Leah flipped him off. Well, at least the pain hadn’t changed her.
When he left the dressing room behind, his chest tightened. He’d replay her falling to the stage in his mind over and over until it drove him insane. He had to pull it together. His dancers huddled backstage. When they saw him, they peppered him with questions, but he only answered one.
“Are we going back out there?”
He shook his head. With thoughts of Leah still in his mind, he couldn’t step onto that stage as if nothing had happened. He couldn’t dance. “I’m doing this one alone.”
Confusion wound through the group, but he left them to stand next to one of the techs looking out at the dark stage.
“We told them the concert would start again once Noah Clarke was ready.”
Noah wasn’t supposed to go on for another forty-five minutes. It wasn’t his time yet.
“Hey, mate.” Noah joined him. “I’m all set. How’s Leah?”
“I don’t know.” He stared at the stage and the crowd beyond, trying to force himself to do as Leah asked. Finish the concert. He owed it to the fans. “I’m going back on.”
Noah grinned. “You’re bloody right you are.”
Reaching to the box at his waist, Drew flipped his mic on before stepping onto the stage. The crowd wouldn’t be able to see who he was, not yet.
He retrieved a stool and set it center stage before taking a seat. He wasn’t one to serenade a crowd. That was his friend, Ben. Drew always believed that to play slow songs—to strip everything down—it required a guitar he didn’t play. While Ben, Noah, and their friend Dax spent their younger years learning new chords on their guitars, Drew was at the ice rink.
His youth left him wholly unprepared for life as a rock star.
Every time he’d tried to learn guitar since, his frustration ended the lessons.
And now, with no dancers distracting the audience from his lack of other skills, he had only his voice.
The moment he sang the first note, the crowd roared their approval. A spotlight found him as he picked up the chorus of a song he usually sang much faster than this. But now, with no band, no dancers, he stripped himself to the core, letting the words rather than the spectacle tell the story.
Sweat dotted his brow, and the nerves had his breath hitching, the thought rolling over and over in his mind. Can I pull this off?
Emotion poured out of him. Throughout Amalie Arena, fans lifted their lit phones in the air and swayed. A smile pulled at his lips because for the first time, he felt like maybe they didn’t only want the energy of his concerts, they wanted him.
His gaze fell to where his sisters and his dad stood next to the girl he’d noticed before as she danced. Her and Nora had their arms around each other. Who was she?
There was no time to stare as the song ended, and he took a breath. “Thank you for welcoming something different from me.” He wiped sweaty palms on his jeans. “Leah Baker has been my lead dancer for five years, but she’s also my best friend. Seeing her get hurt was a shock, but I believe wholeheartedly she will be okay. She made me come back out here because you all deserve it. Now, I know she was right. You heal my frazzled nerves. This next song is from my newest album. Sing along if you know it.”
He launched into another recent hit, trying to pretend he was just laying down a track in the recording studio, just him and his voice. Before long, he forgot about the empty stage surrounding him, or that for the first time in his career, he was out here completely alone.
Well, not alone
He had his fans.
They sang the words, remembering them just as well as he did.
Each song brought him closer to the people who supported him, the ones who’d made this life possible. His mind never left Leah, but she was right. He’d needed to step back onto the stage for them.
As he sang his final notes many songs later, he stood. “You guys have been the best. Thank you for welcoming me home.” His eyes scanned the arena all the way to the rafters. “Prepare yourselves because Noah Clarke and Jo Jackson are up next.”
The crowd cheered for that announcement, and he grinned. Only months ago, the world thought he was at war with Noah because of a Twitter battle they’d done just for fun. Their shared publicist, Melanie, almost had a heart attack about it.
Drew fist-bumped Noah on his way off-stage, making a beeline to where Piper waited for him. “Update?”
“Leah is at the hospital. They’re checking her out. Amy is booked on the red-eye out of L.A. tonight. And you were incredible.”
He ignored the last part. “I thought you weren’t going to leave her alone? What are you still doing here?”
Piper didn’t bristle at his tone. She knew him well enough by now to know he was just worried. “Drew, calm down. Leah isn’t alone. Your mom came backstage before the ambulance got here. She volunteered to ride with her.”
His mom. He breathed a sigh of relief. Of course it was his mom. She loved Leah, and she’d have known how much Drew needed his mom’s help. She always did. “Okay. I need to get over there.”
“First, how about you change?” She urged him toward his dressing room. “We have to be strategic. Drew Stone can’t just show up at the hospital. Also, the guys want to talk to you.”
The guys meant the three other men and one woman in Rockstars Anonymous, the support group their publicist forced them into. He was thankful for Mel every day, because Ben, Dax, Noah, and Jo had become his family. “Noah and Jo are waiting to take the stage, so I’m guessing it’s just your guy?”
Piper blushed. He loved that his assistant was dating Ben Evans. “And Dax.”
Dax Nelson, the mystery of rock. His music was universally beloved, and he’d been a child prodigy able to play most instruments he picked up. But he didn’t let the fans see his face. No concerts. No interviews. Few people knew the man behind the music.
Drew sat on his couch and leaned his head back. “Okay, get them on the line.”
A sheepish expression flashed across Piper’s face. “They’ve sort of been on the line since news got out about Leah. They had me FaceTime them so they could see proof you could sing without dancing.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sure enough, both Dax and Ben’s faces stared back at him.
Drew scowled. “You two doubted me?”
“Always.” Ben laughed. “How’s Leah?”
Drew sighed. “We don’t know yet.”
Seeing these guys always calmed him. They kept each other grounded in this crazy world of music.
“How are you?” Dax’s expression didn’t change.
“Don’t know that either.” Drew sighed, the adrenaline faded more each moment as exhaustion took hold, both mentally and physically.
“We’re coming to Florida.” Ben stared into the camera as if there was no room for argument.
“What?” That got Drew’s attention. “You don’t need to do that.”
“Of course we do. It’s what Rockstars Anonymous is for. We support each other.”
“But you don’t even know Leah.” He didn’t want to let them know how relieved he was at the notion they’d stand with him while his best friend was hurt.
“But we know you.”
Drew sighed. It wouldn’t work. “Ben, you were just with us not long ago. Surely you guys have lives you can’t just pause.”
Ben shook his head. “I’m just in the recording studio. That can wait. The band will understand.”
Piper snorted, and Drew knew exactly what she was thinking. Ben’s band consisted of his friend, Conner, and Piper’s sister, Quinn, a woman who was known to be… dramatic. There was no way she’d be okay with Ben disappearing. Again.
But Ben pressed on. “I can handle Quinn. Dax probably has meetings or whatnot, but the label lets him do whatever he wants, so he can get out of it.”
“Hey!” Dax leaned forward. “Not true.”
It was definitely true. As the label’s best-selling artist—by a mile—h
e had liberties no one else enjoyed. One of which was irritating their publicist, Melanie, and still getting back on her good side.
Ben removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Dax can fire up his jet—I’ve always wanted to say that.”
Dax groaned. “I’ve told you before. I do not own a jet. I rent them.”
Drew’s brow arched. “Same diff.” All three of them had money—a lot of it—but Dax’s career took him to a whole different level. “The rest of us have to toil away on commercial.”
Piper coughed. “Snobs.”
Ben grinned. “You say something, babe?”
“First, don’t call me babe. I’m your girlfriend, not your pig. Second, you guys fly first class. It’s not exactly roughing it. And third, just get off the phone so you can get here. Unlike Drew, I know there’s no stopping this Rockstars Anonymous love y’all got going on, and Drew should be changing to get to the hospital. See you soon, boys.” She hung up and took the phone from Drew. “Get dressed. Let’s try to get out of here while Noah is still on stage.”
Before she could escape out the door, Drew snagged her into a hug. It wasn’t the first time he’d realized how lucky he was to steal her away from working for her sister. “You’re the best, you know that, right?”
“Is that why you’re trying to squeeze the life out of me?”
He released her. “Nah.” The events of the last hour weighed him down, and he rubbed the back of his head in frustration. “I just really needed a hug.”
Piper’s eyes softened, and she tugged on his hand. “That’s a very Drew thing to say, and I kind of love that about you. Leah is going to be okay, and then we’re going to continue this tour and let the rest of the country see why they’ve fallen in love with you too.”
“Aww, Pipes. Should Ben be worried?”
She elbowed him with a laugh. “Not a chance.”
6
Lola
The more accounting classes Lola had to sit through, the more she forgot what the point of this business degree was. Her mom thought it was a good idea, but Lola? She’d never really chosen it. Instead, she felt herself falling deeper and deeper into debt for a future career she couldn’t even imagine. Just thinking of offices and fancy clothes squeezed the air from her lungs.
She wasn’t meant for a nine to five, she wasn’t meant for the American dream. Even as a little girl, she’d never wished for a family, children of her own. She’d never seen white picket fences or a life where money made up for unhappiness.
Yet, here she was in another class meant to give her just that.
The spreadsheet on her laptop in front of her taunted her with numbers she couldn’t decipher.
Her foot tapped against the worn blue carpeting as a beat rolled through her mind. Three days since the concert, and there’d been no news. She couldn’t stop thinking of that dancer and the look on Drew’s face as he’d held her.
But when she closed her eyes, she saw only him sitting on a stool with a dark stage at his back. His voice was richer, purer than she’d ever heard him sing, as if the emotions swirling through him poured out onto the stage.
A beautiful man making beautiful music.
When it ended, she sat back in her chair next to a stunned Nora. They barely noticed Mrs. Stone leave them.
“My brother is incredible,” Nora had said.
And he was.
Drew Stone had already had her heart as much as any star can own a fan’s heart, but after that night, he had her faith too. If he could do that, sing through the worry and heartache, she too could get through anything.
“Ms. Ramirez.” Someone rapped their knuckles against her desk, snapping her out of her daze.
“Yes?” She looked up into the middle-aged face of Professor Stein.
“Class is over.”
“Oh.” She looked around at the empty desks, embarrassment flooding her. “Okay.” Shutting her laptop, she slid it into her bag and stood.
“Lola?”
“Hm?” Lola stopped at the door and turned back to her.
“You don’t seem invested in my class.”
“Oh.” She didn’t have a response. “I’m sorry.”
“I take it from that answer that I’m right in thinking you don’t want to be here.” She crossed the room to her desk and started straightening papers. “I teach accounting, Lola. I’m not oblivious to the fact that half my students would rather be in bed. But I’ve spoken to a few other professors in the department about you. You don’t seem overly interested in business.”
“I…” A lie was on the tip of her tongue, but her shoulders dropped. “I’m not.”
Professor Stein nodded. “Well, I won’t tell you I know the best path for you, but college is an expensive decision, and it can shape the rest of your life. I don’t want to see you embark on a career you don’t want, only for you to get so far down the line you lose sight of what you do want.”
Lola didn’t want that either. The problem was she didn’t know another path to take. “Thank you, Professor.”
“Have a good evening, Lola.”
Lola walked down the nearly empty hall in the direction of her next class. She’d almost reached it when she realized she couldn’t do the student thing anymore. Not today. Instead of walking in, she left the building, going straight for the parking lot, thankful for the first time that Asher hadn’t spoken to her since Saturday. It meant she didn’t have to wait for him.
He was being a child, and she refused to do the crawling back this time. She deserved better than what Asher Stone was willing to give.
Even if that meant lonely afternoons on her own. She wished she’d made an effort to keep in contact with people from high school or even to make friends in college. Instead, she’d relied entirely on Asher, and now, she had no one.
The benefit of arriving home an hour early? Her mom’s car sat in the driveway, an old Chevy Malibu in need of a paint job.
The house smelled like sopaipillas as she walked in. Her favorite dessert. “Mama?” She dropped her bag in her room before walking to the kitchen.
A plate of the delicious fried dough sat on the counter.
“Lola? What are you doing home, mija?”
Lola bit into a sopaipilla and sighed. “I must have sensed you were cooking. Delicious.”
“Spanish, Mija.”
Lola grinned. “Delicioso. Do we have any honey?” English had always come more readily for Lola.
Her mom shook her head with a sigh and retrieved the honey from the cabinet. “Did you miss a class today?”
“Only one. I’m a little worn out. It’ll be fine.”
“I shouldn’t have let you go to that concert. Studies come first.”
Lola sighed. She knew her mom would bring this up at some point. School was the most important thing in their house. “It wasn’t the concert. Just the boring classes. You heading to work?”
She nodded. “I don’t like you missing a class, but if it means I get to see you before I leave, then I won’t be mad.”
Lola wrapped her mom in a hug, careful not to let the honey drip onto her scrubs. “I miss you, Mama.” She pressed a kiss to her cheek.
That was her mom’s kryptonite, and Lola instantly wanted to call the words back. Her mom hated the schedule that kept her from her daughter and carried constant guilt around. For Lola’s entire life it had just been the two of them against the world, but lately their worlds had separated. “Lo siento, Mija. I do not mean to always be gone. One day, this will change.”
“I know, Mama. I know. Now, scoot. I’m going to eat my weight in sopaipilla before work.”
Her mom cupped her cheek once more before leaving her to an empty house and a plate of fried dough.
She wasn’t lying about eating every last bite.
Eating a plate of sopaipillas right before work was a really bad idea. At least, that was what Lola’s stomach told her as it protested against getting out of the car. A groan escaped her throat, but Lola had to
go in, she had to let her favorite place in the world soothe her.
Her eyes scanned the square concrete building that held the Gulf City dance studio. Teaching kids to dance was one of two jobs Lola had, but if she had a choice, she wouldn’t go anywhere else. Not class, and not the hotel she’d worked at for years.
Hiking her bag onto her shoulder, she pushed through the glass double doors.
“Welcome to the GC Dance Comp—oh, it’s you!” The familiar girl jumped out from behind the desk. “You’re late.”
“Good to see you too, Pen.” She raised an eyebrow, trying not to let the sight of Penny Stone make her think of Drew. “What are you doing behind the desk?”
“Dad brought me early, and Lauren told me to greet people while she talked to him.”
Lola wrapped an arm around the pre-teen’s shoulders. “All right, let’s go see if the rest of our class is here, shall we?”
Penny looked up at her. “Okay, but first… question. Ever since the concert, Ash has been home a lot when he’s not out with this girl he brought over yesterday.” Lola tried to hide her flinch. “Did you two break up?”
“Is your family ever going to believe we’re just friends?” Or were. Were they past tense now?
A sly smile spread across Penny’s lips. “No.”
“Come on.” Lola gave her a playful shove toward the room she’d been teaching classes in since she was sixteen when she got her certification.
Dance had always been what Lola used to make sense of the world around her. From the time she took her first class when she was six, she hadn’t wanted to do anything else. Maybe that was why she’d obsessed over videos of Drew, the way he moved. She saw in him the same need to create peace in his mind.
A handful of kids ranging in age from ten to fourteen waited in the large room. They stretched in front of the mirror that spanned the back wall. This was Lola’s more serious class. They weren’t kids wanting to be pretty ballerinas or princesses. There was an intensity to them that matched Lola at that age.
They wanted this more than anything and still believed there was a future in dancing for them. Lola encouraged them to dream, to want bigger things, but if there was one thing her mom taught her, it was practicality over passion.
Love is a Dance Step (Rockstars Anonymous) Page 4