Hot Ticket

Jessica stood beside her with both hands clutched against her chest as she watched Sed muddle his way through the song, alternating his singing with violin playing. “What’s going on?” Aggie asked her.

Jessica tore her gaze from her fiancé onstage. “Poor baby. I’ve never seen him so nervous.”

Nervous? The guy was unequivocally dynamic. How could anyone think he was capable of nervousness? Jace, on the other hand, had inched so far toward the back of the stage, Aggie rarely caught a glimpse. She could hear him though. The low pitch of his bass guitar throbbed through her entire body—the sound rich and alive and incredibly sexy.

When the song came to an end, the crowd cheered and then fell silent as Sed spoke into the microphone. “I guess you noticed the violin.”

Fans whispered to each other.

“Doc says I’m not allowed to scream for a while. So I’ll replace some of my vocals with the violin. If you hate it, blame Eric Sticks. It was all his idea.”

“I think it sounds cool!” a fan yelled.

“Yeah, cool!” someone else yelled.

The crowd broke into enthusiastic cheers.

Sed grinned. “Sinners fans are the best. You know that?”

“Oh shit,” Trey said into his microphone. “I think Sed’s gonna cry.”

“And if Sed starts crying, you know Jace will soon follow,” Brian said.

At the mention of Jace’s name, Aggie’s ears perked. She climbed a step at the side of the stage and craned her neck to see him. No luck.

“Better get a mop ready, Travis,” Trey said.

The excessively tattooed roadie tossed a sponge onto the stage. It skittered to a stop at Sed’s feet. The crowd roared with laughter. Sed picked it up and pretended to mop up tears then threw it toward the back of the stage. A discordant bass guitar note rang through the speaker and then a sponge hit Brian in the back of the head. Aggie wished she could see better.

“You shouldn’t stand on the steps,” the roadie, Travis, said. “You’ll block traffic flow.”

“But I can’t see.”

Travis’s pierced eyebrow wrinkled in confusion. “You’ve got the best seat in the house.”

“Jace,” she clarified.

“Oh.” He took her by the elbow and led her up the steps, around equipment on the edge of the stage.

When Jace came into view, her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled. Perfectly attentive to his surroundings, yet lost in his own world, he was an expert at pretending disconnection. Aggie knew better.

“Thanks,” she whispered to Travis just before the next song started.

Now that she could see Jace, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. His concentration was absolute, every note given equal care and precision. He was caught up in his music, as if nothing else in the world mattered. He played his instrument with the same care and attention he showed her when they made love. Her heart gave a painful lurch when she realized that music was his entire existence. His purpose in life. His reason for being. She would never matter to him as much as his band—these songs, this stage, any crowd. She tore her eyes from Jace and forced herself to watch the rest of the band, terrified by the direction of her thoughts. Why was she so hung up on this guy? Why did she care that she’d never be the most important thing in his life? It wasn’t as if she was contemplating a future with him. She didn’t contemplate her future at all. There was no point. If fate wanted to take her for a ride, it was beyond her control. Why even worry about it?

When her eyes drifted back to Jace, she found he was watching her. He offered his sexiest, gentlest smile, and she had the inexplicable urge to flee. She forced herself to stay put—to face these alien feelings swirling through her heart. To come to terms with the idea that he was important to her. It didn’t matter if he reciprocated her feelings. She wanted him to be happy, to be with him in any capacity he allowed—devoted and dedicated so he could pursue his first love. Music.

Oh God, I’m a groupie. Pathetic and needy. Over a guy.

What in the world was wrong with her? The foreign idea of putting someone’s needs before her own, especially a man’s, had her head spinning. So much so that she didn’t recognize the band had left the stage until an arm slid around her back and a firm pair of lips brushed her neck beneath her ear.

She shuddered and clung to Jace’s T-shirt with one hand.

“Enjoying the concert?” he murmured.

“Is it over?” she asked, astonished.

He chuckled. “Are you distracted?”

That was an understatement.

“We’re taking a short break, but Sed has a surprise for Jessica that we’re all involved in, so I can’t stay long.” Jace had left her alone in the hotel for a couple hours to practice for this surprise, but he hadn’t shared what it was. Not even when she’d taken her flail to him until he came.

The side of the stage where they stood was bathed in shadows. Aggie was certain that privacy was the only reason Jace claimed her mouth in a toe-curling kiss.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered against her lips. “That I can share this part of me with you.” He kissed her again, sucking at her lips gently. “Like you shared your passion for the dungeon with me.”

Well, that had been sort of different. He’d watched her make grown men cry, and strangely, had been okay with her twisted nature. His passion, his music, was so much more than either of them. It touched millions of people around the world. She cupped his face, his beard stubble rough against her fingertips.

“I’m glad I’m here too.” Even though it meant she had some troubling feelings to sort through.

He smiled, his even features just visible in the dim light. Jace touched his fingertips to Aggie’s cheek and then returned to the stage.

Sed took Jessica by the hand and led her toward center stage.

“What are you doing?” Aggie heard Jessica’s tremulous voice through Sed’s microphone.

“What I planned to do before you one-upped me and proposed before I had the chance.”

The band played a sweeping intro to a ballad. All three guitarists used bows on their instruments, so the music sounded more orchestral than metal. It was hauntingly romantic. When Sed started singing the tender words of a love song to Jessica, Aggie’s breath caught in her throat. The pair was so lost in each other that the twelve thousand other people in the arena were forgotten. Watching them gaze at each other brought tears to Aggie’s eyes. She’d never witnessed anything like it—unmistakable, unconditional love flowing between them—and she’d never thought she might have something like that. Never even wanted it—until now. She tore her eyes away from the couple at center stage and watched Jace, again caught up in his first love, his music. As scary as the idea was, she couldn’t deny it. She wanted that—what Sed and Jessica had. And she wanted it with Jace.