My heart lurched into my mouth.
“He didn’t tell you?” Letty squeezed my arm.
“No one did.”
“Phoenix, give it up for Miss Evangeline Walker,” Levi’s gravelly voice came over the speakers making every hair along the back of my neck stand to attention.
A single spotlight found Eva across from us, the other side of the stage. She walked out, guitar in hand, waving at the crowd. They went wild, screaming her name, professing their undying love for Levi. They had the Hunter-Walker magic all right, and everyone loved them for it.
The stage lights went up just as Damon kicked in the beat and Levi sang the first lyrics. I was paralyzed by his voice, hypnotized by the intensity in his words. The longing. Every time I heard the lyrics, I found new layers to their meanings.
Eye so deep I fall and fall
Can’t escape, and I can’t feel
These feelings crash over me
Until I’m numb inside and cut free
But I’m broken now, I’m dead inside
She can’t save me no matter how hard she tries
But I’m broken now, I’m dead inside
She can’t save me no matter how hard she tries
He might have been broken, but one thing was clear...
I was pretty sure I was falling for Levi Hunter.
Three songs later, the band came off stage, high on adrenaline and what I considered to be one of their best performances to date.
“Water,” Hudson said. “I need water.”
He’d been back to his usual self today, and no one had uttered a word about Molly and her date.
Rafe pulled Eva into his arms, the two of them falling against the curtain in a tangle of limbs and lips.
“That was... wow,” I said as Levi approached.
“Thanks.” He barely looked at me, moving past us to take off down the hall.
Dejection burned through me, but I’d earned it. You couldn’t reject someone like Levi and expect him to fight for you.
“Okay, guys, thirty minutes until the first VIPs arrive.”
“Is there food?”
“Isn’t there always?” Letty gave a Hudson an amused look.
“Lead the way.”
“We’ll be there soon,” Rafe’s muffled words drifted over to us. I glanced back, wishing I hadn’t, when I saw their intimate embrace.
I ended up walking back to the dressing rooms with Damon.
“How are you holding up?” he asked.
“Me? I’m okay.”
He gave me a warm nod. “You’d be good for him, you know. But I sense you have some baggage of your own.”
“You could say that.”
“Levi is complicated, Phoebe. The most complicated guy I’ve ever met... but I think, deep down, all he wants is to feel worth something more than all this.”
I didn’t get chance to ask what he meant because Damon took off down the hall, disappearing into the band’s dressing room. The meet and greet would be in a separate room, bigger, with a few shaker tables, a complimentary buffet table, and a temporary bar.
I tried not to dwell on Damon’s words as I went to help Letty make sure everything was set. I would oversee giving out the VIPs their exclusive goody bag and directing them for photos.
But by the time the band entered the room—well, everyone except Levi because of course he was late—the words were still stuck in my mind.
Everyone seemed to be on Team Levi. It was almost as if they wanted me to give him a chance. But what I couldn’t figure out was if it was because they thought he deserved a shot at happiness, at love...
Or if it was because they’d exhausted all avenues and I was their last hope to fix him.
The VIP fans were a mixed bunch. Half of them seemed happy to bask in the thrill of being within looking distance of their favorite band, while the other half were overexcited and more than a little drunk.
“Travis,” I said to Eva’s bodyguard. “Keep an eye on the group with the black and red t-shirts.”
“Noted,” he said, whispering something into his hidden wrist mic.
A couple of other bodyguards edged closer to the rowdy groups of girls. Two in particular had made a scene when they arrived, shouting inappropriate things to Hudson. He’d laughed it off, but some of the younger fans, accompanied with their parents, had complained.
“Okay,” Letty shouted, waving her hand in the air. “If I can have everyone’s attention. Levi is going to be along any second and I wanted to quickly explain how this is going to work. We’ll get group A lined up first for photos and autographs and then dish out goody bags. Group B will receive their goody bags first and then do photos, sound good?”
A chorus of cheers echoed off the walls.
When Letty had spotted the rowdy girls, she’d switched things around so we could get the younger fans in and out quicker.
But the second the door open and Levi stepped into the room, all hell broke loose.
“Ohmigod, there he is,” someone yelled as some of the girls broke forward.
Security flanked Levi, warding them off, but he stepped forward, laughing. “Relax,” he smirked, “there’s enough of me to go around.”
Letty ushered for me to intercept the girls on my side. I jumped in front of them, hands outstretched. “If everyone could just wait in their area, we’ll get—”
“Levi, I love you,” a shrill voice pierced the air. “I love you so much.”
“I can’t believe it’s him,” another voice said, as the horde of overeager fans began to swarm. Security tried to hold them back, but they were a force to be reckoned with, pushing up against our human wall.
“Shit,” Letty grumbled. “Someone call for back up. If everyone could just calm down.”
“Listen to the lady,” Levi chuckled. “She might be small, but she is mighty.”
There was something off about his tone. Anyone else might not have noticed it, but I wasn’t anyone.
My head snapped around, studying his face. Sure enough, I saw the slight glaze to his eyes.
Levi was high.
Un-fucking-believable.
“Letty,” I caught her attention and flicked my head to where Levi was standing.
“Okay, ladies, if you could all form an orderly line we can get started—”
A handful of the older girls broke free, charging at me and Travis. “You need to stop,” I yelled. “Stop, no—”
Someone shouldered me out of the way, an elbow clipping my cheek. Pain exploded along my face just as I lost my footing and began to fall.
“Phoebe,” someone yelled my name, but the world tilted, agony piercing my hip as I collided with the edge of the merchandise table. My body folded into itself as I landed with a resounding thud, my head cracking against the hard floor.
“Shit, someone call medical,” another voice yelled, but everything was spinning, my skull pounding, making everything foggy.
“Phoebe, can you hear me?” A panicked voice hovered on the edge of my consciousness as everything began to go black.
“Do something,” he yelled, so full of pain and anguish. “Somebody, do something.”