5. Chapter Five
5
Evan
Me and the guys are getting prepared to get on stage, after Mia spent ten minutes searching high and low inside my dressing room, and I’m more nervous than usual. The dream I had about Mia is still replaying in my head and I can’t seem to shake it.
A knock on my dressing room door has me turning and I find Brent leaning into the doorway with a frown on his face. “You alright, man? You’re seeming off today.”
The last thing he needs to know is that I’m dreaming about the woman who’s supposed to be watching my back, he’d only tell me I need to get my head out of my ass and realize she’s completely off-limits.
I nod, running a hand through my blonde hair, and give him a small smile. “I’m good, just thinking about everything that happened the other night.”
Since we’ve been on the road, trying to get to our next destination for the tour, it’s been a couple of nights since the incident that happened in my dressing room. Mia has been an emotionless statue since then, keeping her eyes peeled for anything suspicious, and I hate how much the sight of determination makes my heart rate speed up.
“Well, I’m sure Mia’s got it all under control. You just get out on the stage and rock your heart out like you do any other night.”
“You’re right,” I say while rising from my chair. “They ready for us?”
“Jessie is finishing her last song now, and then we’ll get into position for our entrance.”
Carmen made the right call when she asked Jessie to open for our tour, something Mack never bothered doing because he didn’t want the attention taken off the band. Jessie is super talented, well on her way to becoming a pop star, and her music doesn’t clash with ours in the slightest. It’s the perfect way to get her music out into the world, while still keeping us front and center for our fans.
“Cool, cool,” I say breathlessly. “Have you seen Mia?”
I half-expected her to be waiting outside my door the entire time, making sure no one got within ten feet of me, but looking around Brent’s frame I can tell she’s not.
He nudges his head in the direction of the stage and smirks. “She’s currently arguing with Rory at the front of the stage, demanding that they allow her to stand out there with them so she can keep an eye on everything better.”
I’m not sure how that would be a better position for her, but I’ve learned in the short she’s been assigned to me that it’s better not to argue about it.
Jace rushes down the hall, coming to a stop breathlessly in front of us, and hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “You might want to get Mia before she kicks Rory’s ass.”
Rory is the Head of Security that we have at each show – as long as we pay for his flight, he meets us at each location and keeps a good eye on things in the front row. There’s been too many incidents where girls from the front would try to jump up on stage, especially when we first started out, and Rory was the first one to offer his services throughout the entirety of our future tours.
Of course, we’ve got other security that looks after the crowd, but Rory is our guy.
“Shit,” I mutter before quickly taking off for the pit.
Sure enough, when I get to the opening that leads from backstage to the ground, Mia’s standing in front of Rory with her nostrils flaring and hands propped on her hips. Her face is red with anger, eyes narrowed in thin slits, and she’s giving him a death glare that makes me want to cower back – and she’s not even aiming it at me.
“Mia,” I hiss when I approach them, flanked by a few of the other security staff so the crowd doesn’t get too close to me.
She glances at me, but only for a brief moment before all her attention goes back to Rory.
I blow out a rough breath and look between the two of them. Rory looks as though he’s unaffected, but the thin sheet of sweat running down his temple is enough to show me that Mia’s got him terrified.
“What’s going on?”
Rory looks at me, pleading with me to help him out, and crosses his arms over his chest with a frown. “She’s trying to take over our job down here, but I told her that won’t fly, and she can go back behind the stage.”
Mia growls in front of him, forcing me to snap my attention to her. “I’m his bodyguard. If you were doing your job well enough, maybe someone wouldn’t have been able to sneak backstage and get into his dressing room.”
Before I can put an end to it or take notice, Mia’s hand flies up, and she punches Rory in the jaw. It’s hard enough that his head snaps to the side, his eyes widening a fraction at her strength before it’s replaced with a glare.
I expect her to cower back, but there’s a smirk on her face as she looks at him, and she asks, “Ready to be on my side yet?”
Her outburst with Rory has a vivid memory replaying in my head, one that I tried hard to forget… but apparently not good enough.
I’m about to place a kiss against Summer’s shoulder blade as we stand in the middle of a large crowd, but a force from behind me pushes us forward, and I’ve got to clamp my arm around her waist before she hits the ground. I whip around, more than ready to pound whoever's face got in our way, but I’m thrown off when Summer jumps from her hold in my arms and stomps in front of me.
Her nostrils flare, her finger hovering in front of the stranger's face, and I clench my fists as he smirks at her small form. There’s something about the way she’s holding her own that tells me she could easily take the guy acting like she’s a joke, and that only turns me on even more.
“Summer,” I say, my hand coming out and wrapping around her elbow. “It’s not worth it. Let’s head back to the bar and take a break.”
My touch seems to soothe her anger, and she relaxes into it. Then, she spits a few colorful words at the stranger before stomping away from the crowd and over to our respective seats, which we’ve occupied most of the night.
The memory fades as soon as Summer’s blue eyes clash with mine, and I cock my head to the side as I look at Mia. My heart beats wildly in my chest as I study her more in-depth.
This can’t be right.
My dream was only that… a dream.
There’s not supposed to be truth behind it.
Summer is the woman I met all those years, the one who walked out on me without so much as a word in her wake – not Mia. I blink a few times, trying to plead with the image of Summer to go away and replace it with Mia’s face, but they’re the same.
Her limbs are more defined than they were six years ago, lean muscle against the fabric, but the curves that I remember putting my hands on are still there. I remember not being able to look away from her eyes when we first met, and I find myself staring into them once again.
It’s hard for me to comprehend that she’s the woman I couldn’t get off my mind.
“Evan,” Brent says, pulling me from my realization with an elbow to the ribs.
I grunt and narrow my eyes at him. “What, man?”
He nods his head toward the stage, which is blacked out and waiting for us to get onto it, and says, “It’s time.”
“I need a minute,” I say, not taking my eyes off Mia as she stares at me with a frown on her face. “Mia, could I speak to you backstage for a moment?”
She blinks, clearly surprised that I could be taking Rory’s side over hers — she has no idea. I nudge my head toward the entrance I walked out of, waiting until I know she’s following me before heading through the door.
Brent hangs back for a second until I glare at him and send his frame scurrying in the opposite direction.
“What is it? Do I need to check your dressing room again?” She shakes her head and frowns. “I’ve never made mistakes, but I’ll get to the bottom of it right now.”
Before she can make it too far past me, I throw my hand out and clamp it around her elbow. Now that I know who she is, and why she’s felt familiar to me, I suck in a breath at the electricity that shoots up my arm. It happened six years ago, something I’ve never felt before, and the reason I wanted to get her number before our night was over.
It never got that far, though, because the moment I walked away and left her alone in my room, she disappeared from my life.
“What are you doing?”
The crowd might be going wild in the distance, stomping all over the seats circling the stage, but I can still hear her question perfectly clear. I’m itching to place the guitar in my arms and listen to the roars of excitement, yet I’m frozen in place in front of Mia.
“I should be asking you that same question, Summer .”
She rips her arm out of my hold and shakes her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You should get started on your show before the crowd gets antsy.”
Maybe she’s right, and my head’s just bringing up true events and replacing them with Mia’s face. I stare at her for a moment, trying to convince my brain that she’s someone else, and it works for the time being.
I’m about to tell her I’m sorry for dragging her away from the job she was sent here to do, but a throat clears behind me.
“We’ve held them off long enough, and we gotta give them a show, Ev,” Brent says from the stage, his hair already glistening with sweat.
I’ll have to talk to her later
I give him a curt nod, then glance at Mia with a soft gaze before backing away from her and stepping onto the stage.
***
Brent smacks my back as we make our way back to the dressing rooms, my eyes looking at my closed door warily, and he asks, “What the hell was up with you tonight? I’ve never seen you so off.”
Jace chooses that moment to come up, and I sigh heavily. “I may have found out that I’ve met Mia before.”
Both of their eyebrows jump and it doesn’t surprise me that Brent’s the one to ask questions – Jace will just stand there and listen, then give his small piece of advice.
“What are you talking about?”
I run a hand through my hair. “Before I joined the band, I met Mia… or rather, had an amazing night with her that I couldn’t stop thinking about… I think, maybe. God, I don’t even know anymore, man.”
Jace scoffs at that. “Obviously, if you didn’t recognize her as soon as she stepped up to the door.”
“She told me her name was Summer. There was no indication that she was the one who walked through our front door,” I mutter.
“Well, shit,” Brent mumbles. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ve got to sit down and try talking to her, right? Get this figured out?”
“I meant about her job.” I blink at him, confused with where he’s going with things, and he rolls his eyes. “She’s off-limits. Your history might be enough for her to get fired. It might be in your best interest to not get too caught up in the past and focus on what’s going on right now.”
Even though I’ve only spent one night with her years ago and a small amount of time around her since she started working for me, the thought of her being away sends a pang in my chest that has me fidgeting in place.
I’ll figure it out.
Which is exactly what I tell the guys before I hightail it into my dressing room.
There could be no reason to panic. It’s clear she has someone in her life, considering she’s got a child, and maybe it’s like I figured… my overactive imagination.