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Benny & Ray 134 2926 North Octavia Avenue Dee Gilles Rated R

Ray used the Allen wrench to tighten the last screw, securing the bed frame to the headboard. He tossed it away with a satisfied sigh, and came up from his knees. "Ready?" he asked tiredly. We were both exhausted.

"Yep."

I grabbed the box spring from where it was leaning against the far wall, and tugged it toward the re-assembled bed. Ray grabbed the other side, and together we dropped it onto the frame. We grabbed the mattress and dropped it on top of the box spring and we silently and quickly made the bed.

The house was very quiet. Ma, Maria, Tony, Marissa, Rosanna and Carie were all asleep. I could almost make believe the house was my own, that the world, in fact, consisted only of Ray and me.

Ray collapsed on the bed with a groan. "Ah, that feels good." He rolled to his back held out his arms to me. "Come' ere."

I came into Ray's arms, and we lay together, heat building where our skin touched. I closed my eyes and sighed, inhaling Ray's comforting scent.

It had been a long day. Even with the extra hands, the move from St. Donatus to Octavia had taken longer than we expected. Ma came for Carie and Pearson first thing this morning, so we could finish packing. She dropped off Tony, who was kind enough to help us move once more.

Tony and I were just moving the couch out to the rented truck when Stanley pulled up in his GTO to assist. We appreciated having his helping hand. It was amazing just how many material goods Ray and I had collected over the past eight years. It made me almost miss the days when I everything I owned fit on my back.

Once all the furniture was out, Ray and I stood together and looked at the place one last time, saying goodbye, and reminiscing for a few moments about all the good times that we had had in this place. We talked about the first night we made love here. We talked about some of the parties we'd thrown here and we talked about bringing Carie home from the hospital. We finally departed, slowly, and walked down the quiet hallway holding hands. Ray squeezed my hand before we got to the front sidewalk, once, and let it drop again. He drove the rental truck to the house, Tony followed, and Stanley and I brought up the rear.

It turned out that emptying our apartment was the easy part. Rearranging and/or removing furniture in Ray's house--(Our house, Benny. Our house.)--our house, to accommodate our furniture proved to be a challenge. We managed to get Carie's room. Our daughter would be living in her mother's childhood bedroom. Raphy's old room would be our study, and we piled it high with boxes and furnishings. It was late when Ray and I were settled into Ray's old room. I remembered lying with Ray in this room a long time ago, before I was Ray's lover. When I only hoped and wished I would be.

Ray rolled on top of me and kissed me. "Mmmm," he moaned into my mouth. He began to kiss me fervently, long, languorous and soulfully. He cupped my face, shifted, and kissed me once more. Our mouths grew hot. Ray smelled like allspice and sweat. I closed my eyes and melted into the mattress, gently cradling the back of my lover's head.

He pulled back a little and undid the top button of my red flannel shirt, and another, and then another. I grabbed his wrist.

"Don't," I said.

"Why not?"

"I have to go soon."

"Go where?" Ray pulled back and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "Benny, it's11:00 on a Friday night." He reached for the snap of my pants. I blocked him.

"Stanley and I have to stakeout that garage I was telling you about, the one on Diversey."

"The chop shop?"

"Yes." I disengaged from Ray and sat up.

"You're kiddin', right? That's not even your case- it's the Duck Boys'!"

"Briggs asked us to assist."

"He's punishing you, Benny. Can't you see that? When are you gonna stand up to that guy?" The frustration was plain in Ray's voice.

I sighed. I was tired of going around and around this with him on this. "Oh, Ray, Ray, Ray!"

"Oh Ray, Ray, Ray, nothin'! This guy's not gonna go away, Benny."

"I know, I know, Ray." I stood and hunted for my discarded shoes. "I've got to go. Stanley is going to be here any minute."

I tried to ignore Ray as I located my shoes near the door, and returned to sit on the bed to pull them on and lace them up.

Ray punched the bed. "Well, this is great! Just great! How long have you known about this stakeout, Benny?"

"Since Tuesday." I kept my back turned to him.

"And you're just now saying something to me?"

"I knew you were going to be difficult about this. I didn't want a confrontation."

"Well, guess what? Now you got one!" Ray climbed off the bed and stood in front of me.

He got right in my face. "I'm warning you. Briggs ain't gonna go away, alright? I know his type. You get with the Lieu first thing Monday morning, and you deal with this guy, once and for all. If you don't, I will. I swear I will. You hear me, Benny?"

I pulled away and stood, veering around a very angry Ray. I took two steps before feeling his hand on my elbow, yanking me, spinning me around. "Do you understand me?" He grabbed my other elbow, and dug in with his fingernails.

"I don't want to make a fuss, Ray."

"You gonna have to, Benny. Come `ere. Sit down with me for a minute." He tugged me back to the bed, and peered into my eyes, trapping me with his most intense stare. "Why's this guy got you so spooked, Benny? Tell me."

I hesitated, took a deep breath and blew it out. Ray put his arm around me, squeezed. He looked at me, patiently waiting, silent. He did not break his gaze into my eyes.

We must have sat that way for a full two minutes, Ray simply watching, silently waiting for me to speak.

Finally, I relented. "Do you remember Officer Dudley?"

"Yeah. Of course I do."

"I found out what happened to him."

"What happened to Dudley, Benny?"

"Dudley blew the whistle on Briggs. The two of them evidently went back quite a few years, and Dudley watched and stood by while Briggs broke a lot of rules, treated a lot of people very poorly. I lot of good people transferred out to get away from Briggs. Dudley got fed up. Over a course of four years, he logged three separate incidences of discriminatory actions or statements by Briggs; once towards an African-American officer in 2000, once towards a female officer in 2002, and one incident that involved... me. Dudley had overheard Briggs making derogatory remarks about...you and me and what we do in bed...to other officers, as well as his peers, and he had gone to Briggs' supervisor about him, not for the first time. Evidently, Commander Combs did nothing about the matter. And so Dudley took it right to the EEOC. Briggs almost lost his job because of it. I'm still not clear how he managed to not get fired. Things quieted down for a while after that. Briggs seemed to toe the line. But then Briggs started doing some digging into Dudley's personal life shortly thereafter. He found out he had a gambling addiction, and that he owed a lot of underworld loan agents--

"Loan sharks?" Ray clarified.

"Yes. Loan sharks, a sum of money estimated at fifty-three thousand dollars. There was a trail of money that lead all the way back to Jimmy "Roastbeef" and Michael Sorrento, allegedly."

Ray inhaled sharply.

"Briggs used this information to `persuade' Dudley to quietly retire."

"But you don't have to worry about anything like that, Benny. You're clean. The guy's got nothing on you."

"I know, Ray. But you see...I've been there before. I blew the whistle once, too, just like Dudley, on a man named Gerrard. And I lost everything that I had because of it, everything that I was."

Ray turned me toward him. "Yeah, but when you got kicked out of Canada, it brought you to me. So it really wasn't all that bad, was it?" Ray asked gently. He brought our mouths together, and bestowed the softest of kisses upon my lips. "It'll be all right, Benny. No matter what this guy throws at us, we can deal with it, okay?" He smiled into my eyes. His hands were warm on my face. "Talk to Welsh. Monday. Promise me, Benny."

"I promise, Ray."

"Thank you, Benny."

Ray let me go. Shortly after, I, in my old leather jacket, walked through the nippy autumn air, got into my partner's stealth-black GTO and disappeared into the blackness of the night.

FINIS