He was playing “Cocky.” Right now.

I hung back and traced my fingers along the crumbling stucco. Did it matter to me? Was I upset? There was something still there, a ball of hurt inside of my chest that was still tender and bruised. But I had moved past that, hadn't I?

It doesn't have to mean anything.

I would just wait here until the song was over and then I'd go inside. He would never be the wiser.

Thankfully, I couldn't hear the lyrics, so I was free to bounce on my toes to the infectious beat. I felt a small spike of pride as I watched two tall blondes rush up to the entrance, frantic over missing “our song.”

"God, he is just the hottest thing," one gushed as the bouncer glowered at her ID.

"Can you imagine being the girl he wrote it for?"

"She probably has no idea how lucky she is."

"Can you imagine how amazing he must be in bed?" They tittered together before they moved inside.

Yes, I could.

I stepped up to the bouncer, who was easily as wide as I was tall. "Liliana Nesbit?" I shouted. "I should be on the list?"

One eyebrow went up. "You're in the VIP section, miss," he rumbled, suddenly deferential. "Right this way."

I followed him into the dark, wild mass of the club. The overhanging balcony obscured the stage from view, but I did get a good look at the two blondes, desperately screaming Jax's name.

He led me through a maze of levels, until he suddenly emerged into a private lounge. One with a perfect view of the stage below.

"Holy shit," I breathed, but my voice was drowned out in the roar of applause as the drummer pounded out the intro to the next song.

It was like the world narrowed down to a pinpoint, only large enough for me to see him. Jax strode across the stage as smooth and dangerous as a wildcat before he crouched down low and began to sing.

I gripped the railing to keep from falling over the balcony. He was electric, a force of nature. He worked the crowd like an instrument, playing our emotions as skillfully as his guitar. We moved when he told us to move, we screamed when he told us to scream, and when it was all over and I was shouting his name along with everyone else, I was just as breathless and desperate as I was when he pinned me against the wall.

The last encore was still ringing in my ears as I tore back down the stairs and shoved my way to far wall. Claustrophobia clawed at my throat as I fought my way along the wall and toward the front of the club.

Jax was there, crouching on stage, clutching the outstretched hands that reached for him, wanting a piece of him, wanting everything he had to give and more. I shoved as hard as I could, worming my way through the small spaces no one else could fit, until I finally popped up right at the gate. "Jax!" I screamed.

He wheeled at the sound of my voice. I waved frantically. He nodded in the direction of security and I suddenly found myself hoisted over the barrier. "Jax!" I called again.

"Thank you and goodnight!" he boomed into the mic, then pointed toward the booth. The house lights popped on and I could finally see all of him.

When he looked at me, I understood what it meant to be devoured. The dark hunger in his eyes set my skin alight, and I knew he saw the same look in my eyes. Seeing him on stage had lit a firestorm of need in my belly.

I shivered. We were in full view of the dispersing crowd, of security, of his band. Surely he wasn't so reckless…

"You were here the whole time?" he called. There was something tight at the edges of his voice that told me the question was more important than it seemed.

"Yes," I lied. One song. What did it matter?

That was the answer he needed to cross the space between us in two leaps. I gasped as he tugged me to his side and wheeled around, pressing us both through a small gray door at the bottom of the stage.

He wheeled us through the rabbit warren of rigging below until we emerged into a concrete hallway that must have run along the wings. The kind of place I had been in a million times before, but never like this. Never with Jaxson so desperate and wild and unhinged.

"Get the fuck out," he snarled to the people in the green room. Heat flared in a blush across my cheeks, and I looked down as the band filed silently past us. Meaningless or no, this was a hell of a risk to be taking…

Then he slammed the door behind us and I was no longer able to think.

"I've waited an entire year to sing to you." He leaned against the doorway and let his head fall back. Every line in his body spelled relief, but I couldn't understand why.

"You were really good," I told him.

"You liked it?"

His eyes were so damn blue.

"I loved it." I smiled at him.

"Ah, fuck, Bit." He lifted his hand and caught my wrist, pulling me to him. "I'm so glad," he said, touching my face and tilting it up to his. "I am so fucking glad to hear that."

Now that we were inside of that small room, with its few scattered couches, folding table left by craft services and the whiff of cigarettes of yesteryears in the air, some of the high that had propelled me to him began to wear off. It was one thing to decide I was using him for sex while sitting alone in bed. It was quite another thing to be standing here, watching dark desire shadow his face as he looked at me after closing the door.

"I'm so glad you came," he said thickly.

I felt like I couldn't get enough breath. The slinking, wild animal on the stage now had me cornered and looked very close to devouring me whole. "Me too," I managed. My voice was a wobbly wisp.

"I've missed you. So much." He was right there, filling up the entire room. There seemed to be so much more of him than there should be, but that wasn't what made me afraid.

I was afraid of how eager I was to believe him.

"I missed you too." It wasn't a lie.

"Fuck."

That was all, just one guttural curse, but there was so much frustration and longing bound up inside of it that I felt like my knees would collapse. He caught me as I sagged against him and roughly cupped the back of my head with his hands. "I want you, and I need to hear that I can have you."

A tingle shot up my spine. "You can have me," I said, unaware that he was walking us backwards until the small of my back bent against the folding table.

"Tell me how you want it, Liliana." He punctuated each word with a fiery kiss down my neck, seeking lower and lower each time. "Do you want it gentle and sweet? I could be sweet for you, you know. If that's what you want."

I bit my lip hard to keep from moaning out as he lifted me onto the table and bent me back. The hard metal table was cold against my arms and colder still as he lifted my T-shirt and flicked a tongue around my navel. The fire that lit when I saw him on stage suddenly flared hotter, burning away the last trace of rational thinking I possessed.

"No," I told him, grabbing a fistful of electric blue hair and yanking him toward my mouth. "I want you wild…"

He growled his approval into my neck and snaked his hands down my arms, interlacing his fingers into mine before yanking both arms upward and pinning them above my head. "Then that's what you're going to get, Bit." He pinned both my arms down easily with one strong hand. Brushing a kiss past my lips, he reached down and yanked my shirt up, exposing my naked belly. I felt his eyes slide up my skin, focusing on my breasts. "These were always my favorite," he rasped, reaching under me deftly. "I think I want to start right here."