Chapter 22
Cruz
The rest of the day seemed to fly by flawlessly.
Without Vulture around to sabotage everything, there were no more kinks with the stage or the sound. Though knowing Ronnie could be lurking in the shadows, biding his time to strike, still kept my wolf on edge.
After lunch I’d taken Daisy home and let her rest until it was time for her to get ready. There was a stylist waiting for her, but she decided at the last minute to keep things simple and more intimate.
“I don’t want all the glamour. I just want to sing for my new friends,” she insisted.
I loved it.
But as it grew closer to time for her to take the stage, I found myself growing anxious for her. She didn’t appear nervous in the least, but I was a wreck.
It didn’t help that there had been no sign of Ronnie anywhere. From all I’d heard about the guy, this seemed very strange.
Then at the five-minute curtain call, I saw him. He was standing right there in the crowd wearing black pants and a black hoodie.
I didn’t dare approach him myself. I didn’t want to make a scene or anything, especially when Daisy was about to take the stage.
Grabbing my phone, I shot off a message to the group, snapped a quick pic of him and added it to the text.
Silas and Painter were standing guard on either side of the stage. They glanced at their phones but otherwise gave no reaction. I could see Silas’s lips moving, but otherwise he remained as still as a statue.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected but thought they would rush in to take him out or something. We were losing time, and Daisy could walk out on the stage at any second. I needed him gone before that happened.
As I started to text as much, I noticed Baine, Tarron, and Jake moving in slowly from different directions.
My heart was racing, and I felt helpless just standing there watching.
We’d discussed this scenario earlier and I was told not to react or try to go after him myself. That was a lot harder to do than I expected.
Stealthily, they closed in on him. He didn’t appear to even notice until the very last second. Jake had his arm pulled behind him and Baine was whispering something into his ear as they slowly backed away.
At first Ronnie didn’t seem to react. He did have an odd smirk on his lips though.
Then, as they reached the edge of the crowd, something changed.
He started fighting back against them. Even from my distance I could of sworn I heard the snap of his shoulder as Jake held firm on his grip.
But then the band walked out on stage and the crowd began to roar in excitement. Everyone was jumping to their feet and for a moment I lost sight of Ronnie. When I found him again, they were already at the clubhouse shoving him inside.
My phone beeped, and I glanced down to look at it.
TARRON: Suspect acquired and restrained.
I breathed a sigh of relief, then looked back up just in time to see Daisy Brooks skip out onto the stage, waving her hand into the air.
She was wearing a basic white tank top and a much-too-large plaid shirt, open and tied into a knot over her belly button.
It took me a moment to realize that shirt was mine.
My wolf growled happily in my head. Mine.
To complete the outfit, she had on a short denim skirt, high-heeled, rhinestone-studded cowgirl boots, and a matching cowgirl hat.
I wasn’t sure what her usual attire looked like, but damn, I could get used to this look.
She was stunning and lit up the stage.
The whistles, squeals, and cheers seemed to go on forever until at last, she spoke into the mic.
“Collier, Wyoming, I’m so excited to be here with you tonight!”
Somehow the noise from the crowd grew impossibly louder.
This was a very small concert by Daisy’s standards, and it was outdoors, yet the cheers were deafening. How much louder would one of her normal concerts be? I couldn’t even imagine it.
She motioned with her hand for them to quiet down and, much to my surprise, they did.
“Hey y’all. I’m Daisy Brooks.”
This earned another round of cheers impossibly louder than the last.
I made a mental note to invest in noise cancelling headphones for the next concert I attended. This was insane, and my sensitive wolf ears were in pain from all the noise.
How did she manage this all the time?
She waved them quiet once more.
“I’m really happy to be here with all of you today.
A big thanks to Lily and Sydney for throwing it altogether so quickly.
This is going to be a little different from my usual concerts.
I wanted to keep it more real and intimate for tonight.
So I’m going to kick off tonight with just me and my guitar.
It’s been a whirlwind of a week here in Collier.
Most importantly, I met someone very special to me, and this song’s for him. Let me know what you think.”
She started strumming her guitar and her beautiful voice sounded like birds on the open range.
It immediately sucked me in and drew me closer to her.
Ben even snaked out a hand to stop me from walking toward her.
I wasn’t doing it consciously, more like the song and Daisy’s voice was pulling me toward her like a magnet.
The first verse was something about her life in the spotlight and never really having a home. Then she launched into the chorus line and I was transfixed.
When life gets hard and the roads are long,
I know it’s only temporary before I cruise on home.
Daisy looked over her shoulder and winked at me. It was a cute play on words that made my heart swell with love for her.
I’d never said the words out loud, but as she sang, I felt that love in my soul.
Mate, my wolf said.
“Mine,” I whispered to myself.
At some point her band joined in, providing perfect backup to her beautiful song. Surprised, she turned back to look at them, smiled brightly, and nodded.
As they ended the song, the entire crowd fell silent. Then, slowly, the audience began to clap. It started as a slow scattering of claps, then picked up as the crowd jumped to their feet, roaring in appreciation.
“Thank you,” Daisy said. “That was a brand-new song called Cruise on Home. And actually, my band here hadn’t heard it before now either.
Thanks guys for jumping in. It was perfect,” she praised.
“How about a big hand for these guys? Knox on drums, Jed on keys, Cash our lead guitarist, and Jonny on bass. Aren’t they the best? ”
Everyone cheered their agreement.
“How about we dive into some familiar favorites?”
Cash began to play as Daisy sang First Kiss, Last Call. I recognized the name from when Thomas spouted off the titles of some of her top hits.
After several songs, I had to admit it—she was sucking me in.
I might even grow to love country music simply because Daisy was singing it.
As the evening started to come to a close, I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Ronnie.
And I knew I was going to have to tell Daisy he was here.
A part of me realized I should never have kept her in the dark about it.
Guilt was killing me. But I also needed to protect her, and it had been something small that I could do to ensure she had a relaxing, fun concert doing what she loves most.
And having seen her on the stage, I understood just how important music was to her.
It freaked me out a little and was definitely something I was going to have to digest more thoroughly. I think a part of me felt like since she ran away from all of that, it was more in the past and she was ready for a change in her life.
I thought we’d have a future together here in Collier. It was ridiculous really. It was so obvious how much she loves singing and performing. It’s as if it was written into her DNA or something. How could I expect her to just give that all up to stay here with me?
And I knew I could never survive the life she lived. It had taken a long time for me to truly put up roots and find a home. I had no desire to live my life on a bus traveling the world. Hell, just the idea of going into a big city scared the shit out of me. Just the thought of it felt suffocating.
The reality that Daisy and I were from two polar opposite worlds was sinking in fast.
I needed to believe there was a compromise in there somewhere, but as I watched her shine like the star I now knew she truly was, it was hard to imagine how we could possibly make any of this work long term.
When the concert ended, she ran off the stage and straight into my arms.
All fears and worries aside, I kissed her, claiming her for all to see.
“So, what did you think?”
“I loved it. You were incredible.”
“For a country music singer?”
“For any music singer. That was electrifying.”
I meant it too, and despite all the internal revelations I was beginning to question, I still very much wanted my mate.
Maybe I should just claim her and mark her as mine and figure the rest out later. It was certainly something to consider. And I was pretty sure Daisy would not refuse me if I did.
Painter walked over to us, and I knew her concert high was about to come crashing down.
“Uh, honey, there’s something I need to tell you.”
She stilled as she stared up into my eyes. “What?”
“Ronnie’s here.”