Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 22:44:00 -0500 From: Dale E Wright Subject: "The Lottery Winner" Chapter 26 Hi everyone... Wow...people are actually reading my stuff. Thanks for the positive responses. -- I'm even a nominee for some slash-fiction awards! Vote for me please!!!! (http://jump.to/nsync_stories or http://www.geocities.com/sasha02.geo/award.html) I'm nominated in the `Best Joey story' and `Best Slash Fiction'. This story has now officially taken on a life of it's own. I didn't expect it to go this long or be this developed. But so many people have written me that I have to see what happens next! As always, Gabriella and Mike are my main cheerleaders. I'm a bit nervous--so if people could please e- mail me at bwicub@hotmail.com--I'd really appreciate it. I love e-mail!! DISCLAIMER: The name of the stalker is fictional. This is a fictional story that came right out of my own mind. I have no knowledge if any member of N Sync are gay or whatever. That being said, please enjoy the story and remember-- write me!!! (Especially write me if you're a member of the group! GRIN) --The Lottery Winner Ch 26-- I woke up to the distant sound of a doorbell. Joey was out like a light, so I extricated myself from his arms and threw a robe on as well as I could. I kissed Joey softly on the cheek and headed down to see who it was. I fully expected it to be one of the guys, so I just threw the door open. There, standing in all his glory, is Joe's dad. Oh, crap. "Um, can I help you?" "Yeah, is Joe up yet? His mom told me I had to spend time with Joey today. Didn't say why. And who are you again?" I nervously extended my good hand. "Hi, my name is Dale." We shook hands, and his eyes got big when he realized that my one hand was all taped and splinted. "Damn guy. What happened to your hand?" "Um, it's nothing. If you want to come in and have a seat I'll go grab Joe and make sure he's up." I closed the door and ran upstairs. "JOE!" I was shaking him lightly. "Joey, wake up." He started waking up, and apparently decided I wanted to fool around. He began wrapping himself around me, and trying to kiss me. "Joey, much as I wanna play slap and tickle, now's probably not the best time. Your dad is downstairs." Well that did it. His eyes flew open. "WHAT? Dad? Here???" He jumped out of bed and threw clothes on. He went downstairs. I went and took a shower. I got dressed and went downstairs. The house was really quiet. "Joey?" I heard voices out on the deck. I began heading that way when someone plowed into me. I didn't expect it, so I went flying backwards. I slammed into a wall, and slid to the floor with a groan. "Dad wait! Shit, Dale!! What happened hon?" Joey stopped and helped me up. "What the hell was that Joey? I'm getting really FUCKING sick of getting beat up!" Joey led me to the kitchen sink. He pulled out a paper towel and got it wet. As he was blotting my forehead (blood??? I had BLOOD on me???!!). He began filling me in on what happened… --- "Hey dad, how's it going?" As they broke the hug his dad smiled at him. "So, how're you doing boy? Been making all the girls cry this time around like last time?" "Um, well. Not really dad. Hey, did mom talk to you?" "About what son?" "Nevermind." The two of them headed out to the deck. Joey's dad kept asking him about the `girl in every city' like he had on the last tour. Finally he couldn't deal with it anymore. "Dad I'm gay." silence… "What?" "I'm gay dad. There is no more girl in every city. There's just Dale." "Dale? The guy who answered the door?" "Yeah. I really love him dad." Without saying another word, Joey's dad turned and stormed out. He slammed into something, but didn't even stop to see what it was. He slammed the door shut. Getting into the car, he just stared at the door to the house. As the tears fell from his eyes, he took a deep breath. The car pulled out of the driveway. -- "So, that was your father. Nice guy." "Oh shut up Dale." Joey pulled me into a hug. "That went pretty well." I broke the hug and just looked at him. "Well? Are you nuts? The man stormed out of here and body- slammed me into the wall. You actually think it went well?" He just smiled at me. "That's dad. If you throw him something major like this he usually rants and raves for a few minutes then is fine. Guarantee that within two hours he'll be calling me inviting us over to dinner." He put his arms around my neck, and gently kissed me. "I love you Dale. Never forget or doubt that." We headed upstairs. "I need a shower, care to join me Dale?" I just grinned and smacked his ass. "Not right now, I already showered this morning. I'll be here waiting for you when you get out." He did a seductive striptease for me…coming over and standing so he was between my legs. I hugged him, and pinched his ass. He jumped, but grinned me as he went to shower. I lay back down in bed, and curled up on my side to take a quick catnap. --//"Hey Lonnie. When are you going to give this up? There's nothing you can do that'll change my mind. I'm not the same guy from before." "Dale, I'm getting tired of your shit so I'm going to start playing for keeps. Let's talk about this Joey guy. I have his address and phone. He'll be just as easy to get as you were. Is that what I'm going to have to do Dale? Go after your precious Joey? Maybe hold him down and break the hands that have touched you. Show him that he's not good enough to be touching you. Would you like to see that? I'll make him beg for me to stop hurting him. Maybe I'll use my knife on him. How would your Joey look with his throat slashed Dale? You'd never hear his voice again." I listened to the words coming out of him, and felt something give inside. Without even thinking about it, I reached for the lamp that was sitting on the dresser. His voice was cut off as I slammed into him. The lamp comes down and smashes into his nose. There's a crunching sound as his nose splits open and I see a geyser of blood. He screams. I drop the lamp and reach for his throat//-- I wake up screaming. I'm clawing my way off of the bed. I'm using my splinted hand, and I don't even feel it. Suddenly there are arms around me. I start struggling to get away. Pushing away from the arms that are pinning me, I fight to the opposite end of the bed to run. "Dale, it's okay." The voice is familiar. But no…he can't be here. He wouldn't stand by and let this happen to me. The fog starts clearing a little. Joey wasn't there. "Dale, you're home. It's okay honey. Nothing can hurt you here." I feel hands on my back, and I get a whiff of cologne as the arms start encircling me. Joey… I collapse back into his arms, sobbing. He's stroking my hair. "Oh my God Joey…what have I done?" He was confused. "What do you mean Dale? You've done nothing." "I hurt him didn't I? Oh God." Joey didn't say anything for a minute or so. "What do you remember Dale?" He pulled me up, and sat facing me while holding my hand. I told him about my nightmare. He flinched when I told him about the lamp and Lonnie's nose. When I stopped talking, we were both silent. The ringing of the phone made us both jump. "Hello? Hi mom, can you hang on a second? Thanks." Joey covered the phone with his hand. "It's my mom." He got back on the phone. "yeah mom, what's up? Tonight? Um, okay. Sure. What? Okay, sounds good. See you guys at 8. Love you too. Bye." He hung up the phone and just looked back at me. "We're having dinner with my parents tonight at eight. But that's later. Now… Dale, remember what Lonnie did to you." I noticed he looked at my hand as he said it. "This man hurt you very badly. If you defended yourself, then by god good for you!" He leaned in and kissed me on the lips. "Never forget that. You also not only me watching your back now but the guys as well." I didn't say anything as he stood up and pulled me slowly into his waiting arms. "Now Dale, your first mission is to give me a kiss. Then you're going to call and make an appointment with a therapist. Once that's done, you're going to give me another kiss. After that, we'll probably go meet the guys. Sound like a deal?" He winked and smiled at me…and I felt a little of the darkness leave. Kissing him, I went to change my bandages. I spent a few minutes fighting with it, it was so damn awkward! I was just starting to get frustrated when I felt lips on the back of my neck. "I thought you'd probably need some help." He didn't say anything as he pulled the old tape and splints off and gently cleaned the hand. As he taped it back up, he smiled at me. "It's starting to look a little better. Not quite so bruised." I saw a tear fall from his eye as he looked at me. "It'll get better babe, never doubt that. I love you, no matter what someone has done to you. That'll all go away eventually. I'll still be here." God he always knows what to say! I melted into his arms as he kissed me. I went and called a therapist. My first appointment was for today at two with a Doctor Lydia Thomas. We headed downstairs after that. Snuggling together on the couch, Joey and I just held each other. Chris called about an hour later, and the two of them decided to take me out to get some sun before my appointment. Chris honked his horn, and we headed out to meet him. Walking down the to the car, I stopped. Sitting in Joey's driveway was my Acura. I let go of Joey's hand, and walked slowly over to it. Opening the passenger door, I knew what I would find. But for some reason, the seat was freshly scrubbed. I felt Joey behind me. He put his hands on my shoulders and began massaging them. "I had it cleaned after the police went over it for evidence. I couldn't leave it like that. Did you want to take it today?" I backed away from the car. I headed to Chris's car, and got in the backseat without saying a word. "Dale my man. How's it going today?" I looked into Chris's eyes. I had to get out of the funky mood. Smiling at him, I suppressed the negative feelings I was having. "Just fine thanks. I only have a few hours before my appointment. What did you have in mind?" He was just starting to answer me, when Joey opened the passenger door and sat down. "Hey Chris, get enough sleep last night?" Chris giggled. "Barely. For some reason Busta was a total spaz last night." "Joey, I want to get rid of the Acura." We were just starting to pull out of the driveway. Chris stopped and both of them turned around to look at me. "Dale, it's a nice truck. Why do you want to get rid of it?" Chris looked genuinely confused. I saw Joey glare at him. "Gee Chris, I dunno. Maybe because I was held against my will in the fucking thing and when I didn't move fast enough Lonnie sliced my arm open like he was fileting a fish. Yeah it's a nice car but quite frankly I'd rather get rid of that one and get a new one." I sat back in disgust. "Can we go do something please?" Nothing was said as we pulled out. I was firmly in my funk now and no one could cheer me up. The car was quiet until we pulled up to a redlight. We were surrounded by other cars, and some people recognized Chris since he had his window down. Joey opened his door and stepped out! "Joey! What the hell are you doing?" He was standing there smiling and waving at everyone. "Chris, what the hell is he up to?" Chris was laughing too hard to answer me. Joey blew a few kisses, then opened the back door and threw himself in to the back seat as the light turned green. Chris was giggling like a loon. "Joey you're so damaged! Wonder how long it'll take for pictures to go up on Ebay." Joey just laughed, then looked over at me. He took my hand in his. "Don't shut me out Dale. Please." I couldn't stay upset when he looked at me with those eyes of his. We snuggled in the back seat, while Chris drove. We didn't say anything for awhile, just held each other. Suddenly Chris was yelling at us. "Okay you bitches, I feel like I'm driving Miss Daisy here." I arched my eyebrow at Joey. "Chris. You wish we were your bitches! Just drive my good man, let's get some lunch. I'm starving." Chris gave me the bird in the rearview mirror, and I just blew him a kiss. Joey laughed when he saw that. "Dale, you gonna leave me for Chris?" "It's tempting Joey. I mean, he does have a nice ass." Chris turned all shades of red and just went back to driving. Joey and I sat there holding each other. A few minutes later we pulled up in front of a Chinese restaurant. We had a few minutes to wait, so we just hung out in a quiet alcove and hoped like hell that no one would recognize them. "Are you going to be okay seeing the therapist today?" I smiled wanly at Chris. "Well, I was hoping that I could bring Joey with me. Why? Did you need to borrow my man? Or are you just checking to make sure I'll actually go?" "Well Dale, given your love for hospitals…do you blame me?" I let out a small laugh. The manager arrived to take us to our seats, so further conversation was impossible. We were given a table in the back, in an area that looked like it was only used during really busy times. After we gave the waitress our orders, our conversation continued. "You know I'll go with you to the Acura dealership if you want to get another MDX." I just grinned at Joey. "If you want to go someplace else we can do that too…as long as you're happy I am." Chris started making gagging noises. He stopped when Joey started tossing sugar packets at him. It was a nice lunch. I began feeling myself relax again. By the end of lunch we were all laughing like maniacs. As we were getting into the car, Joey's cell phone rang. "Hello? Hey Scoop, how's it hanging? I dunno, let me ask." He checked his watch then turned to look at Chris then I. "The guys were wondering what we're up to this afternoon. Dale, your appointment is in an hour, do you want to meet up with the guys before going or do you want to go see if you can get in early?" He was looking at me with those big eyes of his, but I couldn't give in this time. "That's okay Joe, I just want to head out to meet Doctor Thomas. I don't know how long it'll take though. I'm hoping just an hour. Could you give me a ride there? If not, I'll just take a cab." He didn't say anything, just hugged me. He handed his phone to Chris. "Chris, could you talk to James? I want to cuddle for a bit." We cuddled as Chris filled him in on the plans for the day. Softly kissing me, Joey held my face in his hands. "Dale, if you want me to I'll stay and wait for you at the doctor's office." I kissed him, and just snuggled. "That's one of the reasons why I love you Joey. But you go have fun with your friends. I'll be fine. It'll probably be dull anyway." Joey didn't say anything, just ran his hand up under my shirt and played with my chest hair as Chris drove. We heard Chris hang up the phone. He didn't say anything as he kept driving. After a few minutes we came to a stop in front of a medical high-rise office. I got out and told the guys that I'd take a cab home to the house. "Hi, my name is Dale Wright and I have a two o'clock meeting with Lydia Thomas." There had been a cancellation, so I was able to get in early. She seemed like a nice lady. Very quiet. "Come on in and have a seat Dale. Can I get you some water or soda?" I told her no thanks, and made a crack about no couch. She smiled and said that her office staff took it out when she kept falling asleep on it. That did it, the ice was broken as we both started laughing. "Doc, before we get any further. I need to ask you something. I need to make absolutely certain that anything I talk about remains between us. My life has become intertwined with celebrities from the area. I don't want anything about the past few weeks to be brought up and impact them. Do I have your word as a professional that it'll just be between us?" "Of course Dale! Now, let's get started." We talked about the past few weeks. She was very good at her job. She worked on nudging me along. I remember crying a lot. She asked me about the trip home. "Dale, what about this gap in your memory? There's some time from when you woke up until when you walked out of the hotel room. Do you remember anything about that?" I flashed onto my nightmare. Reluctantly, I began telling her about it. She asked me for a larger background on my relationship with Lonnie. Finally, she asked me if I'd be willing to try being hypnotized so I could remember what was being blocked. "If we can get you to remember that Dale, then we can work on getting it resolved. Your mind is blocking you in order to protect yourself." She leaned forward slightly. "If you're willing, we can try some relaxation techniques, maybe even hypnosis to work on it. How's that sound?" We talked some more, and ended the session on a good note. I mentioned that it didn't seem like we did anything major. "You can't think that Dale. We're establishing a good relationship here. Don't worry. The missing time will be accounted for. What I need you to do for next time is pretty simple. The next time you have a nightmare about him, don't lose sight of the fact that it's just a dream. What you saw earlier was probably a memory. Don't shrink like that Dale! If it happened it happened. You said that this man abused you for two years right? You also said that he tortured you the past two weeks. Tell me more about your support system. I think you said his name was," notebook flips, "Joey. How's that going?" I squirmed in my seat. Taking a sip of water, I collected my thoughts. "Okay, I think. We kind of fell into each other's lives. He means the world to me though. I've never felt this way about someone, and I won't ever let anyone hurt him." I sat up a little bit. "One big problem though is his celebrity status. I mean, we can't do anything openly as a couple for fear of someone taking a picture and our `big secret' getting out. I'm not big on public making out, so it's not that big an issue. But it does nag at me sometimes." Her watch started beeping, signaling the end of the session. We walked out to her receptionist, and set my next appointment. Sitting in the waiting room, wearing his trademark floppy hat and glasses, was Joey. I walked right up to him, Doctor Thomas was right behind me. "Doctor Thomas, this is Joey. Joey, this is my shrink." Her eyes got a little wide when she recognized him. "Wow Dale. You weren't kidding that celebrity comes into it. Don't worry, confidentiality keeps me from saying anything. Now, I'll see you in a week. Here's my pager number if you need to talk right away before then." She smiled at me and shook my hand. "Nice to meet you Joey." She shook his hand and then turned away. "Ready to go Joey?" We were heading outside when I recognized someone. Walking towards her I called out her name. "It's Gabriella isn't it? Do you remember me?" She stopped walking. "Oh my god, Dale! Of course I remember you. Hey there!!!" She pulled me into a hug. "You swept me off my feet at the club then disappeared. I couldn't find the paper you gave me with your number, so I've been going back hoping I'd run into you." "I have to run Gabriella, but hang on a second." I ran back inside and grabbed a pen and paper from the receptionist. I wrote down my cell number and the number at the house. "Now, are you going to lose it this time?" I giggled as she took it and stuck her tongue out at me. "Call me Gabriella, we'll go out and do something." Joey had stood quietly by, I grinned at him. "Sorry hon." "Hey, she looked familiar. Where do you know her from?" I laughed as I got into his car. "Remember the first night we went out? I was dancing with a girl? That's her. She was fun. So, what have you been up to mister?" I rested my hand on his thigh and began lightly massaging it with my fingers. "Just hanging out. Are you in a hurry to go home or do you want to meet up with the others for a few hours before dinner?" Leaning over, I lightly kissed his lips. "Let's go meet the guys. I'm in a good mood." Joey put the Acura in drive and took my hand in his. He kissed the back of my hand, and just smiled at me. We took off out of the parking lot to meet the others.