I count us down with four strikes.
The only word to describe the last three songs is mayhem.
The moment Reed launches himself from the stage to atop the barrier, Gemma is there. Liam and Kade control the fans around them as they launch to try and get their hands on him. Still, Reed remains. He belts out the song and points the microphone to some fans. He walks on a few, and Gemma climbs into the crowd to follow behind him. She stays on him, one arm up and ready to grab him at any moment. He topples into the crowd, practically swimming at one point, and once Gemma seems to realize their only way out is to shove, she makes Reed get on her shoulders. Reed laughs and gladly takes the ride. Theyeventually make it back to the barrier where Reed and Liam help her out of the madhouse.
God, I fucking hope Andi snagged photos of all that.
Reed grabs some of the gifts and takes pictures with a few fans in front between the first and second songs. He’s back onstage when I strike up the second song, and when we pause before the third, I hear Reed laugh into the microphone.
“Holy fucking shit, Denver,” he says, wiping the sweat from his brow. His breaths are heavy in the mic, and as the crowd roars, he lets his arm hang, laughing at the absolute ridiculousness that this is.
“Holy fucking…Dude.” He looks at Mads, who replies with two notes on the bass. Reed passes his mic back and forth in his hands, unable to stay still. “Tonight, headlining all of this—”
The crowd screams louder, and he bends over his knees, laughing.
I can feel their excitement in my bones. It makes my feet move, both coming down on the double-bass pedals.
Reed laughs into the mic again. “You’ve all made tonight extra fucking special. Coming back after the last show, we weren’t sure what to expect. This… Tonight was a dream. So, thank you! Thank you for showing up and showing love.”
I play a few beats, and Mads and Zeb strum on their instruments.
Reed kisses both of his hands and holds them up to the audience as they scream.
“We have one more song, and you know, I think I’m going to need a lot of fucking help singing it. I’m tired, everyone.” He makes his way to the keyboard onstage, the crowd going wild when his fingers glide across the keys.
“This one is calledCross My Heart.”
My chest tightens each time we play this one.
The love behind it, the meaningful lyrics that Reed once poured his entire soul into. It takes me back to the moments I couldn’t find the strength to get off the floor, all the times I called one of them to get me out of the pit I’d fallen into.
And when we wrap up, each of us takes extra time dragging the ending out. Each passing second has me more and more anxious. I’m desperate to stay on the stage, yet at the same time, eager to get off just to find out what Gemma has in store for me.
Eventually, we end and make our way to the stage to bow, give away our guitar picks and drumsticks. And as always, we come back out to sign autographs.
The only glimpse I see of Gemma is when she touches my hip to walk by me after. It’s barely more than a graze, yet it makes me suck in a sharp breath, whatever I was saying to the fan, entirely amiss.
The official excuse I hear Kade tell Liam is that she’s taking a walk to cool down.
Still, I know better.
I know she’s going to get that mask. I know she’s plotting, figuring out where to set herself up in the shadows, possibly intending on following me anywhere I go after this.
We all chill out backstage for a while. Reed recaps the entire show, and while I’m visibly participating, my mind is thinking of every possibility waiting for me on the other side of that door.
Every time someone opens it, a part of me flinches. I’m anticipating Gemma in the shadows, my blood pressure heightened to the point that I can’t sit still. I can’t tell if I’m more excited for this than I was about the show. I keep tapping my drumstick against my palm and drawing short breaths.
I wonder if anyone else can see how anxiety-ridden I am.
I haven’t felt like this since the time she showed up in her bodysuit in my apartment after I snapped back at her over text.
God, that seems like so long ago.
It’s less than an hour before we all splinter off, going our separate ways to sleep, fuck, or party—Reed being the only one to mention the latter, though by the way Wren was falling asleep on his arm in the dressing room, I don’t know how much partying they’ll actually be doing.
I’m tempted to take a stroll around the backstage lawn myself just to see what Gemma does.
Zeb sinks his arm around my shoulders and escorts me out of the staging area, going on and on about the concept art we just got back for our album cover. I keep sneaking glances around us, swearing in every shade to see a figure watching me.
