Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 19:17:29 -0500 From: Dale E Wright Subject: "The Lottery Winner" Chapter 28 I am SO sorry for the delay...work called and I actually had to be productive. 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. I'm not hearing from anyone anymore. I don't know if this means that you guys are too busy to write or no one's reading anymore. I'll go another couple of chapters, and if the feedback doesn't increase I'll wind the story down with a finale. 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 names of the people are fictional (well, except for the members of the group). 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 28-- "Joey!" His mom came out of the kitchen, and pulled him into a hug. After a minute she broke the hug and smiled at me. "Dale. Nice to see you again. What happened to your hand!" She started reaching for my hand, and stopped short. I just looked at Joey, then at her. "It's nothing ma'am. It's nice to see you again." She ushered the two of us into the living room. Joey's brother Steve was in there talking to their dad. Steve came up and shook my hand, and Joey's dad hugged him. We sat down, and suddenly I was part of the conversation. It was kind of weird...I mean these people kind of wigged on Joey and now suddenly I was there for dinner? "So Dale. I wanted to apologize for slamming into you today at the house. I had, uh, forgotten something here and had to run back here in a hurry. Hope you understand." I could tell that he really wanted me to accept the apology and start fresh. I smiled and nodded. A younger lady came into the room and said that the food was ready. Joey introduced me to his sister Janine. "Heya Dale. Nice to meet you." She turned back to Joe. "So, this is the guy who finally got you to settle down I take it? I approve!" She grinned as Joey glared at her. "Janine you know? Mom or Dad must have told you." "Please Joey, give me some credit. You weren't as subtle as you thought. That's okay though, I knew you'd find mister right someday." She smiled at me again and headed into the kitchen to help her mom. I giggled at the flustered look on Joey's face. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze. The dinner was very filling...and lots of fun. I could tell that Joey's parents were still a little hesitant about the subject of our dating, but Janine was totally cool with it, and the ready acceptance of both kids was helping them deal. "So Dale. What are you planning on doing while Joey's on the road? Are you going to go with them?" I sipped some wine, and looked at Phyllis. "I don't know yet. I'm thinking of returning to college and getting my degree. I don't think it would be good to go on the road with the guys. If I'm there it's too complicated for management." Joey's dad nodded when I said that. The time flew by, and suddenly we were leaving. I actually felt sorry to go. Janine and Phyllis both hugged me. Steve and Joey's dad both shook my hand. Wow...too wild. We got in the car and they were all standing there smiling and waving at us. Joey started the car, and I put my hand on his leg. "Okay, what just happened hon?" He grinned and pulled me into a quick kiss. "Told you it'd all work out in the end. They're good people." I stroked his cheek with my hand. "Damn right. If they weren't then you wouldn't be the man I love." I rested my head on his shoulder as we pulled out to head home. Joey woke me up when he pulled into the driveway. "Hey you, we're home." "What happened? Did I fall asleep?" "Yeah Dale, but that's okay. Looks like some of the guys are here. Must have gotten tired of waiting for us to call." I got out of Joey's Acura and grinned at him. "They have keys? I guess that means I should avoid running around the house naked huh?" He walked up behind me and nuzzled my neck. "Oh you can do it when I'm home. I'll let you Dale." I giggled and stuck my tongue out at him. We walked up to the house and came in to see those two sitting on the couch watching a movie. "Hey guys, what're you watching?" They didn't even look up. "Inside Edition. They're talking about the Backstreet Boys!" Chris sat forward, giggling like a maniac. Suddenly a picture of Joey was on the screen, next to some trashy looking girl. What in the world? On the TV: "A member of the other famous boy band, N'Sync, is being sued by a 19 year old woman claiming that she was sexually assaulted and that a pregnancy resulted from the encounter. The representatives of the group would only say "no comment". We'll keep you posted on this story as more develops." "Um...Joey?" I turned to look at him, and noticed that all color had drained out of his face. "Hey, isn't that the girl that we saw with you Joe?" Chris had turned around to ask the question, and saw my face. He stopped talking. Joey sat me down and told me the whole story. When he was finished, I could tell that he was waiting for me to say something. "Okay. How come this is the first I'm hearing of it?" Joey looked at Chris and Lance then looked back at me. "I didn't want to add to your stress Dale." "GODDAMN it Joey, I'm not a fucking china doll!" I left the room and went upstairs. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I didn't say come in, but Lance went ahead and came in. "Hey Dale." "Heya Scoop." He sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled at me. "You heard Joey Dale. The whole encounter with this girl was orchestrated for some reason. Joey was drugged. Why did it upset you so much?" I turned over and glared at him. "What gets me is ever since I returned I've been treated with kid gloves. It's just a little annoying." He lay down next to me and let out a sigh. "I know the feeling Dale." "How do you know the feeling Scoop?" "Think about it Dale. How often we get put up on pedestals and treated with kid gloves? No one treats us how we want to be treated. It really starts to suck after awhile, but we just deal with it because we're doing what we want to do." He rolled onto his side and faced me. "Don't be mad at Joey for trying to protect you. I'm not proud of how I acted that day, but I have to move on with it." I stood up, and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks for caring Scoop." We pulled away from each other and headed back down. Joey and Chris were sitting in the kitchen talking, and shut up when we walked in. "Joey, can I talk to you for a minute?" He looked at Chris, and followed me out of the room. We got to the living room, and I pulled him into my arms. I ran my hand down his back, and just hugged him tight. "I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean to snap at you like that." We kissed, and held each other. "I so love the fact that you worry Joey, but no more secrets." He grinned at me and kissed me again. "Dale, are you afraid something's going to happen when I'm on the road?" I didn't say anything, but apparently he saw something on my face. He pulled me into a hug. "Baby, you know that the only person who has the keys to my heart is you. All those screaming fans that want to get into my pants don't have a chance. This bitch that slipped me something taught me to be careful. If I'm not then lance will beat me up again!" He slid his arm around me and nuzzled on my ear. Let's get back there before the guys think you killed me." We headed back to Chris and Lance. We did a quick group hug and headed out. Lance pulled out his phone and called the others. Justin wasn't in and JC was with Gabriella, so we decided to go be silly for a bit. We went out and got a bite to eat at Chuck E Cheese. The manager turned the other way when we commandeered the ballroom for a half-hour. I was sore by the end, but it was a good kind of sore. Joey and I said our good-byes after that and headed home. He headed upstairs to shower, I popped open a bottle of white wine and took my glass out onto the deck. I guess I was deep in thought, because I didn't hear his footsteps behind me. "Hey handsome. Care for some company?" He didn't even wait for my reply. He got in front of me on the chair, and we snuggled up. I ran my hand up under his shirt and gently tugged at his chest hairs. Kissing the back of his neck, I pulled him close. "Joey I'm scared." We talked for the next hour. I was scared of losing him. The whole situation with Lonnie had fucked things up, and I felt like they weren't back to normal yet. He took my glass of wine, and drank from it. Standing up, he held his hand out for me. He pulled me into his arms. "Dale, don't let these things get to you. The doctor said that you were doing great. Play it by ear. The cops already said that you definitely have enough to call it self-defense if you did hurt Lonnie. Now," he tenderly kissed the nape of my neck, and ran his finger along the jawbone, "Let's go to bed. I wanna cuddle." My cell phone started ringing. Joey tried holding me back from it, but I got it open. "Hello? Yes this is he. Oh hello. He, what? When? Are you sure? Um, tomorrow at two. Okay. Th-thank you." I hit `end' and just stared at the phone. "Dale, what is it?" I looked into Joey's eyes. I saw the love shining through. "Um, that was the police. Lonnie died. I'm going to bed." I turned and headed upstairs. When Joey came into the bedroom a few minutes later, I was a wreck. I was lying on the bed crying. He stripped and got in next to me. He pulled me to him, and held me. "Oh my god, I killed someone." I fell asleep crying. **BUZZ****BUZZ****BUZZ****BUZZ****BUZZ****BUZZ****BUZZ****BUZZ** I heard a crash. I sat bolt upright and saw Joey retrieving the pillow he'd thrown at the alarm clock. He gave me a sheepish smile. "Hey Dale. Are you okay?" I didn't say anything, just got out of bed and padded into the shower. I waited a few minutes for him to join me, but he never did. Finally with a sigh, I finished washing up and got out. I went back into the bedroom and he was sitting there on the phone with someone. He said goodbye and hung up the phone. "How come you didn't join me Joey?" He just looked at me. "I didn't think you wanted me to." I growled at him and sat next to him. I kissed him, and pulled him on top of me as I lay on the bed. We kissed, and I could feel his dick getting hard. I broke the kiss and just smiled at him. Swatting his ass, I told him to shower. He got up, but stopped when I told him to hang on a second. "Joey. Would you go with me today if I can get in to see Doctor Thomas?" "Are you sure babe?" I hugged him from behind, and reveled in the feeling of him in my arms. "Yeah. I need you there. She wants to try and hypnotize me to clear up the mystery." He flashed that gorgeous smile of his and told me not a problem. He showered while I headed downstairs. I grabbed my phone and called to confirm that I could get in to see the doctor. She told me that the police detective in charge of my case had already contacted her about switching to today. She also told me not to panic about that, if I chose to reveal to the police what I had told her at the first meeting it would simply corroborate what they already knew: The man tried to kill me. I thanked her, and before hung up told her that Joey would be coming with me today. "Are you sure Dale? I have no problem with it if you don't. It would be good for your friend to know what's going on." "It's fine, I think it would be for the best. I'll see you at two." I hung up from that call and made a quick call to mom. "Hi, it's me. Lonnie died last night. Yeah, I know. I'm going to be meeting with the therapist at two for some hypno-therapy. She seems to think that it will help me remember. I'll keep you posted. No, I don't think that I have any cause for concern with the police. The District Attorney will review the material, see what he did to me, and see that it was self-defense. Uh huh, I know. Well, Joey's getting out of the shower so I have to scoot. Love you." I hung up the call and headed back upstairs. I saw Joey naked and bending over to pull a pair of pants out of the dresser drawer. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I walked up behind him and began playing with his ass. He giggled and backed into me. I lightly ran my fingers along his back; I wet my finger and reached down to insert it. As it sank up to the second knuckle he let out a groan. I led him over to the bed and threw him onto his back. I kissed him passionately on the lips as I inserted a second finger and began massaging his insides with my fingers. He groaned as he sucked on my tongue, his hands were going nuts running up and down my body. I inserted a third finger, and nearly sent him over the edge. His dick was as hard as an iron bar, and oozing precum everywhere. Joey broke the kiss and was going to say something to me, but I began nuzzling on his ear and jacking on his dick with the fingers that had been getting him ready to be fucked. Before he could catch a breath I slid my dick into him. The groan that came out of him shook the windows. I began thrusting my entire length in and out, slowly at first. I timed the strokes on his cock with my penetrations so he was getting it from both sides. After about ten minutes I felt him clamping on my dick with his muscles. His dick started spasming in my hand before blasting thick white loads of cum up nearly to my neck, and finally coating my hand when he was nearly done. I held my hand to Joey, and smiled as he licked some of his cum off of it. "Mmmm. Great taste." He kissed me and shared some of it with me. We wiped ourselves off with his towel and finished getting dressed. "Dale, what brought that on?" He grinned as he buttoned up his shirt. I smiled and blew him a kiss. "What can I say. You're adorable. Now, let's get some breakfast. I'm famished." We ran downstairs and headed out. He had some running around he had to get done so I tagged along. We swung by the offices of WEG so he could talk to the lawyers about the whole encounter with the girl. Johnny was walking by the elevators when we got out on the floor. "Dale! You're looking better than the last time I saw you." He shook my hand, and we followed him into his office. It only took us about ten minutes to finish up at WEG, so we decided to head for food after that. I noticed myself growing quieter and quieter as the time got closer to meet with the doctor. Joey noticed, but didn't say anything about it. We just held hands as we pulled into the parking lot. We checked in at the front desk, and sat to wait. We couldn't hold hands or anything, but it was enough that he was there. Finally the doctor peeked out and let us in. "Okay Dale. We're going to get you relaxed and try the hypno-therapy. Does that sound okay to you?" "Guess it's got to be huh. Okay, let's get on with it." "One final thing. Procedure has me tape these sessions. Do you have objections to the district attorney listening to this? He will probably ask to." I said that it was okay, and smiled at Joey. He sat in a chair by the doctor where he was told to. She dimmed the lights in the office, and turned on the metronome that was on her desk. "Close your eyes and relax Dale. You only hear the sound of the metronome and my voice. Start at the top of your head and relax your body. Feel your neck loosen, feel your shoulders and arms go limp next. Your almost there Dale, you're doing fine. Now your legs are loosening, don't worry you're in a chair. Your now completely relaxed. Dale, I need to take you back. We need to talk about what happened the last two weeks. We'll be watching it like on a movie screen. Do you see the screen Dale?" "Yes" "You'll be able to watch, but what you see won't hurt you. Do you understand? If you feel yourself starting to get upset, just take a deep cleansing breath." "Yes" She looked at Joey, then turned on the recorder to tape the session. "Okay Dale, let's talk about the day Lonnie took you." I spent the next few minutes talking about opening the door and seeing Lonnie. I flinched as I saw myself getting hit, breathe Dale...breath. I heard Lonnie talking to Joey on the phone. I lost all track of time as I watched things unfold on the screen. Periodically I heard a voice telling me to breathe. I heard what sounded like Joey crying a couple of times. I let out a scream as my finger was broken on the screen. The voice told me it was okay, it wasn't happening to me. I saw the spark of life fading from my eyes on the screen. I remember my will to live was being beaten out of me. It continued like that until something happened. "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 saw something happen to my face. It was like a film settled over my eyes. I saw myself reach for a lamp that was sitting on the dresser by the mirror. I grabbed it and turned to race at Lonnie. I slammed into him, and brought the lamp down full-bore on his nose. There's a crunching sound as his nose splits open and I see a geyser of blood. He screams, and I drop the lamp to reach for his throat. He tries bringing his hands up to hit me, but I hold him down and start choking the life out of him. My right hand circles his throat and starts squeezing as my left hand takes his hand and smashes it into the headboard. I heard bones snap, but I didn't care. I smacked it into the headboard three more times and dropped his hand to start punching him. I stood up and pulled him off of the bed, and threw him into the wall. Before he fell onto the floor I'd kicked him in the side. He turned to face me. "Dale, wait. Stop!" He suddenly brought up his hand and tried slashing at me with the knife that was there. I didn't even hesitate. I kicked his leg from the side, and stood on it. I heard the bone snap as his leg twisted in a way that it was never meant to. He fell down onto the ground. I kept hitting him. I ripped the alarm clock out of the wall and swung it by the cord. It made a clunk sound as it collided with his face. He didn't cry out that time. I kept swinging the clock until it disintegrated. I looked down at the man who was now lying on the floor unconscious. I kicked him in the head, and went to find my wallet and phone. I found them hidden underneath the mattress. I started for the door when I felt something grab onto my ankle. I fell forward striking my head. He began climbing on top of me. His one eye wouldn't open, and he'd lost a few teeth. Blood was running from his mouth. I didn't even blink. My knee came up and caught him in the balls. He wouldn't fall off of me, so I headbutted him. I pulled myself up to a sitting position; I grabbed his dick and twisted it. He howled in pain and what sounded like fury. "You stay down dammit. I told you I'm not the same guy. Now you try and threaten the best thing that's ever happened to me? I don't think so. Do you hear me you MOTHER FUCKER! YOU WILL NOT HURT ME OR THOSE AROUND ME EVER AGAIN!" I pushed him backward and heard something crunch as his head collided with the dresser. He was out now. I got back up and looked at myself in the mirror. Gotta clean up. I stripped and went to shower. I got out of the shower and put my clothes back on. They were scrungy, but I didn't care. All I knew was I had to go home. I walked out of the room without a backward glance. I had my cell phone in my hand. Shading my eyes from the brightness, I looked around me. Why is there blood on my hand? "Okay Dale. You hear the sound of my voice again. I'm going to bring you awake now. On the count of four you will wake refreshed, remembering everything you saw while feeling no guilt or remorse about what you saw on the screen.. Ready? One, Two, Three, Four." I opened my eyes, and I looked into first the eyes of Doctor Thomas. She smiled at me, and nodded at Joey. "Oh My God." I felt tears start to fall. "Dale, you can't feel responsible for this. Lonnie pushed you to your breaking point and you snapped. It's incredible that you didn't snap sooner. There is a history of physical abuse spanning years. He came back and it was worse this time. No one would blame you for breaking, you're only human. We'll have to talk more about this I'm sure. But remember what he did to you Dale. I strongly urge you to not lose sight of that. I'm going to pencil you in for tomorrow afternoon again. We'll talk more." She stood up and stretched. "Joey, please do me a favor and take him someplace where he's surrounded by people." Joey just nodded and we got ready to say our good-byes. "Dale, don't be afraid to talk about this with Joey. If you want to call me before tomorrow's appointment feel free to call my service and they'll get me. I'll leave word with them." She excused herself to go schedule the appointment. As soon as she was out of the room Joey hugged me. He was crying. "Oh God babe, I'm so sorry." He planted a light kiss on my lips, and began walking me towards the door. "Come on Dale, let's go." I didn't say anything as we headed out. We said our good-byes to the doctor and headed to the car. The whole elevator ride down Joey tried talking to me, but I wouldn't talk. Once we were in Joey's car, I began crying softly. "Well, that proves it. Joey, what're we going to do?" "Right now? Nothing. We're going to let the DA decide whether to pursue anything. You have six character witnesses who have already sworn affidavits about what they know of you and what they saw in their dealings with the whole situation. Don't worry baby," He pulled me into a quick hug, "we won't let anything happen. Now, we're going to do what the doctor ordered." He squeezed my hand gently before starting the car. "Call Lance, find out where the guys want to go tonight. You're going out with us for a nice and normal, well as normal as we ever get, evening with the boys." We pulled out of the parking lot with a squeal. "Lance, it's Dale. Joey said to get butt in gear and plan an evening out for dinner. I'm under orders to have fun with my friends." "Okay Dale. I'll call you back in ten." We set out to head home. He wouldn't let me get into a funky mood. Whenever I started getting quiet he'd pull me into a funny story, or he'd run his hand along my thigh. Just as we were pulling into the driveway, my phone rang. "Dale, we'll be at your place in twenty minutes. We're going to do pizza because it sounds like you need comfort food. Don't worry about a thing, we're all coming. Bye for now."