Page 103 of Creed

“You okay, Snow?” The last thing I need is to cause a problem on the first night before the encore so I plaster a fake smile on my face that I hope is convincing as I pull back and look at him as Creed comes up behind him.

“Yeah, just nervous, I guess.” I lie, turning my smile to Creed as I take a step back away from them. “Where were you two? I was looking for you after I got distracted by the craziness of everyone rushing around backstage but couldn’t find you earlier.” I try to make the question sound casual.

Creed shoulders past Riley with a kiss to his temple and takes my hand in his, leading me back the way I came. “I’m sorry, Stardust. Fucking Steve insisted on asking us a thousand questions about what to do after the show before going back out for the encore.” He says as we weave through the halls and approach the backstage area where Tony is now absent, as well as his shattered phone. He glances at Riley, who is still shirtless, by the way. “Which is fucking weird considering we already discussed it this morning.” He huffs a laugh but it lacks humor. “I’d think he’s getting a little too forgetful lately.” His words sound more cryptic than just the surface value, and I also can’t help but wonder if there was a connection between Steve and Tony’s actions happening at the same time, since I’ve observed that Tony likes to live with his nose half-buried in the manager’s asshole most of the time.

There’s no fucking way I’m letting Tony get away with what he did to me just minutes earlier, or with the video he recorded of me. I’m hit with a wave of nausea again and I can’t deny that I’m terrified and anxious to tell Creed and Riley because the last thing I want is to create yet another issue since we’ve already got the problem that is my former foster father following me around and threatening me and those around me.

But I promised that I would open up and be honest about needing help, so that’s what I’m going to do…after the show.

Fuck, I’m just ready for all of this to be over. I want to live an easy, care-free life for once with the people I choose who choose me back.

We stop at the edge of the stage where the crew is securing the silks to the frame and the crowd is losing their minds. Creed grabs the back of my neck in the same spot that Tony did and it makes me jerk in his hold, causing his brow to furrow. But before he can question it, I grab his face in my hands and add three more kisses to his collection on his face and neck, hoping it’ll distract him. It also fills me with sick satisfaction that he’s now covered in more of my marks.

One of the stage crew approaches Creed and wordlessly hands him a mic, which he takes before turning to me, just as I look at Riley, who was already looking at me. His cheeks are flushed, having apparently watched me put my kisses all over Creed again. A strange feeling floods my chest and I’m not sure how to label it, but I don’t like it.

“You ready?” Creed half shouts toward me over the roar of the crowd. I shake down my body, blowing out a breath and clearing my mind of the bullshit. It works for a second before Creed’s lips are on me, kissing my neck and speaking into my ear, “I think Ri looks really good in purple, too.”

The fuck? Does he want me to kiss Riley or something?

I’m utterly confused and my heart starts pounding as music starts playing and I see that Bear and Tony are already out on stage, starting up my favorite song, Malevolent Melody. I stare at Creed as he starts backing away, keeping eye contact with me with a huge, mischievous grin on his face. He nods, as if to confirm what he just said before lifting the mic to his mouth. “How about one more song for this fuckin’ beautiful city, huh?” I can’t hear shit as the volume of the cheering reaches near-deafening levels.

Riley’s about to go on stage and before I can really think about my actions, I grab his wrist to stop him. He turns back to me, eyeing me with curiosity. Taking what Creed said, I lift up on the tips of my toes at the same time he bends down and I plant a kiss on his cheek, just below his eye on the scar where I’d clawed him is nearly healed, but as soon as I pull back, I avert my gaze to the floor as I turn him by his shoulders and shove him out on stage before he can react to what I just did.

I feel a little ridiculous because I’d just listened to Creed blindly and marked Riley without even asking what he wanted. I’d be lying if I said the feeling of his warm body close to mine or the heat of his cheek beneath my lips didn’t make my belly flutter with an eruption of butterflies. Something I shouldn’t be feeling for my boyfriend’s best friend. I feel anxious over what I’d just done, knowing everyone within the first few rows of the arena will see two band members out there now marked with my lipstick.

The guilt rises as I think about how Riley does everything he can to stay out of the spotlight in the media and something like what I just did would put him under scrutiny that I’d never want to subject to someone as sweet and tender-hearted as him. But I feel the tension loosen in my chest when I see the sweet, shy smile he’s trying to hide as he climbs the platform and takes his seat behind the drum set and starts up, picking up and pounding out a beat to the song like he was there playing all along.

The intro of the song is dragged out as Creed mounts the microphone to the stand and addresses the crowd. “Tonight I thought we’d do something a little different for you.” Screams and whistles erupt and I smile at the way they practically eat out of the palm of his hand. “You see, we’ve decided to gift you with a very special performance tonight. And I say ‘gift’ because that’s exactly what this talented girl is—a fucking gift.” He practically shouts the last words and the excitement is palpable.

I allow the energy to seep into my bones, and it makes me excited to get out there. I’ve performed before, and this time will be no different than other times. Just, like, tens of thousands more people. But who’s counting?

“Let her hear you!” Creed shouts, holding his arms out wide before turning to me with a smile that both melts my heart and has me clenching my thighs together. His outstretched hand shifts toward me in invitation and I take a deep breath, square my shoulders, and step out onto the stage.

Chapter 35

Creed

Holy hell, Collins looks like she belongs in the spotlight. The mask covering her face does nothing to hide the beauty luring all to her beneath it. It also doesn’t hide the fact that something happened that was bothering her and she was keeping it a secret from me. She promised me honesty and to let me help her. I let it slide considering we had zero time to address it since Steve dragged me and Riley away to ask us repetitive questions like a senile old man.

The both of us thought it was weird and suspicious as fuck, especially with the way Collins came barreling into Riley and clung to him like he was her lifeline at that moment.

I make a mental note to ask her after the show, but right now we have to get through this encore. The quicker we get through the encore, the faster we can get meet and greets and signings out of the way, and the faster I can get Collins alone so I can fuck her the way I’ve been dreaming about for two years.

Collins’ hand slips into mine and she grips me tight as I pull her closer. Those in the first few rows especially can probably put two and two together to match her lipstick to the new marks on my face and I am fucking elated. Let them assume. I can’t wait for the world to know this girl is mine.

I turn back to the mic and call out, “Let’s show our girl how excited we are to see her perform tonight huh?”

Cheers go up in a roar around the arena and I turn to my girl, smiling at the love these people are throwing her way. I hear a guy yell out “Marry me, baby!” and the smile drops off my face. I scan the crowd, ready to pull an Axel Rose at Riverport moment and stage-dive to whoop his ass, but Collins lets go of my hand to give the crowd a winning smile and a curtsey.

My jaw drops when her robe falls open as she stands and she shrugs the silky material from her shoulders.

What the shit? What. The. Hell. What the fuck is this?

My girl smirks at me before turning and sauntering to the silks, her beautiful, round, barely covered ass swaying with a slight jiggle with each step she takes. I move the mic away and shout after her. “Baby, what are you wearing?”

She turns back to me with a brow raised and a knowing smirk that practically screams you already know what I’m wearing, when she reaches her destination and begins to wrap the fabric around her body to the beat of the music. I completely forget that I’m supposed to be singing right now, but apparently the fans don’t give a shit because they all have a new singular focus. I now recognize the outfit she’s wearing, it’s the one that Riley and I had picked out for her online. Except Collins wears it the way it’s supposed to be worn and I was not fucking prepared for her to look that good in it.

Her routine looks familiar, the same one she performed a week ago at Viper, as she works her body around the silks, wrapping her legs and waist, her body climbing higher up the frame. A movement to my right catches my attention and I see Tony moving closer to the metal frame and stops just shy of one of the legs to watch her a lot closer than I’m comfortable with. I don’t want him near her at all. Rage starts to boil at his proximity to my girl—who doesn’t even notice that he’s there—when I feel a nudge at my back and look over to see Bear grinning at me, I see the question behind his concerned eyes, though.

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