Rivals ? - Chapter 85: Chapter 85

"He's a fucking coward," Juice spat. Together with Raine and Mouse, he walked around Clay's house where they planned to force the back door. Chibs had stayed in the car. Ostensibly to keep watch, but Juice believed he was afraid of being caught and treated like a traitor before they had a chance to investigate things.
"As long as he doesn't turn on us if things go wrong," Raine hummed.
Mouse looked back and forth between them but said nothing. Juice knew she was struggling with negativity, yet she also understood where it came from.
He didn't like her going with them. He had failed to change her mind; with Raine being incapable of running, she'd refused to let the two of them go alone. "I am also capable of holding a gun if I have to," she'd said.
Juice was relieved that Clay and Gemma had broken up a few months ago, so he did not expect to find anyone else here. If Clay wanted to sleep with a croweater, he couldn't imagine bringing one home.
Beside him, Raine began fiddling with the lock until he could open the door. Frowning, Juice nudged his shoulder. "Did I get engaged to an experienced thief?"
Raine lifted the corner of his mouth and whispered: "You hack into systems, I break into buildings. We're a great team, aren't we?" He stepped inside. "That's what you get for growing up with Esai."
Juice shook his head chuckling as he imagined a teenage Raine breaking in with his friends. Later, he wanted to hear what they stole; now they could better focus on their task.
With the flashlights on their phones, the three searched the house. The phone Clay used for club business would probably be upstairs, hopefully, they wouldn't need it.
Juice sat down at the computer and started it. No password was needed. Clay's mailbox was full of spam and unread messages. He probably never looked into it. After scrolling for a while, he found the bills of his mobile phone. Knowing Clay, he never looked at those and hadn't created an account on the provider's website, allowing Juice to do that himself with a few clicks. Not much later, he clicked through the data, looking for the call history. They didn't have Cain's number, but he only had to focus on the numbers used the week before the guns were stolen.
Suddenly, there were creaks above him. Footsteps.
Immediately he looked over his shoulder; Raine and Skye also remained silent.
Maybe he's just going to take a piss.
Tense, he waited. No - he wasn't going to take a piss. Was that the creaking of the stairs? Juice shut down the monitor and computer case, looked around and hurried towards the back door. Skye and Raine did the same and they closed the door.
"You think he heard us?" Skye whispered.
"We barely made a sound. Maybe Chibs tipped him off," Raine hummed.
"Or he was in the mood for a midnight snack."
The light went on. Immediately, they ducked away from the window.
For a while, they waited. Juice didn't dare to peek inside. What was Clay doing? Juice started to doubt—had he turned off the computer? Was the office chair standing too far from the computer? Maybe there had been mud under their shoes and their tracks were now clearly visible on the laminate! He clenched his fingers and scraped the palm of his hand with his nails.
The doorbell rang.
It startled Juice; he almost lost his balance. Raine put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a squeeze.
"What the fuck?" Skye muttered. "Who stops by in the middle of the night?"
"Someone to warm his bed?" Juice couldn't think of anything else.
The pressure on his shoulder increased slightly as Raine stood up and leaned forward. "There are two men in black clothes. They keep standing in the hallway, I can't see what they're doing."
Juice now also dared to glance inside. From here, he could see into the corridor, but now that there were three men in there, it was crowded. He squeezed his eyes, hoping to see better. Who knows, maybe they were he knew...
In the hallway, another door opened. The toilet? The fusebox?
"What are they doing?" he muttered.
"Getting something from the basement, I think."
Getting something from the basement in the middle of the night? That could only be something illegal. One man stepped into the living room with a crate in his hands. Immediately, Juice stepped back into the shadows.
That crate...
Suddenly, he knew what they were doing. "The stolen weapons! Chibs was right, he did steal them himself and kept them here."
"Then it's an easy guess where he's gonna take them now." Raine grimaced.
"Where?"
"To your house. And Skye's. Now that he's sure no one's home, he wants to hide them in your house so there's hard evidence that you're behind the raid."
"Why on earth would I keep something like that in my house?" asked Juice incredulously. "If the Mayans are supposed to have stolen that shit?"
"Maybe he senses that he can no longer trust Chibs and is afraid to get caught. If these guns are found in your house, it's still better than in his. No doubt he can knit a nice story around that."
The bastard. Juice grabbed his phone. "Let's get that on film then. Then we'll have proof."
Raine nodded in agreement. Juice took the gun Angel had given them shortly after arriving and he gestured for Skye to stay here. For a moment she seemed to hesitate, then she nodded. Chibs had handed her his gun—a different one than the gun Juice had taken from him—so she wouldn't be completely helpless if the men realized what was going on and tried to flee through the back door. He obviously wasn't entirely comfortable with leaving his best friend here, yet he thought she was safer here than at the front of the house. If they were caught, it might end in a shooting. He'd rather not think about what that would mean for his injured boyfriend for he couldn't convince him to stay here anyway.
The grass muffled the sound of Raine's crutches as they moved around the house. The whole scenario made him shake his head. He did have a badass fiancée. A slight grin tugged at his lips. It was about time he banished this last danger from his life.
Juice knelt down between some knee-high bushes while Raine moved to a tree a little further ahead. From there, he could give Juice cover while he kept his camera directed at the front door.
Raine turned out to be right; they did indeed move the crates to a black van. Juice switched on the record button. He made sure the garden was clearly visible and zoomed in.
After he'd filmed enough, he sent Chibs a text to tell him of their suspicions. It was too conspicuous if the three of them went into a car now; he thought it would be better if Chibs followed the van on his own. However, it meant that he had to loosen control a bit; that he needed to trust Chibs. But Juice only lived a few blocks away, so if they went after them at a slightly slower pace, the men would still be unloading their cargo once they arrived.
With a bang, the van's doors slammed shut. The lights went on and the vehicle drove off. Not much later, Chibs followed, with the lights off. As soon as the car was out of sight, Juice walked towards his friend.
"Chibs is already after it." He rubbed his forehad. "What do you think? Should we really handle this ourselves or is it better if we call the police so they can handle it?"
After all, that should be their new life. Staying far away from illegal activities. He ignored the fact that they had just broken into a house.
"Do you want that?" asked Raine. "You have my blessing if you want to stab Chibs in the back— or that whole club—but keep in mind that the IRA still won't have their weapons back. They would still want to see blood. Do you want that on your hands?"
Juice heaved a sigh. No.
But he also greatly resented having to show this evidence to his brothers later. He just couldn't get over the fear that they would shrug their shoulders about it. Perhaps many more knew about it.
"Come on," Raine said softly. "Get Skye, then we can get out of here."
Juice nodded and hurried back to the backyard to get his friend. "Chibs is after them."
Just before they reached the car, he got a text back from the Scotsman. They are indeed in front of your house. What do you want me to do?
Film them.
Do you want me to bring Jax in?
For a moment, Juice hesitated. Yeah, go ahead. That would even be better; if the vice president caught his president in the act.
Juice did not leave the car. He didn't know if he could control himself—he might just strangle that son of a bitch. Because of him, he'd almost lost Raine.
His muscles tightened as three Harleys drove into the street. Jax was not the only one. In a reflex, Juice grabbed the key so he could start the engine at any moment. He didn't trust them for a bit; maybe this was still some dirty plan.
The three stopped some distance from his house and walked the last stretch, as if not wanting to alarm Clay and his henchmen. It gave Juice a little hope. Nevertheless, his heart was still pounding so heavily in his chest that his whole ribcage seemed to thump.
Beside him, Raine peered equally tense through the windscreen. His gun lay in his right hand. Was Happy among the three men who had just arrived? He was the one who had tortured Raine, even if it was at Clay's behest. Juice was sure his boyfriend would relive his memories on the dump the minute he saw that bald head. Juice let his fingers slip off the key and put his hand on Raines' knee. His friend put his free hand over his and squeezed it.
The three men walked towards the door, which was still open since they were still transporting the crates.
"We could go," Juice muttered. "Let them figure it out on their own."
"It's our house," Skye said from the back seat. She leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "It will be fine, honey. Really. I'm sure they'll deal with Clay. But don't you just want to know it's over?"
Yes... If it was really over.
The tension in the car grew heavier and heavier; it was like breathing in his friends' nervousness. He put his left hand on Mouse's.
Five minutes passed.
Then the men came out. Two of them were holding Clay. There was no sign of his henchmen.
Chibs approached them and Juice rolled down the window. The Scot handed him keys.
"Go to my house, have some sleep. We'll take the stolen goods with us; tomorrow there won't be any trace of it. Tomorrow we'll talk, and settle this nicely. Aye? You and yer lad are safe, I swear it on my mother's soul."
Juice said nothing. He didn't feel like spending the night in Chibs' house, but he was also simply worn out. He took the key, barely managed to give a nod, and started the car.
Sleep, that was what they were going to do.
And hopefully, this nightmare would indeed be over tomorrow.