Chords_ Hunter - Brynn Paulin

Chapter One

~ Romy ~

The noise, the crowd, the jostling… I totally didn’t care. My eyes were wide with wonder as I took in the huge banners and displays throughout the arena concourse. Like a kid at Disney or a tourist seeing New York skyscrapers for the first time, I was filled with awe.

Sure, at twenty-three, I’d been to concerts before. But I had never, ever been to a Hunter concert. They were the biggest group in the world. No joke, they were number one everywhere. Tickets for this concert had been sold out in less than five minutes. I only had one because my neighbor had gotten a pair for his daughter. The little snot had told him she didn’t want to go.

When he’d asked me if I wanted them, because I always watched their dogs when they go on vacation, I’d almost swooned. Somehow, I managed to rasp out yes, before I’d burst into tears. I didn’t have someone to go with me, but I didn’t mind flying solo. Not if I got to go to my dream concert.

Hunter might be the hottest thing this century—I mean, really, what was in that family’s gene pool?—but I was their biggest fan. To be perfectly clear, I’m Dray Hunter, lead guitarist and head songwriter’s, biggest fan.

Butterflies erupted in my belly at the chance to see him from the front row. God help me if his primary stage position was right in front of me. My panties would be toast. I willed myself to calm down before I embarrassed myself by doing some weird happy dance in the middle of the concourse. I was early, but I could—

Holy crap! Was that Dray Hunter?

The wind was knocked out of me as surely as if I’d taken a hit from a linebacker. No, fucking way.

Without even thinking, I gravitated toward him. Was it my imagination? No one else even seemed to notice him. How was that possible? He was at the concession counter when I got to him.

Be cool. Be cool.

“You’re Dray Hunter,” I gushed in a totally normal, not-fangirling at all voice.

“Yeah,” he clipped out.

“I’m—”

“Yeah,” he interrupted. “I really don’t care. I don’t have time—”

Before I could even drop open my mouth at his complete rudeness, two huge guys pushed between us. Bodyguards, I guessed. One ushered him away while the other procured whatever Dray had been after at the stand.

Tears stung my eyes, and I spun away in shock and mortification as my rock idol plummeted off his pedestal. I blinked rapidly, refusing to cry. How dumb was I? Seriously. Seriously, how dumb was I to think Dray Hunter would give a care about a fan?

Ass. Hole. What a dick.

My cheeks burned. I couldn’t even think of excuses for him. Suddenly, the last thing I wanted was to head into the arena and watch my favorite band. If Dray was like that, were they all? The thought made me ill.

Turning on the ball of my foot, I started toward the exit. I was halfway there when I changed my mind. My seat cost well over two hundred bucks. There was no way I was missing this concert. And if I happened to be in the front row glaring at Dray the whole time, so be it.

Unwilling to be cowed by my rock idol turning out to be a dick, I wandered around the crowded concourse a little longer before heading for my seat. An attendant stopped me at the entrance to the floor, checked my ticket then escorted me up to my row.

A buzz of anticipation vibrated around me. More than sound, it was a pulse of electricity that seemed to throb through the air. Everyone around me was thrilled that they’d get to see Hunter. Hell, I had been. Okay, truth be told, I still was. This was the sort of concert where, years from now, I’d be able to say, I went to Hunter’s Lords of Paradise tour. It wasn’t Woodstock, but everyone knew it was a history maker.

Even so, the shine had worn off because of my encounter with Dray. That pissed me off a little, too. Not because he’d fallen off his pedestal but because the memory of this once in a lifetime experience would be forever tainted by it.

The opening band, Rising Storm, was well-worth staying. I knew some of their songs, and I was confident those guys were going somewhere. I guessed I’d be able to say I’d seen them when they were just up and coming.