All of them shout for Adams while Foster caresses higher. His calloused fingertips reach the curve of my ass. I stop breathing. Thank God I’ve already gotten what I wanted for the shot because every fiber of my being is focused on the slide of his palm.

He teases the lace edge of my panties before he starts to trail it back down. The camera lowers, and I close my eyes. My core is already throbbing, and he’s barely touching me.

When he traces inward, I clench my thighs together. He bites the one closest to him, and I bite my lip to keep in a moan. It’s all for nothing since I whimper the second Foster strokes over the drenched fabric covering my pussy. Featherlight the first time. Dragging the second. Then his thumb slips under the edge, and I shove my hand into his hair.

“Keep this area clear,” a woman says.

I jump at her proximity, and Foster’s hand falls from under my skirt, his hair slipping through my grasp. Realizing someone’s by the stairs, I scramble backward off the fuzzy surface. I can’t see shit once I’m down. I’m about to turn around but freeze when a hot body ghosts my back. His clothes brush mine. Touching but not touching. It makes my skin burn. A painful anticipation of more.

“Opening band is moving,” a guy barks outside the speakers.

A strand of hair moves by my neck, the lightest of a sweep on my shoulder. Then the heat of him vanishes. Air moves behind me and stills. I turn around already knowing he won’t be there.

My insides twist anyway, and I hate it.

I wish I could stop it. I want to promise myself it won’t happen again.

But I’m already standing here alone. My breaths are still shallow, my panties soaked, and the dark feels darker. I just don’t have it in me to lie to myself on top of it.

9

FOSTER

Not so long ago, I almost met my idol at a party. He stood on the opposite side of a room, both of us with drinks in hand. The musician talking to me casually offered to introduce us unprompted. In that moment, the stars had finally aligned. The fates wove the cosmic strings just right. My life had flipped so surreal, I fit seamlessly into his reality. He wouldn’t even question if I strolled up to him. Fuck, he might even tell me he knew my music.

One of the final life-defining experiences I’d fought for waited for a head nod.

I threw my drink back and walked out.