Rivals 🌈 ✔

67 - Lost Battle

Juice slammed the key into the ignition, put the car into reverse, and left the compound. If Raine was still alive and his situation wasn't critical, he'd send one of the men a message to pick up Chibs from the dump. If his fiancée's survival was in doubt... well, if it was up to him, Chibs deserved to die as well. They all did.

Despite the anger surging through his body, he failed to kick Chibs' shocked face out of his thoughts. Ever since he moved into Charming, Chibs had taken care of him. He had been his friend; even more, a father figure.

And yet, he had let this happen! He deserved that bullet in his leg – and so much more!

Besides, there hadn't been that many other options. He might have been able to tie up the bastard, but that would have taken him way too long. If Raine was in such bad shape that his final hour might come, Juice wanted to sit next to him, hold his hand, and tell him how much he loved him.

He didn't want to miss out on that goodbye by having to tie an asshole up somewhere.

And letting him go with him was obviously not an option either. There was not a single Son he still trusted; he would let none of them near Raine to finish the job.

As he drove up the paved road, he called Skye again.

"He's in the hospital," Juice said in a hoarse voice. While uttering these words, the fear returned. I'm not ready to let him go! Our life together has barely begun! With his left hand, he squeezed the steering wheel. He had to pull himself together. If he let himself get carried away by that cursed panic, he would never reach the hospital while there was still a chance that Chibs would somehow contact the club to inform them that Raine was still alive.

Then they might come and finish him off.

He was so focused on banishing the panic that Skye's words escaped his attention. From the way she was calling his name, he concluded that she was worried about him.

"I was just..." Juice wasn't sure how to put his feelings into words and left it at that. The facts were important now. "The club thought he was dead. Someone must have found him and taken him to the hospital, but he must be in bad shape." He pursed his lips and took a few deep breaths through his nose before speaking further. "Can you call his family? Maybe... we'll have to say goodbye."

"Raine will be fine," Mouse replied. "But I'll make sure they're there."

"Thanks."

He couldn't get more out of his throat. Tears clouded his vision once again.

Frantically, he blinked them away. Not now.

"Is he at St. Thomas?"

"He is."

The place where we found each other. Please, don't let it also be the place where we lose each other.

At the hospital, Juice was told that Raine had been taken into surgery. They didn't want to give him any more information, but they explained the route to a waiting area. Juice took the stairs – the last thing he wanted, was to get stuck in the elevator again.

There were four other people in the waiting area; an elderly woman with a man who could be her son; a middle-aged man staring at his phone screen; and a man in his late twenties. Juice was greeted by him with a nod and he nodded back. His hands trembled as he slumped down on a chair and rubbed his face.

And now I have to wait...

"This might be a weird question..."

Juice looked up. The man who had just nodded at him had stood up and was now a step away from him. "But are you here by any chance for a biker?" He shrugged. "I ask anyone who comes in."

Dazed, Juice looked at the man. Why would he...? Juice's eyes widened. "Did you find him?"

The man sat down next to him. The look in his eyes was earnest. "Yeah. Along with my brother. Who eh, didn't feel like waiting and went home already. I wanted to stay until someone came for him."

Juice rubbed his knuckles. The lump in his throat was back. "Thanks," he whispered.

The simple word couldn't possibly express the gratefulness he felt, but he didn't know what more to say. What must the man have thought, finding a half-dead guy in the dump?

"Is he a good friend of yours? Or are you in that club too? I'm Ezra, by the way."

Ezra offered him a friendly smile. He had bright blue eyes, messy blond hair, and a short beard, a darker blond than his hair. He seemed quite spontaneous for someone who was patrolling a garbage dump during the night – or whatever he had been doing there so late.

"Juice," he muttered. "Raine is my boyfriend. My fiancé."

Ezra's eyes widened slightly. Juice wondered if the guy was surprised by the nature of their relationship or whether he felt compassion at the thought that they were getting married, knowing that the wedding day might never come.

"Woah," Ezra finally muttered. "I'm really sorry for you, man."

Juice took a deep breath. He stared at an abstract painting on the opposite wall, fighting back his tears. It took him a while to trust his voice enough to say something. "You think he'll survive?" he whispered.

Ezra bowed his head. With his hand, he rubbed along his beard. "I don't know. Sorry man. When I saw him... I thought he was already dead. He wasn't conscious, was covered in blood... I really have no idea what they did to him."

They tortured him. They tortured him because they have no faith in me.

A stab of pain went through his entire body. Then, he lost the battle against his tears. 

. . .

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