Rivals ? - Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Chibs walked to the front desk to prevent the staff from panicking as four bikers would enter the hotel and spread through the building. Together with his president, Raine headed to the elevator while Opie and Jax went up the stairs. They would go to the second floor, Raine and Alvarez to the third.
He focused on his breathing while the elevator went up. He used to trust the technology blindly, but since he'd been stuck in it with Juice that trust was gone. Every time the elevator stopped, he was afraid the thing would be defect. He had no bad memories to the last time he'd been stuck — on the contrary, every day he was grateful the elevator in the hospital had been broken — but this really wasn't the moment to get stuck. They still didn't know anything about their opponents. There was a good chance they saw them coming. Maybe they could even operate the elevator, so they could take his father away unnoticed.
They didn't speak a word as the elevator moved up. Although they'd put their conflict aside, he could still feel the disappointment of his president and the father of his best friend. Raine felt the need to explain why he'd fallen in love with a Son and that it had never been their intention to get into a relationship but that they had been unable to stop it, but this wasn't the right moment nor the right place. Instead, he took his Glock from behind his waistband, prepared for an ambush once the elevator doors slid open.
Someone gave a little scream once the doors were open. A young woman ducked behind a cart with bed linen. Raine cast her an apologetic glance as he walked past her, then he took in the empty hallway in front of him. Alvarez pressed his phone to his ear, summing up the room numbers around them.
Waiting for instructions, he looked at his president.
"Your boyfriend is checking the rooms."
Your boyfriend. Suddenly the air in the hallway felt lighter as Alvarez referred to Juice as his boyfriend. As if it was a possibility. As if Alvarez was prepared to allow him to be his boyfriend.
Raine nodded briefly while he walked further down the hallway, his fingers clenched around the gun. Man, how badly he wanted all this shit to be over... He not only wanted to find his father, he also wanted to find out why the hell this was happening anyway so they could leave it behind them.
"328."
The number pulled Raine out of his thoughts immediately. His glance flashed to the door to his right. 322. It had to be a few doors ahead. He started to run; only when he stood in front of the door of room 328 he realized that he had no idea what to do. Knock? It was fucking hotel where they were holding his dad.
Alvarez was more effective; he aimed the gun at the lock, fired a couple of shots and slammed his shoulder against the door. The door flew open. Raine stepped inside immediately. From the threshold, he stared at the bed.
His father wasn't gagged, his hands weren't bound. He was watching tv from the bed. For a moment Raine thought they had made a huge mistake and that his father had just wanted to be out of the house for a few days.
However, when he looked his father in the eye, he knew it wasn't a mistake. The man got up from the bed and pulled him in a hug.
"My boy," he whispered. "You're safe."
Confused, Raine held his dad. Of course he was safe. He wasn't the one who'd been abducted?! He had no idea what was going on and he took a step back to look at his father. "What happened? Did they hurt you?"
"No, no. They treated me well." His father didn't sound confused, the look in his eyes was bright but worried. "I did what they said, if not, they would make you suffer."
Raine exchanged a look with Alvarez, who nodded to the door. Get out of here.
The man was right. The sooner his father was home, the beter. They would have plenty of time to wrack their brains over this bizarre situation.
. . .
Ten minutes later Raine was in the car, his father was seated next to him. Neither of them was speaking and the silence between them was uncomfortable. He had a strained relationship with his father for years, especially since his mother died and his father broke down. Raine had taken the responsibility for their family; he'd given up his own dreams and still his father had criticized him for being a member of a motorclub. Nevertheless, Raine tried not to blame him. He knew his father was doing the best he could. Raine didn't know how it felt to lose your other half. Juice and he were only together for a few months and already the thought to lose his boyfriend could keep him awake at night. He could imagine how the loss of person you loved so dearly, with whom you shared every detail of your life, caused a complete change in a person, making it almost impossible to keep your head up. As the eldest son, Raine had been his biggest support.
"What happened?" Raine asked after a while. They couldn't stay silent forever.
"There was a man at the door. A young man, a couple years older than you. All dressed up — the type of guy you don't want to mess with. The mob or something. He told me to sit in his fancy car. If I obeyed, nothing was going to happen to my son. So obviously, I did as he said." He looked away, Raine heard the pain in his voice as he continued: "I can't lose another child."
Raine bit his cheek. He knew this subject was very sensitive for his father. Raine had always been proud of his father; he was a fireman. He had risked his own life to save other people — but he hadn't been able to save his own wife, his own daughter. Even though there was nothing a fireman could about a wasting disease, Raine always had the feeling that his father did blame himself for their deaths.
"So it had something to do with your club?"
He heard the silent reproach in his voice. The club who put his family in danger. Raine who put what was left of their family in danger.
"We don't know," he answered. He slowed down as the car neared a roundabout. "But a parent from another club was also taken. Two weeks ago. Nobody contacted us. We have no idea what the meaning of this was."
Hopefully, the Sons would be able to extort more information. After all, Mary had been gone for over two weeks.
Another silence fell. Raine stared at the road while he drove to his father's house.
. . .
Sammy threw her arms around him once he entered Alvarez' house. Tears streamed down her face. "You found Dad!"
"Of course I did." He laid a kiss on her temple.
"Is he all right?"
Raine nodded, rubbing her back. "He's fine. As it seems, it's all a misunderstanding."
It obviously wasn't, but he didn't want her to worry. Her connection with the Mayans should make her feel safe since his brothers would protect her no matter what.
"I'll take you to him. Is Sasha awake?"
"She's playing in the garden."
Raine walked further into the house. He greeted Diana with a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you for looking after the girls."
"Always, Raine. You know that. Marcus called to tell me your father is unharmed. I'm happy to hear that, sweetheart. Will you take a few days off now? You need that, Raine."
Raine nodded. He hoped he could. He had the feeling he could sleep for a year.
He headed to the garden. Diana's six year old daughter and Sasha were playing with sidewalk chalk. His lips bent into a smile, happy that his niece had no idea what had been going on.
"You comin' with me, Sas? We're going to see Grandpa."
"Uncle Raine!" She jumped up and ran towards him. Right before she reached him, she tripped over an uneven sidewalk. Quickly he caught her and scooped her up. She wrapped her arms around him and rubbed her face across his neck. "I thought you weren't coming back," she whispered.
The words broke something inside him. Her father had never cared about her, her mother was gone too... Once more he realized that he was her guardian now and that he wasn't giving her the stable life she deserved. He should start to look for a better solution. His niece had already lost so much...
"I always come back," he said, kissing her cheek. "I needed to go away for work. But you had fun with Grandpa, right? And with Sammy?"
Sasha nodded. "Going to Grandpa now?"
"Yep!"
"Will uncle Juan be there too? We were eating an ice cream but then I had to go to auntie Diana." She pouted. "Did he not want to play with me?"
"Of course he wanted to play with you, sweetie," he said quickly, pressing another kiss to her cheek. "There was an emergency and therefore you had to stay with aunt Diana for a while. And now we're going home."
"And Mommy? Will Mommy be there too?" She looked at him with wide eyes.
"Mommy really wants to come," he said with a trembling voice. "But she is in a special place which is perfect for people who are sick. They don't have to be in a hospital there and she has no pain. But we can only go there when we are very sick too."
She nodded with an earnest face. "Okay! And uncle Juan, will he come? Sammy says you like each other very much and I like you two also a lot!"
With a warm feeling in his chest he carried his niece inside the house. "I will ask him."
Once he put her in the car and sat down behind the wheel, he sent Juice a text. Hey. How you're feeling? Did you find out anything? If you want you can have dinner with us tonight and stay for the night? He hesitated. As much as he wanted to be with Juice, he didn't want Juice to ride his bike in his current state. Or maybe you shouldn't, you need to take it easy. ):  I will come and see you once I get the chance?
Right when he wanted to put his phone away, the screen lit up.
I'll fix a ride. Wanna be with you. xx
Despite the simple words, a blush crept to his cheeks. Even Sammy could see it from the passenger seat, for she gave him a teasing nudge with her shoulder.  "You're texting your boyfriend? You want me to drive?"
He pushed her away with his shoulder and smirked. Nevertheless he took the time to type another text before he drove to his father's house. Great! Then I'll introduce my father to his savior today. ;)  He texted the address and put his phone away while taking off.
"You want me to get some food for tonight?" Sammy asked as they entered the house. Raine nodded. He really needed a powernap, he had the feeling his eyes could close shut any moment.
"Yeah, that'd be nice."
Smiling, she kissed his cheek. "I'll make Dad's favorite. You're gonna introduce Juice to Dad today?"
Raine nodded.
"So he's coming over for dinner?"
"Yep." The prospect made him smile. He loved to have dinner with his family and his boyfriend without forcing the others to keep a secret. "He's a vegetarian, by the way."
"Noted," she winked. "Now, go to bed. You look like a zombie."
"Thanks sis." Chuckling, he shook his head before going up the stairs. In his old room he turned on the alarm of his phone and fell on his bed.
He woke up about fifteen minutes before he expected Juice to arrive. Raine washed his face in the bathroom, then he went downstairs where he could already smell dinner. His stomach was rumbling. Sasha was playing with a doll, his father was sitting on the couch, staring absent-minded at his phone. He looked up when Raine sat down next to him.
"Let me guess. You'll get into trouble if the police gets involved?"
Raine hesitated. That indeed meant a lot of trouble for the club. They wanted to solve this internally and not with help of the cops, who wanted them all behind bars anyway.
"If you feel more comfortable with that, you should go to the police," he muttered.
"That's no answer to my question."
Raine shrugged. "To be honest they're not all too happy with me lately anyway. I uh — I'm thinking about leaving the club."
"Oh?" His father looked at him in surprise. "Why?"
Raine dropped his eyes. "I uh — I'm in a relationship for a while now. They don't really approve of it."
His father snorted. "So? What's that to them?"
Raine bit the inside of his cheek. "He's in another club."
A deadly silence fell. Skittishly, he looked up.
His father stared at him in shock. "You — you're in a relationship with a man?"
Disbelief dripped of his voice, defeat filled his eyes.
Raine had the feeling the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. "Yeah," he muttered.
His father turned his head away, looking devastated.
Raine took a deep breath. Not for a moment he had expected his father to have a problem with it. He thought he'd be happy for him, whether he loved a girl or a guy. Suddenly he felt very small, as if he couldn't even escape condemnation in his family home.