Disclaimer: See previous chapters
Note: big thanks to everyone who has stuck by the (slow) progress of this story and given reviews. Here is more about ray's dilemma – what to do about katey? Does he tell or will she find out? I dunno either, will find out together when I finish this chapter Ah, now I finished chapter, have given it M rating due to language and teeny sexual reference, not an implication on Ray ;p
The door handle turned slowly, quietly. A muted curse and soft footsteps. Katey groaned and screwed up her eyes to look at the bedside clock. Just coming on 8.0am. She hadn't arrived at the apartment until some 3 hours ago and had been just a little surprised that Ray hadn't been there. Still, it was New Year and any number of people he knew could have bumped into him and kept him in their company. After all. she wasn't the jealous type, right? Right?
Katey watched Ray pick his way gingerly across to the bed and smiled up at him as he leaned over to kiss her forehead. He didn't seem too drunk, that was a good sign – shouldn't have been up to any mischief.
"Thought you would have been home before me."
"Yeah, me too but I came across Gregg and Hope on the way and got caught up with them." Ray sighed inwardly. That's lie no.1. Not exactly a great start.
"Weren't they working 'til tonight?" Katey sounded slightly puzzled.
"Nah, think they said they had swapped with someone else." Shit! Lie no.2 and he had only been back 5 minutes! He would have to call Gregg as well to cover him. Only one thing to do…change the subject!
"How was your night? Good time catching up with your girls?"
Katey grinned. "Yeah, it was so much fun, I forget how much I miss them, especially Laurie." Despite filling him on any news, Katey couldn't say why she deliberately omitted her new-found knowledge about Gates, she just knew that Ray's reaction would probably be more to do with Neela than anything else.
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Ray lay awake for a long time after Katey's soft even breathing told him she had fallen asleep some time ago. He just didn't know what the hell he was going to do which was different to knowing what he wanted to, something that he had no doubts about at all. Closing his eyes, Ray instantly remembered the events of just a few hours ago…
"You're not too late." His fingers had traced down her cheeks, wiping away the tears, moved lightly over her lips. His breath had caught in his throat when he felt her body press even closer against his, her hand moving to cover his. Their faces barely centimetres apart and getting closer when she suddenly pulled away. What the…? Was this just another game to her?
"Ray, I can't. Katey…" She continued to pull apart from him.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! He couldn't believe that after all the waiting when he had been so close, they had been so close, it was him who now had to sort out his love-life. Hang on, she still had Gates.
"What about you and Gates?"
"We hadn't said to anyone, we broke up a week ago but we already had the tickets to this dinner-dance thing so we decided just to make the best of it." She smiled sheepishly. "They were really expensive and it would have been such a waste of money not to have gone."
Fuck!
They had sat together for the rest of the bottle of wine, bodies close to each other, the air between them heavy with mutual need but punctuated with forced light-heartedness. At last when they could just about stand it no longer, Ray made his excuses and left with a dull ache in his heart and groin.
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Ray swung his long legs out of bed and sat on the edge, his head was beginning to pound, a lethal combination of too much alcohol, lack of sleep and a large romantic problem. He glanced over his shoulder at Katey. He had spent so much time trying to convince her that Neela was no longer an issue for him and when she had finally relented to his persistence, how could he now turn around and tell her that she had been right all along?! Pulling open the bedside drawer, he rummaged around until he felt his hand close around the carton of ibuprofen and codeine.
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Katey heard his search for painkillers and opened her eyes, silently studied his back as a pensive frown appeared on her brow. She had been woken by Ray's restless form shifting about but had pretended to be asleep, trying to quell a flutter of panic that was making itself known. She knew for a fact that Pratt was the attending on duty over the New Year Holiday as she had happened to be present when he and Morris had flipped a coin to decide who would cover Christmas and New Year. There was no-one else to swap with as Luka had managed to wangle time off to have a proper family Christmas with Abby and Joe.
Why would Ray lie about who he was with unless… No, she and Gates had left the dance well before they had. There was no way Ray could have met her…could he? Katey told herself to stop it, that was what had taken her so long to get him in the first place, she had been so paranoid about Neela that she could hardly believe it when Ray had pursued her so hard and it was why she had taken so long to agree to go out with him.
She closed her eyes again when she saw him swallow the tablets and slide back under the covers. Katey moved as if stirred during sleep and drew in close to Ray who lay with his back to her. The fluttering grew when she felt Ray shift ever-so slightly away from her. What the hell was going on?
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Note: how's ray going to get out of this? you know what to do :)
