Page 81 of Little Monster
Oh no. Oh my god.
Ashton smiles.
I think I mightactuallydie.
He’s not going to. He wouldn’t.
“Nora Miller,” he whispers into the mic, making the hair on my arms stand on end. “We need you up here, Monster.”
He kneels at the edge of the stage. His eyes are on me now, and the crowd follows his gaze right to me. Then the cameras shift, and my surprised wide eyes are displayed on all the jumbo screens throughout the stadium.
Sebastian keeps up the kick. My eyes flash briefly to him, and he’s smiling like the accomplice he is. Turns out theyallare.
Assholes.
“Well?” Dex says, looking right at me this time. “You gonna leave me up here all alone, Nora?”
He waits for me, for my response. A wave of suspense ripples through the crowd. The woman next to us, with Dex’s name written on her boobs, looks at me, her teary eyes going wide. Everyone in my vicinity is staring at me now.
And there’s that fucking kick drum, like a ticking clock. It’s beating through me. My heart synchs up with it, pumping hot blood through my veins.
There’s no way I can tell Dex no.
And he knows it.
Shit.
I catch the security guard’s eye, and then he’s there, taking my arm, guiding me to the edge of the stage. Dex smiles,and the crowd loses their minds when he reaches for my hand and pulls me up onto the stage beside him.
Lowering the mic, he leans in to whisper in my ear, “You can punish me later, Little Monster.”
I grab the chain hanging from his hip, use it to pull him closer. Over the sound of screaming, I say, “You better get these chains ready.”
His laughter makes my stomach flip in a wholly delicious way.
A stage assistant hurries out from backstage, holding anelectricviolin. He puts it in my hands, then vanishes again, leaving me standing there under the lights.
I look at Dex.I am absolutely going to kill him.
“Let’s give Nora a warm welcome!” Dex yells into the mic. The crowd reacts immediately, screaming for us.
Lucas is near enough to give me a fist bump. “Kill it,” he mouths.
Sebastian hits the snare while I tighten up my bow. The last thing I see before the lights dim is Dex’s face, his lip ring, the silver cross hanging from one ear.
Michael’s bass bleeds through the speakers, and Sebastian’s kick shifts to the familiar four-four rhythm of “Ghost.”
I don’t even have time to be scared out of my mind.
Because then Lucas and Dex come in on their guitars, and sparks explode from the stage behind us.
The lights flash blue, bathing the stage in cool tones. Dex looks up, meeting my eyes. I lift my bow to the strings.
And I smile.
The electric violin screams along with the crowd. My body is on fire, my blood simmering beneath my skin as thelights send strobes of blue across the stage. The sequins on my dress shine so bright that I feel like a supernova. Behind us, the screen shows clips of our music video, with me and Dex descending the staircases, then me straddling him in the bed.
He keeps his eyes on me while he sings, and I stare right back.
