The Rockstar Who Loves Me

Song 25 ♫ Crossing the Distance

This was not like the music teaching gig I'd believed him to live from.

In the weeks leading to the concert, I'd learned that Tae Yang's roles in the band went from composing the music, arranging it, playing several instruments and mixing the electronic components of the songs. In the concert, most of his time was spent DJing, which I thought would've been a lot more chill than what the other guys did.

Quinn had the bulkiest arms and shoulders I'd seen on anyone, which no doubt helped him sustain the demanding rhythm of the drums one song after another. Meanwhile, Ashton and Madison jumped and twirled around the stage, never missing a note from instruments that had to be heavy. And then there was Vera, whose voice never wavered even as she ran up and down and across the stage, hyping up the crowd to a frenzy doubling with every song.

But Tae Yang was a storm on his own.

Although he rarely left his corner, his whole body was one with the music. With a fast tempo song, he jumped up and down, raising his arms until the crowd did the same. With the heavier songs, he headbanged even as his hands flew all across the board to make the complicated sequence of sounds the audience chanted along with. Often, he lent background vocals to the songs. He was always in motion. Always adding depth to the band from his booth.

Soon, he was drenched in sweat and shed his hoodie. The motion lifted his undershirt for a second and showed enough skin to get the whole place shrieking in unison. Not to be outdone, I screamed my throat raw because carajo, my boyfriend was so fucking hot.

"Tae Yang!" I called out, and he must have heard me because he sent a wink my way. It hit me so hard I grabbed onto Leyna not to topple backwards.

"This is amazing!" my friend from work screamed.

My heart skipped a beat as Tae Yang grabbed a red guitar and left his booth. The audience must have known which song would come up next because of that, and the closer Tae Yang got to the edge of the stage the more noise they made.

He put one foot on an amp, tuning the guitar with jarring calm against the frenzy of the crowd before him.

I fanned myself with the collar of my drenched t-shirt, sweating not just because I'd also been jumping around, but because of him. Tae Yang was seducing me from the stage and I was powerless against the heat.

As if sensing my eyes on him, he turned around and found my eyes across the stage. A corner of his lips went up as if he could read my mind and liked the debauchery he found there. I was glad we weren't alone, because otherwise I'd be divesting him of his sweaty clothes.

From clear across the stage, Ashton spoke into a microphone. "Orlando, are you having fun?"

What felt like the whole city replied in unison.

"That's what I like to hear," Ashton told them back. He rolled his guitar back and pulled the microphone from the stand. "Now, I have the great pleasure of reintroducing my great friend Link to all of you."

Leyna elbowed me. "That's yo man, bitch."

I smacked her arm away.

Yeah. He was. I couldn't believe it.

Meanwhile, Vera rushed over to us and grabbed a water bottle from a table loaded with them. She sat before me on one of the chair I had abandoned a while ago and said, "Whew, this is gonna be good, ladies."

"Why?" I asked. "What's gonna happen?"

She tilted her head back to smile at me. "Just make sure to grab tight onto your panties."

That made Leyna burst out laughing but gave me serious concerns, because I was already having a hard time doing just that.

"A lot of you know I had to compete against Link to get the main guitar spot," Ashton said as he circled Tae Yang. "Because this asshole right here is so talented he could be a one man band if he wanted to."