Free No Holding Back by Amanda Dresden Page B

back flips. Yet again, he had to remind himself that it was a girl who rocked the audience just then. It was a girl who rocked him.
    He toyed with the idea of revealing her, but his gut said it was too soon.
    Wade shook his head of it and laughed outright at her ability to prime the crowd the same way he did. Soon, the sharp ‘click, click, click, click’ of the wooden sticks came together so hard, Wade thought they would break. But when she broke into Live Dead, the pristine clash of drums and cymbals rang sharply in his ears, giving him a high like no other. Chris rocked them at her audition on a rickety drum set, but sitting behind Hess’ Tama full titanium line, or "Black Beauty" as he affectionately called it, she was a goddess. 
    As the crowd lost themselves to Heretic ’s song, Wade became lost himself. He tried to focus on his own task, to strum his guitar along with her flawless beat but it wasn’t as if he could hear himself play anymore. The crowd was too wild and amped up and Wade wasn’t far off. He looked back at her several times, too many times in fact, but he didn’t care. He was enthralled with her performance. Under the guise of Chris Rebman, Wade had to keep reminding himself that this was a girl. A girl for fuck’s sake!
    Wade was drenched with sweat despite the economy-sized fans that blew on stage, but it didn’t matter. He knew the secret behind his goose bump. And it happened to coincide with each of Chris’ hammering throws.
    When Chris brought her sticks down onto the cymbals one last time, Wade threw a fist into the air just as sparks and pyrotechnics launched in every direction. The lights cut out simultaneously and Wade breathed easy knowing the techies nailed his queue. The crowd roared absolute as Heretic’s performance came to a close.
    In complete darkness , Wade shrugged off his Gibson and placed it back on the stand not far from him. He didn’t need to see having done this so many times before. Hundreds even. But not Chris.
    He moved expertly past half a dozen techies, equipment, speakers , and over precarious wires just to get to her. He didn’t want to panic, but keeping her a secret among thousands of people gave him an uncomfortable feeling that he didn’t much like. He chastised himself when he inadvertently forgot to mention to Chris what to do after the concert. There wasn’t time to do anything it seemed. Ever since they hit the road, Wade hardly had the time to wipe his ass. But this one escaped him completely.
    He begged under his breath that Heretic ’s savior drummer stayed put – that she would be there waiting for him in the darkness.
    B ut it wouldn’t have mattered if he screamed it. With no microphone in hand, he could hardly hear himself think let alone his own inaudible prayers. But as he groped through the empty air like a blind man without a cane he began to panic. If he couldn’t find her in five seconds he’d turn into an animal, and tear the place upside down.
    He felt his knee bump into the drum set and he knew he had to be close. But if he held his breath a moment longer, his lungs were going to explode. His hand fanned the darkness until they connected with a mess of fingers.
    He smiled and allowed himself to breathe again, feeling his heart pound as ruthlessly as Chris did her drums.
    Without pausing to consider his next move , he jerked her into his embrace. He didn’t think about how they looked in the darkness, nor did he care how Chris felt being man-handled. But their first concert together was a hit - their perfect beginning came full circle into a stunning show stopper that Wade didn’t recall having before with Hess. With no warning whatsoever, he became teary-eyed at the prospect at finding such a jewel – a diamond in the rough. And he would never let her go.
    Chris certainly wasn ’t expecting the bear hug Wade subjected her to. She felt awkward and didn’t know what to do with her hands as he practically squeezed the air from