Page 277 of End Game

Her smile gets bigger.

Micah squeezes my neck once before letting go. “Go.”

So I do.

The crowd does not know me.

I can feel that the second I walk onto the stage.

There's applause because people at benefit concerts are polite and because Austin Fletcher introduced me, which is basically cheating.

Then I reach the microphone. “Hi.”

More applause.

“I am Dex. If you've never heard of me, that's okay. My mom has.”

Laughter rolls through the venue.

I grin. “Mostly because I call her when I need money, but still.”

More laughter.

Okay.

Now I know what to do.

The nervousness burns off almost instantly.

This part makes sense.

Crowd.

Mic.

Guitar.

Noise.

Give me those four things and my brain finally agrees to point in one fucking direction.

Signal Saints’ drummer and bassist kick in behind me.

I'm doing a Grave Intentions song without Grave Intentions, which is weird enough that I refuse to think about it too hard.

So I don't.

I play.

I find Cami and Micah offstage.

They're standing together.

Cami is practically bouncing.

Micah has that quiet look he gets when he's trying not to show too much emotion and failing spectacularly, if you know him.

I wink at them.