Page 185 of Play Dirty (Brooklyn Dawn 1)

When we had to work for the crowd.

And even though we had them tonight, we didn’t take it for granted. We didn’t allow it to be just another show. It was all too easy to do when the days blended together. But here, we brought the ruckus with our songs.

Shenanigans on stage kept the mood light. Because the next half would be intense.

Finally, it was time. I was left on the stage alone, a simple pale purple light around me. “We have a treat for you tonight.”

The crowd roared.

“I didn’t even tell you what it is yet.” I glanced over at Oz, who walked to me in the dark. It was just the two of us and his thumping bass like a heartbeat. “Or who.”

And the crowd surged again. Everyone on their feet.

“Ahh, you like that. Yeah, us too. We’ve been touring with them and just love when they do this song, so we asked them to play it for you guys. You good with that?”

Screams knocked me back a step. I didn’t even have to play pretend at it.

The screams intensified as another spotlight went over me to the small stage I used to come out at the beginning of every show. Luc Moreau’s hair was down, giving him an extra lionesque look with his thick, almost sinister beard. He was wearing ridiculously tight black jeans and boots—and that was it.

Molly was next to him in a diaphanous white romper with slits up the sides. Her long, tanned legs were killer, ending in silver strappy stilts. An old school box mic stood between them.

They waved. Molly leaned into the microphone. “A little Lita and Ozzy is okay with you guys, right?”

Oz’s thumping heartbeat was the undertone, and Jamie’s small stage started moving in the dark. My heart raced double time. I tried to slow it to Oz’s bass, but it wouldn’t be stopped.

We had six minutes to get into place.

I

zipped down to the ramp for the understage to get behind my baby grand piano. It had been awhile since I’d taken it out of the truck. Since Teagan filled in so perfectly on the piano, I only played when the mood struck.

The next song needed everything.

But above me, Luc played acoustic for “Close My Eyes Forever”, slowing it down to make it even more dreamy and sexy.

I reached behind me for my pack and switched the channel in my monitors. Darcy’s clipped voice filled my brain. The video, the crew, and stage settings were all working smoothly.

The crowd was eerily silent as if Molly and Luc put them in a trance. I could feel the hum of lust coming through the damn floorboards. They were incredible together, but some duets were just magic.

I switched back to my usual mix. Teagan’s piano and Oz’s bass kept me where I needed to be in each song.

I couldn’t see what was going on with the crowd and my band since I was below deck. Down here, it was a beautiful chaos that no one would understand other than musicians. A hive of insanity that was actually choreographed to the minute.

Charlie, our video guy, came running over to me. “We’ve got three cameras with a live feed right now. Looks like this is going to work. Let’s just hope we don’t max out the bandwidth on the Facebook and Instagram pages.”

“Thanks, Charlie. I couldn’t have gotten this together so fast without you.”

“Kick it in the ass, love.”

I grinned. “Always.”

I pulled one of my monitors out so I could hear the crowd. They were losing their damn minds as the song ramped up to the final solo. Jamie’s guitars layered over Luc’s acoustic and the song went from dreamy to metal in a heartbeat.

The crowd went wild since she should be just about over the center of the arena. Luc and Molly compensated with stunning vocals that made me fucking jealous. They were amazing and the song was epic.

But I’d be bringing it, goddammit.

The nerves were buzzing through the ends of my fingertips. We didn’t have a violinist in our repertoire, but Zane actually played with a bow on his guitar sometimes. He was excited to get to use it again. It was a rockier version of the strings in “November Rain” but it sounded so damn cool.

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