22. Ryan Fairview
C leaning up the mess Cal had left me with was oddly… calming. It was a lot easier to pretend that the man on my table was just another client without Cal’s domineering ass leering over me.
The shameful evidence of my orgasm had been easy enough to get rid of. Most of it had hit the plastic that was still clinging to the corpse, so once I disposed of that, it was like it never happened.
I needed to pretend it hadn’t happened because if I let myself spiral and overthink like I normally did, I would be forced to acknowledge just how much I had liked having that man’s hands on me. Which was crazy.
I was Ryan Fairview. I ran a fucking funeral home. My job was exceptionally serious while also somehow totally abnormal.
It was extremely important that people believed I was stable, level-headed, and responsible. They were trusting me with the death of their loved ones. I was already strange enough as it was with the whole ‘I can see dead people thing.’ I didn’t need to add ‘ sexually confused masochist’ to the list of things people said about me behind closed doors.
That wasn’t even true! Was it?
I wasn’t sexually confused. It was just because he scared the shit out of me, and fear turned me on… I was still straight… right?
‘Come for me, straight boy.’
I shuddered as Cal’s words echoed through my mind. Would someone who was straight come for another man, even if they had a weird thing for fear?
Why would I like it so much if I was straight? Why didn’t I want Joanna to do the same thing to me?
I tried to imagine it, Joanna’s dainty feminine hand on my cock, and… nothing. Not even a twitch.
I scowled down at my dick in frustration as I diligently went through the process of searching the body for pacemakers or any other medical devices that might harm my cremator.
Traitor.
Why couldn’t I be turned on by nice, safe Joanna? Why was it the fucking murderous, punk mercenary with zero boundaries that kept making me so hard?
What the fuck was wrong with me?
Forcing away these confusing thoughts, I focused on the task at hand. I went through the cremation process and found it was much easier to do when it was off the books.
No paperwork, no worrying about what outfit the family wanted him burned in. Once I had made sure he didn’t have anything explosive on him, I preheated the chamber.
Then I loaded him up, closed the door, and set a timer for three hours. Some of the newer models were faster, but ours took a while to completely burn down. I had been saving up for some upgrades because of this; however, I didn’t mind the wait time so much right at that moment.
It gave me a ton of time to clean up my prep room and make sure I had all my loose ends tied up for Ms. Thompson’s service the following day.
My mother returned with Caleb around dinner time. I had heated up some leftover spaghetti for myself, and thankfully, Iris informed me they had already eaten.
She let me know she would get Caleb ready for bed, and I nodded, wondering what we were going to do with this kid now that I had his father burning to ashes in my cremator.
“Good night, Ryan!” Caleb said shyly, and I smiled at him, depositing my dirty dish in the sink.
“Night, Caleb. Sweet dreams,” I replied, but I frowned. He was staring at me with a confused look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“What happened?” he asked softly, pointing to his cheek while staring directly at mine. I touched a hand to my face and winced, remembering that Cal had hit me extremely hard in the face.
Fuck!
“Oh, nothing. I fell down some steps. I’m ok, though,” I lied, not liking the way Caleb’s eyes were filling with tears.
“Steps? No one… hit you?” he asked, his voice so soft and broken it made my stomach hurt. He was worried someone was hitting me like his dad hit him…
I crouched down, wiped a tear off his cheek, and gave him a reassuring smile.
“No, no one hit me. I’m okay. It was just an accident.” I felt horrible lying to him, but in that moment, I would have said just about anything to make him smile again. I hated the haunted look of fear swimming in his eyes.
“Okay…” he finally said. “Hey, Ryan?”
“Yeah, Caleb?”
“Can my momma come stay here with us, too? He hurts her more than he hurts me, and it’s scary,” Caleb whispered, and my cheek throbbed in response to the sudden tensing of my jaw.
His mom?
Iris wrapped her hands around his shoulders and tugged him away.
“Come on, sweet boy, time for bed,” she chimed, and he smiled up at her before casting one last look at me.
“Please?”
I swallowed. “Let me look into it,” I told the kid, having no idea where to even start with his request. I hadn’t even thought about his mother, which was stupid. Obviously, he had one…
Immediately after Iris took Caleb up to bed, I made a beeline for the main floor bathroom. I flicked on the light and immediately groaned out loud.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I had a massive shiner coming in from where Cal had hit me. I couldn’t look like I had just gotten the shit kicked out of me when I was running a funeral service the following day!
“Shit!” I exclaimed out loud, leaning on the sink and poking at my tender cheek, which was already turning black and blue from where Cal’s fist had connected with my face.
I was in full-blown panic mode. People were going to talk for sure… How would I get this covered up? I didn’t have makeup that worked on living people. Everything I used on my clients was designed to sit well on cold skin. It wouldn’t work on my face.
Should I ask my mom for makeup or something?
I ran my hand down my face and winced in pain as my palm passed over the bruise.
Don’t ask me why I was more concerned about what people would think than the reason I had the damn bruise in the first place.
I had clearly lost my fucking mind.
Suddenly, my pocket started vibrating.
What now?
If Theo got her ass kicked and needed me to come patch her up, I was going to lose it. I had my hands full enough as it is without taking care of someone who voluntarily got their face beat in every night…
Unknown:
Ginger snapppppppp. I fucked up. I’m so sorry.
My blood turned ice cold in my veins, and my hand began to tremble.
No. Absolutely not.
This asshole needed to get OUT of my life! I never wanted to see him ever again. This was too much. How had he gotten my number? Jesus fucking Christ… now I was going to need to get a whole new phone plan…
I made my way to the front door and peeked out the window. It was dark out, but from where I was standing, I couldn’t see a Bentley or that crazy SUV he had been driving earlier. I checked that the front door was locked before making my way to the back.
His cars weren’t there either. I locked that door as well before methodically checking each of the windows.
Unknown:
Ginger snap, answer me. I said I’m sorry.
Unknown:
Can I come in?
Unknown:
I need to talk to you about the kid.
Unknown:
Also, I should probably apologize in person. That was not cool earlier; you have to let me explain…
Ryan:
Leave me alone. I never want to see you again. If you come anywhere near my house, I’ll call the police.
Unknown:
Ok
Unknown:
First of all
Unknown:
Calling the police is a bad idea for like…* so * many reasons.
Unknown:
And second of all, like I said, I legit need to talk to you about the kid. I have his mother, and I was hoping to swing by with her in the morning to reunite them.
This caused me to pause.
Cal had the kid’s mother?
I frowned at my phone as I made my way upstairs to check the windows on the second floor. I beelined for my bedroom, scratching the back of my neck.
I definitely never wanted to see this asshole again, but reuniting Caleb and his mother was honestly the best-case scenario. No kidnapping charges for me, and he would be with someone who loved him and cared about him.
Based on what he had said earlier, it sounded like his mom was just as much of a victim as he was…
Ryan:
Fine. You can bring her by in the morning before the service we have scheduled. But I never want to see you again after that.
Unknown:
Can I come by now to apologize, at least?
Ryan:
No! I don’t want to be alone with you! I have a massive bruise on my face from where you hit me. It’s completely inappropriate. Tomorrow is going to be a nightmare because of you!
I opened the door to my room, still scowling at my phone. I waited for the three dots to appear to indicate he was writing back when a familiar deep voice filled my dark room.
“Too late. I’m already here.”