“Good. Mads is gonna meet you at gate six with your VIP pass.”

“So I’ll be a VIP?” I joke.

“Of course you will, Tales. Why the hell are you even asking a question like that?” He sounds angry.

“I was joking, Memphis. Geesh.”

“Sorry, sweet cheeks. I am amped. Wish you were here.”

“Where are you?” I ask, looking around and knowing he is done with sound checks.

“Getting in a car. Just finished sound checks. Now the opening act is going to do theirs, and then it’s show time, Tales. Fuck, this is crazy.”

“Is the opening act any good?”

“Some say so, I guess. I don’t know. Why would you ask that? I mean, really, who gives a shit, right?”

“Right.” Wow, he is nervous. “Well, you are going to kill it. I just know it.”

“It’s a given.” I laugh, and he sighs. “Miss you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.”

Sonya pokes her head in the dressing room, and I press mute. “Stage, Tally.”

“Right.” I take the phone off mute. “Hey, what do rock stars get after a show? Flowers? A card?”

“Dome.” His tone is serious.

“Wow.”

“It’s expected.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, sweet cheeks, it’s so. Hey, see you soon?”

“Of course. Break a leg, Memphis.”

“Let’s fucking hope not.”

I shove the phone in my bag then quickly make my way on stage. Everyone is there, and Stevie looks pissed when she sees me.

“You do know who the star is, correct?”

I give her a smile. “Stevie Danielle.”

She rolls her eyes. “One last minute change. This song just won’t go away. I was very inspired one hot as hell night, and well, let’s just say that inspiration has returned.” She is all starry-eyed and looks downright smitten. Good for her. “You know what they say; you can’t keep a hard man … or is it a good man down?” Everyone laughs, including me.

“Dancers”—so now we are nameless? I think to myself—“Same beat as “Go, Go”. I think you can keep up.”

I walk to up the ramp to the center.

“Shit, Tallia, I need you in the cage.” She points to the tall cage, left of center. “You can freestyle this one. Show off that wild animal inside of you. No one can pull that off like you can with all that … hair.” She looks at me in disgust, but then she smiles. “And no one on this stage can move like you—well, except me.”

“All right girls, let’s do this!” She smiles as I climb in the cage.

My stomach is in knots. I don’t ever go on stage unprepared. It’s unacceptable.

Kellie taps the sticks, and the band starts a familiar beat. I’ve got this.

Black leather at the bar, he’s looking at me.

Glazed blue eyes give me all I need.

I feel the weight of his desire.

I feel it everywhere.

I give him what he wants.

I dance for him.

He stands up slowly, the look of sin.

No slowing it down, this heat we feel

He takes my hand, and we seal the deal.

Bang, bang. My heart beats like drum.

Bang, bang. No choice but to succumb.

Bang, bang. Not sent from above.

Bang, bang. Fits like a glove

Bang, bang. He’s driving it home.

Bang, bang. A rocker’s syndrome

Bang, bang. He’s a loaded gun.

Bang, bang. Two seconds to run.

Bang, bang. No room for love.

Bang, bang. Not sent from above.

I freeze. I feel sick. I want to scream. Then the speakers go dead.

“What the fuck is that?” booms over the microphone.

I look toward the sound booth to see a black man covered in tattoos storming toward the stage.

“Is there something wrong?” Stevie asks.

“You know damn well there’s something wrong,” he says as he hops the fence and jumps on stage. “That’s not your fucking song, Stevie.”

“Sure is, Nickie.”

“That’s STD’s song. Memphis wrote that song. It’s already fucking copyrighted and recorded. It releases tomorrow!”

“I had no idea.”

“No? Really?”

“Well, I didn’t expect him to release the song our time together inspired.” She pauses and covers her face. “God, of course he would.”

“He wrote the song, so of course he—”

“He may have written the words, but I didn’t think he would ever record it without me. Our night inspired every lyric, every emotion, every—”

“Now why the fuck would he not record a song he fucking wrote?”

“He didn’t mention it when we saw each other again in Florida the day before he left to come here, and he hasn’t mentioned it in the two days we have spent together.”

I can’t listen to any more. God, how could I have trusted him? His behavior has been off, and I should have known. I should have seen it coming.

I climb down from the cage and quickly make it off stage, hoping I haven’t been seen.

“Tales?” I look up to see Madison. “What the hell?” She laughs. “Does Memphis know you’re—?”

“No, and please don’t tell him.”

“You’re going to surprise him? That’s a fabulous idea. Then what? Will you come to work for STD? I mean, Memphis has talked about maybe getting you involved with contests for opening acts. Says it’s taxing, and he …” She keeps talking.

My head is spinning, and my ears are ringing. Taxing? Yeah, I bet.

“Tales?”

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Why are you crying?”

“Oh.” I wipe away a tear that has escaped. “Just overwhelmed.”

“Don’t be. I heard him tell River, ‘Yeah, I fucking love her. Now shut the fuck up,’ so that must be love, right?”

All I can do is smile and force a nod.

“I miss you. I really hope this means you’ll join STD’s tour. They are selling out stadiums, Tales. I never knew what went into putting on a show. It blows my mind how this team works. It’s exhausting yet thrilling.”

I hug her. “See you soon?”

“Yeah, really soon. Oh, man, I can’t wait to see the shock on his face.”

Sonya walks up to me. “Let’s go. Stage, Tally. What the hell is your problem?”

I follow her out and do my best to get through the sound check, and then I wonder why I even have to be at a sound check. This is messed up, so incredibly messed up.

I look up to see the man who was giving Stevie hell with his phone to his ear.

“We’ve got a fucking problem. This bitch is fucking crazy, Xavier, like padded cell shit.” He walks away, and I can’t hear him anymore.

I look left and see Sonya and Stevie whispering.

Then Stevie laughs and claps her hands. “That tape will go viral if they fuck with me. That song is going to put me back in the spotlight.” I see her pull something out of her bra and hand it to Sonya. “This is the only copy. Guard it with your life. Now get that little bitch on stage so she can look like the nothing she is.”

Sonya nods and drops what I assume is a flash drive of the two of them having sex into her bag. I then see the man, Nickie, rushing an equally as large, even more tattooed man in through the rear entrance—Xavier.

Sonya looks up, and my eyes are locked on her. Her almost amber eyes narrow as we literally stare each other down.

I want that flash drive. I want to see with my own eyes that Memphis Black is what the world thinks him to be—a walking STD waiting to explode.

“Xavier, she’s fucking dangerous,” Nickie says as they walk by.

“Xavier Steel?” I ask.

He stops and looks at me as if he doesn’t recognize me. “If I know you from a past life—”

I see Sonya start to walk away, and I grab his hand. “Come with me.”

“Girl, I’m a married man, have a kid and shit. No can do.”

“My name is Tallia Priest. We met in Miami,” I say as I try my best to drag him, hoping Sonya doesn’t get away with my evidence and whatever else is on the damn drive.