Page 12 of Follow the Rhythm
“Thanks! Austin told me you were a huge, like, super-crazy fan, so that means a lot.”
I glared at Austin. I already felt like a stalker just being at the show, let alone backstage. The last thing I wanted to be reminded of was my status as “super-crazy fan.”
There was a commotion on the other side of the curtain, and we all stepped away.
“Let’s go to the greenroom,” Grace said, grabbing one of each of our hands and towing us down the hall in exactly the same way Austin dragged me around. They were clearly siblings.
“We don’t need to do that,” I said, my voice even higher-pitched than normal from pure terror. “Austin and I don’t want to bother you.”
Austin looked at me like I was crazy. “Are you trying to bepolite?”
“I’m always polite,” I snapped.
“You’re not bothering me,” Grace said with a bright smile. We entered a swanky greenroom with plush maroon carpet, a wall of vanity mirrors with Edison bulbs, and two light brown leather couches. My heart was in my throat, but a quick scan showed no Ellis, and I exhaled.
The room wasn’t empty, though. The hulking form of Kieran, the bass player, occupied one couch. He looked up from hisphone as we entered, not quite scowling. But he stood to greet us, which was more than I expected from a certified rock star.
I caught his scent as he came closer, his Alpha pheromones like a punch to my soft Omega guts. It was sweet, and so incongruous with his gruff demeanor that I instinctively took a deeper inhale. Strawberry and mint.Thank god my heat is over, I thought. He smelled way too good.
“Hey, look who I found,” Grace said, pushing us forward.
“You must be Austin,” he said. His voice was deep and resonant, with a strong British accent. “I’m Kieran.”
They shook hands. “You guys sounded great,” Austin said.
“Thanks, mate.” Kieran turned to me, and I stood there, stupidly silent. He was just sobig.
Grace jumped in. “This is Jess, Austin’s friend. She’s ahugeVelvet Howl fan, so when I said I was doing a secret show with you guys, Austin begged for a plus one so she could come.”
I blushed scarlet as Kieran studied me. I had no idea what to say, so I settled on, “I’m not a psycho or anything.”
“Good to know,” Kieran said dryly. He held out his hand, and I shook it quickly. It was massive and completely engulfed mine.
His thick, curly hair hung just past his shoulders, and he had a full beard in the same chocolate brown color. His eyes were pretty, hazel with crinkles around the corners, and they seemed capable of x-raying my soul.
“It was a great show,” I said lamely, and Kieran just nodded again.
“Come on, let’s sit,” Grace said. “I wanna know everything about you.”
I fiddled with my phone as we sat on the opposite couch from Kieran. “I’m not very interesting.”
“Austin told me you’re a ‘hot, mega-bitch artist.’ That sounds pretty interesting to me. To be fair, the ‘hot’ part is obvious.”
I punched Austin in the arm, and they yelped. “Way to use a gendered insult, you nonbinary asshole. I’m not abitch, I just don’t do fake nice.”
Grace cackled. “And the ‘artist’ part?”
“I do illustrations as a side hustle. I’m mostly a freelancer, though. Graphic design,” I said.
“What kind of illustrations?” Grace asked, with a tell-me-more gesture.
I passed her my phone, which had one of my older illustrations printed on the case. It was a woodcut-inspired reverse mermaid with dainty human legs, wearing fishnets, and the head of a fish with a gaping mouth.
Grace shrieked in delighted surprise. “Oh my god, I need this. Do you sell prints?”
“Prints, stickers, phone cases, totes,” I rattled off. “I do commissions, too.”
Grace looked up my shop on her phone and stroked my ego for a few minutes, gushing about how much she loved my work. Austin rolled their eyes.
