Page 48 of Heart Break Her

Or maybe it’s her brother.

“It was…” Cassie tips her head back and closes her eyes, thinking for a minute with a hum on her lips. “Unforgettable,” she says, tilting her face to look at me.

“That’s a high bar,” I laugh.

“You met it.” Cassie smiles. “I’m sure you hear this all the time, but you’re something else up there, and I’m not just saying it because we’refriends.” She narrows her eyes, but her smirk is playful. “When you’re up on stage, you make a person feel alive again.”

What I can’t tell Cassie is that’s how I feel every second I’m in her presence. The same excited energy I feel on stage is running through my veins.

“Hey, Sebastian,” a voice calls out.

I look up to see some woman walking by in a red leather miniskirt. She bats her lashes at me, only briefly dropping her gaze to Cassie, before continuing down the hallway. I turn back to Cassie, and she’s got an unreadable expression on her face.

“Looks like duty calls,” Cassie says, lifting off the wall.

But before she can walk away, I reach for her hand, and it stops her in her tracks. The force of it tugs her closer to me, and she lets out the faintest gasp.

“Stay for the after party.” I hope she won’t make me beg. Because I will, if that’s what it takes. I’ll get down on my fucking knees in this hallway and show her I’m a wreck. Whatever we’re doing—texting, sneaking away for five-minute conversations after shows—isn’t enough.

Cassie chews the inside of her cheek, dropping her eyes momentarily to her feet, before looking back up at me.

“Okay,” she says. “Just for a little bit. I don’t need another repeat of Tampa. That hangover was a bitch.”

I squeeze her hand, ready to tell her to wait. To tell her I’m sinking, to ask her to hold me in place. But the eyes looking back at me are all too familiar. Hope mixed with pain, mixed with the memory of her brother. And I know I have no right to ask her for anything.

“Sebastian,” Adrian’s voice echoes down the hallway.

Cassie tips her chin up, and her eyes dart over my shoulder. “I think you’re wanted,rock god.”

She winks and lets go of my hand, brushing my shoulder as she walks past. Even though I know she’s teasing, the way she says it turns me the fuck on. That, and everything about her. The swish of her hips as I follow her to the crowd of eager women, the way she walks straight past them without giving them a second thought. She makes my dick stand at fucking attention.

She’s intoxicating, and I can’t have her. I don’t deserve her.

I make my way to my fans and join the rest of the band, signing shit and making small talk. Eloise lifts an eyebrow, but I ignore it.

A sexy brunette basically purrs at me as I walk up and shoots me the kind of smile that should all but guarantee her a spot at the after party. Her lips are panting, and her eyes are dripping with lust. I run the sharpie over her smooth chest, but when I look up, my eyes are fixed on the flash of pink over her shoulder.

I couldn’t care less what this fan would do to me. Or any other, for that matter.

All I see is Cassie.

14

Cassie

Exhaustionseepsthroughtomy bones as we head to the after party. I’m officially running on pure adrenaline and Merry’s excitement. I’m not sure how they never seem to tire of this, but the band and roadies look wired while I’m barely managing to push through.

Sebastian is in the front of the van, laughing about something with Rome, and I’m sitting between Merry and Noah, trying not to get knocked out of my seat from the tension rolling between them.

Merry might swear nothing is going on between the two of them, but I don’t believe it.

We head to a local bar, and it’s the first time I’ve really gone out since the whole sex tape scandal, so I’m on edge. Every passing face makes me wonder whether they’ve seen me naked. One guy scans my body up and down, and I nearly crawl out of my skin. I’ve never felt so exposed.

Sebastian, on the other hand, seems unfazed. Maybe it’s that he’s not shy about people seeing his body, given he spends half his time on stage, shirtless. Or maybe it’s that he’s used to the endless scrutiny and prying eyes. But he’s wearing a grin and making his way through the crowd, soaking up their attention.

As we move through the bar, Sebastian is swallowed up by a circle of groupies, so I follow Merry to get a drink. Even if I don’t have any right to feel jealous, the more time I spend around Sebastian, the harder it’s becoming watching women fall all over him.

Especially when I feel like I’m seeing another side of him when we’re texting.

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