Page 86 of Steady Stroke
Emmett never turned or acknowledged the audience. He kept his attention laser-focused on Lincoln while Lincoln sat down, and then set his synthesizer for “Bridge Over TroubledWater,” a song he could play in his sleep. “You didn’t give me a chance to warm up.”
His voice was caught by the mike, and a few people laughed.
“You’ll be great anyhow,” Lincoln said, loud enough to be heard, as well.
“I will get you for this.”
Lincoln winked, then took a deep breath of his own. Along with his nerves over tricking Emmett, Lincoln was just as scared about playing tonight. He’d done this song with Emmett a dozen times on this stage, and the lights were doing a great job in creating the illusion of it only being the two of them, but he knew. He knew the audience was there. He knew they were going to judge them both. And he knew, without a doubt, that if he fucked up tonight he’d never be able to walk onstage at Unbound in two weeks.
His fingers began a practiced dance across the strumplate, pulling all of the right notes in order for Emmett to join him with the lyrics. Emmett’s voice shook on the first few words, but he quickly found strength, and the music surged forth from them both. Lincoln sang backup in the appropriate parts of the chorus, his less practiced voice barely making it to the mike, and that was okay. The room was full of Emmett’s beautiful tenor as he coated every word with emotion and affection. He sang to Lincoln like they were the only two in the room, and for three glorious minutes, they were.
Until the song had to end, and the final notes disappeared beneath the weight of thunderous applause. Someone wolf-whistled. Several people shouted for an encore, but Emmett shook his head. His cheeks were red, his eyes shining, but he also looked ready to snap now that the illusion of privacy was over. He didn’t like attention.
Lincoln left his QChord for Danny to take care of, tookEmmett’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 Lincolnback, 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.
