“You don’t owe me an apology.” Trey curled one hand around the back of Dom’s neck. “I fucked up big time. I made you a promise and I broke it, and I’m sorry for that.”
“I know. I forgive you, as long as you forgive me.”
“For what?”
“Shutting you out. Not giving you a chance to explain last week when it happened. I just . . . when I get mad, Trey, I need space to sort through what I’m feeling. I didn’t want to risk going off on you, or saying something really mean that I’d regret later. I used to have a bad habit of bottling up what I felt, pretending everything was okay, instead of dealing with my emotions. But that wasn’t healthy, and it took me to a dark place, so I needed space to deal.”
“I get it.” Trey flashed a hopeful smile. “Does this mean we’re okay?”
“You faced your worst fear to drive two hours to talk to me. We’re definitely okay.”
“I told Bobby and Andy about us.”
Dom’s heart skipped. “You did?”
“Yeah, the night we got home from Unbound. Bobby’s pissed, as expected. If we aren’t practicing or talking about the set for New York, he ignores me. I hate it, but I guess it’s better than a big ‘fuck you, get out,’ right?”
“I guess so.” He hated Trey’s situation with Bobby, which could still go either way, but he also loved that Trey had finally come clean about them. “So does this mean you want to be out?”
“I mean, I didn’t post a coming-out video on our YouTube channel or anything, but I won’t deny you again, Dominic. I promise on my music career, I won’t.”
Dom grasped that sliver of hope and held tight. “But we aren’t finished with Unbound. We’re both performing at nationals.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m with you, and you’re with me, and fuck whoever doesn’t like it. Even Bobby.”
“Thank you.” Dom kissed him, a firm press with a lot of silent promises. “I mean it, thank you.”
“I shouldn’t have hid in the first place but I can’t change that I did. No more hiding, though.”
“No more hiding.”
A knock on his bedroom door startled Dom into turning around, his body immediately missing the heat of Trey in his arms. The door swung open and Mom poked her head inside. “Starr said you had a visitor.”
“Yeah, Mom, this is Trey Cooper. Trey, my mother Zelda Bounds.”
It took Trey a second to react—probably because Trey knew that Dom and his siblings were all adopted and every color of the rainbow, but he hadn’t mentioned his parents were black. “A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Bounds,” Trey said.
“Likewise.” She came fully into the room. “It looks like the girls made plenty of taco fixings, so I hope you’ll join us for dinner.”
“I’d like that, thank you, ma’am.”
Mom seemed suitably impressed by Trey’s manners, so she excused herself—and left the door wide open.
“I think that’s code for ‘Come downstairs,’” Dom said.
“Does she think I’m going to ravish you in your bedroom while the family eats tacos?”
Dom tried to shove aside all thoughts of Trey shutting the door and going to his knees on Dom’s bedroom floor, because he didn’t need to show up at the dinner table at half-mast. “Come on, babe, it’s time for my dad to give you the third degree.”
The panic on Trey’s face was all kinds of adorable. “Seriously?”
“No, he’ll love you for the simple fact that I brought you home to meet them.”
“Technically I brought myself to meet—wait, you’ve never brought a guy home before?”
Dom shook his head. “Never met anyone worth the effort.”
Trey kissed him hard. “Mister, lines like that will get you laid tonight.”
