Page 43 of Second to None

I didn’t get nervous before a big show. Excited, yes. Impatient, hyped up, insufferable for anyone trying to get me ready in a controlled manner. Levi had been the same, so back then, we’d used that energy on each other.

Now, it was just me and my backing band. And that was thething—it was just me and my backing band, and today would be the first time Levi would be in the audience. So, yeah. I was nervous. And my trailer was too damn quiet.

Not really—bass thudded through the stage speakers and set my teeth on edge, and I could hear the noise of the crowd, feel their vibrations. But I felt cut off from it all, couldn’t care less about my stylist and makeup artist out-talking each other over how far I should unbutton my shirt and whether to roll up the sleeves. “I’ll be in the green room,” I told them. I didn’t wait for a reply before I threw open the door and stepped into the carefully managed chaos of the backstage area.

Crew members buzzed past in neon vests, headsets clipped on. Rows of porta potties lined the muddy pathways. A golf cart whizzed by, loaded with band equipment and what looked like someone’s forgotten leather jacket. Recognition buzzed around me, some nods and murmurs trailing in my wake, but no one stopped me for a chat.

The headliner’s green room was one of the bigger tents, set up with velvet sofas and armchairs, a coffee table bearing the scars of endless beer bottles and careless boots. I spotted my band, joking around where they’d colonized the space like the furniture was on some ‘occupy one get one free’ deal. About to step inside, something made me stop—a gut tug, instinct. I turned.

Levi.

He walked up the muddy track with the air of someone who wasn’t entirely sure they still belonged, flanked by a teenage girl on his left and a couple of barely-twenty guys on his right. I drank him in as though it had been weeks—his hair a little mussed from the wind that swept through the site, in a simple white T-shirt and dark jeans. Want stabbed through me and made it harder to breathe.

“Levi!” I called, and his attention snapped to me, bright like a spotlight.

He quickened his steps, smiling, his protégés following like little ducklings. One of the guys looked at the rigging above with wide eyes while the girl seemed determined to hide her awe behind a mask of bravado, her tight black curls creating a vivid silhouette around her face.

I met Levi halfway and grasped his shoulders, suddenly unsure. Were we meant to keep it professional in front of his acts? He was sort of their manager, after all, even if they might have seen the speculation—it had kicked up another notch after I’d worn a flashy rainbow necklace for myStand Up to Cancersolo performance.

Levi pulled me into a hug, and everything else melted away.

I closed my eyes and held on, warmth and the subtle coil of muscle under my palms, only the faintest trace of his cologne.A museum of what I missed.I blinked the lyrics from my mind.

“Hey.” Levi’s voice was a low murmur meant for just me. “How’re you feeling—ready to climb the walls?”

I exhaled a laugh. “Just about, yeah.”

We drew apart. His focus dropped to where my shirt gaped open, an instant so brief I might have imagined it. Then he studied my face, expression tugging into one of concern. “You look tired.”

Huh. My makeup artist had tutted at the dark circles under my eyes, taking some extra minutes to cover them up. Apparently not well enough to fool Levi.

“Just a lot on my mind, you know? Plus, busy times.” I smiled. If anything, it seemed to deepen the concern in his eyes.

“When’s the last time you took a proper break?”

“You sound like Jace.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Define ‘break’?”

Levi frowned. “Cass…”

“I should say hi to your acts, right?” It came out a little too quickly, the topic change entirely too transparent, but he had enough to worry about. I didn’t want to add to that list, or make him wonder whether I was having second thoughts. I wasn’t. If anything, I wanted to come out far more quickly than my team advised.‘You need to give it time to breathe,’they said.‘One brick on top of the other. A house isn’t built in one day.’

While trite, it made sense. But I’d waitedyears.

For a beat, Levi didn’t move, his entire focus on me. Then he sighed and gave a small nod, his hands sliding from my shoulders down my arms, wrists, before he let go. I hoped there’d be pictures.

CHAPTER11

Levi

Leeds, Friday, August 22nd

In some ways, Cass hadn’t changed.

He still had the same effortless charm, a mix of cheek and self-deprecation that made people trip over their own two feet. It was on full display now, as he gave my acts a tour of the backstage area, Frank trailing behind, and explained how things worked at a big-scale festival concert like this. How the stage was divided into zones of movement so the cameras and lights could track him. Showing them his in-ear monitors, custom-made so he heard a perfect mix of the instruments and vocals rather than a wall of noise. The importance of making eye contact with different sections because “even if you can’t see them, trust me—they’ll swear you looked right at them.”

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