“If it gets you off my back, fine,” Trey snarled. “I’m not gay and I’m not fucking him. Happy? Now go away.”
Lincoln’s hand on his wrist was the only thing that kept Dom from fleeing. From turning and running away from the words he’d asked Trey never to speak. The only limit that Dom had put on their secret relationship, and Trey had blown it apart an hour later.
His chest ached, and he wasn’t sure he could breathe.
Jizz Bucket broke away from the circle and strode in the opposite direction. A few people Dom didn’t know alsowandered off, leaving Trey surrounded by Tyson, Danielle, Andy, and Lauren.
Danielle saw him first. Her eyebrows went high, almost disappearing beneath her fall of bangs. Trey startled, then turned on a very slow pivot. His angry face downshifted into a total blank, and somehow that hurt more than the words Trey had spoken.
“Hey, guys,” Tyson said, breaking the ice.
Lincoln cleared his throat, then tugged Dom forward a few feet. “What was that about?” Pretending like they had no idea, because that was Lincoln. Making it better for Dom.
“Bunch of bullshit.” Tyson looked right at Dom, and Dom had no idea what his face looked like in that moment. “This guy shows these lame-ass recordings and is accusing Coop here of fucking around with you.”
“Is that so?” Dom didn’t know where the words came from. Probably a deep well of sarcasm born of anger and betrayal. “Wonder what gave him that idea?”
“Fuck if I know. The videos were dark and vague. Could have been anybody, and that sure as shit wasn’t our tent.”
Dom couldn’t look away from Trey, whose gaze had shifted to whatever was just over Dom’s left shoulder.
“Sounds like someone stirring the pot,” Lincoln said. “Making trouble.”
“Whatever,” Danielle said, flapping her hands. “It’s over, the douchenozzle is gone, and we can get back to freaking out over the category winners.”
Tyson started bouncing on his toes. “I’m gonna go nuts waiting.”
Lauren glanced at the chunky watch on her wrist. “I need to go meet Rose. See you guys later.” She offered Dom a sympathetic smile on her way past.
Ignoring her was rude, but he couldn’t seem to kick-start any of his systems.
“You guys want to come in and hang out of the heat?” Danielle asked. Being polite.
“No, we’re going to go walk around,” Lincoln said, nudging Dom with his elbow. “Work off some of this nervous energy. Anyone want to come?”
Tyson shook his head. “Walk away, I’m not turning down the AC.”
“Can I come?” Trey asked.
“No,” Dom said. Flat. Angry. “Wouldn’t want any more fans getting the wrong idea about us, Coop.”
Trey flinched, and Dom didn’t feel bad about it.
Dom turned and walked away, blood thundering in his ears, barely aware of Lincoln nearby. Keeping pace as he stalked toward the gate and the tents beyond. He needed a drink. Maybe four or five.
Lincoln didn’t ask or try to make him talk. He followed Dom to the Captain Morgan tent and paid for the first two rounds.
SEVENTEEN
“I fucked up so bad.”
Trey paced the narrow space between the side of their van and the back of another group’s box truck, out of sight of the camper and the guys hanging inside. Danielle watched him with open sympathy. She also didn’t disagree.
Despite Dominic’s warning call, getting ambushed with those videos had put Trey’s survival instincts on red alert. He didn’t want to get outed by some voyeuristic pervert at a music festival, and his evasion tactics sucked. Blowing it off without denying anything wasn’t as easy as Dominic made it out to be, and Trey had lost his temper. He’d wanted the asshole to go away and leave him in peace.
So naturally he’d said the absolute worst thing possible at the worst possible moment. The moment Dominic came close enough to hear Trey deny their relationship—the one thing Dominic had made Trey promise never to do. To never make what they had together some kind of skeevy secret. To never say Dominic didn’t mean something to him.
Because he did. He meant the world to Trey, and Trey had seen the complete betrayal in Dominic’s eyes, even if no one else did.
