Somehow today had become both the worst and best day of his life.
EIGHTEEN
The entire winand most of the rest of the night was a blur for Dom, because he spent it in a state of constant drunkenness. And he didn’t care. He remembered the elation of winning once he was onstage with his friends and staring out at bright lights and cheering people. He remembered partying in the talent lot until someone helped him roll into his sleeping bag at some hour of morning. He half remembered Lincoln wrangling him to the building with the showers, getting washed up, and then puking into a toilet.
Mostly, though, he remembered the rage.
I’m not fucking him.
Dom had been too angry with Trey to risk texting him back, or allowing a face-to-face conversation. He needed to feel his emotions, and as long as Dom was that angry, he didn’t want to risk saying something to Trey that he couldn’t take back.
Lincoln stayed close the whole time, without Dom ever asking him to, and if Benji or Tyson or Joshua suspected what was wrong, they never asked.
The vendor tents were closed, because everyone was leaving the fairgrounds, so Dom settled on a warm, flat Coke to soothe his stomach. It helped enough that he could assist in takingdown their tent and packing everything away. The talent lot was already half empty, with more cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs pulling out every couple of minutes.
“Hey, Dani,” Tyson said.
Dom looked up from the duffel bag he was stuffing into the van over one of the coolers. Danielle was walking toward them, her gaze fixed on Dom.
Lincoln slipped in between them. “We didn’t get a chance to congratulate you guys,” he said.
“Yeah thanks. Congrats on the top spot.”
“Thank you.”
She stepped to the side. “Dominic, can we talk for a minute?”
“I guess,” Dom said.
He led her a few dozen feet from his friends, then turned, arms crossed. “Did Trey send you?”
“No, this is all me.”
“Okay then. Talk.”
She didn’t cower under his snappish tone. “Are you dumping Trey?”
“According to him, we were never together.”
“Oh, come on.” She planted both hands on her hips. “Look, Trey doesn’t react well when he’s cornered. He tried sidestepping that asshole, but the dude wouldn’t let up.”
“Trey could have walked away.”
“Yeah, probably, but Trey also doesn’t back down from confrontations. He always has to get the last word, and yesterday he was stuck between doing what you wanted and doing what his instincts said, which was to shut the guy down. He hates himself for what he said.”
“Uh-huh.” Dom examined her words. “Does he hate what he said, or does he hate that I heard him say it.”
“Both. I know him, Dominic. I saw it in his face the moment he said those things about you two. He knew how awful it was, and he regretted it immediately.”
“Look, I get that you’re trying to defend Trey, but this is between him and me. I’ve been out since I was fifteen, but I agreed to keep us a secret because it’s what he wanted. I hid us from my friends because he asked me to. The one thing I asked him to do, the only promise I asked him to make, and he breaks it in less than an hour.”
“Not on purpose.”
“You don’t accidentally deny being gay or that you’re sleeping with someone. I would never deny him, and I told him so.”
“You guys aren’t the same person.” She threw both hands in the air. “You have a big, loving family and a strong support system, and you’ve been out forever. Trey doesn’t have that. All he has is Fading Daze. We’re it. I get that he hurt you, but he was also trying to protect the band.”
“By lying.”
