Dolphin-san: Hey there all! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I'm hoping that this chapter will make up for it a little bit.

Chapter 37

It was a good job the lid of the loo seat was down. Otherwise Ray, sitting cross-legged and hugging an empty bottle to his chest, would have fallen in.

'Come on, Ray, I know it's you. Open the door this minute.'

It was Kai's voice. And he sounded bossy.

Bossy bloody Kai Hiwatari, thought Ray, tipping his head back and draining the last few lukewarm drops of wine. Well, Kai can be bossy all he wants. Ray wasn't scared.

He wasn't about to open the door, either.

'Ray.'

'Kai,' Ray mimicked.

'Still alive, then.' Kai sounded relieved. 'Unlock the door, Ray.' Pause. 'We were worried about you.'

'No need to worry about me.' Ray shook his head with such vigour he almost slid off the wooden loo seat. Tut tut, very highly polished, exceedingly dangerous . . . I could sue the hotel for that. Regaining his balance, Ray glared at the door.

'Unlock the door, there's a good boy.' Kai sounded amused.

'God,' grumbled Ray. 'Nag, nag, nag. Oh, and by the way . . . no, I won't.'

'Fine.'

Moments later, he let out a squeal as Kai dropped over the partition dividing Ray's cubicle from the one next to it.

'Who do you think you are,' Ray demanded indignantly, 'Milk Tray Man?'

'Who do you think you are,' Kai countered, 'the latest recruit to the Oliver Reed School of Drinking?'

Ray tried to leap to his feet, but twenty minutes of sitting cross-legged on a loo seat had seized up his knees and ankles completely. Whimpering in pain, he was forced to hang on clumsily to Kai's arms for support as Florence had clung to Tom earlier.

'Ow, ow, my feet, ow –' yelped Ray, his eyes screwed up in agony. The next second he felt himself being lifted up, swung round and plonked down again. The pain had stopped, though the soles of his feet still buzzed with pins and needles. Cautiously opening his eyes, he realised that his suspicions were correct. Kai was now sitting on the toilet seat lid and he was sitting on Kai. Ray could smell Kai's aftershave. Close up like this – and Ray had certainly never been this close before – he couldn't help noticing Kai had really, really nice ears/

Well, ear. From this angle he could only see the left one. But the other one – Mr Right, Ray thought with a stifled giggle – was probably just as attractive in its own way.

'What?' said Kai.

Better not tell him. He might think Ray was weird.

'I feel like a ventriloquist's dummy.'

Kai waggled his fingers.

'Look, no hands.'

Kai was humouring him, Ray realised. Being kind. Overall, he thought he preferred Kai bossy – at least that way he could fight back.

For a terrible second, Ray thought he was going to burst into tears again. As if his eyes weren't swollen and piggy enough.

Kai, glimpsing Ray's expression, gave his waist a brief, meant-to-be-sympathetic squeeze.

'Don't,' warned Ray. His lower lip trembled.

'It's okay to cry. If that's what you want to do, just go ahead,' Kai reassured him.

'Stop it. Please don't be nice to me.' Ray felt his eyes start to fill.

Kai gave his waist another squeeze. Ray's ribcage began to shudder. Oh, the humiliation, this wasn't fair.

'Can't you just say something horrible?' He blurted the words out in desperation. 'Be sarcastic? Give me a slap and tell me to grow up?'

In reply, Kai reached up and smoothed Ray's ruffled hair. His dark eyes were serious. For the first time ever, Kai wasn't teasing him.

'Bastard,' muttered Ray. 'You're no help at all.'

Once he'd stared, it was impossible to stop. This time he didn't have to pretend he was crying for Florence and Tom. These tears, held back for too long, were all for himself.

Kai said nothing, he just held Ray and stroked his back and let the torrent of sobbing run its necessary course.

It felt like hours to Ray, but when he finally hiccupped to a halt and glimpsed Kai's watch as he wiped Ray's eyes, he saw it hadn't been that long at all. Less than ten minutes.

Still, he'd managed to honk and bawl his way through an entire loo roll, which was something. Quite an achievement, actually, in ten minutes.

'Better now?' said Kai at last.

Ray nodded and blew his reddened nose. Reluctantly he muttered, 'Am I supposed to say thank you now?'

'Don't let it trouble you.' Kai grinned at him. 'Happy to help.'

Ray swayed a bit on Kai's lap. He felt light-headed with the relief of getting all that pent-up emotion out of his system. Thanks to the amount of wine he'd guzzled in a short space of time, he also needed, quite badly, to pee.

'Um, could you go now?'

Kai heaved a dramatic sigh.

'That's right, use me and toss me aside like an old Kleenex. Blub all over me, soak my shirt –'

'If you carry on much longer, it'll be more than your shirt that gets soaked,' said Ray.

'Ah. Right.'

'Do I look terrible?' Ray blinked and rubbed his face, which felt salty and raw.

'Not your best, I have to say.'

'Could you call a cab?' Ray sensed his face was beyond repair. 'I think I just want to go home.'

'I'll take you.'

'Make my excuses to everyone. Don't tell them I was crying,' he added hurriedly.

'I'll say you're as pissed as a parrot. Again.'

Ray nodded; that was far less humiliating.

'Thanks.'

Bruce had to attend a trade fair in Bristol on Monday morning. He parked a short distance from Florence's house on Sunday afternoon, not particularly looking forward to seeing his mother but needing to hand the keys over to Max so that tomorrow morning he could open up the shop.

In the event, neither of them was in. The house was empty. Scribbling a note for Max, Bruce shovelled the bunch of keys through the letter-box and headed to his car.

Before he could pull away, a green BMW drew up outside the house, reversing niftily into a space Bruce had considered earlier and rejected as too small. Irritated by the other driver's superior parking skills, he peered across to reassure himself it wasn't a woman.

It wasn't.

It was his mother's toyboy, Orlando.

Bruce's immediate instinct was to shrink down in his seat, he didn't want her to spot him. The prospect of being dragged into the house and having to witness his mother making sheep's eyes at that gigolo was more than he could handle.

But it wasn't Florence, he realised moments later as a tanned elbow – a young elbow – appeared, resting on the passenger-side open window.

Bruce sat bolt upright. Now this was promising. Well, well, in all honesty he hadn't thought Max had it in him.

Then the elbow shifted and the forearm came out, too thin to belong to Max. Bruce, peering harder, glimpsed an assortment of vaguely familiar silver bangles, then a flash of telltale blue-green hair.

Not Max, the other one . . .what was his name?

Ray.

Something odd had begun to happen on the way back from the Salinger Hotel. Every time Kai pulled up at a junction or a set of traffic lights, Ray discovered, he grew more attractive.

It was no longer confined to his ears. Each stolen glance – when Kai wasn't looking at him, of course – revealed yet another admirable feature. The straightness of his nose, those totally unfair eyelashes, not to mention the way his hair curled over his collar . . .

It was more than odd, Ray marvelled, it was astonishing. Like digging a hideous old knitted cardigan out of the back of your wardrobe and realising that you'd made a mistake, it was actually the cardigan of your dreams, pink and perfect.

Breaking through his thoughts – oh, such delicious thoughts – Kai said abruptly, 'We're here.'

'You've been really kind,' Ray told him. 'Really really kind.'

'I know. And you're really really drunk. When did you last have something to eat?'

Ray shrugged, trying to think.

'Tuesday?'

'You should eat.' Kai paused. 'What?'

'What what?'

'Why are you looking at me like that?'

'I don't know,' said Ray, distinctly light headed. His elbow slid off the window frame with a thud. 'Why are you looking like that?'

'Like what?'

Ray pointed an accusing finger at him.

'All gorgeous and, you know, sexy and stuff.'

Kai's mouth twitched. Sexily.

'See?' Ray demanded. 'You're doing it again.'

'Now listen to me, you've had –'

'Can I kiss you?'

Ha, that stopped him in his tracks! He saw Kai's eyes flicker. Sexily.

'Ray.'

Even the way Kai said his name was sexy.

'Or if you want to be masterful about it,' Ray offered, 'you could always kiss me.'

'I don't think I should.'

Ray ignored this. Kai was looking at him with regret, not revulsion. Regret didn't count.

'I want you to.' Reaching over, Ray grabbed Kai's arms. Gorgeous, sexy arms. 'If you don't do it, I will.'

Kai didn't speak.

So Ray kissed him. Sexily for all he was worth.

Bruce, who liked a tidy car, had despaired of Verity's sloppy habit of leaving spare coats slung across the backseat. This time, twisting round, he sent up a prayer of thanks for sloppy people everywhere. He would never moan at Verity again.

Ray missed at first, losing his balance and only managing to make contact with – oof – the stubbled edge of Kai's jaw. Undeterred, he levered himself upright and took fresh aim. This time his mouth landed on Kai's and he closed his eyes with relief. Bingo, this was more like it! Oh yes, this is miles better than being squashed into a toilet cubicle together, with his knees going numb and me bawling my stupid eyes out.

Even if the other contestant didn't appear to be giving it his all.

Ray peeled himself away for a second, to let Kai know he knew.

'Seven out of ten. Must try harder, could do better.' Ray cocked an eyebrow at him. 'I think what we need here is for you to put a bit more effort into this.'

Dolphin-san: YAY! A bit of Kai/Ray action! Once again, I'm so so sorry for the long wait for an update. College work is a nightmare, and now that I'm on placement, it's even worse!