Rivals ? - Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Raine was a terrible cook.
When he lived in Santo Padre, he used to join dinner in the clubhouse. After moving to Oakland, one of his sisters cooked and if he really had to get his own food, he let it deliver or went to a takeaway.
Juice however was someone who paid a lot of attention to his food and preferred to eat fresh and healthy meals. Therefore, Raine had wanted to put something on the table that his boyfriend would like. Skye wrote down a recipe for him; a casserole Juice loved. It needed a ton of ingredients, making him suspect that Skye had chosen this meal only to keep his thoughts busy. It was a sweet gesture—and a strategy she probably often applied to Juice as well—and to be frank, he needed it.
Even though he was glad he wasn't in Oakland right now, his thoughts kept wandering off. It might have been Esai backstabbing him, but it felt like the whole club wronged him. It wasn't fair—if anything, Marcus had punished his son and Phantom had ignored Esai's threats just to help him.
Raine owed him an apology. He had been so pissed that he had stormed away, without apologizing for beating the guy up.
And Esai...
What should he do with him? Things hadn't been great between them for a while, but lately, he'd believed they were getting closer again. That only made the blow harder. Their friendship was over now, and it was so abrupt, so unexpected, that it really hurt. Only thinking about him made him clench his fists. How could he ever go back to the club and pretend nothing had happened? Yes—Esai had a brand mark like him, and if he wanted it, he could beat up the guy in the ring. But would it change the fact that he felt betrayed, that a friendship was ruined, that his trust was broken?
"It's time to make the sauce."
Skye's voice dragged him out of his thoughts. She gave him an understanding smile.
He sighed and followed her written directions. She asked no questions; she'd done that earlier today so he kept focused on cooking the meal now, instead of getting tangled up in thoughts that had come to the fore a hundred times today.
"You ever considered becoming a psychologist?" he asked with a grin. "You're good in dealing with people who got a lot on their mind."
She smiled. "I like to help people, but I'm not sure sitting on a chair and listening to people's shit all day long is really my thing. I rather do something active. But maybe a creative therapist—to help people reflect on their feelings and thoughts by doing something creative, that sounds cool.
"Sounds like you. And well, since it's so hard to find a job in sign language..."
"The thing is—I have to work to pay the rent. Especially when Juice moves out, I get full price."
"When Juice moves out?" Raine asked, confused. Why didn't he know about that? "Where's he going?"
Skye lifted an eyebrow. "Is that a serious question?"
Unrest settled in his chest. When had Juice decided that he wanted to move? And why didn't he tell him?
Skye started to laugh. "Wow dude, you're not as smart as I thought you were. You can't think of a better roommate than me?"
"No..." Skye seemed like the perfect roommate—and he knew Juice thought that too.
"Well, I can. Walk to the hallway and look to your right so you can meet him."
It took a few moments before he remembered a mirror on the wall. Skye was referring to him. Raine felt the heat rise to his cheeks. They'd joked about living together, but especially after their break-up it had felt like something that was far in the future, or something Juice wouldn't want at all anymore.
"You really think he'd want that?"
Skye raised her eyebrows. "He leaves his club for you, dumb ass. What do you think?" She muttered something inaudible to herself and shoved him towards the pans. "Just make sure you can cook, or he might indeed stay here." She stuck out her tongue and headed to Sasha, who was coloring at the table.
. . .
Raine heard the front door. Quickly, he tidied up the kitchen counter, knowing the mess would make his boyfriend restless. Even though he'd never experienced nervousness around Juice, not even before they confessed their feelings, his legs felt heavy now. Juice wouldn't hate him for a burnt casserole but being together still felt so surreal he was afraid the slightest disagreement would lead to a break-up again.
"Hmm, smells good," Juice said as he entered the living room. "Somebody's trying to impress someone, huh?" His warm glance met Raine's and his lips curled up.
"Not me," Raine answered with a blank face. "Sasha wanted to bake some mud pies."
Chuckling, Juice stepped towards him, slipping his arms around Raine's waist and pressing his forehead against Juice's. "Uh-uh. Since when do these smell of meatloaf?"
Before Raine could answer, Juice moved his lips to his. Raine forgot about the food instantly, opening his mouth to welcome his lover. A fire ignited inside him as their tongues met.
"Hey!" sounded an indignant voice from the kitchen table. "Why are you eating each other? I don't like that!"
Raine turned his head to the side, swallowing his laughter. Sasha climbed off the chair and ran towards them, her eyes wide. "Why are you doing that? You can't eat uncle Juice! I missed him so much!" Wronged, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Dinner is almost ready!" She pointed to the oven; the timer showed seven more minutes.
"Sorry Sas," Juice chuckled. "But Uncle Juice worked sooo hard—he could eat the whole fridge! Although you look tasty too..." With his fingers, he made tickling movements while he stepped towards the little girl who ran away, squealing.
With a tender smile, Raine watched his boyfriend chase his little niece with slow steps. The fire that was ignited once Juice entered the room, flared up, burning the grim thoughts that had been haunting him all day.
After playing with Sasha for some minutes, Juice lifted the girl and put her in the highchair while Raine and Skye set the table. When the oven beeped, Raine took the casserole out of it and set it on the table, next to the salad.
Juice sat down next to him. "You made my favorite, huh? You got some makin' up to do? Did you flirt with a little too many nannies?"
"I didn't," Raine chuckled, putting food on Sasha's plate. "Skye however..."
A bit uncomfortable, Skye answered his glance. It was an expression he hadn't seen on her face before. The meeting still seemed to bother her. What was she keeping from him? It had to be more than a bad feeling alone—she would have shaken that off by now.
"Oh?" Juice gave his best friend a quizzical look.
"Later," was all she said while her eyes flashed to Sasha.
This time, Raine felt the uneasiness settle as well. What had this to do with Sasha? That guy hadn't been some pervert looking at children, right?
"I talked to Jax," Juice said.
Even though the playground story was still on his mind and Raine wasn't someone who used to postpone conversations, this subject drew his attention as well.
"About the possibility of an independent hacker. I have permission to talk to her and he will bring it to the table."
"Awesome." Skye smirked. "I'll give her a call later tonight."
She was speeding things up—something Raine appreciated. By now he'd come to the point that he wanted them to leave their clubs as soon as possible; before things would go wrong again.
"They also know we're together again," Juice continued, looking Raine in the eye. "My smile was a little too wide when I was looking at the pic you sent me."
Raine looked back in surprise. They hadn't talked about what was the wisest thing to do, but he was glad they didn't go back to hiding their relationship again. He was done with that. "Did they take it well?"
Juice shrugged. "At least they said Esai was a dick, so I don't expect them to do the same."
"Good," Raine grumbled—for he really didn't wish that feeling of betrayal for his boyfriend.
. . .
Raine put Sasha in the baby camping bed he'd brought with him. Even though he planned to let his goddaughter sleep in his room, Sasha wanted to sleep in Skye's room and he had nothing against it. On the contrary—maybe it would allow him to have some romance tonight.
With a cup of coffee, they were sitting on the couch.
"What was up with that dude from the playground?" Raine asked. He couldn't let go of it.
Skye sighed. "I promised myself not to tell you—it's just a gut feeling and you have already so much on your mind. But imagine something does happen—I don't wanna imagine how guilty I'd feel if I'd said nothing."
"Just spit it out," Raine insisted. There was a nagging feeling in his stomach. It was taking too long.
"Well, that guy... he asked questions about you. Very subtle—whether you were in trouble. And I saw him looking at Sasha—he told me he'd seen us together, although she was playing without us for a long time. And maybe I'm just paranoid, but... I just had a bad feeling about it. I thought it could be one of the guys who kidnapped your father. Or, I dunno—social services or something."
"Social services at a playground?"
"I don't know?" Sighing, she raked a hand through her hair. "I'm sure it was nothing, but I'm glad I said it anyway."
"You know his name?" Juice asked. There was a dark tone in his voice—and it was damn hot.
"Timothy. I don't know his last name."
"Let's see if I can find him. If he was up to something, we'll find out."
Raine moved his hand to Juice's. "You think I should worry about social services?" he asked softly. He'd never thought about it. What if one of the neighbors found out about his anger issues and reported it? He would never raise his hand against his sister or his niece—but whose words would they find more reliable? Those of a good citizen—or those of an outlaw?