Beyond The Music (The Rock Gods Book 7) (11 page)

“So, you’re a nurse with chef skills?” Lincoln joked.

“Chef? Hardly. I can cook to prevent myself from starving, but that’s about the extent of it.” Aaron glanced over his shoulder at Lincoln sitting at the table and smiled.

Jesus, Lincoln loved it when the man smiled broad enough to reveal the small indents of dimples in his face. It created a crazy tightness in his chest that confused Lincoln, but not enough to question it out loud. “Do you really think I’ll be ready to practice on Monday?” Lincoln asked.

Aaron scooped the egg and spinach mixture onto two plates then set the pieces of salmon on top of each pile. “If you’re willing to invest the time into learning the new grips and work through the weekend, then I think you have a good shot at being ready enough on Monday.”

“That doesn’t sound all that promising,” Lincoln commented.

Aaron set a pot of hot coffee, two mugs, and the plates on the table and handed Lincoln a fork and napkin. “You’re really not going to tell Dagger and the guys about your illness?”

Lincoln shook his head. “I already answered that question.”

“Yeah, you did, but I don’t understand why,” Aaron prodded. “Those guys are your brothers and they’d do anything for you. Right?”

“True,” Lincoln answered. “Dagger would go out of his way to accommodate my health issues and he’ll make my life miserable in the process,” Lincoln answered.

“Accommodating is a bad thing?”

Lincoln’s nose flared with annoyance. “Why are you pushing this?”

Aaron shrugged. “I’m just trying to understand the secrecy you’re insisting with this. That’s all.”

“You don’t know Dagger. He’ll be like an over-protective parent trying to make things easier for me and it will change the entire dynamic of the band. Then he’ll probably suggest we cancel our European tour and I can’t have that on my conscience. I can’t be the reason Black Ice falls apart.”

“You seriously think it would come to that?” Aaron asked around a mouthful of the food he’d prepared.

“There’s a very good chance it would play out just like that,” Lincoln said.

“I’ll come to practice with you,” Aaron said.

Lincoln swallowed the bite of food and shook his head. “There is no way in fucking hell you are going to babysit me while I’m working. It’s bad enough you’re like an ever-present shadow around my own damned house, but behind these walls is where we’ll have to keep our . . . arrangement. Besides, how in the hell do you think we’d be able to explain your presence with me at practice?”

“You could call me your new boyfriend?” Aaron suggested, but Lincoln could tell by the tone of his voice even he didn’t think that lie would work.

“What the hell makes you think I’m in to dudes?” Lincoln asked with a hint of irritation in his words.

Aaron’s eyes met Lincoln’s over his mug of coffee. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry,” Aaron stated. “I guess I just assumed you were because of all your comments about me looking at you . . . naked.”

Lincoln shrugged and did his best to hide his grin. Damn, it was fun watching Aaron squirm. “It’s cool,” Lincoln said. “I go both ways, although the guys in my band have never been sure what I go for since they never see me with anyone.”

“Well, I guess I’ve got a challenge to get you as ready as possible by Monday,” Aaron said to change the subject. He took the last bite of his eggs and salmon and looked at Lincoln again. “After we eat, I want to try a type of massage on you that could help stimulate your nerves a bit.”

“You’re going to give me a massage?” Lincoln questioned.

Aaron nodded. “I can work on your hands and forearms and also your feet to see if that changes the numbness in your extremities at all.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Lincoln said. “First you play creeper and watch me while I shower, and now you’re adding massage and happy endings to the daily schedule of kink? Jesus, you really are a sick bastard.”

Aaron nearly choked on his coffee at that. “Being a sick bastard isn’t part of my job description,” he replied. “And what I do is for the betterment of my clients.”

“I fucking bet,” Lincoln mumbled.

After they finished with their meal, Aaron set the dishes in the sink and directed Lincoln into the living room. Lincoln watched Aaron setting up his massage table and wondered how this would all play out. If Aaron had the capability to make him feel more sensation in his hands and feet that would be damn close to being a miracle. If not, then maybe this would just be a good massage and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had one of those.

Aaron removed his oils and lotions from his medical bag and set them aside. Then he draped the massage table with a sheet and folded another one on top of that. “Go use the bathroom and change,” Aaron said and handed Lincoln another sheet to wrap around himself. “You can leave your boxers on, but take off everything else for me and I’ll work on your back, too.”

Lincoln placed his hands on his hips. “You watched me get dressed today,” he said. “I’m commando, or don’t you remember that detail?”

Aaron looked up at Lincoln. “Oh, right. Well, change and wrap that sheet around your waist. When you’re ready, I’ll help you onto the table.”

Lincoln scrunched his face. This fucking guy seemed hell bent on getting him naked at every opportunity. Lincoln kept his annoyance to himself and pulled off his t-shirt and then pushed off the sweatpants while holding on to the massage table for balance. The movement drew Aaron’s attention back to him.

“You don’t need to get undressed here,” Aaron remarked. “I figured you’d do that in the bathroom and come back with the sheet around your hips, like I suggested.”

“So, now you want to pretend there’s a mystery as to what I look like naked?” Lincoln scoffed.

Aaron shrugged, seemingly unfazed by Lincoln’s comment. “Some people get weird about being without clothing, but apparently you’re not one of them.”

“Nah, I’m okay with my naked self,” Lincoln replied.

Aaron’s eyes quickly darted up and down the length of Lincoln’s muscled form and then went back to the table as he smoothed out the sheets. “You shouldn’t have body issues,” he said. “You’ve obviously taken care of yourself.”

An enormous grin formed on Lincoln’s face. He squared his hips and for a moment, he felt like king of the world.

“You okay with doing this in the living room, or would you prefer to do this upstairs?” Aaron asked.

“I’m fine right here,” Lincoln answered.

“All right,” Aaron flashed a smile and extended his hand to Lincoln. “Hold on to me and I’ll help you onto the table.” Aaron turned Lincoln around and eased him ass-first onto the table. At the first opportunity, Aaron covered up Lincoln’s groin with a folded sheet. “Lay down flat on your back for me,” Aaron directed and then it seemed all business.

Lincoln watched Aaron warm the oil in his hands before he reached for Lincoln’s hand and began working the muscles from his shoulder all the way down to the tips of his fingers. He repeated the massaging on Lincoln’s other arm and hand, adding more oil every few minutes.

“Do you really think this is going to help?” Lincoln asked. His eyes had fallen to slits and the relaxed buzz he had was incredible.

“It’s hard to tell this early in the process,” Aaron answered. “But I’ve had good results when this treatment is repeated on a daily basis. Think of it as waking up your limbs from being asleep. Good blood flow and stimulation can work wonders.”

Lincoln wished that theory would work on his dick. Christ, he’d give a kidney if he could get hard and have a three-day orgasm. Okay, well maybe not three days straight, but one intense, toe-curling orgasm sure would be nice. Was that too much to ask from a guy still in his early thirties? Maybe this was his punishment for being such a man-whore when he was in his twenties. Most men didn’t see half the action Lincoln had in one decade in their whole lives, so maybe Lincoln didn’t have a right to complain at all.

It’d be one thing if he didn’t have an interest in sex, but that wasn’t Lincoln’s problem. Lincoln had a healthy amount of desire still coursing through his veins, but it just didn’t ever manifest into a physical reaction for him. If having sex only in his mind without the benefit of a physical release counted, then Lincoln had the sex life of a porn star. Most recently, the focus of Lincoln’s desire was on the man currently working his fingers all over his skin. Yet his cock continued to sleep nestled on top of his ballsack completely unaffected by the touch of slippery fingers that knew exactly what they were doing. God, it was depressing not to get a rise out of his dick!

“What’s with the scowl?” Aaron asked. “Doesn’t this feel good?”

Lincoln opened one eyelid and looked up at Aaron. His thick hair had flopped forward over his forehead and concealed one of his warm hazel eyes. “This feels amazing.” Lincoln’s voice was rough.

“How is the numbness?” Aaron asked. “Are you feeling more sensation than you did this morning?”

“Hard to tell right now,” Lincoln said.

“We’ll do this daily for a while and see how you feel after a week,” Aaron said and stepped down to Lincoln’s feet. “Are your feet ticklish?”

“If they were I doubt I’d feel it, so have at it,” Lincoln answered.

Aaron nodded and squirted more oil into the palm of his hand. He rubbed his hands together to warm them, then began working on the muscles of Lincoln’s thighs, down on to his calves, and finally to the arches of his feet. Lincoln was close to falling asleep on the table from Aaron’s ministrations. It was bliss feeling Aaron’s strong fingers working on each toe and pressing the length of his arch to swirl around his heel and up over his ankles.

“I could fall asleep,” Lincoln sighed.

“That’s good,” Aaron replied. “But after this I want to see if you can feel your grip on the guitar any better than you did before we ate, so you might want to hold off on that nap.”

“I’m not sure I can.” Lincoln chuckled.

“What about if I talk to you?” Aaron suggested. “Will that keep you awake?”

“What do you wanna talk about?”

“Have you always been a musician?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Lincoln answered. “Besides a paper route when I was nine and one summer working as a gas station attendant as a teenager, I’ve been working in music.”

“Do you play other instruments besides the bass?”

“I can play all of them, but rhythm drew me to the drums and bass,” Lincoln explained. “Black Ice didn’t need a drummer when I auditioned, so I focused on the bass instead. I’ve been with Black Ice long enough to know their first drummer, Dyson. Ashton came along after Dyson left.”

“Wow, I wasn’t aware Black Ice had a drummer other than Ashton,” Aaron commented.

“Yeah, although no one discussed it at the time, I’m fairly certain there was some funny business going on between Dagger and Dyson,” Lincoln said.

“Was that a problem?” Aaron asked. “I mean, Dante and Ashton are together, so why not Dagger and Dyson?”

Lincoln chuckled. “The problem was, Dyson was straight—or so he thought,” Lincoln replied. “I think he freaked out because he fucked around with Dagger and couldn’t accept what that might mean to him being “straight.” It wasn’t long after that when Dyson said he was quitting the band.”

“Was Dagger upset?” Aaron asked.

“I think he was more pissed off he was losing a good drummer,” Lincoln added. “But we got lucky with Ashton because he’s even better on the skins than Dyson was on his best day. Now the Dyson issue is one of those unspoken topics of discussion none of us talks about. It’s cool though. Dyson ended up getting married and has a couple of kids. Last I heard, he was working with another band up in the Oregon area.”

“Kind of sad in a way,” Aaron commented.

“Nah, it played out the way it was supposed to,” Lincoln added. “Dagger is happily married, and Dyson is too.”

Aaron nodded and they were silent until Aaron finally said, “I saw your LA show during the last tour with Ivory Tower,” Aaron added. “Both of your bands are freaking awesome.”

“Are you going to go all fan-girl and ask me to sign your tit or something?”

Aaron laughed. “I don’t have tits.”

“I’ve signed more than one hairy ass in my time.” Lincoln snorted.

“You seriously have to do that?” Aaron questioned.

“I’ve signed just about every body part you could imagine,” Lincoln confessed with a twisted sense of pride. “Dicks, pussy lips, stomachs, backs, and so on.”

“No way! You’ve signed someone’s cock?”

“Yes, and it was semi-hard at the time which made it interesting and disturbing all at once,” Lincoln explained. “I made him hold it for me so I wasn’t required to touch anything while I signed my name and then I was fucking out of there.”

“Was he one of your hook-ups?” Aaron’s brows lifted.

“I don’t believe so,” Lincoln said. “But I don’t remember a lot of what happened back in those early days. For the record, I no longer sign dicks or pussy lips. That’s no longer cool—not that it was the first time around. Plus, the opportunity to catch something now is too great a risk for me to want to do it again without wearing a hazmat suit.”

“I’d worry about that, too,” Aaron lamented. “Gone are the days when you didn’t have to worry about shit like that.”

Lincoln lifted his head and looked down between his legs at Aaron working on his feet. “What’s your deal, Aaron?”

“What’d you mean?” Aaron answered.

“Which way do you swing?” Lincoln asked bluntly.

“Oh.” One simple word that said so much and the flush of heat in Aaron’s cheeks made him impossibly handsome. “I only swing one way and that’s gay,” Aaron admitted.

“Hmmm, you don’t say,” Lincoln smirked.

“Why do you say it like that?” Aaron queried.

“I couldn’t get a read on you, that’s all,” Lincoln answered. “Usually I’m pretty good at reading the signals, but not with you.” A brief silence fell between them then Lincoln asked, “Ever been with a woman?”

“Once, but that was back in high school when I was still trying to figure things out,” Aaron offered. “It didn’t go well, but then I met her new boyfriend and suddenly everything made sense.”

“Oh, Jesus! You fucked her boyfriend?”