Page 13 of Backstage with a Billionaire Rockstar

“Mia,” I hiss when I approach them, flanked by a few of the other security staff so the crowd doesn’t get too close to me.

She glances at me, but only for a brief moment before all her attention goes back to Rory.

I blow out a rough breath and look between the two of them. Rory looks as though he’s unaffected, but the thin sheet of sweat running down his temple is enough to show me that Mia’s got him terrified.

“What’s going on?”

Rory looks at me, pleading with me to help him out, and crosses his arms over his chest with a frown. “She’s trying to take over our job down here, but I told her that won’t fly, and she can go back behind the stage.”

Mia growls in front of him, forcing me to snap my attention to her. “I’m his bodyguard. If you were doing your job well enough, maybe someone wouldn’t have been able to sneak backstage and get into his dressing room.”

Before I can put an end to it or take notice, Mia’s hand flies up, and she punches Rory in the jaw. It’s hard enough that his head snaps to the side, his eyes widening a fraction at her strength before it’s replaced with a glare.

I expect her to cower back, but there’s a smirk on her face as she looks at him, and she asks, “Ready to be on my side yet?”

Her outburst with Rory has a vivid memory replaying in my head, one that I tried hard to forget… but apparently not good enough.

I’m about to place a kiss against Summer’s shoulder blade as we stand in the middle of a large crowd, but a force from behind me pushes us forward, and I’ve got to clamp my arm around her waist before she hits the ground. I whip around, more than ready to pound whoever's face got in our way, but I’m thrown off when Summer jumps from her hold in my arms and stomps in front of me.

Her nostrils flare, her finger hovering in front of the stranger's face, and I clench my fists as he smirks at her small form. There’s something about the way she’s holding her own that tells me she could easily take the guy acting like she’s a joke, and that only turns me on even more.

“Summer,” I say, my hand coming out and wrapping around her elbow. “It’s not worth it. Let’s head back to the bar and take a break.”

My touch seems to soothe her anger, and she relaxes into it. Then, she spits a few colorful words at the stranger before stomping away from the crowd and over to our respective seats, which we’ve occupied most of the night.

The memory fades as soon as Summer’s blue eyes clash with mine, and I cock my head to the side as I look at Mia. My heart beats wildly in my chest as I study her more in-depth.

This can’t be right.

My dream was only that… a dream.

There’s not supposed to be truth behind it.

Summer is the woman I met all those years, the one who walked out on me without so much as a word in her wake – not Mia. I blink a few times, trying to plead with the image of Summer to go away and replace it with Mia’s face, but they’re the same.

Her limbs are more defined than they were six years ago, lean muscle against the fabric, but the curves that I remember putting my hands on are still there. I remember not being able to look away from her eyes when we first met, and I find myself staring into them once again.

It’s hard for me to comprehend that she’s the woman I couldn’t get off my mind.

“Evan,” Brent says, pulling me from my realization with an elbow to the ribs.

I grunt and narrow my eyes at him. “What, man?”

He nods his head toward the stage, which is blacked out and waiting for us to get onto it, and says, “It’s time.”

“I need a minute,” I say, not taking my eyes off Mia as she stares at me with a frown on her face. “Mia, could I speak to you backstage for a moment?”

She blinks, clearly surprised that I could be taking Rory’s side over hers — she has no idea. I nudge my head toward the entrance I walked out of, waiting until I know she’s following me before heading through the door.

Brent hangs back for a second until I glare at him and send his frame scurrying in the opposite direction.

“What is it? Do I need to check your dressing room again?” She shakes her head and frowns. “I’ve never made mistakes, but I’ll get to the bottom of it right now.”

Before she can make it too far past me, I throw my hand out and clamp it around her elbow. Now that I know who she is, and why she’s felt familiar to me, I suck in a breath at the electricity that shoots up my arm. It happened six years ago, something I’ve never felt before, and the reason I wanted to get her number before our night was over.

It never got that far, though, because the moment I walked away and left her alone in my room, she disappeared from my life.

“What are you doing?”

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