Page 201 of Always Love You More

“And why do I take care of you?”

“Because I’m yours.”

“And?”

She smiles. “Because you love me.”

“That’s right,” I tell her, stepping back. “Now, go.”

“You’re late,” Billy shouts over the noise of the crowd.

I look toward the empty stage. “Looks like we’re fine.”

“We were all hanging out backstage before, remember?”

“I thought that was after?”

“It was both.”

“Shit, sorry,” I mutter, glancing down at Sam. “Something came up.”

Billy snorts. “Yeah, I’m sure it did.”

Sam laughs from beside me.

I shake my head. “You guys are like a pair of twelve-year-old boys.”

“Looks like a good crowd,” Sam says, taking in the space. “We could barely find you.”

Billy nods. “Yeah, the guys are freaking out.”

“And you?” I ask.

“Told you, I’m fine.” He runs his hand through his hair. “I’m happy for them.”

“Yeah,” I say, keeping myself from pushing. “This is legit.”

“I just hope they—”

Billy’s words are cut off when the lights dim and Rowan walks onto the stage, followed by the rest of the band. They go right into the first song. It has this real heavy rock sound, and it’s good. Really fucking good.

I lean into Billy. “Who sings this?”

“They do.”

“No, I mean, who’s song is it?”

“It’s theirs.”

Well, damn.

The crowd is into it, moving to the beat, catching onto the chorus.

They go right into the next one, and it’s just as good.

By the time their set is over, they’ve got the crowd eating out of the palm of their fucking hands.

Billy wasn’t lying. Maybe they really are gonna make it out of here.