“And here I was hoping it’d be three…”
The little muscles in his jaw tensed before he pressed his mouth to mine, planting a soft kiss before breaking us apart. “The day isn’t over yet,” he taunted. “Now, come here, I wanna show you something.”
I’d been so swept up in our conversation that I hadn’t even realized the loud music coming from the stage.
“That’s eighteen-year-old Ella Swift. She’s one of my openers. Writes all of her own songs and beats to her own drum despite what all the big record labels have told her. She’s gonna be the next big thing, and when she is, I’ll get to say I was a fan since the beginning. How cool is that?”
I peered from behind a thick velvet curtain, spotting the young girl on stage. She had fringe from her head to her toes and her guitar was basically as big as she was, but despite the size of her instrument, she bounced around that stage like no one I’d ever seen before. Her energy was addictive, so much so that I found myself struggling to look away. But when I did, I caught Stetson’s proud smile, and I couldn’t help but mirror him.
The fact that he was using his resources to help others succeed brought an attractiveness to him that could never be measured.
“I loved it. She really is incredible.”
“She is. But that’s not really what I wanted to show you,” he admitted. “See that girl in the front row?”
I looked back at him over my shoulder. “You do realize that this crowd is like ninety percent female, right? And the front row might actually be completely female.”
He chuckled. “No, no. The young girl who’s front and center with the brown hair up on top of her head and a smile so big it looks like it might run off her face.”
I scanned the front row until I landed on the description he’d given me. Front and center stood a young girl, barely tall enough to look over the barricade in front of the stage. He wasn’t wrong; she was beaming so big you could almost feel her excitement from here.
“Oh yeah, I see her,” I confirmed, while taking in everything happening around her. “I sure hope she’s with one of those other women because she looks a little too young to be here by herself.”
“Don’t worry, she’s with me,” he said, very nonchalantly.
“Wait, what? What do you mean she’s with you?” I questioned.
“See that big burly man in all black standing on this side of the barricade? He’s also part of my security and his only job tonight is to make sure she’s safe. She insisted on being front row, and this is the first time she’s been to one of my big concerts, so I couldn’t let her down.”
I shifted my gaze to get a better view of him and noted a look of awe twinkling in the reflection of his eyes. It was obvious in the way he spoke about her that she was someone he deeply cared for, but exactly who remained unclear.
“Who is she?” I asked, then quickly added, “Obviously you don’t have to tell me. I was just curious, because it’s clear she’s very important to you.”
His elbows dropped to my shoulders as he folded his arms tightly around my chest. “Why would I point her out if I didn’t want to share that with you?”
“Fair point,” I admitted, lifting my hands until they gripped his forearms, trying to find a sense of stability to calm my racing mind.
“When is it going to get through that pretty little head of yours that I want to share everything with you?” The warmth from his voice tickled the inside of my ear. “That’s Ruby.” This time his voice wasn’t strong and confident like before. No, this time, the cracks in his words told a much sadder story.
Ruby.
“Oh my god. I don’t know how I didn’t put two and two together,” I said.
“Probably because you assumed the worst-case scenario—as you tend to do.”
“Very funny,” I pushed back, but he wasn’t wrong.
I looked back out at the crowd. My heart sank as I spotted her again, out there looking so much braver than she had a few moments ago. The joy on her face was pure, but when I looked harder, I noticed the heartbreak too. She carried it in the way her shoulders hunched over just a bit too far. The way her chin hung lower than it should. But more than anything, the way there seemed to be an invisible weight dangling above her head.
“That poor girl,” I said, squeezing his forearms. “I can’t imagine what her world must feel like.” I swallowed, forcing down the vile taste of the lie I’d just spewed because I could imagine that kind of pain.
Kind of, at least.
“She truly is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met and she’s only thirteen. I admire the courage and resilience she’s shown over the last year. Most adults in her situation would’ve crumbled. Hell, I almost did, and yet through it all she’s consistently been my anchor. Honestly, she’s the reason…” He paused, moving his mouth closer to my ear. “Or at leastmostof the reason why I’m where I’m at today.” His words lingered in the air, giving my brain a chance to filter through them, a flutter rumbling in my depths when I realized what he was insinuating.
I wanted to turn around and kiss him, but I didn’t want to ruin this moment either, because while I’d heard him be vulnerable before, this time was different. This felt so much more personal, like I was touching his vulnerability with my hands instead of listening to it with my ears.
“Like I told you before, this new album is for her,” he said.
