Never Judge

"I'm worried about Ayanna." Cedric said.

"Send her some bodyguards." Alexi had always believed that a show of force was the best form of protection. ​​

"We're up against someone that doesn't care about the number of armed guards that we have." Cedric explained.

"Why do I have a feeling that I'm involved with what you have in mind?" Ray said worriedly.

"I just want to advance an announcement that I think will happen several years down the line." Cedric said with a shrug.

"Nope! Not doing it! Are you crazy? Ayanna will hate the both of us. It will be alright for you! You're her brother, she had no choice in that. I on the other hand will lose every opportunity I have!" Ray complained. He already knew what Cedric wanted to do. He wanted to create a deterrent . He wanted Carlos De Dios to feel like hurting Ayanna wouldn't just put him in the bad books of the Reyeses but with those of the Laurences as well.

"We'll tell Ayanna it's for her sake!" Cedric reasoned.

"You've been gone a long time my friend, your sister is an extremely willful girl. She gets what she wants and if she doesn't want it no one can force her, not even your parents." Ray complained.

"I'm not my parents. Ayanna will listen to me. Plus it isn't real!" Cedric said.

"We will know it isn't real but the whole freaking world will think it's real." Ray said.

"Wait? What?" Ram asked.

"Cedric Reyes wants me to either be fake engaged or fake married to his sister!" Ray accused.

"Fake married would be ideal. It's fake Ray. You'll both know it's fake. Plus it will give you more time with her and the gay rumors will stop." Cedric explained.

"Yeah, I don't think that will kill the gay rumors. People will just say arranged marriage." Ram said with a shrug.

"Really Ram? You've got the guts to mention arranged marriages when your sister is trying to escape one?" Ray said, throwing his anger at Ram.

"Hey, I'm trying to help Veronica out." Ram said, raising his hands.

"It's actually a smart idea." Alexi said, supporting Cedric's plan.

"If he isn't afraid of getting on the Reyeses bad side he might be afraid of the Laurences. You guys do control the underworld and that's scarier. Plus your uncle is Jose Sebastian, making you a much larger threat than just the Reyeses." Miguel said supporting the plan as well.

"Ayanna is going to kill me!" Ray complained.

"I'll ask Adrianna to call her then." Cedric said.

"Your wife is in on this?" Ray asked.

"Yeah. It was her idea." Cedic laughed.

"Fine! But keep it to fake dating. I don't want people thinking that we got hitched cause I'm gay!" Ray said finally giving into Cedric's plan.

"Great. You get to tell her." Cedric teased.

"I thought Adrianna was gonna tell her." Ray complained.

"My wife is too busy." Cedric said flatly.

"Then you tell her!" Ray said.

"I'll call, you tell her." Cedric suggested.

Ray paused to think and looked around the room. His friends were clearly way too eager to hear this conversation unfold. "Now?" he asked.

Cedric just nodded and took out his phone.

Ray grabbed Cedric's phone and dialed Ayanna's number.

"Her number is saved there." Cedric laughed.

Ray ignored Cedric's jest and placed the call on speaker. It took a while for Ayanna to pick up, and when she finally did, she was not happy.

"Cedric, you woke me up. What is it?" Ayanna said grumpily.

"Hey Ayanna, it's actually Ray." Ray said.

"Why are you using my brother's phone? Did something happen to Cedric? I told you to look out for him!" Ayanna frantically said.

"Relax little sister I'm right here. Ray just has something to tell you." Cedric said.

Ayanna calmed down and spoke. "Oh hey Ced. Why is he using your phone?" Ayanna asked.

"It's because your brother and sister in law have a crazy idea to protect you." Ray said in a dejected tone.

"And?" Ayanna asked.

Ray took a deep breath before speaking, he already knew Ayanna would be furious. Beside him Cedric was already struggling to stop himself from laughing. "Ayanna, Cedric wants us to pretend that we're dating. Don't fly off the handle just yet. Let me explain." Ray said as he paused to see if Ayanna would complain. When the other end was silent he continued.

"Carlos De Dios might not be worried about offending the Reyes family, but if we were together or at least made a facade that we were together he would have to think twice about offending more than just the Reyes family. He would be opposing Laurence and Sebastian families as well." Ray explained.

"Okay." Ayanna said calmly.

"Okay? You won't complain?" Ray asked, questioning Ayanna's calm demeanor.

"It's a smart plan. But I think it would be more effective if we pretended to be engaged." Ayanna suggested.

"Ray doesn't want cause it won't stop the gay rumors." Cedric laughed.

"Then say we've been dating for a while. You could fly here and we could take fake engagement photos. I don't think a ring will be an issue." Ayanna suggested.

"You're being too calm about this." Ray said.

"Would you rather I acted like a child?" Ayanna asked over the phone.

"Ray, Ayanna just owned you!" Miguel teased.

"Hey Miguel. Wait are you all there?" Ayanna asked.

"Yup!" Alexi answered.

"And Ray has been saying I was going to over react?" Ayanna asked.

"Basically." Eric said.

"You are so dead when you get here Raymund Laurence! Ram I'll send you some photos of us that you could leak to the public." Ayanna said as she quickly changed her tone between talking to the two men.

"Thanks Ayanna. I need to get back to my wife now. Can you handle working with Ram and Ray on this?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah. Bye brother." Ayanna said as she dropped the call.

"Woah. These photos are enough to cause an outrage!" Ram said as he looked at the photos Ayanna had sent him. Ray quickly grabbed his phone and checked what Ayanna had sent.

"When did she even have someone take these photos!" Ray said in surprise.

The series of photos were of them, seemingly hugging, holding hands, and even kissing in America.

"Are they real?" Cedric asked.

"Well… ummm… do I need to answer that?" Ray said hesitantly.

"You know that I don't mind if you guys are dating." Cedric told Ray.

"We aren't. Ayanna doesn't want something like that right now. She said she wanted to focus on her career." Ray finally admitted.

"So she rejected you." Miguel teased.

"Says the guy who has never been in a romantic relationship!" Ray accused Miguel.

Cedric just shook his head at his friends who had seemingly reverted back into being children.

"Can you deal with them?" Cedric asked Alexi.

"Yeah. They aren't drunk." Alexi shrugged.

"I need to get home. Tonight is the first night my in-laws are at Mountain View. I don't want my mom to overwhelm them." Cedric said with a chuckle.

Alexi grinned and spoke. "Auntie Priscilla does have her over the top ways. And if they aren't used to how people like her speak and act they are in for a shock."

"That's why I need to get home." Cedric said as he placed on his disguise.

The boys said goodbye to him and Cedric left for home.

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