Raine stared at the blinking cursor of the chat conversation with Juice. He had no idea what to send. He wanted to stop by, but something kept him from sending the text. The guilt still refused to leave his mind; the thought that he wasn't good enough for Juice and that he didn't deserve his attention and time. No matter how often Juice tried to change his mind, it never helped for long. He had hurt him so much, he simply couldn't forget.
A harsh voice dragged him out of his thoughts. "We gotta talk."
Raine looked up. Esai had returned from the conversation with his father. Had it been about him? There was a dark look in his friend's eyes and his jaw tensed as he saw Raine's phone screen.
"You two still have contact?"
The contempt in his voice hurt. Was a little bit of understanding really too much to ask? Or was it his own fault? He never told Esai how much he regretted his drunken action. One or two times he had tried to share his feelings, but Esai always started to talk about other things, making him miss Juice even more. He had even toyed with the idea to go back to Santo Padre. At least Angel would be there, with whom he could talk about things like this, and the others weren't looking down on him. Whether he'd fucked things up with Juice or not, in the eyes of his brothers he had still bedded the enemy. Nevertheless, he had stayed. Running away from his mistakes felt weak. He deserved their spiteful stares — albeit for different reasons than they believed.
"Since a few days," Raine answered. "Sammy and Skye set us up." He straightened his shoulders. "But it's not the same anymore."
"You finally see him for the weak-minded idiot he is?"
The muscles in his neck and arms tightened. Fiercely, he looked up. "I loved him, Esai, and I broke him. You don't sweep something like that under the rug."
"Oh come on, it was one slip-up. Happens to the best of us."
The ease with which Esai talked about cheating, made him feel sick. But how could he expect Esai to understand? His sexual encounters had always been brief and meaningless; he'd never been in a serious relationship. He didn't know how it felt to have such a deep connection with someone.
Esai sighed and sat down next to him, his back against the wall. "I just talked to my dad. It appears that you haven't cheated at all."
Raine raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"As it seems, you were drugged. Someone dumped you in your bed and some naked bitch laid down next to you."
It felt like his whole body became numb, his phone slipped between his fingers and fell on the ground. "W-what?"
"Yeah, it's fucking sick. My dad just told me. It was my prospect — and now that old shit acts like it was my responsibility. Apparently, the girl felt guilty and brought it up with my dad."
"Phantom drugged me and staged this?" Raine asked in disbelief. "Why the hell would he do that?"
"I dunno. Some people simply hate faggots. Maybe he thought to impress the club. Or maybe he's a fag too and wants to know if your boy toy is really that good of a ride."
In a flash, Raine thought back to the moment Phantom had dropped Juice off at his home, the night after they'd tracked down his father.
Who would have thought, one of my brothers who gave you a ride voluntarily. Or did you have to pay him?"
"He wanted me to pay in kind," Juice chuckled.
The comment had called up an annoying feeling.
"Am I sensing jealousy now?" Juice teased.
"Maybe you are," he grumbled. "The idea that you sat so close to him on that bike..."
Juice started to laugh and kissed the tip of his nose. "You're such a pretty little thing, huh? You rather want 'em to come for me with baseball bats?"
A blush crept to his cheeks. "No, of course not," he muttered ashamed. He sighed. "Sorry. It's just..."
Juice cut him off with a kiss. "Well — I'm happy I didn't know that there was such a handsome gay guy in your own club." He winked.
"W-what? He likes men?"
"Apparently. He told me he didn't dare to come out until you came out last night. But he didn't mind to come out to his hacker soulmate."
"His whát?"
Juice laughed. "I guess I'm just a Mayan magnet."
Had Phantom already been after his boyfriend? Raine had laughed the little bit of jealousy he felt off and they'd never talked about it again.
"That fucking asshole," Raine grumbled, jumping on his feet.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Esai's smirk. "Yeah, he really is. You better give him a good beat-up. He embarrassed me too, by pulling shit like this while he's under my supervision."
Raine strode into the clubhouse. The prospect was behind the bar washing glasses. In a straight line, Raine walked to him and grabbed his head before he rammed his face against the bar.
The man cried out and grabbed for his head. Raine took a step aside, grasped his arm and swung him against the wall. "What the fuck were you thinking? That you could take my place?"
Blood gushed from a wound in his forehead. With wide eyes, Phantom stared at him. Raine clenched his fist and wanted to strike again, but this time the prospect lifted his arm to block him.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Raine grabbed his chin and yanked his head up. "I know what you did. You drugged me."
"You think I drugged you?" Phantom called out. "Why the hell would I do that?"
"I can think of many reasons," he huffed.
Phantom tried to push his hand away from his face and looked over Raine's shoulder.
"Nobody's going to help you, you filthy rat!" Raine snapped.
"I'm not the rat! Fucking hell, Raine! Esai drugged you, not me! Yeah — he forced me to help him but I never —"
"Fuck off with your lies, prospect." Esai came to stand next to him and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Fuck you!" Phantom yelled. He pushed Raine away. "Go ask Marcus if you don't believe me."
"You really think you can discredit his son?" Esai huffed.
"Then ask Juice himself! I put my fucking life on the line to help you and your lover because that asshole over there threatened to harm me if the truth came out!"
There was so much fire in Phantom's eyes it made Raine doubt. He let go of the man and turned his head to Esai, who answered his glance with coldness. "What? You believe him?"
Raine had no idea what to believe. He returned his attention to the prospect. "Why would I ask Juice?"
"I told him Esai drugged you."
"That doesn't make it true," Esai shot back.
Raine gritted his teeth. Had Juice known that Raine hadn't cheated on him, without saying anything about it? It would explain that unbelievable forgiveness — but why hadn't he said so?
Suddenly, the room was spinning around him. He staggered back.
Had Juice lied to him? Make him believe that he... that he...
But why? Why the hell would he do that?
He wouldn't, this makes no fucking sense. Phantom's just trying to distract you.
What reasons did he have to believe Phantom? He barely knew the guy; the prospect had no reason to put his neck on the line like he claimed he had done. And assuming that he was after Juice wasn't far-fetched at all; he had pretended to be in the closet while coming out to Juice in one hour, telling him he was his hacker soulmate. Jealousy was a better motive than believing that his best friend would do something like this.
"If you're telling me the truth... Why did you go to Juice instead of me?"
"I..."
The hesitation was enough. Suddenly he just saw red and he punched the man in the face until the blood was splashing around and he heard the crunching of bone.
Phantom's screams silenced the whole clubhouse.
And finally, Raine had the feeling he was having a little bit of satisfaction for all the pain Juice and he had gone through.
___
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