Rivals 🌈 ✔

30 - Exhausted

Marcus heaved a deep sigh, then he nodded. The look in his eyes however told him this conversation wasn't over. 

Esai was less subtle, and huffed: "If you hadn't been so keen on playing nurse, this conversation wouldn't have been there in the first place."

"Well you better be glad I did play nurse; if not we still would have been in the dark. Juice told me the mother of one of his brothers went also missing a couple days ago. Someone reported a black van — possible the same van that drove the two Sons off the road. I wouldn't be surprised if we have a common enemy — someone who is consciously stirring us up to see how we respond."

Marcus' fingers stroked his goatee while thinking. "Fine," he said eventually. "What do you suggest? Is your... informant still conscious?"

Raine gritted his teeth, talking so distantly about Juice annoyed him. "He's asleep," he said. "But I do have his phone." He hesitated. "Chibs knows about us, he saw us in the hospital. I can call him, so he can mobilize the Sons. There seems to be a pattern now — maybe we should ask around to see if there are other charters were people went missing. And maybe Panthom can find some camera footage close to my father's house, so we can look for black vans."

Raine knew very well he was on thin ice now. He was probably the last one they'd take orders from. Yet, Marcus nodded. 

"Is Sammy with Diana? I gotta make sure she's okay."

"Sammy and Sasha are both with her," Marcus confirmed. 

Raine interpreted his answer as permission to leave. Once he was outside, he pulled Juice's phone out of his pocket, searched for the name "Chibs" and called. Nervously he bit his lip, wondering whether he was putting Juice in danger now or not. They could consider this as passing on information — and especially now their secret came out, he feared the consequences. But this was about his father's life, and the life of an innocent woman. Furthermore he knew that Juice wanted him to use the information; if not, he never would have mentioned it.

"Juicy!" the man said with his thick Scottish accent. "How ye doin'? What's the rush, huh?"

"You're speaking to Raine."

A pauze. "Oh?"

He took a deep breath. "My brothers know. About Juice and me. They were pretty rough on him, but it's our own fault." He rubbed his face. "Anyway, my dad is kidnapped and Juice told me something similar happened to you guys. I told the others; we agreed that we might need a truce until we've found our people. There's good reason to assume we're having a common enemy."

He heard Chibs sigh. "Tha's a lot of information ye got there, lad."

"Yeah."

"Where's Juice?"

"He's asleep. He — he will be fine. I need to see the rest of my family." He closed his eyes. A pounding headache arose and his thoughts and fears started to merge into one another. "Could you please help me?" he asked quietly. He felt weak when he heard the tremble in his voice, but now Juice was injured, his father was missing and his club was pissed at him, he didn't know what to do anymore. He wiped his shoulder across his cheek when a tear glided down. He didn't want to cry, but it was all getting too much. Imagines kept forcing themselves upon him; of Juice, bound to a chair, his head hanging, and masked men cutting his father to pieces. 

Sniveling he breathed in. He was exhausted, and it didn't look like he would get some sleep anytime soon. 

"Lemme see what I can do, kid. I'll be in touch." A brief silence fell. "Hang in there, aye?"

"Thank you."

He put his phone away, mounted his bike and rode to Marcus and Diana's house, which was only two blocks away. After ringing the doorbell, he leaned against the door frame, wavering inside when Diana opened the door. 

"Raine... you look terrible!" Diana eyed him up and down — a motherly look in her eyes which was inevitable when you had seen someone grow up since kindergarten. 

"How is Sammy?" he asked. 

"She's finally asleep." She studied his face. "Some sleep will be good for you too. Is there any news about your dad?"

"Not much," he muttered. "All we know is that someone kidnapped the mother of a Son as well. We're trying to team up." Now he was standing here, he started to feel restless again. Taking Juice's phone from his pocket, he concluded that Chibs hadn't called him back yet. 

"Come sit down, boy. Let's make you some chamomile."

Raine didn't have the energy to object. Soon he would peek around the corner to make sure Sammy was fine, but right now he doubted he would even reach the top of the stairs. He felt weak as water; his whole resilience seemed to be smashed to pieces. 

While Diana went to the kitchen, Raine sat down on the couch. He leaned forward, his head in his hands. So many uncertainties. So many things that could go wrong. So many things he could lose — people he could lose...

The couch sank, and a moment later he felt an arm around his shoulders. "What's going on, son? You know the club will find your father, right? Don't worry so much, sweetheart."

Raine leaned into her, closing his eyes. He missed his own mother, his sister. He tried to man up, but instead, he started crying again. Diana rubbed his back in soothing circles while he kept wiping the tears away. 

"I'm not sure I'll still have the club after what I did, Diana," he said in a rough voice. "I fucked up pretty bad."

"What did you do, sweetheart?"

He dropped his eyes. "I fell in love with a Son."