The rest of the evening is alternately boring and thrilling. There are nonstop parties behind the scenes. We sit in the audience for several of the categories where the guys are expected. Marcus and Charlotte James present the award for one category, and the band performs with Beckett Stone around halfway through. But most of the time is spent at one party or another, mingling and chatting with other stars and industry bigwigs.
It’s a long night, but even though I’m the PA, the guys have all told me I’m off the clock tonight. Kelsey handles all the PA duties for their performance, corralling everyone and getting them where they need to be. Plus I know Blaire is backstage cracking her proverbial whip, so I feel zero guilt when Kendra threads her arm through mine and tows me to our seats to watch the guys perform.
This is my first opportunity to watch them from the audience. And while it’s not the shirt-losing number, they’re still a sight to behold. Marcus and Beckett own the stage, strutting around, singing their hearts out.
But they’re just a distraction to me, because my eyes are all for Mason. More of his hair flops over his forehead, escaping the hold of the gel from running his hands through it off and on all night and the nonstop movement of playing the drums. He’s beauty in motion, arms flying, sticks hitting everywhere at just the right time, the living embodiment of the beat of their music.
The asshole he was when I first joined the tour seems like a whole other person. It’s hard to reconcile that man with the one who looks at me like I’m the best thing in the world, who alternates between sweet talk and dirty talk in the bedroom, who makes me feel like the most beautiful, most important thing in his world.
I guess they aren’t kidding when they say there’s a fine line between love and hate. We started on one side, and we’ve ended up on the other.
No, we haven’t said those words. But it’s evident in every look, every touch, every night we spend wrapped in each other’s arms.
Soon. Soon it’ll be time to give voice to those words. But that feels too heavy for what we’ve had so far, so I keep them inside, a delicious secret just for me. For now.
When the song ends, Kendra and I stand along with the rest of the crowd, screaming and clapping and cheering for the guys. Then Kendra once again threads her arm through mine and tows me back out of the auditorium, back to the backstage area.
She drops my arm as soon as she spots Marcus, practically launching herself at him for a deep, heavy kiss.
Feeling unaccountably shy, I hang back, waiting for Mason to come to me. He does, prowling toward me, a sly smile on his face. He lazily hooks an arm around me and pulls me close. “What are you doing hanging out at the back of the group?”
I shrug. “Just waiting. It’s weird, all this.”
“You belong with me. And that’s all that matters.”
My lips part and I breathe those words in, trapping them inside me next to my secret realization. “Okay,” I agree on a whisper. I’m not going to argue with that.
He chuckles and kisses me, then pulls me after him to his dressing room. The guys all changed into their usual performance attire of faded jeans and T-shirts, and he needs to get back into his suit for the rest of the evening.
“You gonna be able to keep your hands to yourself?” he asks, a teasing note to his voice as he closes the door behind us and takes off his shirt.
I laugh. Actually I giggle. I can’t help it. Then I step forward and rub a hand up and down his chest. “Probably not. But there’s not enough room in here for the kind of sex we like to have.”
He glances around the closet-sized room and shrugs. “I could make it work.” He trails a finger over my shoulder. “I could fuck you against that wall over there.”
An involuntary shiver runs through me at his words. “But my dress.”
He grunts. “Good point. Maybe next time?”
The boyish hope in his words makes me chuckle. “Sure. Maybe next time.”
He flashes a grin at me and makes quick work of changing into his clothes. I lean against the wall in question with my hands behind my back so I don’t give in to temptation and stop him from getting changed. This isn’t the time, and we’ll have to wait till we’re back at the hotel to do what we do best.
“How much longer do we have to stay?” I ask as he settles his jacket on his shoulders.
He looks at me, his eyebrows lifting and that wicked smile pulling at his lips. “Ready to go already?”
“I’m always ready to spend time alone with you,” I answer honestly.
He steps close and kisses me hard. “I’ll get us out of here as soon as I can,” he promises.
Then he opens the door and sweeps me back into the party.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Mason
The awards show last night went better than I could’ve hoped. More specifically, Viola did better at the awards show than I could’ve hoped.
She didn’t shrink back from the press while we were on the red carpet. She walked through everything like a pro.
And then when we ducked out early to get back to the hotel … fuck. That was some of the hottest sex I’ve ever had in my life.
Today is officially a tour rest day, but only because tomorrow we’re all dispersing for our month long break. It should’ve been two months, but because of our extended time off for Danny’s paternity leave, we added extra shows to make up for the ones we had to cancel.
Viola and I have spent the morning lazing in bed, making slow, sweet love and enjoying a ridiculous
