Page 130 of On The Edge
“Fucking do something!”
“Is everything okay?” I step in, voice soft. Whatever’s causing them to stress out, maybe I can help.
“Melody?” All four voices somehow harmonize in a way that makes me wish I was recording so I could hear it over and over for the rest of my life.
“Yeah?” I ask, and they all jump to me: grabbing and holding, kissing my head, my hand, my lips, anywhere they can touch. “What’s wrong?”
“We couldn’t find you. No one could,” Markus answers, and I can hear how his speech is slightly slurred. I wish I was on his level. A drink sounds necessary right now.
“I was just in the bathroom, getting ready.”
“You could’ve gotten ready here. Where we had eyes on you.” Reis runs a hand through his hair again, but this time I can feel the anxiety leaving him as he does it.
“I—” I start to say, but Louis steps in.
“Good, she’s here. Now, it’s time to go to work.”
The guys all nod, and the crowd starts to rhythmically clap so loudly we can hear it back here.
We all walk through the back of the venue, up to the stage where the guys go to take their spots after giving me a kiss, but Kai grabs my arm gently.
“Stay in the wings, okay? I don't care what anyone else says; you stay there where we can see you.”
His eyes are fierce, but I can see the little bit of fear clouding them. Fear that my unintentional disappearing act caused. Kai stalls, running his thumb over my knuckles as he pauses.
Is it a good pause or a bad pause? I can’t tell.
“I will,” I promise. He cups my chin, holding my face softly before turning and taking his mark on stage. Paul comes up to me, clearing his throat.
“I can show you where to go.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling softly and following him. I’ll make sure to plant myself so that my guys can see me every moment they want to.
“And together,yeah/ together we’ll find paradise/ Even if it doesn’t look like we thought, baby,”Reis’ voice rings through the arena. The sobbing screams from the crowd are audible, even from back here on the wings where I stand.
I didn’t realize just how many songs of theirs I didn’t know. The set list is twelve songs, and I’d heard some as they went through rehearsal and sound check. But there are songs that they didn’t run through on the official concert list.
Swaying from side to side as I get lost in Reis' voice, in Adam’s drum beats, in Markus and Kai’s chords, I close my eyes and let myself fall into the moment. It’s amazing; the energy, the pull, the way that they bring light and excitement to this many people… I’m blown away.
“You don’t know this song?” Louis comes up, standing next to me and my mood immediately sours.
This fucking prick.
But I refuse to be the reason why the guys lose the management that’s helped them so much.
Or force them to share something with the world they aren’t quite ready for yet.
“Not this exact one, no.”
I hear his scoff over the trailing softness of the song ending right before the uproar of cheering. Reis runs over to the little table and gulps down his water, before taking a long drink of his mixed drink and shaking his arms out. He looks at me and winks before turning back to his adoring fans. Adam does a double bass kick, and I look at him as he blows me a kiss which I quickly return.
Kai’s watching me heavily, making sure I’m still there while they’re unable to leave and glares at Louis. Markus is on the opposite side of the stage. I see him flip a strand of hair out of his face that’s fallen out of his bun and ask Reis something. Reis just nods, gesturing towards me as he does.
“You know how many women these guys have brought backstage?” Louis says loud enough for me to hear, but there’s so much surrounding noise that no one else would catch it. “I’ve been working with them since the beginning and honestly, I’ve lost count. So if you’re standing here, thinking that all this attention, all this care, makes you special? Don’t get comfortable. They’re four red-blooded men in the prime of their careers. Do you really believe they’d be satisfied by just one girl who already broke their hearts?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I cross my arms and school my face so I don’t show him any of the pain coursing through me right now. They told him? Him, of all people?
I wasn’t naïve enough to think they didn’t partake in fun with their fan base, but it still hurts to hear. I hear the opening chords of the next song ring out, and I close my eyes, hopeful that Louis will fucking leave me alone.
