the approval spreading like a wave from front to back through the crowd, the diehard music fans closest to the stage becoming converts first, then the skeptics in the rear.
We ended the song with a crash, and Shield set his sticks on his thigh.
The rest of the band took it down a notch, except me as I strode to the center mic, switching positions with Saber.
“The Dogs are barking at our heels,” I said into the mic. “So we only have one more song to share with you.” I smiled as I heard more than a few voice protests. “This one is for that girl you never got over, the one who stole your heart and never gave it back. She’s out there for you. Mine’s out there for me. Her name is Lotus.”
“I’ll be your Lotus,” a woman standing just below me shouted, wearing a bikini top.
“Appreciate that, darlin’,” I said. “But a flower by any other name is not as sweet as mine. I need everyone’s help getting her forward where I can see her. If we can all be quiet, I can find her. Raise your hand, Lotus. Babe, where are you?”
“Here!” Sophia shouted. “She’s here.”
I spotted Lotus beside her other best friend. In the center of the large crowd, she stood out in her white dress and raised a slender arm in the air.
“I’m here!” she yelled.
Her sweet voice hit me right in the center of the chest. She moved toward me, and the crowd parted for her like the fabric of my soul had so her heart could be stitched together with mine.
My smile widened as she stopped in front of the stage. A vision in white. A goddess at my feet. A bloom that never faltered. A love that couldn’t be denied.
“This is for you,” I said low into the mic, holding her gaze. “It’s rough and a little raw, but the best things in life, the ones most worth holding on to, often are. My breath. My love. My Lotus. This is for you. ‘I’m Yours.’”
I planted my feet wide apart, raked my hair back, and stared into her shining eyes. Then I gave her me inside the music and the words. They were only for her. I was only for her, but I wanted the world to know what she meant to me.
Ten minutes to midnight
The clock is winding down
But I’ve been holding out for you
Don’t want to be alone
Up on a razor’s edge
But I’ll back down off that ledge for you
My earnest croon seemed to make Lotus shiver. She wrapped her arms around her sexy body.
Shield clacked his sticks behind me, then crashed down like a bolt of lightning. I windmilled one arm, going into a power chord. Shield came in on it with me. Both of us thrashed our heads in unison, whaling on our guitars. Cork was the punch, his bass the spiral of my fall, the inevitable descent, my heart rolling to land at his sister’s feet.
Only she picked it up and clasped it to her own. Together, we soared on the unending currents of our love.
Turn back from my dead end
Your love’s where I begin
I’m yours
Don’t want to be alone
My heart is coming home
I’m yours
Once dark as midnight
But your love’s burning bright
My beacon in the night, it’s true
No words are needed
Just let our bodies speak
The only one I seek is you
Look in your pretty eyes
I see you realize
I’m yours
Call it by whatever name
One thing will never change
I’m yours
• • •
Lotus
The security guards whisked me backstage, taking me straight to Storm.
He was in a crowd of people, but he broke apart from them and came toward me. Video camera lights turned on, spotlighting us. He grabbed me, lifted me in the air, and spun me around in a circle before gathering me close.
“You were fantastic-amazing-incredible-I was so proud of you.” My words ran together without proper pauses as I slid down the length of his sexy body.
“You are those things.” His gaze locked on mine, holding me steady, though the backstage area was chaos all around us. “I’m nothing without you.”
My feet were on the ground now, my body plastered to his, yet I floated on those words and the love in his eyes.
“Come out on the road with me, babe. The Dogs and OB Hardy are going together. Ash wants you to bartend and do special events. He’s paying your salary. But I want you there in my bed.”
“Yes, of course I’ll go.” My heart skipped a