Page 92 of Rock Bottom

I smirked. “You’ll see, kitten. I have plans for that gorgeous ass of yours tonight.”

Whatever distraction he was using to keep me from thinking about how badly I needed a drink to calm my nerves, it was working. Sometimes when I was next to Church, I felt like I was already drunk. He made me giddy and lightheaded, and I loved every second of it.

“Church!” A child’s voice cut through all the noise backstage and a tiny little demon pushed her way through the crowd to wrap herself around Church’s leg.

He chuckled and pried the girl off, lifting her promptly onto his shoulders. “Why if it isn’t little miss Amy Deluca!”

I frowned. “Babe, why don’t you ever carry me on your shoulders?”

Amy, my six-year-old niece, giggled. “You’re too big, silly!”

“Oh, I don’t know. My boyfriend is very strong. He lifts heavy things for me all the time.” I trailed a hand down his biceps and grinned at how pink his cheeks turned.

“Amy! There you are!” My brother Darwin appeared and adjusted his glasses, which were still too big for his face. “I told you not to run off like that!”

“She’s all right,” Church assured Darwin. “She’s in safe hands.”

My mom wandered over shortly after, wearing a bright green sun dress, her brown hair back in a braid. She beamed when she saw me and my heart melted. We’d been seeing a lot of each other ever since I’d come back from Ohio. It helped that the band had hired Darwin’s wife to be the band’s new manager. She didn’t have a lot of experience managing big bands, but she’d been working in the music industry as a cellist for years. I couldn’t believe I didn’t know that.

“Dante, there you are!” She smiled and kissed each of my cheeks. “I wanted to catch you before you went up there tonight and make sure you got this.” She pressed a small woven bracelet into my hand. “I know it’s not much, but…”

“I made it!” Amy volunteered with a big, toothy smile.

“Then it’s a treasure I will wear proudly on stage.” I slipped it onto my wrist and showed it to her.

“No ring yet, I see,” Mom said, feigning sadness.

“Mom, it’s only been two months.” I rolled my eyes at her before winking at Church. “But in case anybody wants to know, I’m a size ten and I adore huge, gaudy diamonds.”

Like the one I found tucked into his luggage that morning. He didn’t know yet that I’d found it, and I didn’t know when he planned to pop the question, but that wasn’t so bad. It was definitely coming sometime during the tour. I hoped he planned to make a huge spectacle of it and come out on stage in front of everyone. There wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house if he did.

Church shrugged off my mother’s good-natured badgering with a chuckle. “I’ll keep that in mind if anyone asks.”

The noise of the crowd grew louder, and my bandmates got up, moving toward the stage. Remi tapped my shoulder. “You ready, bro?”

“Almost.” I pulled Amy down from Church’s shoulders and then hauled my big, hulking bodyguard down for a messy kiss. “There. Now I’m ready.”

“Break a leg, Dante,” Church called after me as I jogged up the stairs and onto the stage.

The floodlights beamed down on me as I grabbed the microphone, my heart pounding in my chest. The crowd erupted into cheers and applause, the energy of their excitement washing over me.

I waved and leaned into the mic. “Happy Friday Los Angeles! How are we doing tonight?” I waited for the roar to calm before speaking again. “I want to open tonight with something brand new. A song dedicated to the most important person in my life. My rock, my hero, and a man I am proud to call the love of my life. This is “Boyfriend Material” for my man, Christian Bishop!”

The crowd erupted into cheers as I began to sing, washing away any lingering nerves. We played through a whole slew of new songs we’d written since firing Sam, including “Goodbye Sam”, which we’d perfected that first night while eating junk food. We even played “Electric Love Song”, though all of us were tired of it. We jazzed it up with some silly dances that made it easier to get through.

By the end of the two-hour set, I was exhausted and sweaty, but I still had to get through the VIP meet and greet afterwards. That was the part I’d been dreading all day. I couldn’t shake Oscar from my head and worried there might be more people like him out there. The last thing I wanted was to run into another one.

But Church and the rest of his security team had promised all the VIPs had been fully vetted, and I trusted Church. Still, I was on edge until he appeared at the meet and greet next to me and placed an arm around me. The move drew some looks and knowing giggles from the fans, but I grinned and played along, giving his ass a good squeeze.

“What took you so long, kitten?” I whispered.

“Sorry, I had to make a job offer,” Church replied with a mischievous glint in his eye.

I cocked my head to the side. “Here? Tonight?”

“Orlando!” Remi suddenly exclaimed beside me and shoved through the crowd.

My heart melted as Remi ran up and embraced our former bodyguard, and Orlando bent down to engulf Remi in a hug back, one he never would have dared to give when Sam was still around. And then my eyes widened when I realized Orlando was sporting a jacket bearing the Junkyard Dogs West logo.

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