Chapter 12
TWELVE
Lincoln stayed the rest of the afternoon.
After a long, passionate make-out session ended with them swapping hand jobs, they emerged from Emmett’s room and played video games in the living room.
Adrian eventually joined them, and Beatrice came home around five with fixings for tacos for her and Adrian.
When Emmett declared his stomach was back to normal, Beatrice joked about having bought enough food to feed three hungry men.
It intrigued Lincoln how easily he fit into their lives, and how much he enjoyed simply being with Emmett.
He’d known Emmett had darkness in his past, but he hadn’t expected the level that Emmett had confessed to.
No, he honestly didn’t give two shits that Emmett was or ever had been Muslim.
Lincoln and religion didn’t get along anyway, so he wouldn’t judge anyone for their beliefs.
He gave a lot of shits about how Emmett had been treated by others because he was Muslim—from the kids at the party who fed him coke, to the unfeeling people who handled his case after the fire.
“Horrible” didn’t cover it. He totally understood Emmett’s need to hide away for a while. But hints of the old Emilio peeked out as each layer of secrecy was peeled back, slowly but surely, like the hints of black roots beneath the dyed brown hair.
All of the confessions seemed to have lightened something about Emmett, too. As they all talked and joked over tacos, Emmett smiled more than Lincoln remembered seeing. More than once, Lincoln had to resist the urge lean over and lick smears of sour cream off his cheek or chin.
The mental image of licking sour cream off other parts of Emmett’s body made his dick betray him, and he crossed his legs under the table.
Beatrice invited him to come with her and Emmett to open the club, and why not?
It was open-mike night, so he’d have probably ended up there, anyway.
Van gave him a big grin that came off like a mental high-five, and it was awesome having so many people who wanted to see him and Emmett make it work.
It also made Lincoln feel like a bit of a douche.
Last year his best friend in the world had done everything possible to hide his developing relationship with Trey, because they played in rival bands, and here Lincoln could be totally open and honest about his.
When Lincoln stumbled over the truth about Dominic and Trey, he hadn’t been angry that they were seeing each other—not entirely.
Mostly he’d been annoyed at Dominic for hiding something from him, when they’d promised to tell each other everything.
For the first time in their friendship, Lincoln had felt shut out. And it had hurt more than he’d ever told Dom to his face.
While everyone else did their evening prep, Lincoln escaped to the top floor and settled into one of the couches.
First he texted Melody where he’d be tonight if she wanted to pop over.
Then he texted Dominic to call when he got a chance; it was the best way to get in touch with him, especially when he traveled.
Dom called less than a minute later. “Hey, babe, what’s up?” No ruckus in the background, so he wasn’t in the middle of a club or an airport. Good sign.
“You sitting down?”
“Uh-oh. Do I need to be?”
“I’m not sure. Two things. First, Beatrice is letting me use the stage at Off Beat during off hours to get used to playing on a stage, with lights.”
“Really? That’s awesome! It will be a huge advantage for you at Unbound, knowing what you can and can’t handle.”
“I know, right? I’ll probably still have to sit to play the QChord, but this is progress. We start tomorrow.”
Someone spoke in the background. “Talking to Linc,” Dominic said. “Trey says hello.”
“Hey, Trey.”
Dominic relayed his message. “So back up a sec. Who’s ‘we’ in this practicing scenario?”
“That leads to thing number two.” Lincoln couldn’t stop his huge grin. “I’m seeing someone.”
“As in dating?”
“Well, technically we’ve only gone out once, and that wasn’t supposed to be a date, and it ended with a migraine, but yeah. Dating. Or something. It’s still all pretty new, but I really like him, Dom. Really, like whoa.”
“Wait, is it Emmett? Beatrice’s nephew?”
“Yup.” His chest swelled with pride. “We’ve had kind of a rough start, but we had a really good talk today, and now I feel like we’re in synch, you know?”
“And Emmett feels the same?”
“Yes. I mean, we’re still feeling things out. We’ve only known each other a week, really, but fuck, Dom. Sometimes I feel like I’ve known him forever, you know?”
“Yeah, I know how that feels.”
Lincoln could imagine the lovesick look Dom was probably tossing at Trey. “I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
“Looking forward to it. And I hate to say it, dude, but that probably won’t be until Unbound. Our schedule’s pretty tight right now.”
“I know.” For the first time in ages, hearing that it would be several weeks before he saw Dominic again didn’t hurt. Because he wasn’t alone anymore. “It’s okay. Hey, did you and Benji have any luck with a song?”
“We’ve tossed a few ideas around, but Benji is stuck on one that I’m not sure is indie-rock enough for Emily.”
“What idea?”
“Do you remember Disturbed’s cover of ‘The Sound of Silence’?”
Lincoln shivered at the memory of that cover, which he’d only discovered last year, thanks to a YouTube reaction video, and he’d adored the grittiness of it. “Of course. Wait, Benji wants to do that?”
“Yes. I mean, Disturbed is metal, but they took a classic song and made it their own. He wants to take a similar route, but obviously his vocal range is way different than David Draiman’s.”
Draiman’s voice was perfect for the hard metal his band generally performed, and he’d given Lincoln goose bumps singing the final chorus of “The Sound of Silence,” but Benji’s range was more Zac Efron. He and Danielle had done a killer “Rewrite the Stars” tribute a few months ago.
Lincoln closed his eyes and imagined Emmett’s face, listening to XYZ cover his favorite song in a new way. “Let’s do it,” he said. “Tell Benji to arrange it, and then we’ll set up a FaceTime date to practice.”
“Sounds good. So is Roxy behaving herself?”
“Far as I can tell.” He hadn’t seen much of her the last two days, but when he did she was always smiling. “I’m sure she misses her big brother. So do I.”
“I miss both of you, too. Listen, I have to head out for a gig soon.”
“Sure.” For once, knowing the conversation had to end before he was ready felt . . . okay. Less like he was being cut off, or made less important in Dominic’s life. “Break a leg.”
“Thanks. Good luck with Emmett, yeah?”
“I’m pretty sure luck’s finally on my side, Dom. Later.”
Lincoln ended the call, his confidence buoyed by their new plan for Unbound.
The only thing that would make it completely perfect would be to get Emmett up onstage to sing with XYZ.
He doubted Emmett would want to, given his anxiety and lack of public performance experience, but the dream kept him smiling on the way back downstairs.
He picked a spot at the bar near Van’s station, and he hung out there nursing a Coke while the space filled with customers.
Every time Emmett passed, they made eye contact, Emmett somehow always meeting his gaze despite the shades—and even though they couldn’t have any real conversation while Emmett was working, the proximity helped.
Melody joined him a few minutes before Beatrice called the first act.
Van delivered a vodka sour without being asked, and the warm smiles they shared made Lincoln take notice.
And wonder. He’d never been able to peg Van, but after his flirty comments this morning, Lincoln had shifted him closer to the gay end of the scale.
Except the eye contact with Melody shifted him right back to bi.
When Van’s attention was snagged by a multi-drink order, Lincoln tugged Melody closer and whispered, “Did you and Van hook up?”
She grinned. “Totally.”
“Good for you.” He meant it, too. Van wasn’t even close to the type Melody always seemed to flirt after, but they’d obviously had a good time. “You guys doing it again?”
“No.” For some reason she seemed to get shy about the whole thing. “I mean, it was great. Best I’ve had in a long time, honestly.”
“So what’s the problem? Van doesn’t do girlfriends?”
“Bingo. Boyfriends or girlfriends. Which I knew going into it, so it’s not like I’m going to turn into a sobbing mess. It was just really nice being with a guy like him.”
“Tall, skinny, and totally hot?”
She laughed. “That too. Accepting.” After another swig of her drink, Melody spun her stool to see the stage better.
The conversation was apparently over, but it didn’t stop Lincoln from wondering what exactly Van had been accepting of that other men apparently weren’t. Scars? Birthmarks? Weird hairy bits?
Whatever. Melody’s hairy bits were not his business.
Most of the open-mike acts were okay. No one that Lincoln would pay money to see, but he did enjoy the burst of confidence many of the performers seemed to get after a roar of applause.
His favorite performance memory was the sound of the crowd after XYZ finished their set at Unbound last summer.
He’d vibrated with applause and shouts and the overall love of their music.
Enough love to send them to New York City for the national competition.
Yeah, and we all know how that turned out.
Instead of launching XYZ’s career, it had launched Dominic and Trey into a national tour.
And Lincoln couldn’t find any resentment over that.
Dom and Trey had earned it. They were amazing, not only as musical partners, but as partners in general.
And Lincoln was genuinely happy for his best friend’s success and joy.