Pretty Little Hellion (Rocker Universe: Pretty Little #3)

11. Hayat

Chapter Eleven

Hayat

Five minutes before Autumn’s Slumber was set to take the stage, my rockers were still getting ready. I stood back, drumsticks in hand, watching them. It didn’t take me long to get ready. I wore my usual black sweats, a favorite hoodie that showed off the fall-colored bralette I’d spent hours searching for just for today. The mask Arella’s costume designer had made for me to audition in was ready to be pulled down over my face before we took the stage.

Ky was trying to get the paint on his chest perfect. Sparks kept tuning his guitar, not liking how one of the chords kept hitting his ear, causing him to curse viciously in Spanish every thirty seconds. Jamie fussed with his mask, checking in the mirror of the green room backstage, unhappy with…something. I wasn’t sure what exactly was bothering him with the damn thing, but his displeased grunts made me hide a smile.

Tucking my drumsticks into the band of my sweats, I crossed the room. Pausing to kiss Sparks, distracting him for five full seconds so he could breathe and realize his guitar was fine, I hummed happily when I felt him relax, just a little. He tangled his fingers in my hair, forgetting about the guitar and everything else for a moment.

When I lifted my head, his mouth tried to chase mine, but I had two other rockers who were still struggling. Walking over to Ky, I took the paint from him. Placing my hand in the yellow, I pressed it to the center of his chest, already smeared with black, red, orange, and yellow, colors which also decorated his abdomen and the lower half of his face like the other two had done.

Nodding at the contrast of my smaller handprint on his skin, compared to all the larger ones he’d placed on his chest, I admired the mark I’d stamped on him. If only I could do that permanently, then everyone would always know he was mine.

Jamie was still grumbling about his mask, not giving me much time to appreciate how I’d ensured all those girls who would be drooling over Ky later—the ones who would melt at the sound of his voice—would know he was taken.

After wiping my hand clean, I lifted Jamie’s mask and adjusted the knot he had pulled his blond hair into before settling the mask into place for him. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was nervous about this first show. Not that they needed to worry. These three were meant to make music together.

Grabbing me around the waist, Jamie tucked me under his arm while examining his face in the mirror one last time.

A knock on the closed green room door had us all sucking in a breath. “Two minutes!” the security guard outside the door called.

The butterflies in my stomach settled. This was it. Time to show the world that Havoc and Hayat didn’t need anyone’s help getting to the top.

My rockers surrounded me, the four of us taking one last moment for ourselves before we shook the world upside down together. I breathed them in, loving them all so damn much, it should have hurt. But it didn’t, because we were always meant to be. Love wasn’t supposed to hurt, damn it, and I would do my best to make sure it stayed that way.

Ky kissed my forehead, playing with the mask I’d pulled on. The one I’d auditioned in. That felt like so long ago, but it had only been a few weeks. It was crazy to think that it had been such a short time since I’d fallen in love. My heart felt like I’d been loving these three all my life.

Sparks took my hands in both of his, squeezing. His eyes, that yummy shade of melted chocolate behind his own mask, searched mine.

But it was Jamie who pulled off my mask, letting my hair fall around my shoulders. “Hellion doesn’t hide,” he told me when I protested, trying to take the mask back. “Ever.”

“But—”

“ Our hellion doesn’t hide,” Ky seconded.

“We have our reasons for keeping our faces hidden, goddess. But you belong in the spotlight.” Sparks lifted my hands to his mouth. “Fuck, baby. You are our spotlight. With you, we won’t be in the dark ever again.”

Biting my lip at the emotions I could feel coming off the three of them in waves, I nodded, giving in just as the door opened. Four guards stood there, waiting to escort us to the stage.

Oh shit. The butterflies came back with a vengeance.

We stepped out of the green room, and that was when the silence of the club hit me. I gulped. The club had never been so quiet. Never. Not even when the staff first arrived. There was always noise. Always.

Why wasn’t there a sound now?

The lights were off, and on the first floor, the glow from hundreds of phone screens and cameras were aimed right at us. My mom was live streaming so my godparents could watch from halfway across the world, but I was aware others were too. Which meant literally the world was watching.

I’d seen countless other bands take the stage just like we were doing. But they would get chants, fans amping them up before the show even started. Now? There wasn’t even a cough or a sneeze. It was as if they were holding their breath.

Waiting for me to fall on my face?

The silence was too loud, making it impossible to ignore the way my blood was rushing through my ears. I licked my suddenly dry lips and took my throne, making a minor adjustment so that I was seated perfectly.

And then, a single light came on, shining right down on me. No. That wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t the focus of tonight. We, Autumn’s Slumber, were a team. A unit. We were one.

But when I looked at my guys, they wore smirks, and I knew they had done this.

“You belong in the spotlight.”

Sparks’s words echoed in my head.

They had pushed me into the spotlight. Without a mask. With the entire club—the fucking world—watching.

“I love you, Havoc!” someone called out from the darkness that surrounded the stage.

Abi.

“We love you, Havoc,” came a chorus from throughout the club. Too many voices for me to identify them all. But I knew who they were. I could feel them. Every woman in my life—all of whom I knew had my back and had been encouraging me from the first time I’d picked up a set of drumsticks.

“Havoc!” It felt like a million people were suddenly chanting my name.

Turning my head, I let my crazy, wild hair shield my face, hiding the emotional moment I’d never thought would actually happen. That was when I saw Poppy standing on the side of the stage. I didn’t want to think about the fact that Pop-Pop wasn’t beside him. Didn’t want to acknowledge how much that stung. Instead, I focused on Poppy, arms crossed over his chest. Waiting. Watching.

Because all eyes were on me.

I couldn’t let him down.

Drumstick in hand, I pressed it to my heart. Silently telling him how much I loved him. How his being there meant the world to me. One-half of my two mentors who had given up their valuable time to teach and guide me.

His chin lifted in understanding, his eyes glazed over with pride, and finally—ah fuck, finally —everything fell into place.

And I showed the world what Hayat could do.