Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Sleeping arrangements for eight people in a three-bedroom apartment was a little tricky, but by the time everyone was ready to crash at midnight, they’d gotten things worked out. Lincoln had surrendered his double bed to Danielle and Andy, and taken a spot on the floor.
Now he stared at the bedroom ceiling, exhausted after a long day full of very high moments, unable to fall asleep because his body sensed something wasn’t right. It wasn’t the rubber air mattress, and it wasn’t the girly smell of Roxy’s room.
He missed Emmett. His smile and skin and laughter and body heat.
He wanted to curl around Emmett and hold him until they both fell asleep.
No matter how happy he was to see Dominic again, he couldn’t help but resent the unannounced visit a tiny little bit.
It had unraveled every dirty thought he’d about taking Emmett to bed so he could lick him open again, finger him until he begged, and then slide his cock home. To make love to Emmett.
His dick stirred, and he bit down on the inside of his cheek. No way was he going to rub one out with Roxy sleeping five feet away.
Lincoln had loved the easy way Emmett seemed to fit in with his friends, and he’d agreed to come over again tomorrow while the band practiced.
Andy was going to sit in as drummer for the show, which worked out.
They could go in well-practiced instead of worrying about the stand-in drummer screwing up.
Things were really working out, which never failed to make Lincoln uneasy.
Last summer, everything had been going his way—right until his head went through the car window.
He was leery of easy, but goddamn, he wanted to ride the wave this time. He wanted to embrace his ability to play the QChord, embrace what he’d found with Emmett, and never let go.
Eventually he dozed. Bits and pieces of dreams flittered around. Emmett smiling at him around a mouthful of his dick. Singing together onstage at Off Beat that became them performing for real, with an audience. That melted into flirting at the bar. Going to bed together.
Being held down. Trapped. Unable to get away. Needing it to stop.
He tried screaming but his voice caught. He couldn’t breathe.
“Linc, wake up.”
Someone grabbed his shoulder. He jerked away, coming awake with a shout. His stomach ached from panic, and he blinked rapidly at Roxy’s concerned, sleep-rumpled face.
“Damn, son, you okay?” she asked.
“Bad dream.”
“You think?”
Knocking at their door. Roxy opened it, and Dominic poked his head inside. He, at least, looked like he’d been awake for a while.
“You guys okay?” he asked.
Roxy waved a hand at Lincoln. “He had the nightmare. Move, bro, I gotta pee.” She shoved past him.
Dominic, naturally, came in and shut the door. He was dressed, his hair combed but not styled, and he sat on the floor near Lincoln. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Don’t really remember it.” Mostly a lie, but Lincoln didn’t want to talk about the bogeyman. Don’t say his name and he won’t appear.
Horror movie logic not applicable to real life, but whatever.
“Roxy said she’s heard you have them before.”
That got Lincoln’s direct attention. “She what? Why would she tell you that?”
Dominic tilted his head in an assessing way. “She’s worried about you. Said the first time you woke up shouting was two weeks ago. Did something happen?”
Yes.
“Nothing unusual.”
“A hookup that ends in a migraine isn’t unusual?”
Anger sizzled beneath Lincoln’s skin. Roxy had no business spreading his personal shit to her brother. “How should I know? It was the first time I’d had sex since the goddamn accident. Obviously sex and alcohol don’t mix anymore.”
“Do you get migraines when you have sex with Emmett?”
Lincoln glared. “I’m not discussing the sex I have with Emmett. That’s too fucking special.”
Dominic’s expression softened. “Sorry. I know it is, but dude. I’m worried about you. You know you can tell me anything. No judgments. Ever.”
“I’m fine.”
“Yeah, sure. I was fine, too, once upon a time.” On a flash of irritation, Dominic stood and left the room.
Lincoln flopped back against the air mattress, deflated before the day had even begun. He wanted to stay there forever, hiding under his thin blanket—until the scent of sizzling bacon decided that eating was a much better plan. He’d deal with Dominic’s curious stares on a full stomach.
If anyone else had heard him shouting, no one mentioned it.
Lincoln enjoyed the familiar camaraderie of a meal with Dominic and Benji, and he loved watching the new dynamics between them and the old Fading Daze members—until their new combinations reminded him that he wasn’t a part of either group anymore.
He was on the outside, staring in, like a child cupping his hands against the reflection of a store window. Only able to observe.
His melancholy disappeared around ten o’clock when Emmett arrived—with Beatrice in tow.
She had hugs for everyone and a giant fruit basket that took over the entire coffee table.
He and Emmett stood by the far wall, arms around each other’s waists, while Beatrice demanded gossip.
Then she demanded they all come to Off Beat tonight, first round on the house, and no one could say no to her.
Emmett, she said on her way out the door a little after noon, had the night off.
Lincoln loved the sound of that. He nuzzled Emmett’s ear. “Maybe we can stay here while they go off clubbing,” he whispered. Emmett shivered.
“Dudes,” Bobby said. “Don’t know about you, but I’m ready to see how Linc plays this QChord of his.”
Danielle wolf-whistled.
Lincoln fetched the instrument in question, then found himself the center of attention as he made magic with his new favorite toy, pulling off a riff on several different U2 songs before switching over to John Lennon. Several mouths were hanging open by the time he finished.
He glanced at Dominic, then wished he hadn’t, because a single tear had leaked from Dom’s right eye. His own eyes prickled.
“He wowed me the first time he played,” Emmett said.
Lincoln cleared his throat hard. “You wowed me too. Emmett has a crazy good singing voice.”
“Oh yeah?” Trey asked. He exchanged looks with Danielle and Benji, the room’s other two vocalists. “You know what they say. Pictures or it didn’t happen.”
“Huh?” Emmett asked.
“It means you gotta sing for us.”
Emmett looked stricken; Lincoln regretted outing him so casually. “You don’t have to.”
Instead of seeming relieved, Emmett straightened his shoulders, frowning. “No, let’s do it. ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.’”
Trey’s eyebrows winged up.
Emmett didn’t come any closer to the armchair where Lincoln sat, choosing to sing at a distance, so Lincoln changed the setting on his synthesizer, then started playing.
At his cue, Emmett’s clear tenor filled the room with emotional lyrics and practiced notes, singing the song in a way that put the original artists to shame. He sang it to Lincoln and no one else.
When they finished, the living room was dead silent.
“Holy shit,” Danielle said. “You gave me a lady boner.”
Emmett descended into full-on blush mode. Benji looked like he wanted to leap across the room and kiss Emmett. Even Trey was gaping at Emmett with respect in his eyes.
“Dude,” Dominic said. “How do you not have a regular gig at your aunt’s club? That was fucking amazing.”
Emmett blushed harder and told the floor, “Severe social anxiety. I can barely bus tables, which is a job no one pays attention to, never mind making myself the center of attention.”
“I respect that. I was terrified of playing my violin in public for a long time, until I took a chance at overcoming that fear.”
“Maybe one day.”
“Hey, I thought this was all about me,” Lincoln said, redirecting with feigned annoyance. Emmett shot him a relieved smile, then melted against the wall again.
Dominic laughed. “You always did like being the center of attention.”
“Well, in case you forgot, I am a cocky bitch.”
“Okay then, cocky bitch. Let’s get Andy’s drums set up and see what you’ve got.”
Lincoln grinned. “Bring it.”
They brought it for the next couple of hours.
Emmett wasn’t entirely sure what went into covering a song in a different arrangement from the original sheet music.
He’d never attempted it himself, and he’d never sat down and studied the differences.
So when the original members of XYZ, plus Andy, began to practice an arrangement of “The Sound of Silence” that was closer to Disturbed than to Simon sometimes it sounded like magic.
At one point, Danielle went out and returned with a giant bag of Chinese takeout cartons. They ate without really stopping. When Lincoln’s mouth started to pinch, and he deliberately put his sunglasses on, Emmett fetched him a migraine pill and a glass of water. They all took a bathroom break.
Emmett massaged Lincoln’s shoulders until he melted into the chair. Before they started up again, Emmett stole a spicy kiss.
Benji had a fantastic voice, and he nailed the number once they figured out how to make it work best for his range, but Emmett couldn’t stop a flash of jealousy.
He wanted to be the one singing with Lincoln—especially singing this song.
It was Emmett’s favorite. It was the first song he sang with Lincoln.
It was theirs.
And XYZ had made it their own.
Emmett wasn’t certain how to feel about that, except excluded.