He took another deep breath, cracked a smile, and smacked a hand on Colton’s shoulder. “But first, I have to perform at BaysidefuckingGrooves!”
Colton cackled and pushed his hand away. “You’re pretty fucking awesome. Do you know that?”
“You’re not so bad yourself, my friend.” Dean winked, striding away from the bar.
As they walked back to the rest of the group, Dean called for Jordan.
“Going forward, please inform security that Johnathan Bradley is not allowed backstage at my shows. No exceptions.”
Jordan cracked a huge smile. “Absolutely. Right away, Dean!”
“Excellent. Okay folks, it’s showtime!” Dean exclaimed, and everyone cheered.
Dean grabbed Jordan by the shoulders, squaring him to his face. “Mr. Kincaid. You are officially off duty! I want to see you down in that crowd, having fun for the rest of the night. That’s an order…got it?” he said with a sweet smile.
Jordan rolled his eyes with a slight blush in his cheeks. “Fine. You’re the boss.”
“Damn right!” Dean slapped his shoulders, then turned to Wyatt. “Wyatt, you take good care of him. Now, go dance your asses off!”
Dean positioned himself behind the mixing deck, the dancers headed backstage to prepare for their entrance, and Sophie, Colton, and the other VIPs went to their seating area.
Once situated in the VIP area, just to the side of the stage, Colton peered out across Golden Gate Park. The crowd assembled for Dean’s show was immense, a sea of people as far as the eye can see, an electricity floating through the air in anticipation.
“Fuck! Look at this.” Bryce sipped a beer next to Colton. “That's a shitload of people.”
Colton snickered. “Yeah, I think you’re right. This is an assload of people. I would shit my pants if I had to perform in front of all these folks.” They laughed and clinked their bottles together.
A thick beat began to play through the sound system and the crowd erupted in a thunderous roar. A few seconds later, the image of DJ DVLN appeared on the giant video screens that were still in front of the mixing deck, hiding Dean from view. Next, the dancers came into view, slowly ascending from underneath the stage on a hydraulic lift. As the crowd cheered, clapped and danced, the dancers began their choreography.
When the video screens slowly began to open, presenting Dean to the crowd at Bayside Grooves, Colton thought his eardrums might rupture from the roar.
Colton was smiling from ear to ear, dancing with the group in VIP. Even straight-laced Bryce had loosened up after a few beers, dancing and twirling with his fiancée. He couldn’t remember having this much fun. The energy and vibe of the show was exuberant and thrilling, the crowd one giant throng of pure joy as they watched Dean do his thing.
He’d never seen someone so free and unapologetically himself.
Colton wished he could be that free. Maybe when he retired from football, and there were less demands and expectations, hecould possibly be as carefree as Dean. But even then, he wasn't sure he had that confidence inside of him.
In the meantime, however, he could enjoy the show, living vicariously through Dean.
Chapter 12
Dean
Dean woke with a huge stretch, and an even bigger smile. Bayside Grooves had been a colossal success!
The turnout was massive, and the crowd was electric, totally engaged and responsive for the entire performance. The dancers were phenomenal and everything went off without a hitch.
Aside from the minor drama with Johnathan, Dean couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect performance.
He sighed at the thought of Johnathan. He was going to need to deal with that sooner rather than later. He couldn’t understand how he had allowed the situation to get so out of hand.
It had started innocently enough. About three months ago, Dean had attended a party in L.A., where he was introduced to Johnathan. They hit it off fairly well and had a decent, relaxed conversation. Dean said he enjoyed Johnathan's work on his Netflix series, and Johnathan was a fan of his music. Their conversation lasted all of fifteen minutes, but the nextday, pictures of the two of them started circulating on social media. The pictures were reasonably innocuous…them laughing, clinking glasses in a toast, and one photo of them hugging.
Of course, the comments went wild, speculating how long they had been dating, creating stupid couple names, etc. Dean figured he’d just let it die down, as most things did on social media. After all, it wasn’t that big a deal.
But to his surprise, Johnathan attended one of his shows in San Francisco a few weeks later. He insisted on taking a few selfies, which, of course, immediately ended up online. Then, it happened again about a month later. That time, Johnathan had brought a cameraman with him. It was then that Dean informed Johnathan, quite sternly, that photographs were not allowed backstage at his shows. Johnathan seemed genuinely apologetic at the time, and the backstage visits stopped.
But when the photos stopped, Johnathan began talking about them on interviews and talk shows. He didn’t come straight out and say they were dating, but whenever the question arose, he would coyly tap dance around the subject or answer with a vague response that hinted there was truth to the rumor.
