Chapter 7 #2
“It’s amazing. Beef that just melts in your mouth, in this red wine sauce. Over mashed potatoes? Heaven.” Dominic licked, then smacked his lips in a very appealing way. “What’s one of your favorite foods?”
“I don’t really have one. My parents were very basic. A lot of frozen meals and takeout. On holidays Mom would bake a turkey but buy all of the sides from Applebees or someplace.”
“There’s gotta be something you love. Cookies? A soft drink?”
Trey tried to think of one food he’d go out of his way to find or make. “Thrasher’s Fries. It’s a place on the boardwalk. A little salt and a lot of vinegar. Best French fries ever.”
“I’ll have to check them out next time I’m down your way.”
“Planning another vacation already?”
“Maybe. Linc texted me earlier and said he might have another gig for us down there late next week.”
Trey’s heart skipped at the idea of seeing Dominic again so soon.
He figured the next time they actually interacted in person would be if they crossed paths at Unbound.
Next week was ten times better, especially if he could steal Dominic for a few hours.
“Think you’ll be able to get away from the boys for a little one-on-one? ”
“If I have to lie, cheat, beg, or steal, I’ll make time for you,” Dominic said. “That’s a promise.”
“Good.” Never more than in that moment had Trey prayed for the ability to fast-forward time. “So are short ribs your very favorite food?”
“Not top favorite. Don’t laugh.” He leaned closer to his phone. “Stouffer’s mac and cheese. Total guilty pleasure food.”
“Cool.” Trey was not admitting he’d never had that, either. He seriously needed to try more things. And not just food. Dominic had been to a bazillion places, and Trey had barely made it out of the Midatlantic.
“So you wanna jam, or what?”
“Absolutely.” Trey expanded the size of the keyboard image, careful to keep the video screen from being covered. “What first? I mean, I know Evanescence is, like, your spirit animal. Who else do you love?”
“Imagine Dragons, Trust Company, Breaking Benjamin, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, classic Madonna. Taylor, of course. I could go on and on.”
“Okay.” Plenty of choices for material. “Let’s try Taylor’s ‘Champagne Problems.’”
“Cool.”
Trey tested his laptop keyboard to remind himself again where the right hits were. “Bear with me if I fuck up.”
Dominic winked. “Just have fun. We don’t have anyone around to impress.”
Except Trey wanted to impress Dominic, the world traveler and well-rounded food connoisseur.
Trey did his best on the song, but he wasn’t practiced enough with the laptop keyboard, and Dominic’s violin outshined him by miles.
That was okay, though, because Trey got to enjoy the ray of sunshine that was Dominic on his strings.
They became one entity, creating beautiful music and baring the soul of a beautiful man.
By their third song, each ratcheting up the tempo, Trey was doing better, remembering where to hit at the right time. Dominic never missed a note, pulling words out of that horsehair bow, making each string sing the lyrics.
Dominic didn’t bother hiding a jaw-cracking yawn during their next break. “Sorry, dude. Two late nights in a row are catching up to me.”
“It’s fine. Not everyone works vampire hours like me. Hey, what else do you do, anyway? Or does XYZ pay the bills?”
“Hah. I wish it did. Unfortunately it’s hard keeping a job for very long, because of the band. Not everyone’s understanding about needing the night off last-minute for a gig. I actually had to quit my most recent job in a movie theater so I could go down to the shore last week.”
“That sucks.” Made Trey glad that Beatrice was so understanding when he needed off. She got the life. “What did you do in the theater?”
“Cleaned up mostly, but sometimes I was the guy with the little flashlight who walked through making sure no one was giving head in the top row.”
Trey snort-laughed at the mental image of Dominic hunting cocksuckers in the high seats.
“Thankfully,” Dominic added, “my uncle Wade always throws work my way when I’m between jobs. He restores antique furniture and sells it to rich people up and down the coast.”
“You know how to restore furniture?”
“I’m learning. Mostly I go to sites and pick up stuff he’s bought, haul it to his workshop. Sometimes he’ll let me do actual work on the stuff. Work I can’t fuck up.”
“That’s decent of your uncle.”
“Yeah, I lucked out in the family department, even though I’m not blood-related.”
Once again, Trey found himself incredibly jealous of Dominic’s family. To have been accepted into such an amazing, warm group of people, while Trey was born into disappointment and anger.
“I’m making you uncomfortable, aren’t I?” Dominic asked. His smile was gone, replaced by sadness that Trey didn’t like seeing.
“I asked, didn’t I? I like hearing about your family, but yeah, it does make me think about how much I don’t like mine.” Trey closed his keyboard program, because they weren’t playing any more tonight. “Anyway, I had a lot of fun. Thanks for waking up.”
“Anytime. Well, maybe not any time, but you know what I mean.”
“I do.” Trey didn’t want to say good night, but Dominic’s exhaustion was showing fast. “I’ll text you tomorrow.”
“Okay. See ya.”
“Bye.”
Dominic waved, then blinked out. Trey waited a beat before signing off. He shut down his laptop and put the headphones away.
On a deep yawn of his own he stood and turned. A shadow in his open doorway moved, and he jolted, pulse racing.
“Goddammit, Dani.”
She stepped closer, arms crossed. Instead of pissed, though, she looked kind of perplexed. “Was that the guy from XYZ?”
“Um . . . why are you up?”
“We share a wall and your laughing woke me up, now answer my question.”
“Yes?”
“Why the hell are you talking to him at three in the morning?”
“Because I worked until two.”
She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palms. “Fuck, Coop, are you still seeing him?”
“Yes?”
“Will you stop asking your answers, please?”
“Sorry.” Trey felt like he’d been put onstage in the middle of a play, but no one gave him his lines. Getting caught was bad, especially if Danielle hated the guys of XYZ as much as Bobby seemed to. “I really like him, and he really likes me.”
“We’re going to be competing against each other at Unbound. Same category and everything.”
“We’re well aware, thanks.” Trey wanted to win to say fuck you to his old man.
Dominic wanted to win so he didn’t have to quit his dream and get a real job.
They’d put themselves into an impossible situation, and God only knew if this fledgling .
. . whatever it was would survive one of them beating the other.
She moved closer, into the dim light of his desk lamp, and stared at him. “You really do like him, don’t you?”
“It probably sounds crazy, since we’ve only known each other for a few days, but I really, really do. When we play music together? Fuck, Dani, it’s like no music I’ve ever played. He’s a violin prodigy. Just crazy talented.”
“He’s also gorgeous.”
“That too.”
“He didn’t play his violin last night. Friday night. Whatever night.”
“He said he doesn’t play it with the band. Actually, he told me that he hadn’t played onstage in front of a live audience in years.”
“Why not?”
“No idea.” Trey didn’t like the tension that pulled at Dominic when that subject had come up, and it was way too early in their maybe-relationship, definite-friendship for him to ask. It had to be crazy personal to put someone off playing their favorite instrument for multiple years.
Danielle stared again. She had Resting Bitch Face a lot of the time, but right then she was definitely thinking. Hard. “Bobby will shit a brick if he finds out. You know how he is about loyalty.”
“Me seeing Dom isn’t being disloyal to us. He can’t get any information out of me that might hurt our chances at Unbound. He knows I’m not publicly out, and he’s too genuine a guy to use that against me.”
“Are you sure you aren’t getting attached because he’s the first guy you let fuck you?”
He rolled his eyes. “Have you ever known me to get moony over a guy for any reason whatsoever?”
“No.”
“Exactly. I want to be with Dom because . . .” He glanced at the laptop. “Because being apart from him right now feels strange. Itchy. Like I can’t sit still. Please keep this a secret. Please.”
“Fine. But only until we beat XYZ’s asses, and they’re no longer a threat.”
“Deal. After that we won’t have to hide it.” If they were even still together. Everything was still so uncertain, but Trey was positive about one thing: He needed Dominic Bounds in his life, and he’d do whatever it took to keep him.
For as long as humanly possible.