Beyond The Music (The Rock Gods Book 7) (35 page)

“I did say I’d bottom, and you can have me anytime you want.” Aaron laughed. “I certainly won’t fight you, unless you want me to resist a little bit for the fun of it. That’s up to you.”

“Hmmm, that does sound like fun,” Lincoln said.

Aaron stroked Lincoln’s whiskered chin. “I haven’t bottomed in a few years, so the first time you’ll have to go slow like I did with you.”

Lincoln cocked a brow at Aaron. “That was your idea of slow?” he asked.

A look of concern floated through Aaron’s eyes. “Did I hurt you?”

“Only the best kind of hurt.” Lincoln chuckled. “I’ll feel the ache of you for days.”

Aaron laughed at Lincoln’s comment. He turned onto his back and slipped his softening cock free from Lincoln, then walked to the bathroom to discard the condom. He had a warm washcloth in his hand when he returned to the bed. Lincoln was almost asleep as Aaron began to clean off the come smears from Lincoln’s chest and stomach.

“That dinky cloth isn’t going to clean up this mess,” Lincoln mumbled in half-slumber. “I need a shower.”

“Come on, porn star,” Aaron said and held out his hand for Lincoln. “I can do a better job of cleaning you in the shower.”

Lincoln almost fell asleep standing up in the shower. If it weren’t for Aaron’s strong body to lean on, Lincoln would have crashed to the tiled floor. Aaron lathered Lincoln and then lovingly washed every square inch of him before rinsing them both. Then Aaron helped Lincoln out, dried him off, and practically carried Lincoln’s lifeless body back to the bed. Aaron pulled back the sheets and helped Lincoln lay down, then settled in beside him. Lincoln pulled Aaron tighter and wrapped his arms around him before kissing his lips.

Lincoln stared at Aaron’s face and blinked several times. For the first time in forever, Lincoln felt whole—inside and out; he felt peace. “I really do love you, Aaron. I wasn’t joking when I said that.”

Aaron nodded. “I know, Linc. Neither was I.”

Lincoln snugged closer. “In so many ways you saved me. Do you realize that?”

“I’m not sure I’d agree with that assessment,” Aaron said. “I gave you the tools, but you did the work to save yourself. I think it was a matter of you finally being ready to have a life.”

“You gave me a reason,” Lincoln whispered. “You also gave me the motivation because I seriously wanted to be with you.”

“I’m glad you are ready, Linc.”

“I am so fucking ready . . . for all of this, and I want it all with you,” Lincoln said. “Can you give me that?”

“Absolutely,” Aaron sighed. “I want the same.”

“Let’s sleep,” Lincoln stated. “I am beyond exhausted and tomorrow is the first show and it’s going to test all of my endurance and sanity.”

“I’ll be there to help you every step of the way,” Aaron said.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lincoln was up early the next day, loosening up his fingers as well as his body with warm-up exercises. Aaron was there to help a bit, but for the most part Lincoln wanted to do this on his own. He needed to get his head in the zone and the best way to do that was for him to practice on his bass, meditate, and go through a few repetitions of the exercises Aaron demonstrated to him back in LA. Every once in a while Aaron would pop his head into their bedroom to check on Lincoln, but otherwise he was left alone.

By the time the van arrived to take them all back to the arena, Lincoln was frazzled. Aaron pointed a worried look at Lincoln that didn’t need words to explain what he was thinking. Lincoln knew how he must look right now. In many ways, this felt like the first performance of his career.

Security hurried them inside the stadium and settled them into a large room set-up for a meet and greet event. The guys in Ivory Tower were already seated at a long table beside Black Ice’s signing table. They barely had time to wave hello to Alex, Wheland, Cooper, Tony and Jared before they had to take their seats. A moment later the doors at the back of the room were opened and a long line of contest winners and VIP’s were led in to meet both bands. Media took photographs and posed them for a few shots, but this event was all about the fans. In an organized fashion, Black Ice signed a truckload of concert programs, various exposed pieces of skin, and CD covers, all behind the safety of their table and under the watchful eye of their security team.

“Two hours until show time, boys!” the concert director announced. “Food room is ready if you want to eat.”

Lincoln hugged Alex and Wheland as they all started to gather by the door to the room. Cooper came up behind him and attempted to jump up on his back. Lincoln swayed on his feet but Aaron steadied him.

“What the fuck, little man,” Lincoln barked at Cooper.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since Jayson made an honest man out of me,” Cooper remarked to Lincoln.

“You an honest man? Seriously?” Lincoln chuckled.

“Who’s your arm candy?” Cooper asked.

“His name is Aaron,” Lincoln answered, “and, you met him on the plane.”

“Well, I was a little buzzed at that time,” Cooper scoffed then extended his hand to Aaron. “Since Linc is being a dick, I’m introducing myself. I’m Cooper Rand, the drummer for Ivory Tower.”

“Nice to meet you,” Aaron replied. “I’m Aaron Baylor, a friend of Lincoln’s.”

“A friend?” Cooper teased. “I wasn’t aware Lincoln had any friends. I mean, on account of his sunny personality and all.”

“Fuck off, tiny man.” Lincoln laughed.

“Hey, I’m big where it counts,” Cooper defended. “Just ask Jay!”

“The only thing big about you is your ego,” Wheland added before he pulled Lincoln in for a tight hug. “Good to see you, Linc.”

“Same to you,” Lincoln replied and slapped Wheland on the back. When they separated, Lincoln introduced Aaron to all the guys in Ivory Tower and then they began the walk over to the food room.

Lincoln was too nervous to eat anything substantial. He piled a few pieces of melon onto his plate instead and found a place to sit with Aaron.

“You’re not eating?” Aaron asked.

“My stomach is too queasy right now,” Lincoln answered. “I’ll eat after we perform.”

“Dagger said you’re going on first tonight,” Aaron commented. “You okay with that?”

Lincoln nodded. “Yeah, I’d rather get it over with and then I can relax and enjoy Ivory Tower’s performance.”

“That sounds good,” Aaron said. He placed his hand on Lincoln’s thigh and squeezed. “After we eat let’s find a dressing room so we can go through a few stretches to ensure you don’t get any leg cramps.”

“Yeah, okay,” Lincoln agreed. “I need to do that.”

They ate in silence, casually watching the controlled chaos going on around them in the food room. “Should I be worried about you?” Aaron finally asked.

“What’d you mean?” Lincoln wiped his hands off on a napkin and set his empty plate on the chair beside him.

“I’ve never seen you this nervous,” Aaron said. “Are you like this before every show or is it the significance behind this particular show that has you acting so cagey?”

Lincoln leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Can we talk about that when we get into the dressing room?” Lincoln asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Aaron replied. He placed his hand on the back of Lincoln’s neck and began kneading at the tension there. “You’re wound up tight. I need to work on this, too, before you go on stage to perform.”

Aaron finished eating and then Lincoln led him from the room and down the hall to a private dressing room for him to warm-up. As soon as they were inside the room with the door closed and locked, Aaron grabbed hold of Lincoln’s face in both of his hands.

“Listen to me,” Aaron directed. “You are going to be fine. I promise.” He let go of Lincoln’s face and patted his chest. “Now, let’s go over some of those stretches we worked on to help ease a leg cramp. Okay?”

Aaron worked Lincoln through a variety of exercises before Lincoln reached for his bass to warm-up his fingers. By the time the stage director pounded on the door announcing the ten-minute warning, Lincoln was pacing the tiny room like a caged animal.

“Come on, I can’t take this,” Lincoln said and jerked the door open. “Let’s walk down to the holding area.”

Along their way through the maze of corridors toward the back of the stage area, Dagger, Dante, and Ashton joined their parade. The guys in Ivory Tower waited for them at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the platform behind the stage. There where hugs and cheers to send Black Ice on their way up to launch the tour and the familiar rush that came with that settled inside Lincoln, but somehow it wasn’t enough to ease every other concern he had occupying his head space.

They all made small talk, except for Ashton, who was content to tap out random rhythms with his two drumsticks. Someone from the stage crew came around and adjusted all the wireless systems attached to the waistbands of their pants and tucked in the antennas. Another man went over the song set, giving them a quick rundown of what they’d be performing.

Ryan and Aaron stood off to the side of the gathering while the stage director discussed their cues and stage positioning. When the director walked off to deal with another issue, Aaron moved to Lincoln’s side. He smoothed out the shoulders of Lincoln’s silky white button down shirt and fixed a fold in the collar.

“Remember what I said,” Aaron said beside Lincoln’s ear. “No sudden moves and pay attention to your footing. You can do this. I know you can.”

The stage director returned and yelled out a three-minute warning, then waved them into position to take the ramp up to the stage. Aaron leaned in for one last kiss. When he saw Lincoln was still wearing his dark sunglasses, Aaron gently removed them. “These are a tripping hazard if they diminish your ability to see where you’re walking,” Aaron said with a smile. “I’ll hold them for you. Now, go kick some ass out there!”

Aaron and Ryan walked behind the guys in the band and stopped at the edge of the curtains. A moment later, the band was led out onto the darkened stage with a couple of guys from the crew holding tiny flashlights to illuminate the floor for them. Lincoln staggered in the darkness at first and a zing of panic washed over him. Behind him he heard Aaron start to push himself through the people to get to him, but Lincoln raised his hand to stop him. Lincoln grabbed on to the edge of a stack of empty equipment crates to regain his balance. Once he felt centered again, he continued the walk to his spot on the stage.

Lincoln took the bass guitar his tech was handing to him and settled the strap around his neck. The familiar feeling of the instrument hanging from him somewhat soothed him, but his heart still felt like it might burst from his chest. He glanced around his area to check for the ever present cables and other hazards to try and calm his insecurities. He noticed the bright white electrical tape Aaron had asked the stage crew put down on the flooring to mark the edges of the safe box Lincoln could perform in. All Lincoln had to do was stay within these white lines and he’d be okay. He could get through this, right? Sixty minutes plus encores and he could put this first show behind him and go relax with Aaron.

Aaron,
Lincoln sighed the name out loud of the man he loved more than anything else in his life. Including his music. How was that possible? He’d spent his entire adult life building his career and now after a few weeks of knowing Aaron all that had changed. He suddenly had something else more important to him.

Lincoln pushed his earbud into his ear and listened to the stage director do a final countdown. The roar on the other side of the curtains were already at deafening volumes and it continued to climb in intensity with every passing second. Even still, Lincoln thought the pound of his heart was louder. He quickly glanced over at Aaron and their eyes connected for a brief moment before Ashton began to hit the foot pedal of his bass drum to set the beat for the intro to their first song.

Thump . . . thump . . . thump . . . thump!
The thin black curtain bearing the Black Ice logo began to flutter and then dropped to reveal the band just as Dante and Dagger sliced into the first riff to “Pocket Full of Gold.” Lincoln followed with his bass beat and Dagger stepped toward his microphone to sing.