Page 105 of Counterpoint
Once this damn project was done. Adrian fell into the rhythm of coding, so much so that he didn’t pay much attention to his surroundings or whether anyone was at his cube entrance.
He flinched when Jackson rapped on the metal frame of his cube, but the quip he had in his throat died as soon as he saw the worry in Jackson’s eyes and pinching at his mouth. He hadn’t been that upset during their workout in the morning. “Hey, what’s up?”
“You got a moment?”
The tightly whispered words made Adrian’s stomach lurch. This wasn’t about business. Shit. Had Jackson’s job interview and potential offer fallen through? Dude had been so excited at the possibility of working on something he loved. “Of course.”
Jackson stood back and nodded down the hall. Okay, so this was a conference room chat, which meant it was serious and that Jackson didn’t want the rest of the office overhearing. Adrian rose and followed him to one of the smaller rooms.
Once the door was shut, Jackson fiddled with his phone and held it out. “I thought you should see this.”
Adrian took the phone and stared at the screen. It was a photo of Dominic—as Dominic, not Domino. He was obviously unaware of the photographer because he was laughing while talking on his phone. Upon closer inspection, Adrian realized it had been taken near one of their haunts—he recognized the coffee shop behind Dominic.
Cold leeched into Adrian, and he scrolled the image so he could see the gossip site—and the headline screamed out at him.
DOMINO GRINDER’S TRUE IDENTITY REVEALED.
Oh shit. Fuck. He blew out a breath...then his stomach dropped even further. Because Jacksonknew. Somehow he knew Adrian was dating Dominic—or rather Domino. He’d never said Dominic’s last name.
“How...”
Jackson twisted his face. “Apparently people noticed a twink with Domino’s tattoos the other day. Creepy photographer got up a couple of floors in a nearby building with a telephoto lens and saw him playing with the rest of the band. They followed him home.”
Shit. The other day. Dominic had rolled up his sleeves while playing. Adrian hadn’t even thought to mention that he ought to roll them back down. Fucking heat of the summer, after all. The rest made sense, too, but that hadn’t been the question he’d been asking. “No, how did you know I was involved...” He couldn’t even finish his sentence.
Jackson laughed. “Oh.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I saw you and your man at the Met a couple of weeks ago, and you looked so into each other. I didn’t say hello, ’cause I was out with mine, too, and well...” He gave a little shrug. “But I remembered him, ’cause he was just your type. All scholarly and cut and handsome.”
Dominic was beautiful. “Heisall that. Normally keeps his tats under his shirt.”
Jackson met his gaze. “You had no idea who he was, did you? That’s why you asked me about Twisted Wishes.”
“No clue at first. I just sat down next to him at a local haunt, because he was reading some old gay lit about rentboys and seemed like he might enjoy some company.” Seemed like ages ago. “Then I saw him on the cover of a magazine. Well, those tattoos of his.”
Jackson laughed hard. “Yeah, I guess you’d know those. Jesus, Adi.”
Adrian couldn’t help the chuckle, but sobered quickly. “He’s managed to keep his legal name out of things before now.” A little more scrolling told Adrian the press had uncovered Dominic’s full name...and with that, people could find out all the details associated with it, including his address. All you needed was to search through public records.
This wasn’t good at all. Oh damn. He handed the phone back. “Don’t say anything to anyone.”
“I won’t.” Jackson stuffed the phone in his pocket. “But...if they’ve figured out who he is and where he lives...”
They’d eventually find Adrian, too. Especially since they’d been out in the neighborhood together a lot. All it took was one person to fly off at the mouth.
“This is gonna be a fucking nightmare.” He clapped Jackson on the shoulder. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“No problem.”
They both left the conference room, and every step back to his cube was laden with shocks of dread and worry. Dominic needed to know, if he already didn’t. And if he did...god. Adrian just hoped he was all right and with his band, who knew him and loved him.
There was no way Adrian could rush up to Chelsea and show up at their studio, not without causing more issues. By the time he entered his cube, his chest was tight and his arms tingled in precisely the wrong way. Sitting down in this state wasn’t an option, so he grabbed his phone and headed toward the door. He needed air and space and somewhere quiet to call Dominic.
He got two of the three when he exited the office building into the busy streets of Wall Street. Right, so calling was out. He fired off a text message.
Hey. I saw something on a website. They found you.
The reply came about a minute later.We saw. I’m okay. I’m with the band and they’re keeping me calm.
Thank god for that.What do you need from me?
