Page 66 of Tumbling Hearts

Either Carol thinks Ray would only have sex with women, or she’s not speaking up about any suspicions she may have on him and Gene. Regardless, Ray just needs this conversation to be over.

“Hey, look, I’m sorry I lost track of things and stayed overnight here. I’ll spend as much time as you want with you after your gig, alright? Just us, none of the rest of the Brooms.”

Carol scoffs. “Just like how you had to ‘make it up to me’ after that vacation for the Fourth of July, right?”

Ray gulps. “Hey, this isn’t like that, okay? It’s not a holiday or anything. Everything’s fine. I said I was sorry.”

She sighs, tilting her head down in what appears to be… defeat. “Whatever. I’m tired of arguing about this. Come on, you wanna just get some breakfast with me before my gig starts?”

His shoulders instantly relax, his jaw unclenching. “Yeah, sure. Well, maybe before we do that, I should take a shower first.”

“A quick one, okay? We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.”

Ray grabs his socks, shuffling them over his feet, and he slides his shoes on before he and Carol head out, leaving Gene still in the bathroom.

After a very awkward breakfast, barely saying a word to Carol, Ray sees her off to her gig. It’s in a giant skyscraper taller than any of the ones he knows in Detroit, and thankfully he doesn’t need to travel high, as Carol meets her agent, Tim Price, in the ground floor lobby. Tim will be dropping her off at the Brooms’ hotel later tonight, so at least Ray doesn’t need to worry about picking her up.

And so, he’s left to his own devices. He spends the day with Gene and the rest of the Brooms and their entourage, exploring New York City. Unfortunately Andy Warhol is busy today, so they can’t visit his house like they did earlier in the year. But there’s still plenty of other things to do. The first place they visit is the Cloisters museum, home of the magnificent medieval unicorn tapestries. Gene, Santiago, and Maurice all knew about them from their time in art school, and have been eager to check them out in person. Ray stares in awe with Gene by his side, looking at the beautiful, giant works of art.

For lunch, they all stop at a local pizzeria to try some authentic, thin crust, New York Style pizza. It’s much better than anything Ray’s ever eaten in Detroit, and he scarfs it down gladly. Afterwards, since they’re already nearby, they all spend some time walking around Central Park. It’s such an amazing place, seeing this much greenery surrounded by steel. A perfect little nature getaway for those stuck in an urban landscape.

They get some much needed dinner afterwards at a renowned Italian restaurant, and then it’s back to their hotel. As much as Ray wants to spend the rest of the night with Gene again, he knows he can’t, lest he make Carol even angrier. He didn’t have a chance to talk to Gene about what he and Carol had argued about earlier since they were always surrounded by their bandmates, but Gene didn’t seem worried. He simply looked like he was having fun with everyone, smiling that handsome smile, especially when directed at Ray.

And so, Ray waits for Carol in his own room. As he sits on the bed listening to the radio, he spots her suitcase. It’s open, clothes tossed around carelessly inside it. Normally he would ignore it, but something catches his eye. Something delicate, red, and… lacy.

He hops off the bed and kneels down to get a closer look. She won’t notice if he messes the clothes up a little, as they’re already rather messy. So he lifts up the items in question—finding a full set of red lingerie. A bra, panties, stockings, and garterbelt. He’s never seen her wear these. And yet, they’re here, packed in her suitcase. Was she planning on wearing this for me sometime during the tour? I didn’t even know she owned them.

She must’ve planned to wear them, since as he shuffles them around in his hands, he can’t find any tags—which means she must’ve cut them off already. But when? Maybe she wanted to wear them last night, but since Ray never showed up in the room, she probably just took them off and tossed them here. That’s the most logical answer, in Ray’s mind.

Something impulsive takes him over as he grabs the bra. There’s no padding in it, merely see-through cups covered in lace, and… he holds it up to his own chest.

What if… I tried it on?

He shakes his head, then sets it back down on top of the other clothes. No, that’s ridiculous. He can’t just try on her clothes without asking her first, especially underwear. It’s not like how he is with Gene, where they share clothes and underwear without a care in the world.

But then—another thought pokes at his brain.

What if I wore this lingerie for Gene?

His cock twitches at that.

Ray and Carol are basically around the same size weight-wise, only he’s a little taller than her. Maybe the panties might fit a bit strangely on him, seeing as they’re not designed for someone with a cock. And he definitely wouldn’t be able to fill out the bra with his flat chest. But the stockings should fit fine, along with the garterbelt, and regardless of how well he’d fit into the other things, Gene would probably enjoy seeing him wear it…

He takes a deep breath, shaking his head again as he stands up. As much as he wants to, he doesn’t think he could just steal these from Carol. How would she react—what questions would she ask, wondering what he was doing with them if she caught him? But would he ever have a chance to buy some for himself? Taking hers would be the easiest way to get any, and it’s not like he’d actually be stealing them. He’d just be… borrowing them for a night.

He files the idea away for later.

For whenever he thinks he’ll have another night alone with Gene again.

But presently, he’ll have to deal with Carol. And he really, really doesn’t fucking want to after that argument earlier today. She’s likely going to expect sex if they’re going to be spending time alone together, especially if she can use it as an excuse for him to ‘make it up’ to her.

There’s a complimentary bottle of vodka sitting on the dresser, gifted to him earlier from Dennis.

Might as well dig into it.

Tonight definitely calls for it.