Page 55 of Riding Danger

“Oh.” I bit back a smile. “You will find any excuse to rule a guy out, won’t you?”

She sagged her shoulders. “I think I need to take a break from dating for a while. I have been dating since I was a freshman. It's exhausting.”

She wasn’t wrong. I’d given up on anything more than a one night stand a while back. It wasn’t until Ryder waltzed back into my life that I considered getting involved with someone. As for Maggie, she’d thought she found the one. Of course, we all knew better, but no one walked into a marriage thinking of divorce.

Before the two of them could continue to wallow, the lights went dark. Spotlights twirled across the stage and then Ryder appeared in a haze of dry ice and strobe lights. God, he was magnificent.

His light blue jeans and black short sleeve button down looked low-key but it still managed to showcase how well he was built. From my vantage point I could tell how much he played with the crowd, and damn, if it wasn’t one hell of a turn on.

His first song was an upbeat number I already knew the words to. The crowd sang along. I was in awe of how many already knew the words since the album was only released the week before.

As the song finished, he took a bow. He called out to the crowd, one hand in the air, the other holding the mic. “Hello everybody.” The stadium erupted in whoops and hollers. “My name is Ryder Hawkins. And welcome to the New Horizon Tour.”

The crowd roared once more. And his gaze moved from one side of the stadium to the other. He stopped when his eyes landed on me and his smile widened. He gave me a quick wink and everything inside me melted.

25

RYDER

Ifollowed my opening number with picking up my guitar and singing the title track from the new album, New Horizon. There were always nerves when I sang a new song live for the first time. Especially one I had written myself. And yeah, I thrived on stage. I might’ve been forced and manipulated into singing, but I genuinely loved performing. Being on stage gave me a high I wouldn’t trade.

The song was an anthem I wrote myself. It spoke of moving into the next phase of my life. At the time I wrote it, I didn’t understand how prophetic it would become. Especially the section about my relationship with my mother. Of course, no one else knew it was about her. It was only as I reached the part about the damage she did to me as a kid, that I realized I would not allow her to do anymore damage to me as an adult. It is not often I have an epiphany on stage, but I knew I needed to talk to Shiloh about it.

I did two more songs from the new album, including an upbeat dance number. My back up dancers and I did well considering it was the first show.

We were dancing to the first chorus when my head set slid off. I bent over to pick it up and missed singing half the chorus. One of my backup dancers struggled not to laugh. It really was a comedy of errors. Then I looked over at Shi once more. Her smile settled me and I could continue without a hitch. The Poets baseball cap she wore bothered me though, I would need to fix that.

After another two songs from the album, I slid off the head mic and handed it to the stagehand who placed a mic stand in the middle of the stage. Another one handed me back my guitar.

“The following song was my first number one as a solo artist.” I smiled as the crowd either knew what song I was talking about, or recognized the chords. “That is my way of saying, if you haven't heard it before, you’re probably at the wrong concert.”

I sang the first line and the crowd sang with me. Each lyric was word-perfect, even if it was out of tune.

Every chance I could, I snuck a gaze at Shi. The look of awe and lust on her face did things to me. It appeared my woman found my performance a turn on. It was a mistake to try and imagine what was going on in her mind and I struggled to keep myself from getting hard. There were kids in the audience. My own kid was with a sitter backstage.

Once those initial songs were done, my nerves settled.

I smiled at the audience. “One of the benefits of playing in California is that from time to time I get to book special guests who are in the area.”

The crowd cheered as they anticipated what was about to happen. My voice rose I spoke over the roaring of the crowd.

“She is one of my closest friends, and someone I love collaborating with. Everyone, please welcome on stage Ms. Layla Dean.”

It appeared as though a hole in the floor opened up as Layla rose to the stage. She waved at the crowd, and when she sawShiloh and the girls, she gave an extra wave. Knowing the crowd would never die down on their own, I nodded to my band to start. By the time I sang the first line the crowd had hushed. When Layla sang her lines there were a few whoops and hollers but mostly the crowd was enthralled by her. By the time the song was done, I had the crowd eating out of my hand. For fun, Layla and I did another song together. A cover of Celine Dion and Ne-Yo’sIncredible.

When I thanked her, the crowd went wild once more. She disappeared the same way she came. The stagehand removed her mic stand and took my guitar. “Get me a New Horizon baseball cap, please.”

The guy rushed away. While I waited for him, I spoke to the crowd. “When I started writing the album, I had no idea the turns my life would take. But I knew things needed to change.” The guy came back and handed me the cap. I placed it in my back pocket. “This next song was not one I wrote, but it was written for me. It’s all about finding that one person. A song I dedicate to the love of my life.”

The band played the introduction and I prepared for the part of the show I was looking forward to the most. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to singing with my son. But we’d rehearsed and recorded together. And while that would never lose its shine, it didn’t compare to the idea of making a statement.

Just like I loved seeing her in the audience. Or how I’d made sure that the collar of my shirt was opened just wide enough that the bite mark she’d left the day before was partially visible. She needed to know she was mine. And more importantly, I wanted the world to know I was taken. I pushed the headset back onto my head.

“I know you all expect a good ballad from me.” I smiled as the crowd cheered again. “But sometimes a good dance number is what the doctor ordered.”

My scantily clad back up dancers appeared behind me as I started the dance song about all the things my woman is to me. I looked directly at Shiloh as much as I could. The choreography was high intensity and Jason really put me through my paces for it, but still, I was able to sing through most of it. Once or twice, I lost my breath but I let my voice fade, making it obvious I was not lip syncing.

I made my way to the front of the stage during the second verse. I had four guards flanking me as I hopped to the ground and walked over to where Shiloh stood dancing with Maggie and Tiffany.

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