The Club

CHAPTER 5

18th Birthday Part 2

The energy in the arena is buzzing around me. Everyone is waiting for that one moment when they'll walk out on stage and blow us away with their performance. They are artistic masters, after all.

4-given Vengeance.

The reason we're all here. The air is thick with sweat from all the moshing during the opening bands. There's a trace of an illegal substance melding with the sweat that doesn't help with the gym locker scent to the air. But I don't care.

The whole day has been a whirlwind of excitement. Originally on the agenda was putting in more hours flipping pizzas for my time and a half. Oh well, I guess. But this is my eighteenth birthday and I need to finally live that life Kyle keeps telling me to get. We're graduating soon and I don't have any great memories to show for the last four years of my life. How pathetic is that?

Kyle made sure to push us through the throngs of people and we've been pressed against the barrier between us and the stage all night. I couldn't tell you who the opening bands were or what they played. My head has been focused on the main attraction and they're minutes away from walking out here. My entire body shakes in anticipation. A girl screams as we're covered in darkness but his guitar vibrates through the air breaking the silence.

It's him.

Daemon Way.

I've been waiting for this moment and I can't help the butterflies that build. I hold my breath waiting for his first step onto the stage. Each instrument follows in unison until the entire stage is lit up and there he is. I'm sure they're all there, but he's my main focus. His fingers race across the frets and I'm mesmerized in the movements of his hands. What I wouldn't give for those same hands to play my body like the guitar. He's standing mere feet away from me, totally focused on the song he's playing. His long dark hair is tucked underneath his leather fedora which is paired with a tight black t-shirt leaving little to the imagination. Topping it all off with a pair of dark jeans.

I squirm where I stand imagining what he's hiding underneath all those layers of clothing. As the bodies slam against us from behind attempting to get closer to the stage, I can't decide if I'm sweating from the body heat surrounding me or the desire dripping off me.

Oomph.

My body slams against the barrier as the excitement skyrockets and the crowd starts pushing. I yelp out in pain and his eyes lock onto my own. With the bruises on my body forgotten, I get lost in his gaze. I'm drowning in the darkness and I can't break the connection, not that I want to. He seems just as lost but his concentration on the song never wanes.

He winks at me, breaking the trance I was stuck in, shooting desire straight to my core. I rub my legs together to relieve some pressure, but it's all in vain. Only one thing will help me out now and I will do everything in my power to ensure I'm in his bed after the show.

They play song after song but my focus never fades from the relationship his fingers have with the strings of his guitar. Everything around me has disappeared and the forty-five-minute set is over before I realize it. The band leaves the stage for the second time. Groans sound up all around us as we're momentarily blinded by the overhead lights. The security guards grunt to each other as they work their way around the crowd making sure we get our asses out of here. My fixation never wanes and I'm stuck staring at the spot where he just stood. As if I could make him reappear from my mind. Kyle grabs my arm bringing me back to the present.

"I'm so glad we came. That was amazing."

Thoughts are fruitless at this point. Forming a word let alone a sentence would be impossible so I nod my head and follow the crowd like a lemming. The saturation of sweat overwhelms me the closer we get to masses. A loud banging from behind us stops me in my tracks but it's only the roadies tearing everything down. I should have known he wouldn't be back up there. Oh well, it was fun to fantasize for a little while. Back to reality now.

"Stop right there."

Was that directed at me? The loud booming voice repeats itself only closer to me this time. I risk a look and find a large towering man standing less than five feet away from me in a bright yellow shirt marked security. Shit, what did we do? I wrap my arms around my body tightly squeezing my biceps. Everyone around us continues leaving as we wait for our doom. A sharp pain in my arm intensifies as he stalks toward us. I'm quite literally shaking my boots and Kyle isn't doing much better judging on the number she's doing to my arm right now. That's going to leave a bruise. The beast of a man stops directly in front of us and raises his outstretched hand.

"I've been ordered to not let you leave the venue and give you these."

I'm momentarily set free as a high pitched scream comes from beside me. Bringing my hand up to my slacken mouth, I contemplate copying her movements. "Are you kidding? There's no way that you meant those for us."

He rolls his eyes and holds out the backstage passes even further in his outstretched hands. "I can assure you I don't kid about these things. Now will you put these on so I can escort you backstage?"

He doesn't need to tell us twice. The golden ticket is dropped from his meaty hands and I hug it like a prized possession. This baby is worth more to me than a diamond necklace and I hold onto the laminate, never wanting to let it go. Nobody is taking this baby away from me. Over my dead body. Security dude doesn't wait for our shock or excitement to dwindle before he's on the move. We quickly glance at each other and quietly squeal before taking off after him. As we cross the barrier into backstage the air suddenly changes. It's thick with sex and desire. There are obvious groupies scattered about all back here for the same reason. Sex with a rock star. Does that make me a groupie?

The thoughts flash through my mind as we push through the throngs of people trying to catch up to our tour guide. He stops suddenly and I almost slam into his back but Kyle grips my arm from behind and tugs me back toward her. That was close. He knocks on the door directly in front of us and a muffled voice calls out to open the door. My palms sweat waiting and hoping for what will meet me behind that door. Could it be he felt that connection too? That the sexiest guitar player thrust these backstage passes to the security guard and made him hunt me down? God, I hope so. I'll be sorely disappointed if it's anybody but him.

The door swings open and I hold my breath waiting to see who is meeting us inside.