It took Graham a second.
Then he went there.
“Jesus Christ! I should have just tossed him over my shoulder, and taken him to bed already. God! I had no idea. That shocks the shit out of me, Lad.”
Oh, well, he wasn’t the only one.
From the way Raphael tells the story, it shocked the shit out of Saint too.
He’d never expected Raphael to be gay, to put the moves on him, or to enjoy every single second of it.
You know that sex had to be good to make the man switch teams after one encounter.
Then again, he got that.
He was finally having the kind of sex that people wrote home about.
“Yeah, we share a place with the two of them. He and Raphael are super cute together.”
Graham still looked doubtful.
Because a picture was worth a thousand words, he pulled out his phone.
“See?” he asked, handing it to the man.
In it, Saint and Raphael were in matching red pajamas, wearing Santa hats, and Saint was sitting in Raphael’s lap.
“Keep flipping. There are more.”
He did.
In the next one, Raphael was dipping Saint under the mistle toe, and they were locked in a passionate kiss.
“Jaysus. He’s kissin’ a man.”
He shook his head.
“Well, at least his Marine man is hot. I still have regrets now. It took all I had to keep my hands off of him,” Graham stated.
“Keep going,” Ian said, knowing what was next.
When he did, he found a picture of Saint, Raphael, and Emmy. They were cuddling her on the couch.
“They have a daughter together. Emmy is the center of their world.”
Graham got quiet for a second, and looked distant as he stared at the picture.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ian asked. “I didn’t show you to make you sad.”
He handed his phone back.
“Aye, I’m good. Honestly, I’m happy for him. I’m glad he found someone to love him. It’s rough being out there without anyone having your back.”
Oh, Ian was aware.
He’d been on the hunt for love for many years. After he’d been hurt, he never thought anyone would want him. He’d been broken and damaged in ways he couldn’t even articulate.
Then, there was Gryphen.