Dolphin-san: Konichiwa mina! Here's the next little chapter for you all to enjoy.

Chapter 13

Ray sat huddled on one of the kitchen chairs with a towel around his shoulders and a spreading puddle of chlorinated water at his feet. His teeth chattered dramatically against the rim of his coffee cup. His hair, which had been subjected to a cruelly brisk towel-dry by Takao, stood out in spikes.

'I can't take you anywhere.'

'It wasn't my fault,' Ray protested. 'Blame melon-head. He was the one who threw me in.'

'But why does it always have to happen to you?' Mystified, Takao shook his head.

'I don't know. Stuff just does.' Even as a child, Ray gloomily remembered, his despairing mother had called him incident-prone.

'Those naughty boys,' said Tabitha, appearing in the doorway with an armful of dry clothes. 'I'm going to give them a good talking-to. Here you are darling, pop upstairs to my room and het yourself out of those wet things.'

In Tabitha's bedroom, Ray peeled off his sodden clothes, dried himself and changed into a white sweatshirt and jeans. Sitting on the edge of the bed to pull on a pair of blue angora socks, he felt something crackle behind him and pulled out a copy of the Daily Mail from under the rumpled bedspread.

Tabitha had even left it open at the Dempster page, which was handy. One sock on and one sock off, Ray leaned over to find out exactly what Daisy Schofield had been up to on Wednesday night.

There was a knock on the door.

'Are you decent?'

'As I'll ever be.'

The bedroom door was swung open. His team-mate, now fully dressed and with his silver hair slicked back from his face, said, 'Is your boss furious with you?'

'No, but I'm not too thrilled with you.' Ray recognised him at once with his clothes on. He pointed an accusing finger at the photograph in the paper. 'What were you doing on Wednesday night with Daisy Schofield?'

The other grinned.

'Are you sure you want to know?'

No wonder he looked familiar. Brian Kutsenov (don't know if that's how you spell that XP I'm not that great with Russian, but he's British in this fic), Formula One racing river, had burst on to the motor-racing scene less than a year ago, but the publicity he attracted was unrelenting. With his extravagant good looks, undoubted talent and laid-back personality, he was being touted as the new James Hunt.

'I'm not interested in the gory details. I meant, why was she with you?'

'Probably because she fancies me.' Brian Kutsenov winked. 'Oh dear, don't tell me you're jealous.'

'Daisy Schofield was supposed to be at a cocktail party. She cancelled, said she was ill. Or rather you did,' Ray pointedly remarked, realising that the mystery man who had spoken to Elizabeth Turnbull on the phone must have been him. He frowned. 'You lied. Wasn't that a bit of a mean thing to do?'

'You went to the party, I take it?'

'Yes.'

'Was it dull?'

Ray hesitated. He'd been okay, he'd met Hiro. But if he hadn't, it would have been crashingly dull.

'There you are then.' When Ray didn't immediately reply, Brian Kutsenov shrugged, unconcerned. 'That's why she didn't go.'

'But she was a celebrity guest.' Ray wanted to make him understand. 'You wouldn't like it if you organised a charity event and nobody else bothered to turn up.'

'Oh.' He had the grace – at last – to look ashamed. 'I didn't know it was for charity.'

Ray wasn't sure whether or not he believed him.

'Anyway, what are you doing here?' Changing the subject, Ray wriggled the angora sock onto his foot. 'When I saw the two of you in the pool, I thought you were Tabitha's latest toyboys.'

Brian laughed.

'Tala dragged me along, that's all. He's an old mate of mine and Tabitha's his godmother. Five minutes after meeting her,' he went on, 'I realised the middle of the swimming pool was the safest place to be. I'm telling you, that woman has seriously wandering hands.'

'Weren't you scared she might jump in after you?'

'She told us her hairdresser was on his way over, so she mustn't get her hair wet. That,' he told Ray with a crooked smile, 'was when I dived in.'

'If you can handle a Formula One racing car, I'd have thought you could cope with a middle-aged nymphomaniac.'

Brian considered this for a moment.

'The difference is, Tabitha has no brakes.'

Downstairs once more, with his soggy clothes bundled into a Fortnum and Mason carrier bag, Ray was formally introduced to Tala, Tabitha's godson. He dutifully apologised for giving him a ducking. Ray in turn admired the splendid bump on his forehead, inflicted by the melon. Then it was time to roll up the sleeves of his borrowed white sweatshirt and help Takao with the defoiling of Tabitha.

'Aunt Tab, we're off.' Tala poked his head round the bathroom door as Ray massaged conditioner into Tabitha's scalp.

'Have fun, you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't do.' Tabitha's head was bent over the basin. 'And where's Brian? I haven't had my goodbye kiss yet.'

'His manager called. He's outside, on the phone.' Tala's wink indicated that Brian had legged it to the safety of his car. 'By the way,' he addressed Ray, 'we're off to a party at the Unicorn Club tonight. Brian wondered if you'd like to come along.'

Astonished, Ray stopped massaging. He felt his cheeks go pink with pleasure.

Brian Kutsenov was actually inviting him to a party?

Well, maybe not asking him himself, but getting his friend to invite him.

Golly, was that exciting or what?

He had been beaming idiotically at Tala for a couple of seconds before his brain kicked in, reminding him why he'd been in such a good mood this morning and why he was already looking forward to tonight.

Talk about rotten timing.

'I'd love to.' Ray's insides crumpled with regret. 'I mean, I would have loved to. But I can't, not this evening. I've already . . . er, got something on.'

'Okay.' Tala sounded unperturbed. It clearly didn't bother him either way.

But it bothers me, Ray thought frustratedly.

'What a shame, it would have been great.' Ray plastered a bright smile on his face. 'Maybe another night? I mean, I'm usually free. In fact, any other evening and I'd definitely be able to make it.'

He clamped his runaway lips together. Oh dear, how desperate could a single guy get? Now he sounded like Bev.

Tala, nodding, checked his watch and backed out of the bathroom door.

'Okay, right, see you around.'

'You blew it,' Tabitha said flatly when he had gone. 'Darling, you must be mad. With people like Brian Kutsenov, you don't get a second chance.'

Ray poured an extra dollop of conditioner into his hand and gloomily resumed the scalp massage. Typical. Six whole months since his last boyfriend, and now this had to happen. Maybe it was God's way of punishing him for pinching Hiro from Bev.

'So what is it you're doing tonight?' Tabitha persisted with annoying cheerfulness. 'Flying over to LA for the premiere of the new Tarantion movie? A cosy dinner for two at he Ritz with Leonardo di Caprio?'

'I met this chap on Wednesday night,' Ray mumbled. 'It's our first date.' He couldn't bring himself to say they'd probably go for a couple of lukewarm beers and a limp pizza.

'Would I have heard of him?'

'No. He works in insurance.'

'Good grief.' Tabitha burst out laughing. 'And you turned down Brian Kutsenov for that!' Rather heartlessly, in Ray's view, she went on, 'I only hope he's worth it.'

Remembering suddenly how unreliable other men were and how often he had been let down in the past, Ray wondered if Hiro would even turn up tonight.

Feeling distinctly uneasy, he murmured, 'So do I.'

Dolphin-san: I apologise if it seems a bit short, but I wrote it during my free periods in school today and when I got home I couldn't think of anything to add to it, so I'm leaving it here for now. Please review and I assure you, this is still going to end up as a Kai/Ray fic, it's just going to take forever. Gomen.