Randomly Ever After Read Online Free PDF Page B

behind me and heard him. “You thought t hat? Seriously? I’m taller and have black hair and bigger than— ”
    And then Darla shouted, “CANCEL IT??? We’re fucking four minutes away from—”  
    L iam ran down the hall toward the sound of the shouting, me and Charlotte on his heels.

Sam
    “ Cancel it?” Darla screeched. “CANCEL IT??? We’re fucking four minutes away from—”  
    “You cancel it NOW or I walk out that door and don’t play. At all.” My voice felt like a roar but I knew it was a controlled whisper, feet carrying me to the emergency exit, hands gripping the door bar like I was dangling from a malfunctioning helicopter over the Grand Canyon.
    “Jesus, Sam, what the hell is wrong?” Joe asked, touching my shoulder.
    Liam appeared, red-faced and laughing. “Hey, man, I gotta tell you, I just accidentally mistook Amy for— ”
    Motherfucker.
    I decked him. One clean punch was all it took and he was out on the floor. Knocked cold. My hand felt like a flesh bag filled with hot marbles, but I strangely didn’t care. It was like the pain floated a foot away from my body, like a ghost.  
    “Liam!” I heard someone call out his name, but everything sounded like it was under water now. Joe dropped to the floor, patting Liam’s swelling cheek. Darla was screaming at me but her words didn’t make sense, the rush of blood through my body like the sound of a tsunami inside me.
    Amy appeared, saying my name, asking me something, her face muscles making her shift expressions that went from confused to angry to pleading.
    All I saw of Charlotte was the back of her head, bent over and trying to make Liam get up. He was awake now and shaking his head slowly.
    Hot, strong hands pushed on my shoulders and then pulled me on stage.
    “TWO MINUTES!” someone screamed.
    My eyes came into focus as I realized it was Trevor with me, saying nothing, pushing my body down onto the stool in front of my drums. No words. I had no words. The world was wordless.
    That song? That fucking song I’d written about a woman who was smiling seconds ago when Liam pawed her was now just an assemblage of syllables that made no sense.
    No sense at all.
    “ Sam!” I heard my name, could sense that it was Amy, but all I could do was shout one word back to her:  
    “No.”
    “But—”
    And another word:
    “Why?” I thundered, making her flinch.
    “I—”
    “Canceled,” Darla whispered in my ear, grabbing my shirt. “Just get your ass on stage and we’ll do whatever we need to do to fix this.”
    “Fix?” I choked on the word.
    That s o ng was everything and it was nothing and as someone shouted “ONE MINUTE” I saw Amy backstage, crying, wiping her eyes with a tissue.
    And then I saw nothing at all as the stage lights came on and the crowd stood, one giant wave of cheers.
    Roar .

Amy
    Liam waved a hovering Charlotte away as the crowd screamed for Random Acts of Crazy. I felt shell shocked, like someone had carpet bombed the nightclub and I was standing in a daze.
    What had just happened?
    “Sam punched you!” I said, still incredulous.
    “I need to play,” he ground out, Charlotte holding a cocktail napkin to his bleeding cheek. He shoved her hand away and stood, staggering slightly, waiting at the stage wings, taking deep breaths so quickly I thought he’d hyperventilate.
    Me too.
    My vision began to pin point and he took enormous, aggressive steps on stage, a tech handing him his guitar as a new set of lights aimed on stage for his spot. Joe and Trevor stared at the crowd, completely ignoring Sam. I couldn’t see him; the stage set up meant he was hidden to me from this angle.
    Even if I could see him, what would that help?
    Darla charged over, watching Liam nervously. “He was knocked dead thirty seconds ago and now that boy is on stage makin’ ‘em cheer.” She shook her head slowly and gave Charlotte an eye. “One hell of a showman you got.”
    Then she turned her attention to me with a stinkeye.