Rivals ? - Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Juice felt so much pain he was convinced that he was lying in a hospital bed. He must have been in a terrible accident, for he couldn't think of one body part that didn't hurt. There however were no beeps he would expect to hear in a hospital; in the distance there were sounds but around him there was silence. He tried to open his eyes. His eyelids felt heavy, he suspected them to be swollen.
The room was dark, he didn't see much — only shadows.
His other senses neither were very helpful; he thought to smell a mix of cigarettes, leather and clotted blood, but breathing through his nose was hard; it felt like he was having a cold. There was quite a chance he was just imagining things.
He tried to sit, his ribs however protested loudly and a groan slipped his lips. Quickly he lied down again.
Next to him something was moving. Or more likely, someone.
Where the hell was he? Despite seeing so little, he knew he wasn't in his apartment or in his club room. Had he been so drunk last night? At least it would explain his headache and the nausea. Maybe he had fallen off a roof? Although there was someone lying next to him. Was all this the result of very rough sex? It was hard to believe. Firstly he wasn't a big fan of torture — much less in such a degree that he could barely move. And apart from that, he hadn't had sex in weeks. Raine and he...
Raine!
The name was like a password giving access to his memories. Raine's father was missing and he'd asked Juice to pick up his niece. Juice had done so, but he was overpowered by a Mayan who had dragged him to the clubhouse. His wrists were aching as he saw himself bounded to a chair.
A baseball bat — they had manhandled him with a baseball bat. Raine had run inside, had been furious, had untied him and had carried him to his room.
Yeah — that's where he was now. In his boyfriend's room.
Vaguely, he remembered how the man had laid him in bed before he left to explain to his brothers why he had sent a Son to pick up his niece.
I want to marry you.
Words he'd thought, yesterday.
Or had he said it out loud?
A new sort of panic hived through his body. No — he hadn't said that to Raine, right? They weren't together for long — they hadn't even had sex! When Raine knew that Juice wanted to marry him already, he would probably run for the hills!
With great effort, he opened his eyes. Carefully he touched his face. Everything was swollen; from his jaws to his eyelids. No wonder he barely saw something... He groaned as he slowly rolled on his side so he could inspect the bed next to him. Yeah... there he was. Warm skin glowed against his fingertips. Juice stroked his fingers up and down, although Raine began to move soon.
"Juice?" Raine's voice sounded hoarse.
Through small cracks, Juice looked up. Raine's face was suddenly very close, his breathing ghosted the bruised skin.
"How do you feel? Are you in a lot of pain?"
"Yeah," he groaned. "Every fucking bone hurts man."
"You think something's broken?"
Step by step, Raine told him to bend his body parts until they concluded that nothing was broken.
Clenching his jaw, he sat up straight. Worried, his glance slid across Raine's body. After how roughly they'd treated him, he'd expected his boyfriend to be beaten up as well. To his relief, no such thing had happened.
"What now?" He leaned with his back against the wall. His ribs were aching, every breath felt like torture. He was probably exhausted because of the pain within an hour. "They're gonna let me go?"
"I insisted on a truce," Raine said. "This afternoon we'll talk to three Sons. Hopefully we'll be able to find my dad. And your brother's mom."
Juice touched for Raine's hand and took it in his, even though his knuckles were hurting. He was proud of his boyfriend; now their secret had came to light in such an unfortunate way, it must have been hard to convince them.
Raine lifted his hand and pressed a kiss to it before putting it back on the mattress. "I'm gonna get ya something to eat."
The guy slipped off the mattress. Juice sank back in the pillows Raine had put against the wall and waited for his return.
Raine came back with a glass orange juice and bread that was sliced in such small pieces he could have fed Sasha with it. Juice however was grateful; like all his joints, his jaws were aching and he could only take little bites.
Eating was painful, yet he chewed his food slow, ignoring the pain as he swallowed. He'd probably screamed for over an hour yesterday, so he wasn't surprised that his throat was aching.
"How did they respond?" he asked quietly.
Raine's glance slid down and he stared at the blankets. "They haven't said much, but the look in their eyes..." He sighed. "I don't think they'll ever understand. Diana — Marcus' Old Lady — told me her husband would find it hard to accept it, but that he'd want me to be happy in the end."
Juice nodded slowly. Did this mean that they were going to leave their clubs? It might be the only choice they had. He however didn't want to talk about it — not now. In silence he ate. As he caught Raine's look after a while, he tried to give him a reassuring smile. He was okay. He wasn't dying or something. They would make it through this.
He thought back to the words he'd thought of when he woke up. He bent his head in shame. Would Raine have made a comment about it if he'd really spoken the words out loud? Or would he pretend it never happened? How could he find out if he had really said something so stupid to his boyfriend?
After finishing his meal, Raine took the plate from his lap and put it on the night stand. "Let's take a shower," he said. "You could use some hot water, and there's still blood here and there."
"I imagined our first shower together a bit more romantic," Juice muttered. "Not with a body like this."
Raine chuckled. "Stop whinin'. You're hot anyway." He got up, his voice sounded a little lighter than before and he gave Juice a wink. "Let's go. I'll make sure you get all the romance you want."
. . .
The romance consisted of undressing each other very carefully — or actually, undressing Juice. With a tenderness that made Juice feel hot all over, his lover cautiously wiped the clotted blood away while the warm water fell on his head and shoulders. Even though he had seen his boyfriend only one time naked — and he had been really impressed by his body — he was mainly looking at his face now, at the concentrated frown on his brow and his worried eyes.
Raine must feel him stare, for he looked up after carefully washing Juice's upper body. "What?"
"You're sweet."
He blurted out the words and regretted them immediately. His cheeks turned red. For a moment he hoped the bruises would hide them, but Raine's smirk told him differently. "I'm trying to. A good husband should at least be a little sweet, right?" There was a teasing spark in his brown eyes.
Juice's breathing faltered and he stared at his boyfriend in disbelief. "W-what? Husband?" he stammered.
Raine chuckled as he took a step closer to Juice. He placed his hands above his hips. Juice couldn't think of a better remedy for the pain than Raine's touch. The water rained down on Raine's shoulder now, causing the ink on his chest to glisten.
"You said so before you fell asleep yesterday. That you want to marry me."
Juice didn't know where to look. "I — I never meant to say that out loud."
Raine laughed quietly while moving his hands to Juice's back. They descended to his ass, where after the man pulled him closer to his waist. Juice was afraid he would faint. And not because of the pain, this time...
Very lightly, Raine's lips met his. Raising his hand, Juice caressed the side of his face. The moment they created a little more distance, his thumb traced Raine's smirk.
"You don't look like these words shocked you," Juice noticed.
Raine's hands kneaded his flesh, and Juice's hands also wandered off to Raine's behind.
"I'm not an easy one to shock," Raine winked. "If you want me gone, you better come up with something better."
Relief filled his chest, although there were still nervous tinglings in his stomach. "Does that mean that you'd want to marry too?"
Raine's hands slipped up across Juice's hips and further upwards until he cupped the back of his head and looked him straight in the eye. "Maybe." Again, there was that twinkle in his eyes cutting Juice's breath off. "But I'm sure you can think of a more romantic proposal — and I'd prefer one where you don't fall asleep at the supreme moment."
Juice's cheeks flushed. Dipping his head, he rested his forehead against Raine's. It felt like Raine's words were healing him from the inside. With both hands he held Raine's face.
"I love you. I love you so fucking much," he whispered, looking him in the eye.
Raine kissed his lips before meeting his eyes again. They were sparkling when he smiled. "I love you more."
"Impossible."
A grin crossed his face. "Now that's impossible."
. . .
After Raine had toweled him off and helped him in a shirt and sweatpants, they lied down on the bed again. In a soft voice Raine told him about Santo Padre; while talking, he slowly ran his fingers across Juice's mohawk. A few times Juice dozed off, but every time he woke up, Raine was still on his side.
A little past noon Raine told him they would soon go to the meeting place. "You think you're able to come with me?" Raine asked. "It's hard to imagine how your brothers will react when you're not there. We can take the car."
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Especially if you got another painkiller cocktail for me."
He couldn't stay in the clubhouse of the Mayans. As long as Raine was with him he felt safe, but when he stayed behind alone? Not so much.
Raine got off the bed and started to wrap his socks around Juice's feet. Once Juice turned a quarter, the man also shoved his shoes on his feet. The sight of it filled him with warmth. Sure — he knew for some time how sweet his boyfriend was, but his caring nature kept increasing his love for this man.
He couldn't imagine he would ever love someone but this man.
"Are you nervous?" Raine asked after helping him on his feet.
"Not close to panic attack nervous but I've been at places I felt more comfortable."
"Yeah, me too." Raine sighed and put on his kutte. "But we'll get through this." He gave him a wink and left the room.
Juice followed him as quick as he could. Up to now he had only taken a few steps; he still was in a lot of pain. Through the hallway they headed to a swinging door. Behind it he heard voices and laughter — and music.
If it wouldn't have hurt so much, he would have taken a deep breath.
"Well, here we go," Raine muttered as they reached the door.
The two men looked at each other. Raine reached out his hand and Juice laced his fingers with those of his lover. Then, they entered the clubhouse.
Immediately everyone stopped talking, they all turned towards them.
Juice squeezed Raine's hand. He had no idea where to look; burning glances were all around them. He couldn't remember he'd ever entered a room that felt so hostile. There wasn't much left of his pride to be a Son and it was hard to imagine that these guys meant as much to Raine as Juice's own brothers meant to him.
He didn't hold on to any illusions; his own brothers would respond exactly the same way.
Awkwardly, Juice cleared his throat. "Hey."
No one answered. His fingers cramped around Raine's. He felt like a criminal on his way to the rope while they all couldn't wait to see him hang.
His eye caught Alvarez, who shoved back his bar stool and turned towards them.
Before Juice could say something, he felt something cold against the back of his head, followed by a click. The safety of a gun. He froze.
"We ain't gonna give back this boy just like that, huh?" a grim voice sounded behind him. "He will be our hostage. I want to trade him for the murderer of my son."