From the stage Jacques quelled the crowd, picked up the mic stand, and moved it to the left of the stage. “Alright, alright. Well, I was saving a surprise foryou—”
Cheers interrupted, some of them particularly highpitched.
“But seeing as a couple of these girls up here have already grabbed yourattention—”
More cheering andscreaming.
The two girls who’d been dancing front and center twirled back to face the crowd, arms outstretched, fingers splayed and waving. Ecstatic, mouths open wide, they both let out screams that sounded like war cries. From the crowd, another girl joined them, the three of them hugging and laughing. The new girl looked even younger than the short one, and that gave itaway.
These three girls — so confident and at home in their own skin — were the members of Heroine. Or the original members of Heroine, now that Jacques had joined their ranks. And he was calling them onstage.
The kernel of jealousy inside Rainey changed color but didn’t soften any. She didn’t want to examine the feeling, so she shook her head, swept her hair up off her neck, and let the still, tepid air of the bar hit her skin. Now that the place was full, the heat and humidity of the Louisiana spring had started to creep in and cozy up with thecrowd.
Jacques set down his acoustic and picked up his Gibson. “Ladies, why don’t y’all come up and join me for a few songs,” he said, his voice a low rumble that promisedsatisfaction.
The sound of it affected Rainey as much or more than anyone else. The crowd roared, but sheblushed.
All three ascended the stage, and that was when Rainey noticed their instruments tucked against the back wall outside of the spotlighting. With easy grace, the two shorter girls — the heart shape of their faces was so similar they had to be sisters — carried forward a synthesizer while the tall one with the beautiful brown skin grabbed her bassguitar.
“Guys, I want to introduce Kate and Kara Crawford and DesdemonaLewis—”
“Yeah, Kara!” A guy near the stage shouted. The demure way the youngest-looking girl smiled made it obvious that she was Kara Crawford, which meant the short, determined one must have been Kate, and the tall one was Desdemona, or Des as Jacques had said when he first told her about theband.
“They’ve let me join up with them, and together we are Heroine.” More cheers and whoops. Obviously, even if Jacques was new to the band, the girls had followers, and that was a good thing. Rainey told herself that was a goodthing.
Jacques looked back at his band members. Kara stood behind the keyboard. Kate and Des had both donned their guitars, plugged into their amps and were warming up with test chords and making subtle adjustments. Then they looked at each other, glanced back at Jacques, andnodded.
He faced the crowd, his chin low, his left brow arched, and his mouth close to the mic. “And you guys are some lucky bastards because this is our first live showtogether.”
Without waiting for the crowd to quiet, they launched into “Surrounded” by the Silversun Pickups. Rainey had heard the song countless times since 2009, but with Kate on lead vocals and Jacques joining in on the refrain with his baritone bass, the song became new. Haunting.Electric.
And the crowd in Artmosphere lovedit.
During the song, Kate seemed to command the lead, her eyes moving from player to player as each took a short solo, showing off their stuff. The petite girl looked completely at ease in the role, as though she were made for it, and Jacques seemed happy with that. He didn’t have to be the front man or the center of the spotlight like so many musicians sheknew.
When the song ended, Rainey let out a few of her own whoops. How could she not? They wereincredible.
“This next one some of you might recognize,” Kate rasped into the microphone, her speaking voice even rougher and lower than her singing voice, but there was an alluring quality to it that made Rainey want to lean in to listen. “This is one of Jacques’s that we’veresurrected.It’s called ‘LazarusNight.’”
The first five notes of the song came from Kara’s synthesizer, eerie and a little foreboding. The guitars joined in for the second measure, and then Jacques stepped up to the mic. He sang about a love that needed to die, but the lovers wouldn’t let itgo.
The song cast a spell over the entire crowd, and Rainey closed her eyes and let her body move with the rhythm. But Jacques’s voice and the sheer force of the song made her open them again. Clutching the microphone, he transformed before her eyes from the guy she’d been kissing in the courtyard thirty minutes before into a deity. The raw emotion in his lyrics moved through his voice, overtaking his body, and filling the bar with an anguished, aching, beautifulhigh.
As he hit the crescendo, Kate’s voice merging with his, every soul in Artmosphere seemed spellbound. Those who knew the words sang. Those who didn’t answered the zenith with their cheers and screams. And some, like Rainey, just stared inawe.
She knew with a certainty she didn’t bother to question that Heroine would be famous. They’d win Grammys. Their albums would go platinum. They’d go on world tours. Everyone in Artmosphere was witnessing greatness, and they’d be able to say they saw Heroine’s first liveshow.
Rainey swallowed the lump in her throat. In a few months’ time, she’d be able to say she’d kissed the famous Jacques Gilchrist. Of course, she’d never actuallysaythat. Even if no one would believe her — and who would? But she would never say it because if she did, then it wouldn’t belong to heranymore.
And as she watched Jacques and his band blow the minds of everyone in Artmosphere — some who were already recording the song on their phones and sharing it on social media — she also knew with a certainty she didn’t bother to question that the kisses he’d given her in the courtyard would be their last. Because Rainey knew that world where Jacques was headed, and it had left her behind longago.
She made herself stay until the end of “Lazarus Night.” She wanted Jacques to see her cheering. He deservedthat.
He locked eyes with hers, and she could see he recognized his moment for what it was. The Beginning. So did Kate, Kara, and Des. Everyone there did. Rainey wasn’t the only one with tears in her eyes, so she didn’t bother hiding them as she took in the joy and triumph on his face. She refused to be selfish. The truth of it was Rainey was happy for Jacques, and if this was his destiny — as it surely was — she was grateful for this moment and the handful of others they’dshared.
She’d never forgetthem.
But when the band began their next song, Rainey brushed away her tears, ducked back into the shadows, andleft.
