Chapter 4
FOUR
Dom took his time on his second slice of pizza, barely focusing on the game-show rerun that Trey had put on the television for background noise. He’d been battling a barrage of guilt for the last hour or so, ever since he realized exactly who Trey was.
Fading Daze.
“We’re supposed to play in a big festival in a few weeks but we lost our percussionist. Just fucking up and left us for another crew.”
Dominic should have put the brakes on everything and fessed up. He shouldn’t have given Trey his number last night, should have kept to his no-repeats rule, and then he wouldn’t be sitting there with Trey, eating pizza and pretending he didn’t know a thing about Trey’s troubles with his drummer.
He knew all about it, because Lincoln was the one who’d stolen Tyson away from Fading Daze to play with XYZ.
Tyson had been playing with them all week, and he was playing with them again tonight at Off Beat.
Lincoln had magically gotten them onto the schedule at the last minute, so they’d extended their stay for another day.
The late gig meant driving back to Philly at one in the morning, because no way could they get another hotel room night on such short notice in the summer, but another gig meant more practice. More exposure.
And he’d gone and fucked a member of the band he’d just figuratively fucked over.
Fucking great.
Except it was kind of great. His chemistry with Trey was off-the-charts fantastic.
He really liked that he was giving Trey a couple of new experiences with sex, and he loved how responsive Trey was.
Not afraid to make noise, doing what he was told without question.
Somehow instinctively trusting Dom not to hurt him.
Finding Trey was like finding the guy he’d always hoped was out there, and now that he had him, Dom wasn’t able to keep him.
No way would Trey still want to see him once he found out who Dom was.
“I can change the channel.”
He looked at Trey, who’d stopped eating to stare at him. “What?”
“You were glaring at the TV. We can watch something else.”
“It wasn’t the show. I got lost in thought.”
“Didn’t look like happy thoughts. Anything you want to share with the class?”
Not yet, no. He didn’t want this thing with Trey to end. “Nothing important. When you’re done eating, wanna play some?”
Trey’s lips curled into a cute grin. “Didn’t we already play?”
He laughed. “I meant music.”
“Like I said—”
“With our instruments.” Lord, he was just digging himself in deeper, and Trey’s amused look wasn’t helping. “Violin. Keyboard. Music. Us.”
“Oh, that.”
Dom wadded up a napkin and threw it at Trey’s head. “Yeah, that.”
“Definitely.”
They both finished the slice they were on, then easily went about cleaning up and tossing trash. Dom stashed the leftovers in the fridge before he carefully washed his hands. No pizza grease on his violin. He washed his face, too, so he didn’t get anything on the chin rest.
“You are serious about your violin, aren’t you?” Trey said.
“Definitely. That thing’s worth a fortune.”
Trey led the way back into his room, which still faintly smelled of sex. “And here all I have is a used Casio.”
“Hey, you use what you got, right?”
“We have a better keyboard for performing, but this is what I use when I compose.” Trey settled in the desk chair in front of the keyboard and turned it on. “So when you did your arrangements for last night, did you purposely choose songs that have basic rhythms, but strong melody in the vocals?”
“Yeah. Female vocals, ideally, but you can make almost anything work with an actual accompanist, rather than a flat track.”
“Kind of what we did together?”
“Exactly.” Dom let all of last night’s performance joy flood back. “I lucked out that you were there.”
“Yes you did.” Trey’s sunny smile showed off a hint of his dimples. “But I did too, because I fucking love your sound. Is there a song you want to do but haven’t tried yet?”
“‘My Immortal.’” Dom had been a huge fan of Evanescence since stumbling over them on YouTube.
He had every song from their first two albums memorized on keys, and he’d practiced a lot of the songs with his strings, but he couldn’t get “My Immortal” alone.
And until Trey, he’d never felt right playing with anyone else.
He hadn’t wanted to share that part of himself before.
Losing Trey was going to hurt like hell, but Dom would take what he could have until it was over.
“Amy Lee is my girl crush,” Trey said. “Man, anyone who says there’s no such thing as fate can bite my sac.”
Dom crossed his arms and leaned against the bed support. “I don’t know, I think you might enjoy that.”
Trey smirked. “You’re probably right. Wanna find out for yourself?”
“Maybe later.” Dom could play with a hard-on but he’d prefer not to. “You know the song?”
“Duh.” Trey changed a few configurations on the board, then played the opening notes.
“Cool.”
Dom released his violin from its case. He tuned it carefully, taking his time because he hadn’t brought any extra strings on this trip. He drew the horsehair bow across the strings, pulling out a few strains of the song’s melody.
“Ready?” Trey asked.
“Definitely.”
Dom closed his eyes after the first new notes, allowing the music to fill his entire being.
Consume him and light him on fire. He entered in at the right moment, drawing out the lyrics with his bow and strings and fingers, making his violin sing words he knew by heart.
Words that rang in his mind as he re-created them in melody.
His throat closed at the simple beauty of what they were doing.
His chest ached for how much he’d missed playing the violin with someone else.
His eyes stung for the longing and sadness in the song, and for how perfect the moment was.
A fleeting moment over too damned soon.
As the music stopped, Dom blinked hard. He swiped at a tear on his cheek, unembarrassed at his body’s response to something so amazing that he hadn’t been able to contain it.
Trey was watching him with wide, shining eyes, his cheeks flushed and lips parted. “That was . . .”
Dom cleared his throat and lowered his violin. “Yeah. That was. ‘Bring Me to Life’?”
“Hell yeah.”
Before they started, Dom turned on the audio recorder on his phone, kind of wishing he’d done it for the previous song.
They played “Bring Me to Life,” “Going Under,” and “Hello.” In those fifteen or so minutes, Dom had never felt more alive.
More perfectly in the moment. And instead of closing his eyes, he watched Trey.
Watched the way Trey’s fingers expertly danced across the keyboard.
The way he’d stick the tip of his tongue out during an intense section.
And especially the frequent way he’d meet Dom’s eyes with an intense knowing.
Whatever it was between them, they both felt it. And Dom had no idea what to do next.
Trey saved him any higher thought by standing, which showed off his wood, and gently taking Dom’s violin away.
He tucked it into the case, then came up to Dom from behind.
He slid a hand across Dom’s chest and splayed his fingers on Dom’s stomach.
His erection pressed low against Dom’s ass, and Dom surprised himself by not tensing up.
Trey nipped at his earlobe while his other hand pushed into his shorts.
Dom groaned when rough fingers clasped his dick.
“Sometimes I get hard when I play, but not like this,” Trey whispered. His thumb circled the slit of Dom’s cock.
“Me too.” He tilted his head to give Trey better access to his neck, then reached behind to grab a handful of Trey’s ass. “Want you again.”
“Fuck.”
That was less of an “oh yeah” fuck than it was an “uh-oh” fuck. “Too sore?”
“A little.” Trey stopped licking his neck and looked at him, curiosity brightening his eyes. “Have you ever?”
Dom didn’t ask for clarification given the conversation, and he was proud of himself for not reacting beyond a casual head shake. “I’ve played around with a finger or two but never could make it feel right. I don’t see it being something I’d enjoy, even with someone I trusted.”
“Fair enough.”
Trey wasn’t ready and Dom wasn’t going there, but he could think of a dozen other ways to get off together. “Trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Take your shorts off and get in bed.”
Trey kissed the side of his neck, then did as he’d been told. Dom shucked his own shorts before climbing the ladder to Trey’s elevated bed. There was only about four feet between the ceiling and the mattress, and Dom thunked his head twice trying to get up there.
“It takes practice,” Trey said with a laugh.
“No shit.”
Dom decided to hell with sitting up and tackled Trey flat onto his back.
He half knelt over Trey, knees on either sides of his hips so their erections rubbed together.
Dom pressed down, adding delicious pressure, and braced his elbows next to Trey’s shoulders.
Trey dragged him into a hard kiss, tongue thrusting into Dom’s mouth.
Dom rolled his hips, rubbing their cocks together, pressed hard between their bellies.
Trey bit at his lips and nipped at his tongue, turning the kiss almost violent.
The very best kind of attack, so Dom returned the favor.
He wrapped his arms around Trey and rutted harder, snapping his hips and demanding his release.
Trey went first, fingers raking down Dom’s back hard enough to leave marks.
Dom had no mercy, thrusting more desperately and earning high-pitched gasps from Trey.
His orgasm hit without the usual buildup, hard and fast and blinding in its strength.
He pressed his face into Trey’s neck, breathing in the heady scents of sweat and musk and man.
His body stilled while pleasure continued to ripple through him.
Trey’s arms went tight around his waist, holding him there.
“Jesus Christ, that was . . .” Dom muttered.
“Yeah.” Trey wrapped one leg around Dom’s. “That was.”