Page 69 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

Jace

I waited until the doors closed behind her before I let out a long assed fucking breath. The same fucking breath I felt like I’d been holding onto since I first saw her trapped against the lockers.

I swear I’d never felt so fucking helpless in all my life. Seeing her like that made something inside me break, and I couldn’t stand it. I wanted to fucking smash something.

“Still want to ask her out?” Aiden said quietly beside me. His tone was scornful.

I looked up and met his hard gaze with a defiant one of my own. “More than you’ll ever know.”

With that, I turned and strode out to the green to get this shit over with. The sooner we could pump out this god forsaken song, the sooner I could be with Mia. If it wasn’t for the dumb assed fucking reporter from Music Scene, I wouldn’t even be fucking going.

Dean and Matt were both already on the makeshift stage that’d been set up on the green, talking to Mr. Daniels who looked like he was about to pop a vein in his temple. The crowd was fully amped, spurred on by the cheerleaders and football team who were keeping them hyped with team cheeriness. Retch.

As Aiden and I climbed on stage, the screaming from the crowd went up another decibel or two, causing Mr. Daniels to glare at us before stepping off the stage and stalking away. Fuck him.

Dean took one look at Aiden and me and pressed his lips together in a calculating snarl. “I know we agreed on ‘Tonight’, but by the looks on your faces, I’m thinking we need something a bit heavier. Wanna try ‘To the End’ instead?”

Fuck yeah. With the mood I was in, I could let it all the fuck out and leave everyone bleeding on the ground. “Sounds like a fucking good idea.”

We took our places and adjusted our mics. Dean walked up to his mic and smirked at the screaming crowd. “Good afternoon Westside High! We’re here to add our support to the most awesome fucking football team on the west coast! Even though we can’t be there for the game, we hope you fucking smash them!”

The crowd roared deafeningly.

“Who here’s heard our song, ‘To the End’?” he yelled to the crowd.

They answered by screaming and jumping up and down.

“Well, I wanna hear you sing it along with us. Come on!”

Matt counted us in and hit it hard, a smirk plastered across his face. To the End was his favorite of our songs. It had a serious fast tempo and he got to show off with some pretty fucking wicked beats.

My contribution was usually pretty straight forward, but I had a solo part in the middle, and when it came, I ripped it the fuck up.

Hammering it out, the crowd screamed the lyrics with us, and it sounded fucking awesome. That was another great thing about the song. It was easy for the crowd to join in. Hearing so many people singing along, knowing the words, made us feel like we were giants. We were fucking invincible.

The second the song came to an end, the crowd screamed out for more. They were fucking crazy for it. Dean yelled out our thanks, wishing the stupid football team good luck again, and encouraged everyone to come down to the GV after the game to hear us play some more.

That was another reason he was the front man. He was fucking good at that kind of shit.

I took off my guitar and handed it to Ryan, who’d agreed to be a kind of roadie with Cain when we played gigs. I wanted to just leave it to them and go find Mia, but I knew I had to help get the shit loaded into the van so they could get it over to the GV.

I decided to go help Matt dismantle his kit, seeing as that would be the real time killer. We were just loading the last of the gear in the van when Aiden turned to glare at me. “Just fucking go.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. I thought I’d been holding it together quite well. Guess I was wrong. Shrugging, I turned and headed straight for the parking lot.

Mia was sitting on the trunk of her car with Kaeli when I walked up. Her expression was guarded, and she looked more than a little unsure of herself. My heart instantly went into some weird panicked state. Kaeli jumped off when she saw me coming and left us alone.

I stopped right in front of her, placing my hands on the trunk, either side of her ass.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I blinked. The fuck? “I can’t believe you’re asking me that. I felt like a fucking low life shit for leaving you like that.” I stood up straighter and ran my hands through my hair. Unbelievably, I still had some angst left in my system even though I just played like I’d been possessed by the fucking devil.

Mia reached out and softly cupped my face in her hands while parting her legs a little to allow me to step closer. Needing to touch her, I ran my hands up the outsides of her thighs until they rested on her hips.

“I’m fine, Jace,” she said softly. Then her lips curled up a fraction, into a wicked little grin. “I can show you exactly how fine I am after your gig tonight if you want…”

I’d happily ditch the gig to go with her right now if she fucking wanted. It’d been too long. I needed to be inside her. I knew it was the only way I was going to rid myself of this guilty feeling.

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