Catch Me When I Fall (Falling Stars 2)

She sent me a row of middle fingers.

Another text came in a second later.

Maggie: Seriously, Royce. I want you to be happy. Maybe it’s time to let go and move on.Images flashed, the memory of her face hitting me like a bulldozer.

In an instant, I was consumed by excruciating pain. Chest so goddamn tight I thought I would implode.

I just swallowed it down and let it fuel me. Used it as a reminder that I couldn’t fail. That I couldn’t get distracted by this insanity I was feeling.

I stuffed my phone into my pocket just as the stage manager was herding the band out from the back. Richard clapped me on the shoulder, dipped his head.

“Kill it out there. Prove to me why I’m here,” I told him, attempting to cover the coarseness in my voice.

Rhys answered for him, whirling around and pointing both fingers at me. “Oh, you know we will. You don’t have to worry about that. Watch how magic is made. Want to know the reason the place is packed?” He gestured around, his grin about as huge as his confidence. “Take a peek at us, and you’ve got your answer.”

Leif tossed a drumstick high in the air, catching it without missing a beat as he casually passed by.

The three of them strutted out onto the stage. That was all it took for the crowd to go wild, for anticipation to thunder and roar. Shouts and stamps of feet and a barrage of applause echoed through the music hall, excitement rising up from the bottom, billowing and blooming and filling the space.

But it was the feeling that came over me from behind, crawling up my back and pricking like the delicious dig of fingernails into my flesh, that sent a clap of thunder rolling through my body.

Slowly, I turned to glance over my shoulder. Emily was walking up, the stage manager on one side and a sound technician messing with the speaker in her ear on the other.

Mel followed close behind, head dipped down as she quickly tapped something into the tablet that she carried.

Energy flashed.

A bolt of intensity.

A burst of light.

A fucking thunderstorm.

I knew she felt it, too.

Knew it in the way her footsteps faltered and her delicate shoulders stiffened, awareness riding over her silky flesh. Warily, she lifted her head to peek at me, like she thought she was going covert and I wouldn’t notice.

Not even a chance.

A chord strummed through the middle of me when that jade gaze met with mine. Confusion widened her eyes and attraction parted her lips.

Tension swelled.

Binding and tugging.

God.

This girl was going to do me in.

I tried to shun it. To ignore the fact that she wielded this power. She’d already fucked it up once, the girl a roadblock that had thwarted my intentions.

Course changed.

Looking at this girl made it hard to remember the end game.

I lifted my chin at her as she got closer.

“Good luck,” I told her.

Her face pinched, and she glanced out at the riot going down at the foot of the stage. The blip of the faces that flashed in the strobes of blinding light, the pound, pound, pound of need that clamored from her fans, each of them wanting to get closer, hungering to be a part of what she was.

Of what she became when she stepped out on that stage.

She returned the power of that gaze to me. Sheer terror lined her features. Nerves wringing her out.

My guts clenched, tied in knots. I wanted to go for her. Wrap her up and hold her and tell her that it would be okay.

That I would protect her.

Whatever it took.

Because I knew right then, that was exactly what she needed. For someone to see through the bullshit façade she wore like armor. Begging for someone to tear it down while holding onto it with all she had at the same time.

She inhaled a shaky breath and started for the curtains so she could make her entrance. Our shoulders brushed as she passed. A bolt of desire streaked through my body, her sweet intensity so thick it surrounded me in a cloud of overwhelming need.

Shocked, she jumped away.

Affected.

Prisoner to this craziness, too.

I couldn’t give into it. Not again. It was wrong. Wrong on every level. But I was beginning to think there wasn’t a thing in this world that could make it go away.

My mouth moved with silent words. “You’re a star.”

I wondered if it was possible for her to see herself the way the rest of the world did. If she had the first clue that everyone turned to face her when she walked in the room. The girl was allure and temptation.

A snare.

I thought maybe she was caught in one, too, because she seemed to have to rip herself away from our connection. Throwing back her shoulders and forcing on that brave exterior, Emily stepped out from the high, towering drapes. That was all it took for the zealous crowd to go mad, and screams filled the cavernous space.