“I know. Your pup tent told me so.”
James leaned back so I could see how my erection had caused the sheet to raise. Both of us laughed, and I pushed the sheet back to reveal the boner.
“Sorry about that,” I said while I playfully moved my hips up and down to make my dick bounce.
“No, please don’t be sorry at all. I’m not.”
James pulled me into his arms and squeezed me tightly. He kissed me hard before he relaxed his arm and helped me settle into place. James dimmed the lights, snuggled behind me, and then wrapped his arm over my side. His hand came to rest on my chest, and after we had been still for a few moments, he said, “I love you, Brandon. Ohana.”
I knew he couldn’t see my expression, but I wore a huge grin.
“I love you too. Ohana, James.”
7
James
Somewhere close to1:30 in the morning, Brandon grew restless in my arms. I gently nudged him awake the moment I heard him utter the words ‘stop’ and ‘no.’ I held my hand over his chest; I could feel his heart pounding. His eyes settled on mine, and a small smile crept onto his face.
“Relax, Brandon. It’s just us,” I soothed.
I rubbed my hand over his chest for a few moments, but really I wanted to take his pulse. He still had a tendency to get upset if his wrists were taken hold of without warning. Given how shaky he was, I knew his pulse would be sky high.
“Bad dream, huh?” I asked, even though I knew the answer. My goal was to get him away from the content of the dream and concentrate on my voice.
“Yeah. I’m sorry I woke you up.”
“It’s quite alright, pup.”
I leaned over and grabbed the bottle of water from the nightstand. I twisted off the cap and handed it to him. He started out sipping, but then he took larger gulps. I decided to push him for the dream info.
“What was it about?” I pointedly asked him. If I had asked him if he would like to talk about it, his answer most likely would have been no. But by coming out and asking what it was about, he knew I expected some sort of answer.
“The board thing, and E—”
Waterboard and ‘E.’
“Who is ‘E,’ Brandon? Is he the friend who took you to the party?”
The FBI hadn’t been able to get the info out of Brandon or the other victims. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Brandon knew the pseudonym of the person who took him. The FBI was very interested in finding that person too… Assuming they were still alive.
“Hmm, pup? Who is ‘E’?” I prompted him again.
He looked so far away from me.
“He’s no one,” Brandon mumbled.
He still struggled with talking about certain things, and being waterboarded was one of them. He wouldn’t even say the phrase. As for the ‘E’ person, there were times when he mentioned names, and then he locked up. I decided to address the waterboarding and not give too much focus to one of Sebastian’s henchmen for the moment.
“I won’t say that I know how scary that was, Brandon. I’ve done a lot of reading on the subject since the night you came into my life, so I can offer some sort of comfort for you. Even though I grasp and understand the consensus of gathered accounts and what others say, it’ll be very different, I think, from exactly how you felt. But I’m always here and ready to listen to you no matter what. I want to listen to you anytime you’re ready to talk.”
Brandon nodded and handed me the bottle of water. I returned the bottle to the nightstand and asked him if the lights were too dim. I’d put the bedroom lights on a dimmer for him so he wouldn’t wake up abruptly from a bad dream and panic to being in a dark bedroom. We always went to sleep with them on the second to the dimmest setting, but when the nightmares come, I'd ask him if he’d like the lights brought up a bit.
“The lights are good,” Brandon said as he snuggled himself on the bed.
He faced away from me and pulled his blanket bear close. I knew he wasn’t shutting me out but rather telling me with his body that he wanted me to snuggle him. I pressed my body against his, wrapped my left arm over his body, and flattened my hand against his chest. I closed my eyes, but moments later I opened them at the sound of Brandon’s voice.
“It feels like you’re being suffocated,” he murmured. “You meet all of this resistance when you try gasping. Your chest gets heavy, and you feel this huge weight on your chest. You fear death is literally right there, ready to snatch you.” I felt him shrug. “There were times that I didn’t care if it took me. I even told myself over and over not to fight it. But then it comes, and my body would fight automatically.”
