Page 53 of Hope & Harmony

One of his guitar techs took his guitar from him, and he came straight over to me. It took me a weird delay to process that he was talkingto me.

“We’re doing a special surprise birthday thing for Jude,” he said.

“Uh, okay? I don’t know where he is.”

“Don’t worry.” He held out his hand to me.

I blinked at him for a minute. Jude’s rock star best friend, in the middle of his concert, holding out his hand to me. He wore leather pants, a sleeveless shirt, and shone with stage sweat, his thick whorls of dark hair a hot mess, and his brown eyes on me at once steady and sparkling.

I trusted Jesse, deeply, because he had Jude’s trust.

I also knew he was up to something.

I could feel the crowd’s expectations building and hear Zane laughing onstage. He’d been cracking jokes or something as Seth played a little background rhythm on his guitar. Everything was getting surreal as my heartbeat sped up and Jesse just stared at me and the crowd got louder.

“Jesse Mayes!” Zane bellowed. “Get your ass back out here! You got twenty thousand people waiting!”

Jesse raised an eyebrow at me, his hand still waiting for mine.

“It’s for Jude,” he reiterated.

Well,fuck.

I took his hand. He gripped mine, tight, and what could I do when he started walking back out onstage but go with him?

I glanced back over my shoulder to see Jessa and Brody grinning at me. “Where’s Jude?” I called back to them, but my voice was lost in the noise and no one answered.

And why weren’ttheybeing dragged out here?

On fucking stage.

My breath caught in my throat as the awareness hit me.

Twenty thousand people…

Tingles swept through my body, from my scalp to the tips of my toes. It was knock-you-over stunning, the energy that radiated off the audience. I’d never felt anything like it.

And they were all looking at me.

Well, they were looking at the band, probably. But still.

I knew something was really getting weird when I found myself center stage with Jesse still holding my hand—and then he started talkingabout me. Into his mic.To the crowd.

“I’d like you all to meet Roni,” he announced. “She’s a friend of the band.” He paused while the whole crowd made noise—for me—and I definitely felt my face grow hot.

Because now they probablywerelooking at me.

I didn’t embarrass easily, but shit. I couldn’t even focus on a single face in the crowd. It was just one giant, intimidating, pulsating blur of energy. I was holding onto Jesse’s hand so tight, his fingers were probably turning blue.

“Not only does this lovely woman work with our management team to make all this happen…” Jesse swept his mic in a grand arc, indicating the entirety of the jam-packed arena. “But she’s also the love of my best friend’s life.”

Oh, Jesus.

The crowd ate that up, cheering for me and my love life.

I sank my teeth into my lip and glanced around the stage, still looking for Jude. Weirdly, the rest of the band seemed to have vanished. I wasn’t even sure when Seth’s guitar had gone silent.

Jesse and I were standing here alone.

---