Page 25 of Resist

We wait for the crowd to calm again. “Okay, Sanctuary, I think we all fell in love with you online and have been dying to know?—”

“Fox, marry me!” My eyes widen as I look at the crowd. Ryker stiffens next to me, and I can’t help but be a little petty.

“Come here then!” I yell back.

“He’s taken, sorry!” Ryker chuckles, and the audience goes crazy.

My smile loses some of its wattage, but I play along, and when I look at Henley, he’s shaking his head. “I totally lost my train of thought. It’s clear you have some incredible fans. How has it been for you, stepping into the limelight?”

“Insane in the best way,” Ryker answers, crossing his legs. It puts his foot over my thigh, but I don’t move away, and neither does he. “We are so excited to be here and to share this night with you.”

“That’s right. It’s a big night. Do you want to tell them why?” Henley teases.

Moving aside slightly since we are cramped, I place my arm on the back of the sofa, accidentally brushing Ryker’s neck, and he leans into my touch. It’s a small movement, I don’t know how they even see it, but the audience erupts again, and I jerk back.

Henley chuckles, and I shake my head. “Y’all are the best.”

I laugh. “How about I tell them?”

“Go ahead,” Ryker offers.

“Well . . . Sanctuary will officially be supporting Dead Ringers on their upcoming, sold-out world tour.” My smile is real this time and wide. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, to travel the world and perform my music for people.

The response is immediate, and we drink it up. I glance over to check on Strike and Dash, who are smiling widely. No one deserves this more than them. They’ve worked so hard to keep us together. I’m just glad we could experience it as a band, as family, even if we are slightly broken.

“That’s amazing news! You guys must be so excited,” Henley says.

“Absolutely. Dead Ringers is such an incredible band, and to be able to play for their fans is a dream come true. We are pumped to go on tour with them, and we can’t wait to perform, so I hope you’ll come support us,” Strike replies.

“I’m sure we will. I know I’ll be trying to get a ticket now!” Henley laughs.

The interview circles around our songs and our upbringings, and I add as much as I can, my mood lightening with each joke. Henley is good. He makes me feel comfortable, and the vibes from the crowd are so insane, I couldn’t not be happy.

“Okay, how about one last game before we let you guys go? I’m sure you have a lot of packing and rehearsing to do.”

“Sure,” Dash agrees, and the screen to the right flashes with squares.

“Okay, I’m going to show you some pictures of you guys going viral, and you need to recreate it, okay?” Henley tells us.

Ryker laughs, but it turns into a cough, and I sit forward, grabbing the water bottle and uncapping it for him.

“Thank you,” he says as I tip the bottle for him, letting him drink. When he’s done, I wipe under his chin and cap it again. As I’m leaning forward to the table, the crowd screams, and I blink, wondering what we did.

“Okay, first picture.” It’s of us with Dash lying across our knees. He throws himself across us, and we catch him with a laugh until it flashes green. Another image comes up, and this time it’s Strike on my back, so I stand and he hops on. Grippinghis legs, I grin at the crowd as I spin us, remembering this moment. When it flashes green again, I glance over to see it’s Ryker and Dash posing before a mic.

Sitting down, I watch as they copy the pose, and it flashes green before they sit and wait for the last square to turn over.

My heart skips a beat when the photo loads. It’s one we posted online ages ago, back before this all became too messy. Ryker is grinning into the camera, and my lips are pressed to his cheek as we pose for the photo. The crowd eats it up, and I glance at Ryker.

“We’ve done worse,” he remarks as he dramatically turns his cheek and pokes it for me. Swallowing my reservations, I order myself to do it.

It means nothing.

I lean in, the crowd and everyone around us fading away like usual when I’m with him. Does he know I framed this photo as well?

Does he know this was the day I fell in love with him?

Ryker turns his face at the last moment, so my lips press to his rather than his cheek. He keeps me there, kissing him, before I jerk away. The crowd is going nuts, and Dash and Strike are howling, but I stare at Ryker in shock.

---