Tetra couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so lost in a song. The words were perfect. Sure, the lyrics might have been better with a tweak or two and the tune would definitely be stronger with the power of a full band behind it, but the simple melody on the keyboard and Justin’s honest delivery had an indelible effect. Tetra felt every word as if they had been tattooed on her soul this whole time and someone had only just pointed it out to her. She got goosebumps.

I’ve run here…

That was the absolute truth, make no mistake. She and her father had run here from Kansas. They had reached their destination. But inside, she was still running.

She tried to mentally shake herself out of hypnosis. It was a silly schoolgirl thing to read so much into a song. Running was a universal theme, especially in music. Everyone ran from something at some point in their lives. She was young. There would undoubtedly be more running in the future.

Just not like Kansas.

But Justin was young, too. He had obviously lived through some horrible things, as she had. The way he sang the words, with those lonely keys and that sad voice and those haunting eyes…it touched her heart.

The goosebumps just wouldn’t stop coming.

It was possible, with just one song—a song that wasn’t even finished yet!—that Justin Zatarain had become Tetra’s new favorite artist of all time. Based on what little she knew of the situation and her not-too-subtle crush on Xander, Tetra hadn’t given Justin a second glance. But she looked at him now, stared at him, enraptured.

He noticed.

And he stared back.

It was almost…as if he was singing the song to her.

Tetra was sure of only one thing in that moment: It was good that she didn’t really know Justin Zatarain at all. Because he would break her heart.

Xander stepped up to the keyboard and grabbed the microphone again before the last note of Justin’s song had died away. Tetra realized that adults and children were dancing all around her—people who had been perfect strangers several hours ago, and whom she would never hear from again once they left Mimosa Key. She slunk back to the edge of the deck as Xander announced the end of the set, thanked everyone, and toasted the bride and groom once more.

“So.” Lupe handed her a bottle of water. “How well do you know him?” She indicated the stage with a nod of her head.

“Technically, I hadn’t met any of them before tonight,” Tetra answered. “But it feels like I’ve known Xander and Kara for ages.”

Lupe raised an eyebrow. She was exceptionally good at that. “I meant the bass player. The one who sang you a diary entry after your precious Xander threw him to the wolves.”

Tetra turned to her new friend, not even sure where to start. “He was singing to everyone.”

“That’s not how it looked from where I was sitting.”

“The whole stunt was probably planned. Xander’s not the kind of guy who would do something like that on purpose.”

Lupe added a smirk to the still-raised eyebrow. “Technically you haven’t met any of them before tonight, so you technically can’t know that,” she said. “I dated a guy once who took a great deal of pleasure in doing horrible stuff like that. Speaking from experience, this ‘stunt’ felt very familiar.”

“Xander is not horrible. And he’s not my Xander,” she said finally. But for the first time, when she thought about Xander, her stomach wasn’t full of butterflies. She didn’t want to believe Xander was capable of anything like Lupe suggested, but ignoring her new friend’s observation was proving difficult.

“He’s totally your Xander. And you can have him.” Lupe sighed and looked toward the stage again. “I’ll take the bass player.”

“Justin,” Tetra said with a smile. “Justin Zatarain.”

“Ah. Related to the rock star, I guess?”

“Yup.”

“I see where he gets that voice then. When he’s mine, I will have him sing to me every night. And stare at me with those eyes. Do you think they’re green or gray?”

Justin had sung to Tetra. He had stared at her with those eyes. “Gray,” she said. And suddenly the butterflies were back. “I should really pack up this merch table.”

“I’ll ask around and see if anyone wants anything else before the bride and groom have their sendoff,” Lupe said brightly. “That way, I’m still working but I don’t have to clean up anything.”

“Happy to be of service.”

Lupe skipped back into the slowly dispersing crowd. The children had already cracked the seals on their vials of bubbles and were having what looked like a war sponsored by Glinda the Good Witch.

Tetra was meticulously folding t-shirts and sorting them into their proper bins when Kara found her. “Tetra! Oh, hon, thank you so much. You and Lupe were both such a big help. I’m so glad you were here!”

“Me too,” Tetra said honestly. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how well you guys made out tonight. And the set turned out really well—Justin was quite a surprise in the end, wasn’t he?”

“He was,” Kara said in a low tone, as if she was afraid her bandmates might hear. “I’m going to vote that Justin stays on for the rest of this tour.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” said Tetra. “Are the dates and times up on your site already? If not, you’ll have to let me know what they are. I promise to make it to as many as I can. And I’m happy to help out wherever you need.”

“You’re such a star. Thank you again.” Kara gave her a quick hug. “Hey, do you need to be home or anything? We can finish packing up if you need to go.”

Tetra took a deep breath of the cool evening breeze. “I don’t have to go. I don’t ever want to go. This has been such a wonderful day.”

“It has, hasn’t it?” Kara surveyed the rest of the merchandise still left on the table. “Well, if you want to stick around, you’re welcome to be the person in charge of making sure all this gets back to the trailer.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Tetra saluted Kara, and the keyboardist laughed. “But you should really take this and put it somewhere safe first.”

Kara looked confused, until she realized that the box Tetra handed her was filled not with pre-packaged bubbles, but money. “You’re kidding.”

“Told you. Pleasant surprise!”

Kara hugged the box. “Make sure you get a t-shirt for yourself before you pack that all up. Lupe, too. And stickers. And CDs. And whatever else you want because you guys are amazing!”

Tetra continued folding and sorting while Kara ran back to the stage to share the good news of their bounty. Liam gave her two thumbs up. Xander looked thrilled and blew her a kiss, which Tetra dutifully caught.

Justin continued to pack up equipment without raising his head.

Tetra pulled out the shirt she’d had her eye on, in the right color and size. She chose the same one for Lupe, adding a sticker and a copy of the new 10mm Conspiracy CD to her friend’s pile. Once she was finished, she snapped the lids closed on the containers.

She lifted the one full of t-shirts. It wasn’t too heavy—she could manage it by herself well enough. Tetra had no idea where Lupe had stashed the bag with her shoes and the rest of her clothes. The staff locker room? Not that it mattered. The stairs to the back parking lot were just there. She didn’t have to go far.

From the top of the steps, she could tell that the trailer was unlocked and opened and already more than half full. They sure did make quick work of their break down! Though as many live shows as 10mm Conspiracy performed, that wasn’t too surprising.

She held tightly onto the bin of t-shirts as she descended the short flight. One, two, three…

On the last step her ankle turned in, and she went down.