“So thatisa thing?” Benny demanded, only slightly quieter than before.
“He was just as surprised,” Cassandra explained.
Benny had more to ask. “Would that work if the first mate—”
“Sounds nautical,” Calvin pointed out. Truly, he had passed more traits on to his son than either of them would be comfortable admitting to.
“The original mate,” Benny corrected. “Er… should we still be using the word?”
“Probably not,” Cal said crisply. “Finish your question anyway.”
“Would a second mate be possible while the original mate is still around?”
They all went silent, even Cassandra. Then Cal said, low and serious, “Benny, you are some kind of genius.” It was followed by the sound of a kiss, a cartoonishmwahthat left Ray to imagine where it had been placed. His cheek or the smooth column of his throat seemed likely.
The shouting from a few moments before did not happen again, all of three of them putting their brilliant minds to work on the revelation Cassandra had just dropped.
Cal finally broke the silence. “Another mate. A second one. I’m not sure he’d want that. And he doesn’t think he’d deserve one anyway, as he is.”
“I think this is enough for us to chew on for now,” Calvin interrupted diplomatically. “Thank you for this, Cassandra. We’ll get back to you.”
“I might talk to this contact of yours later,” Benny added in a quick whisper, then must have ended the call.
Ray turned away from the door and went back to the bed.
Within a minute, Cal was tiptoeing into the room. He curled up behind Ray and let out a strangledoomphsound when Ray pulled him onto his chest.
“Awake, huh?” he asked as if amused, but he kept his head down and his face turned away.
Ray grumbled into his hair and tugged him closer.Sugar/sweat/Cal. “The original is good.”
Cal made a sound that wasn’t a word, wasn’t laughter or a complaint. Ray wasn’t quite sure what to call it, or the tang to Cal’s scent,pleasureandresignationat the same time. “You just like my ass.” That was pronounced clearly.
“I like the original.” Ray tried again, growling as he hauled Cal up to blanket himself in him.
Cal made that sound again, a little more genuinely amused this time. “You don’t even know me.” But he tucked his face against Ray’s shoulder and didn’t say anything else, letting Ray breathe him in until Ray finally, truly, did feel like sleeping for a while.
***
IT WAS JUST after noon when Ray woke up. Cal was on the phone in the living room. Ray went to the bathroom to remove his stained, torn clothes—another suit destroyed—and take a shower to get rid of the lingering blood smell. His head ached and he was thirsty, but his hands looked steady and he could stand without needing to rest.
Benny and Calvin had gone out, returning while Ray was drying his hair. They’d probably gone to get Benny’s car, which reminded Ray about the coffee order he and Calvin had placed, and he worried over the waste for several minutes, although it was the least of his problems.
While they’d been gone, Cal had been on the phone, leaving another message update for his mother. He didn’t tell her anything specific, but, with his voice shaking, Ray didn’t think he’d hidden much. They didn’t have proof of anything, anyway, only suspicions.
Ray dressed in a new pair of pants, khakis that would have looked like they had never been worn except for the paint streaks on them, and a sweatshirt that also looked unused. It was teal and said,Sugarbunsacross the chest in white, in a font designed to look like icing or whipped cream, or possibly ejaculate; Ray genuinely couldn’t tell which. Then, barefoot, he slipped out of the bedroom and came down the hall.
Cal, his father, and Benny were in the living room. Ray’s desk had been ransacked. Cal’s desk had papers strewn all over it. The TV was on, the volume off. Benny and Calvin were on the couch, peering at Benny’s laptop screen. Cal was in the reclining chair he seemed to prefer, on his laptop and his phone.
All three of them looked up when Ray came into view.
“Welcome to our HQ,” Cal said lightly. He raked his gaze over Ray several times, pausing at Ray’s feet more than at the sweatshirt. He finally looked into Ray’s eyes, his expression difficult to read.
Benny handed his laptop over to Calvin, then got to his feet to wave Ray into the room. “We’ve brought you food. It’s in the kitchen. Takeout, but not only takeout—that’s for you to eat now. Calvin and I got hot dogs and protein packs, peanut butter, jerky, all of it. You need to eat.”
Ray looked at him, then couldn’t help another glance to Cal. Cal wasn’t pleased. Calvin must have told him his theory about Ray’s exhaustion.
Ray turned back to Benny. “Thank you.”
