Collaring Chaz (Dante's Infernal #2) - Joel Abernathy Page 0,41

the mic. “You can come out.”

“Are you sure it’s all usable?” I asked, walking into the studio to join him.

“It’s perfect. Hell of a lot cleaner than anyone else’s,” he said with a snort. “I’ll send the files when we get home since it’ll take forever.”

Home. The simple little word made my heart tumble over in my chest.

“Yeah,” I said, hoping I wouldn’t sound like I was about to melt into a puddle of infatuation. “I tried doing it on my laptop a couple of weeks ago and almost crashed the damn thing.”

He blinked at me in confusion. “For what?”

Oh, shit. I wasn’t used to keeping secrets from Raf--with the exception of The Big One--so I didn’t realize I’d outed myself until it was too late.

“Nothing. Just some stupid side project while I was off work,” I answered.

“With who?” he asked, sounding jealous, like I’d just told him I was crawling around on my knees in a dog mask for some other guy.

“No one.” I shrugged. “I just played around with some software and my shitty guitar playing. It’s cringy.”

“I’m sure it’s not. I didn’t know you still played guitar, though,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Trying to replace me?”

I rolled my eyes. “Please. I suck. It was just something to kill time.”

“Can I hear it?”

I gulped, hoping it wasn’t audible. No way was I going to let him hear my emo lyrics as I angsted over my unrequited love. “I deleted them. Really, they were terrible. Let’s get out of here, I’m starving.”

Rafael sighed, but he agreed, and for the night at least, I had my dignity.

Chapter 14

Rafael

The first show of a new tour was always a wild card. The energy of the crowd had a lot to do with setting the tone, but when we went out on stage that night, the packed arena was electric. The screams didn’t usually bother me, but I was glad I’d upgraded to some better ear plugs to tune out the ambient chaos.

It had been a long damn day, and I was starting to think I was too old for staying up all night and drinking all day before a four-hour show at the end. The first gig was always the roughest, I reminded myself, not because of the actual playing, but because of all the bullshit that came before it. We’d already had a press conference, and Drake had roped me into doing an interview with some new industry mag, since he didn’t trust Dante not to ignite any new controversies. He was sober, but he was still Dante, after all. Cash only kept him in line with regard to things that put him in danger. The chaos the little shit sowed like wheat was another matter. Hell, he probably thought it was amusing.

On top of the long hours and a show that felt like it was going at a crawl, I was horny as hell. Since fan service with Dante was strictly off limits, as long as I wanted my limbs attached to my body, I usually flirted with Chaz on stage when logistics permitted. That night, it was more than just putting on a show.

I came up behind him when he was focused intently on a part that didn’t require guitar and licked the back of his neck. He jolted, but somehow, he didn’t mess up. He just threw a half-hearted glare over his shoulder as the audience screamed. They really liked that shit, but I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than that.

Teasing Chaz gave me a sudden burst of energy, and I spent the rest of the show looking for ways to subtly and not-so-subtly harass him. The moment we got off stage, I was about to pounce on him when Cash’s huge hand settled on my shoulder with enough force to jar me.

“Man, you were on fire tonight,” he said with a big grin. “What got into you?”

“Viagra, apparently,” Dante snorted.

“You’re just jealous they write more fanfiction about me,” I shot back.

Dante just rolled his eyes before taking a sip from his water bottle. That was all we kept backstage those days.

When I looked up, I realized my prey was gone. Before anyone else could grab me, I went to look for Chaz. It wasn’t like him not to hang out backstage, so I couldn’t help but worry. I had always worried about him, and being his dom had only amplified that.

There was part of me that wondered if it was something