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Fuck.
I ground my teeth, trying to stay on beat. I nearly missed another one of my vocal lines while looking anywhere but his fucking ass. Rage boiled in the pit of my stomach. I hated that he’d done this to me. He’d made me feel whatever the fuck this was.
He straightened up and shot a glance over his shoulder as I came in half a beat behind. His smug grin told me all I needed to know. He had some idea what he was fucking doing, which made me madder. Aspen had always teased me and pushed the lines, but I never thought he was ever actually flirting with me.
He knew how I felt. Or…no.
I wouldn’t let myself entertain any of that fucking nonsense.
This was a fucking trick of my brain.
It was only because I thought he was a chick.
Nothing fucking else.
I held onto my resolve for the rest of the show.
Because it was all I had.
THREE
Aspen
Ilived for the screams of the crowd as the lights came up. I smirked, accepting the gift of pure energy. I loved performing live. From the first time we’d taken the stage to only a couple hundred people, I’d been addicted.
I waved them on before I brought the mic to my lips to sing the opening to our first song. They went wild, and their phones came out to record.
I bent over, belting out the chorus, high on their energy.
I skipped over to Royal to get him to join in, and he almost missed a fucking line. I put my foot on one of the speakers at the edge of the stage to headbang, and Royal fumbled his chords.
This wasn’t like him at all. Maybe he did need to get laid. I glanced over my shoulder to meet his gaze, but he avoided mine.
Our stage presence felt awkward, and that was the opposite of how playing our hometown should feel. I tried to put it out of my mind and be playful with the crowd, but it sat there burning in the back of my brain like his gaze burned into the back of my head.
Was this about my skirt?
If it was, did it matter?
The fans seemed hyped, but would they think it was stupid when I got off stage? I hated him for making me doubt it. Levi’s reaction was good. Kingsley liked it. Taylor said I looked killer. Why was I in my head about Royal’s fucking reaction?
Fuck him.
I felt good, and I wanted to live in this moment. I’d figure out his shit later.
I returned to the middle of the stage, putting my mic in the stand. “Boston, how are you feeling tonight?”
They erupted.
“You know I hold a special place in my heart for this place.” I smiled, warmed by the reception. “Punk gave me a home when I didn’t have one. It gave me a place I fit in when I’d never had one. It gave me a family, and that was all of you, Boston.”
I only caught the occasional word from the crowd, but I heard lots of ‘me too’, which made me smile.
“I am forever thankful to all of you for getting us to where we are and letting me do what I love,” I said, blowing them kisses.
I put Royal out of my mind for the rest of the show.
* * *
