Beyond The Music (The Rock Gods Book 7) (41 page)

“Thank you for letting me do that,” Lincoln said to Dagger.

“No problem,” Dagger grinned. “I’m a sucker for a good love story and I’m happy to be part of yours.”

Black Ice finished their set and cleared the stage to allow Ivory Tower to get ready for their show. Lincoln and the guys exited the ramp area and made their way back toward the dressing rooms. Fizzbo stopped Dagger in the hall outside his dressing room.

“Security stopped a bunch of guys trying to get back here,” Fizzbo explained. “They’re saying they’re part of the Skull Blasters and you’d want to see them? Does that ring any bells?”

“The Skull Blasters? Shit, yeah! Send ‘em down to our dressing rooms,” Dagger instructed.

Fizzbo pressed a walkie-talkie to his mouth and gave the order to send the guys in the Skull Blasters through. A moment later, Ransom, Gareth, Harley, Jinx, and Rebel could be heard approaching. It was hard to miss their excited voices echoing in the hall the closer they got.

Dagger greeted Ransom first and gave him a big, brotherly hug. “How’s it going?” Dagger asked.

“Really good, man,” Ransom answered. “Our tour is off the charts. Every show is sold out.”

“Congrats on that!” Dante said as he walked up to stand beside Dagger with Ashton in tow.

“How long are you in London?” Gareth asked Dagger.

“We’re actually leaving tonight after the show and driving down to Paris,” Dagger replied.

“Ah, shit!” Harley grumbled. “We were hoping to get a chance to hang with you guys.”

“We’re playing Wembley for the next two nights after you leave,” Jinx added.

“Well, maybe after we all get back to LA, we can get together and party,”

“That sounds like a plan,” Ransom added.

“And, if our paths on tour cross again, we’ll definitely have a drink with you,” Dagger said.

More hugs went around before the Skull Blasters walked toward the stage to listen to Ivory Tower for a bit. Dagger slung an arm around Dante’s shoulders and walked back to their dressing rooms.

Lincoln came out of his dressing room and damn near plowed into Dagger, Dante and Ashton. “What’d I miss?” Lincoln asked them.

“The Skull Blasters,” Dagger offered. “They’re heading up the ramp to listen to Alex and his guys for a while.”

“Oh, good,” Lincoln said and reached for Aaron’s hand. “I’ll go say hello before we go back to the hotel to pack.”

Lincoln and Aaron walked back up the ramp and spotted Ransom and his guys standing beside Chase, Rooster, and Jayson. He waved to them and they walked down the ramp to chat.

“I wanted to say hello before we left,” Lincoln said to Harley.

“I’m glad you caught us,” Ransom said. “We heard about your press conference. I’m sorry to hear you fell last night but I’m really glad you’re going to be okay . . . with all of it.”

Lincoln nodded, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the conversation. “As long as I don’t go crazy with life, I can manage this just fine,” Lincoln answered. “Along with this man, right here. This is Aaron Baylor, my partner.”

Ransom stuck out his hand to Aaron. “Hi, I’m Ransom Fox,” he said and went around introducing all the other guys in his band to Aaron.

“Dagger told us you guys are leaving tonight,” Gareth said.

“Yeah, for some stupid reason we voted to drive to Paris instead of flying like normal people would do,” Lincoln laughed.

“It’ll be an adventure now, versus a business trip,” Jinx added.

“I don’t know about that.” Lincoln rolled his eyes. “Well, I’ll let you go listen to Ivory Tower some more. I have to get ready to go back to the hotel.”

“Good seeing you, Lincoln,” Ransom said and gave Lincoln another hug.

“Take care of yourself,” Harley added.

“I’ll do my best and Aaron will make sure that I do.” Lincoln gave them all a final wave and turned around to walk back to his dressing room.

Lincoln spotted Spumoni on his way down the hall. He waved him over quickly to say good-bye. “We’re going back to the hotel to pack up, so I guess we’ll see you in Paris,” Lincoln commented.

“Of course.” Spumoni grinned. “Who else is going to keep all these roadies from fucking up your equipment?”

“Well, we sincerely appreciate you overseeing everything for us,” Lincoln said and pulled Spumoni in for a hug.

“Maybe we’ll have time for a drink when we’re in Paris,” Spumoni said.

“Let’s hope so,” Lincoln added.

“Good seeing you again, Aaron,” Spumoni said. “Oh, Linc. Great job with the song you sang for your man here.”

“Thanks,” Lincoln replied and rolled his eyes. Had he really sung his heart out for the man he loved in front of thousands of people? Lincoln glanced over at Aaron and the smile on his face melted Lincoln’s heart. He had professed his love for Aaron on stage and he’d do it again in a heartbeat to honor this incredible man. Lincoln laced their fingers together and lifted Aaron’s hand to kiss the knuckles.

“Ready to go back to the hotel?” Lincoln asked Aaron.

“Ready when you are,” Aaron answered.

Lincoln had his duffel bag on the bed filling it with his belongings when Zac knocked on the door.

“You got a minute?” Zac asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Lincoln replied. “What’s up?”

Zac crossed the room with his hands crammed into the front pocket of his jeans. “I believe I owe you an apology,” Zac admitted.

“Why’s that?” Lincoln asked as he set his shaving kit into his bag.

“I acted like a dick when we first met without justification,” Zac explained. “That’s not who I am and I wanted to apologize for that.”

Lincoln shrugged his shoulders. “No worries. I just thought you were doing your job, that’s all.”

“My job isn’t to treat my clients like assholes,” Zac elaborated. “Bad time in my life and I was taking it out on those around me and I’m sorry about that. It won’t happen again.”

“What’s going on?”

“Do you really want to know?” Zac grinned.

“If you want to talk, go ahead,” Lincoln said. “Not sure I can help any, but I can listen.”

“The day we left for the tour my wife had divorce papers sent to me,” Zac blurted.

“Jesus, the timing sucks on that,” Lincoln consoled.

“The marriage had been bad for a long time, so I shouldn’t be surprised she finally threw in the towel,” Zac said and sat on the edge of the bed. “Still, it hurt to get those papers.”

“I can imagine,” Lincoln agreed.

Zac leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. “Then, I come on this tour and see how happy everyone is and in love, and I guess it sort of put the focus on what I never had with my wife.”

“Why the hell did you get married then?” Lincoln asked then realized how nasty that sounded. “Forget I asked that. Your reason is none of my business.”

“I don’t have a logical answer to that question,” Zac admitted. “I look back at the last time I was really happy and it wasn’t with my wife. It was with a friend when I was in my teens.”

“An old girlfriend?”

“No, a guy,” Zac said.

“Was this a physical kind of relationship?” Lincoln asked.

Zac nodded. “Yeah, we messed around a bit.”

“Does your wife know about this guy?” Lincoln asked.

“No, I never told her,” Zac answered. “I figured it was just something good friends did when they’re young.”

“Experimenting?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Zac agreed.

Lincoln tossed a few t-shirts into his bag and his eyes met Zac’s. “Any guys since this . . . friend?”

Zac cleared his throat. “When I was in the military there was one or two,” Zac answered. “It wasn’t much more than a quick handjob or a blowjob—stuff like that, but even still I thought it was just something guys did because we had no other choice without women around.”

“And your friend?” Lincoln asked. “Did you have feelings for this guy?”

“We were inseparable up until we graduated high school,” Zac said. “Our parents rented cottages side-by-side on the same beach every summer, so Ben and I always seemed to be together. I enlisted into the military in my senior year and Ben applied to colleges for art. After that last summer we went our separate ways.”

“Have you seen him since?”

Zac shook his head. A look of despair and sadness floated across his face. “My mother kept me updated on him from time to time, but I never saw or heard from him again. I’ve certainly thought about him a lot over the years.”

“Maybe now with the divorce looming you should look him up?” Lincoln suggested.

“I was thinking maybe after this tour I could make a trip home and see what I can find out about him,” Zac said.

“I think you should.”

Zac nodded at Lincoln and stood up from the bed. “So, I’m sorry for being an ass and I promise to dial it back a bit from here on out.”

Lincoln laughed then his entire face lit up when Aaron walked into the room.

“The look you just got on your face, I want that in my life,” Zac said quietly.

“Well, Aaron is taken, but feel free to go after anyone else who flips your switch,” Lincoln teased.

Zac smiled and gave them both a wave as he walked back to the door. “I’ll see you on the bus.”

Once Zac was gone, Aaron turned to Lincoln. “What was that all about?” he asked.

“Zac was apologizing for being a prick to me,” Lincoln explained. “Then he went on to tell me he’s getting divorced but he’s apparently still got the hots for some dude from his youth.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. I suggested once the tour is over that he try and look for him,” Lincoln said.

“Wow, you’re a talented musician, porn star in bed, and also matchmaker,” Aaron joked.

Lincoln grabbed at Aaron’s chin and pulled him in for a hot kiss. “You keep that up and the porn star will have to toss you on the bed and prove it to you.”

“We don’t have time to get sweaty now, babe,” Aaron said.

“You’re right, we don’t,” Lincoln answered. “But we have a very long bus ride ahead that gives me countless hours to maul you.”

Aaron laughed loudly and gave Lincoln a playful shove away.

“Finish packing, or we won’t be getting anywhere near that bus,” Aaron directed.

Chapter Thirty-One

Black Ice and Ivory tower hit the road in the early morning hours occupying two separate custom tour buses. Lincoln and Aaron did get the bed in back of the bus for most of the ride. About halfway through the trip, Lincoln got out of bed to take a leak and stumbled in on a sight he wasn’t prepared to see. Dante and Ashton were in the living room on one of the leather couches. Ashton’s face was bobbing in Dante’s lap. Dante had his hand on the back of Ashton’s head holding a fistful of hair helping him take more of his cock.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Lincoln bellowed. “Why the hell are you doing that out here?”

Dante opened his eyes and grinned shamelessly at Lincoln. “Didn’t expect you to roll out of bed and catch us.” Ashton started to pull off Dante’s cock and Dante pushed his head back down. “Baby, don’t stop. I’m getting close.”

Lincoln’s eyes were drawn to the thick shaft disappearing in and out of Ashton’s stretched mouth. He felt a twinge of arousal stir in his groin and knew he needed to turn away, but the sight was stimulating to say the least.