Jade Archer - Sandpipers 2 - Raven's Mark by Jade Archer

it for days. He heard the soft plea over and over. But it was crazy. He hadn’t even considered…whatever it was he was supposed to be thinking about in years. Hell, he couldn’t even think the word ‘date’. So why couldn’t he get Mark out of his head? And why did his cock start to stir and want to come out to play every time he even thought of the man, never mind set eyes on him? He hadn’t had a libido in forever. Why now?
“Earth to Raven. Come in, Raven,” Lark suddenly said, breaking into his heavy thoughts.
“Huh?” He hadn’t even heard Lark enter the room.
Looking up, he caught the tail end of Brody scowling at Lark, before his expression cleared and he turned to face Raven, handing over a steaming mug. “Everything okay?”
“Yes.” But Raven couldn’t hold Brody’s gaze long enough to make either of them believe it. Taking a deep breath, he knew he needed to do something. To take the plunge—if only to try and save what was left of his sanity. “I was wondering, w-would you… That is…”
“What?” Brody prompted gently when the silence stretched out too long.
“Would you guys maybe…l-look after Ryan for me one evening for a f-few hours.”
“Sure. Anytime.”
“Any date in particular?” Lark asked with a sly grin.
“Lark!” Brody admonished.
But Lark looked wholly unrepentant. “What?”
“I h-haven’t decided yet.”
“Well when you do, just let us know,” Brody said, fixing Lark with a stern glare. “We’d love to have Ryan over.”
“Thank you. I’m just th-thinking about it.”
“Ryan would be fine if that’s what you’re worried about. He seems right at home here,” Brody reassured in that gentle, quiet way of his.
Raven nodded. He knew and trusted Brody, Lark and Zak. He’d seen first-hand how they loved and treated Wolf. But more than that, Brody was right. Now that he stopped to think about it, while the party had been a challenge—a strange, noisy situation that Raven completely understood Ryan being nervous about—ordinarily his son was very comfortable here. “Thank you for h-having him over so often. It’s nice to see him so…h-happy.”
“Ryan’s a great kid. And Wolf’s completely taken with him.” Brody blew gently across his coffee cup. “Ms Gwen says they’re virtually inseparable at preschool.”
“And you know, we’d be more than happy to make it a sleepover,” Lark suggested with an enthusiastic grin and a cheeky waggle of his eyebrows.
Raven felt himself flush to the tips of his ears.
“Lark, give the guy a break, huh?” Brody mumbled.
“I’m just saying he should go for it. A good looking guy like Mark…well, they don’t come along every day. Present company excluded, of course.”
How on earth did they…
    Raven watched as Brody grinned and shook his head at Lark, but he didn’t look at all shocked that Mark’s name had been mentioned.
“I d-don’t know what you’re talking about,” Raven finally managed to stammer.
Two sets of eyes swung around to stare at him. Neither looked like they believed him for a second.
“Yeah! Sure,” Lark drawled.
Raven lowered his eyes and fiddled with the handle of his coffee cup. Apparently— somehow—they knew. Maybe Mark had said something. Maybe he just wasn’t as inconspicuous about his attraction to Mark as he thought he was. Either way, it was obvious he wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all himself. And in the end, Lark was probably right— Mark wouldn’t hang around forever. He needed to make a decision—
No! On second thought, he just needed to do it. Life wasn’t meant to be lived scared of your own shadow all the time. It was no example to set for Ryan.
“Is Mark w-working tonight?”
“No. It’s his day off,” Brody supplied quickly, eyeing Lark the whole time.
Raven slumped a little. This was hard enough. If he didn’t do it right now, he’d probably chicken out. And funnily enough, deep down he didn’t want to, and it had nothing to do with setting an example