Rivals 🌈 ✔

69 - Memories

Phantom wiped his clammy hands on his jeans. If El Padrino saw he was shaking like this, only because he had to wake him from sleep, he could surely forget about his patch. He was supposed to be afraid of nothing, not even his President. Still, Phantom was afraid of making a misstep. The thing with Esai already made him feel like he had threaded the eye of the needle, and keeping his sexuality hidden didn't help either. He felt like he had already drawn too much negative attention to himself as a prospect.

Besides, this was about Raine—his brother who'd got shunned by the others lately. But not by Alvarez. Not by the club president. If Phantom understood the signals correctly, Alvarez still considered Raine a surrogate son. His relationship with the Son had not changed that.

Phantom pressed the doorbell.

Earlier he'd tried to reach the man by phone but it had been unsuccessful. I don't have a choice. He tried to pull himself together as he waited for the bell to be answered—if that would happen at all since it was past two. His thoughts shot to Juice, who was now in the hospital, terrified, waiting for news about Raine and biting his nails because he was afraid his brothers were coming to finish the job.

What had he said again? That the Mayans had looted their armory? Was such a thing really possible without Phantom having noticed anything? Or had they sent him to another charter for that very reason, because they didn't trust him?

But then they certainly would have sent Raine with him.

Unless Raine had wanted to prove himself loyal. 

Before he could muse further, the light on the landing went on. A beat later, the door opened. Phantom's cheeks heat up as he saw the oh-so-respected club president standing there in his robe.

"Phantom? What's going on?" Past Phantom, Alvarez looked down the street, as if he couldn't believe Phantom was standing here by himself.

"Juice called. The Sons tortured Raine, they believe we stormed their armory. According to Juice, it's not certain if Raine will survive but he is afraid his brothers will come and finish the job."

A dark cloud passed over Alvarez's face. "No such thing will happen. Where are they now?"

"At St. Thomas."

"Get there right away. I'll rustle up the others. Do the Sons know he's there?: 

"I got the feeling Juice believed that's a matter of time."

"Hurry."

Phantom gave a nod. As usual, he checked if his gun was loaded, then he left the garden path and climbed his motorcycle.

. . .

Normally they wouldn't send one Mayan into enemy territory—much less a prospect—but a hospital was neutral territory. Surely the Sons would not open a firefight there. If they wanted to kill Raine, they would do it in a sneaky way. Still, Phantom felt far from comfortable as he parked his bike and entered the hospital.

I'm here, he texted the phone Juice had used to make the call. That was not the number he had saved under Juice's name—apparently, he did not have access to his own phone.

It wasn't long before he received a message back telling him in what waiting room Juice was. Once he got there, he saw that Skye was already keeping her best friend company. Sammy was there, too, along with her little niece and Raine's father.

"Any news yet?" Phantom asked.

With a pale face, Juice shook his head. His eyes were red and there were deep circles underneath them.

It was as if he saw his younger self standing there—distraught, not knowing where to look, waiting for an answer you weren't sure you were ready for. Phantom swallowed the lump in his throat. Suddenly this was all getting way too close.

At least Juice isn't alone.

That was already a very different situation than his own.