I could not have been prouder standing in the wings, watching Austin walk on stage to thunderous applause. Royce and the rest of his session band was with him, but before they could go back to their places, Austin gestured for them to join him at the front of the stage.

“Before we begin, I just wanted to take a chance to thank the people who have been with me through this journey.” He faced his drummer. “To Royce, who creates the sickest beats of anyone in the business, and the rest of the guys.” He turned towards the side of the stage where Zoey was standing. “To my manager, who never lost faith, even when I did.” And then Austin’s eyes found mine. “And to the people that encouraged me from the beginning. Who told me to keep going even when I wanted to give up and get a ‘real job.’ ” He turned back to the audience. “Good thing we’ve all decided that making music is definitely a real job.”

There was more cheering. I could not have been prouder if I tried.

“Thank you again,” Austin said, raising his microphone like a drink. “Now let’s play some rock and roll!”

The band took their places, and Austin slung his guitar around his neck. I clasped my hands together, trying to send Austin all the good luck I could.

But it became immediately clear, the moment he started playing, that he didn’t need luck at all.

He was good.

Really good.

The new material had the same catchy hooks that had made Method of Madness so popular, but there was a new maturity to the sound, a rich soulfulness that came straight from Austin’s heart. The crowd went wild for every single song, and I watched, completely mesmerized from my side of the stage, as Austin captured the audience with each chord he played and each note he sang.

Fast songs, slow songs—I gave up trying to take notes, and just took it all in. There were half a dozen hits that had Number One all over them. Then, towards the end of the set, Austin began playing the song that I had heard him practicing back at the cabin. The performance that had ended with us in bed together for the first time. And the entire time he was playing, he kept looking over at me, his eyes steady on mine as he sang about starting over and trying something new.

Even though I knew he hadn’t written the song about me—it was clearly something he’d been working on before I came back into his life—it still felt like something special and private between us. Like our song.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He was incredible on stage, completely feeding off the energy of the crowd and giving them exactly what they wanted. Because they wanted him, and he was more than happy to oblige. He was in his element, and I had never seen him so happy and at ease.

Except, perhaps, when he was in bed with me.

Austin played two encores, the audience screaming for him, unwilling to let him off the stage. But eventually, he had to end the show, and I quickly ducked backstage to meet him when he finally walked off the stage, sweaty and elated.

I wanted to run over and kiss him, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that my brother had arrived. So instead of throwing myself into Austin’s arms, I went to say hi. “Wasn’t he great?” I said, figuring it was safe to sing Austin’s praises when, let’s face it, everyone present was in awe of his talent.

“Yeah, he killed it,” Luke grinned. He looked past me, and his jaw dropped.

I turned to see what he was staring at and found that he was looking at Grace and Cassie. Openly ogling both of them. He had never met Cassie before, but he had just seen Grace the other day. I rolled my eyes. “Stop drooling over my friends,” I said, smacking him lightly on the arm.

“What?” Luke blinked, and I laughed.

“Real smooth.” Then I realized if Luke was distracted, I’d be able to get some time with Austin. “You know, they’re both single,” I said casually. “You should go help them out. Play wingman and introduce them around.”

“Great idea,” Luke said immediately, and headed over to talk to them. I smiled, knowing that Cassie would flirt outrageously with him and Grace would just be her usual sweet, shy self. It was the perfect way to keep Luke out of my way.

Once the three of them were deep in conversation, I looked for Austin, but he’d disappeared from the backstage area. I went in search of his dressing room, already knowing he would have wanted a quiet moment after the performance to let it all sink in. Sure enough, he was gulping down a bottle of water when I entered. He looked up and smiled.

“I was hoping you’d come find me,” Austin said, reaching for me.

I pushed the door closed and went straight into his arms. “The show was incredible,” I murmured between toe-curling kisses.

“Mmhmm,” Austin said, kissing me again. His hands slid down to my hips, and he pushed me back against a stack of speakers. “God, it’s such a rush performing like that.”

I knew a couple of things about the rush. He kissed me deeply, his tongue in my mouth, his fingers sneaking their way underneath my dress by way of the very long, very convenient slit along one leg.

I parted my knees to make room for him, loving the way he pressed himself against me, his thumb teasing at my thong. I gasped as he began dropping hot kisses along my throat, his mouth moving downward, his hands moving upward. I arched against him as his fingers dipped beneath my thong and made contact with my clit.

“Yes,” I moaned, my hands digging into his shoulders, pulling him closer.

“You’re so hot, Mia,” Austin groaned, and I felt his hard cock pressing against my leg.

“More,” I ordered, pulling at his shirt.

I had just pulled it up over his head when the door swung open. “You can’t bail on your own— What the fuck?”

We both froze as Luke stepped into the room.

Oh shit!

I shoved my dressed down and jumped off the speakers, and Austin reeled back, but it was too late.

Busted.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Luke’s face was tense, his eyes narrowed as he took in the scene.

The guilty, dirty scene.

Austin yanked his shirt down, and took a step towards Luke. “Let me explain,” he said, but Luke turned towards me.

“Him?” he demanded, pointing at Austin. “This is the guy you’ve been seeing?”

Before I could answer, however, Luke had turned and stormed out

“Fuck,” Austin muttered. “Goddamnit!” Without even looking back at me, Austin went after him. I quickly checked that I was decent, then followed both of them, heading down the dim hallway to the back exit.

By the time I got outside, Luke was glaring at Austin, who had his hands up as if in surrender.

“You fucking scumbag,” Luke swore at Austin. “You promised.”

“I’m sorry, man,” Austin said. “We couldn’t help it.”

“Like hell you couldn’t! This is my sister we’re talking about, not one of your fucking groupies!”

“Calm down, Luke,” I tried to interrupt, but he ignored me.

“I trusted you to look out for her,” he growled. “And instead, you went and . . .” He trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought. “Fuck!”

Then without warning, Luke lunged for Austin, and the two of them stumbled back against the wall. Luke swung, and his fist connected with Austin’s cheek, hard enough to make me wince. Then Austin had him around the waist, and they were tussling down on the dirty ground. It was a blur of flying fists and angry grunts, and for a moment, I was frozen in shock.

Then I snapped back to life.

“Stop it!” I cried out, grabbing the back of Luke’s shirt, pulling him hard enough for the fabric to rip. “Stop!”

He ignored me, but I managed to grab him around the waist. I wasn’t nearly as strong or as big as he was, but I tightened my grip on him, and let all my body weight hang off of him like we were kids again.

“Let go.” He tried to shake me off, but I wouldn’t release him.

“Stop fighting and I will,” I demanded.

With an annoyed snort, Luke lowered his fists and stepped back. I let go of him, and in order to guarantee that they wouldn’t start fighting again, I got in between them.

“What the hell are you doing?” I cried, but Luke just looked stubborn.

“This is between us.”

“No, it’s about me.”

“Just give me a chance to explain,” Austin said behind me, but Luke shook his head.

“My sister.” He ran his hand through his hair, ignoring the fact that I was standing right in front of him. “You were fucking my sister and you lied about it. You’ll hurt her, the way you hurt all the girls you screw.”

Austin recoiled. “This is different,” he said.

His claim would have been more meaningful if both of them weren’t speaking about me as I wasn’t standing right there. In fact, both of them seemed to have completely forgotten about me even though I was in between them. Literally.

“Bullshit,” Luke spat. “And even if it was the truth, you know you’re not good enough for her.”

I could see that Luke’s comment hurt Austin deeply. I shoved Luke. “You’re being a real asshole.”

“You don’t understand,” Luke told me, finally looking at me. “You don’t know what he’s like with women.”

“I know what he’s like with me,” I said fiercely. “And he’s been nothing but a perfect gentleman.”

Luke shook his head. “You’re so naïve,” he argued stubbornly. “Do you think you’re special? I’ve seen a hundred girls fall at his feet over the years. And all of them end up hurt.”

“Do you really think so little of me?” I challenged him, and Luke looked away.

“It’s not you I’m worried about.” He looked at Austin and let out a sound of disgust. “You know what? Fuck this. You’ve both been lying to me. Thanks for nothing.”

Before I could respond, he stalked off, disappearing around the corner and into the night.

I let out a shaky breath. Fuck. That was pretty much the worst-case scenario of telling Luke about us, but still, I felt a kind of twisted relief that it was all out in the open. Things couldn’t get much worse, right?

I turned to face Austin, who was still slumped back against the wall, rubbing his black eye. “Well, that went well,” I joked.

He didn’t reply.

“Are you OK?” I asked him, reaching out to examine his face.

But he pulled away from me. “Don’t.”

“Austin, you’re hurt.”

But he shook his head. “I told you this would happen.”

“So, my brother’s being an ass,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “He’ll get over it.”

“No, he won’t.” Austin looked conflicted. “And anyway, he’s right.”

“About what?”

“Me,” Austin said, his voice heavy. “I’m a scumbag.”

“Stop it,” I said, angry. “Luke is just mad he found us like that. He said some things, but he didn’t mean them.”

Austin looked at me, his bruise turning purple now.

“Doesn’t he?” he said, sounding bitter. “Tell me one thing he got wrong. Because I did screw around, I did break a lot of hearts, and I don’t deserve someone like you.”

“Stop it.” I began to get a cold feeling, like we were on the edge of something, about to fall—and hit the ground. “Everyone just needs to cool down.”

“No.” Austin’s jaw set. “I tried to stay away from you, because I knew something like this would happen.”

“So, what, it's my fault?” I couldn't believe what I was hearing. “Austin, what are you saying?”

“That we knew from the start this was wrong. It’s all wrong.” He wouldn’t look at me, just stared at the ground. “So maybe it’s better if we just call it quits now, before we do any more damage.”

“Austin . . .” I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

“Goodbye, Mia.” Austin swallowed, and for a moment, I saw the regret in his eyes. Then the shutters slammed down, and his face was unreadable again. “I’m sorry. But you’re better off without me.”

He didn’t give me time to argue, he just walked away, leaving me alone in the cold night air with my heart breaking in two.