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Ican’t run off stage from him again.ButGodhelp me,Ican’t let him kill me again, either.

Chapter29

“Rain”

–40 Below Summer

Adrianyells somethingIcan’t discern through the guitars and vocals feeding through my in-ear monitors.Hethrows a drumstick atShannon, hitting him on the back, and expertly grabs a spare from the black bag hanging by his kit.

Shannonspins around with the mic at his lips as he sings to glare atAdrianuntilZakstarts to push him aside.

Thosedark red eyes focus solely on me.

Shannonimmediately shoves him away with athudpounding through the sound system when the mic hitsZak’schest.Hetries to push past, butRobbieintervenes and grabs one arm whileShannongrabs the other, and they drag him off stage.

AdrianandIcontinue playing, looking at each other with a mixture of concern and panic.

Whatthe fuck do we do now?

Irun across the stage to his platform, hop up, and yell in his ear, “Solotime, baby!”

Henods and bangs on cymbals and kick drums.Idrag my pick up strings to drone low while slipping to the side stage—the perfect, inconspicuous transition to an unplanned drum solo.

“Whatthe fuck was that?”Tyyells over the crowd going nuts forAdrian.

Igive my slightly bloodied guitar to the tech and hold out my hand toTy. “Mindpatching me up?”

Heturns to grab a first aid kit, quick to swipe it clean with peroxide that burns.Then, he presses a bandage with a stripe of antibacterial ointment over my palm.

Itry to pull my hand away, butTygrips it and presses a kiss to my palm.

Hisbrown eyes are deadly serious. “You’retelling me what’s going on after this.”

Insteadof arguing,Igrab my spare guitar from the tech and return to the stage, fingers posed in a power chord on the fretboard and strumming along to the beat ofAdrian’ssolo.

He’scovered in sweat, slick dark hair sticking to his temples and muscles shimmering as he hammers away.

“Yougood?” he mouths.

Nodding,IcatchShannonandRobbiesternly talking withZak, who looks at anything else except me.

Iface the crowd and jump up onto risers, tapping out a solo to complementAdrian’slicks.Thefans before me scream as a photographer snaps a few photos.

WhenIglance down, it’sBrandywho shoots me a genuine smile.Ikneel down right in front of her and make a serious stank face right at the lens for her to capture.Sheglances to my right and juts her chin that direction.

Shannongives me a thumbs up.

Ihop down and segue into the next song asShannon,Zak, andRobbiefile out from the side stage.

Iglance over atZakmore thanIshould.Ormaybe just the right amount to make sureIdon’t face the endless abyss again.Eitherway, it’s not necessarily because of his vampire tendencies.

Guitarsring and die out as the crowd screams.

Zaksituates himself in front of his mic stand, pausing to let his gaze sweep over the crowd.Hislong dark hair sways in the breeze. “Shecould be the devil, andI’dstill give her my soul.”

Mybreath catches.Istare at the shimmering deep blue guitar hanging from me asIforce myself to pluck the opening riff.

Theonly wayI’vebeen able to practice it without crying so much was by watching and listening to a playthrough video without the lyrics.AndnowIhave to stand here in front of all these people, side by side with him, to perform the songZakwrote to get over me.