Page 278 of End Game

Cami blows me a kiss.

It feels like home.

Then I turn back to several thousand strangers and make them mine for the next three minutes.

The first verse gets them listening.

By the chorus, enough people have caught the rhythm that I can feel the room shift.

By the second chorus, somebody near the front is singing along.

I have no idea how.

Maybe they looked us up after the stadium show.

Maybe they're psychic.

Doesn't matter.

The benefit song closes the show.

All of us come back out.

Austin gets the microphone first, thanks the organizers, talks about Lanternway, tells the audience where the money is going and why it matters.

He keeps it short.

No bullshit.

Then he looks down the line of musicians. “And this song got rewritten approximately ninety fucking times this week.”

The crowd laughs.

“Most of that was because musicians are assholes.”

A dozen middle fingers go up around him.

I contribute mine.

Austin points at me. “This asshole showed up and told me the bridge was lying.”

The crowd laughs harder.

I cover my face.

He keeps talking. “So if this next part makes you cry, blame Dex Mercer.”

Oh, fuck you.

The lights change.

The opening chords begin.

There isn't time to process it.

Voices move through the song one after another.

Different textures.