a little bit.

“I hear everything,” she joked as she swung her legs off the bed so that she was sitting on the edge of it. She waved him closer, “Come here.”

He didn’t hesitate to follow the simple instruction. Walking over, he stood between her legs, hands coming to rest on her shoulders as hers snaked between the beat-up leather of his kutte and the soft cotton t-shirt he had on underneath. Tilting her chin, she looked up at him with a soft smile on her face—she could instantly see how exhausted he was.

She didn’t know what exactly had been going on with the club, and she tended not to ask if no one wanted to offer up any information about it. Happy never really told her much, but the more time that went on, Juice let her in a little more. It helped him keep his sanity and it kept her in the loop. However, prior to the trip that they’d just gone on, Juice didn’t really give her any details. The club didn’t tell anyone to go into lockdown per se, but it was evident that they didn’t really want anyone going anywhere either—the tension was impossible to miss.

So she hadn’t really gone much of anywhere except to get groceries. She could do her schoolwork from the comfort of her apartment, so she just camped out. But staying home for too long would make anyone go a little stir-crazy, hence the rearrangement of her entire room. No one understood the impulse to stay busy more than Juice.

“Good thing we came back when we did,” he joked quietly as he pushed the hair back out of her face, “Otherwise you would’ve done and tried to redo Di’s room too.”

Dakota laughed, shaking her head, “Not even I’m that bored…or brave.”

“You holding up okay?” he asked.

She nodded, “Yea, I’m fine. Plus, you know, clean room!” she smiled as she ran her hands up and down his sides, “What about you, though?”

“What?”

She rolled her eyes at his poor attempt to play dumb, “How are you holding up? I know it wasn’t great when you left.”

He nodded, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head, “I’m glad I’m back.”

“Everyone make it back in one piece?” she had to ask, knowing that there was never any guarantee of the answer.

“Yea. Only thing we lost is sleep,” he chuckled tiredly.

“You never really get that anyway,” she smiled.

The apartment became still, quiet except for the now-lowered music playing from Dakota’s speakers. Juice busied himself running his fingers back through her hair, focusing on taking slow, deep breaths as he looked at her. A source of calm after the insanity that had been the last stretch for him.

Moving her hands and giving his kutte a light tug, “C’mon, get comfy. You’re home.”

He smiled, a wave of comfort washing over him at the fact that she considered this his home now too, despite the fact that he had his own house not all that far away. He never really found himself spending that much time there these days though, so he supposed it made sense. He slipped out of his kutte and tossed it onto the chair by the desk in her room. He laughed quietly when he felt her undoing the buckle of his belt.

Looking up at him, Dakota rolled her eyes, “Don’t be a perv, Juan.”

“You’re the one who’s—”

“You’re nuts if you think I’m going to let you wear cargo pants to bed,” she laughed.

“You didn’t even give me a chance to—” he was cut off by Dakota pulling his pants down, making them pool around his ankles and getting them both to laugh, “Alright, alright,” he rolled his eyes with a smile.

Before she could do the same thing to his boxers, he stepped back adn pulled his t-shirt off over his head as well, unable to not laugh as Dakota shifted herself completely onto the bed and over to the other side, leaving room for him to crawl in beside her. She was still sprawled out on top of the covers as she rolled onto her side so she could look at him. He crawled over next to her, laying so that he was facing her, elbow propped with the side of his face resting against his palm.

Her smile shifted into something a little more serious as she asked, “You sure you’re okay?”

He took a deep breath, pausing for a moment as he really thought about the answer to the question, “I think I’m good.”

“Okay,” she leaned in, kissing him softly on the lips, “If you ever wanna talk, you know I’m here.”

He nodded, a tired smile on his face, “I know.”

Sensing that he didn’t really want to talk about whatever it was that had happened on their stint out of town, Dakota said, “Wanna know what I did yesterday?”

“Organized a different room in the apartment?” he joked softly.

She laughed, “No, no. I went and reorganized my dad’s house,” she was on the brink of cackling as she said it.

Juice’s eyes widened as he laughed, “He’s gonna lose it.”

“Oh, for sure,” she said with a shake of her head, “But it’ll be so funny.”

“This is why he doesn’t like leaving you unsupervised.”

“I wasn’t unsupervised,” she came to her own defense, “Di was with me the whole time.”

Juice’s smile was small, tired, but genuine, “You’re something else.”

“Yea,” she chuckled, “it’s in my genes,” it was visible in her eyes when her brain switched tracks, “Wanna see something cool?”

He nodded, “Yea, always.”

She rolled over, reaching off the other side of the bed, “Check this shit out,” she resurfaced with a small remote in her hand. Hitting one button, the overhead light in her room shut off, plunging the room into darkness.

“That’s pretty—” He didn’t get to finish the sentence as Dakota hit another button, the string lights that she had just finished hanging up coming to life and letting off a soft white light. His eyes widened slightly, “Wow.”

“But wait,” she said in a gimmicky tone, “there’s more,” she laughed as she hit another button and the lights changed to a soft pink.

Juice was impressed by the lights but he couldn’t pry his eyes off the woman lying on the bed next to him, “Got this all set up yourself?”

“I might not be a techie like you,” she joked, “But I do alright. There’s like five million settings on these to mess around with—we’ll have to see what they’re all about.”

“Five million?” he laughed quietly, “Really?”

She rolled her eyes, looking over at him, “Yes, Juan. Literally five million different settings. Clear your schedule.”

“Sounds good to me,” he reached out, pulling her in close so that their bodies were pressed up against each other’s, laying practically nose-to-nose. He let his eyes shut as his forehead rested against hers, “Missed you.”

She hummed in approval, tossing the control for the lights aside as she snaked his arms around him, “I missed you too.”

Prying his eyes open and pulling away just enough to be able to look her in the eyes, he couldn’t help but to smile when he saw that she was already smiling at him. A soft, breathy laugh slipped past his lips as he kissed her, wanting to be able to say more but being too tired to do so. She could sense it, too. Readjusting their bodies, she wrapped herself around him as his head rested against her chest, allowing her to run her hands up and down his back and over the back of his head. The last thing he felt was her pressing a kiss to the top of his head before he fell asleep.

[drabbles-mc]

‘Tis the Season

Juice Ortiz x OFC (Dakota Lowman)- ft. Happy Lowman & Diedra Lowman

Inspired by Day 3 of the #ChristmasCreationCalendar2021 Challenge put on by the lovely @staticscreenwriting and @onceuponastory: traditions

Warnings: language, alcohol, holiday fluff

Word Count: 3.4k

A/N: Bringing the Lowman Sisters back fills my heart with so much joy. I’m such a sucker for the holidays and writing this little family all together was something my brain desperately needed. Hope y’all enjoy! xo

SOA Taglist: @masterlistforimagines​ @adela-topaz-caelon​ @mijop​ @chibsytelford​ @thanossexual​ @xladymacbethx​ @i-just-read-stuff​ @kkim120​ @toni9​ @unicornucopia-fuckers​ @mayans-sauce​ @shadow-of-wonder​ @punkgoddess-98​ @paintballkid711​ @black-repunzel99​ @lexondeck​ @jitterbugs927​ @mrsstevenbuchananstark​ @mijagif​ @frattsparty​ @winchestershiresauce​ @bellisperennis0​ @crowfootwrites​ @redpoodlern​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​ @mveggieburger​ @xeniarocks​ @choochoo284​ @littlekittymeow​ @beardsanddetectives​ @juicyortiz​ @thewineandthewomen​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @garbinge​ (If you want to be added to the taglist, let me know!)

“Well what did you guys do?” she asked him as they sat on the couch together.

He pried his eyes away from the TV, not expecting his offhand comment about holidays in his childhood house to cause such an emotional lilt to her voice. Setting his game controller on the coffee table, he looked at her and gave a small shrug, “Not a lot, I guess. Mom did what she could for presents but it wasn’t like we had a lot. We didn’t have family that would come over or anything.”

“But even outside of presents, you guys didn’t have any traditions or anything?”

Juice shook his head, “Not really, no,” he paused, tilting his head to the side, “Did you?”

Her eyes lit up, “Yea! Of course!”

He laughed, “You, and Di, and Happy had Christmas traditions?”

She laughed, playfully pushing his shoulder, “Don’t say that like it’s so hard to believe.”

He held his hands up in surrender, a smile on his face, “It’s just hard for me to picture Happy running around with a Santa hat on putting presents under the tree, that’s all.”

Kota’s smile softened a little as she thought back on all of it, “We didn’t have a lot for presents or anything either. It was just the three of us, and sometimes a couple of the guys from the club would stop in or something. But usually it was just us three. Our big tradition every year is Christmas cookies.”

“Is?” he raised his eyebrows, “You guys still do it?”

“Duh,” she laughed, “That’s the point of a tradition. We usually try to do it the weekend before Christmas. He always tries to make sure he’s not on the road so we can go to his place and everything.”

“Oh, it’s a weekend affair?” Juice chuckled.

“Well it’s not like we only make one batch of cookies. It’s a whole,” she gestured vaguely in the air, “it’s a whole thing.”

He nodded, unable to suppress his smile, “Gotcha.”

“You can come if you want,” she offered with a shrug as she draped her legs over his lap, “It’s actually a pretty good time. We drink, and bake and…bake,” she laughed.

“I don’t think I’m ready to be baking cookies with your dad. Or with Di, for that matter,” Juice shook his head.

Kota laughed, shaking her head as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, “Don’t let Di fool you—she actually likes you even if she won’t say it.”

“Still don’t buy it,” he watched her as she started typing on her phone, “What’re you doing?”

“Asking them if it’s cool if I invite you for cookies this year.”

“Kota, I really don’t—”

“Too late!” she beamed, “Dad said you better bring your own apron.”

“Does Happy have his own apron?”

She looked at him, arching one eyebrow, “We’re seasoned bakers, Juan. Of course we have aprons.”

Nothing that happened in that discussion was what Juice had been expecting. If he was being honest, he just assumed that most of them who were in the life, or grew up in it, didn’t really grow up in families that had a whole lot of holiday spirit. Because, let’s face it, kids from typical well-off families don’t usually end up in motorcycle clubs. The kinds of people who do a two-day Christmas celebration with their entire extended family weren’t the same ones who did the things that they all did to survive. Juice just assumed that no one had the time for that kind of thing. The closest he got was when he patched in and Gemma hosted dinner every year, but even then, it wasn’t really for Christmas, that was just what Gemma did.

He watched Kota as she grabbed the controller from the table and started to look for a show to watch. She moved on so quickly from the conversation like it was nothing, and he had to laugh quietly to himself at that. Something that was so engrained her that she didn’t even bat an eye at adding him into the mix.

For the next week, Juice had nothing but questions for her about the entire thing. She couldn’t help but to get a little bit of amusement out of his nervousness. The same man who undoubtedly killed people with her father was freaking out about the prospect of just having to hang out in the man’s house and bake some cookies. She couldn’t make it up if she tried.

“It’s not too late,” Juice said to her as they got ready to head to Happy’s, “I can just drop you off and then pick you up tomorrow or something.”

Diedra laughed as she walked out of her room and into the living room, her overnight bag slung over her shoulder, “Yea right. You wanna piss my dad off, then bail.”

“I doubt he wants me there,” Juice argued.

“He wants to watch you squirm,” Di had a slick smirk on her face as she lit a cigarette, “You got an apron, right?”

“I got him one!” Kota spoke up with a smile, waving the item in question, “It’s Christmas themed.”

“Of course it is,” Juice said with a slight shake of his head.

“C’mon, lovebirds,” Diedra joked as she walked towards the door of hers and Kota’s apartment, “Let’s go.”

Juice was about to head over to his bike but Diedra cut him off before he could get too far. He looked at her, confusion and a slight hint of fear on his face, “Wh-what?”

“We’re taking the car.”

He gestured towards his bike, “I’m just gonna follow you guys.”

“No way,” she laughed and shook her head, “Not giving you any extra ways to escape. C’mon, carpool.”

Juice looked to Kota with a pleading look on his face and she just smiled and shook her head, reaching out and taking his hand in her own and pulling him towards the car. He knew that there was no way he was going to win an argument against either of them, let alone both of them at once. So, with a sigh, he allowed himself to be pulled away, sparing one more glance at his bike as he opened the door of the car.

He had originally been expecting Kota to sit with him, but he should’ve known better. Diedra sat down in the driver’s seat and milliseconds later Kota was swinging into the passenger seat, instantly hooking her phone up to the radio so she could pick the music for the ride. It wasn’t an overly long car ride, but Juice had the feeling that he was getting his first real glimpse into what life was like for the two of them when he wasn’t there. Neither of them were talking to him all that much but he didn’t mind in the slightest, happy just to see them being themselves, being sisters.

They rolled into Happy’s driveway, and whatever calm Juice had felt on the drive there disappeared instantly as his heart plummeted into his stomach. The sound of Happy’s dog barking could be heard as soon as Diedra cut the engine. The two of them were still talking as they opened their doors and went to get their bags out of the trunk. Juice slid out of the back seat, staring warily at the front door.

Kota sprung up next to him, wrapping her one arm around him with a smile, “Lighten up. It’s gonna be fun! Honestly he’ll probably be happy to have another guy around.”

All Juice could think was that Happy probably wanted just about any other guy to keep him company. But he was going to have to settle for Juice. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the way that the girls swung the door open, no hesitation or even a knock.

Diedra instantly dropped down to her knees, smiling as Happy’s dog came bounding over to her, ready to playfully tackle her to the floor, “Ope! I’ve missed you,” she laughed as the dog nuzzled her entire face and neck.

Juice hadn’t ever been to Happy’s house, but it wasn’t what he was expecting. It was almost an inviting place to be, like Happy tried at one point and then gave up halfway through. Juice wondered if that was back when Dakota and Diedra were kids, but he didn’t have time to ruminate on it as Happy stepped into the doorway between the main living room where they all were and the kitchen.

“Hey, Dad!” both girls said in unison.

It was the most genuine smile Juice had ever seen on the man’s face as he walked over, greeting each of his daughters with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It didn’t take long for Happy to shift his attention, his facial expression becoming a little more serious as he looked Juice over.

“Did you get an apron?”

Juice couldn’t help the laugh that came out of him at the question. No hello, no sarcastic or vaguely threatening remark. Just asking about the one thing that he said that Juice needed to have if he was going to participate in the weekend’s festivities.

“I got him covered,” Kota spoke up as she started rummaging through her overnight bag, unearthing the apron and handing it over to Juice.

It took a little bit for him to start getting comfortable, but Juice ended up slowly starting to get into the groove of things. He glued himself to Kota’s side, which was about what she had expected to begin with. He couldn’t make eye contact with Happy as Kota tied the ridiculous Christmas apron on him, but the nerves melted away slightly when Happy walked into the kitchen in his own apron. It wasn’t quite as festive, but it was perfectly Happy Lowman. It was a plain black apron with simple white letters across the chest that said Killer Cook. Juice chuckled when he read it, suddenly feeling like so much more about Dakota and Diedra made sense as they moved around the kitchen, pulling their Christmas cookies together while blasting rap music from the speaker of Diedra’s phone.

“You can be in charge of the timer if you want,” Kota offered up with a sympathetic smile, seeing that Juice was still feeling out of his depth.

“That I can do,” he nodded with a laugh as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Good,” Diedra piped up as she poured flour into a mixer, “because last time we left Kota in charge of her own timers she nearly burnt the whole house down,” she shook her head, “Lost a whole batch of camels in the process.”

“Camels?” Juice asked, surprise in his voice. He could hear Happy chuckling in the background as he kept himself busy.

“That’s what I said,” Diedra shook her head once more.

“What,” Kota jumped in to defend herself as she cracked an egg into her bowl, “you’re trying to tell me that a fucking camel Christmas cookie isn’t some of the coolest shit you’ve ever heard of?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it at all,” Juice chuckled as he leaned back against the counter, watching as the two sisters carefully measured out ingredients.

“Unbelievable,” she shook her head, “I bring you here to have someone on my side and you choose their side anyway,” she was only able to keep the serious expression for a few moments before breaking out into laughter, flicking a small pinch of flour at him as she did.

It turned out that being in charge of the timer and occasionally putting on a pair of oven mitts to get a tray out of the oven was the exact level of responsibility that Juice wanted and felt comfortable with. He was able to linger and joke, even stepping back to talk with Happy every now and then as he watched it all unfold. He’d be mid-sentence with someone when Kota would walk over with a spoon coated in batter, not even asking if he wanted to try before gripping his chin and sliding the spoon into his mouth. She’d ask him what he thought and every time he’d tell her that he wasn’t the person to be asking, that he liked everything.

“That’s all she needs to hear,” Happy said with a knowing shake of his head, the smallest of smiles on his face.

It was the first time that Juice had bene to Happy’s house, sure, but more than that it was the first time that he was spending time with the Lowmans as a family. He spent plenty of time with Kota, obviously, and when he was at their apartment he saw Di plenty. He saw Happy all the time for club business, but he never was with the three of them together like this. Sometimes they’d all hang out for a bit at clubhouse parties, but even then, it wasn’t necessarily a family affair. This all felt so different, but familiar at the same time. Happy was a different kind of quiet at home with his two girls—it was a softer, more comfortable quiet rather than the stoicism at the clubhouse.

“Pretty fun, right?” Kota snapped Juice out of his thoughts as she leaned against the counter next to him, lifting a beer bottle to her lips as she waited for him to respond.

He smiled at her, nodding, “Real fun,” he paused, “You guys do this for two days straight?”

She shrugged, “We stop to eat and sleep,” she laughed, “but kind of, yea.”

“What do you do with all the cookies?”

“Bribes,” Happy chimed in as he started taking a batch of cookies off the tray and putting them on a cooling rack.

Kota laughed, rolling her eyes, “He’s lying. We do give ‘em away, though. Better than trying to shop for presents for everyone. Who doesn’t like food, right?”

Juice nodded as the gears in his mind began to turn, “That’s how T-M and the clubhouse end up with so many every year. Always wondered where they came from.”

“Well,” she gently nudged his shoulder with hers, “now you know.”

Despite the fact that the group of them spent all day baking, none of them had any interest in cooking dinner. They all sat spread out across Happy’s living room, each of them eating straight out of the Chinese takeout box containers. They’d thrown a mindless show on the TV, but none of them were paying attention to it as they all talked and joked around. Juice chimed in every now and then but for the most part he was more than happy to just sit back and listen. He knew that it probably wasn’t this fun and easy for them all the time growing up, that it was probably hard and frustrating and scary sometimes, but the fact that the three of them had gotten to this point despite it all gave him some odd sense of hope.

“Okay, no,” Diedra laughed, shaking her head as she pointed at Happy with her chopsticks, “that’s not how that went down. I was not the one driving when we skidded off the road.”

“Yea you were,” there was a hint of a smirk on Happy’s face as he argued with his daughter, “You were convinced you could get the car to drift.”

“That’s what you get for binging the Fast and Furious movies,” Kota laughed as she leaned against Juice’s side.

Diedra rolled her eyes, the attempt to hide her smile failing miserably, “Whatever. Only thing that matters is now I could totally get that car to drift.”

“That’s why I don’t want you getting a goddamn bike,” Happy shook his head, chuckling as he continued to pick at his food.

Both of the girls had turned in for the night, and for awhile Juice and Happy could hear them chattering amongst themselves as they got ready to go to bed. You’d think that living together would make them run out of things to talk about, but there was something different about being back home.

It was just Juice and Happy in the living room, TV still going in the background for white noise. Juice went back and forth between staring down at his hands, and watching the TV but not really listening to what anyone on it was saying. Every now and then Happy would look over at him, and while it was difficult to separate the people they had to be at the clubhouse to who they were now, sitting in his living room with flour-stained aprons, he did try. Happy had never been a huge fan of the fact that one of his daughters was dating someone from the club, but he saw how happy Kota was with Juice. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was difficult to try and deny.

“She really likes you,” Happy spoke up with a definitive nod.

Juice wasn’t expecting the statement, “What?”

“Dakota,” Happy nodded back towards the other end of the house, the end that was completely silent now, “she likes you.”

Juice nodded, “She’s real great, Hap.”

“I know.”

Juice couldn’t help but to laugh, “Yea, I guess you would,” he paused, “Thanks for, you know…this. I, I know it’s your guys’ thing.”

Happy shrugged, “Family can always come. We just,” he finished off his beer, “usually don’t have a whole lot of it.”

Juice felt like he was supposed to have something profound or sentimental to say to that, but he came up empty. Instead, he simply nodded and let his gaze return to the television. The two of them sat in easy, comfortable silence together, something that Juice wouldn’t have seen happening in a million years. Maybe it was too hard to take any of it too seriously considering the circumstances.

Eventually, Happy stood up, slipping his apron off and tossing it over the back of the couch. He looked over at Juice, “Better get to sleep. You’re in charge of getting coffee in the morning.”

“Me?” he looked surprised, but there was still a smile on his face.

“It’s usually me, but since you’re here, I’m gonna make you do it,” Happy chuckled, clapping Juice on the shoulder in lieu of saying goodnight as he made his way to his own bedroom.

After sitting in the living room by himself for a minute, Juice stood up and starting turning off the television and all the lights. He made his way towards the room he was sharing with Kota for the night, surprised to walk in and see that she was still awake, scrolling on her phone. She looked over at him when he walked in and smiled, patting the spot next to her on the bed for him to come and join her.

He stripped down to a t-shirt and boxers before slipping under the covers next to her. She instinctively tucked herself against his side, setting her phone down before turning to look up at him, “Glad you came?”

He nodded, chuckling quietly, “I am. It’s nice to see you guys doing all of this. Never would’ve thought Happy would be into it.”

“He really does try,” she nodded slowly as she messed with the collar of his t-shirt, “He always has. Just wasn’t always easy for him to figure it out.”

“Right,” he could see that there were more than a few gears beginning to turn, and he tried to derail it before she got too deep in her thoughts, “He said I’m on coffee duty in the morning.”

She laughed, “Good luck getting up before him.”

“I gotta get up before him?” he laughed in surprise.

“Well, I mean, he’s a real dick without it. We all are. It’s a Lowman thing I’m pretty sure,” she shook her head, “Oh, and make sure you get whatever peppermint holiday shit they’ve got. That’s his favorite.”

Juice’s eyes grew wide, unable to believe what he was hearing, “Happy likes peppermint?”

“Tis the season,” she said in a quiet, sing-songy voice.

Juice chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead as he ran his hand up and down her back, “Right.”

She took a deep breath, settling deeper into his side, “Thank you for coming, by the way. Not as scary as you thought, right?”

He shook his head, pulling her tighter to him, “Nah, it was a little less scary than I thought.”

“Just a little?” she looked up at him, a sleepy smile on her face.

“I still don’t trust Happy or your sister running around with rolling pins.”

Kota laughed, nodding as her eyes drifted shut, “Yea, I guess I get that.”

[drabbles-mc]

Stopping By

Juice Ortiz x OFC (Dakota Lowman)

Inspired by Day 15 of the July Prompts: iced tea

Warnings: none!

Word Count: 1.2k

A/N: I took some liberties with today’s prompt lmao. But I hope y’all enjoy! Idk man my brain has been a mess lately and I’ve been finding so much comfort in writing little slice of life fics. Hoping to do some actual Lowman Sister’s-Centered content soon.

SOA Taglist: @garbinge​ @masterlistforimagines​ @adela-topaz-caelon​ @mijop​ @chibsytelford​ @xladymacbethx​ @i-just-read-stuff​ @kkim120​ @everyhowlmarksthedead​ @toni9​ @unicornucopia-fuckers​ @mayans-sauce​ @shadow-of-wonder​ @punkgoddess-98​ @paintballkid711​ @black-repunzel99​ @jitterbugs927​ @mrsstevenbuchananstark​ (If you want to be added to the taglist let me know!)

Juice walked into the apartment and looked around. Dakota was in the kitchen, making herself a bag of popcorn to go with the large glass of wine that was resting on the coffee table. He laughed quietly to himself as he took off his boots and shrugged off his kutte, leaving them all by the door. He heard the television playing in the living room, and was curious to know what she had been watching that got her into the mood to settle in and relax for the night. Craning his neck as he walked through, he shook his head with a smile as he watched the TV.

“This is what does it for you on a night in?” he finally spoke up as he walked over to her.

She spun around, a large bowl of popcorn in her arms, clutched tightly to her chest. She smiled, shrugging, “Suits me just fine. You can hop right back on that bike if you wa—”

He didn’t let her finish the sentence, instead pulling her into a kiss, “I didn’t say that. I never said that.”

She laughed, holding the bowl in one hand so she could use the other to gently cup his chin, giving him a quick peck on the lips, “Alright then,” she tugged him towards the couch, “Are you staying over?”

“Can I?” he asked, eyes growing a little wider.

She gave him a confused look, “Why not?”

“I’m not really in the mood to get murdered by your sister, that’s all.”

Dakota chuckled as she sat down on the sofa, “Di’s out of town. Went…somewhere with my dad. I dunno,” she shrugged, “Won’t be back for a couple days.”

“That why you invited me over?”

“I’d rather be here with you than be here by myself,” she set the bowl of popcorn down between them, “There’s beer in the fridge if you want it.”

He shook his head, settling in and making himself comfortable, “I’m good.”

The night quickly got away from them as they got sucked into one episode after another. Dakota was leaning completely against Juice’s side, the now-empty popcorn bowl rested in his lap. His arm was draped around her shoulder, thumb idly tracing back and forth as they continued to watch their show.

Dakota recited the intro that she had listened to all too many times before, getting more and more theatrical as the night went on and she drank more wine, “These are their stories,” she paused dramatically, looking up at Juice, “Dun dun!”

He laughed, fighting the urge to run his fingers through her hair, “You really like this show, huh?”

“It’s one of the only things that I can marathon.”

“Seriously?” he chuckled, “Doesn’t this shit get depressing after a while?”

“Nah,” she laughed moving the popcorn bowl so that she could rest her head in his lap and look up at him, “How can I be depressed when I literally have Ice-T solving especially heinous crimes on my TV?”

He carefully placed his hand on the front of her shoulder, “He your comedic relief in all of this?”

“He is good at it,” she placed her hand over his and interlocked their fingers, “Even if he doesn’t mean to be.”

“How often are you sitting at home binging on Law & Order?”

“I have watched all twenty-something seasons more than once,” she laughed, squeezing his hand.

He looked down at her, face instantly warming up when he saw the smile on her face and the glassy glint in her eyes. The two sides of his head were battling it out as he looked at her looking at him. She was so comfortable, like it was the most natural thing in the world that they were together like that. And for as much as the mere thought of her made his heart race, and he wanted nothing more than to be with her as often as he could, he still never let himself truly enjoy it, afraid that it was all going to get yanked away. He tried to remain realistic about who he was with, who her family was.

“Where are you, Juan?” she spoke up and snapped him out of his thoughts, letting go of his hand so she could reach up and caress his face.

He chuckled, involuntarily leaning into her touch, “I’m here.”

“You sure?” she cocked an eyebrow, “Looked like you got away from me for a second there.”

“I’m here. Promise,” he turned and kissed her palm, “It’s just you, me, and Olivia Benson.”

“And Ice-T,” she piped up with a laugh.

He laughed quietly, nodding, “Yea, and Ice-T. The real glue of the SVU team.”

She turned so that she was facing the television, but left her head rested in his lap. She draped one arm across his legs, settling in to get more comfortable. Juice let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding, grateful for the closeness. He wondered how someone who was raised by Happy still managed to be so soft. He knew there was more to her than what he already knew, and it would take some time for her to really let him in, but that didn’t stop him from wondering.

His eyes were fixed on the TV, but he was running his fingers through her hair over and over. At a certain point he didn’t even notice that he was still doing it—the motion becoming second nature. He did, however, feel her breathing begin to slow and even out as she fell asleep. He chuckled quietly, reaching and shutting off the television.

Ever-so carefully, he lifted Dakota up, draping her across his arms bridal style. She grumbled, awakening slightly but not enough to really say anything to him. Laughing quietly, he got both of them to her room, quickly reaching and turning on the light so he could see what he was working with, where he should step. She groaned at the change in light, but didn’t fight against him carrying her. He laid her gently down on the bed before he went about stripping down to his boxers and a t-shirt. Even in her sleepy daze, Dakota made a dramatic show out of watching him, getting him to laugh.

“The baseball bat really necessary?” he nodded towards the wooden bat leaning against the wall, one that was, knowing Happy, heavier than a sanctioned bat to do more damage if it ever had to be used.

“As necessary as the gun in the bedside drawer,” she laughed as she rested her cheek in her hand, “They will not be making a Law & Order episode about me in the future, thank you very much.”

“A woman with a plan,” he chuckled as he set his phone on the bedside table.

“Always,” her voice already getting raspy with sleep again.

His quiet laughter filled the small room as he walked back over and turned the light off. He made his way back to the bed in the dark, shimmying under the covers with her. She immediately latched onto him, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face into his chest. Without any hesitation at all he entwined his legs with hers, one arm draping around her waist and his other hand coming to rest on the back of her head.

“Goodnight,” he mumbled against the top of her head as he kissed her.

“Goodnight,” her voice was hardly audible as she spoke into his chest.

[drabbles-mc]

Pretty Boy

Juice Ortiz x OFC (Dakota Lowman)

Combining an Anonymous request and a request from @adela-topaz-caelon:  Juice Ortiz x F!Reader, were the reader is Happy’s daughter and her boyfriend is Juice? and Juice x female reader where they're at the clubhouse or somewhere, just chilling to keep reader safe or something, and you get those cheesy moments of catching an eye, or an absentmindedly kiss that causes flusteredness

Warnings: language, alcohol, Juice being a lil cutie pie

Word Count: 4.6k

A/N: I tweaked each of these requests a little bit, but I hope y’all still enjoy it! I got the Happy’s Daughter request and immediately me and @garbinge started brainstorming OC ideas and we ended up with two daughters for Happy. Clearly we get carried away haha. This is just a fluffy little one-shot and a sort of wamrup/intro to the Lowman Sisters as OCs. We (when I say “we”, I totally mean me and Anj as a unit lmao) have big plans for them in the future and I can’t wait to take y’all along for the ride. In the meantime, enjoy this lil oneshot! xo

SOA Taglist: @masterlistforimagines​ @mijop​ @chibsytelford​ @xladymacbethx​ @i-just-read-stuff​ @kkim120​ @everyhowlmarksthedead​ @toni9​ @unicornucopia-fuckers​ @mayans-sauce​ @shadow-of-wonder​ @punkgoddess-98​ @paintballkid711​ @black-repunzel99​ @jitterbugs927​ @mrsstevenbuchananstark​ (If you want to be added to the list feel free to let me know!)

“Out of all the women in the universe,” Juice spoke up with a shake of his head, “I think the last two that need someone to watch their backs are Happy’s daughters, that’s all.”

Jax shook his head, “Everyone has someone watching their back, no exceptions.”

“Yea but they don’t need—”

He cut Juice off, “Club call, not theirs.”

Both of Happy’s daughters were sitting back, watching the entire interaction play out in front of them. It wasn’t something that they’d never gone through before, but they each knew that there was a more tactful way to go about it without making them feel like they were being saddled with babysitters. His youngest thought it was all bullshit, but she wasn’t willing to put up a fight over it. Her older sister, however, didn’t have the same reservations.

“Fuck this,” she stood up off her barstool, “You don’t get to make that call for me, Teller.”

“Hap said—”

“Well Hap isn’t here,” she rolled her eyes as she swiped her keys off the table, “Tell my old man if he wants someone to babysit me, he can do it himself,” she began walking towards the clubhouse door, “just like the good old days.”

“Diedra,” Jax stepped towards her, wrapping his hand around her forearm.

She immediately twisted her arm out of his grasp and used her other hand to shove him backwards, “Do that again and I’ll bust your fucking nose,” she waited a beat to see if any of them were going to try to stop her again, and when they didn’t, she looked over to her sister, “Call me if any of these assholes give you any trouble, alright?”

She nodded, “Alright.”

The clubhouse door slammed behind her, leaving an awkward silence in its wake. Jax glanced over at Juice, who was trying to look anywhere but at his VP and the young woman still perched at the bar. With a heavy sigh, Jax spoke up, “Don’t go two for two on losing the Lowman Sisters, alright? Hap is gonna wring my fucking neck over Di as it is.”

“He won’t,” she shook her head, chuckling slightly, “You think our dad doesn’t know what you’re dealing with?”

“You think that your dad is really gonna care about that when it comes down to it?” Jax retorted. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tried to get his tone in order, “Sorry, Kota. It’s not on you. Just, please stay with Juice, alright? Just until we figure all this shit out.”

She nodded, taking a sip of her coffee and trying to pretend that she didn’t get a little bit of sadistic enjoyment out of Jax’s stress over her father and sister, “Sure, I can handle that.”

He didn’t say anything more before also heading out the door, managing to shut it a little quieter than the woman who had walked out before him. It left just Juice and Dakota by themselves in the clubhouse—everyone else either on club business or safely within the walls of their own homes waiting out the impending chaos.

“How pissed is your dad gonna be about your sister?” Juice asked, a smirk starting to curl the edges of his mouth.

Dakota laughed, shaking her head, “He’s not going to actually be pissed. He knows how Di gets about lockdown and shit,” she paused, smiling, “But he is going to make Jax feel like shit about it first.”

Juice chuckled, “Perfect.”

There were a few beats of silence before she spoke up again, “So do I get to know why I need a bodyguard or…?”

“H-happy didn’t tell you?”

She shook her head, “No,” with a huff she rolled her eyes, “he never tells me shit. I don’t, I don’t know why Di gets to know everything and I don’t. I don’t get what’s so different.”

“She is older,” Juice couldn’t pretend to understand the dynamics in the Lowman family but it seemed like an easy justification to offer up.

“By like, four years. That doesn’t mean shit.”

Juice laughed, “You sound a little bitter.”

“Bitter is in our blood, Juan,” she laughed as she finished off her coffee.

The use of his real name caught him off-guard. The two of them hadn’t ever really talked much, just little conversations here and there. He didn’t think that she knew his real name at all, let alone felt comfortable enough with him to use it. Despite the bite in her tone for every other word she spoke, there was a softness when she said it.

“Right,” he tried to keep himself focused, “Well, your sister seems like a girl full of answers so maybe you should ask her about it.”

“Glad I’m at least going to be locked down with a comedian,” she shook her head before getting up and tossing her coffee cup in the garbage, “So, what? You just gonna follow me around while I do things? Keep me company while I get a pedicure?”

He laughed, “I don’t think that you should really be out getting pedicures right now.”

“Well, then could you at least take me back to my place?” she laughed, “Di and I came together and she just stormed off with the keys.”

Juice couldn’t help the laughter that slipped past his lips, “Yea, yea I think I can handle that.”

As the two of them walked across the lot towards Juice’s bike, Dakota became very aware of the fact that the two of them hadn’t ever spent any one-on-one time together. They saw each other in passing at the clubhouse, and a couple times he’d worked on her car in the past, but they didn’t really know each other. She knew of him, the same way he probably knew of her. But they didn’t learn anything about each other, from each other.

In the past when she and her sister needed someone to watch their back because of things going on with the club, it would usually just be Happy, because that made the most sense. And realistically, Diedra had been right when she said that she could handle herself perfectly fine. If the two of them were left to their own devices they’d probably be okay, but it wasn’t a chance that the MC was willing to take. On a rare occasion or two Chibs or Tig kept an eye on them, but those men usually kept their distance.

Juice handed her a spare helmet, a lopsided grin on his face, “Where is your place, anyway?”

“Apartment complex just off Main?” she said as she clipped the helmet on, “Gray Street.”

He nodded, “Got it.”

She settled onto the bike behind him with ease, no stranger to the ins and outs of a ride. It caught Juice off-guard for a moment before he remembered who she was. He looked down to see her well-manicured nails interlocked over his stomach and he didn’t know why but it made him smile. She leaned against him a little, waiting for him to peel out of the compound. He checked with her to make sure she was good before taking off.

As he rolled into the parking lot of the complex, Dakota directed him where to go and park. Diedra’s car was nowhere to be seen. And while it had been made abundantly clear that she was in charge of herself, Juice still felt a little responsible for how everything had played out.

“You two live here together, right?” he asked as he put down the kickstand of his bike.

“Yea,” she unclipped her helmet and tousled her hair, “but she’s probably blowing off steam somewhere. Maybe tracking down our dad,” she laughed.

“Was it weird growing up with Happy as a dad?” the question came out before he could stop it, and regret instantly flooded over his features, “Fuck, sorry. I, I know it’s really not my business.”

She chuckled as she dug her keys out of her purse, “You’re fine. Don’t apologize so much.”

“Sor—” he stopped himself, “Right.”

“But in answer to your question,” they slowly made their way up the stairs to the second floor of the apartment building, “He…he tried. He does the best he can, you know? I think all our parents do,” she put the key in the lock of her door, “Doesn’t mean that their best is always good enough, but it’s all they can do.”

She was about to step inside when Juice put an arm out in front of her to stop her. She chuckled, nodding for him to go in first and scope the place out, even though it was highly unlikely that anyone ended up there looking for her or her sister.

About a minute later she heard Juice’s voice calling for her to come inside. She laughed as she stepped in, locking the door behind her before tossing her purse off to the side and instantly kicking off her shoes. Juice watched her, and as she sauntered her way into the kitchen he really began to question how the two of them never ended up really speaking to each other. He and Diedra had had a handful of conversations, although they weren’t deep or filled with a lot of pleasantries. But he felt like he had a better idea of who she was, than who her little sister was. She was always kind unless provoked, but she kept to herself a lot of the time.

“Smoothie?” she offered as she pulled a half-full blender out of the fridge.

Juice laughed in surprise. Usually when he was at someone’s house they offered beer, or something stronger. He’d never even been offered water before let alone a smoothie. He shook his head, “I’m good for now, thanks.”

She shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

By the time Diedra came back to the apartment, the sun had long since set. Dakota and Juice were camped out at the counter, both of them laughing hard at whatever story Juice had been telling. They heard the sound of the key in the lock and both of them looked over at the door expectantly. Diedra walked inside, kicking off her boots and tossing her keys immediately. She’d seen Juice’s bike parked outside and wasn’t enthused, and when she could hear their laughter from the hallway, she had the feeling that he wasn’t going to be in a rush to get back to the clubhouse or go home.

She looked about as exhausted and frustrated as she felt. She’d gone and tracked down her father, which did nothing to help the current situation. On top of him being upset about how she was handling the whole protection side of things, he was mad that she had gone out on a manhunt to find him, completely defeating the purpose of having someone keeping her safe.

“You don’t have to stay, you know,” she skipped over the pleasantries and got right to the point, “With the two of us here we should be alright.”

“I, uh, I don’t mind,” Juice didn’t know why he found Diedra to be just as intimidating as her father, but he did, “I can hang out a little longer.”

She shrugged, not looking to argue about it, “Suit yourself,” she looked at her sister, “I’m gonna go shower.”

Dakota gave a wordless nod and watched her sister disappear to the other end of the apartment.  She let out a sigh and shook her head—she didn’t know the details of her older sister’s day, but she didn’t have to. Dakota could tell from the moment she walked in that the day hadn’t gone in her favor. She’d try to be there for her if she thought it would get either of them anywhere, but if there was one thing that she’d learned about her sister in all their years growing up together, was that those kinds of things happened on Diedra’s terms, and no one else’s.

“She always this cheery?” Juice asked with tiny smirk, “Or just when I’m around?”

Dakota laughed, shaking her head, “It has nothing to do with you, personally. It’s…complicated. Honestly, she’s gotta like you on some level because she hasn’t threatened you yet. But either way,” she reached and rested her hand on his for a moment, “I’m glad you’re here.”

The touch was light and momentary but Juice felt it course through his entire body. He cleared his throat, trying to do anything besides stare at his hands, “Well that’s…that’s nice to hear.”

“And not that I’m trying to rush you out, but for the sake of your own self-esteem,” there was a playful smile on her face, “you might wanna just head out and come back in the morning. She’ll be a little cooled off by then.”

He nodded, “Yea, yea okay,” he hopped up and they both made their way towards the door, “Lock it behind me.”

She rolled her eyes, “Yea, I’ve done this before.”

He stood in the hallway for a moment as Dakota leaned against the doorframe, a smile beginning to tug at the edges of her mouth. He wanted to reach out and hug her, but he knew better. He shoved his hands into his pockets to fight the urge.

“I’ll see you in the morning, then?” she asked.

He nodded, “I’ll be here bright and early.”

She laughed, “I’ll have coffee ready, then,” she paused, “Goodnight, Juan.”

He smiled, “Goodnight.”

A little while later, when Dakota was already in bed scrolling on her phone, there was a knock on her bedroom door. She turned on the light and called for her sister to come in. When the door opened, Diedra was standing there wrapped in her towel, clothes draped over her arm as she propped herself against the side of the door.

“You all good?”

Dakota propped herself up on her elbows, nodding, “Yea, yea I’m good. You good?”

She shrugged, “I’ll be alright.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Pfft,” her annoyance wasn’t aimed at her sister, “Nothing to say. Same shit,” there was a beat of silence, “Juice stay here with you all day?”

She nodded, “Yea. I know you don’t like him but he seems swe—”

“It’s not that I don’t like him,” she let out a small sigh, “the whole situation is just a fuckin’ mess. Plus you and I are adults—we don’t need fucking babysitters.”

Dakota couldn’t do anything besides nod, “I know. I just, I don’t see the point in fighting it if we’re just gonna lose.”

“You’re only fine with it because they saddled you with the pretty boy,” a knowing smirk crossed Diedra’s face for a moment.

Her little sister laughed, “Certainly doesn’t hurt to have something nice to look at in a pseudo-lockdown.”

“Mhm,” she shook her head, “Just don’t do anything stupid, alright?”

“Never,” she laughed, “Love you.”

“Love you.”

With that she shut the door and made her way off to her own room. Dakota flopped back down onto her pillow with a sigh, trying to get everything in order in her head. All she ever really wanted to do was keep the peace, but it was practically an impossible task at this point so she wondered what the use was in even trying anymore.

True to her word, the next morning there was already a pot of coffee made by the time that Juice got there. Truthfully, she’d just set an alarm specifically for that purpose and then gone right back to bed. That was made evident to him by the fact that she answered the door half-asleep, hair still a bit of a frizzy mess from a night of tossing and turning. She smiled and waved him in but didn’t say much of anything, wordlessly gesturing to the coffee pot to let him know to help himself.

“Not a morning person?” he chuckled.

She shook her head, running her hands down her face, “No, that’s always been Di’s thing. I’m a night owl.”

As if on cue, Diedra came bounding into the apartment, headphones still on and drenched in sweat from her run and workout that morning. She saw Juice standing in the kitchen and offered him a slight nod as she made her way directly to the bathroom to shower. She lightly patted Dakota on the back as she walked by, letting the gesture serve as her greeting for the morning.

“So,” Juice drummed his fingers on the edge of the counter as he watched Dakota pour them each a cup of coffee, “what’s the plan for today?”

She shrugged as she slid it across to him, “You tell me,” she took a sip, “I got some school shit I gotta do, but I can do it here or at the clubhouse if that’s better. I still don’t know what the fuck is going on, so I’m following your lead on this.”

No one had ever said those words in that order to him before. He took a long drink out of his coffee cup to buy himself a few extra seconds to think, “Um, I mean, clubhouse would probably be best. More people around,” his eyes flicked towards the other end of the apartment, “I’m guessing your sister is just gonna…”

“Do whatever she wants to do?” she laughed, nodding, “Sounds about right,” she stretched, taking a deep breath, “Alright. Let me get ready and we can head out.”

“Okay,” he sat down at the counter, “No rush or anything.”

While he was finishing his coffee and waiting for Dakota to get ready, her sister emerged back into the kitchen, no longer in her sweaty workout clothes. She had on a baggy hoodie and a pair of running shorts, hair still down and damp as she opened the fridge to start pulling together her smoothie for the morning.

“Where you two crazy kids off to today?” she asked as she set everything on the counter.

“Just to the clubhouse,” he paused, trying to figure out if she should ask what he was about to ask, “You?”

She glanced back over her shoulder, her expression serious for a moment before she cracked the smallest of smiles, “I’ll be around. Got some shit I gotta handle.”

“Anything I can—”

“All you gotta worry about is my sister and the club, Juice,” her tone was firm, but not mean.

Before he could say anything more, Dakota walked back out into the kitchen. She looked back and forth between her sister and Juice, surprised at the lack of tension in the room. There wasn’t the fear of god in Juice’s eyes the way there had been the night before.

“We’re gonna head out,” she gave Juice a slight nod towards the door before looking back at her sister, “Text me when you get where you’re going?”

She nodded, “Sure thing. Don’t let him wipe out on the bike.”

Dakota laughed as she looked over at Juice, “Well, guess we’re taking the bike.”

Dakota made herself comfortable at one of the tables in the clubhouse. She had her headphones on and her schoolwork spread out across the table in front of her. Between her notebooks and her laptop, there was just enough room for Juice and his computer on the other side of the table. Every now and then she’d look up and catch him staring at her, and she’d offer up a smile before diving back into her work. Juice wanted to ask her about it, wanted just about any reason to listen to her talk, but he stopped himself.

It was late in the afternoon when she finally leaned back in her chair, taking her headphones off with a groan. She ran her hands down her face as she shook her head, trying to get her brain to slow down. Juice looked up at her, chuckling quietly.

“It’s going that well, huh?”

“Go back to school they said. It’ll be good for you they said,” she laughed, rolling her eyes, “Fuck this. I don’t know why I’m paying to suffer.”

Juice couldn’t help but to laugh, “Sorry it’s so rough.”

She shrugged, “It’s fine. I just need to complain about it sometimes,” she smiled at him, “And since you’re the one who is stuck with me, you’re the one who has to hear it. Sorry.”

“You can complain as much as you want,” a smirk tugged at his lips as he drummed his fingers on the table, “I don’t mind.”

That was the routine that they fell into for the next week. Each morning Juice would show up at her apartment, make small-talk with Diedra that got less and less awkward as the days went on, and then they’d head to the clubhouse once Dakota was ready. On the days when Juice was actually working at T-M, Dakota would set herself up at the picnic table outside, or if she was just reading, she would find an empty chair in the garage to sit in so that the two of them would stay close. It wasn’t that they really needed to talk all that much, but the proximity was nice. And, for the time being, they had the cover of the fact that he was supposed to be keeping an eye on her.

In the midst of a sea of fleeting touches and soft smiles, neither of them brought themselves to say anything to address all the feelings that were bubbling up. A few times, Juice almost did. There were moments, after he’d park his bike at the clubhouse or her apartment, and she’d leave her arms wrapped around him a little longer than necessary. She’d keep herself flush against his back despite the fact that she didn’t need to anymore, and he’d almost get the nerve to say something to her. But it never quite happened. He’d see her reading, taking notes on something that was way above his paygrade, and every square inch of his brain would scream at him to tell her that she’s beautiful, but the words always got caught in his throat.

“Guess what,” Diedra strode over to the picnic table where her sister was sitting, laptop set up in front of her for class.

She looked up, eyebrows raised, “What’s up?”

“As of,” she looked at the time on her phone, “One hour and twenty-five minutes ago, we are no longer on fake, need-a-babysitter lockdown.”

Dakota laughed, shaking her head, “I don’t think that you ever really were.”

“Yea, well,” Diedra laughed as she swiped up her sister’s drink and took a sip of it, “now Dad can’t keep giving me shit about it. So that’s a plus,” there were a few beats of silence, “You gonna break the news to pretty boy over there? Or you gonna let the club do it?”

She smiled, shaking her head, “No news to break. Shit will just go back to business as usual.”

“He’s gonna be real fuckin’ bummed about it, you know.”

She arched one eyebrow, “Why does it feel like you’re encouraging this?”

“He seems less shitty than most the other guys you’ve brought around.”

“We’re not even—”

“I know,” Diedra chuckled, “I know you’re not. But he’s chomping at the fuckin’ bit so I’d say something before he thinks that he’s completely lost his shot.”

Dakota’s nails clacked on the surface of the picnic table as she tapped them, clearly thinking about everything her sister had said to her. Diedra walked away, letting her little sister mull over what she had said.

As the afternoon was drawing to a close, the guys all came out of church into the main expanse of the clubhouse. Everyone was whooping and hollering, and it was clear that whatever the issue it was that had arisen, had been taken care of. Everyone else who was already at the clubhouse joined in on the cheering, despite not knowing all of the details.

Diedra and Dakota were camped out at the bar, each of them smiling and shaking their heads because they knew the antics that were about to ensue. The music immediately got louder and the prospect behind the bar skipped over grabbing glasses and just took out a few entire bottles of liquor to set on the counter for the guys to grab.

After a few minutes of the initial chaos, Dakota felt someone’s hand land on her shoulder. She turned around, expecting to see Juice, but instead came face-to-face with her father. She smiled up at him as she took a sip of her beer.

“Glad everything got sorted.”

He nodded, “For now,” there was a pause as he looked her over, “You’re alright?”

She laughed, “Yea, Dad, I’m alright. I’m not the person at the top of the priority list for anyone who is out to get you. And even if I was,” she nodded towards her sister who was now at the other end of the bar in a heated discussion with Tig about something, “between Di and Juan, no one was getting to me.”

His brows furrowed when he heard her refer to him by his real name, “He didn’t do anything fucking stupid, did he?”

She almost choked on her beer, shaking her head, “No, no he didn’t. Jesus Christ, Dad, cut the kid some slack.”

“Alright,” he nodded, pulling her in and placing a chaste kiss to her forehead, “I love you.”

She chuckled, nodding, “I love you too.”

Happy disappeared into the crowd and it was only a few moments before the stool beside her became occupied. She glanced over, a smile spreading across her face when she saw the person she’d been expecting originally.

“Congrats on, well,” she chuckled, “whatever you guys did.”

Juice smiled, shaking his head, “Just keeping ourselves alive and outta jail for another day. That’s all,” he paused as he took the beer bottle being handed to him by the man on the other side of the bar, “Guess you’ll finally be able to go and get your pedicures now.”

She laughed, “Yea I guess so. The invite is still open if you wanna come with me. It’s quite the experience.”

“Tempting,” he leaned onto the bar, letting his elbows rest on it, “But I think I’m good.”

“You know, even if you don’t want to go and get pedicures with me,” she sipped on her beer, “We could find something else to do that we could both enjoy.”

He looked over at her, a tentative smile on his face, “Yea?”

She shrugged, “Yea. Preferably something not early in the morning. I’d love to go back to sleeping in,” she couldn’t help but to laugh.

“You didn’t have to wake up early, you know.”

“Yea, but, I wanted to. I…I like spending time with you.”

That statement hung in the air for a few seconds before she gently nudged his knee with her own. It snapped him out of whatever train of thought he was trapped in, his eyes searching hers waiting to figure out the next move. She smiled, a quiet laugh passing her lips before she leaned in and kissed him, her hand coming to rest on the back of his head.

Shock went through his body for a moment as he forced himself to realize that it was really happening, that it wasn’t just a dream. His hand lightly gripped onto her thigh as he let himself lean into her. When she pulled her lips off of his, they each laughed, the sound of it soft against the raucous noise of the clubhouse.

“I’m free tomorrow,” Juice forced out through the surprise coursing through his system, “If…if you wanted to do something.”

Dakota laughed, leaning back onto her seat but letting her hand tangle up with his, “Yea, I could do something tomorrow.”

“Afternoon?” he said with a laugh.

“Yea,” she laughed and gave his hand a squeeze, “Tomorrow afternoon is good.”

[drabbles-mc]

I don't write very many Valentine's Day fics but every now and then I just can't help myself 😂🥰

All For You

Juice Ortiz x OFC (Dakota Lowman) Juice Ortiz & OFC (Diedra Lowman)

Inspired by the Week 1 Prompts for @the-slumberparty: bouquet of flowers & diamond necklace

Warnings: 18+, language, alcohol

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: The way I want to build a whole universe just for Di, Kota, Juice, and Happy. I wish I had the time and the mental bandwidth. Little snippets will have to do! Enjoy this fun lil valentine's fic!

SOA Taglist: @espieviolet99 @littlekittymeow @chibsytelford @juicyortiz @anditsmywholeheart @i-just-read-stuff @garbinge @justreblogginfics @buckybarneshairpullingkink @paintballkid711 @jitterbugs927 @fanfic-n-tabulous @mijagif @frattsparty @winchestershiresauce @beardburnsupersoldiers @choochoo284 @artemiseamoon @nessamc @narcolini @darqchilddaydreamz (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, please let me know!)

Juice carefully extracted himself from the bed. He managed to untangle himself from Dakota without waking her, although that wasn’t the most difficult thing to do since she was probably the heaviest sleeper that Juice had ever met. She let out a small grumble when he pulled his arms from around her, but she didn’t wake.

He gently shut the bedroom door behind him as he stepped out into the short hallway that separated the two bedrooms from the rest of the apartment. He tip-toed past the door to her sister’s bedroom, not wanting to be responsible for waking her up either. He let out a small sigh of relief when he stepped into the space where the living room and the kitchen met, the only semblance of a divider between the two sides of the apartment was the counter that more often than not served as their dinner table if they weren’t eating in front of the TV.

Turning, he looked up from the floor and into the kitchen. His eyes widened and he gasped quietly when he saw Diedra standing in the kitchen, her back to him as she set the coffee pot to brew. Even though she hadn’t turned around to look at him, she still shook her head. He couldn’t see it, but there was a bit of an amused smile on her face.

She glanced back over her shoulder. “Coffee?”

He nodded, sitting down at the counter rather than trying to linger in her space. “Yea, sure. Thanks.” He paused, offering her a lopsided grin when she turned around to fully face him. “Was worried I was gonna wake you up, but…”

Diedra chuckled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry about that.” She saw the apprehension on his face so she clarified, “Because I’m pretty much always gonna be up before you anyway.”

Juice relaxed a bit at that. “Right.”

“Good thing you’re dating the one Lowman who actually sleeps in.”

Juice laughed quietly as he watched Diedra grab two coffee mugs from the cupboard. “Yea, good thing, because sleeping habits were why Happy and I never worked out.”

Diedra laughed as she shook her head. “Sometimes I forget that you can be funny, Juicebox.”

He nodded in thanks as she slid his mug across the counter to him. “Shit, Di, that’s like one of the only things I still have going for me at this point. You can’t forget that.”

She leaned against the counter across from him, hands cupping her coffee mug. “My bad,” she said with a smile.

There were a few beats of silence between them, and Juice desperately wanted to feel at ease about it but he didn’t, not fully anyway. He struggled less now than he used to with the nagging belief that Dakota’s sister was constantly plotting his murder. They weren’t exactly friends, and Juice didn’t know if they ever would be, but Diedra didn’t seem to have a big problem with him. He would take that as a win.

But in moments like that, when it was just the two of them without the buffer of Dakota, or Happy, or the chaos of the clubhouse, Juice still felt like he was squirming in discomfort. And she wasn’t even trying to make him do that anymore.

“Big plans for next week?” Diedra asked. She hadn’t ever been a fan of the holiday, but she knew for a fact that her sister was.

The question caught Juice off-guard. He took another sip of his coffee. “Big plans?”

She cocked one eyebrow. “Valentine’s Day?”

“Right! Right.” Juice knew that. Really, he did, but he always felt like he was taking some sort of test when he was talking to Di, and he was terrible at tests. “Um, yea, yea kind of.”

“Was worried you forgot when Kota didn’t come home giggling and squealing about you asking her.” She said it with heavy sarcasm but gun to her head she couldn’t deny that it was nice to see her little sister in a happy, fairly stable and somewhat normal relationship.

“Asking her? Asking her what?”

She took a sip of her coffee. “You know, to be your valentine or whatever.”

“I have to ask? She’s…I’m…we’re dating.”

Diedra was on the brink of cackling with amusement. “Dude, have you met my sister? Of fucking course, you need to ask her.”

“But she’s my girlfriend!” He sounded genuinely bewildered.

Diedra shook her head as she tried not to keep laughing. “Doesn’t matter. Gotta ask.”

She watched as Juice dropped his face into his hands and shook his head. All of the overthinking that he’d been doing about the actual day, and he missed the memo about even asking. He felt like he had just gotten booted back to square one.

Di something that felt like pity for him. “Look, it’s not like my sister is all that high-maintenance. She’ll be stoked with whatever. You could get her one of those cheesy valentine’s cards they make for kids to hand out at school and she would be hyped. Just,” she finished her coffee and set the mug in the sink, “make sure you do it.” She walked around the counter to grab her bag and her keys. “I’m heading out. Kota say if she needed anything?”

Juice shook his head. “She’s all set.”

Diedra nodded before offering a quick goodbye and heading for the door. Juice sat at the counter, taking his time as he mulled over what Diedra had just said to him.

When he finished his coffee, Dakota still hadn’t woken up. Despite the urge that he had to just go and crawl back into bed with her, everything that Diedra said was still playing on repeat in his head. So, instead of taking the lazy route of going back to sleep, he got up from the stool that he had been sitting on and made his way over to the refrigerator.

He went back and forth between a few different ideas for a minute. Making breakfast was a simple enough task. He’d done it a million times for himself before. He and Kota had definitely cooked together too. But now he was doing it while also overthinking everything that was going to be happening over the next week.

He rifled through the cupboards and fridge as he went back and forth on what he wanted to make. After weighing more pros and cons than any sane person would, he finally settled on French toast. It was low risk, high reward, and that was something that he could get behind.

With minimal struggle and almost no mess, Juice got through almost all of the cooking before Dakota woke up. He hadn’t heard her footsteps when she left the room and walked towards the kitchen, but the yawn that she let out as she crossed the threshold gave her away.

She walked over, still not fully awake, and leaned against Juice’s back. She rested her forehead in the space between Juice’s shoulder blades as she wrapped her arms around his middle. She felt Juice’s laughter before she heard it.

“Morning,” she mumbled against the fabric of his t-shirt.

He chuckled, placing one hand over hers for a moment before shutting off the stove and taking the last of the food off the stove. “Good morning.”

He felt the kiss that she lazily pressed into his back before she pried herself away from him. Stepped so that she was standing next to him instead of behind him, she looked at all of the food in front of her. Reaching, she swiped a piece of bacon off the plate next to all the French toast.

“What’s all this?” she asked.

Juice looked at her and laughed as she popped the bacon into her mouth. “Looks like you already know.”

“Yea, but, like,” she walked to the other side of him to grab a coffee mug for herself, “what’s it all for?”

“For you,” he answered simply.

She laughed, but there was a soft, happy look in her eyes. “You’re a sap.”

He shrugged, grinning. “Maybe.”

They sat at the counter, enjoying their quiet morning and breakfast for two. It was far from the first time that the two of them got to simply just exist like that, but no matter how many times it happened, Juice still found himself a little bit in awe of it all. He had never really considered himself the type of person who was cut out for that kind of thing, who would be allowed to have it. And he certainly never thought that Dakota was the kind of girl who would be interested in being with him like that. But there they were. And it never got old.

Juice finished off the coffee that was in his mug before saying, “There was something that I wanted to ask you.”

Dakota’s eyes widened, clearly curious. “Okay?”

“Would you, um,” he didn’t know why he felt nervous asking—it wasn’t like it was a question that she was likely to say no to, “would you want to be my Valentine this year?”

A cheesy grin spread across her face as she nodded. Leaning over, she kissed him on the lips. “I would love that, Juan.”

He had the same starry look in his eyes as he did the first time Kota ever kissed him. He finally nodded, forcing himself to speak. “Alright, yea, cool.”

Dakota laughed as she hopped off her chair to get herself another cup of coffee. “Yea, very cool.” She poured coffee into her mug before scooping in an unreal amount of sugar. “What’s the plan, anyway? For Valentine’s Day?”

He shrugged nonchalantly but there was a tiny smirk pulling at his lips. “I had some ideas.”

“Keeping me in the dark?”

“Surprising you sounds a lot better.”

She laughed, nodding as she walked back over to him. “I guess it does.”

As the days went by after that, Kota felt like every time she came back to the apartment there was always something waiting for her. They were small things—a card, her favorite snack, t-shirts of Juice’s that she had been trying to steal from him for weeks but never successfully took from his house. She wondered how he was always managing to sneak in and out and leave things for her without being caught. Anytime she asked Di about it, she just shrugged it off and claimed that she didn’t know anything about it. Dakota wasn’t sure how true that was but she wasn’t upset about it.

The closer it got to Valentine’s Day, the more intricate the gifts became. One night when Kota got home from work, she walked into the apartment and the first thing she saw was a beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting on the counter in the kitchen.

She looked over to Diedra, who was sprawled out across the couch in the living room, laptop rested on her stomach. “When did these get here?”

Di lifted her eyes from the screen, glancing back and forth between her sister and the flowers. “Loverboy dropped those off a couple hours ago. I told him I was very upset that he hadn’t gotten anything for me this last week.”

Dakota laughed as she walked over to get a closer look at them. She dropped her bag on the chair before standing on her tiptoes and slowly turning the vase to be able to see all of the flowers. The sunflowers and roses looked so vibrant together. Dakota lightly traced her fingers along some of the petals.

It took a moment for her to realize that there was a holder and a small card sticking out of the flowers. Her smile grew as she carefully plucked it to read. She was on the brink of giggling as she read Juice's handwriting. It always seemed to toe the line between elegant and messy. He was a few scribbles away from doctor's handwriting territory.

“Pack a bag and a dress tonight. I’ll be over tomorrow after work for the next adventure. –Juan"

She read it over a few times, gnawing lightly at her bottom lip as she did. Finally, she looked back at her sister. “He say anything to you about this?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I also didn’t ask.”

Dakota chuckled. “Right.”

She stared at the flowers for another moment longer before grabbing her bag and heading towards her bedroom. She flipped the light on and tossed her bag over onto her mattress. Without even bothering to change or take her shoes off, she knelt and pulled her overnight bag out from underneath her mattress.

Picking that up and dropping it on top of her bed, she unzipped it so that she could start putting clothes inside. She paused, confusion flashing across her face when she saw the jewelry box sitting inside the bag.

Reaching down, she picked it up and shook it next to her ear. She finally popped it open, her eyes growing wide at what was inside. Dakota had never been a diamond necklace kind of girl, and Juice knew that. If she had any doubts about that before, the beautiful gold chain staring back at her definitely wiped away any concerns that he didn’t pay attention.

She also noticed another small card with the same unique handwriting. “Maybe something that goes with this?” She laughed as she took it out of the box and latched it on. It fell nicely over her collarbone, the metal smooth and cool to the touch for now. She decided to leave it on while she packed up her things for the mystery trip Juice had planned.

It was late when Diedra finally decided to start getting ready for bed. Rather than going right to her own room, she walked and lingered in the doorway of Dakota’s. She rapped her knuckles lightly against the doorframe, causing her sister to look up from her phone.

Diedra nodded towards the bags on the floor. “Running off on me?”

Dakota laughed, shaking her head. “No, no.” She set her phone to the side. “I guess, um, I guess Juan has a night away planned. Told me to pack a bag.”

“Bringing some sort of knife or something with you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Di.” She paused. “But, yea.”

They both laughed and Diedra nodded in approval. “Good.” She pushed herself off the doorframe. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Dakota nodded. “See ya.”

It was creeping later into the afternoon when Diedra rolled onto the compound. The trip to Happy’s house had been pointless since he wasn’t home, but when she saw all of the bikes parked outside, she also saw his. She swung the car door shut and started making her way across the lot to the clubhouse.

Just as she was walking into the building, all of the guys were walking out of the chapel. She quickly scanned the looks on each of their faces—it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that whatever had been discussed and decided during church wasn’t sitting right with anyone. She didn’t feel bad for them, never really did. They all signed on for this so her pity was basically non-existent.

She saw that Happy was still talking to Jax and Clay. While she was waiting, she flagged Juice down and waved him over. “What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “Club shit.”

She rolled her eyes, not only at the vagueness of the answer but at the repetitiveness of the situation. “Always is.” She paused, looking at Juice’s face a little closer. “Shouldn’t you be going to get my sister for your big vacation?”

He sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before shaking his head. “Can’t. We gotta—”

“What?” she cut him off.

The sharpness in her tone made him flinch. “I know, I know. I gotta call her. But they said—”

“Who’s they?”

“You know.”

She shook her head. “You can’t do that to her, Juice.”

“I don’t want to, but I can’t just—”

“Yes, you can.” She stepped in a little closer to him, her voice hushed but still cutting. “I don’t give a shit what these guys said they need you for. Club’s got a full roster, right? They can find someone else to do it.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“You guys all love sayin’ that shit but I think it really is that simple.” She saw the debate resting on the tip of his tongue and didn’t let him get started on it. “Listen, you’re like, the first person Kota has dated in a long time that’s not a complete fucking asshole. I’m not going to let Clay, or Jax, or whoever the fuck is calling the shots these days, turn you into one.”

He knew that he shouldn’t be as shaken as he was, but there was always something about Diedra that was inherently terrifying. She was scary when she was in a good mood, let alone in situations like this.

“Wh-what are you gonna do?”

She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. You know me—I love any reason to have a fucking problem with Jax.” She saw the way that he was torn, almost stepping away to leave, almost stepping back towards church. She nodded in the direction of the door. “Go.”

“Right, right.” He mumbled out a quick thank you, although he wasn’t sure how thankful he was going to be about any of it when he got back. That was a problem for future him now, though. And also apparently a problem for Diedra.

Happy walked out of the chapel first, instantly clocking the way that Juice was scrambling towards the door. He walked over to Diedra, nodding at where Juice had just been. “Where’s he going?”

“He’s got some shit to do,” she answered nonchalantly.

Jax had been close enough to overhear their conversation. “He’s got shit to do for the club,” he interjected. “Fuck. He can’t just take off.”

“Well,” she shrugged, “he did. So, guess you can sort it out with him in a couple days.”

Jax narrowed his eyes at her. “What the hell did you say to him?”

“That if he had other shit to take care of, he should go do it, because you guys have enough people here to do whatever needs doing.”

“Di, are you fucking—” he stopped himself short, shaking his head. “Who’s gonna take care of it? You?” he said with a scoff.

She stepped closer to him. “Me? Sure. Or, maybe,” her eyes dropped down to the flash stitched into his kutte, “the fucking VP could handle shit for once. Just an idea.”

Jax shook his head. It was written all over his face that he was on the brink of combusting. Turning to Happy, he grit out, “Get this,” he gestured to Diedra, “under control.”

Happy’s expression didn’t really change much. He didn’t say anything to Jax, waiting until the man walked away before turning back to his daughter. “What’s going on?”

“What?”

“Juice. Where’d he go?”

“Didn’t you hear?” she asked sarcastically. “He took off.”

Happy knew that Juice wasn’t the type to just book it on the club. Either a sense of obligation or fear always kept him in line. “Why?”

“Kota.”

Happy��s brows drew together. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Diedra couldn’t help but to laugh. “It’s fucking, it’s Valentine’s Day, Dad.”

“Today?”

She laughed again. “Tomorrow.”

“Hmph.”

Diedra rolled her eyes, but she still had a smirk on her face because she knew what was going to happen. “Still wanna go get him?”

Happy sighed. “No.”

She clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s what I thought.” She walked around so that she was behind the bar, grabbing a bottle of beer for herself and holding one out to Happy. “Sit. Something I wanted to talk to you about.”

Back at the apartment, Juice felt like he had to catch his breath as he stood outside the door. He adjusted his kutte slightly before running his hands back over his head. After a few seconds, ones that seemed to stretch on longer than they should have, he reached forward and knocked.

In no time at all, he heard the clicking of the locks on the other side of the door. He didn’t know why he felt so jittery. The hardest parts were over—he had the girl, and he ditched the club. It should’ve been smooth sailing from here on out.

Dakota pulled the door open, looking as excited and as beautiful as Juice had ever seen her. Even though she was just in jeans and a t-shirt with her leather jacket, Juice could’ve sworn that he felt his knees start to buckle.

He finally forced himself to clear his throat as he leaned against the doorframe. “H-hey.”

“Ready to roll?” she asked with a smile.

He nodded. “Yea.” He watched as she reached out and tangled her hand with his own. “You?”

“Yea!” She tugged him into the apartment while she went and grabbed her bag. She lifted it up off the ground and slipped the strap over her shoulder. “Was starting to get nervous for a minute there,” she said with a laugh.

He shook his head, flashing a small smile as he reached and took her duffle bag from her. “C’mon, like I would ever leave you hanging.” He chuckled as she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He could feel his face get hot as he busied himself adjusting the bag on his shoulder. “Nice necklace, by the way.”

She laughed, dragging her fingers along the gold chain of it. “Thanks. Got it from this pretty cool guy I know.” She followed him out the door, turning around and locking it behind them once they were out in the hall. Turning back to him, she asked, smile still bright, “So, do I get to know where we’re going now? Or is it still a surprise?”

Juice laughed, shaking his head as he gestured for her to walk down the stairs. “Oh, yea, no, it’s definitely still a surprise.”

She shook her head, laughing the entire way down, “Of course it is.”