Page 213 of Mountain Men Heroes

My bandmates were the same way. We’d talked about the adrenaline spike that comes on right before going on stage, and how it pumps the energy level even higher. The feeling was addictive.

But the nerves I’d felt since we started playing tonight were different. These weren’t butterflies. It was more like an intense itch under my skin. The sensation slid up and down my spine, causing the hair on the back of my neck to rise. It wasn’t fear, but something close to it, something I couldn’t quite put a name to.

By the time Will announced my song at the very end of our set, I was strung as tightly as the strings on the guitar I held. I did my best not to let it get to me. I prided myself on being professional at all times, including giving everyone in the audience the best show I could, whether we were playing to a few locals in a local mountainside dive bar or a packed-to-the-rafters club.

As I sang the lyrics of the song Will and I had written, I started to relax. I let my eyes drift closed as I put as much emotion behind the words as I could. The song was about how hard it was to find love when you felt the need to hide parts of yourself from everyone. And as I sang the words, images of Dyson and Eeli floated through my mind. When I wrote this song, it wasn’t about anyone specifically, just a way to put a voice to my frustrations and desires.

But now I had a target for those desires. I could feel the longing building inside me as I imagined being held in Eeli’s arms or lying down beside Dyson. The frustration I felt was so much greater than anything I imagined as I wrote those lines. Back then it was just one love I longed for. One man who seemed so out of reach.

Now my desires seemed even more fruitless, even more taboo.

As I got to the end of the song, a single tear slid down my cheek. The crowd had gone oddly quiet. I slowly opened my eyes just as wild applause and catcalls broke out.

I scanned the audience in front of the stage and listened to the feet stomping and whistles. This wasn’t the biggest crowd we’d ever performed for by any stretch, but what the crowd lacked in size, they made up for in loud and vocal appreciation.

I shook my head in wonder and glanced at the other members of the band. Will threw me a grin, and I smiled right back before I turned my eyes forward again.

And that’s when I saw them.

My heart came to a complete, sudden stop. My breath refused to come. Even the sounds of the cheering dulled as I took in the two men sitting at a table in the far corner of the bar, both of them with their eyes locked on me.

Reality came crashing back with a vengeance. My heart restarted, going from zero to a hundred in a second and a half. The noises of the crowd and Will thanking everyone on behalf of the band hit my ears. Those sounds were slightly muted because they competed with the sound of my blood rushing through my body in quick, jolting pulses. I froze in place, even as Will and the other guys headed off stage.

But then I watched as Dyson and Eeli exchanged a few words and in unison stood from the table and moved toward the back of the bar. Toward me.

Holy crap. I needed to get out of here. Now.

My feet finally seemed capable of carrying me, and I scrambled toward the stairs at the side of the stage. I clutched the neck of my guitar and came a hairsbreadth from face planting as I stumbled over microphone cords in my haste.

Somehow I managed to get myself and my guitar off the stage and into the back room, slamming the door behind me the second I stepped through it.

At the sound of the door crashing closed, Will looked up from where he was putting his bass back into its case. When his gaze landed on me, his brows snapped together and he started moving toward me.

“What’s wrong?”

I leaned against the door, letting my head fall back against it, breathing as hard as if I just finished an ultra-marathon. I shook my head, fighting to get my breath under control before I was able to offer any explanation for my bizarre behavior. “They’re here.”

“Who?” Will asked.

I peered over Will’s shoulder to see our other bandmates. They looked at me curiously but didn’t stop packing up their stuff.

I returned my attention to Will and whispered, “Dyson and Eeli.”

His eyes grew wide. “You’re kidding. They're here?”

I nodded.

“Did they see you?”

I nodded again, this time more frantically.

“Oh, shit, Clara. This is not good. On so many levels.”

“I know!” He didn’t need to explain it to me. I’d managed to hide my music from the members of my family through high school and all the years since. The last thing I ever wanted was for my friends and family to tell me how dangerous it was, hanging around bars with a bunch of musicians. Worse, I hated the thought of them making fun or light of my music. It was as important to me as taking care of my animals.

And of all people to finally discover me—Dyson and Eeli. Could my luck get any worse?

I eased my way around Will and headed for where I left my guitar case. “I have to get out of here. Now.”

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