Rivals 🌈 ✔

34 - The Epitome of Irony

"They — they're in a hotel?"

Raine couldn't believe his ears. Since the moment his father went missing, he'd pictured dark basements and abandoned hangars. Now however, Juice told him that his father was in a hotel only 25 miles away from Charming. An enormous wave of relief washed over him, although it still didn't sit right with him. He never understood why someone kidnapped his dad in the first place, especially not now they hadn't asked for any money, but why would someone take him to a hotel? The more they discovered, the crazier this whole situation became. 

After the meeting in the bar they had gone to the clubhouse of the Sons, just like the other Mayans. Juice and Phantom — their own hacker — had retreated to a room to follow three possible leads. Raine had no idea how they'd done it, but when they left the room there was an identical smirk on their faces. 

Phantom was their prospect who had a few more months to go.  With his 21 years old he was the youngest of both clubs. Raine didn't know the guy very well; he had been too busy with his sister's health the past months. He was a bit of a weirdo, with very light grey eyes and black hair that always looked messy. 

Right now, he leaned with his arm on Juice's shoulder. He looked at the Son with a triumphant grin. "Well — you and I did pretty well huh."

Juice smirked back. 

Raine felt a little uncomfortable now the two seemed to get along so well. It was an enormous change after how his other brothers had behaved around Juice. He knew there was no reason to be jealous and it was incredibly childish of him to feel annoyed by the way Phantom was leaning against his boyfriend, but he hadn't slept in days, the suspense was killing him and he couldn't tolerate much right now. 

Juice caught his glance, a slight frown on his brow. 

Raine understood — Juice just figured out the location of his father and Raine responded anything but enthusiastic. He offered his boyfriend a tired smile. 

"Okay, let's go." Antonio slammed his hand on the table. "Four men will go inside; two for each hostage, the others will wait outside. We won't raid the hotel until there's fierce resistance. Right now, we still don't know who's behind this so be careful. A conversation might be all they're after, so with a bit of luck it won't result in a shooting."

A shooting.

Antonio stated it as something so normal, but now his father was the one in the line of fire, it felt different. Every muscle in his body felt tense, yet he wanted to be the one entering that building. 

There were six bikers who stayed behind to make sure nobody would invade the clubhouse now the group split up — after all, it could still be a diversion. Both Juice and Phantom would stay — the two of them got a list of tasks they had to carry out while the others headed to the hotel. 

While the others went outside, Raine walked over to the side of the building to have a brief moment with his boyfriend. 

"You okay?" Juice asked in a soft tone. His eyes were filled with concern. 

"Yeah," he muttered.

But no — he was not okay. His body felt as if it was made of lead and before he knew it, he closed the distance between their bodies so Juice could wrap his arms around him. He shivered as Juice's lips touched his temple. 

"I'm exhausted," he whispered. "And I don't wanna leave you."

Juice pulled back a little and caressed his face. "I will be fine," he said. "You're going to get your dad and then all this shit is finally over." Leaning forward, he pressed a soft kiss on his lips. "And once your dad is back, we will lock ourselves up in my bedroom and forget about the rest of the world for two whole days."