Page 109 of Counterpoint
They had a concert in a couple of weeks. He didn’t even know if he could get up on that stage.
Worse, he had no idea what to say to Adrian.
It wouldn’t be long before the press found Adrian and hounded him. Cameras and phones and recorders would be shoved into Adrian’s face while he tried to get to work.
Fuck. Adrian wouldn’t want to live like that. Bet his bank job wouldn’t even tolerate paparazzi floating around. Or Adrian being big news. Wasn’t that some kind of security issue, or at least a PR nightmare?
Hell, he didn’t want Adrian to be dragged into that awful place. The best thing would be for a clean break. Adrian would be a blip on the radar, soon eclipsed by some tell-all piece from a former lover.
Tears slid down Dom’s cheeks.Fuck.He wiped them away. He wasnotcrying. He was not.
Of course, that’s exactly when Adrian finally called.
Dom attempted to school his voice, then answered. “Hey.” No such luck—he sounded like a wreck.
“Hi, babe.” Adrian’s voice was strained, too. And soft. Sounded so far away. Dom sank to the bed again and closed his eyes. Adrian continued, “I’m not going to ask you how you’re doing. Pretty good idea of that.”
Dom could only grunt out a strangled half-laugh.
There was silence on the other end of the line. “I went to the Poet and Whiskey tonight after I swung by your place. Got a beer.”
“Sounds nice and normal.” Bitterness crept into his voice. He’d love to go sit in a bar for a few hours and lose himself with a beer and the murmur of other people, rather than the weird smell and quiet hum of this room.
This time, it was Adrian who croaked a laugh. “Except for the part where the bartender asked what it was like to be Domino Grinder’s lover.”
Oh shit. Everything in Dom’s stomach churned. “I—Be right back.” He dropped the phone on the bed and stumbled into the bathroom just in time to disgorge everything from his gut into the toilet.
He couldn’t do this to Adrian. Didn’t know how he was going to do this to himself. Damn, the panic hadn’t been this bad in ages. Though he did feel a lot better now.
He flushed the toilet, gave his teeth a quick rinse and brush, and headed back into the room. Phone said the call was still connected.
“Adrian?”
“I’m here.” His voice was paper-thin. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Maybe you should.”
“Knew you’d say that.”
“I don’t want to fuck up your life. This is gonna fuck it up so hard, Adrian. You have no idea.”
A hollow laugh. “I’m learning.” A pause. “Still don’t want us to end.”
“I don’t want us to end, either.” The words ripped up his throat more than chucking up his lunch. “But I can’t protect you.”
There was a sharp breath on the other end, then Adrian’s clear voice. “You don’t have to.”
“But—”
“Dominic Bradley.” His full name, said by Adrian in the voice that always stilled him, calmed him. “You don’t need to protect me.”
Maybe...maybe he didn’t. A tiny weight lifted from his shoulders. “I don’t know what to do about Domino.”
Another pause, and Dom could almost see Adrian’s confusion and the head tilt. “What do you mean?”
“Now that everyone knows who Domino really is, how am I gonna go onstage and play? I mean, I’m—” Even though he was alone in the room, he waved his hand around. “Kinda a nerd.”
“You’re also kind of a hard-ass rock star who plays wicked guitar and looks like a punk sex god onstage.”
