Page 44 of Reverb
“Good.” Her lips grazed his ear, and it was all he could do to not gasp or moan. Not that anyone would have heard it over the music from the stage. Through the buzzing in his brain, the thump of the bass, and the beat of the drums pounding through his body, it occurred to him that beingthisblatant with Mish might not be the smartest idea, especially with a nosy reporter running around out there.
But at least David knew exactly where Mish was. And right now? No one was getting any closer to her than him.
Mish’s heart pounded. Two Times Strong’s set had been stellar and pumped up the crowd so much that when the house lights went down for Twisted Wishes, the screams and shouts of the audience had been mind-numbingly loud, even through her ear protection. They’d burst out onto the stage and those calls and yells got louder, like the roar of a storm, and they were all for them.
When Ray leapt across the stage, Zavier burst into the beat of their opening song. Mish and Domino crashed into sound and then Ray’s voice was there, and they were off, blowing their fans out of their shoes.
Mid-concert, Mish’s head spun with so much passion, she didn’t know how she was still on her feet. Especially given the heels she’d strapped on. But hell, she’d played these kinds of concerts before, the ones where the fans were screaming and dancing, and each note played was a love letter to them.
Ray was already shirtless. She danced through the end of “Haze,” then met with Ray away from the mics.
He had the devil’s grin. “You ready to sing?” Over his shoulder, the audience pulsed like a giant heart.
“Kiddo, you know it!” Singing at the previous show had been a dream come true. Doing it again would be unreal. “Let’s go.”
Ray bounced on his toes, then sauntered to his mic. “Hey, Syracuse, you all having a good time?”
The roar of the crowd was intense.
“So are we!” Ray pumped his fist into the air. When the crowd quieted down a tad, he continued, “You probably heard we’re doing something a little different with ‘Finding Light,’ right?”
More screams, which sent pinpricks up Mish’s arms.
They could probably see Ray’s grin from the lawn without the projection on the screens, it was so wide and brilliant. “Wanna hear Mish sing with me?”
Louder screams. Holy shit, David had been right—this crowd was primed.
“Okay.” Ray stripped the mic from the stand and did his bounce-bounce-jump move toward the very edge of the stage. “Here we go!”
They launched into “Finding Light,” and Mish danced and played through the opening bars, then shimmied up to the mic and belted out the first verse. As soon as she sang the first words, the fans in the pit went wild. Beyond that, she could only make out a throbbing mass of humanity and hear the roar over Dom’s guitar and Zavier’s drums, and her own deep bass.
Last show, Ray had sung the first verse, but they figured switching it up would keep the fans on their toes. Ray joined in for the chorus, and she crossed the stage to play with Domino for the next verse. From the pit, fans reached for them and the look in their eyes was ecstatic. She’d never been sure the band deserved that, but they worked to live up to every expectation.
By the end of the song, she was flying on adrenaline, the crowd, and the rush of the music. This was the best fucking job in the world. During the cheers while they all took drinks of water, Mish spotted David near the entrance to the pit, his arms crossed, which only showed off his muscular arms. His smile was stunning. Maybe it was the lights, but his eyes seemed to drink her in. She shivered.
Usually after these concerts, she was a heady combination of exhausted, wired, and horny. David was more than a chance to curl her toes and burn off excess energy, though. He was—god. She didn’t know. Fearless. Funny. He cared about her, butlistened, too, which was so damn rare.
She nodded his way, which he’d see, but the fans would take as an acknowledgement of them—which it was as well.
David nodded back. He’d called her a goddess, but at the moment, he was a magnificent god watching over her. Over them all.
Ray took the mic again, much to the delight of the fans, and they launched into another song. On and on it went, until they’d reached the end of their set.
Two stellar, heart-pounding encores later, and they were heading back to the dressing rooms. All Mish wanted to do was find David, a wall, and some privacy, because that had been an amazing show.
But she and the rest of the band had to clean themselves up enough for the signing event, then make it through talking to a hundred buzzed fans. Then she and David would pile back into their very separate buses and head to New Hampshire.
However, she fully intended to have him in her hotel bed before she fell asleep tonight. Or tomorrow. Whenever the fuck they made it to the hotel. That boy was going to behers.
Thank god nothing unusual happened in the signing line. She was careful not to lay anything on the table, and their crew had told the fans that the band couldn’t take any gifts. She got smiles, wide eyes, and stories that left her breathless and misty-eyed, but no more jewelry.
When the last person passed through, she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. “That was fucking awesome.” How was it that everything kept getting better? Then again, they’d been through some pretty rough shit to get to this point, so maybe this was payback for that.
“It really was.” Ray sounded happy and exhausted, much like her.
Zavier cupped the back of Ray’s neck with his hand and had this look of supreme satisfaction as he stared out past the table, probably at nothing at all.
Domino—well, Dom now—had his head on Adrian’s shoulder. The latter had taken a seat next to his lover once the final fans had left. Adrian’s lips were moving, but whatever he was saying to Dom didn’t travel to her ears. Zavier must have overheard, though, because he chuckled.
