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She nods and picks up her equipment. “Let’s go.”
I wait for her to walk out, then pick up the pile of Paige’s clothes. I don’t know where to put them, so I place them in my locker. The idea of having to do her laundry again is comforting, if fleeting. If only for the last time.
I shut the locker door with a resounding thud, take a breath, and walk away.
Chapter 11
Zaden
“Alright, let’s give it up for Pulse, all the way here from Jacksonville,” Mia shouts into the mic as the bass from the final note fades out. Cheers rise from the field in front of the line of RV sheds, a crazy high pitch that has my blood running hot.
There’s at least three hundred people here, maybe more. Cars sit packed in the side lot of the storage shed facility, and line both sides of the road as far as I can see. An amazing turnout for an outdoor weekday concert I can only attribute to Mia’s social media sorcery.
I love this. I love that we have taken this place, half destroyed by the last hurricane, and given it life through music. Some of the storage units remain while others were bulldozed into the field where people stand, voices raised, begging for more.
It’s been almost two years since I talked Raven into going to Evan and renting out the sheds for her band, and several others.The beachfront location is a perfect venue for an outdoor concert. Evan doesn’t care how many people attend as long as he gets his cut.
I fold up my tool bag and walk back to the shed. I don’t make the music, but I help make it possible. I fix. I build. I run wires and fencing. Even work security as needed.
A bright flash of lightning travels through the clouds above us, thunder rattling the metal storage buildings, and people start to silence.
Raven takes the stage and steps up to the mic.
“If y’all aren’t fucking scared, neither are we,” she says, glancing back at the band to make sure they’re ready. With a nod from Ryan, she turns back to the crowd. “We’re Jupiter Crash.”
I smile and throw her devil horns. Rock on, punk rock princess.
Nick starts in on the drums, and she gives him a few beats as the shouting begins to fade. A movement catches my eye, and I see Mia inching up along the front with her camera out, panning between the band and the crowd.
Beside her is Ivy, her hair down, in black lace skulls, a schoolgirl skirt, and those insufferably sexy combat boots. I cross my arms across my chest and watch her, amused and mesmerized.
Raven’s voice weaves through the chaos, haunting and beautiful, echoing through the buildings. She carries it for several lines before Ryan joins in on bass, followed by Steph on an old upright piano. Ivy sways to the music, her lips mirroring Raven’s.
She knows every word.
Raven commands the stage with a raw intensity, passion echoing in every note. The band races to follow, pounding the bass into the night until it shakes the earth beneath us. The crowd is wild, dancing and moving, screaming the words back at the stage.
Rain starts to fall, drumming against the roof of the metal buildings. And not just a light shower, a complete fucking downpour. I watch the crowd, but they don’t run. In fact, they get wilder.
A mosh forms a few rows back, a churning chaos of shoving hands and wet bodies. I seek out Mia and see she’s filming, but I’ve lost sight of Ivy.
I scan the crowd for purple hair and eventually spot her. In the middle of the madness, in the mosh. She’s dancing, purple hair fanning out around her. She follows the circle of bodies, pushing and shoving with the rest of them, holding her own.
Raven pulls the guitar off from around her neck and sets it aside, grabbing the mic from the stand to walk out into the rain. Another loud crack of thunder sounds overhead as she walks over to my Silverado parked beside the unit, and steps onto the bumper, then onto the hood. I can feel the energy from the crowd coursing through my veins, blurring the world around us until we are one, the audience and the music.
I join the crowd, my eyes on Leela. I shove my way into the mosh and follow the current. Inside the mass of writhing, wet bodies, I find hers. When she turns, she slams into me, body to body, my hands around her waist to steady her. A sly smile spreads across her deep maroon lips.
She shimmies to the beat, her wet skin sliding across mine. I am infinitely aware of everywhere she touches. Her handsalong the back of my neck, the smooth, cool strands of wet hair dragging across the heated skin of my chest. I match her rhythm with wild abandon in the mosh as we get tossed around, splashing through the mud in a frantic grope of hands.
The guy ahead of us trips and goes down into the mud, taking two more with him. I see Ivy’s boots catch his arm, and she loses her balance. In the span of a second, I reach out and grab her. My hands slide from her waist, down her ass to thread through the holes in her fishnet stockings. In one swift move, I lift her up and swing her aside, then slowly set her down.
She bites her lip, her skin looking flush.
“Thanks for that,” she says, glancing back at the fallen guy as he pulls himself back up, and others tumble into the pile.
“Anytime,” I offer.
Cheers erupt as the song fades out, and I can’t help the smile that washes over me like rain. I glance back up at Raven.
