His famous smile turned dangerously private. "And you're about to become my dirty little secret."
Raven stared at him like she couldn't decide whether to laugh or run. The green room felt too small all of a sudden and her heart kicked hard against her ribs.
"You're serious," she said.
Damien stepped close and not to touch her but just close enough that she could small his cologne and something expensive and dark. "Dead serious."
She laughed once, short and surprised. "You just walked into my green room, bribed the security, and now you're telling me I'm your secret? You don't even know me."
"I know your voice." He nodded toward the crystal microphone on the table. "I know how you sound when you're singing like the world's ending. I've listened to every track, watched every performance. That's more than most people get."
Raven crossed her arms. "So you're a fanboy with a death wish."
"Something like that." He smiled again, slower this time. "But I'm not here for an autograph."
Lena banged on the door from the hallway. "Raven! The car's waiting! Move it."
Raven glanced at the door, then back at him. "You've got maybe two minutes before she drags me out of here."
"Then let's not waste them." Damien pulled a small black card from his pocket. There was no name but it was just a number. "After party lounge in a private room. Just one drink and that's all I'm asking."
She looked at the card like it might bite her. "You think I'm going to sneak off with a stranger who could be anyone?"
"I'm not a stranger anymore." He met her eyes. "You already know my face and I already know yours too. There's no masks, no camera but just us."
Raven bit her lip. She shouldn't... every instinct told her so. This was reckless. Career suicide, maybe. Damien stood there with his card extended between two fingers, the private lounge address printed in clean type, just drinking, and nothing more. But the stage was still humming in her blood, particular aliveness that hadn't quite left her yet, the kind that made ordinary caution feel like a costume she was tired of wearing wanted to say yes.
Lena banged in again. "Raven!"
"Coming!" Raven called back. Then she said quieter to him. "One drink and that's it."
Damien's smile widened just a fraction. "One drink."
He slipped out the side door before Lena could barge in. Raven stood there holding the black card, pulse racing.
Lena burst through. "What the hell took you so long? Let's go."
Raven trucked the card into her boot. "Yeah, let's go."
The after party lounge was tucked behind the arena, hidden from the main crowd. Dim purple lights, low music and a handful of VIPs laughing in corners. Raven walked in wearing a black hoodie over her stage outfit, hood up, sunglasses on even though it was dark and she spotted it immediately.
Damien sat at a small round table in the back, with two glasses already waiting. He looked up when she approached and she saw him with no cap and mask this time but just him.
"You came," he said.
She slid into the chair across from him. "I said I would."
He pushed one glass toward her with clear liquid, ice, and lime slices floating on top.
"It's Vodka soda," he said. "Figured you'd want something light after the show."
Raven picked it up but didn't drink yet. "How'd you get this room?"
"Bribed the right person." He lifted his own glass. "Cheers to bad decisions."
She clinked her glass against his. "To bad decisions."
They both took a sip and the cold hit her throat and spread. She watched him over the rim and he watched her right back.
"So," she said. "Nation's heartthrob. What's a guy like you chasing a singer in the middle of the night?"
Damien leaned back a little. "Honestly? I couldn't stop thinking about you. Your voice. Your face. The way you own that stage like it's yours. I've been with a lot of people in this industry but nobody ever made me feel... this."
Raven raised on brow. "This?"
"Like I'm about to jump off a cliff and I don't care if there's rocks at the bottom."
She laughed softly. "Romantic."
"Truthful."
Her phone buzzed on the table and she glanced down at it. It was Lena, her Manager.
"Where are you? The press is asking for you."
Raven typed fast: "In the bathroom. Give me five minutes."
She set the phone face-down.
Damien noticed. "Your Manager?"
"Yeah. She's gonna kill me."
"Let her try." He took another sip. "You're allowed one night off from being perfect."
Raven looked at him for a long second. "You really think I'm perfect?"
"I think you're trying too hard to be." He set his glass down. "I see it in your eyes. You're tired of performing every second and even when the cameras are off."
She swallowed because he wasn't wrong and that scared her. Their hands rested close to the table, not touching but almost.
Damien's phone started vibrating. He glanced at it and it was Manager Victor. Then Serena. Then Victor again and the screen lit up over and over.
Raven saw the names. "Fake fiancée calling."
He didn't deny it. "Yeah."
"And your manager?"
"Probably threatening to fire me."
Raven tilted her head. "You're gonna answer?"
"No." He flipped the phone over. "Not tonight."
She studied him. "You're really doing this."
"Doing what?"
"Risking everything for just one drink with me."
Damien leaned forward with his elbows on the table and said in a low voice. "It's not just one drink anymore. Is it?"
Raven's breath caught. She felt the pull between them like a live wire. Her fingers brushed his on the table and just the back of their knuckles. It was barely anything but it felt everything.
She didn't pull away and his phone buzzed again but he still ignored it.
"Raven," he said quietly. "Tell me to leave right now and I'll go. No hard feelings and you'll never see me again."
She looked at his mouth, and then his eyes and back to his mouth.
"I should," she whispered.
"But you're not going to."
She shook her head once slowly.
Damien's thumb slid over her knuckle softly and deliberately.
"Then stay," he said.
Raven closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, something had shifted. The room felt hotter and her skin tingled where he touched her.
One drink became two and they talked quietly and real without any cameras or scripts.
He told her about the pressure of being perfect everyday. She told him about the nights she cried after shows because nobody ever asked how she was really doing.
Their hands stayed touching the whole time and her phone buzzed again from Lena, but she ignored it.
His phone kept lighting up too but he also ignored it.
At some point the lounge started emptying out and music got quieter and the light dimmer.
Damien leaned in close enough that she felt his breath on her cheek.
His voice dropped rougher. "Just one night... and no one will ever know."
Raven's purple eyes darkened with desire and the terrifying knowledge that she was already saying yes.