Page 106 of Steady Stroke
He kept that question close as they took the party into the living room to watch their movie. Even if he decided he wanted his heart back, it would be returned broken in two. And Lincoln didn’t know if those two pieces would ever mend correctly.
He didn’t know if he’d survive losing Emmett.
A combination of fists and the doorbell roused Lincoln out of a sound, dreamless sleep. His neck hurt, and he figured out why pretty fast. He’d fallen asleep on the couch, instead of his bed. He didn’t remember much of his night after Meg Ryan closed down her little bookstore and the memory of dancing with her mother made Lincoln cry. He vaguely recalled Melody saying something about crashing in his room.
Wine tended to make him very loose-limbed, so he’d probably been too limp to drag along to bed with her.
The ruckus at the door continued, so he slithered to his feet with a groan. His head felt too heavy, his tongue really fuzzy, but he had no sense of impending vomit, so that was a plus. He unlocked and yanked open the door. “What?”
“What yourself, asshole,” Dominic said with a whoop. “It’s Unbound day! Get your ass in gear.”
After a long, hard hug that made him second-guess the vomiting thing, he glanced out the door to where last year’s tricked-out camper was idling at the curb. “What time is it?”
“Ten o’clock, exactly when I told you we’d pick you up. You look like hell, man. Still no resolution with Emmett?”
Lincoln shook his head. “I need to think about the performance today, not my love life.”
“Message received. Go take a fucking shower, you reek. I’ll finish packing your shit.”
“There’s a girl in my bed.”
“How drunk did you get last night?”
He flipped Dominic off, then shut himself in the bathroom to get ready for the biggest day of his post-accident life.
They finally hit the road around ten thirty. Andy’s camper could comfortably fit four people—five if three wanted to squeeze in together on the king-size bed at one end, plus the two single bunk beds at the other. Since there were seven of them going, Benji had last year’s tent in the back of his van. Actual sleeping arrangements hadn’t been decided yet, but at least they’d all have a private shower and toilet at the massive fairgrounds.
Taking a dump in a public restroom with minimal air-conditioning while dozens of people came and went was definitely Lincoln’s least fun memory from last year. Right up there with spending most nights listening to Benji and Joshua have sex as quietly as possible.
Joshua wasn’t with them this year, and at first Lincoln had assumed that was why Benji was asleep on the top camper bunk when Lincoln walked in with Dominic.
“He woke up with a sore throat,” Dominic said.
“Shit, are you serious?”
“As cancer.” They made their way down to the small couch, where they settled for the ride.
Trey and Danielle were sitting at the dinette with a tablet, doing who knew what on it.
“Is he going to be okay to sing tonight?” Lincoln asked.
“Hope so.” Dominic kicked off his flip-flops andtucked one leg beneath him. “He’s been guzzling ginger tea, sucking on throat lozenges, and avoiding talking all morning. I mean, if worst came to worst, Dani could always fill in and sing.”
“Seriously? Andy on percussion is bad enough.”
“Hey!” Danielle squawked in defense of her boyfriend.
Lincoln waved his hand at her. “I just meant XYZ was known for being an all-queer band, and Andy is straight. Adding a chick to the mix makes it worse. Even farther away from what we were last year.”
“If it gives him any cred with you, Andy told me he let a guy blow him in a bathroom once.”
“He did?” Trey asked.
Danielle smirked at him. “Not as vanilla as you thought, huh, Coop?”
Andy was six foot three, with the muscle-bound build and tattoos of a guy better suited for a heavy metal band than a cover rock group who occasionally performed original music. Lincoln didn’t know him well, but he was pretty sure “vanilla” was nowhere on the guy’s résumé.
“Let’s not go worst-case-scenario yet,” Dominic said. “We don’t go on until eight. Benji has plenty of time to rest his voice and be ready. It’s one song.”
