A strum of guitar rang through the speakers, and the crowd suddenly erupted.
I grinned and threaded my fingers through Nina’s for support when I saw Danny take the stage first.
Confidently strutting across the stage, he threw a smile at the crowd while continuing to play. He hadn’t glammed himself up as Lexie had. In fact, he could’ve had on more clothes, in my opinion. The jeans he wore had holes in the knees, just like the ones he wore at home, and his plaid shirt hung open, exposing his bare chest.
I shook my head at the explicit words being shouted at him in gross admiration.
The lights shone on the front half of the crowd, and Danny picked me out, pointing his guitar pick at me with an almost-surprised expression. I’d told him I was coming, but maybe he hadn’t believed I’d follow through. He gave me a smile and nodded at Nina. The girl beside her cried and stretched her arms at him, clearly thinking he was acknowledging her.
Danny took his place in front of his mic, and then the lights centered over the drum set the moment Milton hit the first drum. The bass pounded at the core of my chest as his hands swung vigorously in front of him, making the screams intensify.
Lexie was next and sprinted up to the edge of the stage, running her fingers through the crowd of waiting hands. Men and women pushed me and Nina forward, trying to touch her, but we held our ground until she stepped behind her microphone, and the fans eased up. Then, the lights went out, and the screams reached a deafening level.
I cringed and covered my ears.
“My, my, my. Don’t you all look beautiful?!” Liam’s voice resonated from the darkness, sending a tingling sensation down my spine.
Nina chanted his name with the rest of the girls around us. I shot her a look, and she shrugged.
“Hello, San Francisco!” The lights went up, and Liam stood in the center of the stage, wearing a ridiculously sexy smile.
His simple white T-shirt, black jeans, and combat boots were enough to make even my breath hitch. His stage presence was mesmerizing. The lights followed him like he’d commanded them to.
“My name’s Liam.” He paused and waited for the wave of screams to pass. Confidence dripped off of him like the cool sweat running between my breasts. “This is Lexie, Danny, and Tic.” He pointed to each member, and they all nodded as their names were called. “And we are—”
Everyone in the audience erupted in unison, “A QUIET PERIL!”
Lexie and Danny strummed a few chords, and then Milton came in a moment later with a beat I knew all too well. The beginning lyrics to one of my favorite songs surrounded me from hundreds of voices as Liam’s bellowed through the speakers. I mouthed the words along with everyone else until Nina noticed and struck me in the ribs with a couple of stabby fingers.
“I promise you, it’s more fun if you scream it,” Nina hollered in my ear.
I peered over at Danny, who was staring down at his hands, focusing on the strings as the difficult chorus came in. Determined to keep the rest of my ribs away from Nina, I finally yelled out the lyrics as loud as I could, knowing it’d be drowned out with all of the other voices. I thought I saw the girl next to me look over, but I closed my eyes and let go, dancing and singing like the rest of the fans. Swiftly, my cares drifted off my shoulders, landing somewhere below my bouncing feet.
Nina was right. It was more fun to scream.
When I opened my eyes again, Liam was towering over me at the edge of the stage. He gripped his mic stand with long, ringed fingers and gazed around the crowd while singing the verse to perfection.
As he began to sing the final chorus, his eyes immediately dropped to where I was standing, like he had known where I was this whole time. Like he was waiting for something.
A flash of a grin was his only warning before he reached down, holding the microphone inches in front of my lips. The song was empty without his raspy, deep voice, and his eyes challenged me to fill it with my own.
I was suddenly thrown back in time, no longer surrounded by screaming fans, but at the talent show in my high school auditorium. And it wasn’t a microphone that Liam was handing me. It was a bottle of tequila. He was giving me the same daring eyes as he had then. Taunting me, like my discomfort was a drug to him.
Irritation flared, crawling up my throat and begging to be free.
Expecting my demise, Liam shook his head and started to move his mic above the rest of the crowd as they screamed the words we all knew by heart.
Nina nudged me gently, with her elbow this time, and that somehow shook loose the courage—and built-up anger—I had been holding in.
Heart pounding, I snatched his hand out of the air, wrapping my fingers around his.
His eyes flew to mine, and the moment our gazes connected, I parted my lips and sang the remaining words. Curiosity rippled through his features. He peeked back at Danny, but he was too lost in the music. Some of the crowd was still shouting the lyrics while the rest cheered for me. I tried my best to keep my voice level despite not being able to hear myself, and from the reactions I was getting, I wasn’t doing a terrible job.
But I kept my focus fixed on the task at hand—shutting Liam Lockwood up once and for all.
Milton thrashed his cymbal, cueing the end of the song, but Liam sat there, crouched at the front of the stage and staring at me through a curtain of messy, dark locks.
A wry smile began to twist at my lips as I released his hand. Feeling overwhelmed with pride from the dumbfounded look I had left on Liam’s face, I winked at him and, boldly enough, blew a small kiss.
