Page 17 of Rock On

The knots in my belly tangled on themselves, twisting tighter the closer and closer we got to the venue. I really had fubared this whole situation, and now, it was too late while we fought through the snarl of traffic trying to get to the parking areas. Predicting how bad it would be, with all the people coming in, we’d left an hour early. I wasn’t sure it was enough as we inched forward through the bumper-to-bumper lineup.

Not wanting to be recognized, I kept my head angled down and slightly facing Sky, my hand against the side of my face while I rested my elbow on the window.

“This crowd is more massive than I thought it would be,” she commented. “Our turn is right up there. I have my pass to get us in for staff parking.”

“That’s good.” The sooner we got to the secure section, the better. “You’re still coming tonight, right?”

“Yep. Though this crowd makes me question the sanity of it. This is wild. But yeah, I’m coming.”

“Good.” The thought of her in the audience warred inside me, trying to calm me with the rightness and condemning me because she’d be pissed. “Tonight, after the concert, I want to take you to my place, and we can talk about what’s next,” I continued. It wouldn’t be soon enough; I knew that. But I needed to sow the knowledge I planned a discussion. “We can talk about everything.”

“Your place?” she asked. “You have a place?”

“Yeah. Sort of. You’ll see.”

“And we’re going to have a talk?Thetalk?”

I heard the sadness in her voice, the hint of pain.

“No, sweet girl! Notthattalk,” I rushed to out. “Goodbye isn’t anywhere in my thoughts. I meant we need to figure out where we go from here. Our future. I want more with you. The past couple days wasn’t about us having a fling while the band’s in town.”

“Okay,” she replied, huffing out a hard breath. “I want more, too.”

A moment later, she veered to the secure gate. Rolling down her window, she presented her pass and cut off the guard who’d clearly been about to direct her away. Ducking his head, he looked at me. His eyes widened, and I shook my head, silently telling him not to say anything. He blinked but pressed his lips together. With a sharp nod, he headed over to let us through.

“Thank fuck for passes, huh?” I said.

“You’re not kidding. Drop off at the same place as usual or at the stage access?”

“Usual place.”

She pulled up to the second gate and shifted the car into park, looking over at me. “Good luck. I hope everything goes smoothly for all of you. On stage and off.”

“Thanks.” Pulling her toward me, I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. I let the kiss deepen, escalate and go as far as shelet it. At this juncture, I didn’t care who saw us. It didn’t matter anymore. In a few hours, it would all be out in the open.

Drawing back, I ran my tongue over my bottom lip. I wanted to lean in and kiss her swollen mouth again, but I had to report in before someone came looking for me. With a resigned breath, I reached for the door then climbed out. Gripping the frame, I leaned to look back at her.

“Sky…”

Her head tilted. “What?”

“Will you do me a favor? Promise me you’ll remember I want to talk about things later. You’re going to have some questions.” And there would probably be some yelling. “And I promise I have answers.”

“Jerrin? What?”

“You’re everything to me, Sky. Everything. Have Marley bring you backstage tonight, okay?”

Before she could ask more, I slammed the door and jogged past the gate.

“That looked intense,” Stone said, startling me when I got a few yards inside. “No wonder you keep disappearing.”

“Can’t help myself,” I admitted. “She’s my future, Stone. My one.”

At least, she would be, if I didn’t fuck this all up.

Nine

Sky

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