Staccato (Magnum Opus #2) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,72

to do, Van?”

Van glanced away, then sighed, his shoulders sinking. “You’ll know—when the time comes, if the time comes, you’ll know.”

“I’m not twelve, and I think playing cryptic word games is pathetic,” Adam spat. “I like your brother, and I want to go into this relationship with eyes wide open, but if you’re hiding something…”

“He’s not going to be an elementary orchestra teacher forever, but he will happily resign himself to this sorry excuse for a job if it means everyone else is happy,” Van retorted. “I don’t know if that will ever change—I don’t know if he’ll have the opportunities he did before he left Manhattan. But if he does…”

“I would never stand in his way,” Adam said, his voice a low growl.

Van blinked behind his thick lenses, then he nodded. “Sometimes I used to think it should have been me. That my parents should have fucked up with me, because Nik has been taking hits left and right.”

Adam didn’t quite know what to say to Van, but something about his declaration didn’t sit right with him. Nik wasn’t anything in spite of his blindness. It was part of him, yes, but it didn’t define him. Maybe Nik’s life would have been different had his parents caught the cancer earlier—maybe he would have been an entirely different man. But maybe not. And Adam knew far too well how consuming those what-ifs could be.

But he hated that Van was pulling apart Nik’s accomplishments the way he was. “Does your brother know you’re here?”

Van’s cheeks pinked again, and it was answer enough.

“Maybe you should save the shovel-talk for someone else.” Adam dragged a hand down his face and glanced over at Evie, who had grown bored of the conversation and was now trying to feed fries into the coin slot.

“I know you’re going to tell him,” Van said, but Adam wasn’t sure that was the case.

What would it solve besides putting a wedge between Nik and his brother? What would it accomplish besides offer more proof that Nik wasn’t already good enough? Yes, he deserved better, but Adam would adore him as fiercely now as an elementary school teacher as he would a musician with platinum records to his name. None of that mattered beyond Nik.

“I care about him,” Adam finally said. He could play cryptic just as well, could let Van stew in wait to see if Nik would blow up at him. “If you’re only here to remind me that he deserves to be happy in all the corners of his life, then you don’t need to waste anymore breath. I already know.”

Van nodded, and before Adam could stop him, he dug into his pocket and tossed a couple of crumpled bills on the table and walked off. Adam had half a mind to collect them and return them to Van when he was at the house again, but he decided to make good use of it and add a bit extra to the server’s tip instead.

He wanted to pretend like Van’s words hadn’t mattered, but he knew that was a lie. In spite of what he believed, they burrowed under his skin and settled, a small, quiet buzz reminding him that he couldn’t ever offer Nik the things he deserved. There was no stage in his future, no grand performance. No Magnum Opus. There was just him—a man with nothing to his name, and no drive to get him anywhere.

Nik had vowed to love him through all of that—eyes wide open, like Adam had claimed to want—but he wondered if it would truly be enough.

Chapter 17

Tremolo

It felt odd and illicit to enter an elementary school in the middle of the day. Nik insisted it was fine—that no one would actually care since he only had two classes that afternoon, but Adam’s experience with schools wasn’t the best. His younger years hadn’t made much of an impression, but he’d never get the taunts out of his head when kids in his middle school realized he wasn’t like them.

And school had never been his strong suit. He got by, a C student at best, and he knew it disappointed his mother. His sister had been the total opposite, and he’d craved the attention she got for her GPA and her unbeatable test scores, but he never seemed to do better no matter how hard he’d tried.

And not trying was just too easy.

Maybe he’d do things differently, he thought as he swung the heavy metal doors open and headed for the