Page 63 of If the World Was Ending

He stayed out there, leaning against the bar at the side of the venue, near the stage door that now had a bouncer, as Tidal came on stage. Their show was nothing short of amazing. Colby was clearly the star, and Hunter didn’t think he was being biased about that. He sang most of the songs and was always center stage, even when Kenner sang, which he did for the third song he wanted Hunter to give feedback on. Kenner was the best drummer Hunter had ever seen live, and the song he wrote… it was good and catchy, but it wasn’t as deep and gripping as Colby’s songs. Again, Hunter honestly didn’t think he was being biased. But maybe he was?

Trevor’s main contribution was playing the bass guitar effortlessly and joking with the audience, which was mostly screaming twenty-something-year-old women. As a unit, they were entertaining. Hunter had to admit they looked and acted like they had known each other for a decade, not less than a year. Ford was a Grade A asshole, but he got this right. It made Hunter happy for Colby but also weirdly melancholy.

When they sang their last song, “Uncomplicated Ending,” of course, the crowd went wild. Hunter slipped into an even darker corner so he could stare up at Colby with heart eyes and no one would notice. Colby Keaton was breathtakingly beautiful up there singing with his whole soul. You could feel his love for the lyrics, the job, his entire existence in that moment.

He slipped backstage before the song was over because he wanted to be there when Colby got off stage. The bouncer let him pass with a flash of the wristband, and as he came around the back of the stage to stand by the hallway they’d been in earlier, he found himself face-to-face with Hannah Wolfe. She was bouncing lightly on her Mary Jane Doc Martens. She was the kind of beautiful that stopped you in your tracks. That inexplicable mix of exotic and girl next door. She looked deadly serious, her fingers playing with the hem of her denim skirt, but when she noticed Hunter, she blinked and then smiled. “Hey.”

“Hi. I’m Hunter.”

“Right. Met you on FaceTime once. Hannah.”

“Yeah. Hi again.”

“Colby didn’t say you were coming,” she said it lightly and without a drop of consternation. Her smile never faltered. She wasn’t at all annoyed to see him there.

“I surprised him.”

She blinked again. “Cool!”

The crowd erupted, and Tidal appeared, one after the other, in the cramped backstage area. First Kenner, then Trevor, and then Colby. Hannah walked to the curtain without another word to Hunter. A guy in a button-down and a pair of dress pants, who looked like an accountant, called out for Colby. “Let’s get a quick shot.”

“Burke, I need to focus,” Hannah complained. “Let him chill with his friend.”

He ignored her and waved Colby—who had been on his way to Hunter—over. Colby gave Hunter a one-second finger and then did an about-face. He walked over to Hannah and draped an arm around her. The lights on the other side of the stage started to swirl, and an intro beat started from the DJ Hunter had noticed at the back of the room. “Hannah. Come on. One shot,” the Burke guy coaxed.

Hannah smiled like she meant it, but from her expression a second earlier, Hunter knew she didn’t. Colby leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek, and the Burke guy snapped away on his phone. Hunter watched passively, or pretended to, but inside his stomach dropped hard and fast with… disappointment? Was that what that was?

“Have a good one,” Colby said to Hannah, and her smile morphed into something genuine for a second.

“Have fun. See you tomorrow.” She squeezed his arm and then disappeared through the curtain. Roars filtered into the space from the front of the house.

As soon as the curtain closed, Colby was beside Hunter again, grinning. “Wanna go?”

“You don’t have to stay and watch her set or something?”

Colby shook his head. “I’ve seen it a hundred times and will see it a hundred more.”

He had a feeling Ford wouldn’t like the idea, but Hunter did. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Colby!” Ford said sternly from the doorway of the Tidal dressing room as Colby blew by him to grab his coat.

“Heading out with Hunter,” Colby announced to his bandmates.

“Sure thing.” Kenner gave them a wave goodbye as he cracked a beer.

“Hey, Hunter, before you go… What’s the best strip club in town?” Trevor asked.

“Don’t answer that,” Ford barked at Hunter and then turned a grim expression on Trevor. “We are not risking you being photographed at a strip club.”

“But they get full-on naked here. Montreal has hardly any rules,” Trevor whined.

“See you tomorrow, Ford,” Colby interrupted and marched toward the side door Hunter had entered from as he repeated the word, “Tomorrow.”

Hunter glanced over his shoulder as he followed Colby through the door, and he caught the scowl on Ford’s weary face. So Hunter smiled back at him like a cheerleader on ecstasy because fuck that guy.

Chapter 21

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