Page 27 of Mr. Naughty List
Casey started to count on his fingers, “First, you could sleep with him again.”
RJ groaned softly. That’d be reason enough.
“Second, you could make a real human connection outside of old high school friends and the messed-up assholes in the rock ’n’ roll world. You know, the drug-addicted dicks you normally travel with. Third…” He smirked. “True love.”
“Ha! True love.” RJ rolled his eyes. “Just becauseyourholiday fling with Joel turned into wuv-and-marriage-and-a-baby-carriage, it doesn’t mean that mine would.”
Bruno edged closer to RJ, flopping down on top of his feet and staring up at him hopefully. RJ relented, scratching behind his silky ears.
“Hey, hey, no one here’s considering a baby yet. Or ever. Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Casey rolled his eyes. “You were onboard last year when it was me pursuing Joel. You were all about us falling in love. But now that it could be you going after a real happy-ever-after, you’re resisting.”
“Happy-ever-after?” RJ scoffed. “I banged the guy.” A lot. So good. Damn.
“You’re a lot like Joel, you know that? Gotta fight the thing you want before you take it. Why not just take it?”
RJ rolled his eyes. “Mr. Danvers might not want to be taken.”
“Seems like something you should find out for sure though. With your phone. Using that number he gave you.”
“Well, the thing is…he didn’t give it to me. I kind of took it. So ha!” RJ pointed at Casey. “Idojust take what I want sometimes!” Bruno huffed at RJ’s feet and shifted heavily against his ankles. RJ stroked his ears some more.
“Give the man a prize!” Casey chuckled, and punched RJ’s shoulder. “Listen, here’s the deal. He didn’t tell you not to contact him, right?”
RJ shrugged. He guessed not explicitly, no.
“So try. If you text him and he says not to contact him again, then fine. Don’t. Boundary drawn. Consent not given. But if you text him, and he doesn’t reject you? Then you could have your high school wet dream in your bed for the holidays.” Casey waggled his brows. “Freak your stepdad out.”
RJ had never known for sure if the awkwardness between him and Doug was because Doug disapproved of RJ’s traveling rock ’n’ roll lifestyle or his queerness. A holiday boyfriend would definitely help clear that up. But wasn’t it better for everyone if RJ just made nice with his mother, made time with the kids, and then disappeared again as soon as possible?
“When is Chip giving you that recording studio time?” Casey asked, thankfully changing the subject.
“As soon as I ask for it.”
“Joel said he’d play for you on the demo if you want, but he needs time to learn the songs.”
“Yeah.” RJ rubbed at the back of his neck, pulling a face. “That’s just it. I don’t have any songs.”
Casey blinked at him. “Seriously?”
“I know, I know. I thought I’d have time to put a few together on this last tour, but then I got back together with Pan for a while—”
Casey groaned. “Why dude?”
“I’m an idiot. What can I say? And that turned into mucho maximum drama-rama plus a drug overdose.”
Casey’s eyes went wide.
“His, not mine. Obviously.” RJ sighed, thinking back to the mess of finding Pan like that. RJ had never been so scared in his life. “And he’s fine, by the way. what Kinda. I mean, I think he’s still using, but fuck if seeing him on the floor in that shitty motel bathroom with foam coming out of his mouth didn’t scare me straight…” RJ scrubbed at his shorn head and shuddered. “I don’t even smoke pot anymore.”
“Damn, RJ.”
“Yeah. But, hey, I can’t pretend I didn’t see that shitshow was coming. The music business is a lot of things, but healthy isn’t one of them.” RJ bit into his lower lip. “Truth is, I haven’t even taken my acoustic out since I got home. That’s the guitar I usually write on.”
“Why?”
“It’s so loud at Mom and Doug’s. Always a kid crying, or yelling, or stomping. Sometimes they have friends over. That’s like…whoa.” He shook his head. “I’m glad my mom’s happy, and I love the kids like crazy, I do. But being around them is not conducive to getting shit done.” RJ shrugged. “Maybe I’ll just let go of the studio time. Get back on the road after the holidays. Forget about making another demo. Where’d the first one get me anyway?”
Casey blew out a frustrated breath. “You were straight out of high school back then. Just a kid. You’ve got more to offer the world now.”