Page 10 of Hard Rock Desires

A deep, familiar voice.

The stage lit up, six unfamiliar faces at the ready with their instruments.

No. Five unfamiliar faces. Because the sixth face, the one on the left side of the stage, right in front of me, was undeniably familiar. I’d just spent the last half hour talking to that gorgeous face.

“Zain!!” The voices of a dozen women cheered over the roar reverberating through the venue. “We love you, Zain!”

Zain — the hot, conceited and considerate stranger from the alley — wailed on his guitar with a sexy smirk, dark eyes blazing with an inner fire as they scanned the crowd.

Those eyes met mine. I realized my mouth was hanging open. He grinned.

My heart thumped in my chest. Blood rushed through my ears.

He mouthed something. I couldn’t hear over the noise. But I knew the words from the shape of his lips. He winked at me.

Enjoy the show, love.

Four

Zain

I’d been right. The stage lights were brutal. But with the roaring crowd, my guitar riffs booming out of the speakers, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins, the temperature didn’t seem to matter. Not compared to the scorching heat inside me.

There was nothing like being on stage in front of an adoring audience. Fuckingnothing.

A bra went sailing across the stage and landed in front of me.

Well. Almost nothing.

I grinned as I followed the source of the bra and found a topless woman on the shoulders of a man I assumed was her boyfriend. Her hands were cupped over her mouth as she shouted something I couldn’t hear. I gave her my most smoldering look and winked at her. She swooned and nearly fell off his shoulders.

I grinned, high on the boost to my own ego.

Sure, music was my life, but I’d never say no to a naked woman. As a rock star, they came with the territory, and I couldn’t deny it was a hell of a perk.

Which reminded me…

I scanned the crowd for a certain face. Heart-shaped, with pink lips, blue eyes and a cascade of honey-blond hair. The girl I’d met in the alley.

I still couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized me. Who came to a VIP concert for Until We Break without knowing what the guitarist and male front man looked like?

But she’d been worried about me missing the concert, and she hadn’t meant as a member of the band. She really had thought I was supposed to be in the audience.

Until the concert started and our eyes met. Me, up on this stage, and her, the one who was actually out in the crowd. Her gap-faced expression had been almost hilarious. I’d surprised her, that was for damn sure.

But then Kaylee hit her drumsticks in a one-two-three pattern and we were off. I didn’t have any mental space to think about the girl from the alley. The only thing that mattered was putting on a hell of a show. It wasn’t until after the encore that I tried to spot her again.

The encore that Micah had changed last minute.

I tried not to frown, making sure to keep that seductive smirk on my lips.

But when the last few notes died down and I looked out into the audience, I didn’t see her. She’d been right up at the front. Maybe she’d taken off early. I wouldn’t have blamed her, after what she’d told me about her sister and all, especially since clubs and concerts were apparently not her thing.

When the lights went down the crowd cried and moaned, but we’d done a double encore so they couldn’t complain too much.

“That was fucking awesome!” Finn cheered in my ear as we all filed off the stage. “I love these VIP things. The fans are always so pumped.”

“Our fans are always pumped,” I reminded him.