waves since switching coasts, which had landed them the opportunity to open for the Duke. From what I could tell, his audience ate it up.
They were good, but my nerves were shot. I was exhausted. And the only thing I could think about was seeing Auggie perform live for the first time. The smell of the food was overwhelming my senses. I managed to eat one bite before pushing the plate away. What I wouldn’t have given for another bowl of auberries.
The crowd went crazy for Tonos de Oros as they wrapped it up. Sure, they were good, but everyone in that arena had come to see one person and one person only: The Duke of Mayhem.
The lights went down, and the roadies scurried in the shadows to load out their equipment and load in Auggie’s. I drank more ginger ale as I waited, trying to breathe out of my mouth so I wouldn’t inhale the savory sent of our first-class meal.
Seafood was involved. It was unfortunate.
Then… it was time. The spotlight focused on the purple piano in the middle of the stage. Sounds filled the air, like a babbling brook and crickets and leaves rustling through the trees. It sounded so like the farm it made me smile.
“Hello.”
It was his voice, amplified throughout the entire arena, yet he was nowhere to be seen. Just that voice. That smooth, sensual voice that always managed to turn my insides to goo.
People in the audience went bananas.
“It’s been a long time since we were together,” he said. “I’ve missed you.” My tummy tightened as he paused. “Did you miss me?”
The fans screamed in response. Still, nobody could see him from where he spoke somewhere in the shadows.
“I’m sorry,” he began again, “I didn’t hear you. Did you miss me?”
The response was deafening.
“Good,” he murmured. “Because I’ve been thinking about you a lot. When I’m awake. When I dream. When I’m lying in bed,” he added in a voice so seductive I think my panties actually inched down my body of their own volition. “I’ve written you a song,” he continued. “Would you like to hear it?”
Like his fans, I was coming unglued from the anticipation. I very nearly started screaming myself.
Suddenly he appeared from the shadows, stepping forward, like a dream. He wore his shirt unbuttoned to his pants, very much like the night I went to Fifty Oaks. His hair was ruffled, as if he’d been in bed. He closed his shirt together, to a cacophony of boos. He smirked that smirk to end all smirks. He wagged his finger. “Not yet,” he said. “We have all night.”
He walked to the piano and sat on the bench, swinging his legs around. He began to play a familiar tune; the same song he was working on that night I went to Fifty Oaks. The night we kissed. The memory burned white hot in my mind as I watched him play the instrumental opening, slowly building to a crescendo, then tapering off.
Finally, he sang. “She stole into my life, just like a thief might in the night. Her kiss it lingers on my lips, her body etched on my fingertips. Yet my bed sits empty without her. She’s a queen nobody sees, her secret is safe with me. I’m fascinated with everything about her.”
Fern glanced at me. I just shrugged, but I hung on his every word.
“In her eyes I’m a better man. I know she will take me as I am. She keeps proving I have no reason to doubt her. I want to tell her only this, and taste her sweetest kiss, and feel every tremor that spreads throughout her.”
My mind scrambled as he went into a fierce piano solo, one that felt familiar to my ears. My fingers burned with the memory of his touch. The memory felt so intimate. Like making love. I truly didn’t know what to say, especially when he virtually spelled out in the ending verse, “Perhaps if the time is right, she’ll come to me tonight. I can’t spend another moment without her.”
Fern leaned close. “So. Wanna tell me again about what happened that night you went to his house?”
I averted my glance. “Whatever,” I dismissed. “We just met. He knows about… everything. He’s playing a part. That’s all.”
My gaze traveled back to the stage as he finished his song. He then went into another song, that was angrier and louder as he pounded away the keys, which eventually gave way to one of his