“Did Colton just…” Hudson pushed his curly hair back from his face.
“I think so.” Shane said.
“I’ll be damned. I never thought I’d see the day.” Hudson took a long drink of his beer. “I’m not drunk enough for this. I’m in a damn twilight zone.”
“Shut up, Hudson,” Colton said.
But I could see it in his eyes. The words he didn’t say aloud. Colton saw it too. The connection Cadence and I had.
Colton simply rolled his eyes before walking away and muttering something like ‘bunch of fucking girls.’
When only a few stragglers stood around our table, Shane nodded his head, shooing me away. I didn’t hesitate. I moved through the crowd, a man on a mission, and approached her.
Her eyes caught mine instantly, and a grin spread across my lips.
“You’re here!” she shouted as she rose.
I didn’t expect it, but she rounded the table and threw herself into me. It took a second for me to wrap my arms around her. I had thought of how she felt pressed against me so many times over the last few months. But my fantasies didn’t do her justice.
She pulled back even as my fingers longed for more.
“You were incredible on stage, as always. My friends are so excited to meet you.”
She was bubbly and animated, a fire in her eyes I had never seen before. Her energy was contagious, and I felt like I was seeing another side of her.
She stood next to me and started pointing her finger at her friends, moving left to right. “This is Liam, Wesley, Erikson, Jamie, and Blakely.” She then turned toward her friends. “Guys, this is my friend Damien.”
I chuckled, recognizing a few of those names from our chats, like Liam ‘the one more famous than me’. “I’m going to need a cheat sheet to remember all that, but it’s nice to meet everyone.”
“Do you want to sit down?” Cadence asked.
“Actually,” I said, leaning closer to her. “I was hoping we could talk for a minute.”
I honestly didn’t have a clue what I wanted to ‘talk’ about. I only knew I wanted to get her alone. The silence over the last few days had driven me crazy, and I’d worried about her and how Elijah handled her coming to Fayetteville.
I just needed her to tell me she was okay.
She nodded and leaned down to whisper something in Blakely’s ear before turning back to me and smiling. “Come on. I know a quiet place.”
I followed behind her, doing everything in my power not to stare at her ass as she walked in front of me, my attempt at being a somewhat decent human being.
We moved away from the bar and tables to a door that led outside. And because it was October, the patio was closed.
Leaving us alone.
A brick fountain sat at the end, and it drew me in out of curiosity. It had been closed down for the winter, of course, but at the bottom lay a few lonely pennies.Wishes that were left abandoned.
I felt more than heard Cadence follow behind me.
I turned around, leaning on the edge of the fountain. She hoisted herself up, sitting next to me, her feet dangling in the air.
Gazing up into the dark cloudless sky, I noticed the stars were exceptionally bright next to the moon, a rare sight in the city.
It had always comforted me to know that no matter where I went on tour, I always shared the same sky as those who meant the most to me.
It helped bring me closer to them.
“I can’t believe you guys didn’t wear costumes on stage,” she said.
