Write or Wrong (Common Threads #9)

Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

FALL INTO ME

EIGHTEEN-ISH MONTHS LATER

ASA

He checked his phone again. Not even a whole minute had passed since the last time he’d looked.

Butterflies filled his stomach and he couldn’t quite get rid of the grin that had been on his face all day.

It wasn’t his day. Not really.

But he was so damn proud of her he could burst.

A heavy hand patted his shoulder and he smiled over at Zara’s dad.

“Ready?” the older man asked.

Asa nodded as the lights dropped and a heavy buzz thrummed through the floors of the arena.

The past eighteen months had flown by.

She’d released the album they’d recorded to monstrous acclaim. The response to “A Fool’s Hope” was everything he knew it would be, and nothing she’d expected.

It was as if the whole world took another look at Zara Lorna and realized they’d been sleeping on a legend.

They planned and plotted a tour called “A Hopeful Tour.” The dates had sold out in a matter of days.

She’d worked damn hard during rehearsal and only a handful of people knew the presentation she’d planned.

It was two years to the day she’d hosed him off in Nikki’s backyard.

Smoke filled the stage and a bass line that he’d written popped out a driving beat.

Zara, on a platform, rose from the center of the stage, already purring the opening lines to the song.

The arena exploded in screams and thunderous applause.

Asa laughed but couldn’t hear himself over the noise of the crowd which just made him laugh harder. It was unreal how adored she was.

Zara stepped down the risers to the rhythm and was joined by her dancers.

And Asa felt that overwhelming rush of pure excitement and pride and love take over his entire body.

She strutted down the length of the stage, wearing a black, lace body suit, with strategic cutouts. Her body was insane in its strength and beauty. Her long, black hair hung wild and free over her shoulders and down her back.

And that voice.

That voice would forever be the sound of freedom to him.

Amazing didn’t cover it. So far, he hadn’t been able to find the right words to describe her or how fun she made their life. But he’d keep trying.

Because writing had come back to him and it had stayed. He could write by himself, or with others, or with her. He’d been nominated for an award at the upcoming NMAs for a song he’d written with Shawn Torres. He was currently working on a song with Nash Ellis that was going to make people feel their feelings.

And he was happy.

Life with Zara wasn’t a normal life.

It was better.

Because it was theirs.

And there she was, night one of a tour that was sure to catapult her further into the stratosphere.

And he was so there for every second of it.