Page 208 of Redeemed

“Sorry,” a guy with a guitar yells back.

Grumbling to himself, Xander sits on his stool.

“All right, let’s go,” the vocalist says into his microphone.

When one of the guitarists starts, I cringe at how loud it is. It’s near-painful, and I have to resist the urge to cover my ears.

Xander nudges me, and when I look up at him, he nods toward my hand. I forgot he gave me something, and after a quick glance, I realize it’s a small plastic case with two earplugs in it.

Oh.

“Thank you,” I shout over the noise.

Once I have them in, Xander nods in approval and turns back to the board. The music is muffled now, and it doesn’t feel like my eardrums are going to burst anymore. I never would’ve thought to wear earplugs. The fact that Xander brought them for me is so sweet.

Hoping he won’t hate it, I hook one of my fingers into the front pocket of his jeans. Xander glances at me in surprise, but then he smiles. When he leans down and kisses the top of my head, I feel myself blush.

We stay like that for the rest of the sound check. At some point, Brad walks past, and he chuckles to himself when he sees. Apparently, he must look for too long, because he quickly turns away when Xander glares at him.

After the sound check, Xander hops down from the sound booth and grabs us two bottles of water. People slowly trickle in until the room is pretty full. Xander catches up with a few people who hang around the sound booth until the clock on the wall shows we were supposed to start five minutes ago.

Brad is over by the stage, and it’s too loud for me to hear him, but he’s definitely scolding someone. Once he walks away frustratedly, a few people hop up onto the stage.

“Here we go.” Xander squeezes my leg in excitement. “Put your earplugs back in, doll.”

I do, watching as he presses a few buttons on the sound board and then gives a thumbs up to the people grabbing instruments.

Lights around the stage glow bright colors as the first song starts up. Pretty quickly, I realize that Xander is right. Iamoverwhelmed.

Athelia and I have gone to a couple concerts, but they were all outside. In here, everything is the exact opposite. The small room is dim and packed with people, and the music and flashing lights are almost too overwhelming for me to handle. If it wasn’t for the earplugs Xander gave me, I think I’d be too overstimulated to stay without having a panic attack.

Two other bands play before the one that did the sound check. At some point during the second set, Xander pulls me into his lap. He keeps an arm around me, and while the final band is setting up, he squeezes my waist.

“You all right, doll?”

“Umm.”

“Say I was right,” he commands softly.

“You were right.”

Xander doesn’t rub it in. He just reaches into his leather jacket and pulls out a small plastic bag. “You can take one of these. It’ll help calm you down.”

I reach for the bag, but he pulls it away.

“It’ll also get you high. These are weed gummies.”

Oh.

“I know you probably haven’t been high before, and there’s no pressure if you don’t want to. Just wanted to offer.”

“I think I’d like to try.”

I’ve always been curious, but I haven’t really had the option to try weed. Figures that when I get the chance, it’s coming from one of my bullies.

“You’re sure?” Xander asks.

I nod. “I’d like to not feel so overwhelmed.”

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