Page 96 of Counterpoint
That was gratifying. He’d always been more on the periphery of the BDSM scene here, but Janelle knew him and he’d played with a few others. “I’m glad folks see me like that.”
A nod. “Zav also said I should tell you about the band, way back when. Well, Ray and Mish, too. It’s...a trust thing.”
His throat tightened unexpectedly. “Yes, yes it is.”
Dominic gripped his coffee and peered into it. “I should have trusted you sooner.”
Maybe. But there were other emotions in play. He gripped Dominic’s shoulder and drew him in for another kiss. “It’s fine, babe. You need to trust you, too. Your needs and wants. Sometimes that takes time to work through.”
“Wasn’t easy on you.”
“No,” he admitted. “But I’m here. And you’re here. And we’re together. We’ll make it work.”
A sweet smile that begged to be kissed, and that turned into something longer and hotter, until Dominic gave one of his throaty little moans. Regretfully, Adrian pulled back.
“I should go.” Soft voice and sad eyes. But the fear had vanished from Dominic.
Adrian nodded, regretting that, too.
They stretched the time out a little longer in the kitchen before Dominic headed upstairs to shower and change while Adrian cleaned up from breakfast. When he was done, he poured himself coffee and wandered out into his living room to wait.
On the coffee table, staring back, was Twisted Wishes. Holyfuck—Dominic, his geeky twink of a boyfriend, was a freakingrock star. Adrian blew out a breath and sank down onto the couch. There were songs and performances and shit to look at. A magazine to read. He pulled over his laptop, but resisted the urge to flip it open. Had a feeling Dominic would rather not see him surfing over to the Twisted Wishes website.
So he waited until Dominic returned, dressed in his button-down and slacks and bowtie, looking far from the rocker on the magazine. He gathered his shoes, then sat next to Adrian. His gaze drifted to the magazine. “The worst thing is that it feels like I’m living two lives and I don’t know which one is real.”
“Both.”
Dominic put one shoe on. “That’s what I think I want. I—” He shook his head, then put the other shoe on. “I’m not sure it’s possible, sometimes.”
“We’ll find a way.” Maybe if Adrian kept saying it, it would be true.
“I hope so.”
He couldn’t help pulling Dominic into another kiss, slow and sweet. The hair at the nape of his neck was damp, and he smelled of Adrian’s shower gel and tasted of mint. When Adrian drew back, he met Dominic’s gaze. “Call me tomorrow, and we’ll talk.”
A nod. Dominic rose. “We never drank that wine I brought.”
Adrian pushed himself off the couch and followed Dominic to the front door. “We’ll have other nights, babe.”
There was that flash of fear in Dominic, and then it vanished. “Yeah.”
Another kiss and murmured goodbyes, then Dominic was bounding down the steps into the streets of Brooklyn, and gone from Adrian’s view.
* * *
The house felt empty without Dominic there with Adrian, especially up in the library. He’d wanted light and comfort, and even with the absence of the man he loved, this space still brought him joy, if somewhat muted.
He sipped a mug of coffee and flipped open the magazine to finally read the article about Twisted Wishes. It was, it turned out, a rambling interview-type piece with the author’s own observations about the band’s history and members interspersed between stories the band members told about themselves and answers to questions.
The whole thing made good reading. By the end, Adrian was already itching to dig deeper into the band and its members. Instead, he flipped through the photos once more, and reread the entire article. Ray had started a band in high school. Couple of iterations later, it had been him and Domino at local bars, Ray in his ripped jeans and T-shirts and Domino in his half-punk, half-goth fusion outfits. Then they’d picked up Mish, a firebrand of a redheaded base player, and their original drummer Kevin.
Their first two albums had a small following, but they’d hit their stride with the third and catapulted onto the scene—and apparently nearly crashed and burned immediately. Kevin was thrown out of the band due to his alcoholism, and they’d picked up Zavier Demos.
Zavier was a classically trained timpanist and had been a classmate of Ray’s for a year. Rumor had it that they’d started off hating each other, but given that they were nowmarried—that had changed.
Rocktime: And when did you realize you had feelings for Ray?
Demos: I’ve always had feelings for Ray. It was merely the state of those feelings that shifted.
