Chapter 32

Kin

My palms were sweating as I stood backstage with the legends who were supposed to make this first concert easier for me.

So far, it wasn’t working. I wasn’t calm. I didn’t feel at ease. All I felt like doing was hurling at Shane’s and Wroth’s feet. The little sweet pea was not liking the way my heart was pounding, disrupting its slumber. I tried taking deep breaths, but that didn’t do very much to help ease the roiling in my stomach.

It was the first stop on the winter tour. The arena was sold out, but I wasn’t expecting all the seats to be filled just for my opening act.

I should have, though. With the mix-and-match band of legends backing me up, I really should have expected people to be breaking down the doors to get the chance to see members of both Demon’s Wings and OtherWorld live for the first time in years.

Shane patted me on the back. “You’re going to do great. Just keep breathing. Your music is amazing, but no one expects you to achieve perfection your first time onstage with twenty thousand people watching.”

Twenty thousand people.

Oh God.

“Your pep talk isn’t working,” Jesse said as he pushed his way up between his bandbrother and Wroth.

When he announced the day before that he was going to be my drummer for the first two weeks, I’d nearly fallen at his feet sobbing. With Carter in Virginia, Jesse Thornton had become my father figure when I first moved to California. Having him put his own life on hold for two weeks to help me with my stage fright wasn’t something I ever would have asked of him. He hadn’t even offered, just informed me he was going with me, and I’d never felt so loved in my entire life as I had in that moment.

The bald Demon pulled me into a warm hug, and I felt myself begin to relax. “You’re going to be fine. The lights make it nearly impossible to see past the first few rows, so just pretend they’re the only ones out there. If you start feeling panicked, just let Wroth fill the void with a solo.” He leaned back, holding my elbows as he smiled down at me with affection. “You trust us?”

I nodded, swallowing the knot filling my throat, and smiled. “Yeah. I trust you guys with my life.”

He kissed the top of my head like I’d seen him do to Lucy a million times, then released me. “If you lose focus, just look at me, Shane, or Wroth. We got you, sweetheart.”

Feeling better, I let my excitement overrule my nervousness. The baby seemed to appreciate that, because my nausea began to fade. “Okay. I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

“That’s my girl.” He winked and then pulled his drumsticks from his back pocket. “Kick their ass, Kin.”

I grinned and followed him out onstage.

The crowd was deafening when each of the three legends stepped out, and I knew it wouldn’t have mattered if my songs were the worst any of these people had ever heard. I didn’t matter to them…

Determination began to burn in my veins.

…but I was going to before my set was over.

Jace

I stood to the side of the stage, watching with Kassa as Kin won over the entire arena.

I’d been there from the moment she’d first stepped out onstage, watching from the sidelines as she had her moment. And just as I knew she would, she put them under her spell the second she started singing the magic she created with her songs.

Every single one of those people out there had come early to see Jesse Thornton, Shane Stevenson, and Wroth Niall. But by now, those three legends didn’t matter to them. Their full focus was on the redhead who suddenly had all twenty thousand of them eating out of the palm of her hand.

She was about to sing the last song of her set, and I was the one so nervous I felt like I was going puke at any second.

“You can do this,” my sister told me as she clutched my hand in hers.

I gave a stiff nod, not sure I believed her.

Holding my breath, I tried to calm my racing heart, then took the microphone our tech guy thrust into my hands. The first notes of the song began, and I hesitated, not sure I was confident enough to go through with this.

Kassa pushed me forward, and I stumbled a step before righting myself and walking out behind Kin.

My voice singing the first verse of her most popular song had the crowd going crazy, but Kin turned to face me with her mouth gaping open. Her surprise lasted less than a second before she was singing the chorus with me.

Her face was dripping with sweat from the last thirty minutes of exertion and the lights beating down on her. Her makeup was perfectly in place, though, and I wondered what kind of voodoo she’d had to perform to accomplish that. But she looked beautiful, especially with that glow of adrenaline I was all too familiar with from being onstage with people screaming my name.

As the song came to an end, she sang the last verse, her body facing the crowded arena, and I gulped down the return of nerves trying to choke me as I dropped to both my knees behind her and fished out the ring I’d been carrying around for months now.

The crowd was going crazy now, screaming so loud it was fucking with my head, and Kin looked out at them, confused.

Then she turned and saw me on my knees for her. She covered her mouth with her hand, tears filling her pretty blue eyes.

She wanted the perfect proposal before she would say yes. I didn’t know if this was the perfection she wanted, but it was all I could come up with. Me, at her feet, offering her everything I had to give. My heart. My soul. My entire life. Everything was laid out for her, right there onstage with the world watching because there were twenty-thousand phones recording every second of this, and it would all end up on YouTube in the next hour.

Tears choked me as I lifted the microphone to my mouth. “The first time I saw you, I knew you were mine. The first time I walked away, I lost a part of my soul. When I held you again, I knew the perfection of true happiness. And I want that for the rest of my life. Marry me, Kin.”

Her shoulders began to tremble, and I was ready for her to shake her head, to tell me no, while the crowd was chanting for her to “say yes, say yes, say yes.” This wasn’t enough. It wasn’t what she really wanted. Maybe she didn’t want to marry me at all. Maybe I fucked all that up when I broke her heart. Maybe—

“Yes!” she screamed into her own microphone as she threw her arms around me and started kissing me.

My heart suddenly felt like it was exploding with relief and happiness, and I kissed her back. Grinning like a fool, I pulled back long enough to put the ring on her finger, and then I was kissing her again.

It was only when Wroth nudged me with his foot that I came back to my senses. I stood, taking her with me, and faced the crowd. “Thank God she said yes. I was about to die if she didn’t.” They all screamed in reaction.

Kin pressed her face into my chest, but I turned her to face the other side of the stage, where Lucy, Angie, Caleb, Carolina, Carter, and Scott were all standing. More tears spilled from her eyes as she screamed in delight and ran over to hug them.

She wrapped her arms around Angie first, Caleb folding his arms around the both of them. I waved to the crowd and joined them just as Carter was stepping back from hugging Kin.

Scott stood there, watching, waiting his turn. As soon as Carolina released her, he didn’t hesitate to wrap his daughter in his arms and kiss her cheek. She hugged him back, laughing and crying all at the same time.

“I didn’t know you guys were coming tonight,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“We wouldn’t miss your first live show,” Lucy told her, wrapping her arms around her for the second time but not letting go this time. “You were so good out there, babe. I’m so proud of you.”

“But you were all so busy. And Lucy, you have Hayat to think about.”

Lucy put her hand over her best friend’s mouth. “Harris has her back at the hotel. She’s fine. I wasn’t going to miss this. Especially when Jace told us he was proposing tonight.”

Kin’s gaze met mine, and I stepped in beside her as the roadies started clearing away her things to prep for the Blonde Bombshells’ set. “You arranged for them all to be here to see you propose?”

I lifted a shoulder in a half shrug, not letting her see just how scared I’d been. “I knew you would want them to be here.”

“What if I’d said no?” she whispered, her eyes huge with wonder.

“I had faith that you would give me a yes,” I lied, and I knew she understood.

I’d put everything on the line tonight. She could have said no and walked away, and I still would have gotten up and followed after her, still would have tried again. And again. And again.

“I love you,” she cried.

“Baby, I love you too.”