Free One Night with Sole Regret 02 Tempt Me by Olivia Cunning Page A

several people in the audience and knew Kellen was
mocking him behind his back. He did it every show. The crowd
thought it was hilarious, so Adam let it slide. He knew Kellen
would never do something to intentionally harm a person—well,
except maybe those lovers he tied to his bed. But they begged to
receive his punishment. Adam wondered if Madison would enjoy
something like that. All indications pointed to hell yeah .
    Shade charged in front of
Adam so he could sing to the fans that Adam was favoring with
personal attention. Seriously,
dude? Adam rolled his eyes at Shade and
trotted to the opposite end of the stage, climbing up on a platform
and playing to the audience in the stadium seats. He pointed his
guitar stock at the excited crowd and they yelled in enthusiasm. He
pulled the neck of his guitar back and then thrust it forward
again. Half the stadium roared on cue. He soon had them chanting at
will. And when he bounced up on his toes, they jumped in
unison.
    A rush of adrenaline flooded his body,
and he bounced in time with the beat. His audience followed his
cue, jumping up and down with the music. Adam loved interacting
with the crowd. Especially one so eager to follow his lead.
Occasionally they got a dud of an audience, but most of their fans
were crazy fun. The audience on the opposite side of the stadium
began to roar, and Adam glanced over to find Shade standing near
Madison, who was barely hidden in the wings. Shade was thrusting
his fist in the air to get the other half of the audience worked
into a frenzy.
    And then the competition began. Who
could get their side of the stadium to scream louder, to jump
higher, to go crazier? Owen and Kellen moved down stage center to
involve the audience members writhing in the pit. The craziest
motherfuckers always rocked general admission. Several mosh pits
formed on the floor, and bodies were soon ricocheting off each
other in utter pandemonium.
    By the end of the second song, Adam
was already drenched in sweat. His shirt clung to his back and his
hair to his face. He wiped his palm on his jeans so his fingers
wouldn’t slip on his guitar strings when he played their next song.
He'd like to say his half of the stadium was the most worked up
now, but he had to admit the entire audience was in an
uproar.
    Adam moved back to Owen's live
microphone and shouted, “You fuckers know how to rock!”
    By the roar the audience produced,
they obviously agreed.
    Shade offered him a smile. “What do
you say, Adam? Are you ready to set your fingers on
fire?”
    Like steam, the tension between them
evaporated. At that moment, all that mattered was the music they
shared. “Light me,” Adam said.
    The crowd roared its approval as Adam
started the intro to “Light Me.” By the time the rest of the band
entered the song and he gave his left hand a half-second of rest,
his fingers did feel like they were on fire. He loved the challenge
of playing that intro live. Only the song’s minute-long solo
offered a greater test of his skills. Adam had been so high when
he’d written “Light Me,” he was surprised he’d been able to find
the strings, much less compose his most inspired piece of music. He
wondered what magic he’d be able to create now that he was sober.
He only had one person to thank for the blessing of his
sobriety.
    Adam searched for Madison in the wings
and found her gazing at him in worshipful awe. He’d much rather put
that look on her face in bed, but of the fifteen-thousand people
giving him their undivided attention, it was her opinion that
mattered most.
    By the end of Sole Regret’s set, Adam
was overheated and his clothes were soaked through with sweat.
Despite the amount of energy he’d expended, he was too amped to be
tired. He had plenty of energy to spare and when Madison took
several steps onto the stage so she could wrap her arms around him,
he knew exactly what he wanted to do to drain his remaining
strength.
     
     
     

Chapter Eight
    Madison