Chapter 22
Run, don’t walk.
Run, run, run.
And so I do.
I go straight to my desk to grab my bags while dropping my ID badge and assorted keys in the top drawer. Then I pull out my phone as I run to the elevator.
Good riddance, horrible people. I’m done.
It’s late, so I’m betting Dave is at the stadium already, since he was picking up the girls tonight. I can’t count on him for a ride this time. I start weighing my options.
The concert starts in less than thirty minutes. I order a rideshare to take me home since there’s no bus due for another fifteen minutes, and I take the elevator down to the garage level.
Yes, home first. I did think of just rushing straight to the stadium, but I won’t be able to see him until the concert is over, anyway. I’ve hurt Zach deeply. Amends must be made, and I have an idea. I just need a little help to execute the plan. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this week, it’s okay to ask for help. My inner circle and I will knock it out of the park .
It feels like forever, but the rideshare driver pulls into the garage six minutes later. I verify his ID and get in the back of the car. As soon as we clear the garage, which makes cell coverage spotty, I open the group chat with the girls.
Marina: Are you guys at the concert?
Merry: We just got to our seats.
Marina: Is there room for me?
Ashley: SHE’S BACK, LADIES & GENTLEMEN!
Scarlet: You rock, girl!
Merry: Yassss! I knew it! I had faith!!
I laugh out loud and swipe a stray tear away. A happy tear, for once.
Marina: I need your help, guys.
Ashley: Oh, just get here and we’ll talk about whatever it is.
Marina: No, I have wardrobe questions.
Scarlet: What? Why? Who cares what you’re wearing?
Ashley: We’re listening.
And that’s when I tell them my plan.
The rideshare pulls up to my apartment, and the driver agrees to wait for me to come back down. Then, he’ll take me to the stadium. Anything to save time at this point, because I need hugs from my girls before I pull the trigger on this plan. I get out of the car, and the security guard at the door keeps two reporters from getting in my way. I run into the building and race up to my apartment, not caring if anyone is taking my picture. I don’t hear the questions they are yelling. I’m on a mission.
Once inside, I run straight for my closet and pull out the dress we decided on in the group chat. It’s a white, form-fitting cocktail dress with tons of sequins and crystals on it. We each have one in our size, as we bought them for our little side hustle when we perform together. As soon as Merry suggested this dress, I knew it was the perfect choice. I run to Ash’s room and grab the shoes she said I could have since they were intended for her wedding with Greg.
The jerk .
They’re simple white high-heeled pumps, but they’re fancy enough to look fabulous with this dress. I grab a clutch out of my closet, throw in my phone, wallet, keys, and lipstick, and I’m back out the door. Hopefully, I can check my hair at the stadium.
Reporters snap more pictures of me as I get in the back seat of the rideshare and hand the driver my phone so he can show me how to update my trip in the app. He punches away on the screen, then verifies the stadium address with me before handing my phone back to me. With that done, I settle in and open a new text message.
Marina: Are you there, Dave? I need a big favor.
***
The concert is well underway by the time the rideshare pulls into the parking lot, so the outside of the stadium is pretty calm. The driver pulls up to the VIP entrance, and I see Dave’s hulking form waiting for me. My heart pounds with excitement as I jump out of the car, thanking the driver and running to Dave.
“Dave!” I squeal happily, throwing my arms around his neck and giving him an impromptu hug.
I feel his hands pat me on the back hesitantly as my very open display of affection takes him by surprise. I step back quickly and smooth my dress with shaky hands.
“Sorry,” I say with a quick laugh. “I’m just so happy to see you. Thank you for helping me.”
He bows his head, looking slightly embarrassed, and hands me my VIP credentials for the show. “Of course, Miss MacArthur. Are you ready?”
I nod and walk with him as he starts toward the entrance. My pass is scanned quickly, and I follow Dave to the upper level. Zach’s powerful voice fills the stadium as the band performs one of their many hits to the screaming crowd below. I desperately want to run over to the railing so I can see him, but I stay with Dave. Little tingles break out all across my skin. That’s my man down there, thrilling eighty thousand people.
Most of the fans are in their seats, but a few are milling around, and I see some of them take notice out of the corner of my eye. Cell phones come out. I may never get used to this, but it’s enough that I no longer care.
“Hey, it’s Marina!”
Since I’m doing all the brave things again, I turn and wave at them as Dave and I walk around the corner. He leads me to an elevator that takes us down one level to the suites. We’re still well above the floor seats, so it’s quite different from the benefit concert. It’s perfect, though, since I don’t want Zach to see me until I’m ready to be seen. I can stay hidden away in the suite with the girls.
We’re stopped by fans a few times as people recognize me and rush over to ask for selfies and handshakes. I say yes to all the things, no longer worried about what anyone is thinking. Because that’s my boyfriend out there…playing his heart out for them, and his fans deserve my best. Finally, Dave leads me to a door and opens it for me to reveal a posh-looking suite.
I’m quickly pulled into the arms of my three ride-or-dies. Gratitude fills my heart as we hug each other. There aren’t words for how much these women mean to me. I’m so lucky to have friends who will lift me up and be real with me when I need it. And I do the same for them.
“You look amazing!” Merry says breathlessly. “Oh, I love it when I’m right! That dress will look beautiful under the lights.”
Scarlet nods. “We need to amp up the make-up just a smidge if you’re going to be under a spotlight.”
Ashley tilts her head at me. “Yeah, maybe a little. And touch up the hair.”
“Sorry, girls,” I say as I hold up my tiny clutch. “I only have a lipstick.”
Merry shrugs it off. “We got this. Check your purses, ladies. What do we have?”
Within minutes, my eyes are lightly lined, my cheeks tinted, my lipstick reapplied, and my hair is loose and flowing. I am officially deemed ready for the grand gesture of all grand gestures. We sit down inside the suite, where there’s a plush leather sofa and several chairs.
The suite is decorated in a beautiful navy and cream color scheme, with high-end logos of all the local teams that play here. On the far side of the suite, a sumptuous buffet is set up and waiting for us. There’s also a bar with a bartender, just waiting to pour whatever we want.
“I sent a text to Rick as soon as you told us your plan,” Ashley shares. “He’s taken care of everything with the crew. Dave will come and get you when it’s time, and he’ll be with you the whole way.”
I nod slowly, a secret smile spreading across my face. “So you guys think this’ll work?”
Scarlet cocks her head. “Girl, do you think he’s going to do anything but run right into your arms when you do this?”
Merry wiggles in her seat and squeals.
“I am so proud of you, Marina,” she says, her eyes a little damp. “I had faith you’d come around. What you have with Zach is too good to walk away from.”
My own eyes cloud up. “It really is,” I say softly. “I don’t know what I was thinking, trying to let him go.”
Ashley scoffs. “That man was not gonna let you let him go. I’m not sure what he would have done if you hadn’t come around, but he’s got it bad.”
The crowd in the stadium cheers loudly, and we all look up at the huge video screen inside the suite. Zach smiles at the fans in the stadium as he and the guys take their bows after performing one of their many hits. My heart lurches at the look behind his eyes. I can see the hurt he’s trying to hide, and I feel terrible that I’m the one who put it there.
Just hang on a little longer, baby .
I can’t wait for him to see me.
I take a minute to watch him on the screen. He gives so much of himself to every performance, running around on stage so every part of the stadium can see him. Depending on the song they’re performing, sometimes he’s at a mic stand with his guitar. Sometimes, he’s at the piano. Right now, he’s walking down the catwalk that juts into the audience, and he pauses occasionally during the song to engage with the audience closest to the stage. It’s no wonder his voice is hoarse, and he’s physically exhausted when he’s done with a show.
One of the things I admire most about him is the fact that he lives his life out loud. He doesn’t really worry about what others think of him. But he’s a kind person and a good man, which makes it a challenge for the media to report anything negative. So I smile up at the screen, watching him have fun on stage with the guys and feeling absolutely proud that he’s mine.
“So you’re really okay with…everything?” Ash asks me with a hopeful expression.
I tilt my head and think about my reply.
“I’m not okay with the media being jerks,” I say. “And I still have a lot of doubt about the future, but I’m prepared to acknowledge that my sweet and gorgeous boyfriend knows a lot more about it than I do. I will be listening to his expert opinion in the future.”
We sit there for the bulk of the concert, watching the band on the monitors and using the breaks between songs to chat.
“How did the big meeting go?” Scarlet asks.
“Everything went to plan for the most part,” I explain. “Until I finally realized that those are not my people.”
“Yes!” Ashley cheers.
“Once it dawned on me, I didn’t want to waste any more time where I wasn’t valued. So I quit.”
“Did they pay you the bonus?” Ash asks.
I shake my head. “I have no idea. I guess we’ll find out, right? If they don’t, I’m gonna need some help.”
Ash’s expression softens, and she nods at me. “I’ve got you.”
Zach leads the band through a mash-up of some fan favorites and we stay silent for a while, enjoying the concert and each other’s company.
The door to the suite opens and Dave fills the door frame. A uniformed security guard is right behind him. He dips his head.
“Miss MacArthur,” he says stoically. “It’s time.”
Merry squeals again and pulls me in for a hug, then Ash and Scarlet take their turns.
“Good luck,” Ashley says with a huge grin, rubbing her hands up and down my arms. “You’re going to be amazing.”
I nod my thanks, knowing I’ll need all the good luck I can get.
Don’t let me forget what to do. Don’t let me trip in these heels.
I head for the door, ready to follow Dave so he can take me downstairs, and then I pause. I turn around to face the girls.
“Hey,” I say with a conspiratorial grin, “you guys want to come with me?”
***
Zach
The crowd cheers wildly as the guys and I bring “Highway to Love” to a close. As one of our biggest hits, it gets the audience going every time, and we always play it toward the end of our shows. Every once in a while, I turn my back to the audience to relax my face and pull myself together. I usually have as much fun as the fans up here, but I’m not feeling it tonight. Honestly, I don’t know how I’ve gotten through this entire concert without making a stupid mistake or just crumbling from the huge hole that was blown straight through my heart when Marina ended us. I do know one thing. Our final song of the night before the encore is “You Are My Heart,” and there is no way I’m making my way through the entire song without a couple of tears falling.
It’s a ballad, and it’s perfect for winding the crowd down before we get them riled up again with an encore.
I do not want to sing it .
I wrote it on my own last year when the inspiration came to me, and singing my heart out about a love like no other will break me. There is one hundred percent certainty that I’m going to lose it. If it wasn’t for the eighty thousand fans in this stadium, I’d scrub the song completely. But I can’t let them down, and I’m a stand-up guy. Especially when it comes to our fans. We owe them everything. My heart may lie in a thousand pieces right now, but as the saying goes…the show must go on.
The fans are still cheering when I step back up to the mic, ready to set up “You Are My Heart”, but I pause when I feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder. I turn to find Rick standing next to me, with a look on his face that I can’t quite identify. We’re used to clowning around together on stage, so I give him a big smile and lean over to the mic.
“What’s up, Rick?” I say with a lightness I definitely don’t feel.
I can see from his expression he knows I’m having a hard time. His hand gives my shoulder an extra squeeze.
“How much do you trust me, bud?” Rick asks, winking at the audience and prompting more cheers.
I force a laugh. “I trust you implicitly, my friend.”
The crowd cheers again. I knit my eyebrows together and give him a confused look. He doesn’t explain. He just reaches behind him, where Jimmy is handing him a stool that must have come from backstage. Rick makes a show of sliding it next to me and steps aside, gesturing at it.
“Have a seat,” Rick says, smiling at our fans and then giving me a secret look, which I read instantly.
Just go with it.
I play along and sit down, folding my arms across my chest and winking at the front row. Laughter bubbles up from the audience, and cell phones are coming out to capture this off-script moment.
“Okay, just relax,” Rick explains. “We’ve got a surprise for you, so just sit here and enjoy it. But don’t sing. All right?”
I’m confused, but Rick would never do anything to ruin a show or anger our fans, so I know whatever this is, I can just let it happen. I shrug and nod.
“Yes, boss.”
This prompts shrieks of laughter from the fans.
As Rick steps away, he gives my shoulder another squeeze, and I wonder what on earth he has planned. I turn to face the audience and smile. If I truly don’t have to sing this song, maybe it’s a blessing. The heaviness in my chest feels like it could drop me right through the stage floor. I kind of wish it would. Then, I could stop forcing myself to smile.
Behind me, I hear Rick take my usual spot at the piano. He begins playing the opening strains of the song, which, at the risk of sounding like an egomaniac, are beautiful. I’ve always been so proud of this song. It won a lot of awards, and I love playing it, but tonight it’ll wreck me. The lyrics could have been written about Marina and me, and my throat gets tight just hearing the opening.
Just as the first verse approaches, I hear some loud cheers coming from somewhere out in the stadium audience. Is something going on out there? We never have that kind of response at this part of the song. I have about three seconds to wonder what’s going on before a voice I know all too well begins singing the first line of the song.
“All my life I’ve waited, baby…”
My heart nearly explodes in my chest as Marina’s voice fills the stadium while applause and screams erupt from the fans. I bolt from the stool and turn to face the stage, expecting to find her standing at a mic behind me, but she’s not there. She’s nowhere on stage. My eyes dart to Rick, who is grinning at me like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. He nods in the direction of the audience.
“…for someone to call my own…”
I whirl around and look out into the crowd, but with the stage lights on my face, I can’t see anything. Several fans are yelling at me, and I start running toward their voices, heading down the long catwalk part of the stage that stretches fifty meters into the audience. They’re pointing to the left, and I shield my eyes from the lights as I scan the crowd. It’s a sea of black out there, but when my eyes focus a bit, I can see some kind of commotion in one of the main aisles of the floor seats.
“Always thought that maybe I was meant to be alone…”
As she begins the second verse of the song, a spotlight illuminates a lone figure slowly walking towards me up the main aisle. My pulse is a riot in my veins, and a guttural sound escapes my lips as I see Marina. She’s wearing a simple white dress that comes to just above her knees, and it’s covered in iridescent sparkles. The light from the spotlight dances off her dress and makes it look like she’s covered in fairy lights. She looks like an angel. Her beautiful red hair flows in soft waves, framing her face as she slowly makes her way through the crowd, singing “You Are My Heart”. She’s not holding a mic, so she must be wired with one. I realize for the first time that someone in my inner circle has been plotting this behind my back. Rick is definitely one of them, but this is more than Rick. I owe them all a raise.
As she gets closer to the catwalk, I can just see a couple of shadowed figures walking behind her. Security. Good. As she walks, fans hold up their mobile phones to catch a video of her. Others are holding out their hands for high-fives or handshakes, but her eyes are fixed only on me. The dam inside me finally breaks.
Tears fall down my cheeks just as a lump the size of a Tesla parks in my throat. She’s here. Singing my lyrics with her hauntingly beautiful voice, walking towards me with hope in her eyes and a little smile that’s just for me. My face crumples, and I hit myself square in the chest with the palm of my hand a few times, trying to hold it together. I’m failing miserably, and I just don’t care…because that’s my girl.
She pauses at the end of the catwalk, and I realize there’s no way for her to get up on the stage. Before I can make a move, Dave and a security guard step out of the shadows and lift her onto the stage as if the entire thing was choreographed. I blink back my surprise, which prompts a huge smile from Marina.
I want her to come to me. I need her in my arms more than I need the air I’m breathing, but she stays where she is as she sings the end of the verse she’s on.
As she gets to the second chorus, I can no longer contain myself. I shake my head at her as I close the distance between us, the crowd going absolutely wild as I pull her into my arms. She wraps her arms around my neck as she smiles up at me, and I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life.
“Hi,” I say simply, rubbing my nose against hers.
“Hi,” she answers, her eyelashes fluttering closed for a moment. When they open again, I’m lost in an emerald sea. “I quit my job today.”
Cheers erupt from the crowd, and we both laugh.
“Good. ”
We stand in each other’s arms for a moment, just gazing at each other as if there aren’t eighty thousand fans watching. After a few seconds, I realize that Rick has continued to play, looping the music over and over in case Marina wants to continue the song. I look over at him, and he raises his eyebrows in question. As if reading my thoughts, Marina gets a mischievous look in her eye.
“So, should I finish the song, or would you rather go somewhere and talk?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Maybe we should finish the song first.”
When I start to let her go, she steps closer to me and wraps her arms tighter around my neck. “No, no. This is good. Don’t let me go.”
I reach up to stroke a strand of hair away from her face. “Never again.”
Her lip trembles, and she swallows hard, blinking back tears. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Keeping one arm wrapped firmly around her, I reach down and take her other hand in mine as I move us in a slow dance to the music. I’m vaguely aware of more cheering, applause, and mobile phones recording this ridiculously amazing moment. Marina’s eyes meet mine as she picks up the chorus and begins singing again.
“And for you, I’d walk through fire,” she sings, and I’m mesmerized. “I’d sell my soul, burn with desire. I’ll swim oceans and fly across the sky. Just don’t leave me, don’t say goodbye. I fell for you from the very start. Because you, baby…you are my heart.”
When the chorus repeats at the end, I distinctly hear female backup singers, and I whirl us around to face the stage. There, standing at the mic I left when I ran out here, are Merry, Scarlet, and Ashley singing a harmony to back up Marina. They finish the song with thunderous applause from the audience, and I don’t wait one second longer to claim Marina’s mouth in a soul-searing kiss .
I hear nothing but my own heart, ready to pound right out of my ribcage as we kiss each other like we’ve been apart for years. I claim her with this kiss, and she claims me right back. I feel her tremble as she tightens her grip on my neck and digs her fingers into my hair. When we finally come up for air, I press our foreheads together.
“I love you,” I whisper over her ear, but I don’t know why I bothered whispering. Her headset mic picks it up, and everyone hears it. “I love you so much.”
The audience is screaming so loud it sounds like they’re ready to riot. Marina doesn’t seem to notice. She traces my lips with light, feathery kisses as she gently wipes the traces of tears from my face. “I love you, too.”
I crush her in my arms and swing her around. She squeals, and I set her down after a while, taking her hand in mine and beginning the walk back up to the main stage as the crowd begins to chant “encore” over and over and over again. I pull her hand up to my lips and kiss the back of it as we come to a stop center stage.
I look into her beautiful face. “Say it again. Tell me again.”
She beams up at me. “I love you, Zach Adams.”
“Siren,” I say breathlessly. “That is music to my ears.”
Her smile could light up the whole world.
“Just to make it official,” she asks as she smooths her hands over my chest. “Does this mean you forgive me for trying to end the best thing that’s ever happened to me?”
I feel a growl escape my throat as I bury my hands in her hair and bring her mouth to mine. I don’t care about the cheer of the crowd or the fact that I can hear our friends whistling from behind their mics. I only know that she’s mine. She came back. And she’s mine . And I am most definitely hers. Body and soul.
We break from our kiss, and I look down at Marina. “Well, Siren? Shall we sing them an encore? ”
She nuzzles into my neck for a moment, then moves her mouth close to my ear. “If you think you’re getting rid of me now, you’re crazy.”
I laugh out loud and squeeze her tighter as I look over at the guys and give them the signal for the encore. They begin to play, and the opening notes of our biggest hit, “All You, All Day, All Night” fills the stadium. I look down at Marina as I move us closer to the mic, bringing her with me. I know the A/V team will turn her headset mic off when they see what I’m doing.
“Do you know this one?” I ask softly.
She rolls her eyes like I just asked the dumbest question ever.
“Of course,” she says with a gorgeous grin. “I’m your biggest fan.”
And with that, we turn to our audience and give them an encore none of us will ever forget.