Glancing back at the edge of the stage, they were all standing right there.
“I’m so sorry. I appear to have lost my words. Thank you. This means a lot to me. I had a whole speech planned in case this happened, and I’ve forgotten absolutely all of it.” The crowd laughed with me. “And that’s because I just got the best news of my life, even though I can’t tell you yet.”
My smile was so wide it hurt. “Between that and this?” I lifted the trophy. “Best night ever. Thank you very much.”
They had more time allotted for the speech, but I didn’t want it. I didn’t even wait for the music to play before turning and heading for them in a straight line.
Dylan’s arm came around me, guiding me away from the edge of the stage. Neil was already here. Jasmine must have called him. “Hey, Neil.”
He had a knowing smile on his face. “Change of plans?”
“Will it fuck with you guys too much?”
“Nah.” He shrugged. “Protecting you in a single place is just as easy as at home.” Then he glanced at the Alphas standing around me. “As long as we can secure the place first.”
“Whatever you need.” That was Tyler.
“I’ll bring Wes.” Neil looked at me. “We’ll have two people with you at all times.”
“Not atalltimes.”
Neil rolled his eyes, and he’d been my security long enough that he could get away with it. “No, we won’t be standing in the room while you’re… doing everything.”
Laughter rippled through our small group, and Jack stepped up beside me. “Give us a few minutes to pack our instruments. The crew here will take care of everything else.”
“Okay.”
He pulled me in and pressed a hard kiss to my forehead. The softest of whines came from me. I knew the second we were truly alone, things were going to explode. Fuck. Yes.
“Phone.” Jasmine held it out to me. “I think it’s permanently vibrating now.”
The screen of my phone wasfilledwith notifications trying to figure out what the hell I’d been talking about on stage. There was even a text from my mother, but I ignored it. Everyone but my friends and sister could wait.
Esme
Hello?? What news? You’re hiding shit from me now?
Petra
I know for a fact your lipstick didn’t look like that the first time you were on stage. What did you do???
Sloane
How dare you leave us hanging like this
I put all of them in a group chat. They didn’t know Esme very well, so we usually didn’t do this. But that was all right.
Eva
I know we don’t usually do this, but I don’t have much time. The short version is that I’m going home with Mindless Delirium and you probably won’t hear from me for a few days.
The long version is that I scent matched with them seconds before I needed to present that award. Full-on scent-sympathy. Yes, I am freaking out. In a good way. No, I don’t really know what we’re doing, but we’re figuring it out. Security will be with me, so don’t worry there. But I might be MIA for a couple of days.
Dots started floating at the bottom of the screenimmediately.
Sloane
Oh my god. I’ve heard it’s amazing. Jealous!
