She’d made a huge mistake. She knew that now. But she couldn’t fix this with a phone call. She’d have to do so much more but for the first time in her life, she didn’t know what exactly she should do. And it left her paralyzed.

He’d walked away and hadn’t looked back. And even though she’d tried not to stalk him through Facebook or Twitter, she couldn’t help herself.

All of the band members had Twitter accounts and they’d been active the past week. Sebastian had posted a couple of pictures, none of himself. But Nik had taken a few of Sebastian and she’d drooled over those more times than she wanted to admit.

“Tru?’

“Yeah?”

“Call him.”

She sighed, unable to think straight.

“A call won’t fix this. I’m not sure anything can. There’s no easy solution.”

“I’ve never known you to give up, Truly.”

That one stung. She wanted to lash out and tell him to go to hell. But he was right.

When she stayed silent, Greg shook his head, his expression resigned. “Alright, how about this? Come with me and Bree Monday night. The band’s doing a secret show at Xander’s. At least go and see him so you can convince yourself you’re over him and move on.”

*   *   *

“Shit, there’s a fuckload of people out there.”

“You think they know who they’re here to see?”

“No idea, man. But I hope they don’t fucking stone us when we walk out.”

“Yeah, that would totally suck.”

Standing backstage, waiting to perform as Baseline Sins for the first time in a year, Sebastian wasn’t worried about anything.

He was excited as hell about being on stage with his friends again, playing their music. He just wished he didn’t still feel like shit about Tru.

He’d thought about calling her and inviting her to the show, but she’d made it pretty clear they were finished. Hell, she’d probably already made plans to date fucking Cory Shirk again. And that ripped at the hole in his chest a little more.

“Hey, Baz. You okay?”

Turning his head, he found Nik standing next to him, staring at him like he expected to see him puke or run. “I’m good. Just anxious to get this started.”

“Me, too.” Nik fell silent for a second. “She’s out there. Did you see her?”

Every muscle in his body tensed. Damn it, he didn’t want to know that. And now that he did, he wanted to see her.

“No. Doesn’t matter.”

Nik bumped his shoulder against Baz’s. “Fuck that. Of course it matters. Now, what the hell are you gonna do about it?”

Not one damn thing. “She’s the one who dumped me. I don’t know why she’s here. Probably just wants to see me fall on my face.”

Nik snorted. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

It was. Tru wasn’t like that. Still . . . “I don’t have a fucking clue why she’s here. Maybe just to keep Sabrina company. I wish she wasn’t.”

“And I cry bullshit again. You fucking lit up when I told you.”

Yeah, he had. He honestly hadn’t expected to see her tonight. And now that he knew she was here . . .

Jesus, maybe she’d shown up just to drive him crazy because that’s exactly what was happening.

But he knew that wasn’t Tru. Not at all.

Maybe she was here to see him because she missed him?

Christ, he wished she did because she was almost all he thought about lately.

“Alright, alright, alright.” Xander’s voice boomed above the music pumping out in the pit. “Gentleman, are you ready to get this show started?”

Adrenaline pumped through Baz’s system. Yeah, he was ready. He actually couldn’t fucking wait. Redemption waited out there.

Catching the eyes of each of his bandmates, who all stared at him, Baz nodded to Xander.

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

*   *   *

An hour and a half into the show, Baz felt like he could play all night.

The audience had screamed and stomped when Xander had introduced them, and that primal, gut feeling of being exactly where he belonged had flashed through his body like a gasoline-fueled blaze.

So fucking good. Better than any drug in the world.

And made better because he knew she was out there. He’d caught sight of Tru standing beside Sabrina, had seen the smile on her face and it made him feel like a god. As if he could do anything.

The energy from the crowd was an entirely different animal but he soaked that up, as well, letting it lift his spirit even higher.

If the audience reaction was anything to go on, they loved the new music, though they screamed loudest for the classics. Once the album dropped, that would change somewhat, but for now, at least they didn’t boo.

Nik had the audience eating out the palm of his hand, which was par for the course. He’d always been an engaging front man, talking to the crowd between songs, getting them to sing along and occasionally wading out into the pit. Nik fed off the crowd’s energy, maybe even more than Baz. That connection when they all sang with him, there was nothing like it.

They had another half hour to play when Nik grabbed the mic stand and set it center stage between songs. Baz didn’t think anything of it until Nik started to talk.

“So we hope you’ll bear with us a minute.” Nik held his hand up to get the crowd to settle into a dull roar. “We’re about to play something you’re not gonna expect from us. But trust me when I say it’s for a good cause.”

Nik turned and looked at Zach, who smiled and grabbed a tambourine. Why the fuck did Zach even have a tambourine with his kit?

Baz looked at Nik for an explanation but Nik had taken a few steps away from the mic as Jase exchanged his electric for an acoustic guitar.

Then someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to find Teri, his guitar tech, handing him an acoustic.

He mouthed “What the hell?” at Teri, who shrugged with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Okay, he had no idea what was going on.

He looked back to find Nik setting sheet music on a stand in front of the mic.

“Now, this is a dedication for a special girl.” Nik lowered his voice until he sounded like one of those late-night DJs taking requests from the lovelorn as a few members of the crowd hooted. “She’ll know who she is.”

Then Nik gestured for Baz to come to the mic.

Narrowing his gaze, Baz closed the distance and leaned down to speak in Nik’s ear.

“What did you do?”

“Something you wouldn’t. Don’t fuck it up.”

When he pulled away, Nik’s expression told him nothing but his gaze burned.

Then Baz looked down at the stand.

And started to laugh.

*   *   *

When Sebastian began to play, Tru had no idea what the song was.

It’d been obvious that he hadn’t known what the song was before looking at the sheet music. But then he smiled and laughed and thrummed the strings once before getting into it.

Behind her, she heard Greg laugh but her gaze was glued to Sebastian. Who only had eyes for her.

He sang directly to her and, even though she had no idea what he was singing, she heard the intent in his voice. And saw the heart-felt emotion in his eyes. All for her.

Then he hit the chorus. And she laughed. Couldn’t help it.

The tattooed rock god was singing “Truly Scrumptious.” For her.

Except she was pretty sure someone had changed the lyrics. And added snippets of music she recognized from Sebastian’s score for the movie.

It was beautiful. And she couldn’t stop smiling because it seemed so ridiculous.

Suddenly, Greg swung her up in his arms and handed her to a security guard standing near the front of the stage. Obviously, he’d been expecting her because he immediately hoisted her up to Xander, who appeared out of the wings to take her and set her on her feet just out of the spotlights trained on the band.

While the other guys continued to play, Sebastian stepped away from the mic and walked toward her.

Her heart beat so hard, she thought she might pass out. And the look in his eyes made her want to cry. Because he was offering her so much more than a song.