Page 134 of Three Pucks and a Baby

By the time I reached him, the song was coming to an end. After bowing and then preening under all the attention, Bennett’s gaze fell on mine. His smile instantly faded.

Narrowing his eyes at me, Bennett hopped off the opposite side of the table out of my reach. “Bennett, wait!” I called over the roar.

I didn’t know if he couldn’t hear me or was just choosing to ignore me. With a determined step, he bounced up the steps and back onto the stage. After waving his bandmates over, it appeared there was a song change because they left the stage.

With his guitar in hand, Bennett eased down on the stool. “I wanted to change things up a bit because there’s been a song on my mind and heart lately. And there’s someone in the crowd I want to do it for.”

By then, I stood almost at the end of the stage. Bennett’s gaze fell on mine. “Theo, this one's for you.”

My heart clenched in my chest. From the way he was acting, I knew this wasn’t going to be a ballad professing his love. Even though it wasn’t his usual genre, I expected a screamo song to come from his lips. Something that called for my pain and suffering for breaking his heart.

As he began strumming the opening chords on his guitar, a hush fell over the crowd. I found my breath hitching. Fuck, he looked so gorgeous sitting there with the lights sending a halo over his head.

“I’ve got a girl crush. I hate to admit it, but I got a hard rush.”

Oh fuck. It was worse than a screamo song cursing me. It was devastation and frustration. And it was everything we were experiencing in our relationship.

“I want to taste her lips. Yeah, 'cause they taste like you.”

As he sang the lyrics, his pain was evident, and it went straight to my heart. The ache in my chest grew so intense I feared my heart was going to explode.

“Iwant her magic touch. Yeah, cause maybe then, you’d want me just as much.”

Since it was so much about Vivian as well, I couldn’t help worrying about what she was thinking. When I turned to look for her, I was shocked to find she stood at my side.

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Go on. Take his pain away.”

Nodding, I knew what I had to do. Refusing to waste time going up the stairs, I went straight to the stage. Thankfully, it wasn’t too high that I couldn’t hoist myself up.

The minute I landed on the stage, a roar went through the crowd.

Bennett’s eyes were shut as he executed a perfect guitar solo. With determined steps, I stalked over to him.

“Bennie,” I said.

Startled, his eyes popped wide. As he stared intently at me, I knew at that moment there weren’t any words I could say that would truly express my feelings. Instead, I brought my hands to his neck and then slammed my lips against his.

A screech went over his guitar strings. As I poured every ounce of love I had for him into that kiss, the audience cheered and whistled. My tongue desperately plunged into his mouth, seeking and searching for the feel of his against mine.

When I tasted salty tears along with Bennett’s lips, I opened my eyes. To my shock and somewhat horror, I realized I was crying. Fuck, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried. It wasn’t who I was.

Except it seemed I was with Bennett.

My chest clenched tighter when Bennett broke the kiss. As I stared pleadingly into his face, I watched a myriad of emotions in his eyes. “Did you have somethin’ you wanted to tell me, Theo?” he asked breathlessly.

“That I’m so fucking sorry for hurting you.”

“Yeah, you’ve said that before. What do you have besides a bullshit apology?”

“Just that this is me standing here before you and everyone here professing my love for you.”

“You really mean that?”

“I sure as hell do.”

Creasing his brows, he asked, “If your parents were here, would you do the same thing?”

“Absofuckinglutely.” Pulling my phone from my pocket, I said, “Want me to FaceTime them right now?”

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