Chapter 33
RIO
The crowd won’t shut up.
Encore. Encore. Encore.
The words roared through the venue like a demand, not a request. My chest still heaves from the last song, sweat cooling down my spine.
The lights hot enough to make everything feel unreal. I lift my guitar strap off my shoulder and turn slightly away from the mic.
I’m done.
That’s when Keith hits the first beat.
It's Maddie's song! By my explicit orders, not on the setlist.
Steven joins in a half second later. Confident. Certain. Like this was planned.
Which of course it was. But not by me.
My stomach tightens.
That song.
The one I never meant anyone to hear.
Especially not Maddy.
I step back from the mic, and glance toward the side of the stage. Prince Michael is there. Watching me like he’s waiting to see if I'll take the stage.
I shake my head once.
He doesn’t move.
The crowd leans forward. Something in that melody I created excites them.
I can feel it. Something’s happening and they know it.
I turn my back to the audience, breathing hard, fingers flexing around the neck of my guitar.
I am not singing this.
Not tonight. Not after how Maddy played me.
But Keith and Steven see that the beat keeps going.
And then I see him.
Front row. Center. Standing.
Derek Ward. President of Midnight Records.
This is my now or never moment. And for the first time, I realize it would be selfish to not sing Maddie's song. Our life as a band absolutely depends on it.
I take my place behind the mic. The crowd screams my name.
Then I sing. I try not to think of Maddie as I recite the song's lyrics, but it's impossible not to.
I hate that my body remembers something my brain wants to forget.
But the audience reacts to that raw emotion of the song. A universal emotion everyone alive can relate to.
I feed on their energy, letting them push me further into that private space where that song came into being.
Before I'm even halfway through, I already sense this song is the ticket that will make my band's dream come true.