The Casa Blanca Resort and Spa looked like something out of a movie. Only better, because as far as Tetra knew movie sets didn’t have things like ceilings and bathrooms and sweeping landscapes and working fountains every ten feet. She tried to imagine the sheer scope of the army of people required to keep the main building, outbuildings, and grounds in such magazine-cover order. All those perfectly-working pieces…it made her brain hurt. She considered how she might describe this place to her father.

If this island was a kingdom, Casa Blanca was its castle.

Modern day Goth girls didn’t just waltz in through the doors of castles.

Tetra suddenly felt like a black smudge on a postcard. The mental image made her smile. All her black clothing, on the other hand, made her sweat. She felt it bead up between her shoulder blades. It trickled down her lower back and she tried to ignore it.

She made a sharp left turn and headed to the side of the building, slipping between a palm tree and a towering hedge of yellow hibiscus for shade. She needed to find a servant’s entrance. Or a loading dock. Or garbage area. A place this big surely created a sizable amount of garbage.

But if Casa Blanca created garbage, she never found it, just more wide, winding stone walks lined by rainbows of crepe myrtles and a myriad of other exotic flowering things. She chose the path that kept her close to the main building and eventually found herself in a small parking lot. Beyond the lot was a sparkling pool and a lovely raised deck that looked set up for a party. In the lot itself was 10mm Conspiracy’s van. The band referred to it as “Old Faithful” in all their posts online. Tetra would recognize that rig anywhere.

The back of the trailer was open; Tetra slowed her pace until someone returned. She wanted to make sure her approach seemed more like casual happenstance and less like a stalker trying to steal something. Happily, she didn’t have to wait long before a willowy redhead rounded the corner.

Butterflies erupted in Tetra’s stomach. Get over yourself, girl, and say something normal, she mentally yelled at herself. With her outside voice, she said tentatively, “Kara?”

The young woman froze like a gazelle and looked around. When she spotted Tetra, it was only a moment before her face split into a beautiful grin.

“Tetra, right? Oh, I’m so glad you came!” She opened her arms and pulled Tetra into a giant hug, as if they’d been friends forever and not just meeting for the first time.

The sheer kindness of Kara’s gesture made Tetra almost burst into tears—she’d been following 10mm Conspiracy online for years and sharing their music all over social media. She’d seen countless numbers of their sets via streaming video, watched radio and television interviews, but the time and place had never been right for her to catch a live show.

She’d exchanged more than a few emails with Kara in particular. 10mm Conspiracy’s music—and Kara herself—had ushered Tetra through one of the worst times in her life, and for that she would be forever grateful. But until this moment, it hadn’t occurred to Tetra that the keyboardist of her favorite band might also think of her as a friend, too.

“So what’s going on?” Tetra asked calmly, reminding herself not to jump out of her skin in excitement.

Kara rolled her eyes so hard her head rolled with them. “Ugh. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you—heck, I still don’t believe half of it. Here, let’s stand in the shade.” She pulled Tetra to where the trailer cast a sliver of protection from the sun. “The short version of the story is that Hedge isn’t here with us. Some kind of family emergency.”

“Oh no,” said Tetra. “I hope everything’s okay.”

“The emergency isn’t with his family,” Kara clarified.

“Wait…what?”

Kara put her hands on her hips and shook her head at the ground. “Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too.”

“So who’s playing bass?”

“Justin Zatarain. Know him?”

The last name could only mean that Justin was rock legend Donny Z’s nephew or cousin or something, but if she’d seen a picture of him somewhere before she didn’t remember it. “Not really. I assume he can play bass guitar?”

Kara shrugged. “We’re about to find out. Want to stick around to see if sound check is the dumpster fire I’m afraid it’s going to be?”

Tetra relaxed a bit. It wasn’t sneaking in if she’d actually been invited to the concert. “You sure it’s all right? The tour schedule listed this as a private event.”

“It’s a wedding, actually.” Kara twisted her very long hair up and pulled it into a loose knot on top of her head.

“Seriously?” There was no way for Tetra to hide her level of surprise. A small dive bar, sure. An underground rave, absolutely. Some sort of exclusive house party, maybe. But 10mm Conspiracy headlining a wedding?

Kara shrugged. “I don’t know what kind of favor Xander owed Donny Z. It must have been a doozy, because we’re all paying for it.”

Tetra smirked. “I’m not exactly dressed for a wedding.”

“‘Always a funeral, never a wedding,’ right?” Kara quoted, and then hugged Tetra again.

This time, Tetra did feel a rogue tear slip down her cheek. The quote had been something she’d written in her emails to Kara. Tetra had been to so many funerals, so close together, that she had joked about never bothering to wear anything but black for efficiency’s sake.

Only it wasn’t really a joke.

“Don’t worry.” Kara squeezed her shoulders. “I’ll make sure it’s okay, even if I have to twist the arm of His Majesty Donny Z himself.” Kara reached into the trailer, grabbed a handful of colorful cords, and tossed them to Tetra. “Here. Will you help me get all this up to where we’re performing?”

Tetra had no problem helping out—now if anyone asked, she could say she was “with the band” and it wouldn’t be a lie!

Kara led her up the stairs from the parking lot to the deck and crossed the floor to where a slightly raised stage had been assembled. The entire deck was covered in a canopy of silk and outfitted in white and lace and pastels. It was a successful mix of casual, understated, and still very extravagant.

“Guess who I found?” Kara announced as they approached.

The two men working on the equipment looked up…and Tetra found herself staring into the warm green eyes of Xander Rorris.

Her heart melted.

“No way! Double-O Tetra? Come here, girl!”

Xander Rorris recognized her. Xander Rorris wanted to hug her. Xander Rorris, one of the most beautiful men on the planet with a voice of an angel, knew her screen name and seemed honestly excited to see her.

“For Pete’s sake, Xander, tone down the charm. You’ve gone and starstruck my friend.” Tetra could hear the smile in Kara’s tone. “Give her a minute to collect herself.”

“Could be she just doesn’t want to hug some strange sweaty guy,” said Liam, the band’s drummer.

Xander Rorris’s gorgeous body hopped off the stage. Those sexy lips parted to reveal those perfect teeth, and that angel’s voice said, “She doesn’t mind a little sweat, does she?”

Tetra shook her head ever so slightly. She would have been willing to hug Xander Rorris if he’d been covered in bat guano. Her shy smile turned to a squeal as he caught her up in a bear hug so fierce that her boots actually left the ground. When he set her down, he planted a firm kiss on her cheek, right on top of the birthmark she had hated all her life. The birthmark that was now her favorite feature.

“I came to see the dumpster fire,” Tetra said when she found her voice again.

Xander laughed and the heavens opened up and the butterflies in her stomach danced a jig. “I guess Kara filled you in then.”

“Sort of.” She let Liam take the cords out of her hands so he and Kara could put them to use. “Where’s the new guy?”

“Don’t know and don’t care,” said Xander. “Sort of hoping he doesn’t show up at all. That would make my life so much easier. But enough about me! How are you? How was the move? How’s Florida so far?”

“Hot,” answered Tetra. “Basically, that’s the answer to all three questions.”

“Holla,” Liam chimed in as he wiped his brow.

“Well, you look amazing.” Xander gave her arm a friendly squeeze. “I’m so glad you’re here. You gonna stay for the set?”

The whole situation was so surreal that Tetra was having a seriously difficult time processing. And yet, somehow she was keeping it all together. “I’d love to. But I feel a little bad crashing the party.”

“No way,” said Xander. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll make sure they know you’re with us. We still have some set up to do—you can go grab a water or something while we finish.”

“Make that two waters,” called Liam.

“Three!” said Kara.

“On it!” said Tetra. Now on a fully-sanctioned mission, she went on a search for water. Unfortunately, the buffet tables weren’t stocked yet. A separate bar had been set up, but no one was there. Tetra ducked behind it, scanning the vodka and rum in the hope of discovering a few stray water bottles.

“Hey there.”

Tetra stood up immediately—she could only image what the situation looked like. The “hey there” belonged to a short girl with a long black ponytail and a giant red hibiscus flower over her ear. Her full lips looked used to smiling. She wore a loose white top and a black skirt and had a serving tray in her hand.

“I was looking for some water,” Tetra said quickly. “For the band.”

“Sure, no problem. You with them?” the girl asked with complete innocence.

“I am,” Tetra said proudly. “Though I’ll be honest, I thought this was going to be a private concert. I didn’t realize it was a wedding. I feel a little bad crashing it like this.”

The girl examined Tetra from head to toe. “I, personally, think you look fantastic,” she said. “But you’re right…not really for this crowd.” She bit her lip and looked to the sky for a moment before turning back to Tetra. “If you’re game for a bit of undercover dress up—which I suspect you might be—I can help you out with a quick make-under.”

Tetra, surprisingly, wasn’t offended by the suggestion. She’d spotted disposable cameras at each table. She could only imagine what this poor bride would think looking back through the photos of her precious day and finding a million pictures of some random uninvited Goth chick. “Sure. I’m game. I’m Tetra, by the way.”

“I’m Lupe,” said the girl with a sparkle in her eye. “And this is going to be fun.”