the many benefits to being the man behind the curtain is that no one recognizes you when you step outside it.”
I rolled my eyes, turning back to the stage because I didn’t want to miss a single second. Chaz was poetry in motion, and judging from the berserk screams of the crowd around us, I wasn’t the only one who thought that. “Come to check out the competition?”
“Call it a professional curiosity,” he said, watching the stage in a thoughtful manner more fitting of a symphony than a rock show. “He is good, isn’t he?”
“He’s amazing,” I muttered. Even Drake didn’t have his head far enough up his own ass to deny it.
“The boy has a natural gift for commanding a crowd,” he conceded. “Who would have thought?”
I snorted. “That’s supposed to be your job, isn’t it? Maybe Sterling has a point.”
“He does on rare occasion,” Drake answered casually. “And I’m wrong about as often, but I’m not too proud to admit it. Even so, I’m hardly the only one who overlooked him.”
I bristled at his words, mostly because it was the truth. I just grunted in acknowledgment. “Guess we have more in common than we thought.”
“Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but I don’t think it’s a mistake either of us will make again,” he replied.
I expected him to duck out after a song or two, but when I realized he was sticking around, I decided to just focus. The show was flawless. The band had great chemistry on stage, and Chaz was the ribbon holding it all together. I had to admit, Jacob was a lot better than he’d been the last time I saw him live. The music was a hell of a lot better than their old stuff, too, and I could see why Drake was worried. Until then, I’d been sure it was all about ego and not letting Sterling have his way, but now…
If Organic Animal kept going with Chaz at the helm, they really would be a threat. Critics loved a good rivalry, as long as someone crashed and burned eventually. It was one thing when he’d briefly been a solo artist, but the fact that the band had stolen our bassist actually set them apart. Their last singer had just been a knockoff version of Dante, but Chaz was something else entirely.
He was perfect.
That was probably why when he finally did slip up, I noticed immediately even though the crowd seemed none the wiser. I only knew because I’d listened to the album obsessively enough to have it memorized, but he cut off a line and did a short circle around the stage before coming back in. It blended seamlessly enough, but it drew my attention to the slight hitch in his voice that hadn’t been there before. I looked around the stage for any sign of what had thrown him off, but there wasn’t one.
I just knew him well enough to know when he was freaking out, and if he was showing it on the outside, he was ten times worse on the inside.
I also knew how long the set was supposed to be from the itinerary, so when he announced they were taking a break two songs early, it was a huge red flag.
Something was wrong.
Concern immediately jolted me out of the trance my awe had drawn me into, and I was moving toward the stage before I had even consciously decided to. Someone was following close behind me, and I assumed it was Drake, but I’d deal with him later. My backstage pass gave me full access, and the festival’s security really wasn’t all that great, so getting back there wasn’t the problem.
Even before I reached the stairs leading up to the backstage area, I could hear Sterling’s voice--and judging from the sound of it, he wasn’t thrilled about the impromptu set change.
“There’s nothing wrong with the fucking lights,” Sterling seethed. “Now get your ass back out there and do your job.”
The sight of him looming over Chaz made me flip my shit, and before I knew it, Drake was calling my name and I was across the room, pinning the bastard to the wall. For a split second, he looked startled, but his expression turned to rage as soon as he realized who I was.
Someone grabbed me to drag me off him, and I took a swing, landing a lucky shot on Jacob’s jaw. Before I could get in another, Drake grabbed me by the arm.
“That’s enough!” he hissed. “You think