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Especially when I know better.

The song ends in a wall of sound and light. The crowd screams. Thorin lifts his arms in triumph, sweat dripping down his face like war paint.

And Fletch?

Fletch throws his drumsticks high into the air and catches them one-handed.

Like a dare.

Like a challenge.

Like he knows I’m watching.

And dammit—I am.

The lights dim again.

Not in that wild, heart-racing way from earlier. This is gentler. Like the sky before a storm. That heavy pause right before the first drop of rain. The crowd settles, thousands of bodies shifting, breaths caught, waiting.

A single spotlight slides across the stage, landing on her.

Reese.

She stands alone, barefoot, in a slinky black slip dress that clings like second skin and shimmers like the night itself. Her hair is down, curls untamed, and for a second, she doesn’t look like a rockstar.

She looks like a secret.

Her hand closes around the mic, and when she starts to sing, her voice is low. Fragile. Like she’s still trying to make peace with the words.

“We were a storm destined to collide

You were a story I had to write

Between the pages filled with ink, and the wild skies filled with thunder

You became my safe place to hide, so way up high,

Because we simply existed under the same sky.”

The crowd is silent. Reverent. Even the flashing phones seem to hold their breath.

Then Thorin steps forward into the halo of light beside her, his voice cutting through the hush with quiet devastation.

“But I was so wrong to believe

That you’d stay and never leave

And I was so wrong to believe

That you’d always be there for me.”

His voice is rough. Unsteady in the way that only real heartbreak ever is. Like each word costs something.

Reese glances at him—just for a moment—but it’s enough. Enough to make the air shift. Enough to make you feel like maybe, maybe this song was never written for the world.

Maybe it was just for them.

The second verse builds, Reese leading now, her voice stronger. Clearer.