A Mother's Bond

71

"You think?" Ray asked, carefully stepping around the pile of pictures to get to him. "I want to make sure you can see the lines on my abs. I don't plan on maintaining this body, so I need memories of it. Solid proof I was fine as hell."

Kai glanced at her and laughed. "Shit, I can't even get mad at you for feelin' yourself right now because you look good. Almost as good as yours truly." He posed and did a weird smile, moving his eyebrows.

Ray watched him, confused. "Seriously, who are you supposed to be? Just tell me!"

Kai's shoulders sagged. "You really don't know?"

I studied his familiar outfit, narrowing my eyes. I clapped, realizing who he was. "Kyle! Kyle Barker."

Kai spun around and pointed at me. "YES! Thank you for bringing culture to our conversation."

Ray turned around about to speak, but whatever she'd planned on saying died on her lips once she saw me. I didn't usually dress to impress because honestly, I never gave a fuck what people thought about me. But damn it felt good to get that reaction from Ray.

"Wow," she whispered, a small smile on her lips. She slid her shades lower to get a better look at me.

I don't know what it was about that expression and that outfit, but whatever it was, it was making me feel some type of way. My face heated up as she examined me.

"Alright, I think you're good." I said, trying to get her away from me.

Ray shook her head, still staring at me. "Not even close," she mumbled in that same husky tone.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Kai teased in a nasally voice.

Ray turned to look at him, her eyebrow raised. "Great idea."

"No," I protested, but she already had her phone out.

"I've been meaning to change my lock screen," she mumbled, her bottom lip planted firmly between her teeth.

I blushed fiercely and folded my arms, trying to hide as best as I could. She wasn't having any of that though, immediately pushing my arms back down with a knowing look.

I let her take a few pictures before I had enough and snatched her phone from her. She laughed, pulling me into a hug.

"Okay, okay. I'm done," she promised. "I don't even know why you're acting all shy. It's just Kai and Blue, and they're not even paying attention to us."

I looked over her shoulder and realized she was right. They were back to their photoshoot except this time Blue was the photographer, shouting instructions at Kai who gladly listened.

I chuckled and looked back at Ray. "Yeah. I guess I'm just not used to you looking at me like...you know."

Her eyes gleamed in amusement. "Like what?"

I blushed. "Honestly...like I look at you."

She laughed. "Ah, I see. Well you should get used to it, because you're gonna be seeing this look all night."

"Oh, that's how you feel?"

Ray nodded, smiling. She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I closed my eyes, falling into her. When we parted, she stayed close, biting her lip. My heart raced as I watched her. She smirked and slowly pulled away, keeping her eyes on me.

"Damn," she whispered.

"Hey, slow your roll," Kai piped up. "There are kids present."

"Yeah!" Blue chimed in. "Kai's present!"