Page 33 of Laying it Bare Backstage

We shifted our attention to the performers and by the time it was Teak’s turn, butterflies were fluttering around in my stomach. I didn’t think that I was nervous as much as thrilled at this new experience. When his name was announced the crowd went wild.

He took the stage from the opposite side from where I stood with Ivy, but he shot me a wink before he played his first song. He played three hits from his most recent album before addressing the crowd. “I have been working on songs for our next album and I wanted to know if you guys wanted to hear one of them today? Only one other person has heard this outside of my band members, so you guys are getting a special treat.”

The audience cheered for him to play the new one. When his fingers strummed the familiar melody and he started to croon the words he had written for me, my eyes welled up with tears. I had gotten a little emotional when he had first played the song for me, but hearing him play it for others just made it all the more real to me.

Ivy bounced beside me, unable to contain her excitement. She knew who the song was about.

When he finished, the crowd’s cheers exploded inside the hall. After they died down a little, Teak smiled out at them. “Would you like to meet the special girl who inspired those words?”

Those earlier butterflies erupted into pandemonium inside of my stomach.

At the crowd’s emphatic ‘yes’, he twisted to lock his eyes with mine before motioning with his finger for me to join him on the stage, his smile lighting up his entire face. The value he placed on his love for me, evident in his entire being. This was another time for him to shine for his fans, but I was someone of indescribable worth to him. As he was to me.

But my panic at being the focal point he wanted me to be had me shaking my head slightly, but his grin only widened.

“It seems she’s a bit shy. Maybe she needs some encouragement. How about you guys chant her name ...Serenity?”

When without hesitation, the crowd started to repeat my name, my hands flew to my mouth and the tears that had been pooling in my eyes, rolled down my cheeks. Before I knew what was happening, Ivy had pushed me up the few stairs to the edge of the stage.

“Get your ass out there. If I drag you out there, you’re really going to be embarrassed.”

Knowing she wasn’t kidding, on shaky legs, I walked out to stand beside Teak.

As soon as he wrapped his arm around me and pressed a kiss to my forehead, my nervousness melted away. “This is my girlfriend, Serenity Hayes. Well, someday soon she will be my fiancée and then wife, but here is the beautiful girl I fell in love with and who is the inspiration for that song.”

The crowd’s cheers intensified.

“Holy shit, Teak.” I whispered near his ear.

“I know, Serenity. I think they approve of my choice.” He kissed my cheek before I scampered back down to the side of the stage.

Teak raised his arms to his fans and then blew them a kiss before walking off to the opposite side of the stage.

“Wow. Serenity, that was so freaking awesome.” Ivy wrapped me up in another hug.

“I expected a bit of jealousy.” One person in particular came to mind, but I quickly squashed that. “But yeah, that was quite the adrenaline rush.” I was anxious to get home and celebrate with my boyfriend. “I guess it’s meet and greet time for many of them and stuff. Maybe we should head out so we’re there when he’s ready to leave. You guys will hang around with me until he’s done, right?”

“Of course.” Ivy took my hand and we followed Ascher out into the back area to wait.

However, the after-performance part of the event wasn’t as organized or probably more chaotic since there werefiveperformers fans wanted to meet. When we stepped into the huge space, a surge of people practically knocked us over and I got separated from Ivy and Ascher. The rush of people spilling farther into the area shoved me down to a corner where it met another hallway.

Feeling a bit off balance and a lot frustrated, I crossed my arms over my chest and waited out the disorder.

A few minutes later, the security guard who had allowed us entry earlier, stopped at my side. “Ms.Hayes. I can get you to a safe spot to await Teak. Follow me.” He took my arm and led me down the hallway.

As we moved farther from the commotion, you would think my nerves would settle at the prospect of heading toward Teak. However, vines of trepidation slithered up my spine and in the next instant my instincts kicked in, but not quickly enough. I opened my mouth to release a shriek, but his beefy hand clamped down on it as his other arm wrapped around my middle and lifted me like I weighed nothing. I kicked and flailed, trying to wrench myself free or get his hand to slip so I could scream for help.

Nevertheless, my time ran out, when he kicked open a side door and marched me outside to a waiting car. The woman standing beside it sent a shock of terror ripping through me. Her dark cold eyes met my terrified stare and a cruel smirk crawled across her face. Instead of a black body clinging dress today, her outfit consisted of tight jeans and a gray t-shirt. She wasn’t on the prowl to seduce this time; she had malicious intentions planned.

I tried to swallow my fear, but it was difficult to do with the obvious staring right in my face. Two against one; and one of the two foe was a huge muscled mass.

“I’ll see you later tonight, Naomi.” The man dropped me to the ground, but before I could react and do something to save myself, he slammed my head against the side of the car, hard.

Stars burst before my eyes and the edges of my vision grew dark. I fought to shove the blackness back. I couldn’t lose consciousness. I had to find a way to fight back. If I blacked out; I was surely dead. Although I wasn’t sure my odds looked really good at the moment anyway. After ripping open the car door for the back seat, he tossed me inside. I landed in an ungraceful sprawl along the seat. Two taps on the roof and then the car sped out of the parking lot.

She drove like a maniac and I prayed she got pulled over. The bitch didn’t even slow down at the turns, but instead took them at full speed whipping me across the seat. Her actions were intentional since the motion sent me slamming into the door which only served to worsen my head injury. The pain began to radiate down my neck to my shoulders and I was slowly losing the battle to remain conscious. My fingers tingled as I desperately tried to get my arms to cooperate so that I could reach up and jerk her out of her seat. Doing so was sure to cause her to crash the car, but I believed I would fend better with that outcome. Hell, the prickles from the near constant whacking of my head against the door even had my ass vibrating.

Wait.

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