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“Ray. Ray. Ray.”
Ray glanced up from the menu, his expression a mix of annoyance and distraction. “What, Benny?”
Fraser glanced over to the waitress waiting for Ray’s order. Ray followed the look, then took one more glance at the menu before closing it with a shrug. “Burger with the works, fries, more coffee,” he told her, holding out the menu. She took it with a barely-disguised eyeroll and stomped off.
“Guess she’s not too interested in a tip, huh?” Ray said with a jerk of his head in her direction.
“To be fair, you did ignore her.”
“I did?”
“I had to call your name several times to get your attention,” Fraser pointed out.
Ray sat back in the booth with a deep sigh. “Sorry, Benny. Just got a lot on my mind, I guess.”
“I thought the case was cut and dried.”
“It is, trust me. Tirelli’s earned himself a nice long stay in prison, no doubt about it.” He sighed again, rubbing his hand up his face and down the back of his neck. “No, this is family stuff.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“Unless you want to help me run a background check on Frannie’s new guy, no. And before you ask, no, I don’t know if he’s actually trouble, or I’m just being overprotective.” He snorted. “Frannie will tell you in very colorful terms that it’s that second one.”
“But you aren’t so sure.”
Ray shook his head. “I haven’t even met the guy. It’s just, you know how crazy Frannie is about love and romance and all that stuff.” Fraser nodded, knowing very well just what Ray meant. He had been very glad he’d already been in a relationship when they met; the look in her eyes before she’d known about Ray had been unsettling.
Ray grinned at Fraser like he knew what Fraser was thinking. “Right. So when she meets a guy and tells me it’s love at first sight, usually I let it go in one ear and out the other. But this time she keeps talking, and for once, it sounds like maybe this isn’t one of her one-sided crushes. Like maybe this guy likes her too.”
“That sounds like wonderful news.”
“Yeah, only, I don’t know.” Ray leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Maybe it’s too wonderful? I mean, the more she talks about the guy, the less real he sounds. Even the way they met is crazy, like something out of a romantic comedy. It’s like she reached into a fairy tale or romance novel and pulled out her dream man.”
As Ray went on to tell Fraser what he knew about Frannie’s budding romance, Fraser stayed silent, other than vague encouraging noises at the appropriate times. He had the sinking feeling Ray was more right than he realized when he said Frannie’s situation was too good to be true.
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Ray was at the counter glaring at a stack of papers when Fraser entered the shop. Given his dour look and messier-than-usual hair, Fraser guessed he was working on inventory sheets. But it must not have been anything too worrying; Ray’s frown gave way to an easy smile when he looked up.
“Fraser – you’re early! Not that I’m complaining, believe you me. Distract me, please,” he said, setting aside the paperwork and walking toward Fraser. “If I have to go over this stuff one more time, I’m gonna go nuts.”
Fraser happily returned the kiss Ray gave him, forgetting for a moment why he’d made a point of arriving before closing. As always, having Ray in his arms grounded him, suffusing him with a feeling of home that offset the jarring energy of Chicago’s hustle and bustle.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Ray said when they parted. He waggled his eyebrows. “Want to see just how distracted we can get?” He snapped his fingers; Fraser heard the door lock and blinds come down. Ray leaned in to kiss Fraser again, and it took more effort than Fraser wanted to admit to to pull away.
“What gives?” Ray asked. “And don’t try to give me the public indecency talk. This is my place, which means it’s my private property. My home away from home. Mi casa is su bedroom and all that, right?”
“I didn’t come here to have sex with you, Ray.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean we can’t, right?” he replied with a wink.
Fraser sighed. Ray sighed back, a playful twinkle in his eye negating his exaggerated pout. “Fine, no hanky-panky on the premises. How about I get us home the fast way and we pick this up there?”
Fraser took another tiny step back. “I need to talk with you, Ray.”
Ray cocked his head. “Sounds serious.”
“Potentially.”
“Okay, shoot,” Ray said, moving back to hop up on the counter.
“It has to do with Frannie,” Fraser started.
“O-kaaay. What about her?”
“I know she’s been here more than once looking for spells relating to romance.”
Ray waved a hand dismissively. “Which are all pretty much crap, you know that.”
“I do. I also know that Ray asked you to stop selling them to her.”
“Yep. And then you asked the same thing.” Ray rolled his eyes. “At which point I told you I wouldn’t sell her any more love stuff, and I haven’t.” When Fraser stayed silent, Ray glared. “Vecchio tell you otherwise?”
“Not in so many words. But he was telling me about Frannie’s new beau, and I couldn’t help but wonder -”
“What? If I lied?” Ray jumped down, walked behind the counter and picked up his inventory sheets. His anger was clear in his movements as he sorted through them. “Look, if you’re just here to accuse me of stuff, I have work to do.”
“I didn’t mean to accuse you.” Ray kept his attention firmly on his task, clearly upset. That as much as anything told Fraser how wrong he’d been. “I’m sorry. But if you’d heard what Ray told me, I think you’d wonder too. And we both know how much you like to annoy him, especially if you can involve magic.”
Ray stopped shuffling the papers and took a deep breath, still looking down. “Yeah, but breaking Frannie’s heart wouldn’t be the way I’d do that. Love magicks are about the trickiest kind out there. That why I never let her buy anything that had any real power.”
And yes, Fraser did know that. He was in the wrong and was about to say so, when Ray looked up at Fraser, face pale. He winced as he held up a page. “Unless I did?”
Oh dear. “Unless you did what?”
“There’s a necklace I haven’t been able to find. Been driving me up the wall all day. I thought maybe it had gotten mislabeled or something.” Fraser didn’t comment; they both knew that Ray’s attention to detail wasn’t the best when it came to the more mundane sides of having a magic shop. “Pretty little thing, thin silver chain with a pendant, nothing fancy, but nice, y’know?”
“And magical.”
“And magical,” Ray confirmed miserably, setting the paper back on the counter. “And now that we’re talking, I maybe remember selling it to Frannie.”
Fraser resisted the urge to rub a hand over his face. “Just what does this necklace do?”
“Nothing major, I swear. I’d never let a big ticket magic item out of the store without the proper wardings, you know that.”
Fraser nodded; while Ray was terrible with paperwork, he was extremely cautious when dealing with anything arcane in nature. “So what minor magic does it have?”
“The pendant is a Finding charm. Should only have worked on lost keys, glasses, that kind of thing. But if it hadn’t been used in awhile, maybe a charge could have built up. And before you ask, yes it could get strong enough to find Frannie someone to love.”
“So, strictly speaking, it isn’t a love spell,” Fraser confirmed.
“It isn’t a love spell no matter how you say it,” Ray replied. He tapped the inventory sheet. If this is what got Frannie a boyfriend, it’s kind of a magickal miracle. It shouldn’t have worked like that at all.”
“Well, that’s a relief, then,” Fraser said with a nod.
Ray blinked. “It is?”
“If this charm did help Frannie find a good man, but didn’t coerce either of them into romance, then whatever happens is up to them, correct?”
“Yeah.” Ray smiled, relief clear on his face. “Yeah, so if they’re all lovey-dovey, it’s because they really like each other. No magic involved. Well, other than making sure they met in the first place.”
“And now that you now where the necklace is, can you replace it so that she still has a necklace that’s identical, except for the mystical energies?”
Ray’s gaze shifted, his focus going somewhere beyond the building. He turned slowly, then stopped and snapped his fingers. One small burst of light later, there was a necklace on the countertop in front of him. “Easy as pie. She’ll never know the difference.”
“Thank you,” Fraser said, moving a step closer. The counter between them felt like huge distance, but he wasn’t sure he should cross it.
Ray seemed to sense his unease. The smile he gave Fraser was forgiving, and his eyes no longer flashed with hurt or anger. “So it looks like maybe we were both right and wrong about this one, huh?”
“That seems a very fair way to look at the situation,” Fraser agreed.
Fraser had barely a second to recognize the mischief on Ray’s face before there was another snap and his arms were full of djinn. He gripped Ray tightly as he stumbled at the sudden weight. Ray held on just as tight.
“Then how about we get back to the whole you distract me from the evils of paperwork thing I was hoping for earlier?” Ray asked, an over-the-top ridiculous leer on his face.
Fraser couldn’t help but laugh as he walked them toward the counter, shifting Ray in his grasp. Ray happily obliged, wrapping his legs around Fraser’s waist as he sat on the counter. Fraser was completely unsurprised when the papers disappeared in a flash. The feel of metal against the skin of his neck, however, was a surprise.
Fraser let go of Ray with one hand to reach up, finding that he was now wearing the charmed necklace. When he raised an eyebrow in question, Ray gave him a wicked grin, full of promise, and pressed himself closer to Fraser. “Pretty sure you’re gonna need it later to help you find your pants.”