Blinded by the stage lights, Leo couldn’t make out faces. When she got to the chorus again, she held out the microphone to have them sing it. The crowd below her writhed, clapped, and sang along. The lights were hot on her skin, but she ignored the sweat soaking her costume and focused on her dance moves and the lyrics. Within touching range of her fans, she dropped her voice to a sexy croon and sang directly to them.īefore anyone could make contact, she drew back with a playful flick of her hair and belted out the chorus.

She strutted across the platform and paused tantalizingly close to its edge. Her sultry, husky voice filled the arena as she dove into her hit song and gyrated to its seductive beat. When Leo pulled the cordless microphone from its stand, her pop-star persona slid into place as easily as the mic slid between her fingers. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? She mentally cursed her knee-high stiletto boots and the skintight halter-neck jumpsuit as she made her way blindly along the catwalk connecting the main stage to a smaller platform.Īs soon as she reached it, a lone spotlight flared on, bathing her in purple, and the huge video screens behind her exploded with colorful fireworks.ĭerek played the opening notes of “Butterfly Kisses.” The bass notes mingled with the beat of the drum, and her body shifted into the song’s upbeat rhythm as if on autopilot.

Leo handed her guitar to her guitar tech, stepped out from the wings, and felt her way up the few steps to the dark stage. Smoke-machine fog billowed out from behind the amplifiers. The lights in the arena went out, leaving just the glow of thousands of cell-phone screens. She took a sip of her lukewarm water before putting the bottle down and lifting her hand to signal the tech crew.

“One last encore and we can all go home.” “If that’s what the fans want, that’s what they’ll get. After performing the song in one hundred and eighteen concerts during the past thirteen months, she was pretty sick of it herself. “If I have to play that song one more time…” He lifted one of his drumsticks and pretended to stab himself. Other voices added screams of “Butterfly Kisses,” the title of her top hit, to the cacophony.įrom his place next to her in the wings of the stage, Ray groaned. When she was on tour, she became Jenna Blake, pop icon. No one had called her by her real name-Leontyne or Leo-for more than a year. Well, not really her name-her stage name. Goose bumps erupted all over her body as twenty thousand people were cheering, clapping, and shouting her name. Even after a ninety-minute concert, the crowd apparently couldn’t get enough of her. C hants of “Jenna, Jenna, Jenna!” echoed through Madison Square Garden.

Perfect Rhythm by Jae