The Life and Death of Girl Unknown (UNDER REVISION AND EDITING)

Chapter 24: The American Beauty Meets the American Psycho.

I locked my SUV and walked up the path to the entrance of the establishment. The summer sun has gotten hotter from the time it took me to drive from the house to here which was about 45 minutes. Usually it takes me longer but today the traffic wasnt so bad, I think people are more towards the coast and that's why the traffic inland wasn't as bad. But when I did start getting closer to the beaches and the coast the traffic took a bit longer.

"Maria?" I heard a deep male voice call my name. It was a familiar voice, I've heard it before. I thought its one of my dad's friends here to spy on me. I sighed and rolled my eyes as I turned on my heelmto face the person who said my name.

"Who's asking?" I replied. I was facing the row of bikers now, one of them climbed off of their bikes and took the helmet off, setting it down on the seat. He was tall and bulky, he had longish blonde hair and bright vibrant blue eyes that were made even bluer by the golden facial hair. I bit my lip nervously, in knew for a fact that this wasn't one of my dad's friends. I noted down what he was wearing just in case shit goes down; he wore a pair of baggy jeans, a white tee shirt with a black longer sleeved shirt under and a black leather vest.

"I'm Jax Teller, your cousin." Holy shit, I was face to face with Jax. That means these bikers must be his friends.

I'm sure I was standing there with my gob hung open and my eyes popping out of my head. Incoherently my mouth formed a half smile. I didn't know what to do, so I did the only thing I knew how to do; I lunged at him and wrapped my arms around his neck loosely. I couldn't believe I was hugging my cousin for the first time. He smelt like Old Spice and sweat. Those two combonations made my heart swell with joy. When I pulled away from him, not realizing that not only was I teary eyed but he was hugging me back. There was a dark haired lady in a black blouse that hung open a little bit to show off some cleavage along with a scar running up the valley between her breasts and a rose tattoo over her heart. She removed the large sunglasses and smiled at me.

"Maria, its nice to finally meet you." I realized that she was my Aunty Gemma. My crooked smile widened more as we embraced each other lovingly.

"Its nice to finally meet you too, Aunty Gemma." I replied ton her happily. Gemma pulled away from me and got a good look at me with a broad smile.

"Holy shit, are you sure you're only 17?" Gemma asked generously.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be 18 soon though." I replied honestly. I could mentally smack myself, of course I'm gonna be 18 soon; 18 comes after 17. I'm such an idiot sometimes.

"I bet you get a lot of attention from the boys with that sexy body." Gemma said with a wide as mike. I felt blush invade my face warmly. Jax muttered something and walked away, he took the lead into the establishment. I told Gemma that I'm not exactly virgin Mary, she obviously already knew that. She knew that when she saw me. Jax protested against that by the fact that he now and forever will see me as his little sister. Jax is 19 years older than me so I could very well be his kid if he had a child at the age of 19.

We got a table, sat down and order our lunch. Jax and I both went for a New York strip, medium rare. Since I was with family and not friends I had a coke instead of a beer or a glass of Long Island Iced Tea. I noticed Jax was wearing a black leather vest with a very familiar logo on the back.

"You're apart of the Sons of Anarchy?" I questioned innocently. Gemma and Jax looked at each other as if I just asked a very awkward personal question.

"Ugh, yeah. How do you know about the Sons, Maria?" Jax quizzically pestered from across the table. I smiled sweetly and shrugged my shoulder.

"The guys from Nevada come in here sometimes. They like hitting on my underage friends." I told Jax honestly. I believed that maybe he'd do something about his perverted friends who like the young ones. Jax sighed a low growl and set his beer bottle down firmly onto the table. Gemma leaned in towards me with a concerned expression.

"Have they ever hit on you or actually had sex with your friends?" Gemma asked with a mothering tone. I was a bit overwhelmed by their sheer concern for me. I've never really had someone care so much for me before.

"They haven't slept with any of my friends but they have slept with the underage girls that come in here sometimes. No they never hit on me, thank God." I replied nervously. I wasn't sure if I should be telling them this but I really didn't want to lie to them within the first hour of meeting them. Jax and Gemma looked at each other again, Jax nodded and muttered to his mother that he'd take care of that later. Gemma turned back to me and forced a smile.

"How do you like living in Huntington Beach?" She asked me kindly. My stomach dropped into my ass and my heart stopped in a sorrowful grasp. I sighed softly and shook my head.

"Honestly, I hate it. I don't feel like I belong here. I just want to leave as soon as I can." I admitted honestly. Gemma encouraged that I went back to Charming with her when they left, Jax was against it because I was underage and it was considered running away or kidnapping. I was all for it, I just wanted to get the hell out of here. I didn't care if my dad consented it or even if he didn't know. I'd rather he didn't know, that'd make it easier on me. But I have a funny feeling he'd know where to find me, he always knows where to find me.

The rest of the lunch was really nice I got to get to know my cousin and Aunty. Gemma had to go be with her husband, my step-uncle. Jax and I stayed, he even ordered me a couple drinks and introduced me to his friends. I particularly liked this one guy, he was a few inches taller than me, he had this Mohawk of short dark hair and tribal tattoos on either side of his head. He was a pale-tanned colour with dark eyes. I found out his name was Juan Carlos Ortiz but everyone calls him Juice. He and I got along very well. We laughed at the stupid jokes we'd tell each other. He was a class act and I loved it. I loved all of the guys but Juice and I seemed to be more close than the rest.

When Jax left I asked if he wanted to dance. The first ten times he said no but I said that I couldn't dance worth shit but I wanted to dance with him. Juice reluctantly got up from the bar stool, I took him by the hand and led him onto the dance floor. As soon as we got onto the dance floor the song changed from something upbeat to a slow song. I giggled at that, he chuckled. I didn't want to wait for a fast song to come back so I placed my hands on the rounds of his shoulders and brought myself close to him. Juice put his hands on my waist, his fingers curled at the small of my back. I knew that the older guys were watching on us closely, they weren't about to let Jax's little cousin out of their sight; especially when he specifically requested that they watch on me. Opie was to make sure I didn't get into any trouble that he couldn't handle.

"So, Juice, what's your favorite colour?" I asked curiously. I don't know why but I wanted to know everything about him. Juice smiled down at me and thought for a moment with a hum.

"I'd have to say yellow, what about you? What's your favorite colour?" He said in a gentle way. I smiled up at him brightly,

"Purple. I absolutely love the colour purple." I told him honestly. He chuckled lively, I felt his hands casually slide down from my waist to my hips. I clasped my hands together behind his neck so now a magazine wouldn't even be able to fit between us.

"Where are you from?" I questioned him brutally, I didn't mean to do that, I just wanted to get to know him better. He licked his lips, I didn't even realize I was looking from his eyes to his lips.

"I'm from Queens, New York." He replied with a casual smile. I felt my heart break inside my chest. I rested my chin on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around the small of my back. I hugged him close to me as if he was some kind of life preserver.

"That's so far away from here." That's the last thing I remember before everything went black. I was ripped out of the sleep state gently. I could feel the bedsheets under my skin and a duvet laying on top of me. There was something large and heavy at my feet. When I remembered what happened last night my eyes shot open and my sat up in the bed, I was still fully clothed which brought me relief. I looked at the end of the bed where a small duffle bag was. Juice was sitting on the couch tiredly, rubbing his eyes. When he saw me he smiled charmingly.