I’d find that somewhere.
Everything rushed by then, roadies and stage crew bustling around with their jobs, and then it was time for Bellerose to go on. At this point Flo hurried to my side. “The security will take you down the front,” she said in a rush. “I told them you don’t want them all surrounding you, and that it’s a special VIP area. Is that alright? I just thought you’d want the full experience.”
I was nodding before she’d even finished talking. It worked for me not to be surrounded. Not for the reason she suspected, but it was all the same. “Perfect. I want to experience the band in all your glory tonight. Tell them I’ll check in with security before I go anywhere.”
Leaning over, she pressed her lips to my cheek before she grimaced and quickly wiped off the mark she’d left. “Enjoy, friend,” she told me, before her name was called with some urgency. “We’ll play extra hard for you tonight.”
“Break a leg,” I called as she raced off.
Rhett took a second longer, giving me my kiss before he hit the stage, and I willed the burning in my eyes to subside. “Break a leg tonight,” I whispered to him as he pulled away. “I’ll be watching you from the front.”
He didn’t say anything, but his face was serious as he pressed his lips to mine once more. Then, “Stay close, Thorn. We play for you tonight.”
Holy shit. This was going to kill us both, but I had to focus on the end goal: keeping them all safe.
When he left, two members of the security team came up to escort me down the small side entrance that would lead into the front section. As we emerged, the sounds of the audience screaming was near deafening, and I found excitement lifting inside me, even if it was mingled with sadness. In a different life, this could have been mine to keep.
When we reached the roped-off section, I noted that there was a lot of security stationed around, but most of them were circling the stage, clearly to stop crazed fans from jumping up there and body slamming into their favorite band.
Other than that, the VIP area had about thirty people in it, those who’d won or purchased these exclusive tickets. The security for our area was only on either end of the entrance, and I knew I’d be able to bail easily enough.
“We’ll be off to the side,” the guard who escorted me said. He pointed to the right, and I made my decision that left was my exit. “Find us if you need food, drink, or the bathroom.”
“Absolutely,” I lied. “I won’t leave this area without finding one of you.”
I got a succinct nod and no suspicion. Why would they be suspicious? They had to assume I wanted to remain alive, and with all the hits on me lately, only a fucking idiot would go off on their own.
Little did they know.
The lights dimmed then as the guards walked off, and I pushed into the crowd, wanting to be as close to the stage as I could. At least for the first few songs. I’d thought the screams before were loud, but the moment Bellerose emerged on the stage, I was tempted to block my ears.
I didn’t though. I absorbed the excitement, standing there, watching as they took their places. Rhett and Grayson both scanned the front area for me, but the stage lights were probably too bright for them to find me in the crowd. Which was fine with me. I wanted to be the silent observer, taking them in, and I didn’t want them to notice when I crept away.
Jace moved to the front of the stage, the spotlight hitting him in a way that turned his hair platinum and his skin bronze. He looked otherworldly, and I wondered how I’d ever been in his life. It was like loving a Greek god—a perception that only deepened when his husky tones filled the air. “New York,” he rumbled. “Are you fucking ready?”
They were ready. Sobeyondready if the screams were an indication.
He strummed the first chords of their song “Broken and Bleeding,”which wasn’t their most popular tune but was probably in the top five. The crowd lost their minds, screaming until I wondered if I was about to suffer permanent hearing damage.
“Golden-haired angel, up the street from me.”
The opening line always destroyed me because it was about thebefore,the way he saw me before everything went to shit. The rest of the song wasn’t as happy, with the lyrics turning much darker.
“Broken and bleeding. Lost and alone. Betrayed and dismayed,”he screamed into the mic, the others joining in, and I forced myself to pretend this wasn’t about me. Instead, I just closed my eyes and found myself moving to the beat. Grayson’s drums and Rhett’s guitar. Florence’s bass was perfectly mixed in there too.
They were so talented. Jace couldn’t have found a better accompaniment to his angelic voice if he’d tried. Part of me was okay with this path for him; all of his hard work deserved the success he was seeing.
As I opened my eyes, I was drilled with a set of piercing blue eyes. Darker than usual and intense, Jace’s gaze had managed what the others hadn’t. He’d found me in the crowd, and he was singing right at me.
His anger bled into the words, and as his voice grew deeper, the intensity filling the air increased until I couldn’t breathe. Fuck. I wasn’t going to make it through any more than this first song if he kept this up.
Despite my best effort, the pain in my chest rose until a few tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, the emotions brought on from both the song and my lost love.
More than one lost love now since this was my last moment with them all.
My legs finally obeyed me as I started to back up, determined to disappear into the crowd. Jace was about to bring way too much attention my way if he kept this up.
Thankfully, the song ended a beat later, and he was forced to once again be a rock star, rather than a jilted lover.
