Page 98 of Naughty Dreams
“Sounds good. It’s a little late in the day. We’ll find a hotel between here and there and visit tomorrow.”
“Why don’t we go to your place for the night? We can get your magazines and drive to Charlotte in the morning.” DJ blinked, all innocence. “I’m sure it’s more secure than the Pentagon. What’s with the face? You don’t want me see where you live?”
“Well, next to mine, your place is such a dump. I don’t want you to be overcome by envy.”
DJ snorted. “I bet it’s a meticulously maintained suburban residence, one with excellent property value should you decide to sell it.”
“That sounds very dull.”
“Not if you’re there.” DJ’s expression stilled. “I’d like to see where you live, Roy.”
“Okay.” He gave Mike the address. After he did, DJ went back to gazing out the window.
“Your mom told me about Redding. I hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah.” It surprised him that Gilda had dipped into those troubled waters, but it didn’t bother him that DJ knew.
DJ kept looking out the window. “You told me that attracting the attention of this maniac isn’t my fault. Even if his obsession with me is why my brothers are dead. But if that’s true, you’re not to blame, either.”
He turned his head to meet Roy’s gaze. “Access to the plane was tighter than a gnat’s ass. You’re rated top in the business, and I haven’t seen anything that proves different. You can’t plan for everything. You know it as much as I do.”
DJ’s thoughts only echoed his own. But it had never mattered so much, hurt so much, as it did now. Because watching DJ deal with the loss was killing Roy, and that opened the door wide to pointless guilt.
Fuck. That was why his mother had decided to tell him about Redding. She knew him better than anyone, knew where his mind would be, no matter how much he tried to keep that door closed between past and present.
She’d given DJ the ability to connect those dots. The last thing Roy wanted him worrying about was where Roy’s head was at, but it moved him. Even grieving, DJ had a generous heart.
He could reward it by closing that door so the kid knew he didn’t have to expend time reassuringhisdumb ass.
“Thank you, Dory,” he said. “That helps.”
The honest answer surprised DJ, and since he was a service sub, it brought some ease to his expression. But since he was too smart to be so easily placated, Roy took the opportunity to change their focus to something more relevant to the present.
“I know you know how to fight, but I’m going to teach you some other things. I’ll do everything I can to stay in between you and this stalker, but as you just pointed out, it might not be enough. Part of protecting you is giving you more ways to protect yourself, especially if he gets you alone with him.”
What helped the victim in stalker kidnap situations was staying calm, looking for escape opportunities and working with the stalker’s delusions, but not too obviously capitulating to them. Since those tactics also worked with bullies and abusers, DJ probably knew most of them, but reinforcing them wouldn’t be wasted.
“Don’t worry.” DJ’s brown eyes went glacier. “If that asshole gets me alone, he’s the one who’ll need to worry.”
He moved to a different subject. “Wait, I get it now. It’s not your place you’re worried about. It’s the magazine subscriptions. I bet you subscribe to the entertainment rags to scope out your clients. Are my pictures tacked up like a murder board in a crime show? Or for other reasons?” He shot Roy a licentious glance. “Do you have a wall of DJ porn in your bedroom?”
“You can ride to my house strapped to the top of the car. There are tie-downs in the well.”
Dory gave him a suggestive smirk. “You can bring those inside when we get there.”
Roy tapped DJ’s foot with his shoe. “Before you being an asshole makes me forget, thanks for being nice to my mother. She adored you.”
“I’m pretty adorable.”
Unexpectedly, DJ’s expression shifted, the humor and teasing vanishing. He lay down on the long seat, his head onRoy’s thigh, fingers sliding underneath it to curl against the muscle. He dropped his other arm so his hand could drape over Roy’s shoe. Surprised by the move, Roy nevertheless adjusted toward the window to allow DJ to fold his legs up on the seat. He saw Mike glance in the rearview mirror and gave him a nod, letting him know things were okay.
DJ squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m trying not to think about how much I want to be back in my bed with the covers over my head. I know that’s not good. But can we stay at your place for a day before we go to Charlotte?”
Roy remembered how his mother had stayed in bed when Redding died. How Black had let her have those days when she needed them, but kept them spaced out so she had to get back in the habit of living. He wondered if his father had known Roy inherited his Dom traits. Roy knew his mother did, though Gilda had never said anything about it directly.
Submissives knew. Just like Masters did.
“Yeah. We can do that.” Roy laid his hand on his head, stroking. “It’s okay, kid. You’re doing all right.”
