Page 7 of On The Edge
“Reis?”
“It is you. I knew it.” His jaw drops slightly and he shakes his head, but he doesn’t stop staring at me. I smile weakly and lean forward to wrap my arms around him in a hug, but he doesn’t quite return it. “Easy there, Reverb,” he jokes flatly. But then, his hold changes and I can feel the warmth of him.
My heart stutters when I hear the old nickname.
He used to call me Reverb because he said he could hear me, see me, feel me in everything around him.“You reverberate within my life, Melody. Everything… I can hear you in everything.”
That memory has been locked behind a steel door for years because it’s so painful to remember. Now, one slip of an old nickname and I’m flooded with memories that would be better left hidden.
“How…? When…? What…?” I ask, but can’t seem to be able to finish my questions. He chuckles somewhat sinisterly, and I feel it curl against my chest.
Reis leans back, letting me fall against the couch I’m lying on.
“First things first. I have two minutes before I need to go out to do the encore with the guys, who have been playing the world’s longest solos to let me check on you. But you’re safe here. You’re in our dressing room and there’s a guard at the door. He’s a big burly fuck, so don’t worry. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I saw you pass out and jumped down to get you.” As he explains, he rests a few warm fingers against my forehead to take my temperature. “I had the Hulk bring you here so I could make sure nothing else happened.”
Two sharp knocks hit the door and I can hear the chanting through the cement walls. “I have to go. Stay here.”
I nod as he points at me almost angrily, but his hand drops almost instantly.
What else am I supposed to do?
“Good girl,” he mutters without thinking. But just as the jolt of arousal runs through my body at those words, I can see him freeze as well, like he wasn’t meaning to say them out loud. His eyes turn cold and he turns his back on me.
Reis runs a hand through his black hair and stands up to walk towards the door. “Nothing happens to her, nothing. Do you understand?” I hear him snap at the guard and my heart skips a beat.
“What is happening right now?” I ask myself, taking a deep breath. Through the walls, I hear Reis' voice boom as he yells,“Tulsa! You’ve been amazing! Here’s one more for the road. Just know we appreciate you all and are so fucking happy you came out to support us. We’re all Midwestern boys ourselves, so coming here is like coming home! Shall we play ‘Melodies On My Mind’, boys? It only seems right.”
A chord strums on the guitar slowly and the crowd goes wild.
Standing up slowly—fuck, my back and head hurt like I’ve been trampled—I walk over to the mirror just as Reis’ voice croons melodically. He sings about a black-haired beauty that always seemed so far away. Checking my makeup, I wipe away the smeared mascara and throw my long hair into a high bun, then sit down and really listen.
“It’s always been us // Always been true // If I hadn’t wasted so much time // Maybe you’d have been mine.”He sings deeply, and the emotion is clear in his voice. It brings tears to my eyes.
The song dials down to a close and I’m left speechless.
“Thank you so much and goodnight!”Reis' voice calls out quickly after the last chord rings out and deafening applause fills the air.
The door whips open with so much force that it hits the wall even before the applause ends. A new voice breaks through the applause and gasps, “Melody?”
Adam stands there with wild blue eyes, like he doesn’t actually think it’s me. He grabs me in a big bear hug that I return just as fiercely.
He’s so different from the boy I used to know. Covered completely, except for his face, in tattoos that I can see between the heavy cut-outs of his sweat-soaked shirt; piercings in his eyebrow and the corner of his lower lip, with both ears pierced and gauged. All these things are striking and add so fucking nicely to the strong jaw and naturally handsome looks he has. Short, bright blonde hair is visible beneath the red bandana he has tied across his forehead, and those baby-blue eyes look at me with such hope and surprise, I can’t help but smile.
“I’m here. I’m right here,” I whisper as a tear drops down my face. “I can’t believe it’s you.”
A light blush color his cheeks as he says breathlessly, “I can’t believe it’syou.” He must have raced here the moment he could, because I’m just now hearing the rest of the band follow him.
“Fuck man, how did you run off stage fast enough?” Markus snaps at Adam before turning his attention to me. God, he’s so tall. I have to look up to them all, but Markus is easily 6’4”.
“Markus Cole? No fucking way,” I scoff with a bratty little smirk. I step right back into the teasing dynamic we had as kids, and he smiles seductively at me.
“Remember me well, do you, Songbird?” He winks and I roll my eyes before his arms open wide, lifting me as I jump into them. God, Markus smells amazing, too. His long, chestnut-brown hair is soft under my hands. I never thought the long hairwould be my thing, but on him?It’s such a good look, I have to keep myself from drooling.Add that to his almond skin, dark-chocolate eyes and lean frame, and he’s exceeded every fantasy I will immediately deny having of how I imagined he’d grown up.
“Nothing’s changed.” I smile, pulling back to look at him as he sets me down.
Markus gestures down to his body before smirking like the devil. “Nothing’s changed in seven years? You wound me.”
Seven years… I can’t believe it’s been that long. But I also know exactly how long it’s been. Two thousand, seven hundred and thirty-eight days since they left without a trace. One day they were there and the next,poof.
