“I know you’re not used to things going your way,” Dominic said, “but this is me telling you that no matter what happens next, I’m by your side. We haven’t known each other that long, but it kind of feels like I’ve known you forever.”
Trey’s throat got tight. “Me too.”
“Coming out or not coming out, winning Unbound or losing, I’m with you. All I ask is one thing from you.”
“Okay.”
Dominic’s dark eyes held his. “Don’t deny me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m not asking you to lie, but if someone were to somehow find out about us, don’t deny me. Say no comment, or dismiss the question as none of their business, but don’t deny who I am to you.”
Trey’s chest ached with the idea of telling someone that Dominic meant nothing to him, because that was so far from the truth it was laughable. But imploding his career, even accidentally, before it really began also scared the piss out of him. Fading Daze was everything.
So was Dominic.
“I promise,” Trey said.
SIXTEEN
Dom letTrey leave the tent first, then unzipped two of the window flaps a little bit to air the place out. Lauren and Rose seemed open-minded enough, but leaving the tent smelling like a brothel wasn’t the most polite thing to do. He also shoved their trash deep into a pocket of his cargo shorts. When he finally emerged into the late afternoon sunshine, he took a quick moment to stretch.
“Hooking up with the competition?”
The strange voice sent Dom’s heart into his throat. He spun, one hand coming up defensively, his pulse racing in his temples. A guy roughly his age, maybe a little older, with ink on his neck and a leering smile on his face stood a few feet away, leaning casually against the girls’ station wagon.
Dom bit back the instant urge to tell the guy to fuck off. “My business is none of yours, pal.”
“No?”
“No.” He glared and squared his shoulders, hoping to make the smaller guy back down.
“How about I ask the kid from Fading Daze? That was him, right?”
Ice water skated down Dom’s spine. “Whoever it was or wasn’t, like I said, none of your business.”
“So you don’t mind if the video I shot of you guys fucking makes it onto Instagram?”
Dom took a step forward, outwardly calm while his insides started shaking. “You don’t have a video. If you had anything, we wouldn’t be talking. Leave me alone.”
“Your call, dude. Just thought I’d give you the chance to convince me to delete this and my backup before it hit social media.”
The guy was too fucking calm for Dom not to take him seriously. He closed the distance between them in two long strides, pleased when the shorter stranger shrank back a little. “Fine, you say you recorded me having sex? Show me.”
He hesitated before pulling out his phone and swiping at it. He held it out, and Dom took it as a video started to play. It was dark, obviously shot through a tiny hole in the tent flap. The angle was mostly of Dom’s naked ass and back, his arms, and a bad slice of his face. If Dom didn’t recognize himself, he wouldn’t have known it was him. And no one could make out who he was fucking, or distinguish the harsh panting.
The clip lasted about fifteen seconds.
Dom laughed as he shoved the phone back at the guy. “That’s all you’ve got? Go away.”
“Watch the next one.”
He took the phone again, warier this time, and played the next clip. Same angle, still no real proof of Dom or Trey in it. Except Trey orgasmed, and Dom raged at this nameless stranger for recording something so intimate. No one but him got to see Trey like that.
“Keep going.”Trey’s voice was high and harsh, but unmistakable to anyone who knew him well.
“You sure?”
