Lucy and I looked at one another, exchanging smiles.
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry. How rude of me.” Embarrassment flooded her cheeks, turning them a soft red. “Hi, Scarlett, hownice to finally meet you. I’m heard nothing but wonderful things.”
“Oh.” I blushed.
The bass rumbled the audience alive, directing everyone’s attention, including ours, to the stage. I turned around quickly to face Lucy and Ruby again. “It was nice to meet you, Lucy.”
“Yes. You too!” she shouted back.
The thunder of the bass mimicked the thunder of my heartbeat against my chest. The louder the music, the faster my heartbeat got.
Maggie grabbed my hand. “Are you good?”
“I’m good,” I said, unsure if I was telling the truth, because something else had proved to be yet another distraction. “But did you hear what Lucy called Ruby? She called her Ruby Tyler.”
“Yeah, what about it?” Maggie asked. Her body was facing the stage, and by the looks of it, I didn’t think there was much of anything that could’ve peeled her eyes off of it.
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
“I think he might be getting ready to come on.”
“Oh yeah, what makes you say that? It wouldn’t be the massive amounts of gawking girls packed in like sardines at the foot of the stage, would it?” I laughed. Although, something about all of those girls pining over him wasn’t funny at all. It actually had the taste of jealously crawling up the back of my throat.
“They are wild,” she said. “I can’t imagine what they’ll be like when he actually comes out on stage.”
“Well, you’re about to find out.” The song he always walked out to started roaring through the speakers and I wasn’t the only one who knew what was coming.
The thought of seeing Stetson felt like riding a rollercoaster; one second, I was terrified, begging to get off, and the next, my hands were stuck straight up in the air, a smile plastered across my face as I screamed from the rush of adrenaline.
Right now, I was convinced I was about to puke and needed to get off the ride.
Afraid for the initial view of him, I brought my eyes to my feet, but even then, he was staring right back at me. Or at least the beautiful boots he bought me were, so it was basically the same thing. If he was going to be everywhere I looked, I might as well be looking at the real thing.
The lights flashed off and then back on again. This time his silhouette on center stage was illuminated and the place went fucking bonkers.
“Holy shit,” Maggie gasped.
“This is wild,” Booker yelled.
“Tell me about it,” I said.
I couldn’t help but turn back and look at Ruby’s face, and to no surprise, it was just as lit up as it was the first night I met her.
“How we doin’ tonight?” Stetson’s voice ricocheted off the microphone and out into the crowd, coercing my attention to him.
There he was.
I admired him in his regular getup of tighter-than-average light wash jeans, brown cowboy boots, and a short-sleeve striped shirt that was unbuttoned enough to see a peek of chest hair. His outfit was of course completed by his signature gold chain—the same one I’d gripped in my fingers while he’d had his way with me. There was the man I had quite possibly fallen in love with over the last seven months.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to see me or not. On the one hand, the simple thought of our eyes finding each other through the crowd might set this entire place on fire. On the other hand, I didn’t think I was prepared for what would happen if it wasn’t that big, explosive reunion.
My body shifted, unknowingly stepping a little closer to Maggie. “I can’t wait for you to hear some of the new songs. They’re so good.”
“I’m so excited,” she gushed.
Stetson bounced around the stage for a few songs, interacting with the crowd and creating the most magnifying atmosphere, yet I couldn’t help but notice that he seemed off. Any normal person wouldn’t have seen it, but I did. And while I couldn’t quite put my finger on exactly what it was, I knew he didn’t have the same high-level energy he’d had during his previous show, and my brain immediately wondered if I was the cause of his sadness.
Before I could dwell on the thought any further, the music slowed until it stopped. And then it was only Stetson standing in the center of the stage with his guitar and the microphone. He plucked a few chords, and I tried to pinpoint which new song he was going to play, but I didn’t recognize it.
