Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
After I wake up from my nap, the guys are running around getting ready.
Markus is smoking a blunt and drinking some energy drink, while Adam is stretching his arms and legs before jumping up and down.
Kai is late out of the shower so he is trying to talk to the stylist, speaking angrily while he’s got a towel wrapped too low around his waist.
If I wasn’t so relaxed and excited, I probably would’ve stepped in when she started making googly eyes at him, and then when her gaze dropped from his eyes to his wet chest every few words.
But then she steps closer, and I stand up. Fuck that.
Reis watches the whole thing with a knowing smirk on his face and he comes over to me, enveloping me in a big hug.
He tucks his face into my neck as he whispers, “You know women are going to be around us, right? It’s just part of the territory.
But I can speak for all of us when I say we won’t let anyone touch what’s yours.
And we don’t want to touch anyone else either. You are ours. We are yours.”
The way he speaks so gently, but so firmly, it makes the knot in my chest loosen just a little.
But then the woman has to go and push it further.
She steps forward again, pressing a finger to his chest, and Kai immediately steps back with all the anger and tension in his shoulders.
The hand not holding the towel goes up, and he barks something at the woman that makes her teasing-angry expression turn straight to embarrassment.
“See?” Reis smirks, releasing me with a smack on the ass and goes over to the rack of clothes to get his outfit on.
After that, I decide I’m going to focus on myself. On making myself feel so fucking good and sexy that my men being screamed at, flashed by, and adored by hundreds of beautiful women right in front of their eyes doesn’t register.
I go to the ladies bathroom down the hall—I don’t want to take up space in their dressing room, there are already too many people in there—and get dressed in this black little dress that looks too short, but it covers me just enough.
It’s got black sequins covering the whole thing, so my movement is visible and alluring.
The neckline dips low , coming to a point right below my sternum.
Cleavage galore . I throw on my beat-up biker boots that give me an extra two inches of height before curling my hair so it falls in waves down my back.
Makeup? On point. Smoky. Dark. Big. Fucking perfect.
Putting all my stuff back into my bag, I can hear people running around in the hallway, and I quickly make my way back to the dressing room in alarm. When I open the door, I see all four guys bouncing around like they’re pool balls after their formation has been broken.
Adam’s twirling his drum sticks in each hand.
Markus is looking around, staring at everyone with a pointed, paranoid look as he passes them, while Kai is clenching his fists over and over, like he’s just barely containing his anger.
Reis… Reis looks devastated, running his hand over and over through his dark hair. I’m sure his stylist is pissed.
They’re not talking, but everyone around them is buzzing. Louis is grumbling in the corner, and Kai snaps.
“Fucking do something!”
“Is everything okay?” I step in, voice soft. Whatever’s causing them to stress out, maybe I can help.
“Melody?” All four voices somehow harmonize in a way that makes me wish I was recording so I could hear it over and over for the rest of my life.
“Yeah?” I ask, and they all jump to me: grabbing and holding, kissing my head, my hand, my lips, anywhere they can touch. “What’s wrong?”
“We couldn’t find you. No one could,” Markus answers, and I can hear how his speech is slightly slurred. I wish I was on his level. A drink sounds necessary right now.
“I was just in the bathroom, getting ready.”
“You could’ve gotten ready here. Where we had eyes on you.” Reis runs a hand through his hair again, but this time I can feel the anxiety leaving him as he does it.
“I—” I start to say, but Louis steps in.
“Good, she’s here. Now, it’s time to go to work.”
The guys all nod, and the crowd starts to rhythmically clap so loudly we can hear it back here.
We all walk through the back of the venue, up to the stage where the guys go to take their spots after giving me a kiss, but Kai grabs my arm gently.
“Stay in the wings, okay? I don't care what anyone else says; you stay there where we can see you.”
His eyes are fierce, but I can see the little bit of fear clouding them. Fear that my unintentional disappearing act caused. Kai stalls, running his thumb over my knuckles as he pauses.
Is it a good pause or a bad pause? I can’t tell.
“I will,” I promise. He cups my chin, holding my face softly before turning and taking his mark on stage. Paul comes up to me, clearing his throat.
“I can show you where to go.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling softly and following him. I’ll make sure to plant myself so that my guys can see me every moment they want to.
“ And together, yeah/ together we’ll find paradise/ Even if it doesn’t look like we thought, baby,” Reis’ voice rings through the arena. The sobbing screams from the crowd are audible, even from back here on the wings where I stand.
I didn’t realize just how many songs of theirs I didn’t know. The set list is twelve songs, and I’d heard some as they went through rehearsal and sound check. But there are songs that they didn’t run through on the official concert list.
Swaying from side to side as I get lost in Reis' voice, in Adam’s drum beats, in Markus and Kai’s chords, I close my eyes and let myself fall into the moment. It’s amazing; the energy, the pull, the way that they bring light and excitement to this many people… I’m blown away.
“You don’t know this song?” Louis comes up, standing next to me and my mood immediately sours.
This fucking prick.
But I refuse to be the reason why the guys lose the management that’s helped them so much.
Or force them to share something with the world they aren’t quite ready for yet.
“Not this exact one, no.”
I hear his scoff over the trailing softness of the song ending right before the uproar of cheering.
Reis runs over to the little table and gulps down his water, before taking a long drink of his mixed drink and shaking his arms out.
He looks at me and winks before turning back to his adoring fans.
Adam does a double bass kick, and I look at him as he blows me a kiss which I quickly return.
Kai’s watching me heavily, making sure I’m still there while they’re unable to leave and glares at Louis.
Markus is on the opposite side of the stage.
I see him flip a strand of hair out of his face that’s fallen out of his bun and ask Reis something.
Reis just nods, gesturing towards me as he does.
“You know how many women these guys have brought backstage?” Louis says loud enough for me to hear, but there’s so much surrounding noise that no one else would catch it.
“I’ve been working with them since the beginning and honestly, I’ve lost count.
So if you’re standing here, thinking that all this attention, all this care, makes you special?
Don’t get comfortable. They’re four red-blooded men in the prime of their careers.
Do you really believe they’d be satisfied by just one girl who already broke their hearts? ”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I cross my arms and school my face so I don’t show him any of the pain coursing through me right now. They told him? Him, of all people?
I wasn’t na?ve enough to think they didn’t partake in fun with their fan base, but it still hurts to hear. I hear the opening chords of the next song ring out, and I close my eyes, hopeful that Louis will fucking leave me alone.
“Regardless, I think you should remember that the moment, the moment, you slip up or they get bored of you, or fucking finally understand what they’re going to be losing, there are literally thousands of girls that can take your place.
Easily. If they want to share, I don’t think they’d have any problems?—”
I turn on my heel and slap him, hard. “I respect them more than to sit here and listen to someone who claims to look out for them spout this bullshit. I don’t care what you think about me. But I know them. They’re mine,” I growl and turn my back to him, effectively telling him to fuck right off.
“ This song here, this is for a very special girl, one that caught my eye years ago… and I’ve been chasing her in some form ever since.
” Reis’ deep voice booms through the speakers and my heart, hurting and sore from Louis' cruel attack, relaxes just a little bit. Tears line my eyes and one drop rolls down my cheek but I don’t dare show Louis in any way that he got to me.
Instead, I turn my attention to my guys. They look… so happy. So alive .
I can’t let this fuckery overshadow that.
So… my lips will stay sealed.
They’re incredible. So breathtakingly incredible.
I clap and cheer, jumping up and down while they take their bows and get a group picture with the crowd at their backs. It takes everything in my power to remember that I can’t ruin their image and run out to them to tell them how fucking fantastic they all are.
Fuck me, they’re hot as hell. Watching them all up there?
The first concert was amazing, but this one?
This one made my jaw drop and my pussy wet.
They’re all sweaty; hair sticking to their foreheads and necks, shirts plastered deliciously to their chests, their eyes bright and lips smirking like they know exactly how fucking attractive they are.
I hear the crowd roar again, chanting out ‘ On The Edge! On The Edge! On The Edge!” as the guys blow the crowd kisses and run toward me.
Kai’s the closest and when he reaches me, his arms wrap around my waist, pulling me into his sweaty chest and spinning me in circles. “Sync,” he breathes in my ear with a groan that’s between a sigh of relief and an exclamation.
“My turn.” Adam pulls me from Kai’s hold and wraps me in his. Soon, I’m passed from arm to arm until I’ve held and congratulated each of my guys.
I pull back, looking at each of them with a big, proud smile and hope they can see how blown away I am.
“You guys, that was… There are no words. You’re so talented. I’m so proud of you all.”
They all suddenly turn shy, muttering nonsense to sidestep the compliment, and I let them. They don’t need to say anything back, they just need to know how I feel.
“Come on, go get your stuff so we can go to the hotel. We all need sleep. In an actual bed,” I instruct with a smile. They nod, walking past me with varying degrees of affection. Reis is the last one, and he crowds my space, looking down at me with a look that I can’t… quite place.
“Are you okay?” I ask, pushing his sweat-drenched dark bangs off his forehead. His hand comes up to my neck, holding me softly as his thumb brushes over my pulse point, like he needs to feel my heartbeat to know I’m here.
With him.
“You don’t know what hearing you say you’re proud of us, of me , does to me.” His forehead leans against mine and his eyes close like he’s trying to take in the moment.
I don’t say anything. I don’t want to break this bubble we’re sitting in. So instead, I kiss him softly, holding his jaw and letting him hold me in return.
“Come on, Reis, let’s go get some sleep,” I say with a smile that he returns tenfold.
“I can think of at least three other things I’d want to do other than sleep. And they all include you, naked on the hotel bed,” he growls in my ear. His hand crosses the expanse of my lower back and pulls me towards the dressing room. “So yes, let’s hurry.”
The only sound I hear is my giggle and his growl as we nearly run down the hallway.