Abby and the Cute One (Backstage Pass) by Erin Butler Read Free Book Online Page B

out, and the guys stared his way with puzzled expressions. His face heated. He couldn’t even look at Abby. “What?” he whispered to Will, who stood closest to him.
    Will’s lips curved into a small smile. “You missed your cue for your solo.”
    Oh God. He hadn’t done that in…never. He’d never done that.
    Justin jogged out. “Is your mike not working?”
    Nathan couldn’t even answer. He hadn’t been paying attention to much of anything except for Abby—he didn’t even know if his mike was on, let alone working. How could he miss his solo?
    Justin grabbed the mike. “Check one, two. Check one, two, three.” He handed it back over to Nathan, a crease deepening between his eyes. “Seems fine.”
    LJ’s booming voice sounded from the front of the stage. “Start from the top. Nathan, get your act together.”
    He nodded as a scorch of flames flashed up the back of his neck. He turned his back to the empty arena and took a few breaths. Trevin nodded to him and Nathan nodded back. The band started up again and they did it all over.
    This time Nathan sang when he was supposed to, though his vocals could’ve been better. Nerves after being scolded in front of Abby had him thinking too much. And thinking too much meant he second guessed himself and didn’t take risks. And not taking risks meant he sounded like every other cookie cutter male vocalist.
    After everything checked out, Miles brought Abby out on stage and handed her his mike. “Sing your version of ‘The One’ for me? The mike’s set up to my vocals, but it should be fine.”
    Abby’s eyes widened. She looked as if she were two seconds away from a car accident. Her gaze swung around to the sidelines and all the other nooks and crannies of the stage before it fell back on Miles. “Are you sure? I don’t want to hold everyone up.”
    “No, it’ll be brilliant. I kind of had this idea that maybe we could bring you out for ‘The One.’ You could start it your way and then we could transition it into ours for the end. What do you guys think?”
    Miles, the ever-optimistic Brit, peered around with a smile. Everyone nodded and agreed except Ryder and Nathan. It was Ryder’s baby after all, and Nathan wasn’t sure he’d be able to lose himself in the music with Abby on stage right next to him. He could barely handle it when she was standing on the sidelines fifteen feet away from him.
    Eventually, Ryder agreed and Nathan had no ground to stand on other than he just didn’t feel like doing it, which would play out as well as it had when he hadn’t wanted to vote on hiring Abby earlier. So he begrudgingly said, “Sure.”
    “Brilliant.” Miles looked at the drummer. “Start it out at about half time, right Abby?”
    She nodded, her fingers turning white from the grip on Miles’s microphone.
    The former heartthrob didn’t seem to notice. “Then we’ll transition it into full speed by the end. It’ll be cool. We’ll play off each other.”
    Nathan walked by Abby to take his place on stage. Her hand shook. Before he could stop himself, he touched her shoulder. “It’ll be fine. Just have fun.”
    She gazed up at him gratefully and then squared her shoulders as Trevin placed her in front center. The band played the opening notes and Justin ran out with another mike for Abby so Miles could have his back.
    Abby sang right on cue and her pitch was dead on. After a few moments, the band and the rest of the guys got into the rhythm and backed her up. By the middle, the song was in full force Seconds to Juliet mode and Abby had no trouble catching up either. When the drummer hit the last cymbal, they all smiled.
    “That was awesome,” Will said. “We should start that tonight.”
    “One thing,” Trevin said. “Abby’s got to move around on stage more. We were running circles around her.”
    She cleared her throat, her face ashen white, and she mumbled something.
    They all had to move closer to hear her. “What’d you say?” Miles