Chapter 19 #2
Lincoln left his QChord for Danny to take care of, took Emmett’s hand, and led him off stage. He shielded Emmett until they were in the hallway leading to the green room, which was empty. Open-mike performers came directly out of the audience, so they had the small space to themselves.
Once the door was shut, muffling the noise of the club, Emmett melted into Lincoln’s arms. Lincoln held tight while Emmett trembled and processed everything he’d done. The enormous step he’d taken in overcoming his anxiety.
“You were amazing,” Lincoln whispered. “I’m so proud of you.”
He let out a shaky laugh. “I’m proud of me too. I kind of hate you, but thank you.”
“You’re welcome. It was a little selfish, though.”
“Yeah, well, you’re allowed to be selfish once in a while.” Emmett pulled back far enough to kiss his cheek. “Think this will help you at Unbound?”
“Yes.” There was a huge difference between a hundred-ish people in a club and five thousand at a music festival, but tonight had been a breakthrough for both of them. “Especially knowing you’ll be offstage waiting for me.”
“I will.”
The solemn promise in Emmett’s voice and eyes made Lincoln desperate to drag him over to one of the leather couches and kiss him stupid. “Too bad we’re both on the clock,” he said with seduction in his voice. “Because right now all I want to do is lick every part of you.”
Emmett’s eyes widened on a gasp. “The door locks from our side.”
“Your aunt might come looking for us.”
He groaned, weight shifting so his rising erection brushed Lincoln’s thigh. “You are so mean, saying things like that when you can’t follow through.”
“Oh I can. And I will.” Lincoln glanced at the bottle-cap-shaped clock on the wall. “In about six hours.”
“Ugh. Fine. You’re going to have to leave first, so I can fix a little problem, because I’m not going back out there with a hard-on.”
“Little problem?”
Emmett very maturely stuck his tongue out at Lincoln. “Go away.”
Lincoln laughed, then swatted Emmett’s ass on his way out of the green room.
“Not helping!” Emmett shouted after him.
Emmett spent the rest of his shift in a kind of daze.
He was still somewhat pissed at the way Lincoln and Aunt Beatrice had conspired to get him onto that stage, but he was insanely grateful to them, too.
He’d faced one of his greatest fears, and he hadn’t melted down.
He hadn’t freaked or cried. No one had booed him or thrown rotten fruit.
No one had harassed him, called him names, or threatened his life.
And they’d both sounded amazing—that was definitely the best part. Right up there with the look on Lincoln’s face during and after the performance. He looked so happy, drugged almost, as if he’d had the best sex of his life and could die a happy man.
“I love you.”
He’d about died on the spot, hearing those words from Lincoln.
And if their performance had only been about Emmett, he might have found the admission suspect.
But it had been about them both, so Emmett held those words close and carried them in his heart.
He was pretty sure he loved Lincoln back, but he’d never been in love before.
He wasn’t sure what romantic love felt like.
He did know he adored spending time with Lincoln.
He missed Lincoln when they weren’t together, like a small part of himself wasn’t there anymore.
He couldn’t be too close without needing to touch him.
He wanted to ease Lincoln’s pain and support him when he was down.
He wanted to make Lincoln happy for as long as Lincoln allowed it.
Maybe that’s what love was—a compilation of all the small things, wrapped up into one big thing. One big emotion. Four little letters that defined so much.
Roxy didn’t stay long after they performed.
Adrian had sneaked in at some point, and he spent a few hours at the bar with Melody, their heads together.
Emmett couldn’t figure out if they were flirting or not, because he’d never really seen Adrian flirt.
Or date. Or whatever. Van wasn’t giving Adrian the stink-eye, so that was something.
A handful of people snagged Emmett’s attention long enough to congratulate and compliment him on a good performance.
The praise always made him blush, and Van teased him every time, but it was worth it to see Lincoln light up under the same praise.
Lincoln enjoyed the spotlight. He enjoyed being the center of attention.
Emmett would never enjoy that.
Which is fine, because it isn’t as if we’re going to go on some world tour like Dominic and Trey.
Lincoln still had dreams of performing for a living. Emmett’s greatest dream was walking down the street without fearing violence.
Melody and Adrian left around midnight, and Lincoln was only scheduled to work until one. “Come over to my place tonight,” Lincoln said as he wiped his hands on a bar towel. “I promised to do a lot of licking.”
Emmett shivered in the very best way. “Okay.”
The rest of his shift took forever, and Aunt Beatrice decided to torture him a little bit further by letting Van go immediately after close, which meant extra cleaning.
He didn’t make it to Lincoln’s house until close to four in the morning, and he felt like such a sweaty, gross mess he went straight into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Lincoln must have dozed off waiting, because he didn’t join Emmett for a rinse, or for play, so Emmett used the time to do a little extra cleaning.
Tonight was the night.
He dried off and draped a towel around his hips for the quick streak across the hall to Lincoln’s room, where, as expected, Lincoln was asleep on top of his covers.
He’d changed into just a pair of boxers, which gave Emmett an amazing view of his lean body.
Blood began rushing to all the right places, so he dumped the towel and lightly stroked himself.
Part of him wanted to wake Lincoln up with a blow job, but Lincoln’s confession about Tom was still too fresh. He didn’t ever want to do something that would scare Lincoln. So he gently shook his ankle instead.
Lincoln grunted and rolled onto his side. Away.
Emmett laughed, then circled the bed. He squatted down to eye level. “I thought you were going to lick me all over?”
His eyes flew open on a startled grunt. Emmett stood. Lincoln’s expression shifted fast from surprised to feral.
“Now that’s a wonderful sight to wake up to,” he said. “A handsome naked man in my room.”
Now that Lincoln was awake and very much aware, Emmett shoved him onto his back and straddled his hips, allowing his erection to ride the ridges of Lincoln’s abs. “You gave me an amazing gift tonight, Linc.”
“Happy to do it, babe.” Callused fingers rubbed his hips. “Tell me what you want.”
Arousal surged through Emmett, from the top of his spine, right down to his balls. He pulled one of Lincoln’s hands around and pressed his fingers into his crease. “I want this.”
Lincoln’s breath hitched. “Yeah?”
“Very much yeah. Fuck me?”
With his free hand, Lincoln drew his head lower. “I don’t want to fuck you, Em. I want to make love to you.”
The tender words pitched Emmett right over the edge, and he fell head over heels in love with Lincoln. The words dangled on the tip of his tongue, but all he said was, “Please.”
Lincoln rolled them so Emmett was on his back.
Instead of kissing him, he proceeded to do exactly what he’d promised.
He started with a long, leisurely swipe of his tongue from Emmett’s right ear, down across his throat, under his chin, to the opposite ear.
Emmett’s belly trembled, and he grasped Lincoln’s hips, hoping for some pressure on his dick.
Lincoln resisted with a playful smile, keeping his groin well out of range.
More hot licks across his throat led to gentle suckling at his collarbone.
Dips into the hollows, nibbles at the ridges.
Emmett drew shapeless designs on Lincoln’s back with restless fingers, wanting to touch him back, but enjoying the sensual exploration too much to do much more than lie there and let Lincoln play.
And play he did, changing the notes with each shift from lips to tongue to teeth.
Sometimes tweaking a nipple or sensitive area with his fingers.
Stomach and hips became a playground, and he dipped into Emmett’s navel several times just to make him laugh.
His entire body was awake, skin sensitive from each touch, desperate for more.
Lincoln totally bypassed his groin, the bastard, and it only made Emmett’s dick ache more. He clenched his hole, needing to be touched there, but well aware that Lincoln wouldn’t do anything before Lincoln was ready to do it.
Heavy attention was paid to his legs, all the way to his toes. Emmett barely had the good sense to flip onto his stomach when Lincoln told him to. Even the pressure on his dick wasn’t helping matters, because every time he tried rutting against the blanket, Lincoln stopped his oral explorations.
The kisses up the backs of his legs made Emmett giggle more than once, and he was especially ticklish on the back of his knees.
He licked the crease where his thighs met his ass cheeks, and Emmett groaned.
He’d die a happy man if Lincoln finally pulled his cheeks apart and licked him there, but the bastard shimmied higher to work on the small of his back.
“Ugh, I hate you,” Emmett said.
Lincoln chuffed laughter, his breath warming damp skin. “A promise is a promise.”
“You said whole body. You’re skipping parts.”
“We’ll get to them.”
“Grrr.”
“Did you just growl at me?” Lincoln nipped his shoulder. “That’s fucking hot.”