Chapter 95: Hugs

"It’s real medical treatment! Just look at my leg—"

"Leg."

Ray cast a downward glance at her thigh beneath the thin silk hem, then raised his eyes back to hers, the bloodshot crimson deep in his gaze darkening further.

"He treated your leg, but he bit your neck."

Ray lowered his voice into a gravelly whisper, grinding each word out from behind his gritted teeth. "Then what am I, as your man, supposed to think?"

May opened her mouth to counter, but no words came out.

The room fell into three seconds of total silence.

A spark popped sharply from the dying coals in the campfire, illuminating the glistening sheen of moisture caught in the corner of Ray’s eyes.

Then he made his move.

Clamping one hand around the back of her head and hauling her waist in tight with the other, his broad frame surged forward, pinning her body directly against his chest.

"Then I’ll make sure you understand."

Leaning close to her ear, his voice sounded raspy beyond belief, his liquor-laced breath fanning across her earlobe and sending a warm, melting shiver straight down half her body.

"Which one of us actually deserves to be your man."

May’s head reeled with a loud buzzing sound.

???

Ray, did drinking two bottles of liquor unlock a brand new skill set for you?! This... this is unbelievable!!!

Not a single trace of his cold front left at all!

Before she could process what was happening, Ray had already lowered his face, his lips pressing down...

So many people are watching nearby... but why is this still kinda thrilling at the same time?!

It was a kiss.

The warm touch of his lips felt as gentle as a feather brushing across her skin, completely unlike Theo’s aggressive, predatory biting. His lips were dry, carrying a rough, smoky blend of cheap tobacco and harsh liquor that burned with intense heat.

May drew in a sharp breath, her knuckles turning pale as her fingers clutched the collar of his tactical jacket.

Ray’s lips glided downward along that purple bite mark, grinding over every fraction of an inch. It wasn’t licking, nor was it biting—he simply used the firm warmth of his lips to press into her skin, attempting to overwrite the mark left behind by the other man using his own body heat.

"Ray..." May’s voice quivered, her waist going so weak she couldn’t support herself, collapsing completely into his hold.

Ray tightened his arm around her waist, drawing her flush against his chest. Lifting his eyes to look at her, the drunk haze remained, though it was now laced with an unmistakable edge of ruthless intensity.

"Don’t make a sound."

Opening his mouth, his teeth... nipped down with a delicate, carefully controlled pressure, followed by his tongue grinding over the spot slowly.

An alternating wave of heat and chill surged along her collarbone straight into her limbs. May’s toes curled inward tight, her arms involuntarily wrapping tight around his waist.

Holy crap, did Ray actually... learn how to do this?!

Ray let out a low, muffled grumble, his grip tightening around her waist by another fraction.

"Why are you squeezing me so tight?"

"I’m not squeezing..."

"You are."

"That’s... that’s just a reflex."

Ray offered no further response.

He bit down with incredible gentleness, releasing his grip the second his teeth sank in slightly, shifting instead to grinding his lips repeatedly against her skin—as if savoring a rare delicacy he couldn’t bear to swallow whole.

May bit down on the back of her hand, but failed to muffle a soft, breathy gasp that leaked out from her nose.

He’s not drunk at all—he’s clearly using the alcohol as an excuse to do everything he never dared to do while sober!

Ray, you were never like this when you were clear-headed!

Ray’s breathing turned increasingly heavy, his broad chest heaving violently, the muscles beneath his jacket as rigid as iron plates. Pressing his forehead against hers, their noses brushed, their hot, damp breath tangling together in the narrow space between them.

"Sweet," he muttered out of nowhere, his voice slurred as though speaking in his sleep.

"What’s sweet?"

"You."

Ray kept his eyes closed, the corner of his lips tugging upward slightly. "Strawberry-flavored."

Fuck! This is so embarrassing! He actually tasted it.

Right at that exact second—

SNORRRTE—!

A loud, thunderous snore echoed from barely three meters away, followed immediately by the sound of someone tossing and turning, making the tattered straw mat squeak loudly beneath heavy weight.

Jack flipped over, his eyes half-unzipping.

The seven-foot brute rubbed his eyes in a sleepy haze, catching sight of May straddling Ray’s lap by the faint glow of the dying embers.

He froze dead in his tracks for three full seconds.

Then he looked down at his own hand—realizing that at some point, his right hand had come to rest squarely over his own...

...

Yanking his hand back instantly, he hid it behind his back, a deep flush burning from his neck all the way to his earlobes in an instant.

I... I was dreaming just now... dreaming about May giving me... giving me...

He stole another quick glance over toward the fire.

Ray was keeping his head buried in her neck, working away tirelessly as his grip crumpled the thin silk of her nightgown into a messy cluster of wrinkles.

Jack swallowed hard.

Quietly, he slid his hand back toward...

I want to as well... When will May reward me for once...?

Closing his eyes to feign sleep, his hand silently began to move.

May had zero clue that she had become someone else’s visual material in that exact moment.

She had more than enough on her own plate to deal with—Ray’s lips glided up along the side of her neck, brushing past her jawline, finally halting right beside the corner of her mouth.

He didn’t plant a full kiss on her lips.

He simply hovered there, his warm breath fanning across her lips, close enough for her to feel the searing heat radiating off him.

"Ray..." her voice fractured into helpless fragments.

Ray opened his eyes, where drunkenness and clarity held a fifty-fifty split, carrying a messy, unreasonable possessiveness within his gaze.

Before she could finish her sentence, Ray didn’t wait for her to choose—he lowered his head and sealed her lips entirely...

May let out a soft whimper, muffled completely by his mouth.

The grinding friction between their lips finally came to a halt.

As if draining every last ounce of his energy, Ray’s massive frame sank downward, his heavy head dropping squarely onto May’s shoulder nook, as steady, rhythmic breathing filled the air, laced with hot liquor vapor.

He fell asleep?

May sat frozen rigid, not daring to move a single inch, waiting for several quiet minutes.

Only after confirming that he had truly powered off did she begin carefully and delicately attempting to wriggle her way out of his arms.

She had just extracted half of her leg—

"Mmm..."

A slurred, nasal grumble sounded right beside her ear, carrying the raspy tone of someone waking from sleep.

May’s entire posture went rigid, her scalp tingling with panic.

Ray, are you built like a power bank or what?! How are you turning back on already?!

Maintaining her half-balanced posture, she didn’t dare take a loud breath.

Ray nuzzled his head against her shoulder nook, then lifted his face with eyes half-open. The fierce intensity from earlier had completely vanished, leaving only a dazed, chaotic haze.

He stared down at May for a few long seconds, his lips pouting out, before delivering a single line that completely fried her mental CPU:

"I want a hug..."

His voice dragged out long with a heavy nasal tone, the trailing end curling into an actual whine.

"Mmh... I want a hug, give me a hug... can I have a hug please..."

????

Ray, who the hell are you?! Your whole acting style is wrong! Where did that terrifying, zombie-slaying boss energy go?! Did you drink it all into your stomach?!

Seeing no immediate response from her, Ray looked even more deeply aggrieved. Reaching out with both massive hands, he wrapped them around her waist, giving her a gentle, needy sway—looking for all the world like a toddler begging his mom for candy.

"Hug meee"

May was completely stunned into silence.

A six-foot-five massive brute, built with muscles as hard as granite, was currently using a borderline whiny tone to plead for a hug.

The sheer visual shock of this scene proved far more destructive than that S-class Stitch-Splicer monster. She could feel her entire worldview being dismantled and rebuilt in real time.

"R-Ray, let go of me first so I can go lay out a bed for you," May didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, reaching down to pry his arms off her waist.

"No!"

Ray clamped his grip even tighter, burying his face squarely in her chest, his voice muffled against her skin: "If you don’t hug me, it means you don’t like me anymore."

This conversation was officially dead in the water.

"Alright, alright, alright—hugs! I’ll hug you!"