by KC Burn
“So why don’t we have him come with me? As my friend. I know you’d be happier if he was there, and he’d be happier if you didn’t exclude him, but, Caleb, man, he goes as your friend and people will be speculating. Because, like me, there’s no hiding the gay in that one.”
Caleb mulled that over. He’d never seen his family engage with a gay man who wasn’t Jaime—not like he ever dated anyone long enough to introduce them to the family. Maybe this could be a test run. Maybe if his family could see how incredible Raven was, he could figure out a way to make being in the closet more palatable for everyone. Maybe if his family became friendly with Raven, they wouldn’t be suspicious of him claiming Raven as a friend too.
“Let’s ask him, see how he feels.”
With this weighty question on his mind, he hadn’t even noticed Raven’s return. Instead of sitting between them, Raven slid in beside Caleb, moving him into the middle.
“Why are we all serious?”
Caleb had a minor reprieve when the server brought their food, but as soon as she left, Raven turned to him. “Is everything okay?”
“Remember me telling you about my parents’ anniversary party?”
“Oh, yes, of course.”
“I want you to go, but….”
“I could go as your friend. I’d be okay with that. I’d like to meet your family.”
Jaime cleared his throat. “So, um, just to test the waters, we thought maybe we could introduce you as my friend. You don’t, uh, often pass for straight, do you?”
Raven’s eyes widened. “Oh, right. Because the gay might rub off. Sure, that makes sense.” Those words could have been filled with bitterness and derision, but to Caleb’s relief, Raven just sounded teasing.
“So, it’s a date, then.” Jaime gave him a smug grin, and Caleb flipped Jaime the bird.
“One rule: keep your hands off my boyfriend.”
That word always got him a wide, happy smile from Raven.
“I have one rule too.” Jaime pasted a serious look on his face. “You better wear one of those kilts. Because those are fucking hot and you never wear them out and about. I have to make do with those pics on the Internet.”
Caleb growled, and Raven’s smile disappeared in a blink. “What pics?” Raven asked.
Jaime frowned. “The ones on your site. Tartan Candy, right?”
“Oh, right.” Raven bit his lip. “Won’t your family think it’s weird?”
“Better to get them used to the weird right away, don’t you think?”
Jaime was being a little too casual with this endeavor, so Caleb intervened. “It will be an evening dress sort of event. My parents never had a big wedding, so they’re doing the whole vow renewal and everything. I’m assuming you’d wear a kilt instead of a tux or a suit. No one will think twice about it.” He didn’t think. Especially if they introduced Raven as a friend of Jaime’s.
“Oh. Yes, you’re right.” Raven seemed more enthusiastic than he had before.
The kilt was going to kill Caleb dead, but that was his cross to bear. He’d just have to be super on his guard and make sure he rubbed one out right before they went to this party.
“Besides, Caleb’s going to have some responsibilities, whereas I’m not obliged to do anything but enjoy myself. And escort the hottest guy there.”
This time, Caleb didn’t get pissed. He was responsible for helping out at certain points during the party, and he’d have to leave Raven alone. This was actually a decent plan, and he wasn’t going to have to miss out on Raven’s company.
The server came to clear their plates, and Jaime leaned back and patted his lean stomach. “Gonna have to dance hard tonight to work off all that food. Ready to hit the club?”
Dancing wasn’t always easy on Raven’s hip, and to be fair, Caleb wasn’t always thrilled by the endless attention he received, although Raven did like it. Not that Caleb worried that Raven could be enticed away. For all that Caleb didn’t think he was in Raven’s league, he’d come to trust that their feelings for each other were real. But seeing Raven surrounded by an adoring throng made his new business venture make a lot more sense. He truly did enjoy it all, especially all the attention. However, just like that fateful night of their first date, storm clouds were building on the horizon when they’d come into the restaurant. Rain was coming, within a few hours.
“How’s the hip? You okay with the storm coming in?” Caleb asked.
Jaime lost his teasing air, becoming the concerned health-care worker he was. “I didn’t even think about that. We can do something else.”
Raven laughed, which Caleb loved. “And deprive you of your one-night stand? That’s quite a sacrifice. The hip is doing okay. I want to go, but we may leave early.”
“Oh. Of course. Leave early for your hip.” Jaime waggled his eyebrows, and Raven laughed some more. The assumption they were leaving to have sex wasn’t surprising, since he and Caleb usually took one vehicle on their dates in order to spend a little more time together.
Caleb hadn’t told Jaime they weren’t having sex yet—Jaime was content with Caleb’s desire for privacy, and it wasn’t something Caleb felt the need for advice about. There was nothing wrong with anyone’s parts, and they clearly both had a healthy desire for each other, Raven just needed to realize in his heart, as well as his brain, that there weren’t any scars that would make Caleb want him any less. Caleb had high hopes for Monday. For their anniversary, he’d made reservations at the restaurant where they’d had their first date. If he’d been reading the signs right, he was going to see Raven completely naked, and the thought wouldn’t leave his brain no matter what else he was doing.
CALEB LED Raven by the hand to his work truck while Jaime headed in a slightly different direction. Caleb had gotten into the driver’s seat and Raven rounded the bed of the truck, hand outstretched to the handle, when he heard the shout.
“You fucking whore.”
He turned away from the truck, shock closing his throat. Jeremy raced across the parking lot, red-faced and yelling.
“What the hell? Get in the truck, Raven.” Caleb had to think this was just a random crazy person. Jeremy might be fucking nuts, but Raven was pretty sure this wasn’t random. Maybe he shouldn’t have blocked Jeremy’s number. At least he might have had warning about the explosion of supercrazy.
“Fuck you, Raven.” Jeremy grabbed Raven and shook him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Caleb leap from the truck.
“Jeremy, calm down.”
“Who the hell is this?” Caleb was trying to separate them without hurting anyone, but Raven could hear in his voice that he was getting angry.
“Slumming it a bit, aren’t you?” Jeremy thrust his chin out toward Caleb’s work truck.
“What the fuck?” Caleb raised his elbow and clipped Jeremy in the chin. Raven didn’t think he’d done much more than stun Jeremy, but it was enough for him to release Raven and stumble back a step. Didn’t do a thing to soothe his temper, though.
“It’s all your fault, isn’t it? You had them fuck with my IF account, you little shit.” He pushed against Caleb’s restraining arms, although Raven couldn’t tell if he wanted to hit someone or just escape.
Holy crap. “Jeremy, you need to calm down.” Inside, his guts were liquefying just a bit. He’d always been a bit of a scrapper, but he didn’t know what he was capable of anymore, not with his bum leg. He also really, really didn’t want Caleb to get involved. Any more than he was.
“Hey, Caleb, Raven, what’s going on?” Jaime must have seen or heard the altercation and come running back.
“Two of them, Raven? You are a slut. You doing them for free or are they paying you their life savings for your skanky ass?”
Both Caleb and Jaime puffed up, teeth bared. Raven had to head this off now—the last thing any of them needed was for the cops to show up.
“How dare you?” Caleb was seriously pissed. “That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about.”
Jeremy’s laugh wasn’t nice. Not at all. “You have no idea what he’s like.”
“Shut the fuck up, Jeremy.” Okay, maybe Raven wasn’t quite as calm as he’d thought. “I’m sure you don’t want Stefan to hear about this.”
Jeremy grimaced and dragged in a few ragged breaths before he shook off Caleb’s grip. “You haven’t heard the last of this.”
“Oh, yes, I think we have.” Caleb plucked the words right out of Raven’s brain. “Next time, we’re calling the cops, got it?”
Uh, so maybe Raven hadn’t been going to say that. Generally officials weren’t exactly open-minded about people in his line of work. Or his old line of work.
However, either the threat of the cops or that Raven would report him to Stefan, get something worse done than just fuck with his log-in a bit, was enough to return some rational thought to Jeremy.
“Fine. I’m leaving.” The glare he threw at Raven before he left, though, was out-and-out murderous. If Raven didn’t sense Jeremy was nothing but a coward at heart, he’d have been freaked out.
Adrenaline thrummed through his veins, and judging by Jaime and Caleb’s restless pacing, he wasn’t the only one. After a minute or two, Caleb shook his arms out and wrapped Raven in a tight hug. Until that moment, Raven hadn’t known he needed comfort like that, hadn’t even known it was possible. It wasn’t like his mother ever really hugged him, and the rest of his life hadn’t thrown a lot of opportunities for hugging his way.
He relaxed even further when Jaime came up behind him and rubbed his back. God. He needed to find a way to tell Caleb the truth, and soon. Not today, though.
When Caleb finally released him, he cupped Raven’s cheeks in his hands and kissed his nose. “Who the hell was that?”
Raven wasn’t ashamed of much, but his business arrangement with Jeremy had felt wrong from the first moment he’d laid eyes on the guy, and he wished he could forget this part of his past too.
“Remember that guy who paid me to spend the weekend with him?”
“You were an escort?” Jaime’s voice was a weird mix of shock and awe.
“Fuck, no.” He didn’t have anything against guys who did, and there were plenty of people who equated porn actors with whores anyway, but he didn’t want anyone thinking he’d slept with that creep. “No, it was more like a companion. Paid date for his reunion, so he didn’t look like a loser without a partner.”
Caleb’s and Jaime’s eyebrows both rose in a comically identical expression. “I think he failed, though,” Caleb said. Then he frowned again. “Wait, that was the guy who tried to force you, wasn’t it?”
“Force you? Like tried to rape you? Maybe we should call the cops.” Jaime was just as pissed as Caleb.
Raven reached out a hand to both of them, one on Caleb’s face and one on Jaime’s shoulder. “It’s okay. He’s a sad, pathetic man who assumed just because he was paying for my company he was entitled to everything. I took care of it, and I’d be surprised if we saw him again.”
Jaime looked thoughtful. “Are you sure? I’ve seen some situations go bad with stalkers.”
“I’m sure it was a coincidence. This is the first time I’ve seen him since that weekend. He’s probably drunk.”
Although Raven was going to unblock his phone, just in case Jeremy was actually stalking him.
“Who was that Stefan guy you mentioned?” Caleb was starting to calm, and Raven was going to have to tiptoe through this minefield, since none of them were in the right frame of mind for this confession.
“He’s an old boss. Jeremy is a friend or acquaintance or something, and Stefan suggested me for Jeremy since he knew I was out of work at the time.” Whew. All truth. And speaking of Stefan, Raven was going to have to drop by the studio for a little visit. Not that he wanted Stefan to escalate anything, but he wanted to warn Stefan that Jeremy seemed to be a little unhinged.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Caleb didn’t want to let go of Raven, but Raven didn’t think he could keep up this pretense tonight. Not while he was still jumpy as fuck, and something told him that this was the absolute worst time to go raking up muck.
“I’m fine, but, maybe you could just take me home? I think I just want to be alone for a bit.”
“Are you sure? I could stay over. Even on the couch.”
Raven shook his head. “No, you said you had that early appointment tomorrow, and my place is way too far.”
“What about my place?”
“No, I just need to be at home.” He laughed weakly. “Too bad I never got that cat I wanted.”
“I’ll take you home, babe. But you call me if you need me, okay? No matter what time it is.”
Chapter FIFTEEN
THE SECURITY desk buzzed up to Raven’s apartment a full hour before he was expecting Caleb to come pick him up for their one-month anniversary.
“Yes?”
“Delivery for you.”
“Um, okay, send it up.” Sweat dampened his palms.
It had only been a couple of days since Jeremy’s weirdass meltdown and threats. Raven had unblocked Jeremy’s number as soon as he got home, and found that Jeremy was still sending pissed-off texts. Nothing overtly threatening—he thought Jeremy was too smart to put something legally actionable into a text message, but Raven could still make a case for harassment, if he saw fit to take it to a lawyer. But that was an issue for another time. He had an unexpected delivery, and half of him was terrified Jeremy had found out where he lived. He’d purchased his place under his real name, which afforded him some protection from eager fans and stalkers, something he’d never realized he’d be grateful for. Stefan was the one who’d talked him out of legally changing his name, and it was yet another way Stefan had saved him.
But he didn’t go out of his way to hide, and he was certain a determined guy with computer skills—like Jeremy—wouldn’t have to dig too deep. Even if he’d never told Jeremy his last name.
If this delivery was from Jeremy, he was probably going to have to involve the cops, and if Jeremy ruined his anniversary, Raven would be tempted to find Jeremy and find out just how rusty his fighting skills were. Raven had plans tonight—plans that he hoped would keep Caleb from getting mad when he confessed about the porn. Not that he was going to do that tonight. He wanted tonight to be perfect.
He paced, the elevator up to his condo taking so much longer than he would have thought, but that was probably just nerves talking.
After suns rose and fell, or so it seemed, his doorbell rang. Cautiously, Raven peered through the peephole. The delivery guy was not Jeremy in uniform, so Raven opened the door.
Bored, the delivery guy looked down at a tablet. “Raven McIntyre?”
“Yes.”
“Sign here.” The tablet flipped his way, and Raven steadied it with one hand before using his finger to sign a signature that was completely unlike the one he made with a pen. Seriously, a fingerprint would probably work better.
“Here.” A long white box was thrust at him, and Raven had to stoop quick to grab it before it fell. The delivery guy was already heading back to the elevator. Guy obviously loved his job.
Then again, if this was from Jeremy, maybe he was just getting the hell out of the blast radius. He swallowed a tiny bleat of nervous laughter. That had to be his imagination getting the better of him. But he didn’t know what this was.
Raven shut and bolted his door before placing the box on the kitchen table. Nibbling his thumbnail, he considered it. It was maybe long enough to have a rifle inside, but that would be sort of a mixed message if it was coming from Jeremy. Also, the red curling ribbon was a rather incongruous touch. He paced in front of the box, hardly wanting to admit to himself that he was listening for ticking. Modern bombs probably didn’t tick like those old-fashioned dynamite bombs, though. Mostly because the average timer didn’t tick these days.
Fuck. He shook himself. This was stupid. Jeremy wasn’t going to send him a damn bomb because Raven hadn’t allowed h
im in his pants… or under his kilt. Even the tiny punishment Will had slapped on his Idyll Fling account wasn’t bomb worthy, not even if Jeremy was stark raving mad. Was it?
This had to be something he had ordered online and forgotten. Maybe something for Tartan Candy.
He could wait for Caleb to show up, but shit. As much as Raven enjoyed when Caleb took care of him, he’d been taking care of himself for a fucking long time. After grabbing a pair of scissors from the drawer, he brandished them at the package before slicing open the ribbon. He let the scissors fall to the table with a clatter, snatched the lid off the box, and ducked before he could talk himself out of it.
Nothing blew up, so he slowly rose and looked inside.
Three perfect crimson roses lay inside with a small white envelope.
Raven didn’t believe in a higher power, not really, but he prayed harder than he had in a decade that the message inside wasn’t from Jeremy.
Holding his breath, he pulled the envelope out and read the message on the card inside.
Thank you for a perfect month. Here’s to many more.
Yours, Caleb
Tears stung Raven’s eyes as he reached into the box to pull out the flowers. No one had ever given him anything. Not like this. And especially not someone he loved. It might be stupid and girly to get all teary over this, but he didn’t care. This was a beautiful gesture. He sniffed, the delicate scent soothing his jangled nerves.
Then he laughed. A nervous, watery laugh, letting out the high-strung tension of the past few minutes. He really was a fool, thinking Jeremy would bother tracking him down for such a stupid reason. Or for any reason.
He didn’t have time to stand around smelling the roses, though. Caleb would be here soon, and he wasn’t ready. Now he had even more incentive to look his best. He didn’t have a vase, but he had a tall beer glass that would do.
Once the roses were situated, he sped back to his bedroom.
Far too soon Caleb arrived, and Raven dashed to the phone to buzz him up. Raven should probably give him a key, since he was over all the time, but he didn’t know if there was some sort of etiquette governing the timeline. There were times when he was glad he and Caleb could just make up whatever relationship rules they wanted as they went along, but other times Raven would have paid his weight in gold for a rule book or a guide book or even a cheat sheet.
