Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
He hissed when Rayne placed two cold bags of vegetables on each hand before he climbed into bed beside him. The entire time Mike was gone, all he could think of was what was waiting for him back here. Rayne rubbed his neck with a different purpose than he did earlier. This massage was for comfort and emotional healing. Mike could feel it, feel the peace Rayne radiated from his soul.
“You can talk to me,” he said after a long moment.
My gentle Rayne. Mike kept his eyes closed because he only wanted to feel the calm that Rayne was giving him, not the rage he’d just unleashed. But the harder he tried not to think about it, the more he saw Score’s devastated face when they walked into his sister’s house and found her lying in a crumpled heap while the paramedics and firemen hurried to take care of the children first. When his good friend saw his sister’s and nephew’s blood on the carpet, something in him snapped. Something in both of them did.
“It was Score’s sister. That’s why I had to go,” Mike said around a scratchy throat that was raw with emotion. “She left her abusive ex about a year ago, but the protective order she has against him is a worthless piece of paper I could wipe my ass with.”
Rayne didn’t interrupt, and Mike was grateful because he wasn’t sure how much he could stomach telling, but he also didn’t want them to have secrets.
“But… he was there waiting for her when she got home from work. She wasn’t paying attention, and he came right in behind her and the kids.” Mike squeezed his eyes tighter when he pictured the unnatural angle the two-year-old’s arm had been bent in. “A neighbor heard the fighting and shit breaking and called the cops, but the coward piece of shit ran off before they got there.”
“Oh no.” Rayne frowned. “Please tell me the police caught him?”
Mike shook his head, and he didn’t want to see Rayne’s expression when he admitted, “No… me, Score, and Manny found him first. Now he knows what it feels like to be in critical condition.”
Chapter Forty-nine
Rayne
Rayne had to go to work that morning, and he somehow had to function the entire day on only two hours of sleep, but he was glad when Mike had taken his advice and stayed off work a couple of days to let his fists heal. By the following Friday, everything had returned to normal. Meaning Mike went back to work Wednesday and practically killed himself to make up for the time he was off, and Rayne had to concentrate on attending regular meetings and finishing his credit hours.
He and Mike hadn’t had much time to explore more intimacy that week, but he hoped they would this weekend. At least they’d been able to talk about their day and eat dinner together a few times during the week before they both passed out in bed from exhaustion. Mike was still struggling to find new hires, and Rayne was overextended working at the law office all day and the spa at night. He was proud to be making a living on his own, but he didn’t know actual work was so hard.
Rayne stood in the center of the front yard on his yoga mat with his head tilted toward the bright sun and his arms raised high above his head on his fifth sun salutation. He would’ve liked to have gone to the afternoon Hatha yoga class at the fitness center, but he and Mike were having company this afternoon to discuss planning Bishop and Edison’s wedding. So Rayne had been busy cleaning the house and prepping his food for the outdoor cookout.
He smiled as he folded forward and let out a controlled exhalation, touching his fingertips to the moist soil. If he couldn’t practice yoga in a studio, then outdoors in a beautiful garden was the next best thing. Rayne had a feeling that Mike and Bishop were in some sort of competition with their yards, and from what he understood, Manny’s exterior was pretty spectacular as well.
Rayne was doing yoga to calm his mind and his nerves. He had about ten minutes of standing meditation after he finished his practice, and then he’d go inside and shower before their company began to arrive. Our company. It was official. He and Mike were partners, a couple, together, and their closest friends and family were about to see it for the first time. Bishop and Trent liked him well enough, but he wanted them to see how good he was for their father. That he’d be a good man to him.
Rayne kneeled on his mat with his hips in the air and his chest pressed against the tops of his thighs in child’s pose. It was a great position to stretch his back and hip muscles since he wanted to be extra limber for tonight. Rayne wanted to celebrate completing his massage certification this week and the amazing job offer he got from Vanessa to be a full-time therapist at the Cavalier Spa on the oceanfront. And the even better news was he’d only be working five blocks away from Wood’s tattoo shop; they could meet for lunch. He hated to leave his part-time job at the law office because he’d made a couple of really nice friends there, but that job had been a temporary position, and massage therapy was his career, his dream.