Page 89 of Carte

Made for the stage, made to shine so bright it was hard to look at her.

The fear coiled in my gut, but I ignored it.

Just looking at her gave me the strength to breathe.

“Are you ready?” She screamed into the microphone, and then the mayhem started.

People were dancing, singing, jumping up and down, heaving a great fucking time.

I was in awe of what Harley was capable of doing.

I’ve seen it before, from the wings of the stage, but this was different.

And it was all at risk.

I glanced in each and every direction without any luck.

“Anything?” Trevor panted next to me.

I looked at him, and shook my head unease blanketing my body.

She was here somewhere.

We just had to find her.

“I’ll keep looking,” Trevor said and then blended back into the crowd.

I walked forward to the stage.

Harley finished her song and laughed out loud, carefree. God, that was all I wished for her.

I looked around me again, peering into faces.

“And now, I have something special for you tonight,” she murmured into the mic. “I wrote this song for a man that holds my heart in his hands.”

Hearing her words, I turned my head. My eyes collide with hers. A fire in roared to life within me. A million different visions swam right in front of my eyes. Harley waking up next to me, her smile the first thing I see in the morning. Her walking down the isle to me as I wait. Her belly big and swollen while small feet rest on my lap. Her laugh echoed in my ears as kids ran around us on the beach.

In a single second I saw our lives as they could be.

And I knew, there was nothing that could stop me from reaching for it.

Not even me.

“A man who’s the best man I ever knew. A man who has given me silence I didn’t know I craved.”

People started clapping and cheering. Some even turned to me and either pointed with their fingers at me, or whispered with their hands over their mouths. Some even had their phones pointed at me, probably recording me, my reaction. I didn’t give a fuck.

All I cared about was the woman who has become my whole world, and her words that fueled my battered heart.

She broke eye contact with me for a second, motioning to someone in the wing of the stage, and then looked back at me.

“This one, this one is for you Carter Ryan. You were the silence I didn’t know I needed.”

I couldn’t help it, A smile so wide it hurt a little broke out on my face.

“You promised you would keep her safe,” the words were full of hurt, and I looked down from Harley, and to the person standing in front of me.

Jude Brown.