Page 37 of The Temptation of Truth

I can only see her from the waist up, but I can tell she’s changed clothes. Instead of the blue cotton dress she had on in the hallway, she’s wearing something black and strapless. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a sleek ponytail, with her curtain bangs framing her heart-shaped face. I squint, trying to refine my view. I want to see her eyes. Her lips. The slope of her shoulders where they meet her neck. I find myself interested in every little detail. She’s got a necklace decorating her collarbone, and I’m studying the jewelry when movement just behind her snags my attention.

I flinch and my stomach drops. A feeling I can’t process overwhelms me, and for the first time in years, I fumble the beat.

I tear my gaze from the VIPs and focus on my floor tom. I adjust my grip on my sticks, then close my eyes to reorient my body with the music in my ear monitors. I take several deep breaths to get my shit together, and when I’m certain I’m seeing clearly, I cast my attention back toward the VIP tent.

Kat.

I blink again.

She’s still there. Standing behind Aurora, scrolling on her phone. She’s absolutely impossible to miss now that I know she’s there. I’m not sure how I didn’t see her to begin with.

I bring my attention back to my drum set, careful to skip right over my manager’s twenty-three-year-old niece and her sexy, bare shoulders.

Kat’s here.

My girlfriend’s here in Melbourne, when she wasn’t supposed to come until Auckland. She must have cancelled her other events. She must have cancelled them so she could come early. She cancelled themfor me.

Sav said if Kat wanted to, she would.

Aurora said it, too.

And now, Kat has. She’s done something to make me a priority, and for the fucking life of me, I can’t ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach.

9

AURORA

I’m floatingon a cloud of shared euphoria.

A high induced by the drug that is The Hometown Heartless.

When I was sixteen, I walked out of their concert in Phoenix changed in ways I couldn’t put into words. I swore I could feel the vibrations of their energy in the air for weeks after that concert, and the world seemed brighter, more vibrant, somehow. I felt more alive than I ever had. I’d lost that feeling for a while, and I didn’t even realize it until tonight.

“Thanks so much for having us, Melbourne. You’ve been absolutely beautiful.”

Everyone around me cheers as Sav’s voice carries throughout the stadium. I pull my eyes away from Mabel and fix them on Sav. She’s grinning at the audience as her skin glistens with sweat. She looks like she’s glowing. Like she’s living, breathing neon.

“This was just what we needed to kick things off for the Riot She Wrote Tour, and you definitely set the bar high.”

A drumbeat sounds—Mabel expressing her agreement with Sav’s statement—and my eyes dart back to her. Back to where they’ve been for most of the show. There’s no questioning thatSav Loveless is the one who draws the crowds. With a voice and attitude like hers, how can she not be? But I’d be lying if I said she was the center of my attention tonight.

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning as I look at Mabel. I can’t even see her that well because of the drums, but I can hear her. I’ve heard her over everything else. She’s integral. Sav Loveless may be the frontwoman of this world-famous rock band, but Mabel Rossi is the heartbeat.

I’ll see you after the show, she’d said.

I replay her voice in my head and count the backflips that take place in my stomach. It takes Sav’s husky voice to bring me back to the present. When I look at the lead singer, I find her grinning conspiratorially as if she’s in on a secret with the audience. When she speaks, it all makes sense.

“Melbourne, even though we’re saying good night...”

Her voice cuts off as the crowd responds immediately, “It’s not goodbye!”

“But just in case, so you don’t forget us, back there is Mabel on drums, we’ve got Jonah here on guitar, this is Torren on bass, my name is Sav Loveless, and we’re The Hometown Heartless. Thank you so fucking much, Melbourne! We love you. Have a great night.”

The stage lights dim, and shadowy figures of the band leave one by one, but no one in the audience moves. In fact, the moment the darkened stage is empty, the chanting begins.

Encore, encore, encore.

I can feel the words echoing in my chest. The stadium floor vibrates under my feet from the force of the crowd’s stomping, too. I read that Heartless concerts regularly cause earthquake-like activity. I bet it’s happening right now.