The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) (28 page)

Jared and his bandmates were taking up their places. He scanned the crowd as the bass guitarist leaned over and spoke in his ear.

Oliver leaned towards me. “Looks like he’s looking for someone.”

Before I could say anything back, Oliver lifted me up and my feet were planted on his shoulders. His hands linked with mine to keep me balanced. When Jared saw me, he waved and walked over to the edge of the stage. Leaning down, he spoke to a security guard. They both looked my way as he pointed me out. Jared watched the security guard push his way through the crowd for a second, and then he took his place at the middle of the stage.

Oliver jiggled my arm to get my attention. “Ready to get down?”

I peered down at him and felt myself tilting to the left, feeling myself falling. Oliver let go of my hands and grabbed my thighs, as he moved his feet apart and braced himself. “Just trust me, okay?”

At least that was what I thought he said as he held on and balanced me in front of him. I didn’t even have time to blink before my back slammed into his chest and his hands held the back of my thighs, as if I were sitting on a chair. He lowered me further and let go of one of my legs and then the other as he steadied me until I could stand.

“See? I told you to trust me. I’ve never dropped a girl yet.”

My hand fisted the front of his shirt, as my knees wobbled. “What are you, a damn gymnast?”

That brought a deep chuckle from him. “Nah. Special Ops.”

“Military?”

“Something like that.” His head jerked to someone standing behind me. “I think the security guy wants to talk to you.”

I looked over my shoulder and saw the same guy Jared had talked to earlier, pushing his way through the crowd to get to me.

“Excuse me, Miss, but Jared has asked for you to meet him after the show. Just head up to the stage when it’s over, and I’ll take you back to where the band is.”

I nodded at the Mr. Clean look-alike and he turned away, pushing back through the crowd.

The strum of an electric guitar belted out of the speakers, as Jared spoke to the crowd.

All the noise rushed into my ears, and time sort of stalled out for me. Jared was on stage like he’d always talked about. He stood center stage as people screamed around him. We’d all joked about it over the years, giving him a hard time about his need to be a celebrity, and all I could do was stare in awe at what he’d become.

The band kicked off one of their original songs, before Jared had joined, and rocked the crowd. After that, they played a few more cover songs from other bands. Songs I’d never heard before, but I screamed along with the crowd anyway.

By the time the band was done, Jared was covered in sweat. His chest heaved as he gripped the microphone. He brought his thumb and forefinger up in the symbol of the Six and winked at me. The crowed roared for more, surging forward until bodies were pressed so tight against me, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Jared turned to the drummer, and they closed their set out with a song that made everyone lose their damn minds.

Someone shoved in between Paige and me. She cried out, flailing her arm in my direction. An elbow caught me in the chin, and I slammed into a girl behind me. She shoved me forward, and I couldn’t catch myself as I fell. I knew if I couldn’t get up, I’d be crushed by the crowd. My hand splayed against the trampled grass as I caught myself from hitting the ground face first. The crowd kept surging forward. I was forced to drop to the ground and roll to get away from the shoes coming at me. I came to a sudden stop when I rolled into the feet of the people in front of me. My arm went around my head to protect myself as best as I could as I curled my legs up to my stomach, making myself as small as possible. Getting to my knees would be a fight. Standing was impossible.

I peeked out from between my arms, looking for a small spot I could try to pop up in, when I saw Oliver picking people up and moving them. His massive shoulders cut a path directly in front of me, clearing enough room for Paige to get to me.

Paige put her arm around me and helped me up, as Oliver shoved people out of the way, making enough room for us to get out of the crowd.

Security met us halfway and stepped in beside Paige and me until we made it out of the thickest part of the crowd. They ushered us back behind the fenced-in area where the bands had parked their tour buses. Behind the stage was so much quieter than being in front. I felt my anxiety drop, and I pulled Paige close. “Are you okay?”

When she looked at me, I saw the panic she’d kept contained. “That is the craziest thing you’ve ever put me through. Never again, Riley. Do you hear me? Never. Again.” She was angry, but she hugged me until my ribs protested.

I pulled against her tight hold. “Ouch, Paige. You’re crushing my lungs.”

She loosened her arms and looped her arm through mine. “I thought you’d been trampled. Thank God that guy helped us.” She pointed over at Oliver, who stood talking to a security guard. It was then I noticed a small wire running up behind Oliver’s ear to a fitted earpiece. He looked over at me. I pointed at my ear and scowled at him. He shrugged as he finished his conversation with the security guard, and then walked over to where Paige and I waited.

“I thought you were just here for the concert,” I said, leaning over to get a better look at the black earpiece he wore.

He looked past me as he scanned the area. “I am, but as crowd control.”

Paige squared her shoulders and tossed her hair back. “Well, I’m glad he was there. If not, they’d be hauling your corpse out at the end of the night. What the hell is wrong with these people anyway?”

Oliver chuckled. “I ask myself the same question at every concert.” His eyes squinted as he looked around Paige. “Looks like Jared is coming to get you. If you ladies will excuse me, I need to get back out there.”

I put my hand on his arm to stop him. “Wait!” He partially turned so that he could look over his shoulder at me. “Thank you, Oliver. I really appreciate your help.”

He dipped his head. “Anytime, although maybe not again today. Okay?”

My legs trembled at the thought. “Maybe not ever.”

His laugh was deep as he shook his head. “Maybe you should just stick to the radio,” he said as he walked away.

I turned back in Jared’s direction as he picked me up and spun me around. “How awesome was that?” he shouted with his face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. He hooted and spun me until I wanted to throw up.

“Put her down, Jared. Jesus, between you and the crowd that almost crushed her, she’s not gonna make it through today,” Paige said as she grabbed Jared’s arm and forced him to stop spinning me in circles.

When he set me down on my feet, I leaned my head on his shoulder to keep from falling over.

Jared put his arm around me. “The crowd almost crushed her?”

Paige pointed in the vicinity of the stage. Another band had started up and the sea of people was going crazy. “It’s complete madness out there.”

I picked my head up, and Jared smiled at me. “You guys were really good. Is it like that at every concert?”

“Jared!”
His name was screamed loud enough to be heard over the music pumping out of the stacked speakers. Before I had a chance to turn around to see who the voice belonged to, I was shoved into Paige. She caught me, and we stood, slack-jawed, as a girl wrapped her entire body around Jared, yanking his head to hers and kissing him like she planned on sucking his tongue out through his mouth. Jared’s arms flailed, and he staggered. Her grip on him was so firm that he had to grab her arms and push her back, which did nothing about the leg lock she had on him.

Paige busted out with a laugh that irritated me. She slapped her leg and shot me a look that said ‘
can you believe that shit?
’

I crossed my arms and turned away, not wanting to make a scene. Jared had a psycho girl on his hands, and he needed to deal with her. I’d had enough of his crazy fans.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him struggling. “Damn it, can you
please
stop trying to stick your tongue down my throat?”

The girl giggled as she rubbed herself against him. “You and me. Your bus, your band. I don’t care, just…”

I snapped and stormed over to stand behind Jared, where she had no choice but to look at me. “Oh my god! Seriously? Could you be more of whore?”

Jared’s hands were planted against her shoulders, as he locked his arms out straight to push her off him. “Can one of you wave down security before she gets pregnant by osmosis?”

Paige stopped laughing and turned in a full circle, looking for help. “Be right back!” she shouted over her shoulder as she took off.

The girl cackled and threw herself backwards, giving Jared no choice but to grab her arms before she slammed her head into the ground.

When I snorted at his heroics, he made the mistake of turning his head to look at me. The female octopus took advantage of the distraction I’d caused and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck.

Jared didn’t even try to keep her from falling. He kept his head turned to face me, putting his hand up in front of his face so she couldn’t get to his mouth. No matter how hard she tugged on his face, she couldn’t get him to turn it back towards her.

“Can you get the fuck off me? I’m not interested.” I could see the anger dancing in his eyes. His patience was a fine thread away from snapping.

My eyes darted around the fenced-off area. There were people milling about, but no one seemed concerned about the situation Jared was in. They grinned and looked away, making no offer to assist him. Paige only had another minute to come through with help, or I’d pull that bitch’s hair out strand by strand and then feed it to her.

I scanned the area again and saw Paige jogging towards us. She waved at me when I noticed her. Behind her was a golf cart. When I waved back at her, the golf cart picked up speed and swerved around her, sliding to a stop beside us. The lone security guard appraised the situation and pulled out a handheld radio.

The girl attached to Jared laughed when the security guard tried to pull her off him. At that point, Jared was tired from the concert and then having to hold off the girl who’d become his own personal ornament. I could see it in his eyes when he all but silently begged me to help him.

The security guard took a step back to answer his radio, and I made my move. I gave Jared a slight tip of my head and he craned his neck as far as he could to the side. Pulling my arm back, my fist connected with her jaw, and she went limp in Jared’s arms. He lowered her, none to carefully, to the ground and walked backwards until he bumped into me.

The security guard looked down at the unconscious girl and up at me. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I better not go to jail for this, Jared,” I whispered against his shoulder.

I felt his body sag a little. “What was she supposed to do? That girl has been hanging off my damn neck for the past ten minutes. No one else stepped in, and even you couldn’t pry her off.”

The security guard’s hands settled on his hips, as he looked down at the girl again. When he looked back up, he seemed confused. “You mean to tell me she was assaulting you?”

Paige stepped in front of Jared. “She ran at him, knocked over Riley, and launched herself at him. He asked her several times to let him go, and she ignored him.” When she was done speaking, she crossed her arms and planted her feet. When the security guard made no move towards Jared and me, Paige looked over her shoulder. “Are you all right, Jared?”

I felt him straighten up. “Yeah, I’m good, but she needs to go.” He nodded his head slightly at the girl still sprawled on the ground.

The security guard rolled the girl over and looped what looked like zip-ties over her wrists. When he was done, a second golf cart rolled to a stop and Oliver darted over to where we stood. “Can’t even leave you on your own for an hour, Riley.” He shook his head as a smile stretched across his face.

I shrugged my shoulder and looked away.

“A friend of yours?” Jared’s eyebrow rose up and disappeared under his hair.

When Paige heard him, she spun around and shoved her finger into his chest. “He saved her from your crazy ass fans when they shoved her to the ground and almost made her a part of it.”

Jared sucked in a sharp breath. “I thought you were kidding… just being dramatic… Shit, Riles. I’m sorry.” His chin hit his chest, and Paige snatched her hand away.

Oliver and the other security guard put the unconscious girl in the security guard’s golf cart, and he drove away. Oliver watched him leave and then walked over to where we stood.

“So you have a pretty good right hook. Tom, the security guard, was impressed anyway.”

I chewed my lip, cowering behind Jared, as I waited for him to ask me to put my hands behind my back.

When I looked up, he winked at me. “Might I suggest you take that bodyguard idea seriously, Mr. Jackson? This concert is milder than most, but you and your friends could have been seriously injured today. Thankfully, you only had to face a horny groupie. Next time, you might not get so lucky.”

Jared face went into a sneer. “Shut up, Oliver. My parents had no right hiring you. I don’t need your help. Just go.”