“Yeah.” His lips twitched but he didn’t smile. “I was so happy you gave me a second chance.”
“I’m happy I did too.”
Dominic twisted the top off one of the beers and took a long pull. Trey watched his Adam’s apple bob as he sucked down the alcohol, for once finding nothing erotic about the movement. Dominic was in pain, and Trey would do anything to help—even if all Dominic needed was for him to listen.
“Want a beer?” Dominic asked.
“Sure.”
Trey took one and popped the cap. He didn’t drink it, though, too focused on Dominic. On the way his shoulders slumped forward as he sat on the edge of the lounge with the beer carton. In the way he gripped his bottle with both hands, knuckles white enough that Trey had real fear of the glass shattering.
He sat on the lounge across from Dominic, angled to face him. Dominic didn’t seem to know where to start, so Trey took a chance. “What’s his name?”
Dominic looked up and held his gaze. “Joseph Chambers. He was my high school music teacher. And my violin tutor.”
Trey totally failed at keeping his surprise off his face. “Violin teacher?” So many things began to hit the right notes in Trey’s mind, but most important of all, he understood the significance of that weeks-ago violin performance at Off Beat.
“Yeah.” Dominic cleared his throat hard, his gaze wandering around the yard. “I’d been playing the violin since I was six years old. I had some private lessons, but they were expensive, so a lot of it was self-taught online. And I’d even won a few competition trophies by the time I started high school. All I did was practice. It was my entire life. That instrument and I were like one person, so I joined high school orchestra. We did performances and the winter musical, and I loved it. My violin solos helped us withorchestra competitions my freshman and sophomore years, and sometimes it was like being a celebrity at school.
“It was during my sophomore year that Mr. Chambers asked if I was interested in private tutoring sessions. He met with my parents, and his rate was so reasonable my mom jumped at the chance. So I met with him twice a month on Saturday, at his house because the school was closed. Looking back I can see how it was a little weird right away, but at the time, all that mattered was playing. Being the best. So I didn’t mind him putting a hand on my shoulder, or adjusting my stance and holding my hip a little too long. A few times I noticed he had an erection, but I sometimes pop wood when I’m really into the music, so no biggie, right?”
A very big biggie, but that was only because Trey knew things were going to get worse. It was easy to see how a fifteen-year-old music prodigy might not see how strange it was for his teacher to get hard while playing beautiful music. Trey forced himself to hold still and let Dominic get it out, instead of pace and rant and rave like he wanted.
“That year our orchestra placed first at sectionals, but second runner-up at regionals, and then the year was over. Instead of staying home for the summer, I went to an intensive ten-week music camp in western Maryland, and that’s where I met Lincoln. I already knew I was gay, but finding him was like the holy grail. We fucked around a lot, with blow jobs and hand jobs and shit, whenever we had time, and it was great. We kept in touch after, and except for a few bad months, we’ve been tight ever since.”
Dominic finished off that first beer and reached for a second. He didn’t uncap it, though. He poked at the metal top with his fingernail. “First day of orchestra practice junior year and I was bragging to some friends about Lincoln. I didn’t notice Mr. Chambers eavesdropping at first, but when I did I didn’t thinkmuch of it, you know? But later that week when Mr. Chambers tells us what we’re practicing for the fall symphony, I don’t have a single solo or standout part.”
Trey cringed at the obvious emotional blackmail that Dominic had suffered through. And his hatred for Joseph Chambers compounded.
“I didn’t say anything at school. I waited until our first private practice the following weekend to ask about it.” Dominic glared at the ground. “He said it sounded like I’d had so much fun this summer I didn’t have time to be as serious about my strings. I denied it up and down, apologized all over myself, reassured him I still wanted to be the best. Looking back, I can see how that was an abuser’s tactic. Making his mistreatment my fault.
“My anxiety was pretty bad back then, and undiagnosed because I was really good at hiding it from my parents, and I freaked out so badly that when Mr. Chambers hugged me, it felt good. Didn’t even seem strange. His fixation intensified so gradually that it was hard to see it. Small touches and hugs became familiar, instead of weird. Normal to us. At school it was regular teacher-student stuff, but every other week at his house it was special. I was special. And then he started getting stingy with his praise, being even harder on me, so I made myself crazy trying to please him. I’d give him longer hugs, maybe a kiss on the cheek. It got so I’d do anything for even a little bit of praise from him.”
Trey’s heart ached for the emotional manipulation that Dominic had been put through. An adult who was supposed to mentor him had played mind games and made Dominic emotionally dependent on him. Every new thing Trey learned about Mr. Chambers made him hate the man even more.
“Shit.” Dominic glared at his beer. “I shouldn’t be drinking. I took a pill.”
“For anxiety?”
“Yeah. Don’t usually have to anymore but . . .” He didn’t need to clarify the “but.”
“Anyway, when winter orchestra came around, I got a great solo. Our performance received a standing ovation. After the program was over, he caught me alone in the instrument room. He congratulated me and then kissed me on the mouth.”
Trey’s eyebrows shot up. A shock of anger blasted through his chest, and he swallowed the very real urge to snarl.
“It was a quick peck, and then he said I was magic onstage, and somehow that made the kiss seem okay.”
Dominic told his story so calmly, while Trey raged inside. Sure, Dominic had had six-plus years to deal with the memories of his abuse at the hands of a once-trusted teacher, and Trey was only hearing it for the first time, but he didn’t understand how Dominic could recite it all like a class presentation.
Maybe the pill and the beer were keeping his emotions on an even keel.
“He started kissing me on the mouth at the end of our private lessons, and it became like a good-bye. Expected. He had me so fucking trained back then, and it took a lot of therapy before I stopped blaming myself. So our orchestra made it through regionals, and we won. My junior year we went to play at the national orchestral competition in New York City.”
The same place as Unbound’s national stage. Trey swallowed down rising bile.
Dominic’s lips twitched again as genuinely good memories butted up against the bad. “We were amazing. We played Mendelssohn’s Scherzo fromA Midsummer Night’s Dream,and I had a solo, and playing my violin in front of thousands of people was such a fucking thrill. I haven’t felt like that since I took the stage at Unbound.” Something dark settled in his expression. “We had two more days until the winner wasannounced, and I made myself sick worrying. So sick that I begged off a group dinner out the night we performed. I climbed into bed and stayed there.”
The pause was so long that Trey knew the finale was coming. He clenched both fists tight in his lap, so tense he thought he’d spontaneously sprain something. He wanted to know but he was terrified to hear it. Whatever it was had kept Dominic from performing in public with his beloved instrument for years.
