Jade Archer - Sandpipers 2 - Raven's Mark (16 page)

Mark parked his SUV in front of Raven’s apartment building and glanced up into the rear view mirror. In the dim pools of light and shadow created by the streetlights he could see Ryan still sound asleep in the back seat—head resting heavily against the side of his booster, face angelic and relaxed. He hadn’t even stirred as they’d pulled up.

“Yeah.”
“It was nice of the guys to invite us to dinner,” Mark said, hoping to prolong their
goodnights.
Raven turned back to face the front, eyes downcast as he fussed with straightening his
jacket. “I’m g-glad they enjoyed their t-time away.”
“Uh huh.”
Mark ran his thumb over the steering wheel. Zak, Lark and Brody had invited them to
stay for dinner as a thank you to Raven for taking care of Wolf over the weekend. And it had
turned out to be a wonderful evening with their three, still starry-eyed and slightly
debauched-looking friends. But now it was time to say goodnight to Raven. And damn it was
hard. Mark really didn’t want to let him go.
“Thank you,” Raven suddenly whispered.
“What for?” Mark asked, surprised by the depth of feeling in Raven’s voice. Raven looked down at his lap, rubbing at a non-existent mark on his pants. “For
bringing us h-home. And for everything. I m-mean…today.”
Mark grinned, remembering the morning that had stretched out into early afternoon,
making love to Raven. “Oh, you’re very welcome. Believe me.”
Even in the low light, Mark could see Raven’s blush. But at the same time Raven smiled,
and it was the most tempting, wonderful thing Mark had ever seen. He couldn’t have helped
himself if he’d tried—he cupped the back of Raven’s head, drawing him in for a long, slow
kiss.
“Will you stay?” Raven murmured when they finally pulled away from each other. Mark was a little shocked. He hadn’t expected Raven to offer something like that. His brain wasn’t really in gear when he asked, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
He wanted to whoop out a cheer but wasn’t sure how Raven would take such a display.
And he certainly didn’t want to risk waking Ryan. He had plans for the rest of the evening
now and not much patience with any delay in executing them.
“Do you think we can get Ryan inside without waking him up?” he asked instead. “Yeah. He’s a p-pretty heavy sleeper once he’s out.”
“Mmm…you wouldn’t believe how glad I am to hear that right now.” Raven smiled, shy and wicked all at the same time. “Oh, I think I w-would.” If Mark’s cock hadn’t already been hard enough to drive nails, he would have stiffened
right up at the look on Raven’s face in that moment—a look that said all sorts of things to the
primal instinct to claim his lover over and over again.
Then Raven kissed him, and Mark couldn’t help the little moan of appreciation that
slipped past his lips.
“Let’s get him upstairs. Then we can get into something a little more c-comfortable,”
Raven said, still grinning.
“Mmm…did I mention how comfortable you’re looking tonight?”
Raven laughed. “Oh that was t-terrible. I was thinking about b-bed.”
Mark stole another kiss. “I like the way you think.”
It was difficult, but after one last lingering taste Mark forced himself to stop kissing
Raven and get out of the car. Eager to get in and settled, he hurried around to help get Ryan
and his gear out. It astonished him how much stuff one little person needed for six hours of
preschool. He couldn’t remember Lucy and Evan needing as much at the same age. But then
again, it was a while ago now and had sort of passed in a blur even at the time. Mark was
determined to pay more attention this time.
Distracted by his thoughts and watching Raven as he hopped out and moved to open
Ryan’s door, Mark was startled when a woman stepped out of the shadows. It was rather late
for her to be wandering around on her own, even in this relatively quiet neighbourhood. He was just about to ask if he could help—thinking she might be lost or in some sort of trouble—
when Raven let out a startled gasp.
“M-M-Maria.”
“Hello, Raymond,” the woman drawled as she sashayed towards them. The sound sent a shiver down Mark’s spine. What the hell?
“W-w-what are you d-doing here?” Raven stammered as he took a step back. “Looking for you, of course.” The smile she gave Raven in that moment could only be
described as predatory.
Who was this woman? And why was she looking at Raven as if she was a very large cat
that had just worked out how to get into the canary’s cage? Without thinking, Mark moved
to stand beside Raven.
“H-how did you find m-me?” Raven asked, looking decidedly pale and a far cry from
the laughing, carefree man of a few minutes earlier.
“Your brother helped me. If he hadn’t told me about your little writing sideline I might
never have found you. He wasn’t very happy that you up and left town like that, by the
way.”
Raven definitely looked shaken now.
What the hell was going on?
Mark studied the woman as she stood in front of them. Short and rather petite, she
looked to be in her early thirties, certainly not any older than thirty-five. With long curly
dark brown hair and a lovely smooth caffé latte complexion, she was quite pretty, really. But
there was something hard and bitter about her eyes—like unsweetened dark chocolate. Maria returned his scrutiny before stepping forward and extending her hand in
greeting. “Hello there. You’ll need to forgive Raymond. He has trouble with the little social
niceties sometimes, so I’ll introduce myself. I’m Maria. Raymond’s wife.”
Mark felt like he’d been kicked in the balls—that same gut-churning agony hit him hard
as the words landed between them. “Wife?”
“No! M-Mark, it’s n-n-not like—”
“He didn’t tell you about me, I take it?” Maria looked down her nose at Raven—an
impressive feat considering she was a good half a head shorter. “I can’t say I’m entirely
surprised.”
“You said your wife was dead,” Mark managed to squeeze out past the lump in his
throat and the fog of betrayal clouding his mind. No wonder Raven had looked so pale and
distressed when he’d seen her.
“I n-never said she was d-dead. I said she was g-gone,” Raven managed as he looked
back and forth between Mark and Maria. “And she’s my
ex
-w-wife!”
Maria’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie to the man any more than you already have,
Raymond. The game is well and truly up.”
“N-no! I d-divorced you.”
“Since when?”
“When you t-took off with your art d-dealer, chasing fortune and f-fame.” “You’re lying.”
“N-No! I’m n-not!”
“Raymond! Stop this. You’re only mak—”
“D-don’t call me that! It’s R-Raven!”
“Raymond, please. You’re acting like a child! You’ve been caught and—” “You r-rode out of town and n-never looked back, leaving m-me trying to scrape
together enough m-money for food and r-rent, and
I’m
the ch-child?”
Mark was confused and hurt as he listened to the two of them argue back and forth—
not knowing which way to turn or what was coming next. He was finding it hard to
concentrate past the pain of deceit that battered at him. How could he not know any of this
about Raven?
Suddenly, Maria let out an exasperated sigh.
“Raymond, please,” she said, a soft, pleading note in her voice now. “It was a mistake. I
know that now. I—”
“N-no!” Raven shook his head vigorously. “It was the b-best damn thing that ever hhappened to me! Or R-Ryan!”
Maria’s eyes flashed with fury. “Raymond—”
“Daddy?”
Mark spun around to see Ryan slide out of the car and come to stand beside them. “Hey, sweetie,” Maria cooed.
Ryan drew back, cowering behind Mark’s leg as Raven stepped in to block Maria’s
approach.
Her eyes darkened with anger as she fixed on Raven again. “Have you been poisoning
him against me?”
“He d-doesn’t know you,” Raven snapped. “You l-left when he was three.” Maria glanced between Mark and Raven, then all the tension in her body and fire in her
eyes slowly bled away until she looked small and sad. “I’m sorry, Raymond. I never meant to
hurt you. I just… Everything was so messed up. Suddenly there was Ryan and my artwork
wasn’t selling so well, and… I just couldn’t cope. But I never meant to hurt you. You know
that, right? I just…” Maria looked down to where Ryan still hid behind Mark’s leg. “I just
want a chance to get to know Ryan. And maybe…maybe we could try to be a family again.” Mark’s heart felt like an arctic blast had rolled through it, as Maria’s words fell between
them.
“I’m sorry,” she continued. “I know I messed up. I just want a chance to make things
right.”
“You l-left us.”
“I know, baby. But—”
Raven’s hands clenched at his sides. “No!”
“Raymond—”
“It’s R-Raven!”
“Can’t we talk about this?” Maria’s eyes darted to Mark. “Privately.”
“He th-threw you out, didn’t he?” Raven said, straightening to stand a little taller.
“Your fancy art d-dealer got sick of you.”
Maria’s eyes narrowed, the angry spark returning in an instant. “That’s enough—” “No!” Raven repeated.
“He’s my son too, you know. I never agreed to any divorce and I certainly didn’t agree
to you taking him thousands of miles away. I have rights—”
“You g-gave them up the day you w-walked away.”
Mark wanted to scream at them both to just stop. The barrage of noise and confusing
emotions was too much. But he couldn’t seem to make his mouth move. Finally, he looked down at Ryan—all wide-eyed and terrified as his parents fought. It unlocked Mark’s vocal
cords like nothing else could.
“Guys, you’re scaring Ryan. You need to stop.”
Mark wasn’t surprised when Raven immediately clamped his mouth shut—he was only
glad Maria decided to do the same.
“You need to sort this out between you,” Mark said with a calmness he didn’t feel as he
glanced back down at Ryan pointedly. “But this isn’t the time or the place.” The look on Raven’s face was like a knife to Mark’s heart—a strange mixture of hurt
and betrayal. He steeled himself against it. This was bigger than the two of them. Like it or
not, Raven and Maria were connected through Ryan. Raven and his wife—
ex
-
wife…whatever—needed to work things out between them or it was Ryan who would suffer.
Mark couldn’t think about anything beyond that right now.
“Yes,” Maria said, taking Raven’s arm as he stood staring at Mark. “Your friend’s right.
We should figure out a better time and place.”
Mark ignored the triumphant look on Maria’s face as she led Raven a little way off. As
long as they sorted out a time and place that didn’t have Ryan anywhere near the firing line,
that was the only thing that mattered right now.
“You promised you’d take care of my daddy.” Ryan suddenly said, his voice full of
accusation as he looked up at Mark.
His heart ached. Ryan looked so scared right now.
“Ryan, I—”
“You promised!”
“Your mom and dad need to talk and sort things out, buddy.”
“You promised,” Ryan whispered again, tears welling in his eyes.
Something in the way Ryan looked up at him, in the trembling note of fear he heard in
the little boy’s voice, started to worm its way into Mark’s brain. Glancing over at Raven, he
suddenly noticed his lover looked almost as pale and frightened as Ryan.
Echoes of the words Ryan had spoken at Wolf’s birthday party so many months ago
began to replay in Mark’s mind. ‘
You’re not allowed to hurt him. Friends don’t hurt each other’. Oh my—!
It was like a blindfold had suddenly been ripped away.
Mark rushed forward, but it was already too late.
“You lying bastard!” Maria snarled.
As if in slow motion, Mark watched Maria lash out. The smack of her hand to Raven’s
cheek was loud and shocking. But it wasn’t alone. Without pause, Maria slapped Raven
again.
“You were holding out on me the whole time, weren’t you? You son of a—” Before she could land another blow, Mark wrapped his hand around her wrist, locking
it in place. Maria looked stunned. He had to assume no one had ever tried to stop her before. Glancing over to Raven, Mark was shocked to see a smear of blood at the corner of his
mouth.
There were so many things Mark wanted to say in that moment, but he settled for just
one as he swung his gaze back to Maria.
“You need to leave.”
“You can’t tell me—”
“Leave or I’ll call the police.” Mark kept his voice completely even and calm. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ryan creep up to wrap his arms around his
father’s waist and bury his head against Raven’s side. Maria yanked her arm out of Mark’s
grasp and he released her readily, but refused to take his eyes off her for a second. “You’ll regret this,” Maria said as she straightened her jacket and stepped back. “We’ll
see what a judge has to say. Especially when I tell them about the two of you. Don’t think I
don’t know what’s been going on here.”
Mark thought he saw Raven pull Ryan a little closer, but he couldn’t look away to check
on them properly as he focused all his attention on making sure Maria truly left. He couldn’t believe he’d almost made the biggest mistake of his life. He’d been so close
to letting her sink her claws into Raven. If what he was beginning to suspect was true— “I th-think you should g-go.”
Mark jerked in surprise and turned his head to see Raven looking at him—the blood
cleaned away from the corner of his mouth, his expression withdrawn and shuttered against
him.
“Raven, please. I’m sorry. I thought—” “I know w-what you thought.” There wasn’t a trace of emotion in Raven’s voice, and it chilled Mark to the bone. “Raven, I’m sorry.” Mark looked down at where Ryan still clung to Raven,
remembering the promise he’d made and broken. “I made a mistake, okay? I’m sorry.” “It’s n-not about that,” Raven said as he began guiding Ryan away. Mark noticed his
hands were beginning to shake a little. “I just… I n-need to get out of h-here. I h-have to… I
h-have to w-work out w-what to do.”
Mark was terrified when, instead of heading towards the apartment building, Raven
walked towards the parking lot, fishing his keys out of his pocket as he went. Mark had the
sinking feeling working-out-what-to-do meant running away to Raven.
“Don’t. Don’t take off. Stay here and fight. Let me help you.”
“Please, I j-just… I n-need to g-go.”
Raven had reached his car as he spoke. He unlocked the back and lifted Ryan into his
booster seat. Ryan, looking lost and frightened, stared at Mark as Raven silently worked to
strap him in.
“You have friends and people who will help you here, Raven. Let them. Please don’t
go.”
Raven shut Ryan’s door and headed around to the driver’s side without a word. “Raven—”
“I… I n-need to go, Mark.”
“Please, don’t do this. Don’t shut me out. I’m sorry. I didn’t understand—” “M-Mark, d-don’t…” Raven closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Don’t m-make this
any harder than it has to b-be.”