It’s like being hit with a tidal wave of sound, heat, and color. The lights are so bright I can barely see the front row, but I can hear them, every voice screaming my name. It fills me up in a way nothing else ever has, not even the best day in the studio.
I open with “Heatwave,” because I’m not a monster and I know what they want. But halfway through, I break it down, strip away the backing track, and let my guitar do the talking.
I see confusion on the faces of the techs. Raelynn’s probably swallowing her own tongue backstage.
But then I launch into “Garden Walls,” one of my oldest songs, the kind I used to post in grainy videos before the world cared about me. The crowd catches on almost instantly—they sing along, some of them crying, some of them just swaying with their phones out.
I play through the whole folk set, just me and the band, and it feels like coming home.
The last song, “Evergreen,” is soft and slow. The wind picks up, mist swirling over the stage like dry ice. I’m halfway through the second verse when a boom of thunder shakes the sky, followed by the white-hot crackle of lightning somewhere way too close.
I freeze. I step back, one hand on my mic stand. Another flash of lightning zips through the sky. It must strike something relatively close because an explosion rockets through the air. I gasp and take a few more steps back without looking where I’m standing first and then?—
Nothing. No floor beneath me, no grounding to anchor myself on. I sail off the edge of the stage.
I see my life in slow motion: I am Piper Sumner, I am halfway through the best set of my life, and I am about to eat shit in front of fifteen thousand people.
Except—I don’t. Because two shapes appear out of nowhere, right at the edge of the stage: one is Nolan, hair plastered to hishead and face set to “kill or die trying,” and the other is Kellen, soaked but grinning like he just won the lottery.
They reach me at the same time. Nolan catches my arm, Kellen grabs my other hand, and together they catch me in a controlled drift toward the ground.
I can’t see the audience anymore, but I can hear them—screaming in fear and absolute, unhinged joy. Phones go up by the thousands, screens glittering like a second sky.
Elliot appears behind Kellen. His gaze is focused on every single person around us, but he takes a moment to check on me and nod.
I nod back.I’m fine.
Nolan sets me on the ground and checks me over. Kellen’s holding my face.
“Are you okay?” they both ask.
“I’m good, I promise.” I laugh a little, unhinged as it is. Nearly died but here I am laughing. “I’m okay.”
Another clap of thunder sounds. I jump into their arms.
Elliot comes in closer but doesn’t stop watching the crowd around us. There’s no danger here, though. Just a few thousand fans screaming in joy at seeing us all here together.
“Piper?” Kellen asks again.
I nod. “I’m okay, but I need to get back on stage. Even if it’s storming.”
Nolan gently nudges Kellen out of the way. “Here.” He puts his hands on my waist and hoists me up the few feet toward the edge of the stage. I climb back up and blow them each a kiss.
The crowd goes insane. Cheers and hollers galore.
I chuckle unsteadily into the mic. “Well, you know what they say, sometimes you just fall head over heels for the right pack.”
The crowd cheers again as a blush creeps up my cheeks.
“Shall we try that song one more time before we end our set?” I ask and then turn to the band to ask them the same.
More applause sounds and we play “Evergreen” one more time without me falling off any stages or more thunder sounding. The storm must be passing somewhere relatively distant, the danger over now. But that’s also a lie. The danger is waiting for me backstage in the form of Raelynn Roberts.
I walk back to my band when our set ends and we hug like we did after every show on our last tour. Then I sneak off to the side where Nolan is waiting for me. Nolan leads me through anot entirely legalpath away from the backstage area and to the SUV lot where Elliot is already waiting with Kellen.
I run to them as my heart thunders against my ribs. Elliot’s hands catch my waist mid-leap, his fingers pressing firmly enough to leave phantom imprints as he swings me in a dizzy circle. The scent of pine and ocean swirls around me when he sets me down, and Kellen’s thumb traces my rain-dampened cheek before his mouth claims mine. When he releases me, Elliot’s calloused fingers tilt my chin upward, his kiss more restrained but no less devastating. Nolan’s growl is barely audible as he tugs me toward him, one hand tangling in my hair as his lips crush against mine.
My pack, whole again.
