Rivals 🌈 ✔

35 - Condemnation

Chibs walked to the front desk to prevent the staff from panicking as four bikers would enter the hotel and spread through the building. Together with his president, Raine headed to the elevator while Opie and Jax went up the stairs. They would go to the second floor, Raine and Alvarez to the third.

He focused on his breathing while the elevator went up. He used to trust the technology blindly, but since he'd been stuck in it with Juice that trust was gone. Every time the elevator stopped, he was afraid the thing would be defect. He had no bad memories to the last time he'd been stuck — on the contrary, every day he was grateful the elevator in the hospital had been broken — but this really wasn't the moment to get stuck. They still didn't know anything about their opponents. There was a good chance they saw them coming. Maybe they could even operate the elevator, so they could take his father away unnoticed. 

They didn't speak a word as the elevator moved up. Although they'd put their conflict aside, he could still feel the disappointment of his president and the father of his best friend. Raine felt the need to explain why he'd fallen in love with a Son and that it had never been their intention to get into a relationship but that they had been unable to stop it, but this wasn't the right moment nor the right place. Instead, he took his Glock from behind his waistband, prepared for an ambush once the elevator doors slid open. 

Someone gave a little scream once the doors were open. A young woman ducked behind a cart with bed linen. Raine cast her an apologetic glance as he walked past her, then he took in the empty hallway in front of him. Alvarez pressed his phone to his ear, summing up the room numbers around them. 

Waiting for instructions, he looked at his president. 

"Your boyfriend is checking the rooms."

Your boyfriend. Suddenly the air in the hallway felt lighter as Alvarez referred to Juice as his boyfriend. As if it was a possibility. As if Alvarez was prepared to allow him to be his boyfriend. 

Raine nodded briefly while he walked further down the hallway, his fingers clenched around the gun. Man, how badly he wanted all this shit to be over... He not only wanted to find his father, he also wanted to find out why the hell this was happening anyway so they could leave it behind them. 

"328."

The number pulled Raine out of his thoughts immediately. His glance flashed to the door to his right. 322. It had to be a few doors ahead. He started to run; only when he stood in front of the door of room 328 he realized that he had no idea what to do. Knock? It was fucking hotel where they were holding his dad. 

Alvarez was more effective; he aimed the gun at the lock, fired a couple of shots and slammed his shoulder against the door. The door flew open. Raine stepped inside immediately. From the threshold, he stared at the bed. 

His father wasn't gagged, his hands weren't bound. He was watching tv from the bed. For a moment Raine thought they had made a huge mistake and that his father had just wanted to be out of the house for a few days. 

However, when he looked his father in the eye, he knew it wasn't a mistake. The man got up from the bed and pulled him in a hug. 

"My boy," he whispered. "You're safe."

Confused, Raine held his dad. Of course he was safe. He wasn't the one who'd been abducted?! He had no idea what was going on and he took a step back to look at his father. "What happened? Did they hurt you?"

"No, no. They treated me well." His father didn't sound confused, the look in his eyes was bright but worried. "I did what they said, if not, they would make you suffer."