Page 62 of A Way Out
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Of course. You earned it. Now, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. I’m not going to stress about it until our mother calls to reprimand me.”
“Good girl,” Holly said approvingly. “I’m heading back upstairs to seduce my new husband. Again.” She winked and scurried away.
Hmm, Holly had a good idea. Maria returned to Oz’s bedroom, where he greeted her with sleepy, hungry eyes and arms spread wide.
Of course she went back to bed. Who wouldn’t?
After they were both sated, bodies humming once again, Oz climbed out of bed and hopped into the shower, then he and Riley went downstairs to make breakfast.
After her shower, Maria joined them, sitting at the counter and sorting through the wedding pictures the photographer had generously managed to pull together for them already. The poor woman must have stayed up all night. Hopefully, Holly was compensating her well.
Courtesy of the concert tonight, no one had plans to leave. Even Holly and Sam had scheduled their honeymoon to start on Monday, and Lacey and Parker hadn’t planned a honeymoon, of course, since they hadn’t known they were getting married.
The excitement over Demigoddess Revival’s first sold-out show was palpable. Everyone felt it, even Riley.
Who was disappointed she couldn’t go.
“Concerts are no place for toddlers,” Maria tried to explain, which her daughter did not understand. “Besides, it won’t even start until after your bedtime.”
“I stayed up late for the wedding,” Riley insisted, which was true. Maria had let her eat dinner, dance, had even poured water into a champagne flute and let her toast with the rest of them as they cheered on the new couples.
Ultimately, Riley did not win this battle. She was left behind with Stephanie’s elderly neighbor, who promised they’d have loads of fun baking and decorating cookies before Riley had to go to bed.
The goal was to head out at 2:00 p.m., which would give them plenty of time to get to Tulsa before they were scheduled to check into the venue where they’d play in front of three thousand screaming fans.
Maria had done her research. A place with a three thousand-person capacity wasn’t terribly big by, say, Panic Station’s standards, but everyone had to start somewhere. And the Phoenix show was at a seven thousand-person venue. If they managed to secure spots at a few summer music festivals, that could mean tens of thousands of potential fans, all in one place, all clamoring to hear them live.
Shortly before they were due to leave the lodge, Maria emailed a video montage to the production crew at the facility in Tulsa. She gave them explicit directions as to when the video should be played.
And then she started feeding wedding pictures to both Demigoddess Revival’s and Panic Station’s social media accounts.
“Holy shit,” Holly said, bouncing down the stairs dressed for the show in a white tank top and white ruffled micromini skirt, her signature Vans on her feet. Her blue and silver hair was braided and loosely wrapped around her head in a messy parody of a wedding updo. The fans didn’t know it yet, but Panic Station planned to take the stage with Demigoddess Revival for a handful of songs.
“You are a genius,” Holly continued, staring at her phone as she danced over to drop onto the couch next to Maria. “These posts are blowing up. They’re going to surpass the ass pics here in a minute.”
“Everybody loves a good love story,” Maria said, grinning. “Especially when it involves their favorite band.”
“I’ll say.” Holly tapped on her screen, replying or liking comments, encouraging the excitement.
“Ready to go?” Oz called out. He placed his guitar case in the foyer and strode over to Maria, pressing a kiss to her lips like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Maybe it was, because Holly did not even raise her eyebrows. To be fair, her nose was practically pressed to her phone screen.
Still, it felt natural. All of it. Connecting with Oz, doing publicity for both bands, participating in her sister’s wedding.
This entire weekend had been utterly perfect—once they got over their little bump in the road on Friday—and she was certain she would not feel so buoyant and happy if not for Oz.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered in her ear.
She felt her face flush. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and pink tank top, borrowed from her sister’s wardrobe. She wished she had some Demigoddess Revival swag to wear, but she’d set up an online shop on the band’s website only this morning. It was a bummer they wouldn’t have any physical merch to sell at tonight’s show, but at least now they could direct fans to the website for a nice selection of shirts, hoodies, hats, and posters, as well as, of course, links to download the band’s music.
She’d never wanted something so desperately in her life as she wanted this band to succeed.
Well, besides wanting Oz himself, of course. That trumped everything.
