Chapter 19 #3
The question of where the hell his father or extended family was sprang to mind again, but I didn’t let my outrage on his behalf insert itself into the situation. “She sounds like a wonderful mom.”
“She was,” Ray said, looking away as his voice broke.
He sniffed and cleared his throat and met my gaze again before continuing.
“She loved love. Man, she adored the big, romantic gestures in movies like the one from Say Anything. And she was always positive, no matter what. And life had dealt my mom some really shitty cards.” Ray puffed out his cheeks and exhaled.
“I don’t know the full details about my parents’ relationship.
Hell, I don’t even know my dad’s name because Mom refused to list it on my birth certificate.
She once told me it wasn’t because he was a bad person.
They’d had a fling, and he moved on before she found out she was pregnant.
She claimed she didn’t have a way to contact him and didn’t want to share me with him anyway.
” Ray tilted his head to the side and smiled wryly.
“My best guess is that she hooked up with a professional baseball player during spring training in Florida. It’s something I would’ve asked her as an adult if I’d gotten the chance. ”
“What about her family?” I asked, unable to hold back my question any longer. “Where the hell were they when you guys needed them?”
“Religious fanatics,” Ray replied. “I don’t stomp on people’s beliefs, but I have a real problem when folks use religion as an excuse to hurt others.
Mom’s parents kicked her out of the house when they found out she was pregnant, and they told her not to come back until she married her baby’s daddy.
I reckon that wasn’t an option because Mom lived in a women’s shelter.
After I was born, she got the factory job that would eventually kill her.
Damn, she was proud of working there too.
We didn’t have much, but what we had was ours, and no one was going to take anything from her again. ”
“And your grandparents or someone in your extended family wouldn’t take you in after she passed? You were an innocent kid, for fuck’s sake.”
“I’m sure the state attempted to place me with family, but they wouldn’t have taken me in.
It’s like that old saying about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
But I didn’t want them either.” Crossing to me, Ray took the phone from my hand and set it on the table.
“You’ve taken about a hundred photos of that Wii system already. ”
I looked down at my hand in surprise. “I did?”
Nodding, Ray said, “You were too outraged on my behalf to notice.”
“I am furious, damn it.”
Ray bit his bottom lip, probably to keep from laughing. I narrowed my eyes, and he lost his shit, cracking up at my fury. “Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands in surrender. “You just look so cute when you’re angry. All puffed up like a little kit—”
His eyes widened as I narrowed mine.
“Don’t,” I warned. “I already have a million nicknames.”
“Kitten,” Ray said anyway.
“Ugh, no.”
“But it fits. You got all hissy on my behalf, and I really liked it.”
“Hissy, huh?” I asked. “Well, I have claws, and I’m not afraid to use them.”
Ray planted a hard kiss on my mouth. “I can’t wait for you to really dig in and hold on, kitten.”
“Archer once called me that,” I announced, hoping it would put an end to the nickname for good. He actually called me a kitty cat or something, but why split hairs?
“I’ll beat his ass if he uses that nickname ever again.”
Ray pressed kisses along my neck, and I arched to give him better access. And yes, I released a happy hum that sounded too much like a kitten’s purr. Ray made a different noise in response, a predatory growl that let me know he was about to lay me down across the nearest surface and—
The shrill sound of Ray’s cell phone cut through the lust fog, and he released me with a snarl. “Speak of the devil,” Ray said. “I’ll tell the asshole right now that I don’t want him calling you anything cutesy ever again.”
“That’s not—”
“Listen here, Archibald,” Ray said instead of a normal greeting.
Archer’s voice cut him off, but I couldn’t hear what he said.
The one-sided conversation lasted less than fifteen seconds before Ray tapped the screen and returned his phone to his pocket.
“Brunch will be ready in twenty minutes. I guess Vaughn pulled out all the stops. There are pancakes, waffles, three different breakfast meats, and enough eggs for an army. Arch said there’s fresh-squeezed orange juice and yogurt parfaits too.
” Ray smiled and kissed me. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. No pressure.”
I took him by the hand and led him to the door. “I have plenty of pictures to get me started. Feed me. We’ll need fuel for our afternoon and evening activities.”
The guys were waiting in the communal room on the second story of the warehouse.
I was immediately blown away by the beauty and comfort of the space these guys gathered in to show love to one another, even if it came as snarky banter and a little roughhousing.
They were kind of like overgrown kids when they wound each other up, and I was immensely happy to witness it firsthand.
Vaughn met my gaze with a smirk and shook his head.
“All right. That’s enough, you hooligans.
” He set a massive platter of breakfast meats on the large farmhouse-style dining room table that had long benches tucked under it instead of chairs.
“Or you can at least carry food to the table while you provide Atticus with cheap entertainment.”
“Who are you calling cheap?” Archer asked as he got Nico in a headlock after he suggested they invite Bobby over for brunch too. “I have impeccable taste…most of the time.”
Ray wrestled Nico away to freedom and pulled Archer into some kind of chokehold. The bulge of Ray’s biceps sent lightning bolts of lust straight to my groin. “No more using cutesy nicknames for my guy.”
Archer sighed heavily, proving the grip around his neck wasn’t that tight. “Aw, man.”
“You heard him,” Vaughn said to Archer, then looked at me with apology. “Forgive us. We know how to behave like adults. It’s just been a hot minute since any of us has brought someone special around.”
The remark both warmed my heart and made me sad. These wonderful men deserved exceptional love. “It’s no problem,” I said. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Ray immediately released his friend to gloat, raising his arms in the air and grinning smugly.
Archer clapped Ray on his shoulder. “Attaboy, Ray Ray.”
“Let’s eat,” Vaughn called.
Once the food was on the table, all the chaos settled into hums of happiness.
“This is amazing,” I said after sampling the waffles.
Vaughn beamed his appreciation. “Thank you.”
“I helped,” Ethan said.
Nico and Archer snorted.
Ethan narrowed his eyes and bounced his gaze between them. “I did,” he insisted.
“Barking out tips on how to fold egg whites into the batter isn’t helping,” Nico said.
Notching his chin higher, Ethan said, “It is too.”
Archer and Ray watched the argument with barely suppressed laughter.
It didn’t take long for the six of us to devour Vaughn’s hard work, and then the guys bickered over who had cleanup duties. That’s when Ray took my hand and quietly led me out the door. We grabbed the gaming stuff and the DVD we’d stashed in the hallway when we arrived.
“Game or movie first?” Ray asked once we were alone in his apartment.
“I vote movie while we digest that massive brunch.”
“Works for me,” Ray said, then stripped down to his boxers.
What else could I do but follow his lead? We cuddled together in the center of the sofa, wrapped in the fluffy throw blanket, and watched as a very young John Cusack stumbled his way through love.
“Pretty sure he’s the reason I knew I was gay,” Ray said.
“Really?” I tried to twist around to look at him, but he’d wrapped me up tighter than a burrito.
“Yeah. My mom loved this movie so much and watched it all the time.”
When it got to the boom box serenade, Ray’s chest vibrated with a chuckle.
“Was this her favorite part?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. She was a real sucker for grand gestures. Mom never gave up hope that she’d find a big love like that.”
It broke my heart that Delia never got to experience her epic love story, but it wasn’t too late for Ray. I was more than willing to give him the happily ever after they both deserved.