Page 4

"We have a problem."

Startled, I looked up then lowered my violin slowly.

Taylor sounded nervous, but despite the ominous words, the interruption was probably a good thing. Tech rehearsal went well. Surprisingly well. Playing with the band was new, but I'd practiced. I knew the material. HERS' s catalog felt good under my hands. The four songs I was set to accompany were second nature at this point. And yet, here I was, still studying the sheet music, going through the fingerings one last time.

"What's up?" Hayden asked.

"Felix is missing," Taylor said to the room. Everyone seemed to pause at her words —well except Ryker, who had earphones in, head back with his eyes closed, as he tapped out beats on his legs. Maybe he didn't hear?

"Again?" Elliot asked.

"Sounds like Felix," Hayden said.

I cleared my throat then asked the question burning in my mind. "Does he go missing often?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Elliot shrugged. " Usually happens before big life events."

"Remember that time we couldn't find him at his graduation?" Hayden said. "Turned out he was taking a nap in the teacher's lounge . Almost missed his turn to walk across the stage ."

"Or when we threw that surprise party for his 18th," Santino put in. "He walked in a half hour late, didn't say anything except he got 'held up by a girl.'"

"Or when he disappeared before battle of the bands. No explanation then either."

Huh. Well, that 's odd.

But even stranger was how unconcerned they all seemed with this new development.

Taylor seemed to agree.

Their manager looked down at her watch then back to the guys. "The re's only 30 minutes till showtime . What will we do if he's not here?"

Santino gave a shrug. " Guess I'll have to play then."

"Yeah, right," Hayden said with a frown, "and push your recovery back even further? No way, man . We need you at a hundred percent. You won't get there unless you rest and let your wrist heal."

"But—"

"We discussed this."

"Did we, though?"

"You're on triangle until further notice."

Santino frowned, and I bit back a laugh. The guy didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but in the next second, his face brightened.

Hayden threw him a suspicious look. "Why are you smiling?"

"Just thinking how fun it's going to be, stealing the spotlight from you with nothing but my tiny triangle."

"As if you could."

Santino nodded. "I'm going to pull out all the stops . You'll see ."

"Can't wait," Hayden said. "While you're doing that, I'll be playing the hell out my guitar."

"Low blow, man."

Elliot rolled his eyes. "You guys, focus. No one's going to be playing anything unless we find our bass player."

Santino shot him a wounded look, and Elliot held his hands up.

"Our stand-in bass," he said. "That better?"

Santino sniffed. "Yeah , I guess."

Taylor started pacing. "I can't believe this is happening. It's only our first tour stop . He was here five minutes ago. Where could he have gone?"

Ryker stood from his chair where he'd been tapping out rhythms with his sticks.

"Chill, Taylor," he said and removed his earbuds . "I got this."

"Chill?" she repeated then laughed a little hysterically. She was obviously well on her way to freak-out mode. "We have no bass player. Your brother abandoned us. This tour was supposed to solidify HERS as a household name. And that's all you've got to say?"

"He'll come back."

Taylor exhaled heavily, and I thought I heard her mumble, "I'm too old for this," before leaving the room. Once she was gone, Ryker stepped to the center of the space. He eyed each of us then nodded.

"We need to find my brother," he said.

Hayden scoffed. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

The drummer merely threw him a scowl. "Hayden , you check backstage and ask if anyone's seen him . Elliot, go check the bus—maybe he forgot something. Santino you check the storage closets."

"Why?" Santino asked with a frown—at Ryker's look, he nodded in understanding . "Ah, in case , he decided to hook up with someone . Got it."

My throat tightened at that, but I shook it off.

Now was so not the time to get jealous.

Felix was MIA.

I had to help find him.

"What can I do?" I asked.

They'd been about to leave but remembered me at the last second. Ryker still frowned, but his eyes gentled.

"Do what you need to, Aurora ," he said. "We'll find Felix . He does this sometimes. It's no big deal. "

I nodded but felt my mouth turn down. "Okay."

No big deal?

Really?

"Plus, you must be nervous," Elliot added. "It's your first time touring, right? You just relax."

"Yeah, we'll be right back," Hayden said. "If you want a distraction , turn on the TV over there. It shows different views of the venue. Pretty cool."

They were gone a second later.

I found that I couldn't sit still. Part of me was worried for Felix—a bigger part than I wanted to admit, much more than our short time of knowing each other warranted . The other part was curious but scared about checking the TV. With nothing else to do but wait, I convinced myself to look. Better to be informed…right?

Wrong.

After hitting the power button, I immediately heard the low murmur of the concert attendees . That, in and of itself, wasn't what made my stomach churn. It showed the venue, like Hayden said. And a look at the massive crowd . At first, the colors on screen kind of looked like a painting. But then I noticed they were all moving. Each dot was a person, and the sheer number made me queasy.

Bile rose, and I knew I needed to find a bathroom.

Fast.

Luckily, I remembered the one not far down the hall. Crashing inside the ladies room , I went to the nearest toilet, and dry heaved over it. I waited for something to come up—then remembered. I hadn't eaten much today, knowing this might happen. My stomach clenched again. Crowds made me nervous. They always had. But if I wanted to be a musician, I needed to get over that. And I was determined to do it. Closing my eyes, breathing deep, I counted to ten in my head. This was what I needed. Some alone time to fill my energy tank before going out there.

Under the lights.

In front of everyone.

My breaths grew short; my stomach pitched, but before I could move, a groan sounded from nearby.

I froze, listening.

The sound came again.

It was coming from the last stall.

Stepping back out, I slowly walked that way—and blinked at what I saw.

Felix was curled up on the floor. His eyes were closed tight, brow scrunched. He made that noise, and I dropped to my knees beside him.

"Hey," I said softly. "It's okay. "

He stilled.

His dark hair was all disheveled, some of it laying across his forehead, and I used gentle fingertips to push it back.

Felix peeked one eye open, saw me, then groaned again.

"What?" I asked in alarm. "Do you need me to get someone?"

"No," he croaked.

"Are you sure?"

He gave a tight nod.

For some reason, I was still touching his hair, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, slowly, little by little, his body relaxed. The hands holding his abdomen released. His spine gradually uncurled. After a minute, he sat up with his back against the wall. His dark eyes met mine, intense and brooding. I had no idea what he was thinking.

"Well," he said finally. "This is embarrassing."

I frowned. "Don't be embarrassed."

"Easy to say, princess."

My lips pulled down farther, but I kept my voice soft as I said, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

He shot me a dubious look.

"Everyone's looking for you, you know."

"And you found me."

For some reason, my heart thudded inside my chest.

"I did," I said.

His eyes narrowed as he searched my face. "Any chance you could forget about my…"

"Panic attack?"

"Yeah, right." Felix looked away, crossing his arms. "Those are a myth."

"No, they're really not. A lot of people get them. It's nothing to be ashamed of, Felix." I tilted my head , studying him as he avoided my gaze. "But I can forget if you want."

Felix's head snapped in my direction.

"Yeah?" he said.

I nodded.

"Thanks, princess," he said gruffly.

"No problem." I shook my head. "But you probably shouldn't call me that."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm about as far from a princess as you can get," I said with a laugh, thinking about all my issues. "And no one else does. My family calls me Ror—which is a kind of ironic—and to everyone else, it's Aurora."

Felix cocked his chin. "Does it bother you?"

"No, but—"

"Then I'll stick with princess."

I shook my head. "Why?"

"Just how I see you."

His words made my heart pound faster.

Which was ridiculous.

That could mean anything. Maybe he saw me as stuck-up or high maintenance. Or beautiful, my mind whispered. But what were the chances of that?

A second later, Felix's brow furrowed. "Was that you I heard? Before? "

Realizing what he meant, my cheeks went red. "Uh yeah, I wasn't feeling well."

His gaze seemed to sharpen, suddenly more alert. "Are you sick?"

"No, I just get nervous around crowds," I said. "Sometimes, I even freeze up. That's the worst."

Felix nodded. "People can be scary."

My eyes went to his. "It's a stupid fear though."

"What's stupid about it?" he said. " Fears hardly ever make sense."

I lifted a brow.

"It would be stranger if you weren't scared."

"Yeah, right," I said.

"It's a big audience," Felix pointed out.

I nodded. " 3,200 seats."

"Did you look that up?"

I shrugged. Of course, I had. I'd searched the specs for every stop on the tour, couldn't help myself. It ease d my mind a little.

"Alright, well, that many seats plus probably twice that sitting and standing in the grass."

My throat tightened.

"This first show is supposed to be sold out."

"It is?" I asked.

He nodded. "Like I said, it would be weird if you weren't—"

"Excuse me," I mumbled, diving toward the toilet bowl.

Again, I dry heaved, trying to block out the fact that Felix was witnessing my moment of weakness. But that was easier said than done. It became impossible when I felt his hands ease into my hair, holding it back away from my face.

"Ah," he said, "sorry, princess."

"What are you sorry for?" I asked.

"Should've thought before I said anything."

I shook my head. "Not your fault."

"Disagree on that."

As I sat back up, trying to catch my breath, I felt his fingers tighten in my hair before releasing. The strands fell from his fingers, and I watched him watch them before coming up to meet my eyes. I immediately missed his touch—even if it was just on my hair. The feeling had been foreign yet wonderful. And how crazy was it that I was currently sitting on a bathroom floor across from a guy I hardly knew, and I somehow found anything romantic about this situation?

Seriously, there was something wrong with me.

I shook my head. "Like I said, not really princess material."

Felix stayed quiet.

"You could be a prince though."

He scoffed at that.

"I bet you're not scared of anything," I said.

"You'd lose that bet," he said back.

"Cool, collected, confident rockstar with not a care in the world."

"Wrong."

"Am I?"

"Maybe we should reintroduce ourselves," he said then held out a hand. "Felix Cordova. My biggest fear is messing up, onstage or off , and letting down the ones I love most. I'm no prince. But I'll hold your hair back if you need it."

When he lifted his chin in challenge, I sat a little taller.

"Aurora Kent," I said. " Too many fears to mention, but the top three are probably crowds, hot guys, and letting life pass me by. Waking up one day and realizing I never even tried, never went for my dreams . Not perfect or poised enough to be a princess. Just happy to be here, and hoping I don't puke onstage."

As I took his hand, we shook, and I couldn't stop the smile that appeared.

"Nice to meet you, Felix."

"You too," he said , giving my outfit a nod. "Mercury do that?"

Swallowing, I looked down at myself. "Yeah, she's going to be so mad if I messed up my hair . Do es it look okay?"

His eyes moved from the smooth waves of my long brown hair, down to the blazer with black rhinestone trim and fitted shirt underneath to the dark jeans that fit me like a glove to the black rocker boots that laced up to my knees . When our gazes collided, his eyes were bright, and my cheeks were on fire.

"You look good," Felix said roughly.

"We better get back," I said, shivers running down my spine as his fingers brushed against mine . "Before Taylor has a heart attack."

Felix nodded, and once we were standing, he held out something to me.

It was a little bottle of mouthwash.

He shrugged. "Always be prepared, right?"

"Thanks," I murmured. After swishing and spitting as inconspicuously as possible, I rinsed with water, then he stepped up to the sink and did the same. When we walked out and found the band waiting by the stage, everyone looked at us. Ryker was the first to nearly tackle his brother.

"All good?" I heard him say to Felix, and it was clear by the look on his face that he knew about the panic attacks.

"All good," Felix confirmed.

Ryker gave me a searching look, and I nodded. I was good. Definitely better than a few minutes ago.

"Now that we're all finally here," Taylor said, sounding exasperated and relieved at once, "get out there and give these people a show they'll never forget."

The guys nodded, and I picked up my violin.

As I walked onstage, Hayden was already revving up the crowd. The sheer volume of sound was startling. The bright lights shined down as I took my mark. I was behind HERS, not in the spotlight but close enough to feel the heat. The people were eating up every word as Santino and Hayden welcomed everyone. Ryker was holding a steady tempo on the drums, his kick drum like a heartbeat . Elliot stood at the front of the stage cool as a cucumber as the fans screamed . Felix was somewhere, but my gaze was stuck on all those faces in the crowd. I closed my eyes trying to center myself, but then the first notes of the opening song of the set sounded, and it was time.

Suddenly, something blocked out all those lights.

I opened my eyes and saw Felix standing right in front of me.

"Don't think about it," he said. "Just play."

Easy for him to say.

"And if you need a distraction, just look at me."

Felix shot me a wink as I shook my head and bit back a smile.

But I ended up doing exactly what he said.

Whenever it got to be too much, I'd look over at him, and it was like everything else disappeared. Playing with Felix was like breathing. Easy, effortless, and exhilarating.

The best part?

He was looking at me too.