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Ray loved driving the Riv down long highways at night, with the miles falling behind him and all his mistakes swallowed up in the darkness. When he’d been in Vegas, he’d made time to take Langoustini’s Jag down the dark roads, and although one of his bodyguards had always followed a few car lengths behind, for an hour Ray could be no one at all. Just a guy in a nice car, roaring down the freeway; sometimes with the radio on low and playing soft jazz, usually just listening to the music of the engine.
Stuck in the middle of his undercover assignment and with no idea when it would end, Ray figured, on those rare occasions he let himself think of the future, that those moments would be the best left of his life. But now, glancing in the rearview mirror at Kowalski asleep in the backseat, looking to the passenger seat and seeing Fraser sitting there, eyes half-open, Ray was glad he’d been wrong.
Fraser looked over at him and smiled. “Are you still awake enough to drive?” he asked, his voice soft.
“Yeah, I’m good, Benny, thanks,” Ray said. He kept his voice low so as not to disrupt Kowalski, even though Ray knew once Kowalski was out, there was little besides an emergency that would get him up again until he was damn good and ready.
Fraser stretched one arm over the backseat and rubbed the base of Ray’s neck with his strong fingers. “How’s that?”
“Mmm,” was all the answer Ray could muster, and he tried not to let his eyes close with pleasure. He’d been driving for hours, the three of them on a vacation up to Canada to see Maggie for a week, and then a rendezvous later with Kowalski’s parents for a few days to go see Mount Rushmore and be clucked over. Mrs. Kowalski reminded Ray of his mom, but with less guilt and more Polish food.
Polish food was pretty far from his mind right now though. Mostly what he was thinking was how warm Benny’s hand always was, and when the hell had Benny grown a third and fourth arm? Ray flicked another glance in the mirror and saw Kowalski was awake and was now massaging Ray’s shoulders.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“Shouldn’t you be watching the road?”
Ray should have been, and he was, mostly, but Kowalski was still half-lidded with sleep, and his voice was low in Ray’s ear, just barely heard over the engine. “I’d rather watch you,” he admitted softly, letting the words fall back and be swallowed up by the dark, too. Kowalski’s hands tightened on his shoulders, and he nuzzled into the tender spot behind Ray’s ear.
“Ah, Ray,” Fraser said, and Ray re-focused on the road, brought the car all the way back into the lane. “Perhaps you better sit back, Ray.”
“I’m kind of enjoying the view from here,” Kowalski said, the words falling warm into Ray’s neck. But he leaned over towards Fraser and Ray watched them kiss, slow and sweet. Fraser’s hand slipped down from Ray’s neck, along his arm, to his thigh, where it rested warm and heavy, and Kowalski’s hands stayed at Ray’s shoulders, gripping him tight. The radio and dashboard were the only lights, and it felt like they were all floating along, the three of them alone together in the warmth.
It was the startling shriek of the wake-up grooves along the side of the road that reminded Ray they were actually in a heavy metal vehicle, hurtling down an empty freeway at - he glanced at the speedometer - ninety miles an hour. Ray gently eased the Riv back to the road and shot an apologetic grin at his partners.
“We’re not in a hurry, Ray, we can find somewhere to pull over soon.” Fraser pulled the map out of the glove box and started unfolding it.
“You sure you’re ok, Vecchio? You look kind of distracted.”
“Shut up and put your seat belt on, Kowalski.” Ray pressed the gas pedal, earning a short, pleased laugh from Kowalski and a long-suffering sigh from Fraser.
Ray felt great, actually. He could drive all night.