Page 94 of Naughty Dreams
“That would have made my labor a lot easier.” She tilted her head toward Roy.
“He was a serious metal-head, wasn’t he?”
“Oh, heavens yes. He liked to go to the vintage record store in town and hang out there, listen to tracks with the owner. And then there was his band phase, when he got his hands on a guitar and drum set from a yard sale.”
“Please tell me you have video.”
“No,” Roy said decisively.
Gilda chuckled. “He had two passions. One was music, the other was the job he has now. Want to hear about his first protection detail?”
Roy groaned as she cheerfully offered the story to an attentive DJ. “It was a girl in his fifth-grade class, Melissa Soon. She was being bothered by a group of mean girls. Roy watched over her for thewholeschool year.”
“How did you deter the mean girls?” DJ asked Roy. “I can’t see you hitting a girl, even at that age.”
“Girls don’t usually bully another girl when a boy’s with her.” Roy shrugged.
“In middle school,” Gilda continued, “one of the smaller boys remembered what he did for Melissa and asked for his help with some bullies. Roy brought his brother into it, and they started their own protection agency.”
Roy tensed when she mentioned his brother. The flicker in DJ’s gaze said he’d noted it, but he stayed on point. “How did they pay you?”
“Depended on the situation.”
“Did you have to beat up the bullies?”
“Roy was smarter than that,” Gilda said with a smirk. “He realized that beating up troublemakers wasn’t the best long term solution for his ‘clients.’ So if he protected a boy who was good in science, he’d set him up to tutor another student. Kids that get bullied often have trouble making friends, so those tutoring sessions led to friendships.”
“Let me guess. The kid he was tutoring was usually an athlete or bigger kid, or one popular enough he could make sure the bullying stopped for good.” DJ elbowed Roy. “You big softie.”
“Clients tend to get clingy,” Roy said. “You got to slough them off somehow.”
DJ made a face at him as Gilda laughed. She shifted to a different subject. “Be sure and run by your place while you’rehere. Elise left you a stack of mail. Nothing urgent, but your magazine subscriptions are there.”
“You live around here?” DJ asked him.
“He has a place about an hour away,” his mother corrected. “He rarely lives there. I tell him he should just sell it and keep his things here to save himself money, but…” She looked toward Roy.
“I don’t want to inflict my party lifestyle on my mother,” Roy said gravely.
DJ swept Gilda with an appraising glance. “She looks like a total party animal to me. You’re just afraid your army of rowdy friends will like her better.” He patted Gilda’s hand. “Don’t feel bad. No son wants to see his mom tossing back shots and table dancing in her underwear.”
Her eyes twinkled. “Oh, I like this one, Roy. You can bring him back anytime.”
“See? She already likes me better than you. I’d be happy to live with you. The whole band could come crash here on weekends. We can…”
It had been too easy to fall into it, to glance over his shoulder to confirm that Steve, Tal and Pete were grinning in agreement and ready to jump in. Just like when he fingered a promising lick and they knew where he was going, filling it out with the right sounds.
But they weren’t there.
DJ didn’t know how long he phased out, but when he came to, there was a buzzing in his ears, a harsh rasp that he realized was his breath. He was sitting on the floor, his head between his knees, Roy’s hand on his back. Gilda knelt in front of him, holding a cool compress on his neck. “Just give him a minute,” she murmured. “Poor boy. It’s all right.”
It wasn’t even close to all right, but the meaning wasit’s going to be all right, you just have to get through it.
“Sorry,” DJ managed. “So sorry. Goddamn it. Sorry for cursing, too. Fuck it all.”
“Sshh, nothing to apologize for. They would have been welcome here, DJ. Just as you’re welcome anytime.”
As Roy took over holding the compress on DJ’s nape, Gilda put her hand on DJ’s knee. “Roy says your foster mother doesn’t live far from here.”
