Page 93 of Naughty Dreams
“Not sure if I should encourage her addiction, but what the hell.” Mike took the money DJ handed over and exited the vehicle, with DJ adding, “Bring me a receipt.”
At Roy’s curious look, he explained, “I give all my cash receipts to Moss’s bookkeeper, so I can track my spending. He tells me if I’m going off the rails.”
“What’s off the rails for a mega rockstar? Buying a planet?”
Ignoring him, DJ dug into the cooler they’d brought and pulled out one of his bottled teas, plus a soda for Roy, handing it over. “Maya put a bunch of her little cheese spinach rolls in. She knows you like those.”
“I’ll have one if you have three.”
“How about you have two and I’ll have two.”
“Deal.”
DJ sent him an even look. “That’s what you intended all along.”
Roy merely raised a brow, but DJ ate the two. Mike returned, and under DJ’s direction, he wrapped the bird bath in a car blanket and stowed it into the back.
Roy was pretty sure DJ had just bought his mother a thousand-dollar gift, but DJ’s only interest seemed to be that Roy’s mother would like it.
During Roy’s discussions with Moss, the manager had confirmed DJ’s spending habits.He knows what not having money is like, as in not having enough to eat. So he’s not wasteful, but he’s generous. He doesn’t use it to buy people’s affection, but he helps and appreciates others.
DJ also gave a good chunk of his earnings to charities, particularly those related to adoption and improving the conditions of foster kids.
The drive to Roy’s mother was about four hours. DJ napped through most of it, but occasionally participated in casual conversation with Mike and Roy.
Gilda, Roy’s mom, lived in an updated ranch style home on several acres. When they pulled down the driveway, she was refilling her bird feeders in the side yard. Roy had told herthey were coming, so when she straightened to study the car, a hopeful smile crossed her face. It always gave his heart a twinge, because he remembered when she could recognize him right off.
“Does she know I’m going to be with you?” DJ had asked.
“I told her when I called her last night. She’s probably cooked for both of us.”
His mother’s food would help DJ’s appetite. Roy didn’t know many people who could resist her cooking. Or her desserts.
“I forgot to mention,” he told DJ. “My mother is mostly blind. She can sort of see, but not much.”
“Got it.” DJ let out a low wolf whistle as Gilda approached the car. “Wow. So here’s the Italian contribution to your good looks.”
“Behave. Don’t flirt with my mother.”
“She’s going to flirt with me. I don’t want to be rude.”
His motherwasbeautiful. Gilda Blackwell had smiling brown eyes and dyed dark brown hair loose and curling around her olive-skinned face. She’d been curvy most of Roy’s life, but at sixty-eight she was thinner and had an older person’s fragility to her, even though she was as energetic as the birds that came and went on her feeders with the frequency of fighter jets on a carrier.
As they emerged from the car, DJ adopted his genial celebrity face, pleasant but projecting some reserve. Roy knew he wouldn’t need that long. Maybe not at all.
“I’m so glad you two came by,” Gilda said, engulfing Roy in a warm hug. He found himself holding her closer than he’d intended, his nose in her hair to take in her familiar scent. He’d let himself have the short breakdown in the guest cottage, but since then he’d kept himself focused on DJ. He hadn’t realized much he needed this kind of comfort. He wanted to hold onto her longer and knew he shouldn’t, but she didn’t let go. She washis mother and understood what he needed, often more than he did himself.
Which was why she stretched out her other arm and brought DJ into her embrace, holding the two of them. DJ’s arm went around her waist to steady the movement, since his mother was way shorter than both of them.
The brief flash of surprise in DJ’s face was followed by a wave of what Roy himself was feeling. That push-pull ofyes, I really needed thatwithoh, fuck don’t let me fall apart.
With perfect timing, Gilda slid back before the latter took the upper hand. She touched Roy’s face and gave him a loving look, then gripped DJ’s arm. “Come on in. We’ll chat a bit and then eat. I threw something together for you.”
Roy gave DJ a knowing and amused look, and they followed her in.
Though the kid’s social muscles were out of shape from the trauma of loss and so many days in hibernation, he soon proved himself capable of being his usual pain-in-the-ass self.
“Gilda, I need some stories of Roy as a kid. The speculation is he was spawned from a Minotaur’s tears.”
