Rivals ? - Chapter 34: Chapter 34

"They — they're in a hotel?"
Raine couldn't believe his ears. Since the moment his father went missing, he'd pictured dark basements and abandoned hangars. Now however, Juice told him that his father was in a hotel only 25 miles away from Charming. An enormous wave of relief washed over him, although it still didn't sit right with him. He never understood why someone kidnapped his dad in the first place, especially not now they hadn't asked for any money, but why would someone take him to a hotel? The more they discovered, the crazier this whole situation became.
After the meeting in the bar they had gone to the clubhouse of the Sons, just like the other Mayans. Juice and Phantom — their own hacker — had retreated to a room to follow three possible leads. Raine had no idea how they'd done it, but when they left the room there was an identical smirk on their faces.
Phantom was their prospect who had a few more months to go.  With his 21 years old he was the youngest of both clubs. Raine didn't know the guy very well; he had been too busy with his sister's health the past months. He was a bit of a weirdo, with very light grey eyes and black hair that always looked messy.
Right now, he leaned with his arm on Juice's shoulder. He looked at the Son with a triumphant grin. "Well — you and I did pretty well huh."
Juice smirked back.
Raine felt a little uncomfortable now the two seemed to get along so well. It was an enormous change after how his other brothers had behaved around Juice. He knew there was no reason to be jealous and it was incredibly childish of him to feel annoyed by the way Phantom was leaning against his boyfriend, but he hadn't slept in days, the suspense was killing him and he couldn't tolerate much right now.
Juice caught his glance, a slight frown on his brow.
Raine understood — Juice just figured out the location of his father and Raine responded anything but enthusiastic. He offered his boyfriend a tired smile.
"Okay, let's go." Antonio slammed his hand on the table. "Four men will go inside; two for each hostage, the others will wait outside. We won't raid the hotel until there's fierce resistance. Right now, we still don't know who's behind this so be careful. A conversation might be all they're after, so with a bit of luck it won't result in a shooting."
A shooting.
Antonio stated it as something so normal, but now his father was the one in the line of fire, it felt different. Every muscle in his body felt tense, yet he wanted to be the one entering that building.
There were six bikers who stayed behind to make sure nobody would invade the clubhouse now the group split up — after all, it could still be a diversion. Both Juice and Phantom would stay — the two of them got a list of tasks they had to carry out while the others headed to the hotel.
While the others went outside, Raine walked over to the side of the building to have a brief moment with his boyfriend.
"You okay?" Juice asked in a soft tone. His eyes were filled with concern.
"Yeah," he muttered.
But no — he was not okay. His body felt as if it was made of lead and before he knew it, he closed the distance between their bodies so Juice could wrap his arms around him. He shivered as Juice's lips touched his temple.
"I'm exhausted," he whispered. "And I don't wanna leave you."
Juice pulled back a little and caressed his face. "I will be fine," he said. "You're going to get your dad and then all this shit is finally over." Leaning forward, he pressed a soft kiss on his lips. "And once your dad is back, we will lock ourselves up in my bedroom and forget about the rest of the world for two whole days."
Raine rested his forehead against Juice's and closed his eyes. "I can't wait," he mumbled. Whether they could really do that, remained to be seen. He had no idea how his father was feeling, whether he needed care... And he still had a two year old to care for and a younger sister who was close to a break-down. All of them were more important than him.
"Hey." Juice's stern voice made him open his eyes. "You can do this, Raine. Your brothers may act like assholes, but you are the reason they're here. They love you," he said. "Obviously not as much as I love you," he continued with a smirk, "but enough to forget for one moment that your totally in love with the enemy."
Raine chuckled, his tiredness chased away by Juice's words. He would probably step on some toes, but he gave Juice a long kiss. "I love you."
"Yeah yeah, I know." With a teasing grin, Juice gave him a shove towards the door. "Go save your dad so I can finally meet him. Tell him I was the one who found him, then I'll make a good first impression."
Raine pulled him closer one more time to give him another intimate kiss before he let go of him. He was relieved that his boyfriend would stay here, especially with all his injuries, but he still hated to be apart. If something happened to his father... Then he wanted Juice near, and instead, he'd be on his laptop in another town.
He shook off the thought.
Nothing's gonna happen to your dad, Raine. You've lost more than enough people. You're gonna free him from that hotel room, take him home and you will tell him that you have the smartest and sweetest boyfriend in the world and that you're going to introduce that hero to him really soon.
With these thoughts in mind, he left the clubhouse of the Sons and climbed on his bike.
. . .
Worried, Juice watched his boyfriend leave. Usually Raine was the one who kept his emotions in check, but he knew he was really close to a break down now. Soon, he really needed a break from all this . Right now however there was nothing Juice could do for him, except using his laptop to support the men. He headed back to the office where Gemma was usually doing the administration and where they'd worked on their laptops the past hour. Phantom's fingers flashed across the keyboard. He looked up when Juice sat down on a desk chair, lifting the corner of his mouth.
"Ready for round two?"
Juice had never seen such an energetic person. It wasn't annoying, somehow the Mayan gave him energy too. He had never expected to feel so comfortable around a Mayan other than Raine, but Phantom was nice company. Actually Juice had never worked together with another hacker, but by challenging and trying to be faster than the other, they brought out the best in each other.
"Absolutely," he said.
"You hack into the administration files to find Mary while I check the camera footage? First one who succeeds gets a crate of beer."
Juice chuckled. "Go get one then."
"After you."
With a crooked smile, Juice aimed his attention back to his laptop. He was glad he could keep himself busy and do something useful. It distracted him from the pain that still surprised him by every move he made and it also kept him from worrying about his boyfriend the whole time.
An hour ago they already hacked into the system and found out that Raine's father had been in the lobby yesterday. This time it was up to Phantom to use the camera footage to see what room he was brought to. It didn't take long before Juice had bypassed the poor security system so he could look into the reservations. If they kept Mary there since the beginning — assuming she was there in the first place — they must have booked a room for sixteen days. He couldn't imagine there were a lot of people who booked a room for so long. Figuring out what room she was in, would be easier than finding the room of Raine's dad, since that room was booked a day ago. Unless they were kept in the same room.
There was only one room that was booked sixteen days ago — room 214.
"Found it," he said with a smug smirk. "214."
"Ah fuck," Phantom said a little later. "I lost sight at them at the third floor."
Juice got up and stood behind the other guy. "How late did they enter the lobby? If I look up  the time of registration in the files..."
"They got the key earlier that day. The guy that escorts him clearly has a key for they don't go to the counter."
"Same room?"
"No, they took Elijah one floor higher."
Phantom pressed some keys, where after Juice watched a man walking through a hallway. Raine's father. Until today, he hadn't even known Elijah was his name. The man looked calm, a baseball cap shielded off his eyes. Raine told him he never used to wear one. His dark hair curled around the edges of the cap; Juice couldn't see his face. Nothing in his body language showed that he was at gunpoint.
Juice returned to his own laptop and texted Jax the number of Mary's room. "The room must have been booked before Elijah's arrival," Juice pondered. He made print screens of the reservations and crossed off all the ones that were booked at a later time. "Someone has to go inside. If you send them to that hallway and let me know what numbers there are, I can cross off a lot more rooms."
"Yep." Phantom texted his president. "Will take fifteen minutes before they get there. Wanna smoke?"
Juice nodded. Together with the Mayan he left the office through the garage and sat down on the picknick table. Phantom sat down next to him and offered him a cigarette.
"So," he said as soon as his cigarette was on. "You and Raine, huh." He smirked.
Juice had expected a comment about that much earlier. All other Mayans had looked furious, but he hadn't seen Phantom this morning. "Yep. Me and Raine."
"Cool." He smirked. "He's hot."
Juice almost dropped his cigarette and stared at him in disbelief. "What?"
The young Mayan chuckled. "What? You think you're the only gay biker?"
"I'm not gay."
"Well I am." Phantom let out a puff of smoke. "Not that anyone knows, tho. I was afraid they would kick me out and I worked fucking hard to get that top rocker."
Juice was a little blindsided by that confession. "Nobody knows?"
"Nobody inside the club. I neither knew Raine was into guys. Which is a shame; otherwise I definitely would have tried to hit on him." He wiggled his eyebrows. "But who knows, maybe he's single soon, when this whole rival thing doesn't work out for you two."
Juice looked away awkwardly. Working together with Phantom had felt so natural he had forgotten about their rivalry.
"I'm just kidding bro." Phantom nudged his shoulder. "I'm not after your boyfriend." He caught Juice's insecure glance. "I honestly feel more attracted to you. My hacker soulmate, you know?"
Juice didn't know if this twist was much better. He neither knew if he should take his words seriously, but he felt his cheeks glow. Except for Raine, there had never been a guy flirting with him. That it was another Mayan, was the epitome of irony.
"You know Raine well?" Juice asked. The sooner the subject changed, the better.
"Not really," Phantom answered. "I earned my patch around three months ago. Raine's always been quiet and to himself, he never hangs out at the clubhouse after closing time. Which kinda sucks. Esai is an arrogant prick and everyone else is hundred years older."
Juice raised his eyebrows. "Well... you got balls; talking about your president's son like that."
Phantom shrugged. "You gonna tell him? I heard it was his idea to beat you up."
Juice looked away. That was true. "Everyone's pissed at him. At Raine," he muttered. "You're not?"
Phantom's glance wandered across Juice's face. "Nah. I think I would have fallen for that cute face too." He gave him a wink. "So I get Raine, I'm on his side." He swung an arm around Juice's shoulders. "Unfortunately, they value the opinion of a dog more than mine." His grey eyes held Juice's glance for a moment. Before he could add another word, his phone rang. "Ah, they're at the hotel." He jumped off the table. "Come on dude. Back to work."
Juice stubbed out his cigarette and followed Phantom, shaking off the strange feeling the Mayan called up inside him. There were tons of girls who flirted with him and he never felt awkward around them. Why was it so different when it was a guy?
In silence, he sat down behind his laptop, waiting for the instructions of the Mayan.