“I am so down with that.” Dom wasn’t sure where the sex would happen, but he had Trey and he planned to make the most of their time together. Maybe they could go back to the apartment in the city to fuck, just to mess with Lincoln.
The dining room table was set for five, which made Dom stop short. Mom put the platter of steaming taco meat on a trivet, then turned to smile at him. “Your father won’t be home until later, so he said to eat without us.”
“Stuck at work?”
“He had an errand to run.”
“Cool.”
Starr neatly arranged all of the taco fixings in the center of the table, with spoons and tongs all facing to the left. No one picked anything up with their fingers anymore, not even dinner rolls. Once Starr learned about germs and bare hands, it was game over.
Trey sat next to him on one side of the table, his sisters on the other. It was truly bizarre to have Trey eating dinner at his house, but not his dad. His parents had always done their best to be home for dinner every night, because it was usually the only hour during their very busy weeks that everyone was able to get together for a little family time.
Eating tacos was a uniquely messy experience each and every time. No matter how Dom built it, that first bite always shattered the shell and the fixings went onto his plate. He watched Trey suffer the same way. He had to resist licking sour cream off Trey’s cheek at one point, and that led to dirty thoughts he shouldn’t be having at the dinner table.
Trey chatted easily with his mom and Roxy, telling them about Fading Daze and living full-time at the shore. Roxy seemed suitably enamored of him the more he talked.
“You write your own songs, too?” she said. “Geez, Dom, could you have found a more perfect boyfriend?”
Mom’s eyebrow went up at that one because, yeah, the label was new to everyone.
“I am far from perfect, just ask Dom,” Trey said.
Maybe he wasn’t perfect, but Trey was very definitely Dom’s. He wanted to squeeze Trey’s hand or thigh, but his fingers were covered in taco slop, so he settled on a very significant look that made Trey’s cheeks pink up.
Since the girls had done the bulk of the prep, Dom and Trey teamed up to fill the dishwasher and clear the table. They worked together in a kind of harmony that lent itself to years of practice, and Dom liked the idea of doing this with Trey again. Sharing meals and cleaning up afterward. In a place of their own one day.
In between their world tours, of course.
When Dom dreamed, he dreamed big—any other way simply wasn’t worth it.
NINETEEN
Trey knewfrom Dominic’s descriptions of his family that he was going to love them. The thing that really surprised Trey was how much he loved them and how quickly. After a fun taco dinner and the simple domesticity of doing dishes with Dominic, the family settled in the den to watch reruns ofFamily Feudon GSN.
“Starr always gets the number-one answers on Fast Money,” Roxy had warned him.
He’d believed her, but after Starr proved Roxy right during the first episode, his respect for the autistic teenager increased exponentially. At first glance, one could tell she wasn’t quite the same as her brother and sister—racial issue aside, since Roxy was clearly Hispanic and Starr was white—but she also wasn’t what Trey thought of when he heard the word autistic. She was aware, involved, and very well spoken.
And he kind of melted every time Dominic called her “Starr in the sky.”
Zelda Bounds was the kind of mother Trey had always wanted. Attentive, affectionate, and she clearly doted on her kids. Trey’s mom gave him a hug on holidays and his birthday, but he couldn’t remember a time she looked at him with the kindof pride that Zelda turned on her children. Adopted or not, she clearly loved them as much as if she’d given birth to them.
And Roxy was the spitfire that Dominic had described to him. All snark and sass, and Trey was doubly grateful that she was recovering from last week’s ordeal.
Another episode started at seven, and immediately after Steve Harvey asked the first question, the front door squeaked open. Trey’s pulse jumped. Somehow the idea of meeting Dominic’s father was way more intimidating than abruptly meeting his mom. He scooted a few inches over on the couch so he wasn’t halfway in Dominic’s lap.
Dominic snickered. “He’s not scary, I swear,” he whispered.
“Oh my God, you’re nervous about meeting our dad?” Roxy asked. She was occupying the far end of the couch. Starr had her own rocking chair near the opposite wall by the TV, and Zelda had already gotten up to greet her husband.
Starr said something that probably coincided with the television. She had no time for their drama while her show was on.
Trey stuck his tongue out at Roxy, who found that funny enough to laugh so hard she started coughing.
He watched the den archway, worried about what Mr. Bounds would think of the skinny white boy who’d fallen for his son. Even Dominic stopped paying attention to the show and stared at the arch, as though the passage of time was cause for concern. They’d reached the first commercial break before a broad-shouldered, suited man filled that space. He smiled warmly at them all, but even Trey saw something off about the expression.
Something strained.
