Page 191 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

“Makeup dates,” Nohen clarified.

Lyric grinned, turning her head into Adra’s chest and inhaling. She shifted on the couch again, melting into him. “Makeup dates. I like that idea.”

In that moment, Lyric understood a bit about why her alphas liked to see her in their clothes. She wanted to walk the streets with them on her arm so everyone knew whom they belonged to. They were her alphas.

“Since this is our last show of the tour…” Emerson’s voice echoed around the venue, and all eyes turned to him.

Lyric would have flinched on his behalf, but her eyes were too busy bugging out of her head as a spotlight clicked on, illuminating Emerson and all his mysteriousness.

What the hell was going on?

Lyric pulled out her in-ear monitors, giving her ears a break as Emerson continued speaking. “I wanted to do something a little special for Lyric.”

The crowd cheered, and Lyric pasted a grin on her face. Confusion doubled down until she didn’t know left from right, but the nod Adra sent her was comforting.

“Besides kicking Nohen’s ass at every video game possible—”

“Lies!” Nohen shouted into his mic.

Emerson’s chuckle rang out through the venue, and Lyric could practically hear panties dropping to the floor. She hid her own laugh behind the back of her hand, certain stars were shining from her eyes as she stared at Emerson.

Someone tapped on her shoulder, and Lyric turned to find Henry. He sat a stool down on the stage and nodded. She took a seat like a good omega, and he took her microphone before placing it back in its stand and leaving the stage.

“I’ve found a lot of time in the middle of the night and during our days to write. Think. Reflect on how I got here and who I met along the way. And with that cheesy introduction, Lyric—” He paused, met her gaze, and winked. “This is your other gift.”

She must have missed the transition from bass to acoustic guitar, and she darted her gaze to Adra, but he was gone. Desi’s drum stage was empty, and Nohen was nowhere to be found. Up there on the stage, surrounded by stained plexiglass, was just her and Emerson.

And several thousand witnesses, not to mention all of her hometown friends, but Lyric refused to think about them.

Emerson wanted her attention, and he sure as hell got it.

He strummed the guitar, a hauntingly beautiful chord ringing through the venue amps before he began to sing.

Her ‘other gift’ was a song. A ballad. A confession.

Lyric’s cheeks pinked, her entire body heated, and she reached down to grab the water Henry had left her. Even better, she rested her cheek against it, staring dazedly up at Emerson.

Her heart pounded, her mouth went dry, and her fingers itched to run them through his hair, grab a fistful and pull his mouth to hers. She wanted to devour those beautiful lyrics, those intoxicating words straight from his lips and get drunk on them.

She loved him. Lyric was certain of it.

As the end of the song curled around her, the notes blanketing her like his warmth often did, she got to her feet and drifted over, stopping on the other side of the mic stand. He sang the last few words into the mic, and as they echoed around the venue, he grabbed the stand, swung it to the side, and wrapped his other arm around her waist.

Lyric fell into him, conscious of the guitar between them, but not much else as she offered her lips to him. He swooped down and took her offering, wiping the thoughts from her brain and any words from her lips as they kissed.

Whistles from the crowd, cheers, clapping, it all faded away as she parted her lips beneath his.

“Guys…” Nohen’s worried voice pulled her out of her daze, and she leaned back with a dopey smile on her lips. “Let’s not give them more than they paid for, right?”

Lyric giggled. “Right, sure.”

Emerson grinned, tipping his hat at her, and hid his blushing cheeks from the crowd by exchanging guitars with a stagehand.

She felt drunk as she made her way back across the stage, sharing a smile with Henry as he removed the stool. He cocked his head at her, and she wrapped her hands around the mic stand to steady herself, waving him off.

Lyric giggled again, glancing down at the stage floor and taking a breath. Then she lifted her head, gazed out at the crowd, and admitted, “I am one lucky omega.”

Lyric was too aware of the gaze stuck to her from side stage, and she turned to share a smile with Andi. Her friend had seen better days and slept better nights if the dark circles under her eyes indicated anything, but Andi assured her she was taking it one day at a time. Now that Lyric was back in town, she planned to do her best to take care of her in any way the stubborn purple-haired woman would let her.