Chapter 9 #2
Trey stopped at a booth to watch a woman paint words onto grains of rice with the tiniest brush he’d ever seen.
She put the grains into tiny glass capsules, and attached the capsules to lengths of cord.
Necklaces hung in rows on a wall of hooks, each bearing a white tag with the specific word on it.
Dozens of names, as well as words like “faith,” “love,” “joy,” “peace,” and “heart.”
“These are amazing,” he said.
“Thank you,” the artist said. “I do requests.”
Trey filed that away for the future.
Eventually he tossed his empty bomb cup, the alcohol and the weed brownie doing wonders to settle his nerves over tomorrow’s performance. He kind of wanted to take a nap, but he liked walking around with Dominic too much to go back to the trailer.
Dominic’s phone rang. He grimaced at the screen. “Shit, it’s Linc. And we’ve been gone over an hour.” He swiped at the call. “Hey . . . yeah, we’re heading back. We got attacked by a bunch of raving fans.” He winked at Trey.
Trey snorted, then steered them back toward the Gatorade tent to fetch the coolers.
“No, I’m not bringing you a funnel cake,” Dominic said. “Go get one yourself, asshole, I have a heavy cooler of ice to lug.” He shoved his phone back in his pocket. “Guess this is over.”
“Guess so.”
Trey’s so-far-good luck soured a little. They ran into Bobby, Danielle, and Andy at the talent gate. He ignored Danielle’s raised eyebrows and focused on Bobby’s glowering face.
“What the hell, Coop?” Bobby asked.
“Long story,” Trey replied. “Where are you guys headed?”
“Looking for lunch,” Danielle said.
“Cool. After I take this back to XYZ’s site, I’ll text you so we can meet up. I’m starving.” He wasn’t really, but whatever.
Bobby spared another glare for Dominic, then nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“That went better than I expected,” Dominic said once they were through the gate and out of earshot.
Trey huffed. “Me too. Whatever. The rum helped it not be so awkward. And the pot brownie.”
“The pot brownie?”
He explained.
“Dude, I need to meet these chicks,” Dominic said.
For some reason, Trey found that unreasonably funny. “You switching teams?”
“Hell no, but for brownies I’ll flirt with some boobs for a while.”
The mental image of Dominic leaning over and intently flirting with some cleavage made Trey laugh so hard he had to put the cooler down. When he finally got ahold of himself, Dominic was watching him, arms folded, a bemused look on his face.
“Just how stoned are you?” Dominic asked.
“Only a little bit. And it’s not like you aren’t easy to tease.”
“This is true. I do set myself up.”
“And I love that about you.” Trey blushed. He loved a lot of things about Dominic but he didn’t usually voice them so bluntly.
“Hey.” Dominic nudged his shoulder until Trey met his gaze. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Trey grabbed his cooler. “Come on, let’s get this shit back to your tent before my friends think I’m defecting for a great ass and a pair of dimples.”
“I do have a great ass, don’t I?”
“Yes, you do.” An ass Trey wouldn’t mind exploring a little more.
He loved it when Dominic fucked him, but he was also curious about switching things up.
Dominic always seemed more than ready to do the fucking, though.
They simply hadn’t talked about it, and the middle of a crowded music festival was neither the time nor the place to chat about switching.
Trey had worked up a good sweat by the time they got back to the tent, and he gladly accepted a bottle of water from Benji.
“You two were gone a long time,” Tyson said.
Yeah, that didn’t sound jealous at all.
“We ended up looking around a bit,” Dominic said. “There’s a lot of cool shit out on the fairgrounds.”
“And by cool shit he means alcohol,” Trey added. “In funny plastic cups.” To Dominic, he said, “I’m gonna bounce. Go meet up with my friends. I’ll see you guys around.”
“Thanks for helping with the ice.”
“Not a problem.”
Trey got friendly nods from Benji and Tyson, and then a wave from a third guy he didn’t recognize.
Lincoln wasn’t in view, and he chalked that up to a good thing.
He didn’t need Lincoln acting territorial over Dominic.
It was annoying enough from Tyson, who had exactly zero shot of getting with Dominic.
He texted Danielle that he was on his way back.
She replied that they were over by the barbecue tent.
Trey guzzled his water while he walked the distance.
His friends were hanging around with paper trays of food and drinks.
Trey bought a pulled-pork sandwich and another water, and they all settled at one of the dozens of picnic tables set up behind the food tents.
“This place is so killer,” Andy said. He had a starstruck expression even while digging into barbecue ribs.
“The crowd is already huge,” Danielle said. “I mean, look at all of the people and opening ceremonies aren’t for another three hours.”
“Trey! Hey!”
He turned toward the sound of his name being called.
The two girls with the pot brownies plunked themselves down at their table, each with a giant plastic container of what looked like salad.
He introduced Rose and Lauren to his bandmates.
Bobby and Lauren launched into a conversation about banjos versus guitars, while Rose started lecturing them about cow farms and red meat production.
The entire meal was kind of fun, and the new friends ended up spending the rest of the afternoon together, poking in and out of the booths and chatting with the occasional fan. Trey spotted Dominic and his crew a few times. He used a run to the public bathrooms to send Dominic a text message.
You are the hottest thing in this entire festival.
And he was Trey’s. They’d never discussed labels, and they hadn’t promised to be exclusive to each other, but at the moment Trey didn’t want anyone else. And he had a good feeling that Dominic didn’t, either.
Not that they both wouldn’t have plenty of opportunities at the festival to get laid, if they wanted.
Well, maybe not Trey because that could mess with his image, but once Dominic got up on that stage, men and women would be throwing themselves at him.
The idea of Dominic taking a groupie up on an offer made his skin prickle with irritation.
Maybe they should have had a talk about boundaries.
His phone buzzed. Nah, that would be you, Hot Stuff.
He laughed, then exited the stifling toilet. You’re sexy and you know it.
Dominic sent back a smiling emoji with hearts in its eyes.
Trey pocketed his phone and rejoined his friends.
They walked through the grandstand building to the field where a crowd was gathering in front of the stage.
Amps, mikes, and other equipment were being tested by the tech crew.
Anthony Kross was scheduled to open the event, and then he had a special guest band booked to finish out the night.
Another text: Wait a few seconds, then look behind you.
He counted to ten, then casually looked around. Dominic and his friends were about twenty feet behind them. He caught Dominic’s gaze and winked. Dominic chewed on the straw of whatever he was drinking, and Trey wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anything sexier.
They had to find a way to get together during the festival.
Trey glanced at his new girl friends. They seemed open-minded enough. Maybe they’d be up for helping him arrange a clandestine rendezvous.
It was worth a try.