Page 47 of One
Until Rami opens his trap again. “Okay, are we really ignoring the Dumbo in the dining room?”
Raph stiffens next to me, but nobody utters a word.
“Ramiel,” Meg warns him.Ramiel?That’s Rami’s whole name?
“I mean, Raph turned Mike’s neck intojoin the dots.” Rami sneers, pointing at the hickeys and bruises on my neck. My hand automatically flies to my collarbone. The round collar of my shirt is loose around my neck, making the marks quite visible. Weirdly, Raph has relaxed next to me. While I’m blushing like a nun at a porn convention.
“Fuck,” Rague says staring at my neck.
“A bit of roughness during casual sex is not a big deal.” Gabe tilts his head to one side in a stiff, robot-like gesture.
He exchanges a long stare with Raph.Casual sex?I know exactly what the douche is implying, and his words piss me the hell off. My fingers tighten around the fork I’m holding.
But the small, evil tilt at the corner of Raph’s lips stops me from replying.
Gabe takes a sip of his wine just as Raph answers nonchalantly, “Stop harassing my boyfriend.”
I gasp, followed by someone else. Don’t know who, since I’m utterly focused on Raph’s serious face.
Gabe chokes on his drink, coughing loudly and spitting it all over the table. I can clearly see Raph trying to bite back the grin of satisfaction.
“Yourwhat?” Uri’s hazel eyes are wide.
“Boyfriend,” Sari exclaims.
“Fuck,” Rague swears once again, his square jaw going slack.
“What the hell, C-3PO! Say it, don’t spray it!” Rami sneers, using his napkin to clean his glass and surroundings. “Give me a heads-up next time,” he tells Raph.
Ferdinand quickly appears to fix the small mess.
Gabe glares the fire of hell at Raph, while patting his mouth dry with a cloth napkin, like a true gentleman.
Raph is giving an impassive expression, placing some vegetables on my empty plate. I can’t thank him. Can’t form a single word. My brain has shut down and there’s an alarm blaring inside my head, repeating the word boyfriend. Boyfriend. B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D.
“Raph, that’s lovely.” Sari excitedly claps his hands.
“It really is.” Meg looks at us for a moment with eyes full of wonder, and something else. Something I can’t read. Then she lowers her gaze to her plate, seemingly lost in her head.
“Fuck.” Apparently, Rague’s vocabulary has been reduced to one—I have to admit, very fitting and explanatory—word.
“The playboy stopped fooling around,” Gabe says like he’s talking about the weather. His voice is back to his normal stolidness.
Playboy?Does Raph like to fuck around?
“Like a serious relationship,” Uri sounds dubious. “With another person.”
“Do you need proof or something?” Raph scoffs annoyingly.
“They humped each other in front of me earlier, pretty sure they’d be up to a horizontal mambo.”
“Ramiel!” Meg scolds him again. But it’s too late. I already took the matter into my own hands, or fingers, when I pinch his side, fucking hard. Unfortunately, Rami doesn’t jump, jerk, or even gasp. He doesn’t even turn my way. Is he made of steel?
“Are you… sure about this?” Gabe asks Raph, without stopping eating. His apathetic behavior and hidden jabs are really getting on my nerves.
Raph’s hand suddenly squeezes my nape. “Michael is my boyfriend, and you’ll treat him with respect. Otherwise, I’ll turn your lives into a living hell.” Raph’s threatening words are even scarier delivered with such a cold tone.
It’s the most amazing short speech anyone has ever made. Even though he’s again acting like a caveman, deciding all alone that we’re a couple. And announcing it in front of his family! Conflicting feelings are battling inside of me. On one hand, I’m spinning pirouettes at the thought of being really his. But another part of me is still ticked off by Raph’s omissions.
