I fell to the ground and hugged him as hard as I could. He’d saved me from something I was bound to regret.
I expected to have to pay for a ticket or beg to get into the concert venue, if necessary.
But when I handed over my ID and a wad of cash to pay, the worker on the other side of the glass paused. “Wait a moment, please,” they said, and then pulled out a walkie-talkie and said something into it I couldn’t make out.
Blood pounded in my ears as I panicked. I wasn’t even going to make it through the doors. They must have seen that my ID was fake. I could call Wes, but who knew if he’d pick up? I mean, if I was backstage about to headline my first concert, I doubt I’d be checking my phone.
I braced myself as a stocky man wearing a shirt with SECURITY written across the front in big white block letters approached us.
“You here to escort the VIP?” the ticket attendant asked, nodding toward me.
He gave a gruff, “Yeah.”
“What about my ticket?” I asked in a daze.
“All taken care of.” The attendant slid my ID and money through the slot in the glass to me, and I slipped everything into my purse.
I glanced behind me as the security guard ushered me away. The line wrapping around the block was about fifty people longand almost everyone’s eyes were on me. I overheard snippets of a few hushed conversations as I hurried along.
“She was in the videos,” someone murmured to their friend.
“Lucky.” The girl next to her crossed her arms over her chest. “I wonder which one she’s sleeping with.”
I hurried after the security guard, a cocktail of nerves and excitement propelling me toward the green room. After completing his obligation, the guard went on his way, and I hovered by the open door.
“We should cancel,” Wes said as he paced, fingers nervously raking through his hair. “It doesn’t feel right without her.”
“Ah yes, cancel our first big show after people are already in the venue. Dare I say your best idea yet,” Garrett remarked from his seat on the lone couch in the room, eyes fixed on the chess board in front of him.
Jared looked at Wes. “I know you thought she would—”
“She would what?” I asked, heads whipping toward me as I entered the space.
“Show up. Thank God,” Luca huffed.
That was the last thing I registered before I was off the ground, arms tight around my middle. A frantic, disbelieving, “You’re here. You’re really here,” muttered against my neck, his breath heating the delicate skin.
“Were you actually thinking about canceling the whole damn thing? That’s dramatic, even for you,” I gasped out between laughs.
“Have you met Wes?” Garrett asked.
Wes placed me back on the floor and then just looked at me, like he was memorizing what I looked like, or really making sure I was there and not a figment of his imagination.
Heat crawled all over me, pure raw embarrassment over how I’d acted the last month. “Could we talk?”
“Don’t we have to check on our instruments?” Luca asked in a funny voice.
“I’m in the middle of something,” Garrett said.
“You’re playing chess with yourself. I think you can take a break,” Jared supplied.
With that, the three of them filed past us and out of the room.
The door clicked shut and words started flying out of my mouth. “I’m sorry. I was so stupid, and I know I should have celebrated and been more excited. I ruined the whole thing. Then I blocked you out because I was so in my head. I’ve been trying to get a manager and send out demos and nothing was working so I also took that out on you. And the truth is I’m really scared of losing you, and I didn’t want to admit it to myself so I pretended it wasn’t true.”
“Holy shit, you’re trying to get a record deal. That’s awesome.” Pure excitement brightened his face, allowing some of the tension in my body to ease.
“Did you not hear the rest?”
