Chapter 2
TWO
It’s them… It can’t be though… But up close, he looks just like Reis.
All of these thoughts run through my head as I sing along to one of the only songs I know by On The Edge .
I’ll be honest, I was given these tickets by a coworker.
She couldn’t make the concert at the last minute and asked if I wanted them.
Imagine my surprise when I get here and see I’m in the first row.
Even more so, imagine how I felt when they walked out with their dark, neon-lit masks, performed their first four songs with them on before throwing them to the side…
I could have fucking died. The lead singer looks exactly like Reis.
The bassist looks like Kai and the guitarist looks like Markus…
Then on drums is the doppelganger of my sweet Adam.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about On The Edge.
I know their top hits, but in every interview and every picture, aside from some blurry concert ones, they all have masks on.
The popular stuff is amazing. It’s my job to stay up on pop culture and trends, but rock-metal music isn’t my niche, hence why I didn’t know who the people are under the mask.
Before today .
My brain hasn’t stopped trying to catalogue all their similarities to my guys since the moment they threw the masks off.
It has to be them. It’s… there’s too much of a coincidence for…
My mind stops thinking as I watch the drummer— Adam —throw both sticks in the air and catch them perfectly on beat before hitting the bass drum in quick succession.
No…
That move? That was something Adam had been working on perfecting for years. It became his signature move right before they… fucking left me in the middle of the night.
My jaw drops in surprise as I turn my eyes to the bassist and see the same—it has to be the same—smirk that Kai was known for in school. The same fucking smirk that made every girl, single or not, fall at his feet.
Myself included.
This can’t be happening.
My chest starts to tighten uncomfortably, but I can’t help it. I turn to the guitarist. Markus. My Markus. He’s grown his hair out and it’s fucking good . It looks so damn good on him. He’s got it pulled half-back so I can see his face while the rest of it falls down his broad back… God.
The lead singer—Reis, apparently—still has the dreamiest, raspiest, sexiest voice I’ve ever heard. The voice that’s haunted my dreams, but it’s like he’s reached a new depth.
I can’t believe I didn’t put it all together before. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize Reis’ voice.
Looking up at them from the front of the crowd, I feel the undeniable urge to run . Leave them before they can leave me. Again .
My eyes shoot back to Reis. Cataloguing all the similarities, it’s hard for me not to see the same sweet, nerdy guy who I crushed on throughout high school. One of the guys who saved me.
The dark hair, the sharp cheekbones, the square jaw.
The guy onstage is built, muscular and freaking vascular as hell, an artfully crafted five o’clock shadow covering his jaw but it doesn’t hide the shape at all.
His hair is neat, lush and flowing over his forehead even though he looks like he’s sweating.
The black T-shirt clings to his body and meets the waistband of his jeans with just a little sliver of skin showing.
No wonder all I heard around me before the concert started was how ‘fucking sexy the band is’, and how anyone–all of them–could spit in their mouths and they’d say thank you.
I get what they were talking about now. But I knew how amazing these guys were before all this fame.
My guys left Haven, a small town a few hours from Tulsa, and I never heard from them again. Couldn’t find a single one of them online. They all changed their numbers and it was like… like they just disappeared.
I never thought, or let myself believe, there was a possibility I’d see them again.
They’re so different from the boys I knew. But one thing hasn’t changed: the way their passion for music seeps into everything they touch, everything they are. Watching them on that stage… I’m amazed and breathless.
Crash!
Pain blooms as someone knocks into me hard.
My chest hits the metal partition before everyone backs off for just a breath and I’m slammed forward again.
This time, it’s with the weight of the whole crowd behind me.
It repeats in strong waves I can’t pull myself out of; each one relentless and more powerful than the last.
“Stop!” I scream, but no one pays attention to me. “Please, fuck! Stop!”
My eyes widen in fear as I look around. Everyone else is going with the flow; I seem to be the only one being crushed. How do I get out of this? A few more hits like this and I don’t think I’ll still be standing.
No one’s going to help me. There are security guards right here and they’re just letting this happen? Goddamn it, I can’t breathe.
I’m actually really fucking scared now. I can’t catch a full breath and I can’t move. There are so many people pushing against me and this one moment of hesitation costs me greatly.
“I want to know// does he see you how I do?// does he see beneath the surface?” Reis belts out like a siren just as my vision starts to fade and my head feels fuzzy.
What am I going to do? I panic. And I know the panic makes it worse.
The world starts to turn as I lose consciousness, but my last thought is how it looks like Reis sees me, too.
I hear the raspy voice I never thought I’d hear again breathlessly ask, “How long do I have?”
“Maybe five minutes,” someone I don’t recognize answers.
“Fuck, okay. I’ll be there in a minute.” It’s Reis. He’s here.
Where am I?
Pulling my eyes apart is so much harder than I thought it would be. But when I finally get them open, I’m pretty sure I’m still dreaming.
Reis is right here, standing over me. A few hairs hanging in front of his forehead are wet with sweat; his cheeks are flushed, like he ran here to check on me. He smells incredible , like clean sweat and man. I don’t know how else to describe it. But it’s intoxicating.
“Melody?” he asks. His dark eyes are looking at me with worry, extremely guarded and a hint of disbelief.
“Reis?”
“It is you. I knew it.” His jaw drops slightly and he shakes his head, but he doesn’t stop staring at me.
I smile weakly and lean forward to wrap my arms around him in a hug, but he doesn’t quite return it.
“Easy there, Reverb,” he jokes flatly. But then, his hold changes and I can feel the warmth of him.
My heart stutters when I hear the old nickname.
He used to call me Reverb because he said he could hear me, see me, feel me in everything around him. “You reverberate within my life, Melody. Everything… I can hear you in everything.”
That memory has been locked behind a steel door for years because it’s so painful to remember. Now, one slip of an old nickname and I’m flooded with memories that would be better left hidden.
“How…? When…? What…?” I ask, but can’t seem to be able to finish my questions. He chuckles somewhat sinisterly, and I feel it curl against my chest.
Reis leans back, letting me fall against the couch I’m lying on.
“First things first. I have two minutes before I need to go out to do the encore with the guys, who have been playing the world’s longest solos to let me check on you.
But you’re safe here. You’re in our dressing room and there’s a guard at the door.
He’s a big burly fuck, so don’t worry. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I saw you pass out and jumped down to get you.
” As he explains, he rests a few warm fingers against my forehead to take my temperature.
“I had the Hulk bring you here so I could make sure nothing else happened.”
Two sharp knocks hit the door and I can hear the chanting through the cement walls. “I have to go. Stay here.”
I nod as he points at me almost angrily, but his hand drops almost instantly.
What else am I supposed to do?
“Good girl,” he mutters without thinking. But just as the jolt of arousal runs through my body at those words, I can see him freeze as well, like he wasn’t meaning to say them out loud. His eyes turn cold and he turns his back on me.
Reis runs a hand through his black hair and stands up to walk towards the door. “Nothing happens to her, nothing. Do you understand?” I hear him snap at the guard and my heart skips a beat.
“What is happening right now?” I ask myself, taking a deep breath.
Through the walls, I hear Reis' voice boom as he yells, “Tulsa! You’ve been amazing! Here’s one more for the road.
Just know we appreciate you all and are so fucking happy you came out to support us.
We’re all Midwestern boys ourselves, so coming here is like coming home!
Shall we play ‘Melodies On My Mind’, boys? It only seems right.”
A chord strums on the guitar slowly and the crowd goes wild.
Standing up slowly—fuck, my back and head hurt like I’ve been trampled—I walk over to the mirror just as Reis’ voice croons melodically.
He sings about a black-haired beauty that always seemed so far away.
Checking my makeup, I wipe away the smeared mascara and throw my long hair into a high bun, then sit down and really listen.
“It’s always been us // Always been true // If I hadn’t wasted so much time // Maybe you’d have been mine.” He sings deeply, and the emotion is clear in his voice. It brings tears to my eyes.
The song dials down to a close and I’m left speechless.
“Thank you so much and goodnight!” Reis' voice calls out quickly after the last chord rings out and deafening applause fills the air.
The door whips open with so much force that it hits the wall even before the applause ends. A new voice breaks through the applause and gasps, “Melody?”
Adam stands there with wild blue eyes, like he doesn’t actually think it’s me. He grabs me in a big bear hug that I return just as fiercely.