Rivals 🌈 ✔

7 - Love At First Sight

Lost in thoughts, Raine stared at the grass between his feet. Despite the sun burning on his shirtless upper body, he felt cold. Somewhere in the background he heard the laughter and splashing of kids in the water, but it felt like there was a thick transparent wall between him and all the others. As if he was trapped in a small room, alone, while Juice's words were bouncing off the walls.

"You think you can turn me into a rat?"

Where the hell did that come from? They hadn't talked about club matters at all. After Juice had told him he was considering to get a new tattoo, Raine had told him about the last thing he had tattooed himself; the infinity symbol that was not only on the inside of his own wrist, but also on that of his sisters. It was a sensitive issue. Although it symbolized the infinity of their family bond, their mutual love, Rosa's short life expectancy had been the reason they had gotten this tattoo. It was a tribute to her, to each other.

He had exposed a part of himself to Juice, and it had been a slap in the face when the Son had jumped up all of a sudden, more or less snapping at him that their whole friendship made no sense.

Raine didn't know why it affected him so much. Usually he would've grunted that the other was an asshole, and then he wouldn't waste another word or thought on that person, but now it felt like he was stuck in cement. He couldn't even find the strength to get up, and nor was he in the mood to talk to someone.

He felt hurt – and completely overwhelmed. Again and again, he replayed his words in his head to see if he had accidentally said something that might've upset Juice, but he really didn't understand his response.

Heaving a deep sigh, he looked at the spot where the man had sat a while ago. The grass was still flattened with his imprint. The thought that he might never speak to Juice again, hung around his neck like a chain made of steel. He had enjoyed himself the past hour. Somehow Juice drifted his thoughts away from his sick sister. It weren't his words that distracted him the whole time... somehow his presence was just nice and calming. Even when Juice himself didn't feel calm at all.

Did he still fear the response of his brothers? Raine had believed he had gotten over it after Angel sat with them. His friend had acted normal – and he hadn't expected anything less. It wasn't like no one around here spoke to members of another club – and nobody would check their background story, and see if they really knew each other because of some high school exchange program.

A shadow fell over him and a moment later, someone dropped down next to him. For a moment his heartbeat sped up, as he hoped it was Juice who came back to apologize. It wasn't him, however. It was his friend, the purple-haired girl.

"Where did you leave Juice?" He heard the surprise in her voice.

It did him good, knowing that he wasn't the only one who hadn't seen this coming. He twisted the ring around his thumb, shrugged his shoulders and stared at the lake. "You tell me. He stormed off."

"What? Why?"

"I have no idea."

He cocked his head to the side. Skye bit her lip, studying his face. "What were you talking about?"

"That I wanted to become a tattoo artist until my mom got sick. We talked about our tattoos and I told him about the one I gave myself and my sisters. And suddenly he jumped up and snapped that I was trying to turn him into a rat." He sighed. "It really makes no sense. I thought that we kinda... respected each other by not asking questions about club shit. I don't get it – was it because I was talking about my sisters? About our strong bond?" Something started to gnaw. "Did I hit a nerve?"

When they were trapped in the elevator, he had told him about his sister. Not much, Juice had mentioned that he barely spoke to her and that she felt more like a stranger than like a family member.