CHAPTER 36
LUCKY
The applause was deafening, just the way I liked it.
Sure, I did this for the money. I did it for the fame. I did it because I loved performing. But mostly, I did it for this moment right here, when my hair was blown back by the sheer force of applause and cheers when it was all over. By then, I’d been onstage for close to three hours, when you counted the two encores. Sweaty, exhausted, and dazed, the high was like no other already, but when you added the intense energy thrown at you by the crowd at the end, it was beyond breathtaking.
Arms entwined, my band members and I bowed three, four times, before I finally broke free, waving as I headed off stage. I made a beeline for Ziggy.
His presence the last few days at the edge of the stage had made it easier for me to perform, and as much as I hated to admit that a man was making me have a better show, it was true. He was comforting, calm, and such a steady rock that it was damn hard not to allow myself to lean on him.
He was easy, that’s what he was.
He didn’t pretend to be anyone he wasn’t. He didn’t pressure me. He just hung out by my side, and in my bed, and made everything much more pleasant in the process. Being around Ziggy made me realize just how much of a drag Nicholai had been. I don’t think I realized it at the time, or if I did, I pretended I didn’t, I pretended everything was just fine. Until I’d found Eddie’s wallet, and then the facade I’d built up around me came crumbling down and I realized what a monster Nicholai was. But until Ziggy?
I hadn’t realized just how much fun life could be, even with all of my responsibilities.
For hours today, we’d hung out in bed after the signing, the drink I’d consumed, okay both of them, had relaxed me enough to just hang out in the hotel room and just be with him. We’d turned everything off, made love in the fading afternoon sun and blocked out the world, barely even saying a word to each other.
That’s how I liked it.
We hadn’t explored our feelings, or dredged up our pasts in some ancient ritual of getting to know each other by spilling our worst memories. We didn’t talk about the fact that I’d just had one of the creepiest experiences of my life. We didn’t talk about any of it, whether we should have or not.
We just existed together.
We let our bodies do the talking.
And they’d had so very much to say that I couldn’t wait to continue the conversation later tonight. We rushed off to the elevators and back to my suite as fast as we could after the show was over, leaving the rest of the Gods behind.
“You got this?” Ziggy asked Ryder over his shoulder as I pulled him away.
“Sure, see you later,” Ryder said.
We rushed upstairs to my room, locking the door behind us. Ziggy pulled me into his arms with a huge smile.
“You’re like magic on stage, have I told you that?”
“It’s all lights and speakers,” I said, brushing my lips against his.
“It’s more than that, and you know it, Lucky,” he insisted.
“All I know is that it’s exhilarating,” I said, reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck when I froze. My wrist was bare. “My bracelet!”
“What?” Ziggy asked.
I showed him my bare wrist, my eyes wide with alarm.
“My bracelet!” I cried.
“Were you wearing a bracelet? I do remember a small gold one you’ve been wearing.”
“Yes! Eddie gave it to me,” I cried. “I never take it off. It must have fallen off on stage or something.”
All that talking Ziggy and I had never done? That included the significance of the bracelet I never took off. Talking about my dead ex-boyfriend’s gift didn’t seem to be high on the list of priorities when Ziggy’s head had been buried between my legs for the last few days. So the fact that he was standing there looking at me calmly, his expression not matching the alarm in my own, was not surprising
“Oh, no,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll send one of the guys to go look for it.”
“No, Ziggy, you go, please? It’s the most important thing I own. It’s all I have left of Eddie. Please?”
My heart was racing but I was sure he’d find it. He had to.
“Okay, sure,” he said. “I’ll have Blade guard the door. Don’t leave.”
“I won’t. Hurry, please?”
“Okay, babe,” he said. “Don’t worry, we’ll find it.”
He kissed me again and ran out. I took a deep breath, trying to still my beating heart. If I lost that bracelet, I’d be devastated. Nicholai hated it, always saying it looked like something that a little girl would wear, always joking about how it was going to turn my arm green someday, because it was so cheap. I ignored him, never taking it off, despite his repeated requests for me to do so.
Ziggy had to find it.
There was no other acceptable outcome.
CHAPTER 37
ZIGGY
After quickly explaining where I was going, I left Blade guarding the door. I’d noticed the bracelet, sure, but I had no idea of the significance, apparently. Lucky looked more alarmed about losing the bracelet than she did about everything that went down at the signing this morning.
It took a few minutes to make my way through the lobby and return to the back door of the theater. The production crew was still hard at work, performing what looked to me to be the hardest part of the show each night — setting everything up and tearing it all down, and whatever else they did. I walked on stage and scanned it, finally finding the bracelet lying at the base of Lucky’s mic stand. I scooped it up and took a closer look. The fragile clasp was broken, but it looked to be in tact.
I smiled, glad I was able to find it, glad that it would make Lucky happy. I walked back the way I came with a grin on my face. Now that all of Lucky’s work was done for the night, and now that I’d saved the day by finding the bracelet, I was looking forward to relaxing with her. We’d planned to spend the entire night in bed, away from prying eyes and responsibilities.
We’d had a dress rehearsal of that all afternoon and it had left me wanting more. Lucky was good at that.
She left the crowd wanting more.
She’d apparently left this asshole Nicholai wanting more.
And she’d left me in a perpetual state of yearning for more of everything about her — from just being able to feast my eyes on her beauty to sinking myself as deep into her as I could get, I absolutely could not get enough.
While I walked through the lobby, it was all I could think about.
By the time I boarded the elevator, I already had her clothes off in my head.