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He had a feeling it was going to be a long tour.
And not just because of the album.
ChapterTwelve
Cassie mouthed the words to one of her favorite Fractured songs as the band played it on stage. She stood to the side, behind one of the big amps, holding Zac’s bass, ready to change it out with the one he was using as soon as the song was over.
It had been three nights since she’d moved onto Fractured’s bus. Some of her awkwardness around the band had eased. Some. Not all. They were doing what they could to make her comfortable, but she couldn’t help but feel as if she was intruding. They were obviously a close-knit group, and she’d found herself watching their easy interactions with envy.
Things hadn’t been like that with any of Bryan’s bands over the years. Not even Blacklite. Not for her anyway. Bryan had never had any issues. He was one of those people who had no problem fitting in with different groups.
But while she’d tried, things never seemed to click with her. She’d often wondered if it was because she wasthe girlfriend. So many of the musicians Bryan spent time with were single and enjoying the party life. They probably thought she cramped his style.
Or maybe it was just her. Maybe the thing that prevented her from making friends as a child had left an indelible mark. One that stopped people from wanting to get close to her.
Everyone except Bryan.
Her thumb slid over the smooth band of her engagement ring. She needed to take it off, but she hadn’t quite found the resolve to do it yet. Part of her knew it would be the final step. Once she slipped that diamond off her finger, she was acknowledging the end of everything she’d once dreamed of.
Bryan hadn’t taken her move onto Fractured’s bus well. He’d tried several times to corner her to explain himself. The first time her traitorously weak heart forced her to listen. As if she still thought there was something he could say that would make everything right again. But when he reached out and pulled her against him, whispering that he loved her, that it was all a terrible mistake, she lost it. His arms, once so safe and familiar, felt wrong now. His woodsy scent didn’t bring any comfort. She couldn’t stop picturing Stella naked on top of him.
She’d shoved him away. “I can’t. I can’t.” Tears blurred her vision, and she’d rushed off, finding Dan and making herself useful near him. After that, whenever Bryan tried to get her alone, Dan or Lexie miraculously turned up.
Since then, Bryan had been giving her increasingly irritated looks. She had to talk to him eventually, regardless of how she felt right now. They had a whole life they’d built together that would have to be dismantled.
She understood Bryan’s scowls, but Stella’s increasingly venomous glares were a mystery. Cassie had done nothing to the woman.
She was doing her best not to think about Stella. Or Bryan. It still hurt too much, and she needed to concentrate on her job. Right now, that meant listening to Zac playing onstage and making sure his instruments and all the equipment were working as they should be.
Zac stepped up to the mic, adding his smoky voice to Connor’s for the chorus, his hands still moving smoothly over his bass. He gazed out over the crowd as he sang, and she wondered if he was looking at all the women reaching their hands out toward him, screaming his name, wanting the opportunity to be close to him, even if just for a moment.
His head angled to the side, and his eyes met hers. Unexpectedly, a buzz of energy danced over her skin. She didn’t have time to analyze her odd reaction before he looked away again.
The band finished the song with a pulse-pounding crescendo. To the sound of the screaming fans, Zac came toward her to change his bass out. Ready for the switch, Cassie was holding out his next one by the time he got to her, and she waited for him to strip off the one he wore. They only had a few seconds to make the swap before the next song; Noah was already banging out the intro on his drums.
Their fingers brushed, and a zap of static electricity sparked between them. She almost jerked her hand back with the shock, her eyes darting up to his face. He looked slightly bemused, and she wondered if he felt it too. It was the first time that had ever happened during a performance. She’d double-check his body pack afterward and make sure there weren’t any more faulty connections.
He gripped the neck of the bass, handed her the one he’d been using, and with one final enigmatic glance at her, strode back out on the stage, his fingers already moving over the strings as he walked. Cassie blew out a breath, wondering why her heart was beating so hard.
* * *
Cassie sighed, looking away from Zac sitting at the kitchenette table and back down at the notebook in her lap. The words on the page, the ones she’d written before her eyes had been drawn to him like a magnet, stared up at her.
A crackle of sparks,
The world falls silent,
One heartbeat, an indrawn breath,
Then you are gone.
She cringed. God, what was she thinking? Writing poems about something as ridiculous as static electricity. Annoyed with herself, she looked over at Zac again. She’d caught herself doing that more and more over the last few days.
Cassie’s breath hitched when she found Zac’s eyes fixed on her. “Oh, are you done already?” she asked.
A shard of disappointment pricked her. This part of the day had quickly become her favorite. The peaceful moments when she was alone with her thoughts. Not lonely, though. Because Zac was there.
His voice as he spoke to his Crossfire bandmates, and the quiet strum of his guitar, eased the tightness in her shoulders and soothed her the way nothing else seemed to.
