Page 86 of The Final Deal

“Alright, alright, alright—who’s ready to rock the fuck outta the New Year?” Shannon hollers, eliciting screams from the audience. He and Jay glimpse at each other as they both start: “Ten, nine…”

Everyone joins in, counting the remaining eight seconds, until?—

“Happy New Year!”

Zak captures my lips with his, a sweet New Year’s kiss that I haven’t had in two years that is somehow better than all the rest we’ve ever had. Maybe because this is it: we’ve done the thing we’ve both dreamed of since we were eighteen.

No more vampires. No more deals with the devil for Timeless. Just me, the loves of my life, and music.

But knowing I’ve persuaded so many people to hand over something they believe isn’t real for something so temporary in the grand scheme of eternity is a high like any other.

It’s powerful, it’s addictive—it’s ingrained into my soul to do this.

I was born to take over New Year’s Ball and sell my soul for rock ‘n’ roll.

Zak lifts the mic in my hand to his mouth. He gazes at me as he says, “If y’all don’t mind a special request, I’d like to play a crowd favorite in honor of my wife.”

Multiple people audibly gasp and cheer. I think everyone knows who “Dawn” was meant for—and I finally get to experience our second chance song in its full glory.

“Lovebirds,” Charlie hollers, eliciting some laughter.

Zak’s smile is contagious as he takes the mic from my hand and latches it to its stand. He begins to sing and focuses on me. “She could be the devil, and I’d still give her my soul.”

This time, as my fingers mangle themselves over the fretboard, I feel every single note as I strum them. The guitarmight be foreign, but the song is as familiar as they’ll come because my husband wrote it for me.

I spin around to look at Adrian on the drum riser. The band on his finger shimmers with each unforgivingthwackof the sticks in his hands. I can’t help but grin, and he returns it through him mouthing the lyrics his brother wrote.

He points a stick at me and mouths, “I love you.”

The night is always darkest before dawn, but it still comes and brings a bright new day—even if the devil is just below the horizon.

Zak’s guitar shrieks low as his fingers glide down the strings, signaling the impending breakdown, and my head bangs to the slowed-down rhythm that Adrian sets.

Between my husbands, nothing can touch me on stage.

Chapter 34

Anything for the Devil

–Rikets

Stage lights swirlover the stage and crowd, flashing rapidly as a breakdown starts. Foggers rapidly spew vertical white clouds between Bottomdweller and Devil’s House’s opening night crowd that packs the venue from wall to wall, and more people line out the doors hoping for a chance to score a place at the bar.

A hand squeezes mine, and a wedding band pinches my fingers. Zak stands beside me on the side stage.

“Hell fuckin’ yeah,” Liam yells through the mic. “Y’all diggin’ the new venue?”

The crowd erupts into whistles and shouts of agreement.

Liam hoots. “Yeah, so are we. Some a y’all hardcore fans might remember this one from way back when.”

They transition to an older track from their very first album—one I haven’t heard in forever—and continue playing their hearts out on San Antonio’s newest stage.

The best one that isn’t on New Year’s Eve, anyway.

Someone wraps a hand around my left arm and squeezes. Adrian tugs and tips his head. “Need you for a minute.”

I push myself up on my toes to kiss Zak’s cheek and follow Adrian off the side stage, down the walkway separated by metal railing to keep the crowd out, and behind a heavy metal door that separates the venue from the offices. I inhale the sweat-free air deeply and remove my earplugs, pocketing them as Adrian opens the door to my office.

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