Rivals ? - Chapter 29: Chapter 29

His father was gone...
Raine couldn't get his head around it. Why the hell would someone kidnap his father? They didn't have a lot of money, he had no ties with whatever shady organization... His father was just a broken, common man who had gone through too much misery to be abducted now.
Could they be wrong? Maybe his father was indisposed, someone might have taken him to the hospital without being able to identify him...
The ride to Oakland had never taken this long. When he finally parked his bike, he ran inside the clubhouse without waiting for the others. There was only one Mayan in the clubhouse. He believed it was a good sign; hopefully the others were onto his father.
Briefly he gave Martinez a hug, the oldest of his brothers.
"They got him. The abductor."
Martinez had always been a man of few words; also this time, he ordered Raine to follow him with a simple nod of his head. Through a door they headed to the working place, which they crossed to find access to the hangar adjacent to it. Someone was sitting on a chair, his head hanging down.
"Ah, you're just in time for the grand finale," Esai yelled over his shoulder. Taking the bat from Lucille, Esai held it out to Raine.
Raine's eyes shot back to the man they had bound to the chair. There wasn't much life in him left.
A fluorescent tube was blinking. Because of the changing light, Raine suddenly caught a glance of a partly shaved head and tattoos. Abruptly, he stood still. Suddenly he couldn't breathe anymore, the room was spinning around him. Is that... Is that...
He blinked his eyes, convinced that the whole situation was messing with his head. But no — it was him.
It was really him.
"O no," he whispered. "Oh no — what have you done?"
Ignoring the bat, he ran towards his boyfriend. Tears blinded him at the sight of all the blood. He fell on his knees in front of the man and took his face between his shaking hands.
"Juice," he said in an insistent tone. "Juice... Baby look at me. Can you hear me?"
Juice didn't respond.
Someone grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. "What the fuck are you doing? It's him Raine, we caught him red-"
Raine jumped up, grabbing Esai by the throat. "He's my boyfriend, you idiot! You beat up my boyfriend! I asked him to pick up Sasha! What the hell is wrong with you man!" Tears streamed down his cheeks. Sobbing, he pushed Esai away. This was something he would have to deal with later. Right now, all he wanted was taking Juice away from this place. Pulling a knife, he cut the ropes around Juice's wrists. Immediately he slumped forward, crashing into Raine's chest. He wailed like a wounded animal, the sound of it cutting Raine's heart.
"Sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry baby." He took a deep breath and forced his eyes to stay dry. Carefully he shoved an arm underneath Juice's knees, his other arm he wrapped around his back. Slowly, he lifted him up and turned around, carrying his boyfriend in his arms.
"Don't just stand there and get a doctor!" he snapped at Esai. There after, his dark glance fell upon Lucille. "And you... If he dies, I will crack your skull."
He couldn't care less about the fact that the guy was twice as tall as him. He didn't wait to hear their comments, but turned away from his brothers and carried Juice through the hangar and the workplace, towards his room. With difficulty he pried his key out of his pocket, which he shoved into the lock with shaking fingers. With his elbow, he pushed down the door handle.
Cautiously he lowered his boyfriend on his bed. He locked the door; except for a doctor, he wouldn't let anyone in. After turning around, he took a deep breath. He stared at Juice's motionless body, to all the bruises covering his arms and face, and the blood that had stained the neck of his shirt.  The sight of it was horrible; it kept him rooted to the spot.
It was so... cruel. There were simply no words to describe how he felt.
He himself had almost died because he wanted to help two Sons.
And now, the same happened to Juice because he had been helping Raine.
An overwhelming feeling of guilt made his knees feel weak. Could he have prevented this? Should he have counted on the possibility that Juice would run into one of his brothers? Again, tears were stinging in his eyes. Afraid that his legs would no longer be able to carry him, he sat down on the bed. Carefully, he caressed Juice's cheek where his skin wasn't colored. His lip had split, dried blood and saliva stuck to his chin. His right eye was swollen... A little bit of relief seeped into his heart at the realization that the injuries of his face were quite superficial; at least, those assholes hadn't bashed his skull.
Gently, he laid his fingers around Juice's hand. He tensed when Juice turned his hand around so their fingers fell between each other. His glance shot back to his boyfriend's face, and he saw his eyes open slowly.
His lips were moving, the whispers however were too weak.
"Try not to talk," he said.
Nevertheless, Juice cleared his throat. "I... I haven't told them."
"You didn't tell 'em what?"
"About you... and me..."
"Oh Juice..." His bottom lip started to tremble again. Had he endured all this pain just to keep their secret? He hadn't even thought about secrecy when he saw him on that chair. He however decided not to tell him, he didn't want Juice to believe he had suffered in vain.
"Is there anything I can do for you? You want some water? There's a doctor on its way."
"Water... is fine."
Raine got up immediately and went to the bathroom to get a glass of water. Back in his room he piled up the two pillows of the bed and he helped Juice to sit up straight. Every time a soft cry left his lips, it was Raine who was flinching. Quietly he helped Juice to hold the glass while he took a few small drinks.
"Did they... found... your dad?"
Raine breathed in sharply. It hit him hard that this was the question that crossed Juice's mind in a situation like this.
"No," he spoke softly.
"I... I can help."
Raine squeezed his eyes for a moment. Good heavens, he loved this man so much. His words made him so emotional he didn't know what to say.
"You're all that matters now," he said ultimately. "Come on, let me help you to take your clothes off so the doctor has a better view on your injuries."
Raine's stomach cramped up as he carefully rolled up Juice's shirt and saw the many red and purple bruises covering his sides and ribs. There was no way some of them weren't broken. Again, he started to sob quietly. Accepting that his boyfriend was assaulted was one thing. Knowing that it were his brothers, people he loved, who had done this to him, made everything worse. Especially because he himself had been the one who had been too chicken to tell them about Juice. Somehow, in some crazy way, he was the one responsible for Juice's pain.
A shiver went down his spine when Juice's fingertips slightly brushed across his wet cheek. The movement had to hurt, but the touch felt like a silent promise of forgiveness. Catching Juice's hand with his own, he kissed his fingertips one by one. There were so many things he wanted to tell him, but his throat felt thick and he couldn't get another word out.
In the end, he decided to stay silent while he unbuckled Juice's belt and pulled down his jeans. The side of his green briefs was drenched in blood; his hip was covered in gruesome abrasions and bruises where his skin had been exposed. Pursing his lips, he tried not to cry again. The emotions however kept squeezing his throat. His father was missing, that was a horrible fact. And now, his boyfriend was assaulted too... It made him feel sick to the stomach.
Someone knocked on the door. Raine got up and turned the key. It was Melany, the older sister of one of his brothers. She worked at the ER of the local hospital and had a history of helping wounded Mayans.
Behind her stood Esai, who had crossed his arms and stared at him with a grim face.
"I can't believe you're so upset over a Son while your old man is missin'," he said.
Raine was tempted to slam the door in his face and to ignore his words, but instead, he entered the hallway. "Don't be an ass. You think I'm crying over 'just' a Son? I love him, Esai. I love him more than I can ever explain. It's horrible that my father is missing, but right now I can't do anything while he," he pointed over his shoulder, "could have been death. You know how many people I've lost. And I can't lose him Esai. I can't lose him. I don't care what you think of him. It does not alter the fact that I love him and that losing him will tear me apart." He wiped his teary eyes.
Esai sighed, then he pulled him in a hug. "I never would have been so harsh on him if I'd known that you two were in a relationship," he said.
Raine squeezed his eyes. Of all people, it was Juice's tormentor who was embracing him now and it gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. Nevertheless; it was one of his closest friends and right now, he was just glad someone was holding him.
"But Raine... Can you really blame me for thinking that he was kidnapping your niece? I believed he was a jealous ex; I thought he found out that you were screwing his girl."
But Raine did blame him. He couldn't help it. "I can't look at him without thinking that you caused this, Esai. Even knowing that it was all a misunderstanding."
"It's just as much your own fault," Esai huffed.
"You think I don't know that?!" he snapped. "You think I don't feel fucking guilty?!"
"I don't understand why you've started this in the first place."
"I don't expect you to understand. You've never been in love."
"But even if I was, I would never put some bitch above the club..."
"This has nothing to do with the club. Juice and I never talk about our clubs. You think this has been easy for us? Of course not. Neither of us wanted this in the first place, but we couldn't ignore our feelings. We've tried to forget about each other. We've tried to be friends at most. But it made neither of us happy."
There were so many more things he wanted to say, but he knew he would have to explain his decisions to everyone else anyway. Right now, all he wanted was to go back to Juice.
"I gotta know how he is first," he said. "Then I will focus on my dad. And Sammy. Where's Sasha?"
"With my mom."
Raine nodded. He couldn't bring himself to thank him, and without saying another word he entered his room again. He came to stand next to Melany.
"How is he?" he asked softly. "Does he need to go to the hospital?"
"There's no harm in that," she muttered. "Just to be sure. Either way, his ribs are bruised, just like his left hip and shoulder. He is in a lot of pain, but the injuries seem to be superficial." She handed him a salve. "Apply this cream to the bruises. Furthermore, he should rest." She squeezed his shoulder.
"Thank you, Melany," he whispered. He waited until she had left the room, then he sat down next to his friend. "You okay?"
"She gave me some painkillers, guess they'll work soon," he muttered.
"Good. I'm going to apply this to your injuries, okay?"
Juice nodded.
Raine started with his arms, followed by his torso, his hips and legs and at last his face. All this time, Juice looked at him in silence. His breathing sounded deep, but not alarming.
"What do we do now?" Juice asked quietly after Raine put away the cup. Raine laid down next to him, and very carefully he laid an arm around his boyfriend. He just needed his lover for a moment, he just wanted to be close.
"You gotta sleep and get better," he said. "I'll stay with you until you've fallen asleep, then I'll stop by at Sammy's to check up on her, and I hope the others will have some intel about my dad by then."
"I will be fine. Just go to Sammy."
Very lightly, he caressed Juice's face. "Not yet. I need to stay a little longer with you."
Juice lifted his hand as well, his fingers wandered across Raine's cheek. "We have to call my club," he said. "They — they took one of our parents too, a while back. I think — I think they're taken by the same people. Maybe we will be able to find them... if we team up."
Raine stared at him in disbelief. "You serious?"
"Yeah." Juice moaned as he sighed. "I can't imagine this is a coincidence."
"No..." Raine mused. "I will bring this to the table."
Juice's thumb traced his bottom lip and he showed him a small smile. "I never imagined our reunion to be like this, but I'm glad to see you again."
His voice sounded tired, and Raine saw that he was fighting to keep his eyes open. Raine kissed his thumb, dipping his head a little so there brows were touching.
"Sleep a few hours," he said. "If I need a hacker I'll wake you up."
"Okay." It was silent for a while. "Will you stay a little longer? Just a little?" Juice opened his eyes to look at him.
Carefully he kissed the tip of Juice's nose. "I will."
Again, he saw that beautiful smile. He closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the presence of the one he had missed so badly it hurt.
"You know what I was thinking about today?" Juice's voice sounded absent, as if sleep could take him away any moment.
"Well?" Slowly, he brushed the side of Juice's mohawk.
Only after a long time, Juice answered, without opening his eyes.
"That I want to marry you."