Eyes closed and a half-smile on his face, Sterling sang through the first verse and shot right into the chorus of “Unlasting,” the title track of their last album. Normally, he would cut out here during a sound check, but he couldn’t stop. The sound zipped and hummed through him, lighting up his nerve endings and creating an electric trail up from his toes, coming to rest in the very center of his chest. The band followed him, tracking with wherever he went.
The words felt as alive as the music and the emotion he felt when writing made him disappear into the song:
One last drink of your lips
Never enough to slake the thirst
For something more, more than you
I see you, see you move
Right past me to something new
Statue, stone and still I wait
All my loves, colorless and unlasting
The last note hung in the air and Sterling opened his eyes. His breath came heavy, but his heart was light. A smile broke over his face and he turned to find that same look echoed on Moby’s face.
“Dude, you’re on fire. We should let them in now and just go. Think you can hang on to that energy for a few more hours?” Moby asked.
Sterling still smiled. “Maybe. Let’s hope.”
In his ear, Mike gave a low whistle. “That goes on record as the best warm-up to date. Can’t wait for the real show, man.”
Sterling held up a hand toward the sound box. “Thanks, Mike. I’ve got you and autotune to thank.”
Scattered laughter surrounded Sterling as he pulled the guitar strap over his head and handed the instrument to one of the stage guys who would make sure it was in tune. Immediately he scanned the stage for Reese. He spotted her near the side of the stage, a huge smile on her face, typing something into the phone in her hand. She glanced up as though she felt him looking.
The twenty feet of stage between them seemed to disappear. People crossed between them, as stage hands set things up and the other guys in the band walked by, but they weren’t really there. It was only Reese, her gray gaze holding Sterling in place where he stood.
His heartbeat seemed to slow in his chest like a hand was squeezing it. The electric energy from the performance seemed to have shifted and now stretched between them. He couldn’t say what it was about her. Yesterday he had been upset that she was on the bus. Was that just yesterday? He felt shocked by whatever this was. But he knew that the heat that fueled his performance came straight from Reese.
Sterling wanted to cross the stage. He felt compelled to say something or just to touch her hand. It felt like a need, like it would complete whatever circuit this was that had his skin buzzing.
“Sterling!” Morgan’s voice broke through whatever stretched between Reese and Sterling. Morgan launched herself into his arms and he caught her, spinning to keep himself from being bowled over with the momentum. When he turned back, he saw only Reese’s back as she walked off-stage. Disappointment coiled in his belly. He wanted this moment with her.
“That. Was. Incredible.” Morgan’s hair tickled his neck as she spoke and there was laughter in her voice.
“Yeah?” Sterling knew it. He wasn’t trying to be coy, but he simply didn’t know how to respond in words at the moment. His thoughts were zooming too fast, chasing after Reese. But Morgan’s praise warmed him. He tried to shake off the lingering disappointment. He set Morgan back down on the stage. She ran a hand through her hair, grinning up at him.
“I’m so proud of you. I mean, I’ve seen you perform. But just being here in this moment after hearing you play your first chords on that beat-up guitar you got at a garage sale—this is just amazing.”
Sterling realized that her eyes were brimming with tears. Morgan. The straight-shooting, never-back-down woman he’d known since she was just a fiery seven-year-old. The sight had him zeroing in on her. What he really wanted was to go after Reese, just to see that look on her face again. But here was Morgan, his old best friend, looking like she needed him.
“Hey,” Sterling said. “What’s with the waterworks?”
Morgan swallowed and looked down at her feet, wiping at her eyes with her hand. “Sorry.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry. Not even that time you cut your arm open on that fence when we were trying to sneak into the soccer game.”
Morgan held up her arm and he could see the long, thin white scar line. She laughed, then wiped her eyes. “Why were we trying to sneak in, anyway? I think tickets were like five dollars.”
“And we didn’t even like soccer.”
“That we did not. I think you were hoping to see Emma Farrell.”
Sterling groaned. “Man, I haven’t thought about that sad crush in years. Thanks for the reminder.”
“Your first big heartbreak. Probably the last girl who ever told you no.”
Though she probably didn’t mean for them to, her words took Sterling on a fast-forward tour through years of women not telling him no. He cleared his throat and pulled at his collar, realizing that they were still standing in the center of the stage while the crew worked around them. David and Chuck were over to the side with Moby, talking to Mike, who had emerged from behind the mixer. Sterling needed to get over there and talk through the set. Reese had disappeared.
“So, you’re okay? I need to get over there and finish set-up.”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course. I’m fine. Not sad—I’m actually just really happy to see you doing well. That truly was something else. And you know I see a lot of bands play, so I’m not just saying that.”
“Thanks,” Sterling said, grinning, still feeling the giddy electric rush moving through him.
Morgan touched his arm. “I’m glad to be back with you. I’ve missed you. And it’s really nice to see you doing well.”
“I’m glad to have you on my team,” Sterling said, starting to edge away. “I think it’s the start of good things.”
She gave him a goofy grin as he turned and walked over to the guys, who all slapped him on the back and congratulated him like he had won something.
“It was just a sound check,” Sterling said, shuffling his feet. But he couldn’t hide his grin.
Moby bounced up and down on his feet. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You’re on. We’re on. Now let’s keep you moving so you don’t lose whatever it is that set you on fire.”
They started back to the green rooms where they could shower and finish getting ready and wait until the show started. Sterling tried to look for Reese as they went, but wherever she disappeared to, she was gone for now. He tried to tell himself that having her close by had nothing to do with the way he had fallen into the music, but he had never been a good liar. To anyone else or to himself.
Chapter Nine
It took Reese a good forty-five minutes to calm her heart after the sound check. Which was insane because it wasn’t even the concert. Just a sound check. Was Sterling always that amazing? The last and only time she had seen him perform had been when she was a teenager. She had been totally giddy, filled with teenage hormones that kept her screaming until she was hoarse.
Reese assumed that sound checks were low-key affairs where the band didn’t even go through a whole song. Maybe it was because Sterling knew she was taking a video, but they had played through one of her favorite songs, completely killing it.
Nothing could have prepared her for the way it felt to stand on the same stage with Sterling James as he gave what amounted to the best performance she had ever seen in her life. She thought maybe it was just her or just the proximity—being right there. Feeling the bass thumping through her chest and hearing the sound up close. But the energy had shifted in the empty amphitheater. The crew and band members clapped him on the back and congratulating him after. It was definitely something special.
He was something special.
If someone had designed a personal torture training regimen just for her, they could not have done anything more perfect than putting her on tour with Sterling. Beca
use as soon as the song was over, it seemed like Sterling looked for her. And then lit up with a rare smile so compelling that Reese had been frozen to the spot. Until Morgan ran over and jumped in his arms. Jealousy had pinned her heart to the wall with one flaming arrow. Reese had to walk away, hiding backstage. She couldn’t risk anyone seeing the look on her face, which was probably somewhere between just-about-to-vomit and crushing disappointment.
Had she imagined the moment between them? She kept playing over what had happened. At first, she thought that Morgan had stepped in and intercepted the moment. But when Sterling spun Morgan around, Reese realized that maybe he had been looking at Morgan the whole time.
Reese found a quiet corner backstage to hide in and worked on responding to comments on the video. She meant to post a short Facebook live video and then move over to Instagram stories, but she couldn’t stop filming that song. The video had blown up. Comments flew in during the filming, which she ignored, and now, after, she could respond from his page. She and Sterling hadn’t talked about whether he wanted her to post as him, or post as someone managing his page.
Often celebs had people talk in the third person on their social accounts, making it clear that a manager or someone was handling it. Smart people who understood the ways of social media and culture hired someone to write in the first-person. That was Reese’s preference. But it took a certain degree of nuance and understanding with that person. Did they use emojis? Gifs? Complete sentences and correct grammar? Did they respond to every comment? What kind of tone—playful, sarcastic, confident, flirty?
Reese needed to finish up the brand audit they had started. She hadn’t looked yet to see if he had completed the Google form she sent him with some of these questions. For now, she answered as Sterling, knowing that it was taking a risk, but with a video poised to go viral, it mattered that it wasn’t some random, faceless third-person response for the eager fans.
Many of the comments didn’t need a response. There were marriage requests, comments about his hotness, and other things that she just deleted off the bat. A few made her blush and one or two sparked her anger. Delete, delete, delete. No need to let the negativity have space. Thankfully those posts were outweighed by the positive ones.
She’d had some clients who were big in the public eye. A fairly large indie banjo player who had a small but rabid following. An influencer who got big on Instagram somehow (Reese felt sure it was because she had amazing hair) and wanted to secure sponsorship deals. They both could get anywhere up to a thousand comments on a post, many of them inane drivel or spam from bots. None of that was prep for this.
Reese could have spent the entire night answering the comments. They were flooding in as fast as the video was shared. The numbers just kept jumping. After an hour and a half, sitting on a cramped stool back by some equipment back stage, she gave up, writing a comment that wouldn’t stay as the last one for long: “Thanks, everyone! Hope to see you at the show!” She added a link to the tour page before closing her phone. Always a good thing to push ticket sales.
“I’ve been looking all over for you! Why are you hiding back here?” Morgan suddenly appeared in front of Reese as she was climbing down from the stool, realizing how cramped her legs had gotten. Clearly, she hadn’t changed positions while she sat. Her butt felt like someone had smacked it with a concrete paddle.
“Ow, my body,” she groaned. “Remind me to avoid stools when responding to Facebook comments.”
Morgan shook her head as she laughed, hooking an arm around Reese’s neck. “Let’s get some food in you. Are you excited? Did you hear that sound check? This is going to be amazing. I can feel it.”
“What is?”
She waved an arm through the air, “This night. The tour. Everything. I just have this feeling like everything is about to change for Sterling.”
“That was pretty incredible. I took a live video and it looks like it’s on the cusp of going viral on Facebook.”
“Awesome,” Morgan said. “You’re a lifesaver.”
Guilt threaded through Reese. Not that she had acted on them, but her feelings for Sterling weren’t going anywhere, even if Morgan shared the same feelings for him. She thought again of the moment after the song, when she thought Sterling was looking at her. She felt like he had wrapped her in his arms, even though they were separated by twenty feet of stage. He probably hadn’t felt what she did. Though there had been a fire in his eyes she couldn’t have been imagining. But was it really directed toward her?
She didn’t want to think about this as she trailed behind Morgan to a green room in the back, empty save a long table with sandwiches, snacks, and desserts. “You’ll want to eat something now. It will be too crazy later. After the show we may go out or just back to the hotel. Depends on how the guys are feeling.”
“Makes sense,” Reese said, grabbing a plate with a sandwich and a bag of chips. “So, where should we be during the show?”
“There are a few areas backstage that we can hide out in. If you want to be out front, I can get you seats. I don’t think we’re sold out. You probably saw that the back of the amphitheater is just grass. I’ve been to this venue before with another band. People usually bring blankets. Really, whatever you want to do.”
“I might float around. It would be nice to see things from backstage, but I also would love to get out there.”
“Ever see Sterling in concert?” Morgan grinned at her, popping a strawberry in her mouth.
“Once. I was fifteen.”
“That’s right! I can’t believe I already forgot that you had that big crush on him and wanted to marry him.”
Reese groaned. Before she could respond, she heard Moby behind her. “Who wants to get married?”
Reese spun around. Sterling and the other band members had joined them and started loading up plates with food.
“No one,” Morgan said, winking at Reese.
She could feel her cheeks heating and sat down on a couch, hoping they would calm before anyone noticed. But of course, Sterling sat down on the couch near her. She kept her eyes down on her food.
“How did the video go?” he asked.
“Better than I could have hoped. Which is entirely because that song was amazing. The video is being shared like crazy and I had to stop responding to comments after like an hour.”
“Wow! I never post videos. I guess maybe I should.”
“Sometimes new kinds of content shake things up. Or maybe your fans are just hungry for more interaction from you. I hope it was okay that I responded to comments.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I guess I still need to sit down with you and talk about all this stuff,” he said.
Reese made the mistake of looking at Sterling. Whatever connection she had wondered about earlier was still one hundred percent alive. And it was directed at her, not Morgan. For sure.
He was talking about business stuff, but the moment she locked onto his eyes, her tongue danced behind her teeth with the words she should be saying. Her hands trembled and she set the plate down in her lap, finally breaking Sterling’s intense gaze as she stuffed her hands underneath her thighs to hide their shaking.
“Did you finish the questionnaire?” she asked.
“Almost. I’ll make sure I get that done before we talk.”
“Great. We can talk on the bus tomorrow when we head out.”
“Or maybe get dinner or coffee or something at the next stop?”
Sterling’s voice held a tiny note of questioning. It didn’t sound like he was asking about work things. It sounded like he was asking for a date. Reese couldn’t look at him. She didn’t know what emotion was on her face, but she suspected one that would reveal exactly how much that idea excited her.
“Whatever works for you,” she said, trying to sound casual. He shifted next to her, leaning so that his face was in her peripheral, pulling her gaze. She turned and he was grinning, that same genuine smile she had only seen a handful of times.
“Let’s get through tonight and we’ll talk,” Sterling said. “Wish me luck?”
“Luck,” she said, but her voice was little more than a whisper as he got up and left with the rest of the band. He didn’t need it, but Reese had a feeling that she might.
* * *
Sterling hadn’t felt this kind of fire in years. As the last note rang out in the encore, the crowd continued to roar. Audiences were smart now; some of them were already filing out of the amphitheater as Sterling shouted, “Good night, Atlanta! Thanks for being the first stop on the tour. You were amazing!”
But as he pulled out his earpiece and ducked off the stage, sweat dripping from his hair, it sounded like most of the crowd had stayed in place. They were still shouting and stamping and clapping. Morgan gave him a side hug.
“Ew. You’re disgusting. But good job,” she said.
Sterling grinned and flicked sweat in her direction as she pulled away. He caught sight of Reese and he stepped toward her. Her eyes lit up.
“That was completely amazing,” Reese said. “You were amazing.”
“Hey, now. You mean we were all amazing, right?” Moby wiped his face with a towel.
“Of course. That was a plural you. Y’all were amazing. You know, the crowd hasn’t moved. Isn’t there usually just one encore?”
Sterling peeked around where he could see the amphitheater. It was still packed. Only a handful of people were filing toward the exits. The rest still faced the stage on their feet. Even the people on the lawn were standing. Sterling had only seen this kind of reaction a few times. A hand touched his arm. He looked down to see Reese’s fingers brushing his arm. She pulled back when he noticed and bit her lip.
“You know, this might be a good time to introduce them to some of your new stuff. I know you wanted a new sound. Do you have new songs? This crowd will eat out of your hand. Whatever you feed them. It would be perfect. I mean, if you want to do that.”
Managing The Rock Star (Not So Bad Boys Book 1) Page 8
