Page 66 of Pure Silence

“Dom?” Day echoed.

“Dom. Dominant. Uh, you’re really good at being in charge.”

Day smiled at that, though he still seemed a little confused by the word. “Thank you, angel. I will endeavor to be very dom for you.”

“Thank you.” Goldie pulled out a cast iron frying pan to set on the stove. He turned on the heat and then grabbed the bacon out of the fridge. He went ahead and grabbed the brussels sprouts too, and he put them in the sink to wash off momentarily.

Day waited to make sure the new tape was going to play on its own and then stretched out on the couch.

From here, Goldie could just glimpse Day’s long legs and the bottom of his ass peeking out from the bottom of the T-shirt. He grunted to himself and turned back around to focus on cooking. He’d almost forgotten to preheat the damn oven. “So, uh. Since you’re talking now, can we talk?”

“Of course, my angel,” Day replied. “What do you wish to talk about?”

Goldie considered bringing up the mission, but he decided not to lead with that. Especially right now when they were both in such good moods. “Your father. If I may ask, that is. He passed away?”

“Yes. He went to the Lord three years ago. He was very sick long before that. He had lung cancer, but he didn’t want to go to the hospital, and I took care of him as best as I could. It was just the two of us.”

“I’m so sorry,” Goldie said with genuine sympathy. “My mom died from emphysema and my dad from COPD. They were both smokers.”

“So was mine. He used to say it was his only sin.”

Goldie checked to make sure the pan was hot before dropping the bacon in and glanced at Day. “What about your mom?”

“She left when I was little.” Day shrugged. “I don’t remember her. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Nope. Just me.” Goldie let the bacon cook while he washed off the brussels sprouts. “Closest thing I ever had to a brother was my tag team partner, Florence. He was one of the only people that knew I was gay when I still wrestled. Well, heh, I think everybodyknew, but he was one of the few I’d actually told.”

“The one who only talks to you when he wants something?” Day’s frown returned.

“Yeah, that’s him.” Goldie sighed. “He wasn’t always like that.” He hesitated. “Well, he was alwaysambitious. Fuck, we all were. Everybody wanted to win. Everybody wanted the best story lines, the best deals, the glory of it all.”

“Glory?”

“Yeah.” Goldie picked up the bag of red potatoes so he could clean those next. “The roar of the crowd, everybody cheering your name.” He chuckled. “Or even the booing, heh, when you’re the bad guy. There was something special about getting up in that ring and feeling like a god.”

Day frowned.

“In an absolutely not blasphemous way,” Goldie assured him.

“Were you not… raised with faith?” Day asked the question carefully, clearly trying not to be offensive.

“No, I was.” Goldie stepped over to the pan to turn the bacon. “But my parents had that deep Mississippi version of the Lord with all the fire and brimstone and shit. Being gay was a one-way ticket to hell and made me an abomination and all that fun stuff.”

“Father told me that sex outside of marriage was a sin, but God would forgive us.” Day frowned. “He used to bring women over for himself, men for me, because he said it was more important for us to spread our seed and stay healthy for the mission.”

Goldie had just started cutting up the potatoes, and he wasn’t sure he’d heard that correctly. “He’d bring men for you? What, uh, what do you mean?”

Day’s frown deepened, and he cowered until Goldie couldn’t see him behind the back of the couch. “He would pay them.”

“Oh. Sex workers.” Goldie was stunned. He tried to focus so he wouldn’t accidentally cut off one of his fingers as he moved on to the brussels sprouts. “Your dad paid sex workers. To come see you.”

“Yes. Is it… is it very strange? You’re acting like it’s very strange.”

“It’s definitely… unusual.” Goldie cleared his throat. He decided to change the subject. “The mission was that important?”

“Yes. It still is.”

“So, were you still seeing sex workers? Before we met?”