I arrived back home in the nick of time to change, and we were off for Zoey’s first big Hollywood event night.
My beautiful girl clutched my hand as we walked the red carpet, looking stunning in a pink fluttery dress with silver straps and silver sandals. Her beautiful hair was loose but held up by a myriad of small braids. I felt a bit silly in a Dolce & Gabbana black, shiny, patterned suit of gold and silver stars, but Zoey and her mom gushed over the outfit, so I wore it anyway.
As the lights of the photographers flashed and we posed on the step-and-repeat, I ignored all requests for my picture without Zoey. Making sure she was tightly by my side, we gave the press ample opportunity to capture us from all angles. On the other hand, when the paps requested to photograph Zoey alone, I stepped away for a minute to let them capture my stunning girl in all her glory.
Earlier that day, our interview aired. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and the requests for more interviews, reality TV shows, and other appearances were being fielded by Katherine. As far as I was concerned, until it was time to promote the foundation and Zoey’s role as CEO, my days of media-pandering were done.
After the red carpet, we headed straight to the venue to get ready for the show. Led by a nearly recovered Sergey, Alex and Zoey’s mom and dad met us in our dressing room. Zoey changed into more comfortable concert clothes and emerged wearing black, distressed jeans laced together at the sides and her vintage Van Halen shirt, cut out in all the right places.
“Holy shit! Is that—” I ran to her.
“Yep, Mom found it in my closet,” Zoey laughed.
“I’m still not too thrilled about it.” Olivia raised an eyebrow.
“Neither am I!” Mike laughed.
“Well I am! I love it, it’s so perfect!” I ran my hands along Zoey’s sides, caressing the bits of soft skin through the tears in the shirt. “I’m having a flashback to the first time seeing you. My heart has never been the same.”
Zoey stood on her tip-toes to kiss me, which I eagerly returned tenfold.
I stripped off my dress shirt and blazer and threw on an LTZ T-shirt and changed into my combat boots, opting to keep the starry, shiny pants from the suit on. The rest of the guys had filtered in and changed by that point, and we settled into our pre-show routine of vocal warm-ups, visualizations and, for Connor and Zane, shots.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alex tentatively walk toward Jace, who was leaning on the edge of the sofa with his arms crossed, his head down. He looked up at her and shook his head sadly. Her expression crumpled, but she put her hand on his shoulder and brushed his dirty-blond hair from his eyes. He gave her a weak smile, and she whispered something into his ear and returned to Zoey’s side where they spoke in hushed tones.
Jace had been there for me without question for nearly a decade, so I strode over to him.
“Can I help?” I put my hand on his shoulder.
“Nope,” Jace said shortly.
“Can we talk about it?”
“Nope.” Jace shook his head definitively.
“You’ve been there for me, dude.” I caught his eye. “I’m here for you, too.”
Jace exhaled. “Let’s just get this show under our belt, once I take care of a few things I’ll fill you in.”
Just as I was about to reply, we got the signal that we needed to get on stage. All of us followed the stage manager Spinal Tap style through the labyrinth of hallways to the side of the stage, where Zoey, Alex, Ronni, and Zoey’s parents took seats on a short bleacher area on stage-right.
I could tell that it was going to be one of those rare, perfect-energy shows. When the lights went down and the crowd began screaming and chanting “L-T-Z,” the familiar rush of adrenaline flowed through my body as Jace tapped out the drumbeat to Rise.
I threw myself fully into the performance and enjoyed every minute. Whether interacting with my bandmates or the audience, we were all electric and the crowd was going nuts. On the sidelines, Zoey and Alex were talking to Ronni, and they all were laughing and having a really great time. I couldn’t help but think that just a year ago, I wouldn’t have ever imagined this scenario.
We played nearly two hours of the most energized, fun, charged show that I could remember. In preparation for the first encore, we waited in the wings for the song that we’d never miss playing live. Zoey hopped down from her seat on the bleachers and ran over to me, flinging her arms around me.
“That was the best show I’ve ever seen you play, rock star!” She was radiant.
“We haven’t even played your song, yet.” I kissed her fully on the lips. “We’re going back out there and I have a surprise so don’t miss it!”
Magically, at that exact moment the light show began. A spotlight focused on Zane who sat under a single blue light and played an extended flamenco guitar solo that meshed perfectly against a backdrop of the recorded sound of a river. The huge crowd hushed and went nearly silent.
As he built up the melody, the river sound faded and the lights flickered in blues, greens, and purples, mimicking the look of the sun shining on the top of water. Zane’s talented fingers moved up and down the frets,
