Still Loving You

Part 4

 "Alright, you guys ready?" Eddie asked, grabbing his guitar off the stand.

"Always," Gareth responded with a grin.

He could hear Jacob getting ready to introduce them and headed to the side entrance of the small stage. He peeked around the corner. There appeared to be a rather large crowd tonight, quite a few more people than they usually got at The Hideout. They had a few avid supporters who came to almost every show and there were always the drunks you could depend on to be sitting on their same barstool.

"Corroded Coffin!"

Eddie made his way on stage. He walked to his place, glanced back at the guys to make sure they were ready, and began to play. This was where he felt most himself. This was where he felt the most capable, the most confident. This was where he felt the most worthy, on stage with his guitar in hand. They opened with one of their older songs. It was almost always a hit. It was a great pick to open the show because it got people amped up.

As they ended the song, he walked up to the microphone, ready to hype up the crowd for the rest of the set. "Thanks so much for coming out guys! Bryxton, are you ready to..."

His words died on his lips as he scanned the audience and his gaze fell on her. Jesus, she was even more beautiful than he remembered. He got stuck, unable to look away from those intense green eyes. His breathing grew erratic, and it took everything in him not to leap off the stage and pull her into his arms.

Suddenly, she stood up and turned, running out of the club. Shit. He should have seen that coming. He thought he'd get out of this town without her knowing, but now that she did, of course she didn't want to see him. Why would she? She had told him to stay the hell away from her. She hated him.

Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to chase after her, but he had to finish this set. Jacob wasn't going to pay them for a partial show and all of these people had paid to see them. The two people she had been sitting with quickly ran out after her, and he wondered if the guy was this Brian that Dustin had mentioned. Go figure. He looked like quite the pretty boy with that perfect hair. She clearly wanted someone who was everything he was not.

Get it together, he told himself. He could do this. It was just another gig. He could put her out of his mind for the next 90 minutes. He had to.

He took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice steady but he could hear the tension rattling through it as he spoke into the mic, "You ready to rock!?"

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Eddie had managed to pull it together enough to get through the show. He had no idea how. After their set, they thanked the audience and headed back to the small dressing room. Eddie's thoughts were a swirling mess. He couldn't get the image of her out of his mind. His body was fighting him, wanting to find her. He knew seeing her would be hard, but he had no idea how much it would undo him.

"Dude...was that who I think it was?" Gareth asked.

"Yeah..." he answered softly, placing his guitar in its case before fastening it closed.

"Shit, man," Jeff breathed. "You okay?"

"Naw man, I am pretty goddamn far from okay right now," Eddie grumbled.

"Elizabeth...shit, I can't believe it. Did you know she was going to be here when you agreed to this gig? What are you going to do?" inquired Gareth.

"I forgot she went to school here, okay? I try not to think about her. And as for what I am going to do, I'm going to leave her alone," Eddie snapped. "She told me she never wanted to see me again the last time we spoke. I am going to honor her wishes. This was unfortunate, but she definitely won't be back tomorrow. We'll stay, we'll do tomorrow's show, and then we get the hell out of here. Then she can go back to her college life with that goddamn pretty boy and act like this never happened. She'll never have to see me again."