A week passed after their first interlude in bed. Simon had a little work to do out of country, but in his absence he’d been sending more gifts to John. The finest chocolates, clothes, flowers with a note telling him he missed him. It was all becoming a little much for John.

He was struggling to hide it all from his grandparents, face flushing every time gifts arrived for him at work and he had to cram them in his locker to keep others from seeing. In John’s mind there was no reason a man like Mr. Riley would still be giving him things. He already

got what he wanted. John shivered as he remembered all the sensations of that might, how Mr. Riley had fucked him ‘til his brains felt scrambled. He’d never felt anything like it. But that had to be the norm for Mr. Riley, hadn’t it? The man had to be like that will all his

lovers, otherwise how could he make a nothing like John feel so intensely. In his absence Simon was happy when Gary told him John was accepting his gifts, so it was a disappointment when he picked the man up that night for a dinner in the city didn’t find any sign of them.

And again he found the gift he gave him at the start of their date, a pair of pale sapphire cuff links that would have matched his new suit, wedged out of sight in the seat. Anger bloomed in Simon’s chest when he found them, tempted to go back right then to confront his wayward

lover, but Gary, who’d witnessed it all from his place in the driver’s seat suggested that maybe there was a reason. In the case of most of Simon’s paramours he’d have done a background check, but no such thing had been done with John other than what the contractor provided.

It was easy to give the nod to Gary, to be his little Roach and scurry into hidden places to extract their precious gems of information. He’d know more by the end of the week. Until then Simon intended to keep up pretenses.He was taking John to brunch and a movie for his day off.

~ John’s grandparents were pleased with the increased cash flow, though they’d been an increasing challenge about him giving it all to them instead of spending it on Moira and Theo. It was hard to have stress from all sides, but John did his best to take it in stride.

He felt bittersweet about not having breakfast at home with them, but for now he wasn’t willing to turn down any of Mr. Riley’s attentions. He didn’t deserve any of what he was getting, but Moira and Theo did, so he lied and said he had an extra shift at work, and left before

their protests could be too heavy to bear. John always met the car at an apartment complex two blocks over. He hadn’t been comfortable with the idea of someone so powerful knowing where he lived, so on that first day he’d met Simon who’d been arranging a new development

across the street from the building, it was an easy enough little fib, just like his difficulty reading. Mr. Riley tended to order for them both, and John never complained. The food was almost always good, and the menus were sometimes in a swirly scrawl John understood even less.

When the limo arrived and Simon looked him up and down John could swear he saw a flicker of disappointment in his eyes, but the expression melted away over the medical mask into a look that still belayed a smile. The date passed like any other, and at the end John thought they

might end up in bed again, but for some reason Mr. Riley dropped him off at the end with a gift handed to him out the window of his ride. There’s be no leaving this one, but when John looked at the brushed platinum necklace he didn’t mind. The pawn shop would be open in a couple

days, and he knew he could net himself at least a grand. ~ John was an easy mark to follow, Gary smirking to himself as he watched the man from a distance over several days. He’d been gathering lots of information and photos for several days, pleasantly surprised by what he

found. Simon was dogging at his heels for all of it, but knew Roach wouldn’t give him anything until he’d investigated every nook and cranny of John’s life. It was very satisfying to watch the shifting emotions on Simon’s face when he was finally given a file that he

devoured ravenously.

Cont.