Destroyed (Lost in Oblivion, #3)(35)

When he popped to his feet, the crowd swelled forward and women reached for him and men hollered out their battle cries. Women wanted to f*ck him and men wanted to be him.

It was a heady experience to behold.

Simon clipped his microphone into the stand and swiped his hair back. “Good goddamn! This is why we do everything in L.A., man. This crowd. Fuck yeah!”

He put his hand up to his mouth. “Whoops. Sorry, iHeart. I got a little carried away. That six second rule always saves our asses, huh?”

Margo shook her head and tucked her violin under her arm.

“Thanks so much for peeking in on our release party.” He held his arm out to his right. “Nicky boy and Grayson, come take a bow.”

The two of them stepped into the spotlights and waved.

“Demon, get your Gigantor ass out of the shadows. Give my ridiculously tall friend a hand, huh?”

Deacon draped his arm around Simon’s neck.

“Think we should give them one more?” he asked Deacon.

Deacon leaned into the mic. “Not sure they can handle it.”

“What do you guys think?” The crowd blasted him with screams and Simon fake stumbled away from Deacon. “Holy shit. Maybe they can.” He stood on the drum riser. “Jazzercise, what do you think?”

“I think you should sing ‘Monster’.”

Simon looked over his shoulder. “Whadya think?”

The crowd screamed and he pointed at Margo. “Violin Girl, start us off.”

Startled, Margo lifted her bow and started off the song as they’d rehearsed.

Sometime toward the middle of the song, she noticed that the camera crew had lessened. It didn’t seem to matter that the cameras were off Simon. He poured everything into the show just the same.

A heavy sheen of sweat coated her arms by the end of the night. Her back ached from the heels, and her heart still raced in time with the last song.

When the house lights went down, it felt like they’d only just begun even as her body said otherwise.

A single violet-tinged light shot out of the night and the murmuring crowd settled as Simon held his hand up. “Thank you so much for making tonight amazing. We’ll be out to schmooze and booze with you momentarily, but we’ve got one more song tonight.” He slid his hand under the shirt that was molded to him with sweat. “This might give you a clue.”

Then the light went out and she cradled her violin against her chin for the opening chords of “Never Tear Us Apart”.

Simon sang the first verse in the complete dark. His voice morphed into a fair mimic of Michael Hutchence with his own spin.

The lights slowly lifted until they were all awash in a purple glow with a roving disco ball splash as Simon’s fluid performance entranced.

Though a jazzy saxophone had been part of the original version, they’d modified her strings to suit the melody. She came forward and her lights went pink with a heartbeat pulse around her.

The slow song built until there was nothing but guitars and drums pounding out around Simon as he got the crowd to sing with him. The iconic INXS song bled into the raunchy, gritty guitars of Guns n’ Roses.

Simon stripped off his shirt and raced to the edge of the stage, then dropped to his knees. He rolled onto his back and screamed out the lyrics with a raw edge that made Margo wince.

He wouldn’t be able to talk later.

But the crowd lapped it up. They moved as one and sang back at him for every line. Los Angeles anthem that it was, everyone knew the song.

By the time it was over, the party had started.

And same as last night, Simon jumped into the crowd and led the charge to the bar. He slapped the countertop and a line of shot glasses flamed to life.

Gray and Nick played the hell out of the guitar solos, each of them dueling over the riff-heavy song as the crowd went wild.

Simon blew out his shot and tossed back two of them before running back to the stage to finish the song. The fans and radio people, the famous and pseudo-famous all joined in for the last chorus.

Margo got pulled forward with the band as the song closed out. Deacon scooped her up and dropped her next to Simon as they waved and bowed.

Somehow her arm ended up around Simon’s back. He was slick with sweat and vibrating with excitement. He looked down at her, but the smile she was expecting was missing.

His eyes burned with a flame similar to the shot glasses making the rounds at the bar. She shivered and pulled away as the band dispersed.

Jazz jumped and hugged everyone, including her. There was nothing but the high of the show, the crowd, and a night of success.

Why did she want to escape?

True, it wasn’t her success, but she’d enjoyed the way that the band had allowed her into the inner circle. The interaction of the fans was a high she couldn’t deny.

She should allow herself to be pulled in, but she only wanted escape. Her heart rate was hummingbird-fast as she climbed the hidden stairs to the quiet corner she’d found after rehearsal.

The stairs to the catwalk over the bar. Now that the show was over, the lights had been brought down and shadows and strobe lights bounced around the room in a heady pulse that echoed the excitement of the night.

People were talking over one another and Oblivion songs were piped in with a current radio hit in between each song. She curled her fingers around the textured paint that splattered the iron bars and rivets.