Rivals 🌈 ✔

73 - Standoff

The timing was most unfortunate, with the Sons suddenly showing up. With a nod of his head, Marcus Alvarez instructed his men to stay behind him so that he and his hostage were in the foreground. They were lucky they were standing at the entrance to the dump; that way it was impossible to be attacked from behind.

The Scotsman was leaning against him; he had already lost too much blood to stand upright. Hopefully, he won't die before my men are safe.

Tension built up in his neck and shoulders as he saw the many approaching headlights. He understood they were wondering where their brothers were, but why were they rustling up the entire club for that? One or two men would have sufficed too.

Had Juice changed his mind and warned his brothers?

At first glance, he would say the boy was far too vindictive for that, but perhaps Raine was out of danger now, which had somewhat tempered his anger. On top of that, Alvarez had never found the guy very steadfast. Although had to admit he did not know him very well and the fact that he dared to go out with someone from a rival club indicated that he was more daring than Alvarez had initially thought; yet the guy had something... skittish. He didn't think he would have given someone so erratic a top rocker himself.

Beside him, his brothers raised their guns. They had not come here with the whole club; he left men behind to protect Raine. The Sons were with four more men.

"Let me... do the talking." Every word that left the Scotman's mouth seemed to come out only after a fierce struggle. "They have to... know... that we... were... framed."

He did have a point there. Alvarez could claim that as well, but why on earth would they believe him? But hearing it from one of their most loyal members... maybe it would finally shake those bastards up. Then they could get out of here without it turning into a bloodbath. He might have come here to liquidate the Scotsman, but he didn't want more of his brothers to be badly injured—or worse—because of this big misunderstanding.

Alvarez clenched his teeth as the men stepped off their bikes. Three of them headed forward; Clay walking in the middle. Beside him stood the blond vice president and the SAA. Perhaps it was typical to dislike another club's president, but he'd always found Clay a weasel. Also this time, it was hard to read the man's expression.

"So... What's this all about?" The Son tilted his head slightly, his eyebrows raised mockingly.

"We... have been... framed." The Scotsman stood somewhat straighter, though he still leaned against Alvarez to relieve his injured leg. "The Mayans... they didn't rob us."

Clay snorted scornfully. "Bullshit. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Impossible," Alvarez replied. "Someone else ran off with your weapons and wanted us to pay for it. It must be Cain; these people neither of us wanted to get involved with," he offered. "After the kidnappings. They must have turned us against each other."

Blondie looked at his superior briefly. "Would have been a good move."

Clay glared at him. "Don't let them fool you. It was the Mayans and now they're backing out as the rats they are." The man spat at his feet.

A muscle twitched in Alvarez's jaw. He pressed his gun closer to the Scotman's face, though he felt more like putting a bullet through the President's head. However, he still wanted to get out of here without more people ending up in the hospital or in a coffin.

Jax raised his hand. "Come on, let's sort this out first." He looked intently at the man next to him. "This is a possibility we need to explore, Clay."

"Why on earth should we believe him?" the President barked. "We've lost everything thanks to those bastards. The IRA is already on its way to kill us and our families—at this point, it doesn't even matter anymore who did this to us. In fact, right now those sonic weapons are the only thing that can save us! The only thing that makes us equal to those Irish cunts."

After those words, a brooding silence fell, during which the men stared coldly at each other. Alvarez sensed that he was the one who had to take the next step, otherwise, they would still be standing here until evening fell. The need to kill the Scotsman had disappeared. The Sons had found him anyway; they'd figure out that Juice escaped.

"Listen." To his surprise, it was the blond VP who spoke up. "I know you're here to avenge Raine. We did what we deemed necessary. Perhaps it was indeed based on a misunderstanding, but that won't bring back your brother. So I understand that you're pissed and want revenge. But we've outnumbered you, you can never shoot all of us and we have no reason to shoot you—but we will if we're forced to. So I suggest you leave this place leaving Chibs at the crossing over there," he nodded to the road behind him. "If you indeed have nothing to do with this and we are fooled, as you suggest,  then we will sit around the table and set this right. None of us needs a gang war."

Alvarez did not respond immediately. Did they believe Raine was dead? At least that would prevent them from coming to the hospital. But how did they get that information? Or had Raine really died by now? No, he shook off that idea. If so, they would have called him a long time ago.

Alvarez exchanged a glance with his own VP, who nodded slowly.

They had to take this chance. As long as they thought Raine was dead, the guy was safe. Then there was nothing more to do here. And later... later they had to see how they resolved this.

"Very well," he agreed. "We will leave."

He motioned his men to go to their bikes while he pushed his hostage toward the VP. He had learned by now that he could trust the guy. Besides, the Sons gained nothing by liquidating them all now. Then they would not only have the IRA after them but also all the Mayan charters.

This was the best solution.

He mounted his bike and accelerated.

On the way back to the hospital, Teller's words kept circling through his mind. How had he figured out that Raine was dead? Had someone provided him with false information? Had Juice done it, hoping that they would leave his boyfriend alone? And if that was the case—why on earth would the Sons believe that?

No... there had to be something he was overlooking.

. . .

If you enjoyed this chapter and you want to support me as a writer, it would mean the world to me if you'd leave a comment, vote and follow my profile ♥