I chuckled. “Yes. I’m up on 125th Street.”
“Excellent.”
I handed him my business card and he gave me his. “Thank you for this opportunity, David.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied. “I look forward to working with you.”
I walked back over to Tony, who was now sitting in the front row. He rose and gave me a big hug. “You were amazing.”
Wow. It felt so good to be held like that. It reminded me how touch-starved I was. “Thanks, Tony.”
He took a step back. “I’m kinda surprised he auditioned you on the spot. I figured he’d want a sample of your music or something.”
“It could have gone either way,” I said. “I brought a flash drive of my playing, just in case.”
“I think this calls for a celebration,” Tony said with a smile. “Let’s grab a drink at the pub up the street.”
I was of two minds. I didn’t want him to think this was a date. But then again, friends celebrated each other’s victories. Ugh. I needed to stop overthinking this. “Sure,” I finally answered. “That sounds good.”
The walk to the pub was downright cold. March was unforgiving when it struggled to keep its grip on winter. I looked forward to the milder spring days to come. I welcomed the heat of the pub that blasted us when we entered. Since it was a Tuesday night, it wasn’t that crowded. We got seats at the bar and ordered our drinks.
When our beers arrived, we clinked glasses, and Tony said, “Congratulations on a successful audition.”
I couldn’t help the proud smile that curved my lips. “Thanks. It feels good to finally take a real step toward my goal.”
“Do substitute jobs often lead to full-time positions?” Tony asked.
I waggled my hand. “Sometimes. But it would have to be because the other musician decided to leave or was fired for some reason, which rarely happens. It might take years before someone offers me a show. What might happen is I get a regular sub gig with the same show in order to give the main pianist a break.”
He took another sip of his beer and grinned. “You know what this means?”
“What’s that?” I asked warily.
“It means I get to come see you in a show and bring all my friends and family too.”
I groaned. “That’ll fill up half the audience.”
“You’ll certainly know we’re there.”
“No doubt.” What I didn’t say was that I’d know Tony was there regardless of how many people he brought with him. I’d been keenly aware of him since the first time I’d seen him in Reilly’s Piano Bar almost two years ago.
I finished the rest of my beer and slid the glass toward the back edge of the bar. “I guess I should head home. I have work to finish that I blew off when I was practicing over the weekend.”
Tony set his glass down. “I have a better idea. How about we head to my place to finish off this celebration right?”
The gleam in his eye and the low gravely tone of his voice gave me a pretty good idea of what he considered a proper celebration. “Oh yeah? What do you have in mind?”
He leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek before his lips traveled to below my ear. “I want to take you to my place, strip you down, eat you out, and fuck you until you don’t know your own name.”
My breath stuttered and my cock filled. I swallowed hard and croaked out, “Yes. That. I would really like that.” I raised my hand to catch the bartender’s eye. “Check, please.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TONY
It didn’t take long for me to have Greg right where I wanted him, face down, ass up, on my bed. He’d insisted on taking a shower first, which only sharpened my anticipation. I stripped out of my clothes and joined him on the bed, placing the lube and condoms next to me.
I ran my hands over the globes of his sweetly rounded ass, parting his cheeks so I could see his tight pink hole. I rubbed my thumbs over his puckered flesh, loving the sounds of pleasure he made. I dove in, licking, sucking, and tasting him, driving my tongue into his entrance. His moans and gasps were accompanied by pleas of, “Don’t stop” and “More.” His hips writhed under my hands as I held him in place.
