IV || [BL | MxM | Sci-Fi | Romance | Mystery]

The Machine | 5

Content warning: This chapter contains graphic depictions of assault and domestic abuse. 

——————————————————————————————————————

"I don't care about your promises, Dee. He's long gone, I barely remember him. If you're going to use this pathetic shit to play on me ..."

Sunlight streaming through tall windows woke him up; golden flecks danced on the bed rails and walls of the ward. The left shoulder and arm were still burning as if lava was flowing through them, all the way down to the thin golden cuff on the ring finger.

There were a few unknown numbers in the calls list, some missed calls from Mom, and a single message from Collin.

When the police officer came yesterday, he insisted he got drunk and did it on his own by accident. She was having none of it, but eventually gave up, took the signed papers, and left.

He scrolled several times past the calls and the message. He should have waited until another time for that talk, or maybe, shouldn't have opened his mouth at all. Not everyone had Damian's patience for his bullshit.

His eyes fixed on the message again, fingers hovering over it, hesitantly.

'I hope....'.

They met at some boring corporate event and clicked immediately. He just got promoted to lead engineer; Collin just landed his job as an attaché. It turned out they shared many interests. 

He had never fallen in love at first sight before, and things were spinning too fast; being showered attention by a younger man was flattering, but Ray feared ruining an eight-year-long relationship with Jake over some momentary fling. 

Collin grew more pushy and impatient every time Ray declined anything past making out, and it carried on like this for some time until he got that message mid-shift. It had a ticket to Tetiaroa attached, and the text made it clear if Ray wasn't on the flight the next day, they'd never meet again.

He almost drove off a cliff on the way home, being so immersed in thoughts he missed the curve. Jake returned late after an extended shift, and he didn't take 'the news' well once he got over the initial shock; it ended up in Ray tossing the suitcase into a taxi and turning the calls off for the next two weeks.

He rejected the thought his family was worried about him acting so out of character, brushing it off as just them being upset about the breakup. Should have stepped in and called Collin's bullshit out right when the conversation went off rails too, but he chose to ruin his relationship with Damian instead. 

It was one hell of a talent, being so good at lying to oneself for the whole three years. To be fair, at first, Collin was spoiling him rotten, and he swept the occasional slips under the rug, blaming it on the stress as they both were crumbling under pressure in their jobs. He always found some excuse for Collin's outbursts about his growing overtimes with the RX project, or for being scolded for nodding off at yet another charity gala that came with Collin's role as chargé d'affaires and often involved connecting flights. 

It was during being introduced to Dr Yamaguchi that it finally struck Ray how Collin always presented him as "Senior Engineer at Gordon & Rosch, my husband" and never the other way around.

With that realization, 

he decided to suck it up and try harder.

That awkward last call with Damian troubled his mind even more for the past few weeks. He was beating himself up for not canceling everything and driving there, instead of giving in to Collin's whining about another stupid conference. They didn't get to talk anymore before Damian left for Theseus.